  Jennings Runner-up "I've been involved in many motorsports through the years and know for sure that drag racing done properly is as tough as it gets. For something that appears so simple it is terribly complicated." Pat Foster  3:30 p.m. and its HOT! Opening pair in Top Fuel featured Adam Sorokin in John Blanchard's beautiful fueler and Chuck Tanko who was only making the 6th pass ever on his new chassis. Tanko was slow staging and Sorokin had the rpm's up a bit early with the pedal clutch. Sorokin shook pretty hard to a 6.271 at 209.74 and Tanko got close to the wall with a 6.224 at 219.83.      Next out was Lee Jennings Sr. and Brad Thompson.  Ray Zeller (behind car) had a safe warm weather tune-up in the car that netted Jennings a 6.262 at 221.02. Thompson smoked the tires just after the hit and coasted to a 13.064 at 63.14.   Pair three was Bill Dunlap in Mike Fuller's car and Rick Rogers.    Dunlap got WAY loose at the 330' mark and was over the right lane before clicking it to a 7.157 at 131.11. Rogers was way too soft early in the run and just clicked it off and coasted to a 12.226 at 54.67.  More fun in the sun saw Terry Cox in the Rodeck & Cox "Cheetah II' pair up with Rick McGee in the Tedford & McGee (no photos) "Overtime Special".  After almost over staging, Cox hooked up to a nice 6.060 at 239.42. McGee was right on his tail with a 6.095 at 243.63. At this early stage of the game they were one-two.  Pair five was, to say the least, ugly. Jim Murphy was paired with Rick White. White left before the tree was activated and Murphy reacted to the sound and left early as well. Neither car got a time and both made good runs. Some unhappy folks after that one.    Dual red lights tell the tale.  The next pair to test the 130 degree track were Bob Hallock in Bob Richardson's "Circuit Breaker" and the well traveled Brendan Murry.  Hallock launched hard but was smoking the tires before 330 mark - end of deal. Murry got very loose before half track and was headed straight towards the center line. He decided that was enough and backed off to a 9.460 at 82.01.   Next pair was Sean Bellemeur in the High Speed Motorsports Plaza Hotel entry and Pete Kaiser in "Ground Zero".    Both cars left good but for some reason Kaiser lifted early to a 6.286 at 209.15 while Bellemeur had a lot of smoke going into the lights and cards a 6.271 at 239.68.   The last car of the session was Jeff Diehl in the RB Entertainment car. Diehl blew the tires off at the hit and coasted to a 12.368 at 93.13.    9:14 p.m. The first pair out was two cars that passed on the first session. Mendy Fry in the other High Speed Motorsports car and Howard Haight in Butch Blair's "Fugowie".    Fry left fairly well but she clicked it off really early to a 6.288 at 206.46. Haight laid down a respectable 6.196 at 219.45.   Pair two under the lights was Rick White and Jim Murphy.  Both drivers found the night air to their liking as White ripped of a 6.055 at 236.63. But Murphy did him one better with a 6.048 at 246.71 which, for the moment, was good for the # 1 spot.   Next out were Bill Dunlap and Brad Thompson.  Thompson was smoking the tires by 60 feet and he was on and off the pedal but he did manage to improve his status with a 7.429 at 175.57.  Dunlap cured whatever sent him sideways in session one and carded a 6.016 at 247.86.  Next pair was Jeff Diehl and Sean Bellemeur.  Diehl leaves without tire smoke and gets into the show with a 6.246 at 237.21.  Bellemeur, one of the few who failed to hook up this session, was off and on the throttle and wound up coasting to a 7.815 at 119.36.  Next pair to throw flames into the night were a pair of Chevys, Brendan Murry and Lee Jennings.  Murry had his troubles but still improves with a 6.378 at 212.41. However, but .002 Jennings jumps to the head of the class with a 6.003 at 235.35. Zeller has this Rat Motor flying.   After battling a car he didn't fit in for two seasons, Chuck Tanko had this new car built over the winter. This would be his seventh pass in it. In the other lane was Bob Hallock.  Tanko made a hard dive towards the wall and was forced to lift. Hallock shut off early to a 6.843 at 178.96.   The final pair for the Friday night session were Rick McGee and Adam Sorokin.   It wasn't planned but the best was saved to last as McGee hammers out the only five of the weekend and top speed of the meet - 5.949 at 251.11. Sorokin does not improve on his earlier time with an off par 6.343 at 228.13. A side note on Sorokin's pass from crew member Dave Dewars. "Both rear tires went flat before half track, first time I had ever seen that. They just fell apart inside."  3:00 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 116 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer 29.90 inches.  New day, new heat. First pair out was Rick Rogers and Bob Hallock. In spite of getting dangerously close to the center line, Hallock holds on to a nice 6.187 at 235.91.    Rogers was once again too soft to make a full run and stayed # 17 with a 10.634 at 99.07.  Pair two featured Sean Bellemeur and Brendan Murry.    Bellemeur had instant smoke and tried to pedal one time. The car hooked up and runs right on through the lights to a 6.448 at 200.66 which did not improve his position.   Murry moved up a few spots in the Chevy car with a 6.226 at 221.23.  Next pair down the hot track were Lee Jennings and Mendy Fry.  Both drivers dusted the clutches big time. Fry didn't improve her # 15 spot with a 6.420 at 204.22.  Jennings didn't come close to his # 2 numbers with a 6.246 at 219.08.  Next out on a track that appeared to be going away was Pete Kaiser and Rich White (no photo). Right at the hit Kaiser was up in smoke. A slap of the pedal didn't help and he shut it down. White shook pretty hard and called it off as well.   The fifth pair out was Chuck Tanko and Bill Dunlap a. It looked like Dunlap was just testing the water for round one with a soft 6.213 at 239.36. Tanko hurt some parts - bad - and nose dived to a 6.436 at 224.49.  Next out to test the track was Brad Thompson and Jim Murphy. Even though Murphy was sitting # 5 after losing his first qualifying time he chose to see what the car would do in the heat.     Thompson failed to hook up to his liking and clicked it early to a 6.800 at 210.37 leaving him on the bubble. Murphy shut off early as well to a 6.267 at 232.13.  The last pair of the session were Jeff Diehl and Terry Cox.  Once again Diehl smoked the tires hard and quit early. But Cox sent notice that they were ready with the best pass of the session, an impressive 6.003 at 245.83.  
7:35 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 82 degrees, relative humidity 47 percent, barometer 29.90 inches.  First pair of eliminations featured and Chuck Tanko and Rick White (no photo). Tanko had some bad luck after good qualifying effort. He broke on the burnout and had to be pulled off the track. White singles and throws down the gauntlet early on with a 5.951 242.58.  Pair two was arguably the biggest upset of the event. # 2 qualifier Lee Jennings was paired with # 17 (in on the break rule for Adam Sorokin) Rick Rogers.  Rogers nailed Jennings to the tree then cut it down. Jennings slowed from his best of the weekend and Rogers ran a career best 6.09 for the win. Jennings was right there with a 6.11.  Under the lights pair three was Sean Bellemeur and Bill Dunlap.   The Plaza Hotel crew had not gotten a handle on the tricky Pomona track all weekend and could only manage the # 13 qualifying spot. Dunlap was # 4 and favored.  Bellemeur nailed Dunlap on the tree (0.472 to 0.541) and then ran quicker and faster to rub the salt in. A stellar 5.976 at 249.58 was more than enough to cover Dunlap's nice 6.040 at 247.25. The only downside to Bellemeur's run was the smoke that filled his lane at the end of the run.  Next out was # 1 qualifier, Rick McGee who was paired with # 16, Brad Thompson who had troubles all three qualifying sessions. The smart money was on McGee but then that's why we don't run drag races on paper.    Both cars left almost together and it was a very close race until McGee's engine erupted into a ball of flames at the 1100 foot mark. Thompson's 6.064 at 235.97 was more than enough to cover McGee's slowing 6.329 at 220.31. You could call this another upset but Thompson did cut a number that you had to race to.   Terry Cox got a freebie when Mendy Fry couldn't make the call. Cox clicked it a tad early to a 6.288 at 236.96.  Pair five pitted # 12 qualifier Jeff Diehl and # 5 Jim Murphy.   Diehl got a very slight lead off the line, didn't smoke the tires, and held on for a 6.152 at 238.09 win over Murphy who was right there with a 6.165 at 230.00. Another race the railbirds were calling an upset.   Next out was Pete Kaiser and Brendan Murry.   No upset here... this race was over early when Murry went up in smoke almost instantly and tried to pedal one time but it didn't hook so he clicked it. Kaiser motored on down the track to a nice 6.100 at 241.15 to advance to round two.   The last pair of round one matched Howard Haight and Bob Hallock. This may go down as one of the strangest deals in drag racing history. Haight has a fair reaction time (0.517) but got loose and had to pedal several times till he finally shut it off. On the other hand, Hallock waited and waited at the line and finally set out to catch Haight. Needless to say he didn't make up the over three second reaction time! After some thought I figured it out. Hallock had the people from Gunness out there and he is now the world record holder for the worst reaction time in drag racing history... I suspect a 3.097 will do it.    WDIFL.com is a Left Coast Graphics Web Property. |