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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.

1st Round Qualifying Postponed As expected the Funny Car and Top Fuel session ran long. With the time approaching 5:00PM and A-Fuel and AA/Supercharged
in the lanes, NHRA decided to pull the plug on 1st round qualifying. I am sure the track temperatures were dipping below
70 degrees and with the overcast and the sun setting quickly, the writing was on the wall. We applaud the officials
for moving the 1st qualifying session to tomorrow, based on previous experience. As we know, when the sun sets and the
humidity is high, the Auto Club racing surface goes away in a hurry. Much better to call the session before it starts
as apposed to after the 1st car crashes. The current weather forecast calls for potential showers in the afternoon.
We hope to get the first session in prior to that and a second run will be considered a bonus. More to come tomorrow.
Test Complete, All Systems Go

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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.
AA/Supercharged Thunder Finally Fills
the Hills of Applegate California
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All systems go for testing testing
this weekend. It looks like the weather does not look the best for Saturday, so the current plan will be to move testing
to Sunday. Can't wait to hit the track again and see if the changes made over the winter work as we hope. Look
for a testing report on Sunday night or Monday.
Friday at Pomona Today was a day to just be a drag racing fan. We spent some time with friends in the alcohol
funny car pits, but the majority of our time was spent just watching the racing. This was truly refreshing. Tomorrow
we will spend more time back in the pits and see what is really going on. Somehow my son and I ended up in the Top Eliminator
Club. Check out the pictures and captions. Much more to come.
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| Gasparrelli vs Jay Payne 2nd Quaifying Round |
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