2010 March Meet Quick Eliminations Results

Over my nearly 25 years in drag racing, I can say I have never experienced a patients testing weekend like this one.  Friday, we waited all day to make a single pass, get called to the staging lanes late in the day and get turned around and sent back, based on the ever chilling track temperatures.  I applaud the NHRA and Famoso track officials for looking ahead as apposed to responding after a problem occurs.  Saturday was cold and cloudy with a 54 degree air temperature combined with a 70 degree track temperature.  Marginal at best and the performance of the cars reflected that situation.  Sunday brought great racing conditions with temperatures in the low to mid 60's and sunshine.  Normally, first round of eliminations would occur around noon.  Delays earlier in the weekend caused the first round of Funny Car and Top Fuel to occur on Sunday as apposed to Saturday.  16 Dragsters and 32 Funny Cars, and they wanted to get down to 8 of each prior to running AA/Supercharged.  The result was our first round of eliminations occurring at 5:30 PM.  Once again it was getting cold in a hurry.  We backed it off to make sure the 38' Chevy would get down the track.  Bad decision, because our opponent Cecil Matthews car responded perfectly to the changes he made and took down the Sierra Pipe team 6.70 seconds at 208MPH to our 6.96 at 205 MPH.  Gary Reinero was on a single and had room to try something and resulted in a back peddling 7.12 second pass.  Chuck Moore took a 1st round win with a less than stellar 7.56 seconds under power......wow.  Congratulations also go to Rob Moore for running a career best 6.68 second pass in the opening round.  Following the opening round, NHRA and track officials decided to pull the plug on Sunday, with a decision to finish the event on Monday. 

Chuck Moore took the March Meet title on Monday, defeating Cecil Matthews with a 6.74 second pass at 204MPH.  More March Meet coverage to come.

One Shot Qualifying at the March Meet

The cold and marginal weather conditions dictated a single qualifying pass for the AA/Supercharged teams attending the 2010 March Meet.  As a result, things got really strange.  The Sierra Pipe team was up first and matched up with TK Krupa.  Luckily we took a red light and missed a potential collision, when TK crossed the centerline and took out the 60' cone.  The 38' Chevy went right down the groove, but no time was recorded in either lane.  As the session went on, the only other car attending from the Northern AA/Supercharged association was on top of the qualifying sheet.  Gary Reinero ran a 6.85 second pass at 201MPH.  Nobody else was able to make a full pull under power.  As eliminations loom tomorrow, it will be anybodies race.  We hope the intangibles will be in our favor tomorrow.  Howard has never won the March Meet and this year marks 50 years since Dan took victory in the A/Sports division.  This will prove to be a day to remember in the 51st additon of the March Meet.

Based on the weather forecast, we decided to test at Sacramento Raceway Sunday.  An ET Series Event was scheduled and we were able to test as part of the bracket racing event.  As a result, the track conditions would only support a 10 second pass and our 6 second horsepower was way too much.  The good news was the fact we were able to make sure all of the systems were working properly and we are now ready to attend the March Meet, knowing that we will not throw away the 1st pass for something unforeseen.  One more update to go and it will be time to race in Bakersfield.