Citrus Nationals Notes

By Greg Brubaker

It was great weather for the Citrus Nationals at Moroso last weekend and Mario Carranca's jet funny car made four good runs against the Hooters car. I didn't get to see the match race with Vicky Fanning and the Greek because I was crewing on the jet car. We were in the staging lanes when they ran and it was exciting from what I heard and saw. 

On Saturday night, Fanning's Nitro Cow put the rods out on the burnout. That stuck the throttle partially open and caused Vicky to idle down the track. The Greek waited until she made the turn and then blasted off and was off and on the throttle a few times and called it quits. On Sunday the Greek won the first round with a 5.99 to Vicki's 6.13. In the final Vicky won with a 6.18, 231 and then the chutes didn't come out. 

The master cylinder failed and she had to stuff the car into the bushes at the end of the track. I had Mario strapped into his Jet F/C and we were hearing what was going on. We were just about to unstrap him when the announcer said that Vicky was out of the car and unhurt. They were going to leave the car where it was because it was safely out of the way. We rolled up a few minutes later, fired up Mario's car, and headed down to wait for him at the far end. 

I saw what was left of the Nitro Cow top fuel dragster and it was not a pretty sight. Everything from the footbox forward was a twisted mess. I didn't have much time to look because we had two jet funny cars blasting at us. Sorry about the Fanning's car, but glad Vicky is OK.

Greg Brubaker
greg.brubaker@leememorial.org