1:42 p.m. Unlike the March Meet which offers three shots to qualify, the CHRR offered only two which put the tuners and drivers to the test as they have less room for error.

 

Leading off the session was a single by Mike McClennan who shut off before he even did his burnout in the first session. It was do it now or go home.

 

 

 

Whatever plagued the Fuller car in the first session was fixed here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McClennan made a nice, clean pass carding a 6.098 at 229.06. They would be racing in round one.

 

 

 

 

The first pair of the second session were both on the outside looking in. Jack Harris and Ed Schwartz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both cars left with more authority than in session one and appeared to be on a decent passes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harris' mount suffered some internal damage before the 1000' mark and tossed oil in Jack's face. He hung on as long as he dared (to get the time) but was forced to pull the chute early.

Still basically flying blind, Harris had moved very close to the center line before the chutes deployed.

Harris managed to run a 6.289 at just 178.39 but his chute took out the last timing cone (above left) before Schwartz got there. Unfortunately for Schwartz the incident caused him to lose his 6.434.

Schwartz saw that Jack was having a problem so he moved to his left and didn't pull his chutes until he was way past Harris.

It was a good move on Ed's part as Harris did indeed drift all the way over into the left lane before he got his visor up.

 

Once he could see Harris guided the car back in his own lane and came to a stop covered in the brown stuff.

 

 

 

The Safety Safari replaced the timing block Harris took out. It was just one of MANY replaced over the weekend.

During the down time Darr Hawthorne organized a Funny Car parade so the fans could see who would be running on Sunday in the Chicago Style match race.

"Hey, at least I have my camera with me this time." says Dan Kaplan. "Tim, this won't end up on the Internet - will it.?"

This is kind of an inside joke - especially among the photographers. It seems that last year Dan left his camera on the wall and decided to use the out house just as Randy Walls was starting his pass that ended in the entire car burning to the ground. Everybody but poor Dan got the shots. Nobody's letting him forget it.

 

Flash back to 2007....

 

 

After the clean up another pair of cars that needed to improve rolled through the waterbox. Rick Rogers and Brendan Murry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both cars has a little more on the bottom end than in session one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both drivers improved but remained at the bottom of the field. Rogers carded a 6.651 at 240.25 while Murry laid down a shut off early 6.403 at 182.14.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up next was Jim Murphy and Terry Cox... both in the show, looking to improve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murphy left like a rocket while the Cheetah IV team, still working out their unique late model hemi combination, were soft using a lot of clutch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Cox faded into the sunset, check out Murphy's tire. This is a classic case of "chunking" (center coming out of rear tires) and could have been real ugly.

 

 

 

Fortunately the tires didn't come completely apart and Murphy, straight, true and clean went to #1 with a 5.746 at 257.73. Cox's 6.403 at 231.12 didn't improve his position.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Williamson had great early numbers and pulled away from Kaiser.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was sure to be a low 5.8 pass for Williamson went up in smoke at the 1000' mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In spite of the abbreviated pass Williamson still carded a 5.920 at 219.99 while Kaiser almost carbon copies his first run with a 5.980 at 245.70.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another great pass for the Nitro Thunder car - Harris raised the bar even further with a sterling 5.725 at 255.46. McGee's 6.108 at 245.76 didn't improve his position. To add insult to injury, they killed the engine and would not be able to make the call for round one. A tough break for a great team.

Stewart's car had great early numbers while White was way softer on the bottom than his previous run.

Stewart dipped into the 5s with a 5.990 at 216.81 while White slowed a bunch from the first session carding a 5.951 at 248.89.

Sorokin was out on Schutz and pulling away when several pistons decided they were going to exit via the exhaust pipes. Behind that wall of smoke flies and mosquitoes died by the millions. Oh the humanity! A 6.121 at 171.55 did not help Adam.

Schutz on the other hand stepped right up with a very stout 5.771 at 255.97 which was good for the #4 spot.

In a tactical move, Troy Green and the High Speed Motorsports team decided to run last (and alone) in this session so they would know what ET they needed to land in the top spot. As it stood, Brett Harris' 5.725 was the bar.

 

After Green's burnout, one of the more classy and emotional moments of the weekend took place when Brad Thompson, who was the Top Fuel points leader after the Boise Nightfire Nationals (where he crashed and was seriously injured), came out to take the backup hand off from Walt Stevens.

In spite of having to get off and back on the throttle at half track, Green stopped the clocks with a superb 5.722 at 259.06... mission accomplished. The time put Big White in the #1 spot and insured that the points leaders, Green and Murphy, could not meet until the final round (should they both get that far).

1st Qualifying Session - Friday Top Fuel Round One - Saturday Top Fuel Eliminations - Sunday TF & FC Finals - All Winners - Other Cars People N' Pits Photos

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Related Links

Cacklefest.com

Jack Harris Racing - Nitro Thunder

High Speed Motorsports

WW2 Racing

Order Photos

Bob Brown Photos

Stephen Justice Photos

Stephen C. Wallace

Tim Hanaseth Photos

Pam Schavrien Photos

Darrell Conrad Photos

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Jim Sorenson

 

 

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