Dennis Taylor saw both sides of the racing coin at Oregon's Woodburn Drag Strip last weekend
prepping for this week's Northwest Natinals. Things got off to a decent start on Friday as the K&N
/ Plumbing Concepts Funny Car reeled off a 5.81/244mph charge, in spite of the hot conditions.
Saturday was almost 30 degrees cooler, so several cars shuffled the order from Taylor's original
number four effort. The car launched recording very strong numbers to the thousand-foot mark, where
a valve lifter failed causing a supercharger backfire and a flaming conclusion to what would have
put Dennis solidly in the top of the field. He recalled the episode noting, "This thing really
liked the tune-up on that run and it was making a really hard move through the middle until the
blower lifted (and it still ran 5.81). I didn't think it was a big deal until I saw the fire
windows were glowing. My biggest concern was saving the body, but the flames died just as I was
about to hit the fire bottles. It fried the blower bag and a few other things, but I knew we had
some work ahead of us."
The damage proved too much and Team Taylor slipped from fourth to eighth in that ill-fated session
and moved out of the field after missing the final go. Taylor added, "We were heading in the right
direction with our tune-up and to go out this way really stings. We might have made the call, but
it was more important to take extra time to re-plumb and re-wire another engine and be sure the car
was 100-percent for Seattle. We have more at stake there."
Dennis Taylor sends a special thanks to Parker Johnstone's Wilsonville Honda for providing the use
of a support vehicle for the event. The focus turns to Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington, for
this weekend's Northwest Nationals and the team feels as though they got rid of the gremlins in
Woodburn.
