Sunday ‘Script’ Differs During NAPA Auto Parts National Time Trials

Force Team Nearly Repeats Performance During Drivers’ Second Runs

GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY – Jan. 23, 2010 — On the sunniest day the Valley had seen in a week, lightening nearly struck twice Sunday afternoon during the NAPA Auto Parts National Time Trials at Firebird International Raceway.

Attempting to follow the same script it used to delight drag racing fans late in Saturday’s testing session, the John Force Racing Team again was poised to steal Sunday’s show. And once again, the team’s namesake – Funny Car legend John Force – led the way.

During his second test run of the day Sunday, Force turned in at the time only the second complete professional run of the session, recording a 4.11 at speed of 302.41 mph. The result created an eerily similar feel as his nearly complete Saturday evening run – a run which triggered a Tour de Force which closed the day’s training session.

This time, however, fate had other plans for the Force Team. Ashley Force Hood did her part, following up her Dad with a run of 4.178 and 277.32 mph. It would be up to defending NHRA Full Throttle Racing Series Funny Car Champ Robert Hight to see if he could bring this successful script to completion.

There would be no storybook ending however. Hight was forced to shut his run down early, recording a .904 at the 60 foot mark.

John Force’s day wasn’t complete, however. In one of the day’s final runs, Force recorded the top Funny Car run of the session, burning up Firebird track for a 4.109 and 308.50 mph.

Brandon Bernstein wowed the Firebird crowd with the day’s best Top Fuel run – a 3.873 at 316.08 mph. Shortly after, Doug Foley turned in the day’s only other complete Top Fuel run, finishing with a 3.94 and 256.02 mph.

While he didn’t complete a full run, Top Fuel driver Troy Buff also provided some fireworks for the Firebird International Raceway crowd. Undoubtedly, it wasn’t the type of excitement he would have liked.

Buff’s Bill Miller Engineering/Okuma dragster almost instantly caught fire due to an apparent fuel leak during his second testing run of the day. The back of the dragster burst into flames shortly after his run began. Buff managed to bring his car to a stop approximately three quarters of the way down the track, where safety crews put out the fire and track maintenance cleaned up the track.

Here are Sunday's best runs, listed in order of elapsed time, in Top Fuel at the NAPA, National Time Trials:

Psn Num Driver, Home Town, Car Type TT ET TT Spd Top Spd

1 7 Brandon Bernstein, Lake Forest CA, McKinney TFX 3.873 316.08 316.08
2 1301 Doug Foley, Sewell NJ, McKinney TFX 3.943 256.02 256.02
3 497 Troy Buff, Carson City NV, Don Long BAE 31.992 0.00 0.00

Sunday's best runs, listed in order of elapsed time, in Funny Car at the NAPA, National Time Trials:

Psn Num Driver, Home Town, Car Type TT ET TT Spd Top Spd

1 7 John Force, Yorba Linda CA, '09 Mustang 4.109 308.50 308.50
2 2 Tim Wilkerson, Springfield IL, '09 Mustang 4.178 277.32 277.32
3 1777 Bob Tasca III, Cranston RI, '08 Mustang 4.188 277.15 277.15
4 4 Robert Hight, Yorba Linda CA, '09 Mustang 4.406 192.80 192.80

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink
Results provided by the FastNews Network,
courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment
** http://www.summitracing.com/ **