Wild Horse Comments? (1 Viewer)

[Cliff]

I'll start off with The Cliff Report. heh Free parking on Friday was great! Weather was somewhat windy most of the day. Hated waiting until 5 PM for the Pros to run. Wish there were 4 Q. Anyhoo, was watching Comp Elim. Only 5 cars, but heavy hitters. Keeping the eye on Bruno Massel - has that CC/AT 2010 Cobalt, with the twin turbo Toyota 2JZ DOHC straight 6. Running 7.09 - 194. Kevin Carter, son of Dean, #1 at 6.82 A/ND. Eric Bell is #5 of 5, AH/SM Cuda. I think he usta be a Pro baseball player.

Pro Stock was pretty good. Corrected altitude was 1800', temp around 66 degrees, track temp around 95. First 5 cars at 6.55, with a 6.66 bump. 18 cars, so 2 won't make it & you can guess which two.

F/C was the worst Q session I have seen in a long time. Almost everyone was smoking the tires around 400', or up in smoke off the line, etc. Three good runs. Started with Terry Haddock, 4.04 - 308. Left lane, he got real close to the wall but never lifted. Good pass for that car. #1 Q is Blake Alexander, 3.92 -322. Good run in right lane, got kinda close to the wall at the top end, but no problems. The best run I saw was Chad Green, 3.95 - 319. Straight down the groove, no drama. Only 15 cars made runs.

Top Fuel was pretty good. 15 cars made runs. First 9 cars in the 3's, rest were busted runs, same problems as F/C. Heard one crew chief say that the track was better than they thought, so that probably threw some of them off. Doug Kalitta #1 3.67-330. #2 was Mike Salinas (last pair) at 3.69 -335. about 5 MPH faster than anyone else. Thought Brittany would do that. Three other cars ran 330. Three cars in the 3.60's. So T/F made up for F/C.

OK, that;s it. Will follow on line & see what happens.

 

[Cliff]

PHOENIX - Friday Video

Drag racing results, news photos and highlights from NHRA and IHRA series events

www.dragracecentral.com

 

[Scoe]

I've been a skeptic anytime within the past year whenever we got good to great weather for a race. Everybody gets excited and teams get way too ambitious. Then we end up with Q1 Funny Car. At least Top Fuel had a good show.

 

[Cliff]

Yeah, I was kinda hoping for a 3.59 - 340 T/F run..... heh

 

[Scoe]

Man I hope everyone gets their act together for Q3. Sold out crowd deserves a show.

 

[z28]

if they don't get down the track in Q3 there will be some sleepless nights

 

[mikebcurve]

Wow! Qualifying has been very disappointing. Narrow groove apparently.

 

[J. S.]

Man I hope everyone gets their act together for Q3. Sold out crowd deserves a show.

Yes, this has been a surprisingly poor showing for the fuel cars so far. WTF? Air temp mid- '60's, track temp showing 120 for Q2 according to Drag Race Central. Normally if the first few cars smoke the tires, the CC's adjust accordingly and the last 2/3's of the fuel cars get down the track no problem. Good for Haddock with his usual soft tune-up getting down the track both times and qualifying in the top half of FC. BTW, I thought Johnny West was helping Haddock this year? No change with his ET's so far. Or is running consistent low 4.00's what West is starting with?

 

[Cliff]

West is there. Saw him yesterday. Haddock has gone down the track 2X in a row, no shut off runs, & he is over 300 both passes. That's a start. Ya never know, Haddock may win the race.

 

[Cliff]

Strange deal of the event: Jim Campbell driving Jeff Diehl. Q2 was DQ for weight. So he's in the lanes for Q3, car runs into the tow vehicle and cracks the body. That's it for the team. arghhhhhh

 

[J. S.]

Strange deal of the event: Jim Campbell driving Jeff Diehl. Q2 was DQ for weight. So he's in the lanes for Q3, car runs into the tow vehicle and cracks the body. That's it for the team. arghhhhhh

Probably a crew member steering the race car when it is being towed to the lanes. Crew member staring at phone - didn't pull on the brake when the tow vehicle stopped. Just my guess.

 

[ZWeinstein]

Yes, this has been a surprisingly poor showing for the fuel cars so far. WTF? Air temp mid- '60's, track temp showing 120 for Q2 according to Drag Race Central. Normally if the first few cars smoke the tires, the CC's adjust accordingly and the last 2/3's of the fuel cars get down the track no problem. Good for Haddock with his usual soft tune-up getting down the track both times and qualifying in the top half of FC. BTW, I thought Johnny West was helping Haddock this year? No change with his ET's so far. Or is running consistent low 4.00's what West is starting with?

Johnny West wont set the car up to run low e.t.'s but he always does a great job getting a team a good baseline to work from.

 

[zippy]

I think it was Brian Corradi (Antron Browns CC) on Saturday qualifying stating the track is not being prepared like it "usually" is and the crew chiefs are used to the regular setup. Something a miss here.

 

[Scoe]

I will say, race day is different for me. While I wholeheartedly prefer the great side by side racing, I'm also heavily intrigued about this track having almost everyone dumbfounded. And even tho qualifying was a bust, I like the wrinkle being thrown in on race day.

 

[4onthefl4]

I think it was Brian Corradi (Antron Browns CC) on Saturday qualifying stating the track is not being prepared like it "usually" is and the crew chiefs are used to the regular setup. Something a miss here.

Maybe the track operaters thought they were having a No Prep Kings event.

 

[twostep]

I wouldn't want Arizona Nationals comments to end without a shoutout to Pro Stock's newest winner, Camrie Caruso. Steady and consistent, she earned that victory today. I was quite impressed. Loved the champagne shower Hight and Ashley bestowed on her in the winner's circle.

 

[SoCal Racer]

Strange deal of the event: Jim Campbell driving Jeff Diehl. Q2 was DQ for weight. So he's in the lanes for Q3, car runs into the tow vehicle and cracks the body. That's it for the team. arghhhhhh

Maybe not if we all buy a bunch of Real Deal hot sauce

I have some and it's good!

On a serious note though, I hate seeing that kind of thing happen to the Diehls....They're great people doing fuel racing on a budget, which is tough.

 

[Bubba]

I wouldn't want Arizona Nationals comments to end without a shoutout to Pro Stock's newest winner, Camrie Caruso. Steady and consistent, she earned that victory today. I was quite impressed. Loved the champagne shower Hight and Ashley bestowed on her in the winner's circle.

Camrie did a great job.

As a side note, the Cuadras need to learn staging rules.

 

[SoCal Racer]

Camrie did a great job.

As a side note, the Cuadras need to learn staging rules.

I think they did - the hard way. In her top end interview Camrie did say it was unintentional though.

 

[ZWeinstein]

I wouldn't want Arizona Nationals comments to end without a shoutout to Pro Stock's newest winner, Camrie Caruso. Steady and consistent, she earned that victory today. I was quite impressed. Loved the champagne shower Hight and Ashley bestowed on her in the winner's circle.

One thing that I thought was interesting, after the winner's circle, she drove it back. I may be reading too much into it but that might add a little to the KB-Titan/Elite and Erica/Camrie rivalry.