With rain guaranteed in the forecast, NHRA officials condensed the Great Lakes Nationals schedule to a single qualifying session for the Top Alcohol classes. With that lone shot carrying double duty – settling a final verdict on a season‑long clutch issue and securing a strong qualifying position for Kirk Wolf – Dean Dubbin faced the challenge of delivering both outcomes in one trip down the track.
“One‑shot qualifying is tough,” said team owner and tuner Dubbin. “We had a lot going on. We needed a strong run to get Kirk qualified well in the field, and at the same time we had to prove the clutch changes fixed the problems we had been dealing with all year.”
Conditions were cool and slightly humid, but the track was in excellent shape. Several teams commented that they had never seen traction numbers as strong as what US 131 was producing.
Wolf and the Dubbin team rolled out early in the session and went straight down the groove, posting a 5.283 at 271.25 mph to lock into the No. 5 qualifying position. The run marked the first time all season the car performed exactly as it was set up to run – confirming, definitively, that the clutch issue had been solved.
“For Q1 we put an average tune‑up in the car, just enough to get safely down the track, knowing it was a one‑shot deal,” Dubbin said. “We expected it might shake, but it shook much farther down track than we anticipated. Kirk hasn’t felt the car shake that far down track in a long time, and he started to pedal it, which only cost a little ET – but he gathered it up and still made a solid run.”
Wolf was elated with the run. “I knew the track was really good, and I knew we were a little soft, so I was ready to pedal it,” Wolf said. “It started to quiver the tire just past 100 feet, so I gave it a quick pedal, and it cleared up right away. It probably knocked .02 or .03 off the ET, but a 5.28 with a soft tune‑up with some shake, after struggling all year, made everyone feel great.”
The single qualifying session left several full‑time, championship‑caliber cars buried at the bottom of the order after issues on their runs. That reshuffled the ladder and produced first‑round pairings that a full qualifying schedule would not normally produce.
Qualifying fifth set up a first‑round race against No. 12 qualifier Jackie Fricke and the John Finke team, which has been adapting to a new car after their primary car was destroyed in an accident at the Woodburn, Oregon NHRA regional event just a few weeks earlier with another driver in the seat.
Both drivers left together, but Fricke pulled ahead early and held a small advantage all the way down the track, taking the win with a 5.289 at 271 mph over Wolf’s 5.354 at 270 mph.
Wolf knew he was in trouble the moment he hit the throttle.
“Coming into round one, we set up the engine and clutch more aggressive, but we didn’t give it enough,” Wolf said. “The track was so good it tugged the motor down about 500 rpm at the hit, and it never recovered, and we just didn’t have the early momentum to repeat our 5.28.”
Dubbin saw the same thing from the starting line.
“We set the clutch up very aggressive but the track got even tighter, and I just didn’t give it enough power. We could have been much more aggressive and been fine,” he added.
Looking ahead, the season is starting to feel very different for the team.
“We’ve finally put to rest the clutch problems that have plagued us all year,” Dubbin said. “Now it’s time to really step up the performance. It’s been a long stretch since we could just go race instead of spending all our time troubleshooting the car.”
Next up, Wolf and the Dubbin Motorsports team head to the Stampede of Speed at the Texas Motorplex, one of the premier NHRA events of the season. The event runs Oct. 8-18 and features NHRA Lucas Oil Series regional racing, the JEGS Allstars, and the NHRA Texas Fall Nationals.
Wolf said, “I’m so excited to get to Dallas; I want that cowboy hat!”
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