As part of the pre-race ceremonies team Harris was loaded up with cash and trophies for their performance during qualifying. Mike English was the MC and Blake Bowser among the presenters. He got $1000 from Rick Peters for #1 qualifier and $500 for low et of 2 sessions from the Miller Family representing the track.

 

 

 

Brett also accepted the Marv Miller Memorial Award on behalf of his crew chiefs Steve Watson, Steve Tyrrell and Rayce Muchmore.

 

Bucky Austin and Steve Plueger got the goodies on the funny car side.

 

Oblivious to the accolades on the starting line, Tim and Michael Beebe checked out the track.

Darrell Jackman, who supplies the world real time race results on dragracecentral.com, caught some sun before heading up to a long day in the tower.

 

The invocation was delivered by the RFC chaplain.

 

Oh say can you see....

 

 

As the National Anthem ended Art Chrisman did a push start from the top end. He then made the turn, did a burnout and motored on down the track. We were in race mode.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday - Round One

11:13 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 56 degrees, relative humidity 52 percent, barometer 30.06 inches, track temperature 75 degrees. A lovely day for a drag race.

 

Haight was out first but Schutz caught him by the 60' clocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the 330' blocks Haight was far out of the groove and heading toward the center line.

 

 

The car couldn't be reeled in and Howard continued into Denver's lane.

 

 

With Schutz safely ahead, Haight was racking up timing cones like they were blowing pins.

 

 

Just before the traps Howie found his own lane again as Schutz took the win with a 5.824 242.45

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second pair matched up #4 Troy Green faced the #13 car of Brendan Murry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murry was shut off with an oil leak after his burnout so Green got a single.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green legged it on out trying for lane choice. Unfortunately there was a bunch of damage that was caused by partially closed fuel shut off at about 1.8 sec (got all 8). Crew Chief Brett Johansen is pretty sure they also had an electrical gremlin (coil or spark box). These factors resulted in an off pace 5.932 at 231.12 which would not be good enough for lane choice in round two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harris was to meet #16 qualifier Mark Malde in the opening round but Malde, in Arnold Birky's car, had been experiencing problems all weekend and it didn't get any better here. Malde's weekend got a stake in the heart when his supercharger violently backfired on the burnout leaving Harris with a single.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harris ran a carbon copy of his #1 qualifying pass (without the damage) as he moved to round two with a 5.692 at 250.13.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White was out first but Rogers was right on his tail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, Rogers got out of the groovy at half track and did a wonderful Howard Haight impression -- but fell short by about 4 blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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White's 5.788 at 246.57 served notice they were ready to go some rounds. His incremental times: 60ft-1.017 sec., 330ft-2.621, 660ft-3.857/202.38mph, 1,000ft-4.897

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Williamson was in trouble early and called it quits.

 

 

 

 

 

Shutting off early again, Murphy still clocked low ET of the round with a 5.768 at just 225.50.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fifth pair featured Brad Thompson and good friend Rick McGee.

 

 

 

 

 

Thompson was out first but McGee's new clutch system has given the purple car a whole new personality so they were even at the 60' clocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McGee had gained a slight advantage by half track.

 

 

 

But with their enhanced bottom end performance, the engine in the Tedford and McGee car now has a short fuse. Once again it started eating pistons by the 1000' mark.

 

 

Thompson had problems of his own but only after he got a half car lead on McGee.

 

 

 

 

In a close one Thompson took the win light with a 5.991 at 232.91 while McGee slowed to a 6.020 at just 206.23. Problem was, both drivers were oiled in as they stopped the clocks.

 

 

Oiled in, when Thompson pulled the chutes he got a real shock... the back end of the car came "at least 5 feet off the ground". Brad was sure he was going over - again. Somehow the car settled and he came to a safe stop. But not knowing what caused the car to misbehave in the shut down area, the team opted to park the car and pass on round two. One would have to look at the way the chutes are mounted first thing.

 

 

 

The next to last pair out was Mike McClennan and Terry Cox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both cars left together and it was a good race early on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was pretty amazing as McLennan rattled the tires loose at 330ft and was completely out of the race. About that time Cox had the tires turn square and it shook so hard that out came the parachutes! McLennan legged it on out and took the win with a 6.610 at 210.47. The helpless Cox coasted through with a 8.140 at 86.99.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final pair of round one pitted Adam Sorokin and Shannon Stewart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorokin got a nice hunk on the tree but Stewart caught him early on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This turned out to be the closest race of the round with Stewart getting there first with a 6.024 at 226.35. Sorokin never gave up but fell short clocking a 6.120 at 240.44.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 1 - Session One of Qualifying

Page 2 - Sessions 3 & 4 Qualifying

Page 4 - Round Two thru Final

Page 5 - Funny Car Fever

Page 6 - Other Winners - Misc. Photos