Snowbird Outlaw National 2003

Bradenton Motorsports Park

 photo by Annie Lindstrom

Jets heat up Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - adenton

Annie Lindstrom

Jetwebb correspondent

Bradenton, Fla., December 6 & 7 – Bitter cold and gusty winds didn’t put the brakes on a red hot jet show at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals this weekend.  In fact, never was a Night of Fire more appreciated!

Five cars made their opening passes at 3 p.m. Temperatures hovered in the low 50’s as a fierce tailwind blew from the north. Because of the tailwind, most of the drivers shortened up their fire shows  to keep the flames from melting their parachutes.

 photo by Annie Lindstrom

Fran Peppler in Rock N’ Roll Thunder and Ken Hall in Hanna Motorsports’ Top Secret Eastern Raider got the party started. With their engines running both cars disappeared in a big cloud of their own smoke during the first half of their fire shows. Back in view, Fran and Ken inched up to the line with body-thumping burner pops.

The two funny cars couldn’t have been better matched. Fran beat Ken to the finish by 1/100^th of a second. She ran a 5.81 at 275 mph, while Ken stormed across the line in 5.82 at 276.

 photo by Annie Lindstrom

Next up were just turned 21-year-old Jessie Harris in Hanna Motorsports’ Queen of Diamonds dragster racing against racing veteran Paul Miller in his clean-as-a-whistleNext Generation US1 dragster.

Paul was just starting to tear down his JT-12 car for winter service at his shop in Athens, Ga., when Bradenton officials called and asked him to take Ancel Horton’s place. Ancel had to drop off the card after a mishap with the Mississippi Madman at Moroso last weekend. 

“I wasn’t very far along with taking the car apart,” said Paul. “I was close enough to just getting started to get it back together and get down here in time for the race.”

Unfortunately, neither Jessie or Paul pulled a time on their first pass. A small fuel leak on the Queen of Diamonds caused Jessie to slide past the starting line and red light. Paul took off after her to make it look more like a race for the fans. But the fans in the stands didn’t seem to mind as both beautiful cars roared down the track, their blazing afterburners producing more heat than the feeble and fading afternoon sun.

Then it was really time to toast some marshmallows!

Sarasota, Fla.’s Pepi Urban got a warm welcome from hometown fans when he honked his air horn before the engines on his gleaming Xtreme Machine Freightliner jet semi-truck started to whine. His third time driving the truck at an event, an enthusiastic Pepi spit huge fire shots out of the truck’s shiny J-79 engine. Fred Sibley Jr., crewing for Paul Miller, stayed behind after Paul’s run and checked Pepi’s chutes to make sure his fire show didn’t roast them. After Fred gave Pepi the okay, he popped the truck up to the line and honked his air horn again, stoking himself and the cheering crowd for his run.

Photos by Bill Crabbe, courtesy Bradenton Motorsports

Then he took off.

I can’t tell you how truly frightening it was to stand only a few feet away from that truck as the yellow lights clicked down the tree.  I had no idea what to expect, never having seen that truck go before and never having stood so near the line during a truck run.  I  was crouched down a little and braced against a telephone pole about 15 feet away.

As the truck launched, I instinctively closed my eyes for a split second as I turned to follow the truck down the track. The inside of the chrome afterburner was glowing a brilliant orange and blue. The engine was screaming like something out of a horror movie. And the vibrations of the sound wave shook every organ in my body.

Folks, it was just evil! It seemed like the sound was almost sucking my eardrums out of my head, and that was with my hands clamped down tight as possible over my ears. I took my hands down as soon as I thought I could while running after Pepi trackside for about 10 steps, pumping my first in the air and laughing like a hyena. 

Pepi had a nice run of 8.08 at 202 mph. What a gorgeous truck! Pepi says it’s a totally different ride than racing in his Showdown dragster.  Fred Jr., who’s driven the truck, too, pointed out that when you get up in the seat of the semi-truck you see everything you usually see at eye level, but it’s all below you, which makes for a really big ride.

During the break, Pepi’s crew chief cleaned up pieces of a shattered fluorescent light bulb in the truck’s trailer parked closest to the start line, the truck’s vibrations shook the bulb out of the fixture on the ceiling and it crashed to the floor.

Meantime, fans, especially kids mobbed all the drivers, most of whom kept their fire suits on as they signed autographs and packed their chutes for the next pass, which was scheduled for 8 p.m. (God bless Fran for offering me a hot cup of coffee during the break.)

In Hanna’s pit area Jessie, Al Hanna and Ken answered questions and posed for photos, while crew chief Rich Hanna worked on Queen of Diamonds’ fuel leak. Jessie stunned the freezing Floridians by greeting her fans in her shirtsleeves for a few hours after the race. Hope you didn’t catch cold, girl!

Jessie put on her coat after the second pass and happily posed with these lil' darlins
photo by Annie Lindstrom

The very charming, ultra-personable and stunningly beautiful jet driver just got her license in March. When Jessie’s not racing, she’s working as a receptionist in Dr. Alessi & Podkowka’s family care practice in Rome, N.Y.  She’s no stranger to drag racing though. Since the age of six, she’s been traveling to tracks all over the Northeast with her racing stepfather, who drives with a group called the Supercharged Warriors. Last year she mentioned her yen to race someday to a mutual friend of hers and Al Hanna’s. Before she knew it, she was in Puerto Rico learning how to drive the Queen of Diamonds. Now it would seem that the ’97 small-block Camero she was building for herself will remain unpainted in her garage indefinitely.

Ken, the 32-year-old son of veteran racer Harry Hall and wife Thelma, is based in Elverson, Pa. He and Rich, who drives  Hanna Motorsports’ First Strike funny car, have been hanging out together at race tracks since they were kids.  According to Al, he and his stable of young drivers – Jessie, Ken and Rich – drove Hanna Motorsports’ three cars in a total of 95 races during 2003. Ken will start his 2004 season  in Bradenton in February.

Second pass

After the sun went down the temperature quickly dipped into the low 40s, though the wind died down a bit. The second pass was delayed when one of the motorcycles running before the jets took a nasty spill at the finish line. Luckily, the driver walked away with only a broken hand. By the time the track was cleaned up, fans were definitely ready for some heat.

In the second race between Top Secret and Rock N Roll Thunder, Fran was victorious a second time. Although Ken clocked in with a 5:748 at 281.42 mph, Fran got off the line faster than Ken and won with a time of 5:80 going 275.90 mph. The race turned out to be Fran’s last for the season as she and Phil headed back home to Chicagoland a day early. Paul was tapped to run in Fran’s slot on Sunday.

Paul and Jessie were up next and there were no problems this time. The two drivers lit up the cold air with dragster fire and popped up to the line. Jessie showed her mettle by ripping down the track in 5.17 at 305.91. Paul hit the trap with a 5.29 going 278 mph. Needless to say, Al Hanna’s smile was glowing nearly as bright as the two cars’ fire shows after Jessie’s season ending performance! 

 photo by Annie Lindstrom

The crowds was jazzed for the next pass. Pepi rolled in and showed why his truck is called the Xtreme Machine. The wall of fire that roared out of his engine was a searing white gold. If it was scary in the day, it was downright terrifying to be next to that truck in the black of night. Pepi blew his air horns again and when people were screaming for him to go, he took off like a white hot shot, finishing his season with an 8.16 going 200 mph.

Because his truck is relatively new on the scene, Pepi has only a few bookings for 2004 right now. But, judging from the show he put on Saturday, there’s not doubt that’s only going to be a temporary situation.

Sunday

Two jets remained to kick off the racing on Sunday at noon. The sun was shining brightly, but it was cold enough to start the day in long underwear! Preparing for the race,  Paul welded up a gap on the pipe of Next Generation US1. Crew chief Fred Sibley said that kind of thing has to be done from time to time as the metal of jet engines heats up to 800 degrees centigrade during each pass.

Soon it was time to line up. Ken and Paul were eager to put on a good show for the fans as they ran their last races for the year. The two cars burned up to the line and you could tell each guy wanted to win. Making his official  season-ending run, Paul screamed down the track and snagged an awesome 5.48 at 291 mph. Ken finished his year with a 5.79 at 278.

The race was a fitting end to a string of three consecutive weekends of jet car racing in Florida. But jet racing fans have plenty of things to look forward to in 2004. In fact, Paul grabbed a jet engine from Fred Sibley Sr., a.k.a. Airplane Freddy, who loaded up the trailer for his Beer Hauler jet dragster with jet engine parts and drove down to Bradenton from his home base in Elkhart, Ind. for the weekend. Paul plans to put the engine in a 1950 Buick he’s building. Chomping on his cigar, Airplane Freddy said he’s busy putting a T-53 Lycoming engine from a Hughey helicopter in a ’49 Buick and building a new Lakester land speed car too. In his spare time next year, he’ll be racing and burning down cars with The Beer Hauler. The soon-to-be 70-year-old jet racing legend did 42 shows in 2003.  Fred Jr. said he is putting the finishing touches on a jet PT Cruiser, which he plans to start making test runs with in the next few weeks.

Airplane Fred Sibley
photo by Annie Lindstrom

So, while jet racers tear down their cars for the winter, or finish up new cars I hope you all, have a Happy Holiday. Stay tuned to Jetwebb for all the latest Jet Racing News!

Do you have any jet car news or stories to tell? Contact Jetwebb Annie