Pro Fuel Shootout

A whiff of nitro was provided by the Pro Fuel Shootout field with Gordon Smith and the Marshall Amplification/MPM Oils Shockwave Funny Car and the Finnish Top Fuel Dragster pair of Jari Halinen and Risto Poutianen running mid five second passes, but it was a weekend where traction was difficult to find for the high horsepower cars. Smith’s 5.620 best came as a bit of a surprise to all and sundry as crew-chief Dave Bryant had taken everything out of it “we’d crippled it” in order to try and hook up.

Top Methanol

We’d included news of Duncun Micallef’s licensing in Top Fuel in our Agent 1320 snippet last week, and he wasn’t the only Maltese racer smiling over the weekend, despite the distinctly non-Mediterranean conditions. Christopher Polidano has picked up the 270mph+ TAD from Derek Flynn over the winter and has already been into the mid fives at Hal Far Raceway on Malta. The trip to Santa Pod marked the start of a first European tour for Polidano and, with Flynn orchestrating activities, a 5.696/267 points to a strong challenge for the 2012 FIA Top Methanol title with some very proven hardware.

NFAA

Only three cars made the call for the Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association’s first event of the season. Of the three, Joe Bond, carrying a drop dead gorgeous new flame scheme on the Nuthin’ Fancy Topolino, had the most to shout about as a 6.305/207 (a new PB ET we think) and another mid six proved that show and go can go together.