PIT NOTES

Bill Cannon picks up the easy $5,000 winner's check, as final-round opponent jumped the gun at the Christmas tree and fouled out.  . . . Rob Poochigian, of Richboro, Pennsylvania, displayed his considerable driving skills in the third round, despite his loss to Bill Verzilli. His '67 Chevelle got out of shape and near the wall, but he stopped it a dramatic fashion in the middle of his lane without damaging anything or anyone.

Semiinishersfinal f:  Brian Ferrari, Bill Verzilli

Round 3 finishers: Joe Alagna, Jason Penwa, Rob Cherkas, Rob Poochigian

Round 2 finishers: Craig Cusamano, Andrew DeMarco, Robert Baptista, Mike Pyott, Brian Mitchell, Shawn Gallagher, Mark Bowen, James Price, Darren Harris

Round 1 winners:  Craig Cusamano, Andrew DeMarco, Robert Baptista, Bill Cannon, Joe Alagna, Brian Ferrari, Mike Pyott, Jason Penwa, Brian Mitchell, Shawn Gallagher, John Goss, Mark Bowen, Rockin' Rob Cherkas, Rob Poochigian, Darren Harris, Bill Verzilli, James Price.

Top qualifier: Harry Gerb (Corydon, Pennsylvania), '68 Firebird, 8.505 seconds

Fastest qualifier: Vince Palazzo (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania), 175.48 mph

Car count: 48 (new class)

Class sponsor: Western Beef, presented by Fine Lines Automotive

OVERALL NOTES:

With a scrambling of the classes this year, The Shakedown offered new opportunities to racers. That, along with an increased purse, boosted the car count to 185.  The new Western Beef Outlaw 8.50 Index class presented by Fine Lines Automotive had the biggest contingent with 48 entries. K & K Precision Outlaw Heavy Street presented by K & S Race Cars, a class promoter Dave Hance began last year, was second-most popular with 38 racers. They represented an increase of 13 competitors from 2007. The Pro Torque Outlaw Drag Radial category presented by Big Daddy Performance, attracted 22 cars, one more than at the previous Shakedown.

The Pro Mod racers who flocked to The Shakedown and the dazzling $20,000-to-win payouts in both the Blown and Nitrous divisions totaled 55 -- 28 drove nitrous-injected cars, and 27 drove supercharged versions.  The Precision Turbo Super Street Outlaw 10.5 class is the only on that, on paper, dropped off in numbers, with four fewer than in 2007. However, the Pro Outlaw class that disappeared after the 2007 event, saw many of its 37 drivers enter The Shakedown in Pro Mod cars. For example, John Bartunek, John Pluchino, Nick Montana, and John Nobile -- last year's Pro Outlaw winner -- moved into the Pro Mod Blown class. And Scott Filkins moved into a Pro Mod Nitrous '06 Pontiac GTO -- and scared everybody in Saturday qualifying with a second-session crash. He was unhurt, but his car fared worse after banging the right guard wall just past the finish line.    . . .

One of the biggest changes in The Shakedown this year is the event sponsorship of Al-Anabi Racing and the fact that it changed to a two-day event.

"For 2008, The Shakedown at E-Town changed to a two-day format, which paved the way for Al Anabi Racing and Speedtech Nitrous to come aboard and join E-Town in putting on a world-class drag race," said Mike Castellana

Event founder and promoter Dave Hance said, "We are very happy to have Al-Anabi Racing as our event title sponsor and Speedtech Nitrous as our presenting sponsor. This agreement has produced a win for drag racing and for all the wonderful fans who support heads-up racing. On behalf of all Shakedown racers and fans, we would like to thank Al-Anabi Racing and Speedtech Nitrous for their support of this great event." 

Unfortunately, Castellana did not qualify in the Speedtech Pro Mod Nitrous class for which his business also was presenting sponsor. The Westbury, New York, veteran driver came into The Shakedown as the quickest nitrous doorslammer driver anywhere by virtue of his 6.000 elapsed time earlier this year at an IHRA event. He, like his rivals, was anticipating the traditionally cool temperatures and the favorable atmospheric conditions that Old Bridge Township Raceway Park; 

"We are going for it," Castellana said. And that could have been the problem, as his best of the three qualifying passes was an 8.06-second E.T.  

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