Battle Of The Imports - Jackson Racing

The last stop on the IDRA's record-setting 2000 event series drew racers and spectators alike back to the birthplace of import drag events, the Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, Calif. Even an unusually low chill factor for a So Cal November couldn't scare off some of the West Coast's biggest names in import drag racing.

Unfortunately, when Mother Nature failed to keep them away, Lady Luck stepped in to finish the job, sending several of the quicker cars home early because of breakage.

This left the Pro-Import Class honors wide open for some of the newcomers in the forced-induction class, who were ready to take advantage and provide the crowd with some exciting heads up racing.

Joel Tanzman brought out his old-school Toyota Supra and set the pace during qualifying with a 9.71-second effort. For once, the Honda camp came up short as the front-drives couldn't compete with the six-cylinder, force-fed rear drives and the closest pursuer in the second spot was almost a second-and-a-half behind the number one qualifier.

As usual at the Battle, the all-motor fraternity was on hand in full force. Record holder Shawn Hillier and the L'Natural CRX were looking for the first-ever naturally aspirated 10-second pass in a Honda at Palmdale's notorious altitude.

However, the competition was tougher than ever with less than one second splitting the entire field. Teren King busted out big time during Saturday's qualifying, clinching the number one spot less than one-hundredth of a second ahead of the L'Natural CRX with an 11.92 to its 11.93.

Other impressive performances came from Rich Lumba, whose all-motor Integra posted low 12s on its debut and the street-driven Civic of Adam DeLeon laid several low 12-second passes. Although several factors deterred the production of any record-setting passes at the season finale, the Battle managed to produce some exciting door-handle-to-door-handle racing.

The 2000 season was a huge success from coast to coast, and with the recent announcement of a season points championship for 2001, you can bet Battle will be bringing the best in import drag racing to a track near you.