'Soo Crew' makes another appearance at Mid Michigan drags

Ed Fantasia's '73 Vega started going towards the center line at Mid Michigan Motorplex during Friday's Test and Tune.

Fantasia corrected by letting off the throttle and the car veered into the left side wall and then sent the Vega across the strip to hit concrete barrier on the right lane.

Major damage was done to the Vega but the relief was that Fantasia only suffered minor bruising.

Fantasia is a very experienced driver and there was another car that veered into the wall shortly after his crash. The track had some dew on it which was the factor in both crashes.

The crashes in drag racing are very far and few between but Fantasia's last appearance at Mid Michigan had his Vega blown against the right wall from a strong cross wind which only caused minor body damage.

A total of 14 "Soo Crew" drivers made the 250 mile trek to Mid Michigan Motorplex's Fun Fest 2005 with Joe "Running Cloud" Kenabutch from Elliot Lake stopping in to race on Sunday and Monday.

Jamie Atkins was plagued with transmission problems on Friday's Test and Tune while Janice Atkins, a first year rookie, would experience rear end woes but not before accomplishing the feat of only running two thousandths of a second over her dial in.

Some folks may not know the way that bracket racing works, but in a brief explanation, the driver will put on the windshield the time that he/she will traverse the 1/4 mile strip, if the driver runs under the time they lose (breakout). The object is to get as close to your dial-in without going under.

There are more details on bracket racing at www.saultracers.com and click on the Drags menu item.

Tom Meerits, Doug Quinton and Kevin Spurway were taken out of competition during the weekend due to mechanical problems. Mike Plastino had transmission problems Friday but borrowed the tranny from Fantasia's Vega to finish competing the remainder of the weekend.

In Street Class, Morris Aubertin and Peter Manzo made quite a few good runs over the weekend only to fall prey to other weekly regular drivers.

In the Pro Division, The Soo Crew made a point that they were here to race.

With a stacked deck of Bill & Jeremy Yourchuk, Alex Bumbacco, Chris Manzo and Ed Lofstrom they ran some some fine races and even had an "Ace In The Hole" with Joe "Running Cloud" Kenabutch from Elliot Lake.

Monday had Chris Manzo run to the 5th round and Running Cloud making it to the 4th round before being loaded onto the trailer for the long trip home.

Pictures of the weekend event can be found at www.saultracers.com.

(Story and photo submitted by Rod Aubertin of www.saultracers.com)