Top Fuel Round One   Blake Bowser and his Famoso crew got some new toys over the winter and throughout the weekend it was obvious they made track prep (as seen here) and cleanup a mush faster and better deal.     They are very liberal with the VHT.     If this looks familiar its the same tractor design now used by NHRA at their Big Shows. This is really slick and answers the question as to where the big pro Goodyears go to die.       Saturday 4:55 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 58 degrees, relative humidity 44 percent, barometer 28.81 inches, adjusted altitude 1,477 feet, track temperature 74 degrees. It was cooling off quick and the track temperature with it.   With only 15 cars, #1 qualifier Rick White got a single and a bunch of cameras aimed at him.         Having a single White could have made a squirt and clicked it... could have are the operative words.                               WOW!     The first pair out was the #2 car of Brett Harris and #15, Brendan Murry.           No surprises here. Although Murry had some in the bank at the hit, the heavily favored Harris passed him by the tree and never looked back.                             At the other end Harris improved on his qualifying times and reset fastest speed of the meet. His 5.693 at 262.08 easily covered Murry's 6.144 at 205.19 Harris' incremental margins: 60ft(0.002), 330 ft(0.096), 660ft(0.165), 1,000ft(0.224). MOV: 0.3762 seconds (more than 100 feet).         Next out was Jim Murphy who took the favored left lane and Terry Cox. Murphy, the #3 qualifier was big odds over the #14 car.                 This one was Murphy all the way.                                 Murphy's 5.813 at 249.03 easily covered Cox's 6.554 at 164.23.         Pair four was Brad Thompson and Tony Bartone.   Thompson drilled Bartone on the tree (0.058 to 0.132) but was reeled in by the 60' clocks.                                         Thompson gave it a valiant try and stayed with and caught Bartone at 1000 feet, but had a big engine failure an instant later. End of a bad weekend for the HSMS gang.   Bartone carded a 5.801 at 250.09 while Thompson slowed to a 5.913 at 231.00.           The next pair had everyone seeing red. Roger Lechtenberg and Howard Haight. Two cars that traveled a long way for the MM.           Haight left first but Lechtenberg was 0.001 quicker to sixty feet. After that it was all Mr. Boston.                   Haight's 5.853 at 237.80 (quickest run ever on the car) was good enough for the win. Radar carded a close but no cigar 5.948 at 245.67.           Next out was Bill Dunlap and Mike McClennan.       McClennan left first (0.089 to 0.111) which would be crucial at the other end.                             Both cars suffered engine damage (McClennan big time) but still managed to have the closest race of the round and it was McClennan on a holeshot 5.963 at 229.24 to Dunlap's 5.958 at 223.10. MOV 6 feet.               The next to last pair of round one was Rick McGee and Larry Gotelli Jr. Unfortunately Gotelli's little small block went BANG on the start of his burn out and so he pulled over to the wall at the 330 mark leaving McGee with a free ride.                 The final pair was supposed to be Denver Schutz and Adam Sorokin. Unfortunately the Champion Speed Shop car was unable to make the call. As incredible it sounds, the team had run out of parts. Owner Bob McClennan lamented, "We do have a severe gremlin that we haven't figured out yet. Yes, 4 passes, 3 with rod failure. We could not make the first round. This was a first for us, I'm embarrassed and feel pretty crappy about letting Adam and crew down. I just don't have an answer as of yet. On the chevy side, we normally don't run a fuel filter unless we've worked on the tank. We did, so the filter was put on, our problem occurred when we put it on backwards for the first round! Not one of our better weekends, Don. Time to move on." You can bet this team will move on and find their problems. They are all too good to let this stump them.     Schutz tested the first 60 feet of pavement and clicked it.               Schutz coasted through with a 8.479 88.07.         Page 1 - Session 1 of TF Qualifying Page 2 - Sessions 2 & 3 of TF Qualifying Page 4 - Round Two - Final of Top Fuel Page 5 - Finals - Random Funny Cars Page 6 - More Random Funny Cars Page 7 - People N' Pits Page 8 - Other Cars in Action     Members Site Map || Visitors Site Map Site Copyright Ewald Enterprises, 1998-2011. All Rights Reserved. WDIFL.com is a Left Coast Graphics  Web Property. Return to Top