Team Red Wolf- IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals Wrap-Up

Red Wolf team Enjoy's Semi-Final Finish

John and Ruth Evanchuk and the Red Wolf Funny Car team wrapped up a weekend in Edmonton with a semi-final finish in the Alcohol Funny Car category at the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals.

Evanchuck qualified in the middle of the pack, off-pace from their best efforts at Castrol Raceway. A 5.79-second elapsed time was the best qualifying lap for the Edmonton based team. They broke the rear end in the Friday evening session and lost that run forcing the team to make an engine swap as well. The 5.791 put the Red Wolf Funny Car into the number five qualified spot.

A first round date with number four qualifier, Scott McVey saw Evanchuck capture a 0.049 starting line advantage and he never looked back. He improved his qualifying time in route to recording a 5.787-second elapsed time at a speed of 247 mph.

The semi final round was a tough one, as he faced the number one qualifier Roger Bateman. Having a car which was a tenth of a second slower than Bateman, Evanchuck knew his starting-line skills would be essential, but he also needed to pick up some elapsed time as well. Evanchuck nailed the tree with a 0.006 reaction time to Bateman’s 0.087 R.T., but the car veered right and Evanchuck was helpless to watch Bateman record a 5.69 ET ending the Red Wolf team’s day.

“We ran okay, but were a tenth off what we expected,” noted Evanchuck. “We made the semis, but against the Bateman team you need your ‘A’ game.”

The team will get prepared for the next two events, the Woodburn divisional next weekend and the Seattle national event, the weekend after that.

John and wife Ruth would like to thank their sponsors Big Eagle Services, Aqua Industrial, RedL (the hose people), Lucas Oil, Husky Oil, Campbell Automotive, Baystar Electrical services, DuraGuard Fence, Eskimo Excavators, Cougar Paint and Collison, Fleet Brake, Mirror Images, Jet Equipment Canada and CMax.

They especially want to mention the crew who worked their tails off Friday night, after the carnage from the broken rear end. Bill Moore, Rick Strong, Todd Hanna, Al Stacey, Mark and Don Campbell, JD Dennis, Shirleen Moore and Alan Heshka all worked through the night to get the car prepared for Saturday and Sunday.

Courtesy of Speedzone Magazine