05/26/2026
๐ก๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐๐!
The Inaugural CHAOS Supernationals was held over Memorial Day weekend at the prestigious Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio on May 21st-24th. This marked the first time for the CHAOS brand to roll through the historic gates of Summit Motorsports Park and despite an unfavorable forecast, the CHAOS teams packed the pits with full fields in both Funny Car Chaos and DMP Awnings NITRO CHAOS series. An action packed day of testing on Thursday was just a preview of the ground pounding action on top for the remainder of the weekend.
On Friday morning at the drivers meeting, series director Chris Graves and facility owner Bill Bader Jr met with the CHAOS teams to go over the final plan for the weekend. The run schedule for Friday's qualifying was moved up to ensure both rounds of both sereis were able to be completed. Saturday was determined to be a wash, so all CHAOS eliminations were bumped to Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
After two rounds of qualifying in Funny Car Chaos competition, Keith Zimmerer, Bobby Toth and Jordan Ballew qualified at the top of their respective fields as twenty four outlaw floppers were now ready to rumble on race day. In DMP Awnings NITRO CHAOS qualifying action, John Umlauf Jr and Dave Belock proudly led the qualifying of their classes into elimination Sunday as well.
Race teams took the day off on Saturday as the rain set in, but the entertainment wasn't going to stop from the Bader family, who hosted a pizza pit party for the CHAOS teams in the pits. Not a slice was left on the property and yes, all the beer was gone too!
It was now time for Sunday's eliminations and as promised from the beginning, despite the rain chances in mid-afternoon, the Summit Motorsports Park staff was bound and determined to complete this event. Nitro fumes and throttle whacks were filling the air by early morning as fans started pouring through the gates. It was time to play for keeps in Norwalk.
After some great side by side drag racing in the opening rounds, it was time for the last dance's of the weekend for the CHAOS finalists and first to the line was Oklahoma's Jordan Ballew's "Ballew Thunder" set to take on Joe Pirrone in the "Screamin Eagle" entry. Both these drivers were coming in hot off wins at the last event at the Texas Motorplex and now found themselves paired up in the Wulff Pumps 'C' Field final. Ballew had clicked off career best numbers earlier in the weekend and took a healthy starting line advantage but just ran out of ponies as his 4.27 at 167 was no match for Joe Pirrone's 4.07 at 180 mph as Pirrone scored his second consecutive event win.
In the Alkydigger 'B' Field final round, first time CHAOS racer Dale D***e and the "Burnin' Benjamins" team from Pennsylvania was set to meet West Virginia's Kurt Duckworth, who was also in his debut event with the FCC series. Duckworth had been running well in his funny car trim debut but ran into mechanical issues in the semi-finals and was unable to make the call for the final. On a solo shot, D***e clicked off a 4.21 at 173 mph to score a memorable win for the team.
The Rodak's Custom Roasted Coffee 'A' Field brought points leader and top qualifier Keith Zimmerer to the line with his Will Hanna tuned and Texas based "Penny Pincher II" team set to take on first time finalists Alan Bradshaw in the "Dakota Pony II" owned by Dallas Schott. Both these cars were living in the 3.60 zone all weekend and this final round was sure to be a dandy. As they staged up, the revs came up and Zimmerer's car rolled the beam and went red, while Bradshaw clicked off his best run of the weekend with a 3.64 at 206 mph as the team erupted in celebration on the starting line.
DMP Awnings Nitro Chaos competition welcomed a pair of fuel altereds to the CP-Carrillo 'B' Field final round as Kansas' Anthony Whitfield and team "Mighty Mouse" prepared for battle against Texan Chuck Loftin and the "Crap Shoot" team. Loftin took the starting line advantage and never trailed as his 3.94 at 176 took the win.
The RBS Superchargers 'A' Field brought former series Champion Garry Wheeler Jr and the Oklahoma based "Grand Prix Racing" fuel dragster team to the line against first time finalist Dave Hill and the crowd favorite "Mad Max" Nitro Funny Car from Indiana. As the pair staged up, nitro fumes were pumping thick and at the flash of amber Hill took a slight starting line advantage. Side by side they charged and it was anyone's race, but at the stripe Hill's 3.61 at 215 mph edged out Wheeler's 3.67 at 204 as Hill and company took their first career Nitro Chaos event win!
COMPLETE ROUND RESULTS:
https://funnycarchaos.com/2026-norwalk.html
