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The Season Finale
For Friday, it was cloudy skies and nice temperatures (low 70’s). Because of the 3-day schedule and the
early evening start, the Friday qualifying was backward for us – SEP first,
then ET. With rain threatening Saturday’s
qualifying, we did not want to take the chance in breaking out, so we “dropped
one in the bucket” and ran a conservative 11.591 so that we could be sure
to make the field. It was a real thrill to watch the pro’s
run, too! A lot of record times
and speeds today, perfect for those Top Fuel Harleys!
Saturday proved to be trying, to say the
least. Rained out for the entire
morning. The schedule was
topsy-turvy and understandably rushed.
We finally hit the track at about 4 in the afternoon. We had to run SEP before ET again. The temperature was a comfortable 73
degrees, and it was a fast track.
Trying NOT to go TOO fast (just Half Fast!), we still broke out in
our SEP pass at 11.472. Sure glad we “dropped one in the bucket”
yesterday! This was the only
qualifying we could do for the day, too.
The Shoot-Out was scheduled to start at 5, but because of the
extremely late start, it was put off until Sunday morning.
We got one time trial on Sunday morning before the shootout, and
we decided to try to do what the bike wanted to do – which was the low
11.20’s. We felt it was about
right, so we dialed an 11.23 for the first round of the shootout. Chip cut an AWESOME light at .002!!! We ran just a bit too fast, though, and
broke out with an 11.163. It was a
great race and loads of fun.
We broke out again for our first round of ET. We dialed an 11.47 and ran an
11.373. For our first round of
SEP, Chip cut a great light at .011, and it was a double-breakout at the
stripe against Bill Rowe, Jr. and we got the win light this time. For the second round of SEP racing, we
broke out against Donnie Huffman’s 11.541.
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