2003 VRA West Coast Hot Rod Happinin'

Nitro Thunder Threepeat!
Harris Smashes VRA Speed Record - 256 MPH!

Jack Harris and his Utah Posse pose in the winners circle at the Pomona Fairplex Raceway celebrating their third major win in a row. In the process The Sheriff set Low ET of the event (5.87) and reset the VRA Top Speed Record by a full 8 MPH at 256.55! The back-up run was 256.33.

In the final Nitro Thunder was paired with Jeff "The Surfer Dude" Diehl in the R&B Entertainment fueler out of VanDyke Motorsports. Harris was out first and was never challenged. Diehl struck the tires at the 300 foot mark and Jack tripped the win light with a 6.07 @ 239.

Qualifying started off on Friday afternoon on a hot race track that had everyone tuned on the safe side. In spite of 135 track temps, Harris laid down a 6.04 at 244 which was low for the session.

There's nothing like Top Fuel dragsters under the lights and this event featured two such qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday night. With cooler track temperatures and better air, the nitro cars should (at least in theory) run much better than they do during the day. The Friday night session proved to be an exception to that rule. Only two cars improved over their earlier attempts the most notable being Harris who was the only car in the 5s with a 5.87 @ 253. The next closest car was still Jeff Diehl with a 6.12. Jack's 253 was the first leg of a new speed record which he would raise himself as the weekend went on.

Session #3 on Saturday afternoon was another battle pitting the tuners against the 140 degree track temp. In this round of qualifying only three cars improved their positions - none in the 5s.

. The Nitro Thunder team just made a 900 foot shut off test pass against Bob Hallock and remained in the #1 spot. They were looking forward to the night session just hours away.

Heading back to the pits.

Saturday afternoon saw a gathering of the Kings of Speed - the very exclusive "250 MPH Club". From left to right: Jack Harris, Howard Haight, Jim Murphy and Gerry Steiner. Sponsored by WDIFL.com, the club will follow a Bonneville format in that there are no set spots available. Since the 250 mark is the last frontier for the Nostalgia Top Fuel cars (and very hard to do), anyone who runs the speed will become a member.

Session #4 - Saturday night. This is what the fans came to see and what a show they got. For the only time all weekend the #1 (Jim Murphy) and #2 (Jack Harris) VRA Top Fuel points leaders squared off. The masses expected a side by side 5 second race and nobody was disappointed. Murphy leaped up to the #2 qualifying spot with a stout 5.88 @ 225 but the big news was Harris who laid down the fastest run in Nostalgia Top Fuel History - a stunning 256.55!

As always, the Nitro Thunder pit was its calm, cool and collected self. Here's a few shots taken over the weekend of The Sheriff and the Utah Posse at work.

The team arrived on Thursday for set up. Here we ask the question, "How many Posse members does it take to assemble a new rubber grease mat?" Well, at least six.

In spite of ongoing eye sight problems, "Under Sheriff" Bob Eames carries his weight on the team. Here he helps Jack fuel the car.

Void of any major engine damage, the team made a total of 8 runs over the weekend and basically did routine maintenance between each lap.

The cornerstone of the Posse is Brett Harris who personally takes care of the tune up including the all important clutch.

One ritual is draining oil from the chassis. What's oil doing in the chassis you ask? The overflow or blow by tubes coming off the valve covers drain into the main rails of the car. This is not only a safety feature but a VRA rule.

Day or night the scene rarely changes. Everyone has a job to do and they do it well.

On top of some great racing, Sunday brought some levity to the Nitro Thunder camp. Seems "The Wagon Master" Jason Mott got himself in the dog house early on and payback was mandatory. Normally Harris does a longer burnout than most but since Mott is the guy who has to guide him back, Jack did extra long burnouts here forcing Jason to "get a real workout".

The exercise was soon known as: "RUN FORREST, RUN!"

Most racers will tell you that the first round of any race is the hardest. Once you get by that, the butterflies are gone and you have to believe you can keep winning rounds. Bill Alexander had the unenviable task of meeting Harris Sunday morning and for him, round one was a tough affair indeed. He not only smoked the tires early on but had the best seat in the house to watch history in the making.

Nitro Thunder launched hard and motored right down the middle of the track stopping the clocks with another 256 MPH speed which backed up the previous run and that equates to an official record.

256 on film: The next six shots are a sequence from the top end.

Prior to every run the engine is fired and warmed up in the pits. This is to not only get some heat in it but to check for leaks and any potential problems. One thing that's looked at closely is fuel pressure and that is done with the large gauge in these photos.

With temperatures in the low 90s, keeping cool was a priority. Here, shaded by umbrellas, Jack gets buckled in prior to round two.

Here's a nice series of burnout shots and the during the round two pairing of Harris and Bill Dunlap.

Coming off a first round 6.04 win, Dunlap could not be taken lightly. But like Alexander, he was not only late on the lights but smoked the tires on the hot track. Harris and crew read the track correctly and netted a nice 6.01 @ 248 win moving them to the semi finals.

Round Three - Track temp 143. Harris meets Troy Green in the Mastercam car. Troy did his job leaving with the big red machine but was a full car behind by half track. Harris motored away with a 6.09 @ 235.

On paper the final looked like anyone's race. In fact, Jeff Diehl had lane choice over Harris. Lane choice is determined by low ET of the previous round and Diehl's 6.05 trumped Jack's 6.09. Surprisingly the R&B Entertainment team chose to put Harris in the same lane he'd won in all day. Normally you would put your opponent in the lane he didn't favor and hopefully gain not only a performance edge, but a psychological one as well.