Friday
- Qualifying Session One
1:58 p.m. Really hot and humid
with a heat index of 105 degrees. Track temp in 130. Not even
close to ideal racing conditions.
The first two
cars to test the Beech Bend waters were Denver Schutz in the
Cullen & Schutz Raisin Express 2 and Brendan Murry in his
Running Wild Racing entry. Both of these drivers hail from California.
Schutz,
looking for a baseline hooked up hard.
Murry
was soft at the hit and ran out of clutch early.
Murry clicked
it early to a 8.686 at 104.33 while Schutz clocked a very respectable
6.068 at just 219.29 because it was his first trip ever down
this track.
Pair two pitted
Rick Rogers in Butch Blair's Fugowie and Lincoln Hassell in his
east coast based small block Chevy fueler.
Rogers
moved the hardest and looked to be on a good pass.
Just past the
60' clocks the Blair car started hazing the tires and could not
recover shutting off to a 8.006 at 119.74. Hassell stayed with
it to the 1100' mark to clock a 6.938 at 184.85.
Pair three featured
a pair of white cars. Troy Green in the potent High Speed Motorsports
entry and "Diamond Dave" Miller in the Telstar fueler.
Green,
just trying to get a baseline, left good. Miller was solid at
the hit as well.
Green carded
a nice 6.029 at 233 which would serve as the perfect base line
pass and good for low ET of the session. Miller served notice
that he may have something for the troops with a 6.362.
The last pair
featured Howard Haight in the ever improving
Nitro Diction car out of New York and Adam Sorokin in what is
rumored to be the final appearance (in the foreseeable future)
of Bob McClennan's SBC project car the Batmobile. The new RB
Entertainment Champion Speed Shop Neal & Parks hemi powered
car could debut as early as the Boise Nightfire Nationals.
Both
cars had good 60' times and were side by side until the 1000'
mark.
Haight got a
full pull 6.075 at 245.32 (top speed of the session) time slip
while Sorokin suffered from short fuse syndrome and was done
by 1100' to a piston burning 6.154 at 204.45.
Saturday
- Qualifying Session Two
Saturday 1:59 p.m. The second
round of Top Fuel was right on schedule. The heat and humidity
of Friday had decided to stick around in spades. Track temp 135
degrees. Again, it was not the kind of weather one can go fast
in.
The first
pair out for session two was Howard Haight and Rick Rogers.
Rogers
was away first and carried it through.
Rogers improved
a bunch with a 6.079 at 235.76 while Haight's 426 started eating
a piston or two and slowed to a 6.327 at 188.32.
Next
out was Brendan Murry and Dave Miller.
Miller left well
before Murry but fell silent at about half track. Murry left
about the time Miller clicked it but he fell silent just after
half track as well.
Miller coasted
through with a 8.127 at 125.40 with Murry following silently
at 8.123 at 116.75.
With
Schutz opting to sit this one out, Lincoln Hassell had a single.
Trailing
a ton of clutch dust Hassell cared a 6.868 at 175.09.
The final pair
to test the track under race conditions was Troy Green and his
close friend Adam Sorokin.
After a tweak
on the first session tune-up, Green's ride left hard and had
a better 60' time while after a good leave, the Batmobile started
falling off early.
Green shut off
at the 1200' mark but still carded the first five of the weekend.
It would be one of only three recorded at the event and the first
of two by the HSMS car. Sorokin had problems and shut off to
a 6.277 at 199.85.
Saturday
- Qualifying Session Three
7:16 p.m. Right on schedule again
and appeared to be better conditions. Almost total cloud cover
and much cooler...about 92 degrees. But the high humidity still
had the air too heavy to take advantage of a very good track.
Only four cars
opted to run the final session - all trying to end up in the
#1 spot. First pair was Rick Rogers and Adam Sorokin.
Both
cars got a hold of the track and bettered their pervious best
60' times.
Rogers improved
to a 6.015 at 245.27 while Sorokin also had his best time of
the weekend with a 6.116 at 236.09.
However, Sorokin
experienced some major engine damage completely oiling him in
and not doing the track any favors in the process. The canopy
did keep his firesuit clean but still left his flying blind.
Sorokin used the left port hole to judge his distance from the
wall and managed to bring the car to a safe stop.
After a lengthily
clean up, Troy Green and Denver Schutz got the call to fire their
engines.
There it was
- Green set low ET of the meet (and top speed - 250 mph) and
a lock on the #1 qualifying spot. Schutz was right there with
a 6.029 at 241.58.
Final
Top Fuel Qualifying
1 - Troy Green
5.931 @ 250.13
2 - Rick Rogers 6.015 @ 245.27
3 - Denver Schutz 6.029 @ 241.58
4 - Howard Haight 6.075 @ 245.32
5 - Adam Sorokin 6.116 @ 236.09
6 - Dave Miller 6.362 @ 93.39
7 - Lincoln Hassell 6.868 @ 175.09
8 - Brendan Murry 8.123 @ 116.75 |
Sunday
- Top Fuel Eliminations
Other
Race Cars N' Pits |
