Thompson Faces the Nation’s Best in Indy
After scoring a big win at the Fram Autolite Nationals, Clint Thompson, driver of the Cascade Chevrolet Monte Carlo made his first trip to Indy from his home town in Klamath Falls Oregon. Thompson, who’s become a major player in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class came to the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals to race the best in the business and perhaps bring a much coveted US Nationals “Wally” back home to Oregon.
While being on his game out west, Thompson found Indy to be a challenge as he nearly missed making the extremely quick sixteen car field. On Thursday, the opening round was canceled due to rain which gave all of the alcohol teams only three shots to qualify. On Friday, a confident Thompson spun the tires and coasted to the finishline. Then on Saturday, Thompson shook the tires in low gear and then shifted into second, breaking the sprag in the transmission causing the engine to zing to the moon as it hit the rev limiter. The team took no chances and replaced all of the rods and valve train components as a precaution.
On Sunday, the team was down to one qualifying shot. Either run faster then a 5.79 or face a long tow home. Fortunately, a white knuckled Thompson made the field with a 5.72 ET at 252 MPH. “My gut was knotted up before the run but we qualified. All we got for making the field was a date with World Champion Bob Newberry in the first round. But I was glad we drew him because I came to Indy to race the best.” Thompson said after making the program.
In the first round on Sunday evening, drama for the Cascade Chevrolet team continued as Thompson covered his shift light prior to the run as it gets blinding once it gets dark. However, the track was lit well enough that the shift light didn’t need to be covered up, and covering it prevented him from seeing it at all. Prior to staging, a crew member was able to uncover it. ”Not only was the shift light a distraction but my visor was fogged up causing another problem at the starting line. The distractions contributed to my 0.207reaction time, which was my worst light in a long time.” Thompson said. During the run the car pulled towards the centerline but Thompson was still able to correct it while taking out the champ with a 5.68 at 251 MPH to Newberry’s 5.79 at 254 MPH. The margin of victory was a close .0074.
In the second round, it was the battle between the car dealers as Thompson raced New England Ford dealer Bob Tasca III in the Quick Lane Mustang. Tasca was getting tuning assistance from former NHRA champ Randy Anderson. Both cars left side by side but Thompson’s Monte Carlo began to shake hard. Thompson peddled it in the event Taska lost traction but it wasn’t to be as Taska got the win with a stout 5.61 to Thompson’s valiant5.89.
Overall, it was a good weekend for Thompson and his crew as they got a taste of what Indy is all about. “We had a lot of fun here and we’re glad we came. We’re not disappointed but we were here to win. In drag racing someone always goes home and this time it was us.” Thompson said. The team now heads west for three straight races starting with a Pacific Division race in Fallon Nevada this weekend.
