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WW2 Photo Highlights
Jim Murphy
and the OSH-WW2 Racing team is getting tired of winning battles
but not wars. This was the case again at the 2002 CHRR. With
the problems that plagued the team earlier in the season found
and solved, expectations were high for this event, one that Murphy
has won twice in the past. With only two qualifying sessions,
both on Saturday, none of the 27 Nostalgia Top Fuel cars in the
pits could afford to make mistakes including WW2 Racing. After
a nice 6.12 first attempt, Murphy came back in the second session
to run a "safe" 6.06 @ 234 MPH landing them solidly
in the # 5 qualifying position of the quickest NTF field in history.
With a mere .10 of a second separating the # 1 and # 8 qualifiers,
Sunday eliminations were deemed "anybody's race". That
anybody turned out to be Jack Harris from Utah but for another
stroke of "freak luck" it might have been Murphy. Enjoy
the full story and photos below.
Final Top Fuel Qualifying
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"A" Field
1. Gerry Steiner 5.999 244.43
2. Jack Harris 6.004 179.56
3. Glenn Hutchenson 6.01 235.10
4. Rich Howell 6.013 194.84
5. Jim Murphy 6.063 234.19
6. Rick McGee 6.066 219.51
7. Bob Hallock 6.071 211.01
8. John Shoemaker 6.095 217.07 |
"B" Field
9. Bill Dunlap 6.098 229.88
10. Brendan Murry 6.102 217.67
11. Troy Green 6.123 227.73
12. Kerry Moreira 6.149 236.15
13. Bill Alexander 6.152 218.87
14. Denver Schutz 6.171 226.81
15. Lee Jennings 6.199 211.61
16. Marc Malde 6.208 219.35 |
Rolling
though water box prior to burnout.
The first qualifying session on Saturday netted the
team a "safe" 6.12 which was good but not good enough
to ultimately make the "A Field". Session Two would
be crucial.
From
the beginning of Top Fuel qualifying it was obvious that the
track personnel had done an excellent job preparing the racing
surface. All weekend long only one car smoked the tires - that
is the true testament of the "bite". Here Murphy launches
on his 6.12 run... rear tires glued to the surface, car perfectly
balanced.
Warming
up prior to Saturday's second qualifying session. The "warm
up" procedure is done back in the pits prior to every run
the car makes. This is done to (a) get some heat in the engine
and more importantly, to make sure there are no leaks or other
problems.
3000
HP nitro hemi on the hoof. i.e. - a beautiful bomb.
Temperatures
on Saturday and Sunday hovered in the 90 degree range and there
were umbrellas everywhere - mostly keeping the drivers shaded
while they sat in 6 layer fire suits waiting to run. One of the
many hats worn by Cheryl
Grisel is "keeper of the shade".
Crew Chief Tim Beebe squirts gas into
the injector (to help engine start) before activating the remote
starter (below).
Saturday
- Qualifying Session Two ... WW2 rolls though the water box before burnout.
Murphy
does his typical short and smoky burnout.
Barry
Byrne backs Murphy back to the starting line making sure he stays
in "the groove" (the track surface with the best traction).
Backing up in the same tracks you made on the burnout is crucial
to the best start possible. Note the SRO crowd that lined the
Fomosa quarter mile.
Backing
up.
The second qualifying session got underway about
3 PM, right in the heat of the day. Normally 90 degree air temps
make for a hot and "unstable" track. The concern is
spinning or smoking the tires on the less than ideal surface.
With that thought in mind, Murphy tweaked the tune-up and set
out to give the track all it would take.
Rear
tires hooked up, front end dangling in the air, Murphy's on his
way to a "safe" but quick 6.06 @ 234 MPH. This put
them in the # 5 spot of the top eight and gave Murphy and Tim
Beebe the data they would use for their first round match up
with Gerry Steiner on Sunday. All was good.
Both cars come to a safe stop - Murphy in the show,
Ginsberg is not.
Murphy literally had his tongue hanging out after
this run!
Firmly
in the field, the crew prepares the car for Sunday's eliminations.
Here are several candid pit shots of Ron Rapadas, Barry Byrne,
David Thornhill, Gary Grisel, Jeff Shamrock, Brian Shamrock,
Jon Moore, the "WW2 Women's Auxiliary", Tim Beebe and
Jim Murphy at work.
Jim Murphy mixes his own fuel. Here he
is checking the "percentage" (nitro vs alcohol) with
a hydrometer. Since most fuel cars cannot run straight nitromethane,
the percentage is cut with methanol so the engine is actually
getting anywhere from 92 to 95 (depending on the tune up) percent
nitro.
On
Sunday morning the first round of Top Fuel "A" saw
# 5 qualifier, Jim Murphy paired up with # 1 qualifier, Gerry
Steiner. This is a pay-for-view final at any nostalgia race in
the world.
Tim
Beebe backs down (makes sure there is no raw fuel in the cylinders)
the potent WW2 hemi just prior to Murphy getting into the car.
After their burnouts both Gerry Steiner and Jim Murphy
stage for their first round match-up. In the closest race of
the weekend (and there were several close races) Murphy sent
Steiner packing with a hole shot win that was determined by less
than 13 inches at the finish line! Murphy's 6.026 @ 239.10) just
did defeat Gerry Steiner's quicker and faster (5.985 @ 249.51).
As illustrated above,
the new M&H tires were working flawlessly all weekend giving
the fuel cars a rare chance to use more horsepower.
At the 300' mark Murphy was a good 3/4 of a car ahead
of Steiner. Try as he did, Gerry was never able to make up the
starting line deficit and failed to run down (catch) Murphy.
An elated crew head
down to pick up the car after their first round win over Steiner.
After their huge win over Steiner, the
WW2 team got back to the pits and started preparing for round
two against Glenn Hutchinson.
In
round two, all looked fine during the burnout.
After
his win over Steiner in round one, most of the smart money was
on Murphy to defeat Hutchinson in the semis setting up Nitro
Thunder - OSH-WW2 Racing final.
Backing
up from the burnout there was no indication that the car was
broken.
Winning
was not to be as the WW2 car broke a rod bolt on the burnout
and had to sit dejected as the Foothill Flyer took an early shut-off
single. Jim Murphy climbed
out of the car and like everyone else was asking, "what
happened this time?" Later it came down to... "That's
drag racing".
Parting Shots
Murphy spends some time with Roland Leong, legendary
dragster and funny car owner.
Old friends Jim Murphy, Tim Beebe and Roland Leong.
Jim Murphy accepts his "5-Second Club"
jacket during the Nitronic Research presentation ceremony on
Saturday. Jim Sorenson has that look of a tailor to him as he
inspects the goods.
photo
& commentary by Vic Cooke |
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