 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Pre season testing Napa Time Trials at Firebird Photos courtesy Bob Snyder and Mark King January 25, 2010 The teams worked the Firebird 1320 Monday as well, with all the weekend floppers and Brandon Bernstein out in action all day long. The Force juggernaut showed that 2000 feet of extra elevation compared to Palm Beach for the Al-Anabi and Schumacher floppers was not detrimate. The Force team ripped off mid 4.0's in 2000 more feet of elevation. They look very dangerous, but did you expect anything less. Monday's best numbers. Funny Car 4 Robert Hight, Yorba Linda CA, '09 Mustang 4.053
310.91 310.91 Top Fuel. 1 7 Brandon Bernstein, Lake Forest CA, McKinney-TFX 3.888 310.84 311.70
The second Sunday gallery from Firebird is here. January 24, 2010 The first Sunday gallery is posted. Sunday saw a few more solid hits from the Force camp, Bernstein making a full pull and Doug Foley looking like a very low 3.8 lap until he was forced to ease off the trhottle when he got loose around 700 feet. Tim Wilkerson went a 4 teen same as Tasca while Cruz struggled. But the biggest shot and fireworks at Firebird was the boomer by Troy Buff in the Biller Miller Top Fueler. Right at the hit in the second session, a fuel line came loose spraying nitro all over the front of the engine, less than ten feet off the starting line, the hemi went kaboom. Two different angles to the boomer, Bob Snyder left top to bottom, Mark King right top to bottom. More photos on Monday
Sunday best numbers Top Fuel 1 7 Brandon Bernstein, Lake Forest CA, McKinney-TFX
3.873 316.08 316.08 Funny Car 1 7 John Force, Yorba Linda CA, '09 Mustang 4.109
308.50 308.50 AA/FC Nostalgia Mike Adams Runs 6.406/110.59, Now #1; Best prior run: 7.581/117.66, Was #2 Adams in his funny Car makes it a little farther down the track before
he got loose and clicked it off. Mike Adams' incremental times: 60ft-1.034
sec., 330ft-2.795, 660ft-4.453/130.12 mph, 1,000ft-0.000. AA/FD Nostalgia Vince Karstetter Runs 6.883/216.17, Now #2; Best prior run: 7.129/193.10, Was #2 Karstetter in his top Fueler starts to lose traction and is off
the throttle and back on it. Vince Karstetter's incremental times:
60ft-1.165 sec., 330ft-3.325, 660ft-4.733/181.13 mph, 1,000ft-0.000.
January 23, 2010 A 80 picture Mark King gallery from Saturday is here. Will more cars show up to Firebird on Sunday as the forecast is supposed to be very nice? My guess is the track will run Sunday through Wednesday before teams (if any) head off to Las Vegas. Best Top Fuel Numbers Doug Foley in the car that Jesse Harris was slated
to start the season in, but internal conflicts including funding issues
put her out of the seat. The drama is very soap opera like as Harris
posted on her myspace page that she is pissed. A quote from her page
today,"Dote Racing and Doug Foley suck! I set their team up,
were in Phoenix ready to test the car, they stab me in the back and
let me go as driver. Losers!" And someone here said they were
first class? I'd say class-less! That likely will not get her
another ride anytime soon, unless of course they were a bit shady.
More when we hear it.
1 1301 Doug Foley, Sewell NJ, McKinney-TFX 6.999 112.84
112.84 Funny Car With three Force floppers in attendance, seeing Mike Neff in front of a car instead of in the cockpit does couple things both positive and negative for the competition. The positive for all the competition is there is one less Force car to battle on the track. The negative, is there is one more full time crew chief who know his stuff in the Force camp. Yes he was there last year, but when you are a driver, there has to be as much focus on the driving aspect as there is in the tuning end. A full time neff behind the computer is a very good thing for Force, not so good for the rest. Cruz Pedregon was out in his new livery, but only made 400 foot efforts. Bob Tasca is out after hitting Florida testing the week before. This season will no doubt be dedicated to his grandfather Bob the first who died two weeks ago. The Force cars were solid right at the end of the day as both Ashley and Robert ripped off 4.11 at over 300 mph. John went 4.19. Best Funny Car numbers
1 6 Ashley Force Hood, Yorba Linda CA, '08 Mustang
4.113 302.75 302.75 |
