Page Three     Eliminations Round one - Saturday 6:00 p.m. The other difference between the March Meet and CHRR is that the first round of eliminations is run Saturday evening prior to the Cacklefest program.   With the sun setting in the west the sell out crowd settled in for the first round of Top Fuel eliminations.       The first pair out in the nerve wracking first round was Brett Harris and Mike Chrisman. Harris needed to go to the semifinals to take the championship away from Rick White. White was suited and ready to run as an alternate should one of the 16 qualified cars failed to show up or fire.                           Manager of Marketing and Advertising for the NHRA Wally Parks Motorsports Museum Rose Dickinson and museum Curator Greg Sharp got the starters eye look/feel of the first round.     Harris left first and looked to be off and running until the 60' clocks.                           Harris was in trouble early...     Fortunately for Harris Chrisman was having his own traction issues.         Everybody loves a pedalfest (except the drivers) and this deal could have handed the championship to White but in spite of being there for the taking, Harris recovered better, had a car left on the other end, and won the slip n' slide with a 7.000 at 225.79. Chrisman tried but fell short with a 7.841 at 133.98. Harris had gotten the first of the two win lights he needed, but it wasn't pretty.           After watching the fiasco before them the second pair (Rick McGee and Ed Schwartz) had to be a little gun shy of the track. Regardless, #2 qualifier McGee was heavily favored over the #15 car of Schwartz.                     McGee left first and never looked back.                                     Schwartz sawed through the clutch early on, did a couple of sachets, and clicked it.   McGee had no problems whatsoever and carded a nice 5.904 at 240.25. This would eventually hold up for low ET and top speed of the round.   Schwartz coasted though with a 8.320 at 110.47.     Pair three pitted #1 Rick Williamson and #16 Mike McClennan.                 For whatever reason, McLennan didn't wait for the tree to activate and Williamson got a free pass to round two.                     Williamson shut it off after some tire-spinning which meant he was possibly vulnerable if McLennan had gone green.   A 6.865 at 141.50 was more than good enough to come back on Sunday.       With the track lights coming into effect the next duo to see would reach round two was Mark Malde and Rick Rogers.               Rogers got a good jump on the lights and had good early times.                           Malde hazed the tires before the tree, pedaled it, and seeing where Rogers was his engine went silent around half track.               Rogers carded a solid 6.139 231.36 with no visible problems. After four pairs there had been no upsets and that card would continue to play.       Pair five featured Troy Green and Denver Schutz.                       Both drivers left together but that's where the story ended.       Before his rear tires crossed the starting line Schutz went up in smoke.               Green was hooked up and pulling away fast.       To his credit, Schutz didn't give up and tried in vain to chase Green down. Great White took with win with a 6.055 at 230.65. After a nice pedal job Schutz carded a 7.041 at 218.81.       Another David v Goliath match up in round one was Jim Murphy and Brendan Murry.                 At the end of his burnout Murry developed a problem in the steering. Note the steering shaft (below).     Murry did attempt to back up but had no steering.       Karen Oie and a track official only needed a cursory look to see the broken arm.   Oie gave Brendan the broken signal and he shut down. New car bugs had taken Murry out before he even staged.     With Murry out of his car and over the wall Murphy launched hard.                     For the conditions Murphy's 5.976 at 236.84 was a very nice number and good for lane choice over Rick Williamson on Sunday.   Murry's wounded mount was rolled back and out.                   Cox was a day late and all he saw was the back of Sorokin's canopy.                           Sorokin just drove away for what should have been a very close win with a 6.022 at 218.55. Cox was right there (time wise) with a 6.038 at 216.08.       The final pair of round one was Brad Thompson and Mark Hyla. To Rick White's dismay no alternate was needed. Harris had to lose in round two or his championship hopes were gone.                 Check out the fuel coming out of Thompson's vent.   Hyla was not able to back up after his burnout, then failed to clear the top end of the track, so Thompson had to shut his engine off and wait for the track to be cleared.     Thompson's crew refueled his car while Hyla's car was towed from the track and a pair of Fuel Altereds made a pass, then they refired the engine and Thompson tried for lane choice against Harris in round two. He tried too hard, lost traction, pedaled, and spun the tires again. He only needed something better than seven seconds, but Harris would get lane choice, with the series championship on the line.                       Page 1 - Top Fuel Quaifying Session 1 Page 2 - Top Fuel Quaifying Session 2 Page 4 - Top Fuel Elimination Round 2 Page 5 - Top Fuel Semis & Finals Page 6 - Funny Cars part 1 Page 7 - Funny Cars part 2 Page 8 - Everything Else   Make your reservations NOW!   Related Sites All American Fuel Dragsters High Speed Motorsports Nitro Thunder Racing WW2 Racing Email For Photographer Contact Information       Members Site Map || Visitors Site Map Site Copyright Ewald Enterprises, 1998-2009. All Rights Reserved. WDIFL.com is a Left Coast Graphics  Web Property. Return to Top