Fast forward a few years to 2008 when Todd's brother Jeff attempted the 1/4 mile at the famed facility and it was pretty much deja vu for the team as Jeff had very similar results to what his brother did 4 years prior.

  So what was going to happen in 2009?

Team Ashwell was still riding high from the previous weekend in Woodburn at the Lucas Oil Division 6 event and were very anxious to get on the track to start qualifying. Q1 was scheduled for around 1:30 and by then temperatures were soaring into the upper 80's. Jeff was in the second pair out for Top Alcohol Funny Car and laid down a nice 5.830 and over 241 mph which placed him 14th overall. Later in the afternoon for Q2 things got a little more hairier. After improving on his previous pass to a 5.78 at 243 mph, a bracket in the steering box broke leaving Jeff with little or if any control of the car. Luckily this happened past the finish line and except for some minor "bruising" done to the Pontiac Firebird from tapping the wall and some bent header pipes all was good. 

Also during Q2 the car spun a rod bearing which prompted a motor change. But with qualifying done for the day for Top Alcohol Funny Car the crew had plenty of time to switch motors and get some necessary welding done to repair the Firebird. (Thank you Grant and Terry for your assistance.)

After Friday night's engine swap, come Saturday morning Jeff and the team were optimistic about improving their qualifying time and position. They had run a previous best of 5.78 Friday afternoon but really wanted to move up the qualifying ladder. After the cars below Jeff had run and couldn't bump themselves into the show the team knew they would be racing first round later in the day. During Q3 Jeff ran a consistent 5.859 at 226 mph, but quite a bit of white smoke trailed the car into the shut down area. After towing back to the pits the crew discovered the motor had dropped a valve and made some nice looking heads, rods, and pistons look not so nice. So what's the the team to do? Throw in the towel and call it quits or tear down the motor to switch out the heads and put in some fresh rods and pistons for first round?

Team Ashwell never  gives up! With only a few hours to get everything rebuilt it was choreographed mayhem in the pit as everybody had a job to do and to do it as quickly and as efficiently as possible. With Top Alcohol Dragster already conducting their eliminations, the team fired the car and did their normal start-up routine and overall team moral was good.

Jeff's first round opponent was John Lombardo Jr., son former fuel racer 'Lil John Lombardo, and his NAPA sponsored Camaro. After a slight jump at the 'tree for Jeff he was ahead at half track until Lombardo started to pull away for the win, a 5.703 to a 5.829. The team gave him all we got and nothing to hold our heads down about.

After a much deserved cold beverage in hand the team reflected on their Seattle outing and were quite pleased with the outcome and considered it a success. With the pressures of the race behind them Jeff, Todd, and the rest of the team enjoyed the company of family and good friends and were thankful for their support.

The team would also like to thank their sponsors, the Gatchet boys from G & S Machine, Jerry from Wilson's NAPA Auto, and of course Dave Walery and Marsha Stallings of Walery's Pizza for coming out to the event to support the team in Seattle. Though they didn't win "Best Appearing Crew", I think all involved would agree that the team finally broke the Seattle curse.