War Horse Rebuilds After Reaching President's Cup Semis

by Bruce Mullins

We almost survived the IHRA President's Cup. A nice 5.86 at 235 mph put the War Horse 7th when qualifying was over. Not bad, considering we only made one qualifying pass. 

Eliminations opened with Larry Dobbs trying to play games on the starting line, but to no avail. I left first and won with a tire shaking 5.94 at 235 mph. That paired us in the 2nd round with IHRA kingpin Mark Thomas. A smooth 5.93 was enough ET to send the points leader back to Ohio. 

In the next round, our Budds Creek luck (or should I say bad luck) returned. Against John Vouros, the crankshaft cracked and flexed enough to break the blower belt, which smacked the injector and broke the front (a fiberglass velocity stack), the throttle shaft, all the linkage, and bent the pretty red butterflies. What a mess! 

However, what then looked to be the end of the season has turned out for the better. First, a call to Ralph Gorr, who made the front piece. Ralph said he could make me a new billet aluminum piece and sure enough, he had it in my hands on Wednesday. Thanks, Ralph. 

Then, a quick call to our sponsor, Engine Works. My good friend Tom made a call to David Crower and the two companies put a deal together to help me out on a brand new billet crankshaft. Those two companies saved the War Horse from being put out to the pasture. A special thanks goes out to them. 

The War Horse is back together and all I can say is, "Look out, Bristol!" We will be on the road this Friday morning with a date to qualify under the lights Friday night. We hope to solidify our top five status in NHRA Division One and possibly even move up a spot. 

Good-bye for now and once again thanks to the people who helped us out.

Bruce Mullins
www.brucemullins.com