Though the weekend before was cold and rainy, beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures welcomed fans and racers alike for the 24th Annual Fall Classic at Woodburn Dragstrip. The goal for the weekend for Ashwell Racing was to make a half track pass Saturday, 2 full 1/4 mile passes on Sunday, and to not hurt any parts. Well, we accomplished two of the goals, but unfortunately suffered the third.


For Saturday's half track pass the team called upon the likable Russ Parker, who has pinch hit for the Ashwell's before, when driver Jeff Ashwell has had prior engagements and couldn't make it to the track. After a .978 sixty foot time Russ clicked it off around 900' and coasted across the finish line at a 6.13 at 198mph. 



After towing the car back to the pits and doing normal maintenance on the funny car, the team was preparing for Sunday's action and to maybe even lower their current best E.T. of a 5.740.

Though rain was not on the weatherman's forecast for this weekend, sure enough come Sunday morning the skies were cloudy, the air was cool, and the ground was a little damp from an early morning passing shower. Nonetheless, the track was dry by the time the call went out to fire the first pair.

On Sunday's first pass, with Jeff Ashwell behind the wheel, the team clocked another .978 sixty foot time and ripped off a 5.773 at 248 mph. Greg, Todd, and the rest of the crew were super pleased with that time.

Upon returning to the pits to get ready for the second pass the teams' high fives and smiles soon turned to frustrated frowns as this is what greeted them upon dropping the pan and pulling off the valve cover.

Besides a nice shot of a can of  NAPA Windshield De-Icer there is nothing else good about this picture as it produced an abrupt end to our racing day. Though the team was dejected there was absolutely nothing to hold their heads down about the turn of events that transpired.

By far this was the best year that Todd, Jeff, and the entire Ashwell Racing team has had. All the many hours that Greg and the crew put in had finally paid off in big dividends by crushing their previous best E.T. from a 5.864 to a 5.740 and also upping their career best speed to over 248 mph. Nothing will compare to the pride that was felt during the Lucas Oil Division 6 event in Woodburn when not only did Jeff, (whose birthday was during this event), keep toe to toe pace with the likes of former National Champion Jay Payne and reigning Division 6 champ Brian Hough, but also outqualifying all of the California heavy hitters that entered the event. The crew's performance gave a big shout out to the other teams that Ashwell Racing is a car to be reckoned with. And lastly, to finally be able to break the "Seattle Curse" that somehow bestowed itself onto both Todd and Jeff. Granted the team broke quite a few parts during Q3 that required a complete engine swap, but nonetheless never gave up the fight to make the first round of eliminations.

The 2009 race season is now in the books and if it weren't for our amazingly loyal sponsors we could not be out here fullfilling our dream. Many thanks to Dave Walery of Walery's Pizza, Doug and Mike Gatchet of G & S Machine  and to Tony, Jerry, and Eric of Wilson's Napa Auto in Wilsonville, OR. Your supprt of us this year has been greatly appreciated. Also a big thank you to Hilyer's, Valvoline, Goodyear, Cherry City Metals, Russ Parker and our dedicated crew: Todd, Jeff, Greg, Norm, James, Isaac, Paul, and Ray.

See you all in 2010.