Eliminations
Prior
to Top Fuel the Event Honorees were recognized. Don Hampton,
Fred Crow, "Junior" Conway, Grand Marshall Roland Leong,
Don Enriquez and Bill Crossley.
At 93
Wally Parks is still as sharp as a tack. Here he is with Chris
Karamesines and Greg Sharp. Parks no longer attends NHRA events
on a regular basis but he rarely misses the CHRR.
TF Round One
Saturday
6:43 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative
humidity 35 percent, barometer 29.36 inches, adjusted altitude
2,404 feet. Rip their hearts out racing conditions. So how could
this round have gone so wrong? With a couple of exceptions this
was the poster child for Dragsters Gone Bad.
Did
I mention it was a FULL moon?
First
out was # 3 qualifier Brad Thompson and fresh off his first five
- # 14 Mark Malde.
Both
cars left together.
But
by the 330' mark Thomson was driving away fast. Malde couldn't
come close to duplicating his 5.97 as the Chevy began eating
it's self alive somewhere around 1000 feet shutting off to a
6.291 at 179.14. Thompson, who never trailed, stopped the clocks
with a 5.856 at 235.04. But guess what - there was oil on the
track.
Did
I mention that the first pair went off at 6:43? At 7:19 Adam
Sorokin and Rick McGee fired their engines and did their burnouts.
Sorokin
left big time on McGee and never looked back. Even having to
back pedal his 6.035 at 235.29 covered Rick's 6.094 at 235.97.
Once again McGee' s 60 to 330 foot times took him out of the
race.
Pair
three matched # 2 qualifier Jason Richey and # 15 Pete Kaiser.
Richey
was second at the hit but Kaiser had problems around the 330'
mark and clicked it. Richey drove on to a nice 5.901 at 256.92.
The
next pair out was Shannon Stewart and John Shoemaker. Could have
been a good on but... it was a tale of two screw ups.
Shoemaker,
who like the others had been sitting in the staging lane for
nearly two hours, had his visor totally fog over when he went
to stage. Trying to guess the lights he guess way too soon and
left before the tree was activate. Automatic, irreversible disqualification.
Stewart,
for all intent and purpose on a single, also red lighted - that
was okay. But crossing the centerline at the 800' foot mark -
taking out most of the top end cones was not. This disqualified
him as well. That meant that by the rules both drivers were out
that someone would get a single in round two.
As previously
mentioned, the first session of Top Fuel went off at 6:43 p.m.
but it was an hour later before Jack Harris would square off
with Sean Bellemeur who was a heavy favorite in spite of what
was rapidly becoming the "weird" track conditions.
At the
hit Bellemeur was out on Harris by a tenth (0.078 to a 0.197).
All
was fine until the 900' mark when the HSMS car got out of the
groove and made an abrupt move to the right. At 200 MPH this
is not a good thing. In the blink of an eye Sean was into Jack's
lane and going sideways. One could read the Plaza Hotel logo
on the nose from the starting line - it looked very bad. Incredibly
Bellemeur got the car back into his lane and avoided what appeared
to be a sure roll over. Come to find out it was a combination
of quick reflexes and the right canard wing keeping the car from
going over. Between spinning the tires and getting a cockpit
full of clutch dust Sean was "hunting" on the top end
and this time it almost bit him. Full moon.
Crossing
the center line erased any chance Bellemeur had of winning even
after Harris had tire/groove problems of his own and got the
gift 9.196 at a mere 91.75 MPH win. For the record, Bellemeur
went thought the lights on two wheels at a 7.038 at 131.46.
After
the clean up from the previous round the only GOOD drag race
of the session rolled out. Brett Harris and Howard Haight with
Harris being the favorite. But being the favorite in this session
was like getting your photo on the cover of Sports illustrated.
Or, for those who don't get that, it may not have been a good
thing.
Haight
left first and Harris, try as he did, would never catch him.
Haight got the win light with a 5.945 @ 257.43 while Harris was
breathing down his neck with a 5.950 at 253.02. The MOV was about
20 feet. The good news for was there was no mess to clean up!
The
next pair out featured the only two Chevy powered cars in the
show. Mendy Fry and Scott Mason.
After
the leave both cars were smoking the tires before the 330' mark.
Fry lost traction first and it appeared that Mason could hold
on for the win. Not to be. In one of the most heads up driving
jobs many had ever seen Fry, saw Mason in trouble and managed
to feather the throttle and finally get the car planted. From
the 100' mark on it was a monster. Fry took the round with a
meek 7.800 at 203.20. Mason limped through with a 8.055 at 146.53.
Two
hours after it started, the final pair of Top Fuel elims fired
up. Jim Murphy who ended up #12 would meet the # 5 qualifier
Denver Schutz.
Murphy
left first and it was a drag race until about the 330' mark when
both cars got loose. From there on it was a pedaling contest.
It wasn't
pretty but Murphy came out on top with a 6.564 at 177.27. Schutz
was all over the track and finally had to call it quits coasting
to a 7.949 108.73. There was a collective sigh from all - round
one was FINALLY over.
In spite
of the fire bottles this fire refused to go away and Bill was
getting warm.
Sunday - Round
Two of Top Fuel
Pre
race ceremonies included the presentation of the 2006 National
Hot Rod Reunion trophy to Sean Bellemeur and the High Speed Motorsports
team.
This
was followed by the traditional push start and pass by Red Greth
in the Speed Sport roadster.
Play
the National Anthem and fire the first pair.
11:48
a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 76 degrees, relative
humidity 47 percent, barometer 29.40 inches, adjusted altitude
2,315 feet. Another great day for a drag race. Everyone involved
- especially the Safety Safari/Clean Up Crew were - was praying
the remainder of the event wouldn't mirror Saturday.
After
struggling in qualifying and an ugly first round Jim Murphy,
Tim Beebe and the WW2 Racing crew were admittedly baffled as
what to try next. That's when, after a prayer or two, things
started to turn around. The team was informed that due to a very
rare dual disqualification in round one, they would have a single
in round two. It was just the break they needed and a chance
to "go back to basics" with the tune-up knowing that
they would at the very least be in the semi finals.
Murphy
left hard and had his best 60' time of the weekend.
Murphy
ran the car about 900' and shut off to a 6.363 at just 152.18.
This told them what they needed to know. The engine was happy
and they had a good base line tune-up for the semis.
The
first actual race pitted Brad Thompson and Jack Harris. All factors
considered Thompson was a heavy favorite - this was his event
to lose... and he did.
Thomson
left first and had another incredible 60' time.
By the
330' mark Harris was really playing catch up until ... before
half track there was a BOOM and a flash from the top of Thompson's
engine... no blower, no power.
With
Thompson dead in the water Harris drove on by to a 5.970 at 249.51.
Being
one with a great sense of humor, after they got back to the pits
Thompson installed a come-along to hold his blower in place.
Next
out was Jason Richey and Howard Haight.
Haight
was out first and Richey gave chase.
It was
a great drag race until Haight had engine problems on the top
end and slowed to a 6.122 at 229.88. But Howard's problems were
nothing compared to Richey's. Check out his right rear tire -
throttle still wide open. The canard wing has already suffered
serious damage.
After
some chunking the outer carcass of the tire separated in large
hunks.
At this
point Richey had big problems.
Richey
managed to get the car stopped after just glancing off the gurardwall
in the shut down area but there was a lot to fix for the semis.
The
final pair in round two was Adam Sorokin and Mendy Fry.
Sorokin
had a slight starting line advantage and we had a drag race.
This
was a close one - in more ways than one. Fry nipped Sorokin in
a photo finish 5.856 at 240.89 to a 5.878 at 253.09.
A heartbeat
later all hell broke loose. Fry blew an engine and had a lot
of oil. The black chunks to her left are Sorokin's right rear
tire coming apart as bad or worse than Richey's in the previous
race. While Fry was skating around in oil Sorokin did a masterful
job of getting the car stopped on all fours. The damage was so
sever the car had to be taken back to the pits on the flatbed.
These two events
and others not a serious prompted these rule changes:
Based on recommendations
from the M & H Tire company, the Goodguys / VRA is requiring
that two new tire rules be met for the last race in Bakersfield.
They are:
1. All tires
must be mounted and installed, using the rotation arrow stamped
on the side wall of the tire as the only direction the tire can
spin. No counter rotation installation will be allowed.
2. All tires
must use at least 10 lbs of air pressure in the tire. Tire pressure
will be checked at the starting line by a Goodguys officials
using one air gauge. Their gauge will be considered the law.
He will have an air tank to supply additional air if required.
Kudos
to the Famoso crew as this weekend, with multiple events as above,
really kicked their butts.
Semi-Finals
The
Nitro Fever team did a great job getting the car fixed (sans
canard wings) and to the line for the semis where Jason Richey
would meet Jack Harris (aka today, Mr. Lucky).
At the
end of Richey's burnout the engine went silent when the gear
drive failed. Jason could only get out and watch Harris make
a gift pass to the finals.
Harris
left hard and look good to just passed half track when it started
to nibble pistons.
By the
900 foot mark it was a dead player and Harris clicked it to a
6.933 at 161.17. Team Rodeck was going to the final but it sure
wasn't on consistency.
The
semi-finals pitted Murphy against Mendy Fry who had taken out
the # 1 qualifier, Adam Sorokin the previous round with a sterling
5.856 at 240.89. Fry had lane choice and Murphy had his work
cut out for him.
Both
cars left together - who would meet Harris in the final...
This
was a great race until Fry's engine started showing a short fuse
slowing the run to a losing 6.168 at 199.51.
Murphy
caught a piston himself but took the big win with a stout 5.906
at 251.74 (low ET and Top Speed of the round). He would face
Jack Harris in the final and have lane choice.
Top Fuel Final
This
was it - what we do this for. The final round of a big one. Jim
Murphy against another former World Champion, Jack Harris. Murphy
had lane choice and opted to stay on the left side. Let the games
begin.
Murphy
was ready for this one. He drilled Harris on the tree by over
a tenth (0.130 to 0.222) .
The
chase was on.
Every
step of the way Harris was playing catch-up.
But
Murphy was not to be denied with a wire to wire 5.989 at 244.69
win. Harris gave it all the car had but his piston burning 6.145
at 201.92 was not even close. Murphy had won his second CHRR...
the first being in 1999.
After
giving thanks for prayers answered, an emotional Murphy climbs
out.
Drag
racing is a group effort and in most cases a family effort. In
Murphy's case its both and you can believe that everyone in this
truck is as happy as he was. The whole team really needed this
one!
1st
Qualifying Session - Saturday Night
2nd
Qualifying Session - Saturday
Other
Winners - Random Shots
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