Northeast Division team claims Jeg’s Allstars title (NHRA/JEG’S)

JOLIET, Ill. – The eight-member group from the NHRA Northeast Division claimed the overall team championship during the 22nd annual Jeg’s Sportsman Allstars race held last weekend at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. Three Northeast Division drivers – Frank Manzo, Don Pires Jr., and Lynn Hoosigan – won their respective categories to lead the team to a 1,300 to 1,000 point victory over the host team from the North Central Division and earn the $20,000 team bonus. The Northeast Division team had won the overall team title on three previous occasions, but had been winless since 1995.

The Jeg’s Allstars event is the culmination of a yearlong points battle between drivers in each of the eight Lucas Oil Sportsman categories, Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Competition, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. Drivers earn Allstars points by competing in Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series events held within each of NHRA’s seven geographic divisions. Defending Allstars champions in each category are automatically placed in the field as blockers, rounding out the eight car fields. Allstars competitors compete for individual and team honors, and a share of the $100,000 total payout.

Manzo, of Morganville, N.J., won the Jeg’s Allstars Top Alcohol Funny Car title for the fifth time in his career when he drove his Monte Carlo to a 5.54 to 5.72 win over Cy Chesterman, a representative of the West Central division.

Pires chipped in with 300 points as he drove his ’69 Chevy Nova to a victory over Southeast Division competitor Mickey Whaley in the Stock Eliminator final and Hoosigan, the only female competitor in the field, helped seal the victory when she beat Southeast Division competitor Mike Ruff in the Super Street final.

The team from the North Central Division was able to mount a challenge thanks to the efforts of Marty Thacker, Jeff Taylor, and Rock Haas, who each scored victories and accounted for 900 of the team’s 1,000 total points.

Thacker defeated reigning national champ Steve Torrence to win the Top Alcohol Dragster title with a strong 5.37 elapsed time. Taylor, the reigning Competition Eliminator national champion, won his fourth Jeg’s Allstars title when he downed Southeast Division racer Glen Treadwell in the final and Rock Haas scored a win in Super Gas when he beat Northeast Division racer George Smith in the final round.

Other champions included Don Duke of the West Central Division, who claimed the Super Stock championship over defending event champ and points blocker Kevin Smith and Shawn Langdon, who successfully defended his 2005 victory in the Super Comp division.

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2006 Jeg’s Allstars race, Jeg’s Automotive, Inc. announced that it has extended its agreement with NHRA as the title sponsor of the event through the 2011 season. The event is televised on ESPN2 as part of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series show.


Jeg’s Allstars Final points standings

Northeast Division (Div.1) 1,300
North Central Division (Div. 3) 1,000
Southeast Division (Div. 2) 900
West Central Division (Div. 5) 700
South Central Division (Div. 4) 600
Northwest Division (Div. 6) 200
Pacific Division (Div. 7) 200