Happy Hour clinches 3rd CIFCA Championship

CIFCA Governor’s Cup Recap Submitted by: James Maher September 21, 2019 The CIFCA Funny Cars final race of the 2019 season was at Sacramento Raceway Park's 49th Annual Governor’s Cup! Eight CIFCA Teams showed up and two fought for the CIFCA Championship.

Qualifying went as followed. James Maher, was the System One Number Qualifier as he put up a 5.93 on the 5.90 / 1000ft index. Mike Troxel took the number two spots with a 5.95. Rick Alvarado qualified number three with a 5.98. Ken Breneisen took number 4. Tony Trimp in the Happy Hour qualified 5th which placed him against Maher in round number one. Maher must beat Trimp in round one and win the race to clinch the Championship. Jim Currie was the D&P Torque Converter Revolving qualifier at number 6 and he won the Mike's Transmission Burnout Contest. Joacim Ljungberg from Sweden slid into 7th place and Bobby Sanguino finished off the 8-car field.

First Round of eliminations kicked off with Mike Troxel & James Currie. Currie was off the line first with a .045 lights to Troxel's .076 but at the top end Troxel got to the stripe first with a 6.490 to Currie's 6.675. Joacim Ljungberg got by Rick Alvarado who broke on the burnout. Bob Sanguino got by Ken Breneisen as he also broke on the burnout. James Maher and Tony Trimp lined up for the final pair of CIFCA when the track lost power. After about an hour & a half delay the power was back on the Championship was on the line. Trimp went .001 red handing the win to Maher.

Semi-Finals Mike Troxel and Bob Sangunio lined up against each other for the first time this year. Troxel was off the line first and was first to stripe which booked his ticket into the final round. Maher & Ljungberg lined up against each other and it was like deja vu from last year. Ljungberg was off the line but Maher took the stripe and the win light.

Final Round was between Mike Troxel in his No More Alimony Trans Am vs James Maher in the Junior Vibes Tempo. Maher has to win the event to win the 2019 CIFCA Championship. The late night, under the lights, track conditions caused problems for both drivers. Troxel was off the line first and got to the stripe first with a 6.08 to Maher's 6.14. Troxel take's home the Governor's Cup and Maher finishes 2nd in the CIFCA points series presented by Good Vibrations Motorsports. Happy Hour clinches their 3rd CIFCA Championship!

Thanks to all of our sponsors for supporting CIFCA this season. Good Vibrations Motorsports, D&P Torque Converters, Enderle Fuel injection, Billet Connection, Mike’s Transmission, SCE Gaskets, System One Fuel Filters, Control Cables Inc, and Stith Printing Inc. Special thanks to the Smith family at Sacramento Raceway for hosting the circuit. Finally thank you to all the CIFCA teams who raced with us this year so far. We will see everyone in 2020