2007 NHRA National Hot Rod Reuinon, June 15-17, Columbus, Ohio

I arrived in Columbus Thursday night and after getting checked in the hotel Lara, Dani and I went to the track. I was pleasantly surprised after walking the track, other than a short shutdown, this place was cool! So back to town we go to get dinner and get rested after driving 14 hours!

Friday morning we got to the track early and got our car ready for qualifying. At the hit of the throttle, the car picked up the front end and dropped number one cylinder and started heading for the wall so I shut it off and coasted down. The Saturday afternoon session came and this time the car picked up the front end and shortly there after smoked the tires. Luckily for us, only seven cars are on hand for an eight car field so no matter how ugly we are, we will at least qualify. Now, our Saturday evening session comes and the car leaves and is carrying the front end pretty high but going straight so i'm not lifting! The front end just keeps climbing though, and now I have to figure out how to land this thing without tearing it up. As I back off the throttle slowly the front end starts to descend, just as I see the horizon again I put my foot back in it and it sets down very softly and I leg it to about 1100 ft. and shut it off. (man am I lucky!) The car was undamaged and hopefully Sunday would be better!

We ended up qualified in the fifth position, this means we will run Howard Haight in the first round. As the tree went red and green in my lane at the same time, Howard only saw red in my lane, so he lifted at about 1000 ft. Our car smoked the tires so I pedaled it and it recovered and I chased him down and caught him and turned on our win light. The tree had malfunctioned and I did not red light, we both had green lights and we got the win.

In round two, we were up against Brendan Murry. Brendan has been running very good all weekend so we have to step up. At the green I get about four hundredths on him and I never saw him....until we blew the blower off at about 900ft. I got the chutes out and was getting stopped as Brendan comes around me for the win. Now is when all hell breaks loose! Brendan is engulfed in the biggest ball of fire I think I have ever seen. I can feel the heat from his fire inside my car. I am dodging very large pieces coming off of is car and all I can think of is I have to stay out of his way. I get my car stopped and get out, my only concern now is for Brendan. As we all know know now, Brendan is going to be fine after spending a few days in the hospital with burns to his head and hands. Thank God for having his hand on both of us during that whole deal, it could have been much worse.

With the damage to Brendans car, we are now back in for the final round. After a huge thrash and a lot of help, thanks to the RB entertainment guys for helping out, we head to the starting line. We had no time to start the car before the final so we were all a bit nervous. As the car fired, everything looked and sounded good. As the light turns green we both leave the line and fortunately I never saw our opponent. Man, what a feeling! Four in a row for Highspeed Motorsports!

Thanks to all of our guys who worked so hard all weekend and the weeks leading up to the event. Our success was a direct reflection of team work and persistence!

Til next time, Troy & Lara

E-mail: Top Fuel Troy