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.

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.

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:

 

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.