Q3 of Top Fuel

With the cooler temperatures, the racetrack cooled down significantly as the sun went down and the teeth came back into the track. The first to test it out was Mr. Williamson and once again on the heels of the 5.91 in the heat, John Russell twisted the screws and that produced a 5.80/251.77, which for the time put them low.


Jim Murphy is getting tuning help from the legendary “Hawaiian” Roland Leong.

This brought up Jim Murphy and Adam Sorokin. For those who did not hear, Murphy has a new tuning consultant. However the guy has not worked on dragsters for four decades… His name … oh yeah, Roland Leong. Murphy and Leong just could not get the WWII down the track and the third session was no exception. Murphy got to two hundred feet and smoked the tires. Funny enough, right after that hit Roland had the same look in his eye as John Russell did just before Q2.

In the other lane Adam Sorokin in Bobby McClennan’s Champion Speed Shop car went 5.92/214.42, shutting the car off at 1100 feet.

Then came Dusty Green in Steve Harwood’s Nitro Hemi and “That Dunlap Kid” and High Speed Motorsports. Tom Shelar and Sean Bellemeur have been on a roll since taking out Bartone at Bowling Green. Harwood’s car, the former Jack Harris ride, has won an impressive amount of races. At the green both cars made huge runs with High Speed going 5.78/251.34 to claim the number-one spot. Green’s very strong 5.88/243.90 dropped him into the top half of the field at number four.


Steve Boggs

 

 

 

The final pair of Q3 had everybody in the joint on their feet. Tony Bartone in the Steve Boggs-tuned Bartone Bros. fueler was alongside of Brendan Murry. Many railbirds were looking for a moon shot from Boggs.

However, it wasn’t to be as Murry, who was just looking to stage his wounded car to get a time to get into the field, started his car after Bartone did his burnout and for some reason just pulled the car to the starting line and turned on both bulbs.

 

 

 

This seem to catch Bartone off guard and Bartone rushed his own routine and procedure; reportedly didn’t get the pump completely on the high side, when the green came on as Murry sat there, Bartone went about 30 feet and smoked the tires. Bartone was visibly upset at the end of the track when he got out of the car, as was Boggs on the starting line with what had transpired, missing an opportunity to take the number one spot.