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10-02-05 Bakersfield,
CA. Once again Greg Sharp, Sam Jackson, Steve Gibbs and the entire
NHRA Motorsports Museum staff gave us yet another unforgettable
weekend. CHRR 14 was three days of hot weather filled with non
stop action and events punctuated with a 49 car Cacklefest on
Saturday night. Emotions ran high as old friends were reunited,
fallen comrades remembered, legends honored and some incredibly
close racing contested. I'm way done saying, "It can't get
any better than this." Because every year it does.
Saturday saw
a huge crowd pack Famoso Raceway for Nostalgia Top Fuel qualifying
and round one of eliminations under the lights. Come Sunday,
a smaller but equally enthusiastic crowd was treated to the last
three rounds of the quickest 16 car NTF show in history. For
the WW2 Racing fueler of Jim Murphy this was a good news, bad
news event. Murphy qualified #9 with a solid 6.047 222.22 at
236.53 then lost an oh so close race in round one of eliminations.
Photos and full story below.
The first
qualifying session was held on Friday afternoon in hot (95 degrees)
weather. Jim Murphy in his WW2 Racing entry was paired with Brett
Harris in "Nitro Thunder" . Both were two cars more
than capable of setting low ET.
Tim Beebe makes final adjustments before Murphy
moved up to stage.
Harris
staged but Murphy had a real nasty moment when his reverser malfunctioned
as he was putting on the pre-stage light (the stop pin broke
during the staging process and went into reverse). Catching the
problem, Murphy rolled backwards and out of the lights to regroup.
Harris left and Murphy restaged and waited for the tree to be
set before he left. After the run (and thinking of the possible
consequences) Murphy told me it was one of the scariest things
that ever happened to him. Had the reverser done that at the
hit --- well you figure it out. Or, what if this would happen
to a less experienced driver?
After
watching Harris run a a 6.015 at 244.53 Murphy collected himself,
restaged and ran a 6.135 at 236.53.
After
getting the reverser modified to insure that the problem on Friday
would never happens again, Jim relaxes while the crew gets the
car ready for the second session.
Saturday afternoon the call went out for the second
and last qualifying session. Murphy was paired with Chuck Tanko.
The first round of
eliminations on Sunday found Murphy racing Terry Cox.
Murphy left hard but
the car seemed to lay down on the top end to card a 6.047 at
222.22. This would put Jim solidly in the show but not the run
they were looking for.
After every run during
qualifying and a winning run in eliminations each car is weighed
to make sure it makes the minimum limit of 1600 lbs. All weights
are with driver.
September 30
- October 02, 2005 - Bakersfield, CA - Final order after 2 rounds
of qualifying in Nostalgia Top Fuel at the 14th California Hot
Rod Reunion - the quickest 16 car field in history:
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Psn Driver
ET
Speed
1. Sean Bellemeur
5.868 @ 253.87
2. Adam Sorokin 5.935 @ 234.92
3. Pete Kaiser 5.959 @ 249.79
4. Brad Thompson 5.959 @ 232.97
5. Jason Richey 6.012 245.36 @ 245.36
6. Brett Harris 6.015 244.53 @ 244.53
7. Bill Dunlap 6.015 230.53 @ 232.67
8. Rick Williamson 6.031 216.55 @ 216.55
9. Jim Murphy 6.047 222.22 @ 236.53
10. Denver Schutz 6.061 237.15 @ 237.15
11. Rick White 6.078 227.56 @ 227.56
12. Terry Cox 6.103 236.34 @ 236.34
13. Scott Mason 6.107 234.98 @ 234.98
14. Brendan Murry 6.111 238.66 @ 238.66
15. Rick McGee 6.111 231.36 @ 231.36
16. Mark Hyla 6.115 216.45 @ 216.45
------------ Not Qualified ------------
17. Rick Rogers
6.119 250.00 @ 250.00
18. Lee Jennings 6.121 233.34 @ 236.53
19. Mendy Fry 6.138 224.83 @ 224.83
20. Chuck Tanko 6.144 238.34 @ 238.34
21. Howard Haight 6.156 196.54 @ 196.54
22. Fred Farndon 6.569 176.15 @ 176.15
23. Mike Lockman 7.089 155.41 @ 155.41
24. Jerry Kumre Jr 7.307 145.27 @ 145.27 |
The crew prepares the
car for first round of eliminations Saturday night.
Murphy
was in the first pair out for round one facing Rick Williamson.
It took only a moment and there was the first upset of the meet
as Murphy struck the tires at the hit, peddled once and gave
up. When you smoke the tires this early in the run and your opponent
doesn't its nearly impossible to ever catch him. Williamson went
on to a 6.131 at 230.76 win.
And so ended another
frustrating weekend for the WW2 Racing team. Their sights are
now set on the VRA 7th Fuel & Gas Finals at Bakersfield on
October 28 - 30.
See the WW2
Racing Schedule for upcoming events
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