August 04-16-2009 - Boise, ID - The 38th edition of Firebird Raceway's signature event was a weekend of way below normal temperatures, huge crowds, record runs, major upsets and lots of drama. The Nightfire Nationals are Idaho's premiere motorsport's national championship, and the 2009 edition was even bigger and better than any year previous. Headlining the 4 day show was Top Fuel Dragsters and Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars. In spite of a grim economy, there were 32 nitro cars on the grounds and both the Friday and Sunday crowds were bigger than years past. Most credit the absence of the normally hot weather for much of the increase.

For Troy Green and the HSMS team it was less than a good weekend. Historically the gang has not had much luck at Boise. Unlike Bowling Green and Bakersfield, Firebird Raceway has not been conducive with Brett Johansen's tune ups. This year was no different. After crossing the centerline in his first qualifying attempt, Green did manage to qualify 6th on his next. But a 6.11 was far off the pace needed to go rounds.

In years past, there were three pro qualifying sessions but in an attempt to give their largest crowd (Saturday) a better show and have first round of eliminations under the lights they dropped one session.. So, session two was the last chance to nail down a tune up and jockey for a position on the ladder. It also left the team with a tough decision that in hind site turned out to be the wrong one.

Said Green, "To say we're disappointed is an understatement. We were behind the 8 ball all weekend and things never came together. We'll go home, regroup, assess the damage and do better the next time out."

Team Manager Tom Shelar was more direct. "Boise was about the worst outing that I can remember. We need to get back to a baseline that we had last year where we could run a 5.80 on any track."

Virtually out of the points chase, the team will run the Pinks All Out show at Bakersfield September 12 and pass on the Hot Rod Heritage race at Sacramento on September 18th. Shelar stated, "We will not be going to Sacramento. It is better to spend the time and money on the car and another test session if needed before the CHRR."

Photos by: Arlene Eliason, Dan Kaplan, Don Ewald, Darrell Conrad, Pam Schavrien and Don Atkinson.

Being the last car of the session, Green got the whole track to himself... and he needed it.

Out of the groove and got on the unusual asphalt strip between lanes Green tried to steer the car back.

In a heartbeat the clutch finally locked up and literally tossed the car into the left lane,

Fortunately there was no other car on the track or this could have been ugly. Said Green, "The car moved so hard, so fast I couldn't do a thing but reel it in when it stabilized."

In spite of drifting to the right this time the car did not make any violent moves to the other lane.

Staying in his own lane Green clocked a mediocre 6.11 at 235.54 to land in the #6 qualifying spot.

Round 1 was scheduled for 7:00 but actually got underway about 7:45. Green was paired with Mike McClennan in Mike Fuller's "Forever Young" car. McClennan had lane choice.

The car was more aggressive on the bottom end and promised to give the blue car a good race.

At this point Green was hanging in with McClennan but once again slowly sliding out of the groove.

At this point Green was dangerously close to the wall but it didn't matter - the engine was a dead player.

Then the engine burned the # 7 piston and debris from the piston got stuck under the # 7 intake valve. When it blew up, the # 7 intake valve was not sealed to the seat letting the ignition spark the fuel into the manifold. When # 7 is on it's power stroke # 4 is on overlap. The explosion in the intake manifold blew the # 4 intake valve into the # 4 exhaust valve and that is why the # 4 valves were broken and the chamber and piston in the # 4 hole were beaten up. Got that so far?

The good news is the Manifold designed by Tom Shelar performed exactly as it was designed to do in this situation. The explosion in the manifold was so big the burst panel area was insufficient . The manifold is designed to split if the explosive energy is so big that the burst panel area and the blower shear studs are not enough to allow the energy to escape fast enough. ( Scott Kalitta's 's manifold exploded opening up the engine valley, Mendy Fry in Frank Hedge's car at Sonoma had the same issue both resulted in a big fire.) The only fire Green experienced after the initial explosion was a small amount of oil from the oil pressure gage being damaged. And they did not put any oil on the track just a small amount of nitro from the fuel system. Boise Boom

We apologize for the quality of a couple of these photos but they were obviously shot in low light and pulled from a video camera.

Oiled in, Green did a masterful job of keeping the car off the wall and in his lane.

As Great White limped along McClennan's ride had problems of its own. The ensuing oil down led to a 52 minute clean up and delay running funny cars. There are many good things to say about Firebird Raceway but their speed in doing track clean ups isn't one of them.