- PAUL NOAKES RACING IS BACK!!
- The last season of racing came and went in the blink of an eye. Countless hours were spent updating the Fiat bodied top dragster with an all new Brad Anderson 526 cu. in. engine. It was a first to run this combination in all of my 25 years of racing.
At the beginning of the season, I intended to run the entire Quick 32 series. However, a unique opportunity presented itself and changed my intentions for the season. Larry Dobbs, a fellow Canadian funny car racer, asked me to wheel his ride at several NHRA divisional and national events. I couldn’t resist such an opportunity that launched me back to my real passion for racing alcohol funny cars. With the support of my family, racing team, and sponsors, I planned a new schedule for the year that included driving the top dragster at 3 races and the alcohol funny car for 8 races.
Although the season was filled with many highs and lows, there were many positives that came from it. Some of those highs were:
- At the 4 Wide Nationals in Charlotte, I ran my career fastest (5.60 @ 259 m.p.h.)
- Top 10 finish in Division 3
- Top 50 finish nationally, in my first season racing NHRA
- Running the Fiat to record setting times and winning rounds
The biggest positive that came from the year was the drive and the push from a good friend and sponsor Jay Johnston at Harman Heavy Vehicle Specialists. He helped me with my decision to make the move back to alcohol funny car with our own race car and equipment. I thank Larry and Kevin Dobbs for the opportunity to race at the level I would like to run and to prove to myself it is possible to be competitive in the NHRA top alcohol class with a smaller budget.
When we were planning our 2012 season I thanked the Dobbs team and told them it was a good time for me to invest a little more into our team and to make a run at a Regional championship and a top ten national points in the NHRA.
We set out this year to update the Harman Heavy Vehicle Specialists Mustang to be a top competing alcohol funny car. We sold both roots style superchargers and purchased a ton of new parts for the update with the help of our sponsors. We set our goals high to meet our competitive schedule, but acquiring the correct parts took more time than anticipated. After the long anticipated arrival of our PSI screw supercharger, we had found it was cracked. Fortunately we were able to return it, however, it set our schedule back a month. At last, another supercharger was found and after being recertified by the manufacturer, it is here looking great. Due to all of the delays, with much regret, we had to cancel the first few races of the season that we had planned to attend. The first was the Gator Nationals in Gainesville, Florida, the second being the Four Wide Nationals in Charlotte, North Carolina, and finally the first Region 3 race in Indianapolis. Obviously, we are hugely disappointed, but I promise we will come out swinging for the fences at these races next year! We can’t wait to get out there and start our race season in Norwalk, Ohio.
There is also good news for the Canadian drag racing scene with the inception of the NDRA alcohol funny car class being contested in Grand Bend and Toronto Motorsports Park. We plan on racing at, at least two of the four events in this new series!! However, our main focus this year is to return to the NHRA races in our own car and be competitive from the second we unload our bad hot rod. We miss all of our fans and we are very excited to be back! See you at the track!!!!
BIG NEWS COMING SOON - KEEP POSTED!!!!
Paul
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