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Bakersfield,
CA - March 07-09, 2008: The 50th anniversary of the March Meet will go
down in drag racing history as one of the best events ever. Under
four days of Chamber of Commerce skies, the largest car count/spectator
attendance in history filled the hallowed Famoso Dragstrip grounds
for the event that lived up to its star billing in spades.
Joining 23 other
Top Fuel dragsters was the High Speed Motorsports/SilverThin
Bearings fueler driven by Troy Green who went into the weekend
feeling optimistic that the inconsistent performance the car
experienced in 2007 was cured over the winter. His optimism was
not misplaced as Crew Chief Brett Johansen along with Tom Shelar
and the rest of the established HSMS crew ran the three best
times ever with the car while keeping parts damage to a minimum.
Aside from the
unforeseen and grievous loss of Top Fuel veteran John Shoemaker,
the 2008 March Meet was a huge success and large step forward
for the team who now have the confidence that they can be major
players in the newly established 2008 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series
points race.
photos
and race results below
Session One
of Qualifying
Under sunny skies and ideal track conditions the first session
of Top Fuel qualifying went off as scheduled at 2:00 p.m. Friday
afternoon.
For the first session Troy Green
was paired with Bill Dunlap driving for Brandon Murry.In a very
rare occurance, Green would be paired with Dunlap all three qualifying
sessions.
The car yanked the front wheels
at the hit clocked a decent 60 foot time.
Nice and clean - a 5.886 at 223.60
(shut off early) was a sweet baseline pass for the team to work
from.
Session Two
of Qualifying
12:41 p.m. Saturday afternoon: More sunny skies and ideal track
conditions set the stage for the second session of Top Fuel qualifying.
Once again paired with Bill Dunlap,
Green starts his burnout for session two.
From the hit this had
stout run written all over it.
The run was every bit as good
as it looked. Green stopped the clocks with a career best (also
best for the car) 5.767 at 258.47 which planted him firmly in
the #2 spot right behind Brad Thompson.
Session Three
of Qualifying
5:19 p.m Saturday afternoon: With the sun beginning to set, the
third and final session of Top Fuel qualifying was underway.
Ironically Green was
paired for the third time in qualifying with Dunlap.
Dunlap had trouble staging so
Green was given a single run and once again the HSMS car (aka
Great White) left with authority.
The team was on a serious roll... Green
carded another stellar time - 5.783 at 252.38.
Final
Top Fuel Qualifying after 3rd Session
1 - Brad Thompson
5.675 @ 250.34
2 - Troy Green 5.767 @ 258.47
3 - Jack Harris 5.796 @ 233.58
4 - Rick White 5.816 @ 250.69
5 - Pete Kaiser 5.817 @ 250.55
6 - Rick Williamson 5.833 @ 246.57
7 - Denver Schutz 5.853 @ 251.74
8 - Howard Haight 5.899 @ 244.43 |
9 - Shannon Stuart
5.924 @ 234.37
10 - Adam Sorokin 5.950 @ 256.11
11 - Mike McLennan 6.013 @ 232.73
12 - Jason Richey 6.017 @ 250.97
13 - Rick Rogers 6.059 @ 250.97
14 - Rick McGee 6.079 @ 245.29
15 - Jim Murphy 6.092 @ 222.60
16 - Bill Dunlap 6.148 @ 215.10 |
DNQ
17 - Terry Cox 6.164
@ 246.23
18 - Ernie McClain 6.238 @ 229.76
19 - Mark Malde 6.242 @ 208.52
20 - Dan Rusk 9.271 @ 89.51 |
Sunday
- Eliminations
Eliminations - Round One
Right on time, after the playing of our National Anthem, the
first pair of Top Fuel cars fired up at high noon.
The third pair
out pitted #2 qualifier Troy Green with #15 qualifier Jim Murphy.
Green, ready to go is about to
get the signal the he would be flying solo as Murphy was being
shut off in the other lane with a minor oil leak.
Sounding every bit as good as
it did on Saturday, Green launched hard.
With the center
of the tires "chunking" out Green legged it to yet
another great time. Not hurting any parts, the car was about
as consistent as could be.
Eliminations
- Round Two
2:22 p.m. Sunday: Still under
sunny skies and ideal track conditions round two hit the track.
Paired with another
driver who was having a good weekend (Denver Schutz who ran 5.750
in round one for lane choice) Green rolls through the waterbox
to start his burnout.
Schutz got a starting
line advantage leaving Green to play catch-up.
Green was willing but the blower
belt wasn't... it broke at the 900 foot mark leaving Big White
dead in the water.
All Green could do was watch
Schutz clock a sterling 5.775 at 258.69 while he coasted through
with a 5.954 at just 213.42. Greens numbers prior to the belt
failure suggest he would have run a low 5.7 which would have
made for a great drag race.
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