photo by Mark "Sharky" King c/o nitrofunnycarnews.com
Funny Car Fever was a weekend of firsts for both myself and McCain’s Bomb Squad: I had never posted a 5-second elapsed time in a Nitro Funny Car and MCain’s ‘73 Duster had never run in that zone either….
Imagine the team’s collective surprise when we posted back-to-back 5-second clockings today! The first transpired in the opening round of eliminations, and was at the expense of Dennis La Charite and his menacing Back In Black machine. By virtue of that win, as well as our #1 Qualifier status, we earned a bye run in the second round. (Twelve cars answered the bell for a 16-car show — there was bound to be a solo run for us sometime in today’s competition.)
Even though I ran unopposed in the quarter-finals, I was determined to run quick enough to earn lane choice for out semi-final joust. To that end, we clocked another 5, this time a 5.94 at a set-me-back-in-the-seat 241 mph. Practically speaking, these numbers, while impressive, didn’t mean much as my eventual opponent, Garrett Bateman in the Plueger & Gyger Mustang, put up a jaw-dropping 5.81 in his heat.
The back story here is that one of Sacramento Raceway’s lanes — the left — leaves a little something to be desired. Specifically, it has a gnarly bump in it. The dreaded left lane is where we ended up against Bateman. Against us in the semis, he ran another stellar, straight-as-Sissy Spacek 5.80-something. Meanwhile, the Bomb Squad smoked the tires 200 feet into the run, the race car got out of the groove, and rather than get back on the throttle and possibly ruin the race car after bouncing over the speed bump, I shut ‘er off.
Please be advised that nothing in this report is meant to negate the accomplishments of Garrett Bateman and the Plueger & Gyger Funny Car. They were beyond good this weekend.
Next weekend: McCain’s Bomb Squad makes an appearance in DragFest at Famoso Raceway, north of Bakersfield. Be there or be there.
(McCain’s Bomb Squad photo c/o nitrofunnycarnews.com)
April 26, 2009 at 6:01 am |
Very nice job Girl – Congratulations!!
April 27, 2009 at 12:53 pm |
[...] Maybe magazines are snapping shut quicker and more often than mouse traps, but on the heels of Mendy Fry posting her first 5-second elapsed times in a Nitro Funny Car, we wonder is there a better time to announce the premier issue of Nitro Kitty Beat [...]
April 27, 2009 at 5:25 pm |
[...] who ran 8.04, 122. Next up, John Powers’ 6.27, 230 beat Sean Dale’s 10.08. And finally, Mendy Fry clocked her first five-second elapsed time in a Funny Car: 5.96, 239 mph and dispatched Dennis La Charite in the first round (I didn’t get his time; [...]
April 30, 2009 at 5:12 pm |
[...] the wake of “Nitro Kitty” Mendy Fry posting her first 5-second elapsed times in a Nitro Funny Car last weekend in Sacramento, comes news that she will light the fuse in McCain’s Bomb Squad at “Drag Fest” in [...]