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CLERMONT, Ind. -- Over the years the injected nitro burning cars that run in the Top Alcohol Dragster category have been the subject of numerous changes in the percentage of nitro that they are allowed to run and the crew chiefs are always looking for a way to extract more of the latent energy from the fuel. When an enterprising tuner found that cooling the fuel prior to a run gave an advantage the NHRA instituted a rule that set a minimum temperature for the nitro. Members of the NHRA tech crew check the fuel temperatures in the lanes as the cars head for the start line and on at least one occasion that FNN observed this weekend a car was turned back due to the fuel being too cool. Virtually all of the nitro burning TADs come to the staging lanes with the fuel tank area of the body wrapped with a thermal blanket of some kind in an attempt to keep the fuel temps down as long as possible and some go even further. National champion Bill Reichert’s Rislone backed car in addition to the thermal blanket also has a set of insulation panels that clip to the aero lip on the bottom of the body spanning from the nose of the car to the cockpit. The intent is to stop heat radiating from the blacktop surface of the staging lanes and thus raising the temperature of the underbody area where the fuel tank resides. It is a far cry from the days when a polished Moon tank sat between the frame rails exposed to the elements. The tech crew also spent some time prior to the early Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying session on Sunday measuring the width of the handlebars as the bikes line up under the Lucas Oil bridge. The minimum width for the bars is 22” and as the bikes rolled up each one was checked. Another tech team member was checking inside the air intakes in the fairings, or in the case of the Buells inside the scoops that lead to the induction. He did not tell FNN what he was looking for but obviously he did not find anything that he did not like as all of the bikes got a “pass.” While in the lanes prior to that session FNN also found out why Jerry Savoie did not make the second Saturday session on his White Alligator Racing Hyabusa. During the first run the bike had a valve seat come loose in the cylinder head and the resulting damage sent crew chief Mark Peiser back to the team’s Brownsburg shop to build a new bullet. Mark and the crew worked until 3:30 am to get the job done and Savoie was in line in time for the session. Actually he was at the head of the line due to the NHRA procedure that lines the pro category contestants up in reverse order to that of their performance in the prior session. When Buddy Perkinson came to the line on Sunday morning during the pro stock session Bob Glidden was an interested spectator standing on the start line. Glidden worked with Perkinson during his brief tenure with Cunningham Motorsports and was obviously interested in his one time protégé’s performance. By the end of the session Buddy was one spot outside the field with a 6.698 but he came back in the final round and bumped into the show with a 6.674 to bookend the field with Jason Line in the top spot. Perkinson’s qualification was part of a real feel good story as he was driving the former Larry Morgan car that was purchased by Competition eliminator standout Mark Wolfe who was making his debut as a Pro Stock owner. On the subject of Glidden, the driver that almost singlehandedly carried the Ford banner in pro stock during the latter part of his career was honored by the NHRA when the drag strip at Lucas Oil Raceway was named Bob Glidden Way in his honor. As a nine time winner at the US Nationals Glidden is the all time leader in the pro ranks at this track heading Don Garlits and Tony Schumacher who both have 8 victories in the 50 year history of the Nationals at Indy. Byron Hines, half of the legendary Vance and Hines team that were the driving force in the early days of the Pro Stock Motorcycle category was spotted using a cane as he watched sons Matt and Andrew and team rider Eddie Kraweiec run their V-Rod H-D is qualifying. It seems that Byron recently had hip replacement surgery and is using the cane as support until the healing process is completed. Matt Hagen’s 4.06 run in Sunday’s opening qualifying session was impressive for the fact that the Die Hard Charger was in the first pair of fuel cars down the track for the day in weather conditions that were a quantum change from the oppressive heat that the racers endured during the first two days of Pro qualifying. Melanie Troxel’s 4.068 later in the session vaulted her past Cruz Pedregon in the order when the Snap-On car smoked the tires early in the other lane. That put Troxel in place as possibly leading qualifying in two categories as her R2B2 Corvette was at the head of the Pro Mod qualifying order with a solid 5.907 run. Pedregon took the lead back in the final session when, once again paired with Troxel, he blasted to a 4.026/314.24 run while Melanie smoked the tires early and hard, banging the blower as the motor over revved. Melanie’s Pro Mod teammate Leah Pruett has been busy all weekend as in addition to driving the team’s supercharged Camaro Pro Mod she is also the “track specialist” for R2B2. Pruett is constantly at the start line checking the traction co-efficient of the racing surface and relaying the information back to the crew chiefs so that they have more information on which to base tuning calls. Several teams have crew members that handle the same job in addition to their other duties while John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing have Lanny Miglizzi and Tommy Johnson Jr respectively dedicated to just that job.
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