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CLERMONT, Ind. - It's been said that luck is like a bank. Sometimes you make deposits, sometimes you make withdrawals. Paul Lee and the Rislone Engine Treatment/ J&B Motorsports Nitro Funny Car team made yet another deposit to the proverbial 'luck bank' as parts problems kept the team from achieving their potential during this past weekend's Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
Lee opened the weekend with promise, running a 4.985 second elapsed time at 307.72 mph during the first session on Friday. The team smoked the tires during the second session, but severely damaged an engine. The cause of the engine failure was not known going into Saturday's first session, so the team elected to skip the session in an effort to find the culprit. The team entered the final session confident they had eliminated the problem, only to have a small air fitting crack. The cracked fitting left no air pressure to control the clutch timers, forcing Lee to abort the pass.
"We were going for it on the last shot," said Lee. "It just got out there and it wasn't going anywhere. When the clutch locks up on one of these nitro cars, it's like it launches all over again. It definitely wasn't doing that. The clutch is controlled by air timers, so with no air, it couldn't do what it was supposed to do."
While not pleased with the outcome, Team Owner Jeff McGaffic is pleased with the direction the team is heading.
"We certainly set our sights higher than we finished," stated McGaffic. "We're getting experience, learning and moving forward. We'll try to learn from this and move forward."
There will be little rest for the team as they will head straight to Epping, N.H., for next weekend's Amalie Oil IHRA North American Nationals.
For more information on the team, log on to JB-Motorsports.com and PaulLeeRacing.com.
For more information about Rislone Engine Treatment, visit Rislone.com
Based in Holly, Mich., Bar's Products is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company. For more information about any Bar's Leaks or Rislone products, visit www.barsproducts.com
Allied Machine & Engineering Corp. manufactures a wide variety of replacable tip drilling systems, high penetration solid carbide drills, (coolant-thru designs) and vitrified grinding wheels. To find out more about the "Hole Advantage" log on to http://www.alliedmachine.com/
Photo courtesy of Roger Richards, www.CompetitionPlus.com
Lee bit by gremlins in Indy
CLERMONT, Ind. - It's been said that luck is like a bank. Sometimes you make deposits, sometimes you make withdrawals. Paul Lee and the Rislone Engine Treatment/ J&B Motorsports Nitro Funny Car team made yet another deposit to the proverbial 'luck bank' as parts problems kept the team from achieving their potential during this past weekend's Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
Lee opened the weekend with promise, running a 4.985 second elapsed time at 307.72 mph during the first session on Friday. The team smoked the tires during the second session, but severely damaged an engine. The cause of the engine failure was not known going into Saturday's first session, so the team elected to skip the session in an effort to find the culprit. The team entered the final session confident they had eliminated the problem, only to have a small air fitting crack. The cracked fitting left no air pressure to control the clutch timers, forcing Lee to abort the pass.
"We were going for it on the last shot," said Lee. "It just got out there and it wasn't going anywhere. When the clutch locks up on one of these nitro cars, it's like it launches all over again. It definitely wasn't doing that. The clutch is controlled by air timers, so with no air, it couldn't do what it was supposed to do."
While not pleased with the outcome, Team Owner Jeff McGaffic is pleased with the direction the team is heading.
"We certainly set our sights higher than we finished," stated McGaffic. "We're getting experience, learning and moving forward. We'll try to learn from this and move forward."
There will be little rest for the team as they will head straight to Epping, N.H., for next weekend's Amalie Oil IHRA North American Nationals.
For more information on the team, log on to JB-Motorsports.com and PaulLeeRacing.com.
For more information about Rislone Engine Treatment, visit Rislone.com
Based in Holly, Mich., Bar's Products is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company. For more information about any Bar's Leaks or Rislone products, visit www.barsproducts.com
Allied Machine & Engineering Corp. manufactures a wide variety of replacable tip drilling systems, high penetration solid carbide drills, (coolant-thru designs) and vitrified grinding wheels. To find out more about the "Hole Advantage" log on to http://www.alliedmachine.com/
Photo courtesy of Roger Richards, www.CompetitionPlus.com