Well My brother and I set out for the fabled grounds of Cordova dragway park on Thursday evening. We arrived at about 8 pm to just set up camp and hang with our funny car friends. After setting up camp I get a phone call from the wife telling me Ole rapid needs me to call him asap. I thought to myself what has rapid gotten himself into this time. He was on his way and wanted to park there rig before heading to the motel but the track was going to be closed by the time he gets there. I run the message down to the track manager(TAZ) and give him rapids cell number and they talk and tazz stays a hour extra so rapid can park.
So we decided to take a stroll down the pro pits and arrived at a "Meeting" in front of Anthony bronge trailor. Doc halliday was there telling stories that spanned more decades then I have been alive for. It was one of the coolest parts of the whole weekend for me and racing hadn't even got underway. Doc is one of the funniest guys I have ever in my life had the pleasure of meeting. A Lot of the stories he told can not be repeated on a family forum. My side is still hurting as I laughed harder then I think I ever had. I am really glad Doc is still out here and racing.
Now on to the funniest guy I have ever met PERIOD. Anthony Bronge's dad is just one of them guys you want to hang with 24/7 . When you get him and Doc going at the same time your in for a great time. Anthony as many know is a real intense guy. His dad however is the most relaxed "Chill" person on the property. After a little bit of hanging out and bsing Rapid shows up and the BS session hits high gear. Next thing I know its 2 am and everyone is still busting each others balls and having a good time. We decide we have had enough fun for the night and hit the hay for some sleep...
Friday morning we get some breakfast and hit the funnycar pits. Everyone is working and getting ready for the afternoon festivities. I am trying to hang out but not do much of any work..lol There are funny cars everywhere. 15 cars on the property with 14 competing and one making licensing runs. A couple cars go up early for a test hit to make sure everything is in working order as friday's night session is supposed to be the one lap to provide the best chance of great times..
Jerry newman is tuning five cars at this event. I consider Jerry a friend so of course i give him all kinds of sh*t about only having one of the Jerry's kids cars in the fives so far. Well in first round Q Doc is paired up with his team car the Showtime with Brian stewart at the wheel. The telstar rips off a 5 and so does Brian. Well not so fast The showtime headers hit the timing cone so they throw out his five. Paul romine rips off his usual killer time with a 5.84 and goes to the top of the charts.
The blue max team finally gets the car to act like its supposed too with a killer 6.01 et. Well not so fast once again. Apparently they had steel rotors on the car and the rule requires Carbon fiber. One of the teams being the great awesome guys that they are brought this to the attention of the powers that be so the Blue max cars run was thrown out. Come to find out they have two rear ends one with steel and one with CF. Somehow the wrong one was put in...Not to worry they switched to the other rear end and were good to go the rest of the weekend. The bump after first round was a respectable 6.27
Saturday first round Q was in the blazing heat and track temp was around 130 and the corrective was around 2700 or so. Not the best conditions in the world for nitro funny cars.
John hale dropped a bomb on us. He ripped off a stout 5.77 which had everyone on the property stunned. No one saw that coming and it set both ends of the track record with a 249 mph speed to boot. Thinking that's going to be about it for great runs we were surprised with yet another when the blue max with CF brakes rip's off a 5.82 , The showtime shows its run from last night wasn't a fluke with a 5.97, with Anthony Bronge in the punisher running a 5.94 of his own...
After Qualifying was over the bump was a stout 6.09 with only the #7 and #8 cars not in the fives. I was personally amazed at the way the guys stepped up there game...
First round time
The showtime is paired against the killer car of the Texan john hale. The showtime runs a 5.93 to john hales 5.94 but Hale had put a small hole shot on him and took the win.
Next pair up pitted paul romine against the twin town shaker. The twin town car broke a throttle cable on the burnout but staged up in hopes of Paul red lighting or something crazy happening. Well paul being the veteran he is cut a decent light and ripped off a 5.79 for the win and backs up his earlier 5.84 to set the new DRO et record.
Doc was facing off with the blue max in this round. Ronny young left on doc and was way out in front till half track when something happened to the car and Doc went cruising past with a 6.43 et to take the win..
The last pair in the first round pitted the Punisher FC VS the Candies & Hughes gang.. Mike savage left on Anthony Bronge but bronge caught up at the stripe for the closest race of the weekend..
Bronge, Anthony 0.087 5.921 240.17 X
Savage, Mike 0.081 5.933 241.28
Semi Final time
Paul Romine in the man o war mustang faced off with the John Hale in the burkhart camaro . Paul runs a killer 5.79 but John hale decided that the 5.77 wasn't good enough for him so they set the car on kill and blasts off an amazing 5.67 at 251 mph pass. There wasn't a single person on the property still sitting after that run. With that jaw dropping run john hale had officially put the rest of the class on notice he was there to take this win.
Doc is set to take on the Punisher of the Bronge family. Doc has some trouble and Anthony blast down the quarter mile with a ET of 5.82 his career best but they had a rod bolt break in the lights and would not be able to make it back for the final round giving John Hale the solo for the World Series championship
In the final they had the car set on kill. The car wheelied and john gave up on the pass avoiding any catastrophe. John hale was definatly the class of the field all weekend and big congrats goes out to him and his crew...