Mike McIntire scored his fourth win of the 2015 season in the AMSOIL Nitro Funny Car Presented By Aeromotive class during the IHRA’s Summer Nationals.  It was an all-Ohio Nitro Funny Car final as McIntire (from Mentor, Ohio) faced Wayne Mellinger (North Ridgeville, Ohio) in the final round. McIntire ran 5.765 sec./253.99 mph to Mellinger’s effort of 7.464 sec./126.29 mph.

“It was a good weekend,” said McIntire, who now is four-for-four in IHRA Nitro Funny Car competition in 2015. “The weather was a downer but today was beautiful. It was great having all of these cars out here – new faces and new cars to run against. For us it was a great weekend. We worked our tails off. It’s surreal right now.”

When defending Nitro Funny Car champion Jason Rupert ripped off a potentially record-breaking 5.63 sec. run in the first round of qualifying, it appeared his black Camaro might charge its way into victory lane and bump McIntire from the national record column.

“We were worried,” McIntire admitted. “Jason (Rupert) ran that .63 in qualifying and it was a great run. Those guys can put up numbers. He’s the champ for a reason. We were a little bit nervous. We weren’t the fastest car this weekend but we were pretty consistent and it paid off.”

Rupert was unable to back up his run of 5.63 seconds to claim a new elapsed time record. His car broke on the starting line in the first round of eliminations and he lost to Steve Nichols. Nichols failed to qualify, but was able to compete after eighth-place qualifier Shawn Bowen withdrew from the event. Nichols, the first alternate in ninth place, moved up and in.

(Mike McIntire wheeled his 1970 bodied Chevy Camaro to it’s 4th IHRA circuit win of the season)

It took an extra day to complete the IHRA Nitro Jam Summer Nationals. Rain interfered with a considerable portion of the event at Cordova International Raceway, causing racers and fans to return on Sunday after Saturday’s schedule completely was wiped out.  The Funny Car field was set based on one qualifying round.

Final Qualifying Order:

QUALIFYING RESULTS: AMSOIL NITRO FUNNY CAR PRESENTED BY AEROMOTIVE

1 Jason Rupert (Yorba Linda, California) 1969 Camaro 5.631 sec./259.01 mph

2 Paul Romine (Fishers, Indiana) 1979 Mustang 5.693 sec./250.92 mph

3 John Hale (Addison, Texas) 1969 Camaro 5.750 sec./247.93 mph

4 Tim Boychuk (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) 1977 Firebird 5.765 sec./242.93 mph

5 Mike McIntire (Mentor, Ohio) 1970 Camaro 5.820 sec./255.19 mph

6 Wayne Mellinger (North Ridgeville, Ohio) 1971 Challenger 5.919 sec./235.31 mph

7 Steve Nichols (Newark, Delaware) 1970 Camaro 6.015 sec./235.19 mph

8 Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Indiana) 1974 Vega 6.038 sec./236.92 mph

Not qualified:

9 Greg Jacobsmeyer (Flourissant, Missouri) 1970 Challenger 6.135 sec./233.03 mph

10 Doc Halladay (Eagan, Minnesota) 1978 Arrow 6.168 sec./222.51 mph

11 Marc White (Chicago, Illinois) 1977 Monza 6.227 sec./204.29 mph

12 Shawn Bowen (Grand Blanc, Michigan) 1970 Challenger 6.667 sec./150.93 mph

13 Mark Sanders (Maple Valley, Washington) 1970 Mustang DQ

Post and Photos by:  John Bisci