Story By: ELON WERNER / NHRA – CHICAGO, IL – For the fourth time this season the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series qualifying ended with a new racer as the No. 1 qualifier.
Today at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago, Ill., Lee Hartman scored his first career No. 1, driving his Hartman Racing Chevrolet COPO Camaro. His class quickest time of 7.781 seconds at 170.26 mph was able to stay in front of a tough field of Chevrolet COPO Camaros, Ford Cobra Jets and Dodge Drag Paks through three rounds of qualifying.
“Chicago is a nice place and a nice track,” said Hartman. “We were fighting the weather and track conditions. Every round seems to be a different animal here. We are still working on it going into the first round. So far this Stanfield prepared COPO is running really well. We are really thankful to be here.”
Hartman posted his quick time in the first qualifying session on Friday and his time was equaled by David Janac. The tiebreaker went to Hartman who recorded a speed of 170.26 mph while Janac’s scoreboard showed 34.15 mph due to a scoreboard malfunction that was correct in the following session. The elapsed times stayed true and Hartman will face No. 16 qualifier Michael Lloyd in the first round.
Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals winner Ricky Hord wound up in the No. 4 spot and will face No. 13 qualifier David Davies II with the $1,000 Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown bounty up for grabs. Davies, who is driving the Mission 22 Dodge Drag Pak will be looking to collect his second bounty payday of the season. During the Winternationals, Davies defeated Mark Pawuk, the Gatornationals winner, to win the $1,000 prize.
“Getting that win in Las Vegas was everything,” said Hord. “We worked three years to get that first win and now I want to keep that momentum going. I have the bounty and I want to hold onto it. We have four tough rounds in front of us and we just have to take it one race at a time.”
Other notable first round match-ups include points leader and No. 7 qualifier Mark Pawuk facing No. 10 qualifier Jason Dietsch in a classic Dodge versus Ford contest. Winternationals winner Stephen Bell will race Del Holbrook.
Final eliminations will continue tomorrow starting at 9:35 a.m. CST from Route 66 Raceway.
First Round Match-ups
No. 1 Lee Hartman vs. No. 16 Michael Lloyd
No. 2 David Janac vs. No. 15 Kim Shirley
No. 3 Tony Scott vs. No. 14 Raymond Nash
No. 4 Ricky Hord vs. No. 13 David Davies II
No. 5 Anthony Troyer vs. No. 12 Kevin Skinner
No. 6 Stephen Bell vs. No. 11 Del Holbrook
No. 7 Mark Pawuk vs. No. 10 Jason Dietsch
No. 8 Scott Libersher vs. No. 9 Doug Hamp