What an exhausting weekend! We arrived at Cecil County Dragway around noon on Friday and the entire War Horse team ran non stop until about 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening. We prepared the car for the first pass Friday night and promptly laid down a tire shaking but impressive 5.94 @ 235 mph. Not bad for the conditions because we ran at 9:00 p.m. that night and the dew was beginning to settle. Saturday dawned and we prepared for the rainout eliminations from Englishtown. Lady Luck wasn't on our side, however, as I was unable to backup from the burnout. That put us out of competition but we were still in for the qualifying for the Cecil County divisional. 

The last session was in the afternoon and the Mustang launched for another 5.80 pass until the motor spit a spark plug out of the cylinder head and slowed the car to a 6.22. Well we stayed qualified in the #5 position. The entire crew worked late into the night servicing, repairing, and cleaning the car for its first round race Sunday. This time things went good. With a backed down tune-up, the War Horse blasted off to a winning time of 6.00 @ 232 mph and best of all, there was no oil dripping or missing spark plugs. 

The round win paired us with our biggest adversary of the year -- Frank Manzo -- who locked up the Division 1 title during the event. A .409 to a .475 reaction time holeshot gave us the early lead, but violent tire shake set in. I was forced to give the War Horse a quick backpedal and short shift to stop the shake, which enabled Mr. Manzo to speed around me for the win. What can you do? I still give the weekend a thumbs up. Unfortunately, the event was marred by an accident that took the life of Competition Eliminator racer Ian Landies. The prayers of the entire Bruce Mullins/War Horse racing team go out to his family.