Boise, Idaho - August 8 - 10. Battling incredibly adverse weather and track conditions (99 degrees, track temp 145 and corrected altitude pressing 6,500 feet) along with a near disaster, Jim Murphy and the OSH-WW 2 Racing team left Boise in good spirits.

The event started off uneventfully when Jim Murphy laid down this nice 6.06 @ 235 on Friday night.

During the Saturday night session Jim Murphy and Lee Jennings were paired intentionally. It was not only their second qualifying pass but the Top Fuel final from the 2003 Ignitor race that was rained out in April. Murphy was out first and on a good pass while Jenning's was hopelessly blazing the tires. Unfortunately for Murphy the steering arm broke on the OSH-WW 2 Racing fueler and he brushed the wall a mear 20 feet from the finish line damaging his wings and bank account. Due to the infraction, Jennings was awarded the win and the prize money. For the whole story from the horses mouth, read below as Jim Murphy recounts the incident.

"About the incident I had Saturday night at Firebird racing Lee Jennings. I would like to clear it all up and let your hear it straight from the horses mouth. We left the line good and the car was on a decent pass and running straight and true. At about 600 or 700 ft. it started to move very slowly to the right and I tried correcting the car back to the center. It did not respond which is not all that uncommon under power if it's spinning the tires a little, however I didn't think it was spinning the tires. When it kept moving to the wall I got out of the throttle at 1100 ft. as it will always respond when not under power. Well, it kept going to the wall even though at that time the wheel was turned 90 decrees from going straight. I then pulled the chute and hung on. It went through the lights at 6:04/220. The car just lightly brushed the wall 20 foot from the finish and we headed on down the middle of my lane. I got on the brakes hard and got the car stopped before the end of the track. The good Lord was watching out for me.

Upon inspection it turns out the steering arm broke right where two of the four bolts that bolt it to the spindle. One of the major causes of the problem is the arm has a hole bored in the arm for the end of the kingpin to fit and hold the kingpin from coming out. I believe this arm needs to be thicker in that area as it only measures 55 thousands at that point. I was told by Zig with VRA that this is the fourth one that has broke that he knows about. I would encourage EVERYONE who has a racecar with an SPE arm to check it over. I did have it chromed which I've been told tends to weaken the metal. It was suggest that if you need it shiny, have it cad plated. I am very thankful to the New family for the type of guardrail they have at Firebird (it is a concrete wall) as it could have been an ugly deal with the old type." JIM

After making the necessary repairs from his Saturday night incident, Jim Murphy had to get by Bill Dunlap in Mike Fuller's car. Dunlap served notice that this was HIS day besting Murphy with a 6.00 @ 237. Jim's game 6.39 @ 233 was not enough.

I'll be back!