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Bakersfield,
CA - March 09-11, 2007: The 49th edition of the March Meet was,
by all accounts, one of the best ever! John and Blake Bowser
- with a lot of help from their staff - put on a drag race for
the ages. From the full pits on Thursday to the Winners Circle
shots on Sunday this was an event blessed with Chamber of Commerce
weather, an accommodating facility, incredible racing surface,
friendly staff, full bore fans and upbeat attitudes throughout.
The 35,000+ fans
that packed the facility over the three-day event were treated
to over 500 race cars including 20 of the countries best Top
Fuel dragsters. As always, the Nitro Thunder team traveled from
Utah with one thought in mind - winning. Although Jack (Harris)
has won the prestigious March Meet twice, the Big One had eluded
Brett. After qualifying 7th with a 5.911 at 256.04, Harris picked
up the pace and marched through 4 rounds of eliminations to cap
the first father/son March Meet winner ever.
Photos
and story below.
As always, the weekend
started out rather low keyed with the crew preparing for three
qualifying sessions (one Friday and two Saturday).
Once again the big issue
was tires. Jack Harris was seen mounting a new set Friday afternoon
and would repeat this drill, along with every other team, all
weekend.
Qualifying
Session One
Under sunny skies the
first session got under way at 2:30 PM. Brett was paired with
a hometown favorite, Rick McGee.
Returning to 3 qualifying
sessions (2006 races only had 2) took a lot of pressure off the
teams to hit one out of the box on Friday. Like others, Harris
used the first session to get a baseline tune-up for the weekend.
Harris clicked it at
the first light and ran a nice first run of 5.943 at 245.63.
After doing full maintenance
on the car Friday evening, Saturday morning was spent prepping
for the last two sessions.
Qualifying
Session Two
Running 2 hours behind schedule, 1:41 p.m. Weather
conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 33
percent, barometer 30.14 inches, track temperature 84 degrees...
nearly perfect.
Moving to the left lane, Big Red sounded great on
the burnout. In the other lane was Adam Sorokin.
Harris and Sorokin back up nearly together.
Co-Crew Chief Rayce Muchmore makes final adjustments
to the engine.
Harris stages.
At the hit the car lifts the left front wheel (a
good thing) and rips of a nice 1.075 sec. 60 foot time.
After running 3.996/201.47mph at half track Harris
improved his first run with a 5.911 at 256.04.
Following the session
the crew replaced the pistons and did normal maintenance to the
engine and clutch.
Qualifying
Session Three
Scheduled
to run at 3:30 the final qualifying session kicked off at 5:45.
The air and track were still very good.
To set this up, M&H
was on hand to oversee the tire problems and to do some testing
on a brand new design that hopefully would eliminate the "chunking"
problem encountered on previous tires. As has been the case in
the past, Harris was asked to do the test and chose to do so
on on this run. He was basically taking one for the cause as
whatever the time netted on this pass would not count for qualifying.
Harris would be # 7 regardless.
Being the final car in the session and doing a tire
test, Harris had the track all to himself and was allowed to
run in the left lane.
Harris left hard and looked like he would cut a number
until the car spun the tires down track.
Brett shut off early to a 6.002 at 242.19.
Top
Fuel Qualifying after 3rd Session
1. Brad Thompson
- 5.746 @ 247.11
2. Rick White - 5.822 @ 250.69
3. Shannon Stuart - 5.841 @ 225.22
4. Pete Kaiser - 5.842 @ 257.51
5. Jim Murphy - 5.869 @ 229.70
6. Denver Schutz - 5.897 @ 249.16
7. Brett Harris - 5.911 @ 256.04
8. Troy Green - 5.927 @ 244.10 |
9. Jason
Richey - 5.964 @ 228.25
10. Jack Harris - 5.986 @ 250.48
11. Rick McGee - 5.992 @ 250.00
12. Howard Haight - 6.003 @ 230.71
13. Adam Sorokin - 6.013 @ 225.79
14. Bill Dunlap - 6.029 @ 251.46
15. Rick Rogers - 6.122 @ 211.46
16. Brendan Murry - 6.136 @ 239.55 |
DNQ
17. Mark Malde -
6.136 @ 239.55
18. John Shoemaker - 6.283
@ 207.80
19. Ron Maroney - 8.367
@ 130.05 |
The race car got put
on hold for a while Saturday evening while the crew celebrated
three birthdays. Harry Dubach, Rayce Muchmore and little Kaden
Harris all put another notch on the bed board of life over the
weekend.
Page Two: March Meet Elimination Rounds
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