CANIDAE T/F Team Takes First at Avenal – T/A Team Falls Just Short in Final

CANIDAE® Pet Foods Top Fuel Sand Drag Team, lead by driver Scott Whipple, took down the championship this past weekend with a thrilling hole shot victory in the T/F final over Geoff Gill. With daytime temperatures climbing well above 100 degrees, Avenal California's Sand Drag Track was once again home to fierce competition across all the divisions. Whipple and the T/F team earned the #1 qualfying spot going in, and then in an extremely close final, Whipple's 2.325 edged out Gill's 2.323 with the hole shot. The margin of victory being Whipple's reaction time of 0.13457 to Gill's 0.14107 for an overall edge of just .0045! Sunday's victory puts the CANIDAE Top Fuel team unofficially back on top in the race for the overall season championship, but by a mere 1 point. The 2010 Season Championship will be up for grabs when the season closes out with the Fall Nationals at Primm in October. Congratulations to Scott and the rest of the top fuel crew including "Famous" Amos Satterlee, Carl Boley, Amos Satterlee Jr., Scott Gailey, Daran Rupp, Bill Park and "Big E" for the great team effort at Avenal. And, a tip of the hat and thanks to Geoff Gill and owner/tuner Joe Bettencourt and his crew for another challenging weekend of racing and fierce competition on the track.

In the Top Alcohol final, Mike DeNunzio earned the Hole Shot as well but "slowed" to a 2.61 from his quicker qualifying rounds which wasn't quite enough to surpass Gary Mink's 2.46 in their final round match up on Sunday. Congratulations to Gary and the team on your win. Team CANIDAE's 2nd place finish on Sunday puts the T/A Team in 2nd place in the points standings. A big thank you to the T/A crew of Steve and Tony DeNunzio, Lee Gutierrez, Steven East, David Rice, Dennis Bartholomay, and the rest of the family that made it out to support the team. Both crews turned in great performances despite the grueling heat throughout the weekend. Thanks also to the NSDA and ASDI for putting on another great weekend of racing.

The 2010 season wraps up and season championships will be awarded at the 2009 "Dan Chittenden" Fall Nationals being held at the Primm Valley Resorts, October 23-25. With Avenal results this close there’s no doubt the season finale will provide plenty of fireworks for fans and race teams. There's still time to make your plans attend.

See you at the races!