Niagara Falls, ON - For immediate release - The IHRA Skull Gear World Nationals presented by PPG is the holy grail of IHRA racing. Professional and sportsmen racers from all over, come hoping to qualify for the toughest event on the circuit. The Top Sportsman field eventually had eighty six names on the qualifying sheet but quite a few more tried to qualify for what may have been the fastest ever field seen in the IHRA’s history. Racers plagued with problems bypassed the scales on the way back to their pit and their names did not even show up on the timesheets. Joe Boniferro was one of those with problems early on.

The Smokin’ Joe’s team has not had a season team principal Joe Boniferro is proud of. “We have had very successful seasons from ’02 to ’04 and in the quest to go faster we changed a lot of things for this year. We swapped back and fore between our 510 and 526 motor programs and I think that led us down the wrong road. Things were that bad last weekend we did not even qualify for the PMRA event at Skyview Drags. I have to thank my team for staying around and testing the Sunday after the event. The Skyview people did a great job of prepping the track for us and we started to get back on track after a few test squirts. My chassis guy Tom VanDerGeld came down on the Tuesday before we left for Thunder in The Streets and went over everything. We came to Norwalk not knowing if the car would go straight but this race is the big one, we were not going to miss it”.

What surprised most people was, after two rounds of qualifying Boniferro was not in the field. Boniferro was not disappointed, “We are creeping up on it, Tom is tuning the chassis over the phone with us and we should be OK as long as the rain stays away”. The rest of the field was flying, the bump was 7.036 and there were a few good cars still on the outside looking in. When the third round of qualifying came around, Boniferro was ready and was one of the first in the lanes. He said, “This 526 motor we have developed with Koffel’s has got some grunt! If I can get to the eighth under power we can coast the rest of the way and still get in the field.” He did not have to worry about coasting as the Koffel’s Place Avenger hiked up the front wheels and was gone! The crowd was astonished when the scoreboards flashed up a 6.426 @ 217.95. Straight into the number one spot, the Smokin’ Joe’s team had accomplished what they came to Norwalk for. “This event is getting bigger and bigger; look at that bump, 7.004. If we had got our fourth qualifier I am sure this would have been an all six second field. To be number one with all these talented racers around is an accomplishment indeed, I can only do it with the help of my team and the great sponsors we have on board. The fact that we were the only Mopar that made the field out of the ninety six cars that tried to qualify is also very special, especially for our sponsors the Koffel family, this is their backyard after all”. Unfortunately the team had to pack up before eliminations when the Norwalk mechanical gremlins again raised their ugly heads.

Although disappointed, Boniferro was upbeat about the number one qualifier and the fact the car was performing at its best again. “The motor problem we suffered here will probably mean I will not be able to make the KC Autoparts Family Celebration at Toronto Motorsports Park over Labour Day weekend. It’s always been a good race for us, all our families and friends come out, but we now have our race program firmly back on track and that is what’s important”.

Joe Boniferro would like to thank his major sponsors, Koffel's Place, Pennzoil and Joe's Transmission along with associate sponsors Al's Radiator Services, HeadsUpRacer.com, Lowdown Hot Rods, Mickey Thompson Tires, NGK Spark Plugs, Pappa's Pizza and Subs, Manton Pushrods, Scott Jahren Paint, TechPower Developments Inc, Goosen’s Heating and Air Conditioning, Stradwick's Flooring, TT Fabricating and The Balancing Act.