Results 2020

MANDRA RECAP – South Mountain Raceway – Sunday Sept 27, 2020

MANDRA does it again a great day of racing at South Mountain, 28 cars on hand unfortunately Ralph Ferraro hydraulicked his motor on warm up breaking the block, putting Ralph out of competition.

The days winners, double payout, was sponsored by FWG Racing, Frankie G. and R & A Racing, Ray and Allison Bloom. There was also a payout to third round runner-ups sponsored by South Mountain Raceway and MANDRA and a $25 dollar bonus for the low winning reaction time each round sponsored by Frankie G., Chris Righetti, Tony Picone, Ray Bloom and Merritt Snyder. This made a $625 purse for MANDRA racers.

The weather looked pretty rough in the morning with a threatening cloud cover, except for a very light drizzle in early afternoon (something about a black cloud over Ralphs trailer), which held racing up for a half hour racing went fine.

Mike Volpe had the first round bye run with a .002 reaction time in time trials. The round one low reaction time bonus went to John Wise with an .017. The round two low reaction time bonus also went to John Wise again with an .014.

Round three started with Chris Righetti winning over Randy Campbell, Marc English defeating Frankie G. and Merritt Snyder defeating Tony Picone, John Wise advanced to the semi finals with a bye run. That made Randy, Frankie and Tony the Third round runner-ups, each getting $25. Also in the third round John Wise again had low reaction time with a .004.

The semi-finals pitted Marc English against the low reaction time wiz John Wise with Marc taking the win when John ran too fast with a 7.08 on his 7.09 dial. Merritt Snyder raced Chris Righetti with Merritt taking the win by about .04. The low reaction time bonus went to Merritt with an .066 reaction against Chris Righetti.

The final was Marc English vs Merritt Snyder, Merritt left the line first with a better reaction time but was unable to run his dial in and Marc got the win. In the final Marc English received the low reaction time bonus with a .101 winning reaction time.

Congratulations to all winners, see you in two weeks for the final MANDRA race of the season.

Merritt

Winner - Marc English

Runner-Up - Merritt Snyder

Semi's - Chris Righetti

Semi's John Wise

Reaction Money - John Wise

Cecil County Recap - September 12th, 2020

Great MANDRA racing continued at Cecil County Dragway on Saturday with 29 cars on hand for the day.

Thank you to our sponsor Santee Racing, Mark Santee put a new twist on the days awards by having a $50 bonus for the best package in the first round. A “package” refers to a combination of the reaction time and how close you run to your dial-in.

Cliff Sebring also put up a $50 for a bonus to the first driver to have a .000 winning reaction time in eliminations. This bonus would continue to roll over to the next race until there would be a winner.

First round went on with all 29 cars making the call, Gregg Snyder, with his 73 Cuda, won the bonus for the best first round package with a .029 combination.

Marc English had low reaction time for first round with a .002 giving him a bye run in second round.

Second round brought a surprise early end to Cliff Sebrings $50 bonus for the first .000 winning reaction time when Merritt Snyder had a perfect reaction time in defeating Tony Picone.

Third round found John Harris winning over Bud Poust, Merritt Snyder defeating Marc English, Mark Santee ending Brian Wallaces’ day and Gregg Snyder beating Gary Scott.

In the semi-finals Mark Santee ended John Harris day and Merritt Snyder defeated Gregg Snyder.

From 29 cars it came down to the two Comet racers with Mark and Merritt lining up for the final, Merritt ended it quickly with a red light giving Marc Santee his forth win of the year.

Congratulations to Mark and Santee racing for a hard earned win.

In two weeks we will be at South Mountain Raceway for their Glory Days event. Because of the rain out at the July race we will have double sponsors and a double purse.
That’s $200 to win, $100 for runner up and $50 for semi-finalists. In addition their will be a $25 bonus for low reaction time in EACH ROUND.
Sponsors will be Frankie Gs’ FWG Racing and Ray and Allison Blooms’ R&A Racing.

Merritt

Winner - Mark Santee

Runner-Up - Merritt Synder

Semi's - John Harris

Semi's - Gregg Snyder

MANDRA Recap - Beaver Springs Memorial Weekend - Saturday Sept 5, 2020

MANDRA had 31 cars on hand for the Saturday race, the days sponsor was Team Ferraro. Tim Hansberry had low reaction time in time trials with a .0001 on his first run. Tim Hansberry also received Saturdays $75 bonus for low reaction time in eliminations.

The weather was great, the track was great, but racers were a little hard on the equipment. Bob English found engine damage after his first time run and was out of competition for the day, Dave Fenzel suffered a broken torque converter in the first round, in the second round Randy Campbell broke some valve train parts, Chris Righetti lost second gear in his transmission and Brian Yarrison broke the rear end in the Checker.

In the first round Bud Poust tried to ruin his own day when he left first against a faster car with a .289 reaction time, but was very lucky when his competition red lighted. They say you always need one lucky run during the day.

Saturdays semi-finals came down to Mark Santee vs Bud Poust with Bud getting the win and Bill Wert vs Frankie G with Bill Wert moving on to the final.

In the final Bud and Bill left the line with nearly identical reaction times with Bud running a 12.061 on his 12.06 dial while Bill was too fast with a 10.48 on a on a 10.52 dial in. Congratulations to Bud on his win.

In the MANDRA consolation race 10 cars competed for the winners plaque, the semi-finals had Mike Fisher against Gregg Snyder with Mike taking the win and Ray Bloom against Tony Picone with Tony taking the win.

In the final Tony Picone had his run of the day with an .017 reaction time and running right on his 10.82 dial in for the win.

Thank you to everyone who participated.Merritt

Winner: Bud Poust

Runner-up: Bill Wert

Semi's: Frank Giallonardo

Semi's: Mark Santee

Consolation Winner - Tony Piccone

MANDRA Recap - Beaver Springs Memorial Weekend - Sunday Sept 6, 2020

Sunday MANDRA had 26 cars on hand for the race, Sundays sponsor was Cyclone Racing, low reaction time went to Judd McKinsey with a .006, but just like Saturday there was no first round bye run.

The weather was good all day with a lot of clouds moving in as the day went on.

By third round racing got interesting with Cliff Sebring defeating Pete Boyer, John Wise defeating Bill Wert and Marc English dodging a bullet, winning the round despite a .118 reaction time when Brian Wallace went 9.70 on his 9.71 dial in.

The semi-finals came down to Mike Volpe sending John Wise home and Marc English ending Cliff Sebrings day.

The final was over at the starting line as Mike left first with a .030 reaction time and Marc English pushed a little too hard getting a -.030 red light.

In addition to the winners purse Mike Volpe also received the $50 low reaction time in elimination bonus with a .003 reaction time in the second round.

Congratulations to all winners.

Winner: MIke Volpe

Runner-up: Marc English

Semis: John Wise

Semi's: Cliff Sebring

MANDRA – Atco Dragway race Aug 23, 2020

Each MANDRA race seems to be more fun than the last, Atco was no different. It takes a dedicated group to tow race cars 100 or 200 miles when the weather says 50% chance of thunder storms. But 15 MANDRA racers did just that and were rewarded with a great race and an early finish.

The days sponsors were Tony and Kim Picone’s ABP Mechanical and Dick DeMott’s D&M Engineering, Unfortunatly none of our sponsor were able to attend but we gave their money away without them. The track announced early that there would only be one time run due to the approaching weather.

Time trials went on with no problems then came a strange first round, a change in weather resulted in 11 of the 15 cars in the first round ran faster than their dial in. In addition 5 cars red lighted.

In the second round we saw the closest run of the day when Brian Yarrison and Bruce Thomas both running on their dial in with Brian taking the win with a better reaction time.

The semi-finals came down to Cliff Sebring racing Tim Hansberry with Cliff taking the win. The other half of the semi-finals was Chris Righetti and Brian Yarrison in another close race with Chris winning with a .002 reaction time making the difference. The .002 reaction time also gave Chris the sponsors $50 low reaction time bonus.

In the final Chris Righetti made it easy for Cliff Sebring with a .008 red light giving Cliff the win.

Car count at Atco was probably a little less than at Maple Grove but not a lot less. With one time run the race day was completed by about 1:30, MANDRA racers were gone by about 2:00. Atco did a great job of getting the race day started on time and ran the show with little downtime. Great job Atco.

After leaving the track I got into rain about 20 minutes from the track, rain continued ‘til I got on the north east extension of the PA turnpike. Timing was perfect.

Our next race will be Labor Day weekend Saturday and Sunday September 5 & 6 at Beaver Springs, be there

Have a great week.
Merritt

Winner - Cliff Sebring

Runner-up - Chris Righetti

Semis - Brian Yarrison

Semi's - Tim Hansberry

MANDRA Racing Maple Grove Geezers - August 8, 2020

There was a good turnout for the Geezers at the Grove race Saturday at Maple Grove Raceway. Hansberry Enterprise was the days sponsor, unfortunately Tim was unable to be there due to his work schedule. We missed Tim and thank him for supporting MANDRA.

MANDRA was represented with 23 cars for first round. Mike Volpe had the first round Bye with a .011 reaction time in time trials.

There were numerous close races leading up to the semi-finals where six cars remained. Mark Santee defeated Bruce Thomas, Randy Campbell defeated Gary Breeback and Ben Mauchamer defeated Marc English.

In the semi-finals Mark Santee had the bye run due to low reaction time in the previous round and Ben Mauchamer defeated Randy Campbell with a .003 reaction time, (best reaction time of the day), and running 8.65 on his 8.65 dial.

In a great final Mark Santee left first with a .014 light and ran right on with a 10.38 on his 10.38 dial in. Ben Mauchamer chased Mark but his .059 reaction and running 8.66 on his 8.65 dial time wasn’t enough to catch Mark.

Thanks to everyone who attended, our next race will be the Atco Nostalgia Fall Classic on Sunday August 23. See you there.

Have a great week.
Merritt

Mark Santee - Winner

Ben Mauchamer - Runner-up

Randy Campbell - Semi's

Good morning MANDRA racers and fans - July 25, 2020

Great day for racing at Numidia Dragway Saturday for the Annual Locust Township Police Department Car Show. There was a good turnout for the car show and MANDRA had 25 cars on hand for nostalgia racing. The days MANDRA sponsors were Blue Oval Racing – Jim Mullin and Better Half Racing – Barbara Sommers.

Unfortunately by the time we were ready for first round 2 cars had to drop out, Ray Blooms new engine/converter combination did not work, John Hake had a
carburetor problem. With 23 cars for first round John Rose had the bye run with a .001 reaction time.

When the call came for first round Bill Wert couldn’t make it to the staging lanes due to an electrical problem.

By the third round there were 6 cars left in competition, Mike Volpe defeated Merritt Snyder, Chris Righetti defeated Pat Brewers dragster and Mark Santee took out John Rose.

The semi-finals paired Mark Santee and Chris Righetti with Mark getting the win when Chris had an .015 red light and Mike Volpe had a bye run into the final.

In the final Mike Volpe had a significant edge at the tree but a double break out at the finish line made Mark Santee the winner.

Next race is at Maple Grove August 8th for their Geezers event. Maple Grove said they plan to start time trials at 9AM with elimination starting immediately after the second time run, they said we should be done before 4PM. Please plan accordingly.

Have a great week.
Merritt

Winner - Mark Santee

Runner Up - Mike Volpe

Semi's - Chris Reghetti

Consolation Winner - John Wise

MANDRA South Mountain race recap - July 12, 2020

Looked like a good race day at South Mountain, 20 MANDRA racers were on hand.

The days sponsor was Frankie “G” and FWG Racing.

In addition to the sponsor payout Frankie G, Chris Rigetti and Tony Picone each added $25 to make a $75 bonus for the best winning reaction time in eliminations.

In time trials Bill Wert broke a rear putting him out of competition leaving 19 cars for first round. Randy Campbell had low reaction time of .0001 give Randy a bye run in first round.

First round went smoothly then rain showers came along ending the race day.

All first round winners will receive 25 extra points for their win.

In a discussion between Frankie G, the days race sponsor and Ray Bloom, the sponsor of the September 27th race at South Mountain, they quickly decided to combine the July 12th sponsorship purse and the September 27th purse for a double purse at South Mountain on September 27th. That will be $200 to win, $100 for runner up and $50 for semi-finals. In addition the $75 bonus for the low reaction time will also be carried over to the September 27th race.

The next race will be Numidia, Saturday July 25th, more information on that coming.

Have a great week.
Merritt

MANDRA recap Mason-Dixon June 27, 2020

The day looked pretty ify in the morning with a lot of areas having rain, but the sun pushed through the clouds at Mason Dixon and racing began with some heat and humidity. We had to stop racing for a half hour or so when a light shower came through then competition resumed.

Thank you to the days sponsor John Hake and John Hakes Auto Services of Wrightsville, PA for the payouts to our winners. In addition Ray Bloom sponsored a $60 bonus to the winning low reaction time during eliminations.

MANDRA had 23 cars on hand but during time trials Brian Wallace had a broken rear and new member Dave Fenzel had to bow out with a broken rocker arm stud leaving 21 cars for first round.

Gary Breeback got a first round bye run with a .0001 reaction time on his second time run.

Six cars remained in third round where Mark Santee defeated Bob Smiths ’37 Chevy coupe The Marylander, Gary Breeback gave Merritt Snyder a gift when Gary red lighted first, and Bud Poust had a hole shot against Marc English but didn’t run his number giving Marc the win with a 9.12 on his 9.10 dial in.

That left 3 cars for the semi-finals, Marc English advanced to the finals when Merritt Snyder red lighted and Mark Santee advanced with the bye run.

In a close final Marc English had the better reaction time with an .047 to Mark Santees .055. At the finish line Marc English ran right on his dial in to defeat Mark Santee by less than two hundredths of a second.

The $60 low reaction time in competition award went to Merritt Snyder with a .003 in the first round against new member Gregg Snyder from York, PA driving his ‘73 Barracuda.

Thank you to everyone that made the Mason Dixon race a success. Next race will be at South Mountain on Sunday July 12th for the Racers Reunion car show and race featuring some drag race cars from the 50s and early 60s. Bruce Larson and Mike Dunn will be in attendance. See you there.

Merritt

MANDRA recap Cecil County June 13, 2020

Another fun race day Saturday at Cecil County. MANDRA had a good turn out with 26 cars for this event. Thank you to the days sponsor Paul and Josh Nevells Quarter Mile Farm, in Perkasie, PA.

Bruce Thomas had low reaction time with a .006 on his second time run. But again with an even number of cars on hand there was no first round bye run.

The top three MANDRA points holders all went out in round one, Ray Bloom and Merritt Snyder were first pair to the starting line with Ray getting the win by virtue of a -.001 red light by Merritt, next up was Gary Conte who sent Mark Santee home with a hole shot win in what could have been a very close race. Next came a heads up race between Chris Righetti and Roger Bard with Roger putting a huge hole shot on Chris to end his day early.

Also worth mentioning in the first round was a real close race between Josh Nevells and Bruce Thomas, Bruce had a .003 better reaction time and .008 at the finish line to send Josh home.

Racing went smoothly into the semi-finals where Gary Conte gave Brian Yarrison almost a 3-1/2 second head start but having a better reaction time ran him down in the lights for the win.

The other semi-final pair was Bruce Thomas 66 Mustang and Brian Wallace 61 Corvette, based on their reaction times neither racer wanted to win but Bruce prevailed to go on to the final.

In the final Gary Conte gave Bruce Thomas a big head start (10.37 vs 8.88) but with a better reaction time Gary was able run him down in the lights.

Special note on Gary Conte’s elapse time consistency, in 5 rounds of competition Gary ran a 8.87, 8.87, 8.87, 8.90, 8.90. Congratulations on a well earned win and that’s while shifting a 5 speed. Also in time trials it was reported that Gary ran his first 150 MPH run, congratulations again.

Merritt

Winner - Gary Conte

Runner-Up - Bruce Thomas

Semi's - Brian Yarrison

Semi's - Brian Wallace

South Mountain Recap

Sunday at South Mountain another great MANDRA race day, 20 MANDRA cars on hand it was beautiful, sunny and warm. Brian Wallace was the days sponsor in memory of his father Ron Wallace who was the owner of South Mountain Raceway from 1971 through 2007.

MANDRA had 2 new members this week Ken Kerl driving the English Brothers Studebaker and Roger Bard from Waynesboro, PA with a 69 Camaro.

Frankie “G” had low reaction time in time trials with a .007 with his 73 Mustang, but with 20 cars on hand there wouldn’t be a first round bye.

Going into the third round found the closely matched pair of Mark Santee and Randy Campbell, in a very close race Randy had the better reaction time and crossed the finish line first with a 6.48 on his 6.46 dial eliminating Mark who ran right on his 6.51 dial.

The second pair was even closer, a contest between Chris Righetti and John Wise, John left first with a .011 light but Chris was right there with a .005 light. In the tightest of finishes Chris ran right on with a 6.501 on his 6.50 dial while John ran out with a 7.04 on his 7.06 dial. What a race. Chris’s .005 reaction time also gave him a bye run into his third final in three races.

Merritt Snyder finished the round with a bye run. Due to low reaction time in the previous round.

The semi-finals brought Randy Campbell and Merritt Snyder to the starting line in another close race. The two cars left the line with the identical reaction times down to the ten thousandth (.0266). Merritt got to the finish line first running right on his 6.53 dial, while Randy slowed to a 6.48 on his 6.46 dial.

Chris Righetti cruised into the finals with his earned bye run.

This set up a rerun of the Sunday final at Beaver Springs, Merritt left first with a better reaction time getting to the finish line first running a 6.59 on a 6.52 dial, again denying Chris a final round win.

Look forward to seeing everyone at Cecil County.

Merritt

Winner - Merritt Snyder

Runner-Up - Chris Righetti

Semi's - Randy Campbell

Consolation Winner - Brian Yarrison

Beaver Springs Recap

May 26, 2020

Good morning MANDRA racers and fans. WOW! We got first and second races of the year in, it was a beautiful weekend, racing was great I believe everyone had a great time and stayed reasonably safe with face masks and reasonable social distancing,

Saturday was sunny at Beaver Springs, racing started on time with 17 MANDRA racers on hand,. Cliff Sebring had low reaction time in time trials with a .0003 light. Unfortunately Ralph Ferraro had a fuel injector problem and was unable to make first round making it a 16 car field and no bye run for Cliff.

Racing went smoothly and the semi-finals pitted Chris Reghetti racing Ray Bloom and Mark Santee against Merritt Snyder. Chris and Ray both had been consistent all day, but Ray ended his day at the starting line with a red light.

The other semi final was the race of the two Comets. This was almost heads up and the announcer declared it to be the race of the day, Mark was dialed at 10.49 and Merritt at 10.48, Mark left the start line with a .008 reaction time and Merritt was right there with a .005. At the finish line Merritt crossed the line first by an .008 margin but ran out by .006, Mark had also run out but by only .001 giving Mark the win.

The final paring was Mark Santee vs Chris Reghetti, Mark left the line first and ran right on his 10.46 dial, while Chris broke out trying to catch him.

Thanks to Charlie Innerest and ARC Plasma Cutting for making Saturdays sponsorship payouts possible.

In the seasons first consolation race final Bill Werts’ newly painted Camaro defeated Bud Poust.

This was truly a great fist MANDRA race for 2020.

Sunday brought more sunshine and another great day of racing. Due to a very nice turn out of cars at Beaver Springs and the possibility of an afternoon shower Mike announced there would only be one time run. Again Sunday had 16 MANDRA racers. Low reaction time was another .0003 this time by Merritt Snyder, but with 16 cars there would be no first round bye run. Charlie Innerest introduced his grandson Jack Stump as a first time MANDRA racer.

First round brought some breakage as Bob English and Bill Wert, both first round winners, had transmission problems that took them out of competition. In the semi-finals Mark English raced Merritt Snyder with Merritt taking the win and Chris Reghetti against Mark Santee. Chris got revenge for his Saturday night final round loss to Mark with a well deserved win. Both cars ran right on their dial ins with Chris’s better reaction time making the difference.

The final was Chris Reghetti against Merritt Snyder, but a win for Chris was not going to happen tonight as Chris red lighted giving the win to the Comet.

Thanks to Sundays sponsor, English Brothers Racing for making the payouts possible.

All winners should receive their plaques by the next race.

Congratulations to Mark Santee and Merritt Snyder for their event wins and special congratulations to Chris Reghetti for reaching the finals both days.

Information on our next race scheduled for June 6th will be posted as soon as we can get a confirmation form a track.

Merritt

Winner - Merritt Snyder

Runner-Up - Chris Righetti

Semi's - Mark Santee

Winner - Mark Santee

Runner-Up - Chris Righetti

Semi's - Merritt Snyder