Laurie Cannister Tulsa wrap up

Cannister Blows The Lid En route to Seventh Appearance in Funny Car Finals

August 26, 2008 – Johnstown, Ohio – When Laurie Cannister and the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce Alcohol Funny Car team rolled into Tulsa Raceway Park last weekend, they weren’t quite sure what to expect. There were many questions on the minds of the entire team. After all, this trip to the IHRA Sooner Nationals was the very first ever for the entire team. Those questions that loomed among the members were everything from what the facility would be like to exactly how the weather was going to be and more importantly, could this be the championship weekend?

“We were hoping to be able to win the event and possibly be able to sew up the championship in Tulsa,” notes Laurie. “But were not sorry it didn’t happen, it’s not like we were going to stop racing the events if we would have. We are running the full season and we go to every race to win them. It just would have been kind of nice for it to happen that way, and then we could have taken advantage of the situation to use the last couple events of the season to test with.”

Laurie laughs as she adds, “It’s not like, ‘Oh darn, it didn’t happen now we have to go to Epping’, we want to go and win them all anyway.”

The answers to the first couple of questions the Kalbones group had heading into the event were answered quite quickly. The facility was great and the fans were just beyond amazing. And yes, it was going to be hot and very humid. As promised, the weather made it the “tuner’s race” that had been so heavily promoted and also an extremely uncomfortable one for the drivers.

Laurie was a little surprised by the oppressive conditions. She had expected it to be hot, but maybe not as humid as it was. “It just seems like we can’t get away from the heat this season, but this particular weekend was just brutal in the car. This race track has a very long shut down, so to add insult to injury all the funny cars were stopping short. No matter what I tried, I just couldn’t make it to the end and would have to wait for the safety crew to come tow me off. Normally, I would be able to wait to start taking my gear off when they got me off the track. Not this weekend. I was even opening my hatch, just to try and get some kind of air in there. Like I said, the heat index was brutal.“

Amid much tire shake for the Kalbones’ AFC car during qualifying, Tuner Dale Cannister did manage to make the right call at the right time. Laurie racked up a few more precious points by qualifying number one during the classes second session Saturday afternoon and held on to it through the final session that evening.

The number one spot put the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team on an interesting side of the ladder for race day. As Laurie put it the “Canadian side” and a good one to be on if you want to have a little say in your own destiny. Both Atchison and Noakes, who are the last two that still have a mathematical shot at the championship outside of Cannister, were also on their side of the ladder.

Laurie has maintained throughout the 2008 season, that “you keep doing what you do, and the points will take care of themselves”, and that they did. Cannister was able to leave the Tulsa race with an even larger point lead (now 231) over number two than she went in with. But it wasn’t without the excitement of a between round thrash after the semi-final win over Noakes.

“We blew the burst panel during the round with Paul and ended up needing to change a sleeve, piston and head between rounds. We had a lot of extra things to do to prepare for our final round against Dale Brand.” Dale recounted.” That’s actually the first time we have popped the panel this year and we noticed something after it happened.”

Laurie was quick to chime in and exclaim, “Yeah, we must have had the sauce a little too hot that pass, ‘cause we blew the lid right off of the bottle!”



The Kalbones’ team was prepared for their final round competitor, Dale Brand, to continue to lay down some stout numbers and it was no surprise to Laurie when he did. “I always like racing Dale, he and his team are good friends of ours and it was just a different kind of round. We weren’t laying back or anything because of the fact that he isn’t a threat to our lead, but we just knew we weren’t going to lose ground no matter what happened. The most important thing we needed to do as a team at this event was to at least stay with the teams sitting at number two and number three. We did more than that with our semi-final round win against Noakes. After that happened, we felt a lot better because we had already done what we needed to do. Anything else was going to be a bonus.”

The IHRA Amalie Oil North American Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire will be the next stop for the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team in just two weeks. A little in-between race lid tightening just might help the Kalbones’ team put the seal on the 2008 AFC Championship at the historic New England Dragway. It’s an event no race fan will want to miss.


(Release and photos courtesy of Kathy Fisher)

Laurie Cannister Fast Fan Facts
Birthday - July 23
Hometown - Johnstown, Ohio with husband, Tuner Dale Cannister
Children - Samson "Our Son" - Norwegian Elkhound
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - Texas Nationals (San Antonio), Spring Nationals (Rockingham), President’s Cup Nationals (Budds Creek), Rocky Mountain Nationals (Edmonton) & Northern Nationals (Martin)
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Runner-Up – Motor City Nationals (Milan) & Sooner Nationals (Tulsa)
2002 & 2007 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - President's Cup Nationals (Budds Creek)
2000 IHRA Pro Outlaw World Champion
1999 IHRA Pro Rookie of the Year
Career quickest Quarter Mile elapsed time is 5.669
Career fastest Quarter Mile speed is 246.89
Career quickest Eighth Mile elapsed time is 3.731 (Current IHRA ET Record)
Career fastest Eighth Mile speed is 198.32 (Current IHRA Speed Record)
Cannister is the fastest and quickest female driver in IHRA Alcohol Funny Car history (Eighth & Quarter Mile)

All race team related info and photos – www.kalbonesracing.com

About Kalbones Grill'n Sauce:
Serious Sauce for Serious Grill'n! We make it easy for you to become a grill master with our unique family recipe using only the finest and freshest ingredients. There are two secrets to producing great barbecue. The first is the slow cooking process which allows the meat to tenderize while maintaining all of the moist, natural, mouth-watering juices. The second is the sauce. Kalbones is a Southern Virginia style sauce which enhances and compliments the natural flavor of the meat with a distinctive home-style barbeque flavor. Whether the occasion is a pig pickin', tailgate party, or a backyard barbeque, Kalbones is your essential ingredient to success. Six mouth watering flavors to choose from and a new rub.

Better yet - Try them all! Mop Kalbones on beef, poultry, and seafood too - It's "not jus' for yer butts!"

For more information about Kalbones Grill'n Sauce, ordering, contests and great recipes visit - http://www.kalbones.com

Special Thanks to – Flatout Gaskets – www.flatoutgaskets.com

For More Info or Photos Contact – Kathy Fisher
Performance by Fisher Productions
Lima, Ohio
Phone – 419-229-9571
Fax – 419-229-0096
Web – www.performancebyfisher.com
Email – team_pr@performancebyfisher.com