POMONA, Calif. – In drag racing, cool is, well, cool. Cool temps make for better racing conditions, faster speeds, and quicker times. On Thursday at the Auto Club NHRA World Finals at Auto Club Raceway, the weather conditions were cool and overcast. On Friday, it was the same.
Until it came time for TJ Zizzo to make his Q2 run in the PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner dragster.
“The weather of course played into it,” Zizzo said of his 3.935 second run that placed him 15th in the qualifying bracket. “You have a little bit of cloud cover all day long, actually a lot of cloud cover, and then before we go (to the starting line), the sun comes out.
“The weather gods don’t give (crew chief) Mike Kern too many breaks because all year long, every single race we go to, there’s been completely different levels of atmospheric condition. But Mike continues to do a good job and the team continues to do a good job assembling our PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner car and we’re doing well.”
The smooth A-to-B run for Zizzo was a marked improvement over Thursday’s effort, which saw the car strike the tires almost immediately. Little changes can make big improvements and that is what Zizzo Racing is working towards this weekend in the final event of the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Series season.
“We ran a 3.93 today,” the Chicago native said. “Sure, it was a decent run, especially after smoking the tires yesterday. It wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, but we shaved a couple thousandths (of a second) here, a couple thousandths there. I left just a touch early and I staged just a touch too deep, maybe by a couple inches or so. All those things add up. We’ll get it absolutely correct tomorrow.”
The weather forecast for Saturday here is questionable, but if both rounds of qualifying are rained out, Zizzo will be in the show for Sunday’s eliminations. Former seven-time class champ Tony Schumacher remains atop the leaderboard with a 3.827 ET at 321.19 mph. Antron Brown, one of the three Top Fuel drivers vying for the title (along with Del Worsham and Spencer Massey) continues to struggle, currently in 22nd place among the 26-car field.
Zizzo Racing is racing in the Auto Club NHRA World Finals this weekend at Auto Club Raceway. The final two rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Saturday at 11:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday’s pre-race ceremonies begin at 9:45 a.m. with first round of eliminations running at 11. For tickets, click HERE.
Until it came time for TJ Zizzo to make his Q2 run in the PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner dragster.
“The weather of course played into it,” Zizzo said of his 3.935 second run that placed him 15th in the qualifying bracket. “You have a little bit of cloud cover all day long, actually a lot of cloud cover, and then before we go (to the starting line), the sun comes out.
“The weather gods don’t give (crew chief) Mike Kern too many breaks because all year long, every single race we go to, there’s been completely different levels of atmospheric condition. But Mike continues to do a good job and the team continues to do a good job assembling our PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner car and we’re doing well.”
The smooth A-to-B run for Zizzo was a marked improvement over Thursday’s effort, which saw the car strike the tires almost immediately. Little changes can make big improvements and that is what Zizzo Racing is working towards this weekend in the final event of the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Series season.
“We ran a 3.93 today,” the Chicago native said. “Sure, it was a decent run, especially after smoking the tires yesterday. It wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, but we shaved a couple thousandths (of a second) here, a couple thousandths there. I left just a touch early and I staged just a touch too deep, maybe by a couple inches or so. All those things add up. We’ll get it absolutely correct tomorrow.”
The weather forecast for Saturday here is questionable, but if both rounds of qualifying are rained out, Zizzo will be in the show for Sunday’s eliminations. Former seven-time class champ Tony Schumacher remains atop the leaderboard with a 3.827 ET at 321.19 mph. Antron Brown, one of the three Top Fuel drivers vying for the title (along with Del Worsham and Spencer Massey) continues to struggle, currently in 22nd place among the 26-car field.
Zizzo Racing is racing in the Auto Club NHRA World Finals this weekend at Auto Club Raceway. The final two rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Saturday at 11:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday’s pre-race ceremonies begin at 9:45 a.m. with first round of eliminations running at 11. For tickets, click HERE.
