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Ron Folk Claims Canadian Quick Rod Title, Earns Bid Into IHRA Tournament of Champions!
Grand Bend, ON: Former Quick Rod World Champion Ron Folk earned an opportunity to repeat that performance at the season ending IHRA tournament of champions, where a select field of qualified competitors will vie for the season championship in a one-race showdown. Folk earned a bid in the elite shootout by advancing through five rounds of competition at last weekend’s Mopar IHRA Canadian Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex, winning the Quick Rod category at the wheel of his Folk Race Cars dragster. At the runoff in Rockingham Folk will join his son, defending Stock World Champion Nick Folk, who has already earned a seed in the Stock category.
“Like just about everyone, I’m not really sold on the Tournament of Champions format. I guess with it being the first year for the program, everyone is a little skeptical,” said Ron Folk. “But I will say that I’m certainly excited to have qualified and know that I’ll be a part of it.”
Folk earned his victory with a final round title over former IHRA top ten finisher Kathy Fisher. In the final, Fisher laid down a respectable .031 reaction time and dead-on 8.905, only to be trumped by Folk’s near perfect .002 reaction and 8.912 elapsed time. The .002 reaction was Folk’s best of eliminations, but he was stellar throughout competition, averaging a .009 light (save for his pressure-free .024 reaction on the semi-final bye run). In the late rounds, Folk knocked off Gary Fleenor and Lisa Bingham to earn the bye run with three cars remaining.
The victory in Canada was the first of the 2009 campaign for Ron Folk, the patriarch of the Folk Racing family. Nick Folk, a two-time IHRA World Champion, has carried the torch for the team much of the 2009 season. Nick earned his bid into the IHRA Tournament of Champions with a Stock title at the season opening event in Immokalee, and backed that up with another Stock crown at their hometown event, the Sportsman Nationals in Byron, IL. Nick also picked up an NHRA national event title in the Super Comp category in St. Louis back in May. Nick’s older brother, and fellow IHRA World Champion Brian Folk also earned a victory at the Byron IHRA event, collecting a Top Dragster win in the opening Pro-Am competition of the weekend.
While the Folk’s have already earned two automatic bids into the tournament of champions, they hope to earn multiple additional seeds into the event. All national and sportsman national event winners earn an automatic slot in the runoff, as do the top three finishers in each division for each category of competition. Brian Folk currently sits in the fourth position in Division 5 Top Dragster standings, while Ron is clinging to the third spot in Division 5 Super Rod. Brian and Nick each have a shot of getting into the program in Super Rod and Super Stock, respectively, as both currently reside in the eighth position in division standings. In Stock, where Nick has already earned a berth in the shootout, he is the runaway points leader in Division 5, holding nearly a 200 point advantage.
The Folk Racing team is assisted by several marketing partners whom they credit for much of their continued success. Those partners include Auto Meter, K&N Filters, ATD Transmissions, Hoosier Racing Tires, Dart Machinery, Spin Werkes Wheels, Glasstek, JE Pistons, Holley Performance Group, Hillcraft.com, Shafiroff Racing Engines, VP Race Fuels, Nitroplate, Goza Racing Products, Moroso, Mr. Gasket Performance Group, J.W. Performance, B&M Performance, JEGS, Moser Engineering, Shogun, Manley, J&J Engine Diapers, Wegner Performance Engines, Digital Delay, ISC Racers Tape, ThisIsBracketRacing.com, Autolite, and Folk Race Cars. For more information on the team and the services available from Folk Race Cars, visit online at www.FolkRaceCars.com.
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