Hale stomps prior career best in wine country

SONOMA (July 31) --  Grapes were not the only thing getting stomped in the beautiful wine county around Sonoma last weekend. John Hale Racing and the Jim Dunn Racing Circle K Funny Car trampled their prior career best during the second round of qualifying.

Looking like he was headed to his first three second pass, the engine got unhappy and banged the blower.

In a spectacular blow, the burst panel went flying. "We were on a great pass. Then after the finish line my foot bounced off the throttle pedal causing the backfire and consequently sending the burst panel in the air.”

While entertaining fans attending and viewing the 29th annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals with the explosion, Hale ran his career best ET of 4.011 and retained the #11 position going in to the third round of qualifying.

The team may have been ousted in the first round of eliminations on Sunday, but they depart Sonoma encouraged by solid passes and a new team record as they continue on to the last race of the Western Swing at Pacific Raceway near Seattle next weekend.

Sonoma Summary - Q1: 4.043/313.44 - Q2: 4.011/317.87 (Career best) - Q3: 4.041/316.82 - Q4: no run
Qualified #13 - E1: 4.456/199.35

The Jim Dunn Racing Circle K Funny Car appearing at the NHRA Toyota Sonoma Nationals (Photo Credit: NHRA)

Q2 as the blower went “bang” and the burst panel flew into the air.

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COMPETITION PLUS: HALE CAPS EVENTFUL DENVER RACE ON HIGH NOTE

(July 27) -- When John Hale arrived at Bandimere Speedway, he was going to run the Circle K-sponsored Funny Car for Jim Dunn Racing. Hale’s plans changed when the body was damaged during Saturday’s Q3 session.

“I love that Circle K on the car, I don’t love it when that body gets banged up,” said Hale, who is in his second season driving for Jim Dunn Racing. “There’s nothing more than we would like to do out here than do well for Circle K, but we’ve had some bad luck with that car.”

The first time Hale campaigned the Circle K body at the Southern Nationals (May 13-15) in Atlanta, the car’s engine exploded and the body 100 feet in the air. Hale was unhurt, but the body was destroyed.

At Bandimere, Hale skipped Q4 and then arrived for his first-round match-up with Alexia DeJoria with a body sporting the Oberto Beef Jerky paint scheme.

“We were trying to figure what we were going to do with that body,” Hale said about why his team didn’t run in Q4. “We got the OK from Circle K to run the Oberto body and that’s we ran here (Sunday at Bandimere), but we will have the Circle K on it back for Sonoma (July 29-31). Those things are so temperamental, and if everything is not right, things like that can happen. (Saturday, July 23 in Q3) we burned a piston in that car and the shutdown system shut the ignition and fuel off and I was a little late coming off the pedal. There was some heat on top of the blower and it just lit the leftover fuel on top of the motor there and it blew the burst panels out and the burst panels are really what ultimately broke that nose off the car. The blower did not come off, but the force from the burst panels is what broke that (body). We looked at it and the break was so clean you could shove it back together and someone can fix it. We will get an estimate on getting it fixed, but if it over a certain cost we will just sell it.”

Hale said Jim Dunn Racing team has a body that’s going to be wrapped with Circle K design Monday.

“It will be picked up Tuesday and I will be at Sonoma with the Circle K car,” Hale said.

After a tough first couple of days at Bandimere Speedway, Hale did have reason to smile Sunday as he upset DeJoria in the first round.

Both DeJoria and Hale’s Funny Cars had their motors quit at the same time and Hale coasted past DeJoria to the finish line.

Hale clocked a 4.303-second run at 240.64 mph. DeJoria came in at 4.324 seconds at 232.71 mph.

It was Hale’s first round win in 2016 eliminations as he came to the starting line with an 0-13 record before defeating DeJoria. Hale has competed in 41 career NHRA national events in nitro Funny Car. His best race performance was a runner-up effort at the Gatornationals in 2015 to Ron Capps.

Hale couldn’t extend his streak to two in a round as he lost to Robert Hight in round two at the Mile-High Nationals. Hale clocked a 4.161-second lap to Hight’s winning 3.997-second run.

Written by Tracy Renck  Wed, 2016-07-27 08:00
FULL ARTICLE LINK

ASHER'S DENVER INSIDER - SATURDAY EDITION

July 24 -- We were wrong, okay? Mistakes were made, and punishments will be handed out. There were a bunch of cars hiding in the pits, and there are 16 cars in each of the fuel fields, so there will be no bye runs on Sunday. However, there weren’t any Pro Stock cars hiding, so their field is short one entry.

Phew! Now that that’s behind us we can move forward – into another really terrific day of racing at Bandimere Speedway. We have talked endlessly about the fans at this facility, and they just have to be mentioned again. They not only turned out in huge numbers, just like yesterday, but when it rained again today they hung in there until it stopped, and then cheered their way through another night session that was nothing short of terrific. Maybe we’re jaded, but at most facilities 10 minutes of rain usually results in more than 50 percent of the fans bailing out for the day. That just doesn’t happen up here. No more than 10 percent of the people bailed because of the rain, and that speaks volumes for the Denver area fans and for the Bandimere family, a group that understands what customer service really means. It’s a shame, but you can count the tracks like this one on one hand, when in truth, every national event facility should be as fan-friendly as this one is.

It is really late as we’re writing this, and there comes that time of day (or night) when the words just won’t keep coming, and this is one of them, so we’re going to let the pictures tell today’s story.

John Hale banged the blower in Big Jim Dunn’s car, tearing the Dodge Charger body in half.

Story and photos by Jon Asher    Sun, 2016-07-24 18:18

FULL ARTICLE

JIM DUNN RACING RETURNS WITH CIRCLE K FUNNY CAR IN DENVER

TEXAS (July 14) -- During the debut of the Circle K Funny Car at the Atlanta NHRA national event in May, the car’s engine exploded and sent the Mopar body 100 feet into the air.  Jim Dunn Racing driver, John Hale, experienced no injuries and coasted down the track being slowed by parachutes.

Since then a new Funny Car body has been prepared with the same bright red graphics and the highly recognizable Circle K logo for the upcoming NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver.

Drag Racing Hall of Fame team owner Jim Dunn and driver, John Hale will be hosting an autograph session and appearance with the Circle K Funny Car on Thursday, July 21 from 4:00-6:00pm at the Circle K convenience store located at 411 W. Florida Ave. Denver, CO 80223.  The Circle K Funny Car is part of a season long promotion with Jim Dunn Racing and Oberto Beef Jerky.  Circle K convenience stores surrounding race markets will feature Oberto Beef Jerky products and host driver autograph sessions with the Circle K Mopar Funny car on display at selected stores during race weeks.

Original Article: Competition Plus

NHRA: Circle K Funny Car back on track for Denver

GLENDORA (July 13) -- Two months after its explosive debut in Atlanta, Jim Dunn Racing’s Circle K Funny Car will be back on the track at the upcoming Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver, July 22-24.

During its debut at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in May, the car’s engine exploded and sent the Mopar body 100 feet into the air. Driver John Hale was unhurt and coasted down the track being slowed by parachutes. Since then a new Funny Car body has been prepared with the same bright red graphics and the highly recognizable Circle K logo for the upcoming event at Bandimere Speedway outside of Denver.

Drag Racing Hall of Fame team owner Dunn and driver Hale will host an autograph session and appearance with the Circle K Funny Car Thursday, July 21, from 4-6 p.m. at the Circle K convenience store at 411 W. Florida Ave. Denver, CO 80223. The Circle K Funny Car is part of a season-long promotion with Jim Dunn Racing and Oberto Beef Jerky. Circle K convenience stores surrounding race markets will feature Oberto Beef Jerky products and host driver autograph sessions with the Circle K Mopar Funny car on display at selected stores during race weeks.

The Circle K Funny Car will begin qualifying at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals Friday, July 22, with additional qualifying sessions on June 23, and racing eliminations Sunday, June 24.

FULL ARTICLE

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John Hale Racing Hubert's Lemonade Funny Car Wins Best Appearing Award at Norwalk and Gets Ready for Chicago Race!

CHICAGO (July 7) -- Funny Car team owner Big Jim Dunn always enjoys collecting another NHRA “Wally”. The latest one in his trophy case is from the recent NHRA national event in Norwalk, OH where Jim Dunn Racing unveiled the Hubert’s Lemonade Funny Car.

The bright yellow and white Funny Car with the smiling lemon logo on the side was appreciated by fans, fellow competitors, and NHRA staff alike who rewarded the team for their efforts with the Best Appearing Award. The Hubert’s Lemonade livery will be on the Funny Car again at the upcoming NHRA national event at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, with an extra perk for the fans attending the race…lemonade sampling in the Midway.

Race fans in the Chicago area can get their first up close look at the Best Appearing Hubert’s Lemonade Funny Car on Thursday, July 7, at the Menards located in Morris, IL. The Funny Car will be on display with drag racing Hall of Famer, Jim Dunn, signing autographs from 4:00-6:00pm at 500 Menard Drive, Morris, IL 60450. Radio station WCSJ/WJDK will be on-site with a live remote and Hubert’s Lemonade will have beverage sampling and product for sale in the store.

The Funny Car team will then make its way over to Route 66 Raceway in preparation for a full weekend of qualifying and racing, July 8-10. Hubert’s Lemonade will have a product sampling booth at the track all weekend so fans can try the product then purchase it at any Menards store in the greater Chicago metro area and throughout 14-states in the Midwest. #route66raceway.

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Hubert's Lemonade