Murphy
's Law March Meet
Bakersfield,
CA - March 10, 2014:
The 56th edition
of the fabled March Meet didn't go well for the defending NHRA
Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series Top Fuel champion. Going in with
high hopes of finally capturing his 5th March Meet, Jim Murphy
and crew did nothing but fight an uphill battle all weekend.
Unlike the California
Hot Rod Reunion in October which is a gathering that includes
a race, the March Meet is a hard core drag race... arguably the
most prestigious race of the year. Like the other 15 top fuel
teams that would vie for the crown, the WW2 Racing crew went
in with high hopes.... which were short lived.
Murphy's Law
states that anything than can go wrong, will go wrong and that
sums up a forgettable weekend. In spite of it all, Murphy being
who he is, came out of the fiasco with a positive attitude. His
crew had three new members and they all survived their baptism
by fire. In what was almost a nonstop thrash, everyone worked
together as a team and never got down. That and the fact that
said baptism by fire exposed all the gremlins left Murphy looking
forward to the National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, KY
come June to defend his series championship.
This was a common sight at camp
Murphy as the team had the engine apart seven times over the
weekend, and that doesn't count the last minute engine swap on
Saturday. Loosing the scheduled testing the previous weekend
due to rain really complicated things and left a ton of issues
that would have been caught then to deal with here.
Warming the engine for
the first qualifying session.
1st
Qualifying Session
The first session found
Murphy paired with Adam Sorokin.
Michael Beebe out to
back Jim up.
Murphy served notice going low
with a nice 5.745 at 245.36, while Sorokin's 6.294 at 207.66
at least gave the team some data.
Dan Wilkison
and Murphy
Dale Surh and Jim
Eliminations
- Round 1
Due to myriad mechanical issues,
the team was unable to take advantage of the second and third
qualifying sessions. That and the fact that an engine swap did
not go smoothly, really put them behind the 8-ball.
The final pair was Jim Murphy
(who just made the call) and Adam Sorokin. Both teams were having
a tough weekend, Murphy especially. After hurting one engine
on their only run to this point (Q1 5.745). After missing their
chance at extensive testing due to rain, Murphy admits they came
into the race unprepared and with too many new parts. They had
a laundry list of problems and ended up putting the engine out
of Frank Ousley's Crop Duster funny car into Murphy's car. This
was done 45 minutes before first call for Round One. After ignition
problems, they finally got the car warmed and on the ground.
Murphy was suiting up as they were towing to the line. Frantic
would be an understatement.
All the issues from the previous
three days were just too much for Jim's overloaded mind and admittedly,
he simply blew it by leaving before the tree was even staged.
A mistake he can never remember making before. End of weekend.
A dejected Jim
Murphy coasted through. His hopes for a fifth March Meet win
dashed again. Next stop (after some testing) Kentucky.
Check out where Murphy
and the Team are racing next....
2014
Schedule
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