Sunday
- Eliminations
Game day: Fuelman, Greg
Layton mixes up the nitro for Round 1.
Jack checks over the
qualifying notes.
Top Fuel Eliminations
- Round One
10:59 a.m. Weather conditions:
air temperature 67 degrees, relative humidity 38 percent, barometer
30.18 inches, track temperature 78 degrees.
This was not the way the Nitro
Thunder team wanted to start eliminations... the ladder had Brett
racing Dad Jack in the other team car, the Paso Posse fueler
of John Rodeck. This would be the first time they would meet
in competition.
The data computer is activated
just prior to Brett moving in to stage.
Brett left first by a
bunch and never looked back.
By 70 feet Brett started
pulling away big time.
With Big Red on the move Jack
gave up the battle and shut off early to a 8.722 at 99.30 while
Brett stopped the clocks with a nice 5.941 at 253.02 to move
into the next round.
Top Fuel Eliminations
- Round Two
The field whittled in half after
Round One, Harris was matched in the second stanza with VRA World
Finals champ, Rick White.
After the burnout the tires are
wiped clean and final adjustments are made.
Harris got a .030 advantage on
the light and made White play catchup for 1320 feet.
Try as he did, White never caught
Harris in a good drag race. Brett moved to Round Three with a
5.919 at 258.99 over Rick's game 5.982 at 240.64.
Top Fuel Eliminations
- Semi Finals
4:17 p.m. Weather conditions:
air temperature 76 degrees, relative humidity 31 percent, barometer
30.14 inches, track temperature 91 degrees.
The more rounds you go, the more
work for the crew... and they love it.
To reach the final Harris
would have to get by a tough Denver Schutz.
For the third round in a row
Harris gets the hole shot (0.084 to a 0.110) and this time he
really needed it.
By half track the two
cars were welded together.
What a drag race... the best
of the weekend. Harris with the holeshot ran a 5.896 at 257.51
to hold off Schutz's quicker ET (5.876 at 251.88) for the narrowest
of wins. Harris' MOV: 0.0068 seconds (approximately 3 feet) and
it earned him a trip to the Final.
Top Fuel Final
6:21 PM and the sun was
all but set and the track cooled considerably.
Big time thrash to make
the final call.
Harris' opponent for all the
gold n' glory was 4-time March Meet winner, Jim Murphy who ran
a 5.86 in the semis to get lane choice. He put Brett in the less
favored right lane.
Harris got his 4 straight holeshot
but this time he didn't need it. This race was over in a heart
beat when Murphy inexplicably blazed the tires at the hit.
Denied his fifth and record setting
5th March Meet win all Jim Murphy could do was sit and watch
Harris clock a sterling 5.865 at 257.65 (his best run of the
weekend) for his 1st March classic victory.
The happy winner comes to a stop
and jumped out of the car, his muffled whoops could be heard
under the helmet.
Happy indeed!
Brett pushes the car away from
the track exit and waits for his jubilant crew to arrive.
Following the Top Fuel final
Jack Harris made a tire test run in John Rodeck's car and although
it was not successful he did get a quick trip to the other end
to congratulate Brett.
A Nitro Thunder Winners Circle
photo is not all that unusual but this one was special.
2007 March Meet - Jack Harris
Nitro
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