Harris - Quickest Run Ever .... but
5.78 @ 254 tossed out by VRA

Jack "The Sheriff" Harris and his Utah Posse didn't get their third Bakersfield win of 2002 but as usual, their presence was palpable, and herein lies the major controversy of the weekend.

Jack Harris - 5.78 @ 254
After running a "safe" 5.885 @ 243.50 on his first run Friday, Harris installed the first ever race ready set of Alan Johnson billet cylinder heads for the "early hemi" (below) for the first session on Saturday. So what's the big deal you ask? Try to stay with me here as I lay out the short version:

On 10-24-02 Harris received an e-mail from Jeff Norton (Head of VRA Tech) informing him that he had given Gerry Steiner his "OK" to run the Webster billet heads at this race and that it was "OK" for Harris to run the Alan Johnson heads as well. Prior to their installation, Norton inspected the AJ heads and approved them. Well, the heads went on and the rest as they say, is history. Not knowing how the radical change would effect their tune-up, the car was only "set" to run in the 6.0 range. 5.78 later (quickest FED run in history) the proverbial shit hit the fan. Before Harris could even clear the scales Norton was there to ask if he could "please retract his "OK" to run the heads". Seems he was bombarded by a herd of "shaken up troops" (i.e. some of the other TF racers) and caved to the pressure. The run was disallowed and the earlier 5.88 from Friday (run with Mastadon heads) would stand as his qualifying time. The decision left more than a few heads shaking and some sighs of relief from several Top Fuel pits.

From the hit of the throttle there was this feeling that we were seeing something very special. The engine sounded unlike any "392" we'd ever heard before and the car moved like a rocket. The only thing close to it any of us could relate it to was Jim Murphy's 5.81 @ 255 back in March, 2002.

After having his 5.78 tossed out, Harris decided to "test" the AJ heads in the second session on Saturday. This time the engine was "loaded" and trust me, it sounded like it could rotate the earth. However - the one thing nobody expected to happen did. Right off the line the car went into a power wheel stand and refused to come down. Almost at the point of no return, Harris clicked it and the car came down hard - real hard.

Obviously the front suspension suffered major damage and fortunately Harris was able to bring the car to a safe stop.

Since the car would not roll on its own, it had to be aided back to the pits on the back of the support vehicle.

Chassis builders Frank & Scott Parks (Neil & Parks) were at the race with their Jr. Fuel car and worked into the night getting the front end repaired.

The only problem was the chassis was also bent in the wheel stand and in his first round match up on Sunday (with Lee Jennings) Harris was unable to control the car at speed and crossed over into Jennings lane. Fortunately Lee was already passed him and Harris coasted through behind him.(below).

As outlined above, the foremost controversy of the event was Jack Harris and his new Alan Johnson billet heads which are, for lack of a better description, an incredible piece of workmanship and design.

Bolting them on for Saturday, and immediately running the quickest ET in NTF history (5.78), sparked the huge dispute. Although the pass was ultimately disallowed, The Sheriff and his Utah Posse served notice that 2003 will be a new gunfight altogether.

The off-track highlight of Saturday was the presentation of the Goodguys VRA 5-Second Club trophies. At the time 11 of the 12 available spots were filled (Murry filled # 12 just 24 hours later). From LtoR; Rick McGee (the only one of the group under 60), Rance McDaniel, Jack Harris, Gerry Steiner, Lee Jennings, Jim Murphy, Bill Alexander and Bill Dunlap.

LtoR: McGee, Harris, McDaniel, Dunlap, Alexander, Steiner and Murphy.

Harris heats the tires prior to his 5.885 @ 243.50 run on Friday.

The Run

The Stop

Jack's "right hand", wife Celia managed to get away from the business and attend the event. On Saturday night she got a bit chilled and snagged Harris' NR 5-Second Club jacket. She looks much better in it than he does!

The art work on Nitro Thunder's nose piece always draws crowd attention.

Jack's Office.

Normally Harris is in the car for pit warm-ups but on Saturday night he made an exception and put newest Posse member, Steve Watson in the seat. Steve does most of the machine work for Harris (and many others) and Jack wanted him to "feel" the fruits of his labor.

Part of the preparation to run the new AJ heads on Saturday was "lapping" the blower manifold that had been modified to fit them. This process insured a secure seal then the supercharger was installed.

You guessed it, this is what drag racers do for fun on a Friday night.

The new Speed Limit sign on the Nitro Thunder pits was short lived as Harris went out the next day and ran the second fastest speed ever - 254!

As always, the Nitro Thunder pit was a busy place all weekend. Here's a few candid shots of The Sheriff and his Utah Posse in action.

Typical warm-up at the War Wagon - this on Friday.

The legendary Ernie (M&H Tires) Hashim goes over a data sheet with Harris.

A large part of Nitro Thunder's success is the "War Wagon". Their rolling race shop that contains most anything and everything the crew needs to maintain the race car.

And when all is said and done, the War Wagon is packed up for the trip back to Utah.