Bakersfield,
CA - May 30 - June 01, 2008: Troy Green in the High Speed Motorsports/SilverThin
Bearings Top Fuel dragster was the big dog at the inaugural Bakersfield
Fuel & Gas Championships (aka Top Fuel Feature) at Famoso
Raceway. Green got the best of his friend, Adam Sorokin in the
final running a stout 5.749 at 261.09. Sorokin was with Green
early on but got out of the groove and was forced to lift and
coast though with a 8.479 at 97.95.
The inaugural
May Fuel and Gas Championships may go down in Famoso Raceway
annals as one of the best drag races ever conducted at the facility
that was witnessed by hardly anyone. In spite of ample pre-race
publicity that included a lengthy interview with Mike McLennan
in the Bakersfield Californian, the famed drag strip in McFarland
was eerily bereft of fans for the 3rd stop on the NHRA Heritage
series. The attendance was so paltry that at any given time during
the weekend one would have been hard pressed to say that there
were more fans in the stands than participants in the pits. Nevertheless,
that didn't keep the racers from holding up their end of the
deal. The over 350 drag racers in attendance put on a show that
was as exciting and entertaining as any ever seen in nostalgia
drag racing.
With no nostalgia
funny cars scheduled for the May Fuel and Gas Championships,
it fell to the top fuel dragster teams to pick up the slack in
the nitro show. Although car count in the nostalgia top fuel
ranks was down from what was expected (13 cars made qualifying
runs), nine of those cars qualified with a time of 5.998 (Denver
Schutz) or better. Even John Cox's brand new URC Cheetah IV made
the show without the benefit of having made any test runs before
this race. One new development that may have affected the performance
of the top fuel dragsters was the introduction of a new 12"
Hoosier tire. The three top qualifiers, Thompson, Green, and
Murphy, all carried the new Hoosier design on their rims.
Qualifying got
off with quite a jolt to the Richter Scale Friday afternoon when
Brad Thompson and Adam Sorokin, matched in the very first pairing,
rattled the track with a 5.780 and a 5.993, respectively. That
was immediately followed by Troy Green with a 5.813-249.10. Though
the rest of Q1 lacked the pyrotechnics ignited by Brad, Adam,
and Troy, Rick Williamson did sneak into the fives with a 5.995.
As a side note, it should be mentioned that the Craig (Mike)-Berger-Schwartz
dragster has amassed an eye opening string of sub-six second
runs that began back in September '07 when the car debuted at
the Governor's Cup. With the exception of a tire spinning 7.83
loss in E1 at the March Meet and a 6.332 pass at that same event,
every other run for this Davidson car has been in the five second
zone!
Q2 got underway
fairly close to schedule around 1:00 p.m. on Saturday under conditions
that had to be considered somewhat pleasant for the southern
San Joaquin Valley in late May. Although all thirteen cars in
attendance attempted a qualifying pass, the absence of some of
the "hitters" like Jack Harris (Nitro Thunder), Jason
Richey (Nitro Fever), and Butch Blair's Fugowie was noticeable.
With several vacant slots checkering the nitro pits, the place
simply did not resonate with its usual sense of urgency, vigor,
and verve. Fortunately, Jim Murphy and Pete Kaiser were more
than ready to kick start session #2 of qualifying, and their
side-by-side 5.846 and 5.913 got the adrenalin flowing again.
Denver Schutz' Raisin Express also added his 5.998 for good measure.
Although the quick times recorded by Thompson and Green in Q1
held up throughout the three sessions, Q3 saw five cars improve
their times including Rick Williamson (5.871) Rick White (5.920),
and Rick McGee (5.980). Also making runs Saturday afternoon were
Dan Horan Sr. with his upgraded Don Long digger and Mike Cross
of 7.0 Pro fame licensing in Don Vanhof's era accurate NTF.
When the thirteen
nostalgia top fuel dragsters queued up in the lanes promptly
at 11:00 on Sunday morning, it was fairly evident that this race
could be won by anyone. Despite holding onto the #1 qualifying
spot, that big orange racer from Visalia had not beaten the rest
of the competition into submission. Brad had only made it down
the track in Q1, and Green, Murphy, and Williamson were all within
a tenth of a second of him. Although Thompson earned an unopposed
run in E1, he knew what the ladder held in store for him in E2-a
match with the winner of the Adam Sorokin/Rick McGee pairing.
What happened next was one of the best rounds of nostalgia top
fuel racing to be viewed by nary a soul. With the exception of
Mike McLennan's win over Pete Kaiser (6.337) and Jim Murphy's
uncontested 6.619 over Bill Dunlap, every advancing dragster
ran 5.903 (Denver Schutz) or quicker. It all started with Shannon
Stuart running a PR 5.80 that eliminated the hard luck team of
Craig-Berger-Schwartz. Then, Mr. Thompson threw down the gauntlet
with a 5.789 to match his earlier 5.780 from Q1 on Friday. The
Cheetah IV and High Speed Motorsports ran next and Troy unloaded
on Terry with low ET of the event-5.715. E1 finished off with
Rick White giving Denver a .036 handicap and wasting a superior
5.878 to Schutz' 5.903, and Adam Sorokin dispatching McGee with
a 5.869 setting up that date with "Bad" Brad in E2.
Shortly after
2:00 and in the heat of the day (87 degrees), Thompson and Sorokin
squared off for their momentous duel. It was #1 versus #8, but
in a race like this one statistics meant nothing. What wasn't
superfluous was Adam's daring gamble on the tree-- a move that
paid off this time with a .003 light. With Thompson off in hot
pursuit, Sorokin drove it out the back door to a 259.06. Both
drivers recorded 5.87s, but the win light went to the RB Entertainment
team in the left lane. In the bottom half of the ladder, Troy
Green cashed in on his #2 qualifying position with a free ride
to the semis, and Jim Murphy marched on with an ever so close
.0143 win over a deserving Denver Schutz.
In the semis,
Sorokin continued his barrage of five second runs with a 5.917-251.46
to erase the game effort of Shannon Stuart in Bob Richardson's
beautiful Circuit Breaker; Troy Green gave Murphy the "Exit
stage left" cue with a stellar pass of 5.823-254.45!! The
rest of the program had been completed when the top fuel teams
scurried into the lanes for the final showdown at 6:30 p.m. Bobby
McLennan and the rest of the RB Entertainment team probably knew
they needed to come up with something spectacular or it was going
to be "Katie bar the door" for them--Sorokin's best
run (5.869) had been slower than Green's worst pass (5.823) that
day. After a last moment lane switch, both dragsters fired, laid
down a couple snappy burnouts, and staged to race. Troy nicked
Adam by .018 at the green, hooked up, hit the 1/8 mile at 3.870,
and never gave Sorokin a chance to recover, resulting in a tasty
run of 5.749 and an outrageous terminal speed of 261.09.
With their first
win of any kind at Famoso Raceway, the High Speed Motorsports
team vaulted from 5th to 1st in the NHRA Hot Rod Racing Series.
In recording the two quickest times of the weekend and top speed
of the meet, the Brett Johansen-tuned, Donovan-powered, Stirling
top fuel dragster made a bold statement that the 2008 top fuel
championship would not be won without this Anaheim, California
based team having something to say about it. But, I'm sure Brad
Thompson, Adam Sorokin, Jack Harris, and the other contenders
will be ready for the High Speed, Silverthin-sponsored team come
the next event at Boise in August.
<Steve Justice>
Without further
ado - here is the Top Fuel action in photos.....
Photos by: Bob Brown,
Stephen Justice, Steven C. Wallace, Jason Ellis, Pam Schavrien
and Darrell Conrad
