Diedrich Wins in Woodburn!

Courtesy of WCOPMA

Woodburn, OR – No more waiting and wondering when his first Pro Mod victory would come, Jay Diedrich placed his “Evil Outlaw” 1957 Chevy in the winner’s circle at Woodburn Dragstrip this past weekend while running with the West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association.

Diedrich has won multiple events with his Top Sportsman 1968 Camaro and had many semi-final and runner up finishes in the Pro Mod car, but he hasn’t been able to secure a victory in the three years he has raced the “Evil Outlaw” 1957 Chevy.

Starting off the weekend Diedrich placed himself in the number two qualifying spot after the first qualifying session with a 6.37. The team was happy with that run as they had no prior data for this race track and no testing prior to this pass but now had data to tune with.

On the second qualifying pass Jay slowed to a low 6.40-pass. When they got back to the pit they realized they had a small crack in the mag cap which resulted in a cylinder being out during the entire run. The team replaced the cap with a new one and went up for the third and final qualifying session, hoping to improve on their 6.37 pass that held them in the number two qualifying spot. Unfortunately, with the car running on all 8 cylinders and the track “going away”, Jay blew the tires off within the first 30 feet on the third qualifying pass and failed to improve.
When Sunday morning and the first round of eliminations came around, Jay was paired up against Rob Cacioppo who drives for Steve Gomez in his supercharged 1963 Corvette. Both cars left the line fairly even but Jay had started to pull away by 60 feet. Cacioppo then got loose a little before half track and the round win was in the basket for Diedrich. Everyone could tell the 57 Chevy was on a good run but a career best 6.11 popped up on the board and the crew was ecstatic to say the least.

In the final round Diedrich was paired against Bret Williamson who drives the Don Carter Motorsports 1953 Studebaker. Knowing the Studebaker team was struggling this weekend but knew their car was capable of running quick ET’s, the Firebaugh Express Racing team didn’t take them lightly and wanted to repeat what they did the round before. From the moment the tree dropped Jay lead the race from start to finish cutting a .019 reaction time to Williamson’s .07-something and backing it with a 6.15 to Williamson’s piston nipping and early shutoff pass of 6.50.
In the end the Firebaugh Express Racing team had a great weekend. They qualified number two, won the race and set low ET & high MPH for the event. With the win Diedrich also moved up 3 places in the WCOPMA point’s standings from fifth to second; but Williamson still holds an 81 point lead as he sits comfortably in first place.

Jay would like to thank his crew and family (those both at the race and those who couldn’t make it) for their help and support. Also he credits his engine builder, Joe Bettencourt with JB Motorsports, for doing an excellent job with the PSI screw blown Brad-8 engine between events. He also thanks Lonnie Houde and Bob Bunker Jr. for the at-the-track help with the engine and chassis tuning.

The Firebaugh Express Racing team would like to thank their sponsors:
Diedrich Farms
JB Motorsports
Bunker Race Cars
Earl W. Schott, Inc
Dan Olson Racing Products – www.OlsonMotorsports.com
LHP Racing – www.LHPRacing.com
For more information about the Firebaugh Express Racing team visit their website at www.FirebaughExpressRacing.