Ever since the Lucas Oil NHRA divisional event has come to Clint Thompson's home track, Champion
Raceway in Medford Oregon, the gremlins would come out in force and give Thompson enough trouble to
keep him out of the final round. The more the race had on the points implications the more problems
the team would face or so it seemed. This year Thompson was determined to put the past behind him
and do well at his home track. "This year we were more focused as the race is a must win in order
to capture the Northwest Division Championship" Thompson said.
Thompson's Cascade Auto Group team set up a day early to ensure the best possible advantage and to
test a new engine with cylinder heads designed by Bob Miner. On the first test pass, Thompson
banged the blower at about 150 feet as it was too lean. The team made the needed repairs and went
out again. On the second pass he banged the blower again at about 1000 feet but managed to turn a
respectable 5.87 on the new engine combination. "It almost made it to the finish line" Thompson
joked. . "We were out to get a baseline tune-up and we improved on each run" Thompson explained,
"it's showing signs of working good now so we'll run it for the rest of the weekend."
In Friday's second qualifying session, Thompson ran a 5.81 good for number two and it appeared that
the gremlins had disappeared but the problems returned in third session. "We were going after the
number one position since there was a bye run in the second round as there was only six cars. We
tried to steal it but I shook the tires"
Going into the first round, Thompson faced Jason Rupert who was blocking for Canadian Ken Webster
who had completed the maximum amount of allowable divisional races. At the hit it was Thompson out
first with a 0.064 to Rupert's 0.074 reaction time but just before half track Thompson began hazing
the tires. That was all Rupert needed to ruin Thompson's day. "I had him off the line and then by
half track I smoked the tires. I peddled it for all I had. We are very disappointed. The team
wanted this bad as the loss eliminated us from any chance at winning the division. I can't seem to
shake the gremlins here. I can't remember the last time we got past the first round in Medford "
Thompson reasoned.
Thompson doesn't stay down for long and before the day was over he was enjoying time with fans,
friends and family that came out to see him and even did a TV news interview for the local CBS
affiliate. "I had a lot of friends and family here from Klamath Falls and old high school friends
from Grants Pass. We appreciate everyone's loyal support. The good news is that the new heads are
obviously making more horespower. Our next two races are in Las Vegas where we can really use the
power, so we're excited about that. We still have three races to go and can still achieve our goal
of a top ten National finish" Thompson said with his familiar upbeat attitude. If Thompson has a
say in the matter he'll have a top ten number on the side of his car in 2010.
