Thursday Pomona Thoughts...

[Tim5636sc]

Top Fuel:
1 4 Antron Brown, Pittsboro IN, DSR-TFX 3.804 319.98 319.98
2 421 Spencer Massey, Ft. Worth TX, DSR-TFX 3.804 319.90 319.90
3 2 Tony Schumacher, Brownsburg IN, DSR-TFX 3.804 316.38 316.38
4 99 Del Worsham, Chino Hills CA, Hadman-TFX 3.814 321.96 321.96
5 1 Larry Dixon, Brownsburg IN, Hadman-TFX 3.818 318.47 318.47

Can somebody say TIGHT PACK!!!

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen such consistent performances out of team cars before. ALL Three DSR Rails run exact ET's. Antron takes #1 on .08 mph and Del and Larry are separated by 0.004. Impressive start to the season...

Great first pass by TJ Zizzo and crew. Also good to see Ron August Jr. get down the track in their first pass of 2011 with the Hartley bunch!

Funny Car:

All those who had Johnny Gray as your Number one qualifier after the first day, please raise your hands....

Johnny is a natural-born pilot of any kind of race car and Lee Beard is a great tuner, so the run doesn't surprise me. What Surprised me is Force, Neff, Hight, Beckman, Hagan were not quicker.

How about that Bob Bode???? Runs a great 4.12 today, placing him in the 6th position. I'd love to see these guys make a full time run at the title!

Pro Stock:

Erica...freakin Enders.... That's all.

TAD:

Good to see Team Peen and Mr. Demke up to their old tricks, running a 5.29 for the provisional pole today. Thought the track would yield some quicker A/Fuel runs, but Chase Copeland set the low et for the nitro-burners at a 5.340. We'll see what is in store for the TAD's in Pomona tomorrow (weather permitting)

TAFC:

BRET 'FREAKIN' WILLIAMSON! As RG said, "We are not worthy..." What a great pass by Team Eagle today. Their 5.52 leads a pack of only 14 TAFC's who made runs today.

So, what did you guys think of the first day of the 2011 National Event season?

 

[smokemasterJ]

I can't remember a more problem-free day at Pomona! It went by really fast. My only complaint was the starting line guy that they switched to on the P.A. Stop freaking yelling in the mic, and hello... you are preaching to the choir. If you are at Pomona on a Thursday, you are already a fan.

 

[Just Paul]

I think if the weather forcast was better for the rest of qualifying, we would have seen some 3.7s in top fuel and a 4.05 or so in FC.

 

[Rajunz]

It's great to be enjoying racing again.........

 

[Huge]

The track was nice and tight on Thursday. The track temp was 78 deg when we ran.

 

[mick]

The track was nice and tight on Thursday. The track temp was 78 deg when we ran.

almost optimal? eugene, what is considered the best track temp?
or range of temperatures?

 

[Huge]

Top Fuel:
1 4 Antron Brown, Pittsboro IN, DSR-TFX 3.804 319.98 319.98
2 421 Spencer Massey, Ft. Worth TX, DSR-TFX 3.804 319.90 319.90
3 2 Tony Schumacher, Brownsburg IN, DSR-TFX 3.804 316.38 316.38
4 99 Del Worsham, Chino Hills CA, Hadman-TFX 3.814 321.96 321.96
5 1 Larry Dixon, Brownsburg IN, Hadman-TFX 3.818 318.47 318.47

Can somebody say TIGHT PACK!!!

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen such consistent performances out of team cars before. ALL Three DSR Rails run exact ET's. Antron takes #1 on .08 mph and Del and Larry are separated by 0.004. Impressive start to the season...

Great first pass by TJ Zizzo and crew. Also good to see Ron August Jr. get down the track in their first pass of 2011 with the Hartley bunch!

Funny Car:

All those who had Johnny Gray as your Number one qualifier after the first day, please raise your hands....

Johnny is a natural-born pilot of any kind of race car and Lee Beard is a great tuner, so the run doesn't surprise me. What Surprised me is Force, Neff, Hight, Beckman, Hagan were not quicker.

How about that Bob Bode???? Runs a great 4.12 today, placing him in the 6th position. I'd love to see these guys make a full time run at the title!

Pro Stock:

Erica...freakin Enders.... That's all.

TAD:

Good to see Team Peen and Mr. Demke up to their old tricks, running a 5.29 for the provisional pole today. Thought the track would yield some quicker A/Fuel runs, but Chase Copeland set the low et for the nitro-burners at a 5.340. We'll see what is in store for the TAD's in Pomona tomorrow (weather permitting)

TAFC:

BRET 'FREAKIN' WILLIAMSON! As RG said, "We are not worthy..." What a great pass by Team Eagle today. Their 5.52 leads a pack of only 14 TAFC's who made runs today.

So, what did you guys think of the first day of the 2011 National Event season?

Thanks Tim for the nice review, I thought the first day was awesome. If we can get a couple things finished this morning, then we are going to run our Toyota body today.

 

[BigDaddyB]

Hey guys is NHRA.com down

 

[smokemasterJ]

One of my favorite things I saw on Thursday was the Pomona PD walking around in front of the stands right before the FCs fired up. They were asking and in some cases demanding to know where a child's ear protection was. Some lady was pushing around a 6-month old(?) in a stroller, no protection in sight. She argued with the officers that she couldn't keep the protection on the child. I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation but there was a lot of wild gesticulating going on. She left in the company of two of the officers. When will people learn? There were too many instances of strangers having to tell children running up and down the stands to sit down. Thank God, there were no confrontations with the clueless parents. Mostly just, "get back up here Mijo"....

 

[Tim5636sc]

One of my favorite things I saw on Thursday was the Pomona PD walking around in front of the stands right before the FCs fired up. They were asking and in some cases demanding to know where a child's ear protection was. Some lady was pushing around a 6-month old(?) in a stroller, no protection in sight. She argued with the officers that she couldn't keep the protection on the child. I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation but there was a lot of wild gesticulating going on. She left in the company of two of the officers. When will people learn? There were too many instances of strangers having to tell children running up and down the stands to sit down. Thank God, there were no confrontations with the clueless parents. Mostly just, "get back up here Mijo"....

This is the best news I've seen posted on here for a while! Kudos to Pomona PD for doing this. If an adult wants to have their ears blown out, hey that's their choice, but a child has no choice in the matter.

 

[smokemasterJ]

Hey Tim, I was actually trading high-5's in the stands. I'm not a big high-fiver, but I made an exception in this case.

 

[Tim5636sc]

Hey Tim, I was actually trading high-5's in the stands. I'm not a big high-fiver, but I made an exception in this case.

It's about damn time they did that Russell!

One sad thing is the low car counts in the TAD/TAFC division. I understand the reasons why, but there was a time not long ago, when you'd see 25 in each class entered. Hopefully the economy can pick up, these teams can find some funding and get back out there racing. I know I'd love to see Danny Oliver and Randy Goodwin racing again.

 

[smokemasterJ]

I was shocked at the low car count in TA/FC especially. I have a personal connection with the Gasparelli's, the O'Bannon's, and the Bellemeur's. Used to get thrown out of Lou's East Valley Garage (he let us hang out until he got tired of us), Sean O is a good friend of my GF's daughter, and I used to work, with Gregg Bellemeur and watch him run his altered at Irwindale (that tells you how old I am!). It's sad to see the car count down. And, I know we won't be seeing Keeter Ray any time soon.

 

[Nunz]

I agree about the car counts in the Alky classes. They have always shown up in big numbers for west coast meets, including divisionals. I have been a huge fan of these classes since the very inception of Pro Comp. But after 37 years, these cars have become a very costly proposition to run, I believe that's a big reason for lower counts. Probably THE reason. Maybe the popularity of Pro Mod has pulled some talent away from those classes too.

 

[Huge]

almost optimal? eugene, what is considered the best track temp?
or range of temperatures?

We like it around 90 deg.