The high
point of the pre race ceremonies was the introduction of Grand
Marshall Darrell Gwynn.
Sunday
- Round One of Eliminations
10:59 a.m. Following
the opening ceremonies, the first pair of Top Fuel fired-up starting
a long, hot and yes, humid afternoon of drag racing.
In front of a
considerably smaller crowd than Saturday, the first pair out
was Denver Schutz and Dave Miller. As would be the pattern all
day the car with lane choice would opt for the left.
Neither driver
had a great light but it was Schutz out first and moved away
in a hurry.
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This was all
Schutz who clocked only the third (and last) five second run
of the weekend.
Next
out it was #1 vs #8. Troy Green and Brendan Murry.
Murry
left first but Green caught him by the 60' clocks.
-8_762-10.jpg)
Green
clocked a safe 6.048 while Murry shut off very early to a 8.762
at 105.22.
Pair three pitted
Lincoln Hassell and Rick Rogers and it was over at the hit when
Hassell took a shot at the tree and went red.
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With
the race in the bag Rogers clicked it early to a 6.293 at 199.02.
The final
pair of the first stanza was Howard Haight and Adam Sorokin.
Sorokin
was out first leaving Haight to play catch up.
-7_087.jpg)
The Batmobile
started spinning the tires early and from then on Sorokin had
his hands full staying in his lane while trying to hang in with
Haight.
Haight didn't
use up any unnecessary drag strip and got the win with a 6.095
at 238.13. Sorokin called it quits with a 7.087 at. 183.44.
Sunday
- Semi-finals of Eliminations
2:10 p.m. With
four cars left - all won round one in the left lane - the cream
was rising to the top. So was the track temp now up to over 135
degrees. Add that to the dense humidity and you and a tuners
nightmare.
First
out was Denver Schutz and Rick Rogers.
Rogers left first
(0.066 to 0.149) making this race much closer than the times
would indicate.
-6_122-.jpg)
Schutz held on
for the win clocking a 6.033 at 224.47 to Rogers game 6.122 at
242.98. MOV .006
Pair two would
decide who would meet Schutz in the final. Troy Green and Howard
Haight.
What promised
to be a good race was over at the hit when Haight left early
catching the dreaded red light - an automatic loss.
Green, knowing
he had the race won, clicked it early to a 6.263 at 204.51 to
advance to the final against Denver Schutz.
Following the
semis the Batmobile was out for a test run. Bobby McClennan and
the guys have really flogged this unique SBC based engine and
not for lack of trying, can't seem to get it from A to B to their
liking.
No time on this
but obviously it wasn't pretty. If nothing else, Sorokin likes
the canopy in this deal.
After three days
of brutal weather both teams were running out of gas by the finals.
In spite of the heat, between round maintenance went off without
a hitch on both cars.
NHRR
Honoree Vance Hunt braved the heat with his fellow Texan's.
NHRR
Top Fuel Final
4:40 p.m. With
all the other class finals in the books, the only thing left
was to crown the king of the Bowling Green hill. A few hard core
fans hung in to see the two best cars meet in a final that could
go either way. Although Green had low ET of the event (5.93),
Schutz carded the quickest time in eliminations (5.99). Due to
his early shut off in the semis, Green lost lane choice and would
get the less favored right lane - a lane nobody had won a Top
Fuel race in all day.
Looking at the
background you'd think this was the only car there... damn near
was. And as a side note, there is talk of making this a Thursday
through Saturday event so the huge Sat. crowd can see a full
show and the teams won't fell like they are racing in a ghost
town.
Drivers
in - time to rock n' roll.
Both
crews made their final adjustments and tire cleaning.
Green left first
by a bunch (0.048 to a 0.123) leaving Schutz to play some big
time catch-up. After a crisp 1.01 60' time, the HSMS car lifted
the front wheels and soon drifted out of the groove. Schutz would
go into sever tire shake and have his hands full as well.
It was then that
Green earned his title as "driver". After two attempts
to stabilize the car and return to the groove, Green went into
heavy tire smoke. Getting out of the throttle he noticed that
he could not hear Schutz so, assuming correctly that Denver was
having troubles too, Troy drove back into the throttle and legged
it to the finish line ahead of Schutz who did a great driving
job tying to catch him. Arguably the most exciting final in NHRR
history.
Before the car
even reached the tree you can see it's already drifting left
and Green is turning the front wheels to the right.
When
Green got back on the throttle, Great White lit the tires.
It was at this
instant, with both drivers off the throttle, that Green realized
that Schutz was having troubles of his own and he nailed it again
with Schutz doing the same.
At this point
it was a sprint to the finish line with Green still holding his
starting line advantage plus some.
In a valiant
attempt to catch Green, Schutz broke the tires loose again sealing
his fate. Had he stayed hooked up this would have been VERY close.
This was a case where both teams upped the ante in the tune-up
department and both got bit by it. On a track that was not ready
for a five second run, Green and Johansen got bit the least.
The scoreboard
win light tells the tale.
The jubilant
crew headed for the car a half mile away.
A hot and disappointed
Denver Schutz slowly climbed out with just one thought in mind....
get me out of Kentucky! (the weather did not agree with him at
all).
Green
on the other hand was loving Kentucky.
Rian
Kono and Tom Shelar were the first to arrive and their faces
say it all.
The question
was asked several times over the weekend, "Can you guys
get any more people in that truck?" The answer is, NO.
No shortage
of hugs and high fives.
The Cullen
& Schutz crew were not thrilled about the whole deal.
To make
it official the car had to go over the scales. No problem.
For the fifth
time in seven years the High Speed Motorsports car graced the
winners circle at Beech Bend Raceway.
Rick Shelar,
Danny Porche, Rian Kono, Todd Shappie, Pete Palumbo, Roger McMartin,
Brett Johansen, Troy Green, Tom Shelar, Walt Stevens, Dakota
Fontes, Robert Fontes and Patrick Shelar.
Much
more on a well deserved win at the High
Speed Motorsports
website.
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