Upgrades working out for Cowie
Defending Mission Raceway event champ has been winning with career-best numbers
Life is a drag for Shawn Cowie. And that’s a good thing.
The Surrey competitor is not only the defending Top Alcohol Dragster champion for the National Hot Rod Association Division 6 points meet this weekend at Mission Raceway Park, his stature in a sport that is constantly evolving and faces numerous challenges is such that when he speaks, you listen.
Cowie commands respect at divisional and national tracks — he won his seventh career national event May 1 at Concord, N.C. with a pass of 5.328 seconds at 272.94 miles per hour — because he is competitive and compassionate. And camaraderie in the pits is as important as winning on the strip.
“It’s a competitive hobby and everybody (on the crew) still has a Monday-to-Friday job, but they love the sport and working on the car or driving it,” Cowie stressed of preparations to get his 3,500 horsepower methanol-burning dragster to the starting line and manoeuvring it down the quarter-mile track. “You get it in your blood.”
Part of the allure is an obvious need for speed. But the 36-year-old Cowie is also at a point where giving something back to promote drag racing is going to eventually be as important as being among the best competitors in North America.
He can relate to young and older drivers and maybe he becomes that voice of reason to his passion in the motorsport conversation.
“If there’s an opportunity to do something locally definitely,” said Cowie. “But I want to drive as long as I can that’s for sure because I have a great group of guys and the competition is always good.”
Another part is being driven because of what happened to him away from the track.
While touring Nashville on April 9, 2011 on motorcycles with crew member Nik Duperon, Cowie was struck by a drunk driver, who was later convicted of vehicular assault. Cowie was hit at a 45-degree angle and wound up on the hood of the car before being catapulted 100 feet into a metal railing.
He then plummeted down an embankment and suffered a broken neck, broken back and pelvis and his legs were a mess. Doctors wanted to amputate his right leg and his right ankle had to be rebuilt and is permanently fused.
If that doesn’t tell you about Cowie’s zest for life and his sport, nothing will.
Cowie is wary how escalating costs are keeping his peers from travelling and forming a full eight-car TAD field at Mission Raceway. The concern ranks right up there with beating the guy in the other lane because if you don’t have enough racing rivals, you don’t have a race.
The NHRA’s Junior Dragster program has proved a great entry point for kids, but keeping them involved as they ascend the competitive ladder requires focus and funds. Especially to eventually properly run in the demanding alcohol ranks.
“It has definitely dwindled over the years, but some of the TV shows out there like Street Outlaws have opened a lot of eyes and help getting more people involved and getting more out to the tracks,” said a hopeful Cowie.
“People from Top Dragster are eventually moving up to the Top Alcohol ranks and it really seems to depend on where you are geographically for the car counts.
“Mission struggles because in our class a lot of the guys are not from this area and anything on the West Coast is a tough deal. But Top Alcohol Funny Car is not an issue — there are lots of them.”
Cowie expects archrival Joey Severance of Woodburn, Ore., whom he beat in the MRP final last year in sweltering conditions that produced severe tire shake, to be his biggest challenger in the second of six division events. Garrett Bateman of Albany, Ore. is also a threat in a field that should include Kim Parker of Graham, Wash. and John Leach of Las Vegas.
Cowie is hopeful Gord Gingles of Winnipeg and Don St. Arnaud of Edmonton can make the event.
Cowie currently leads the NHRA national points chase race — a formula that combines national and division results — with 393 points, while Severance is second at 382. Bateman is eighth at 192 points.
Cowie lost to Bateman in the third round of the Winternationals on Feb. 12 at Pomona, Calif., an event won by Severance. And in the second round at Las Vegas on April 2, Cowie lost to Severance at the national event won by Bateman.
“We’ve got Norm Grimes tuning the car this year and pretty much every race I’ve gone to, I’ve beaten my career best in miles per hour and E.T. (elapsed time),” said Cowie. “We’ve changed the motor combination and did some stuff to make it run more normal than maybe in the past.”
PIT BITS — The Division 6 meet will include Top Alcohol Funny Car, Pro Mods, Top Dragster and sportsmen classes. TAD and TAFC qualifying goes Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Eliminations in the alcohol classes start at noon Sunday. For qualifying and elimination results, go to dragracecentral.com.