Good Vibrations March Meet, Auto Club Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield, CA, March 10, 2016—In what turned out to be a hybrid of a contest of wills and theater of the absurd, Terry Cox and his Terry Manzer-tuned “Cheetah IV” dragster claimed the Inaugural SCE AAFD Top Speed Qualifier Award at last weekend’s March Meet with a blistering speed of 256 mph.
“It’s an awesome feeling to be able to run the car that hard out the back door,” Cox said when he was graced with a $1000 check from SCE President Ryan Hunter while being interviewed by the Bakersfield Californian. “We’re really excited that SCE stepped up and provided an award for mile-per-hour.”
Prior to the event, Hunter correctly predicted Top Fuel Qualifying for the March Meet would be absolutely off the hook and wanted to reward those charging hardest — thus the SCE AAFD Top Speed Qualifier Award was born.
And in a twist that was ironic as well as indicative of how fierce this shootout was, Terry Cox won the Award for Top Speed — but didn’t qualify for the actual 8-Car Eliminator, settling for 1st Alternate. Yes, qualifying for Top Fuel Eliminator at the 2016 March Meet was that intense and bizarre…
To wit: Going into the final session, Cox had a provisional spot on the ladder with his previous-best ¼-mile elapsed time of 5.89 seconds, coupled with his speed of 256. But that final session was a barrage of bumping and re-bumping as former March Meet winners Adam Sorokin, Jim Murphy, Bill Dunlap and a handful of others all jostled for a spot in the show. After Sorokin stuck a 5.86 for the #8 spot and bumped out Cox, Terry fired his final salvo, a 5.88 at an outrageous 254 mph. Cox was the final driver to attempt to qualify at the 2016 March Meet and he missed making the show by 2/100ths of a second.
“Our car was a little lazy getting off the starting line, but it runs really well out the back door,” Cox explained, in what was a bittersweet moment.
But with the kinds of speeds Cox was posting, there is little doubt about the “Cheetah IV’s” chances to march to the front of the field at future AA/Fuel Dragster contests. -30-
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