Boychuk Battles Gallen in Showdown of the Fastest

Courtesy of IHRA Communications


GRAND BEND, Ontario -- 
One is the quickest and fastest nostalgia Funny Car pilot on the east coast. The other, the best of the best in the west.

And next weekend in Ontario race fans will get a rare chance to see the two drivers go head-to-head to find out who truly is the fastest Funny Car driver in drag racing today.

"We had a great weekend in Edmonton last month winning in front of our hometown fans for the second year in a row and we look forward to bringing that momentum to Grand Bend," said Tim Boychuk, driver of the "Troy Lee Designs" Pontiac Funny Car. "This will be the first time we have taken the Funny Car to Grand Bend with the IHRA and we look forward to going up against Peter Gallen and many of the other great competitors that will be in Ontario next week. We know we have a fast car so we will have a big target on our backs. I just hope we can put it all together and win another one for Canada."

At this weekend's Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex longtime Funny Car ace Peter Gallen in the "Poverty Stricken" '76 Vega will go toe-to-toe with Canadian Tim Boychuk for the right to be called the best in the country at one of the Canada's premier motorsports events.

And they won't be alone. The pair of drivers will be joined by half a dozen others in the Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car class looking to add their name to the Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals history books.

But they will have to go through Gallen and Boychuk first.

Gallen is currently leading the Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car standings heading into the next-to-last race of the season, racking up five wins already this year including one round win over Boychuk back in March in their only meeting in 2011. In addition, Gallen is also the defending race winner in Grand Bend, winning the Sunday Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car final in 2010.

Based in Broomall, Pa., Gallen currently holds the Nitro Jam record for the class set late last year at 5.744 seconds at 252.10 miles per hour in the standard drag racing distance of a quarter-mile.

Boychuk, on the other hand, holds the record for the quickest and fastest pass ever in a nostalgia Nitro Funny Car set at a non-IHRA Nitro Jam event last year. Boychuk is also coming off of a huge victory at his home track in Edmonton late last month when he bested a field of over a dozen of the best Funny Car drivers on the west coast.

Combined, the pair have the two quickest and fastest passes of the year in the class and are looking to continue that success at the popular track on the beaches of Lake Huron July 16-17.

"This should be a fun race for us. We won in Grand Bend last year against another really fast car and we look forward to getting another shot at showing what we can do next weekend," Gallen said.

Along with Gallen and Boychuk, the pair will be joined by a stout field that includes the likes of Mike McIntire in the "McAttack" Camaro, former Funny Car world champion Laurie Cannister in the "Bullet Bob" machine, Rick Krafft in the "Chicago Fire" Corvette and more.

Whether a battle of east versus west, the United States versus Canada or any of the other half a dozen combinations, the only thing that matters is that next weekend's Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals in Grand Bend will feature one of the biggest and best Funny Car battles in eastern Canada July 16-17 at the Grand Bend Motorplex.