Thompson’s Bid to Win Two in a Row Goes up in Smoke
After winning the Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals convincingly, Clint Thompson was feeling the momentum needed to win the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, which is the final race in NHRA’s grueling Western Swing and a race at which Thompson entered as the defending champion. A sweep of the two back-to-back races would put Thompson deep in the points race and would be the highlight of his successful career.
After qualifying seventh with a 5.62 at 257 MPH in a Top Alcohol Funny Car field that ended up being the quickest field of all time, Thompson knew he was on the right track. “We qualified well but there were several cars running in the 5.50’s, so when we got ready for the final qualifying session, I set the car up to try to chase the 5.50 guys and ended up spinning the tires hard in low gear and slowing to a 5.67. I figured I could soften it up a bit and it would go right down there later in round one” Thompson said.
When it came time for the first round, Thompson once again faced rival Brian Hough. “We knew we had to be aggressive to beat Brian, but we got a little to greedy and gave the car to much power. I made some adjustments to keep the tires from spinning but it wasn’t enough.” As a result, Thompson went out twenty feet and then went up in smoke. Meanwhile, Hough was long gone with a 5.62 and handed Thompson a first round loss.
After the race Thompson summed up the event this way: “It was typical drag racing, you always want to go faster so it’s hard to back these cars down. It was the quickest field in history and we qualified in the top half so we’re happy about that. I appreciate the help from my crew Danette, Tyler, Vic, and Kelly, and our great sponsors Dutch Bros Coffee, Cascade Auto Group, RPM Chassis, and RPMoil.com. I feel bad that we let them down but we’ll do better here next week.”
