The Showtime Funny Car team of Bob Jarrett and John Spuffard secured third spot for the floppers with an emphatic 5.11/305 second pass that took the win light over Leif Helander’s none too shabby mid five effort. This historic pass (the first FC over 300 mph outside of North America) demonstrates that Nitro Funny Cars do have a role in drag racing outside of the NHRA/IHRA circuits, and who would bet against the four second barrier being eclipsed by Spuffard when the team get their new ride (ex-2006 Hight chassis covered by a 2005 Mustang body to be debuted at the end of next month) dialled in?
England’s legendary Santa Pod Raceway put on their annual Easter “Thunderball” race and it resulted in a flurry of record speeds in the Professional Classes including Europe’s first ever Fuel Funny Car speed over 300 and a new speed record in the Pro Mod division. John Spufford’s Fuel Funny car made a 305 plus lap the first pass over 300 by a Fuel Coupe outside North America and Robert Joosten drove the ex- Jim Oddy Pro Mod to a 6.28/229+ pass just missing becoming the first Pro Mod over 230 in Europe. The race was Headlined by the Pro Fuel Shootout. An eight car field with an even split of Top Fuel Dragsters and Nitro Funny Cars.
( Ed Note. They employed a “Chicago Style” race program to determine which cars would meet in the finals. All cars in both classes made all rounds and the quickest two cars in each class met in the final round). The 2007 presentation of the Easter meeting at Santa Pod took place under almost cloud-free skies for the full four days (a far cry from the days of yore when duffle coats were a higher priority than sunblock at this meeting). The new blacktop over the first 330 feet of the track stood up exceptionally well to it’s first encounter with nitro-fuelled cars, delivering the barrier shattering performance in the Nitro Funny Cars and close to European record numbers in Top Fuel and Pro Mod mentioned above. Thanks to TSI Timers Europe for access to timing data
Pro Fuel Shootout
The MPM Oil entry of Lex Joon was mightily impressive in dialing into the track, rapidly working his way to a pair of 4.7s (a best of 4.750) on very early shutoffs, and securing the Pro Fuel shootout title (qualifying on a cumulative 3 run format for a final round runoff). With consistency like this, and the clear potential to run in the 4.6 second bracket (only once visited by Kim Reymond this side of the pond back in 2003), Joon has placed a serious marker down in his quest to regain the FIA title he secured in 2005.