Sun, 20 Jan 2002, 12:40 PM CHANDLER - National Time Trials - Sunday Preview

By Dave Gerard

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Good morning from the last day of the National Time Trials at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, AZ. The weather here will be a little cooler today, with the highs expected to just get into the very low 60 degree range by late afternoon. We have clear skies today, so the track should warm up earlier than Friday or Saturday. Currently the temperature is 48 degrees, 38% humidity, and the barometer is at 30.10 inches and rising.

I stopped by the Davis and Zook Top Fuel dragster pits last night to review the damage from their last run. They have been sneaking up on the tune-up and did damage the clutch on their last run of the day. Gene Davis was the owner of the "Rocket Man", Ron Phelps driven, hydrogen peroxide rocket powered dragster from years past. The car was retired when fuel was no longer commonly available. Davis and Zook have been friends since high school and work together today in the aviation industry. They built the TF car about two years ago and will be running west coast events. They wanted to thank Lucas Oil Products for their assistance.

I also talked to Randy Goodwin and Pete Swayne, as they were buttoning up their espiriTV TAFC at the end of the evening. They were testing their new sixteen nozzle fuel system today, but they had to spend a lot of time checking out the motor after a harden thrust washer in the cam drive decided to become many tiny little pieces. No other damage, but a lot of effort.

I talked to Jimmy DeFrank this morning. They have four cars out here this weekend (Jimmy DeFrank: GT/HA & Dick Sherman Racing's C/EA; Tony DeFrank: GT/GA; and John Scheiss: GT/BA) and they hope to make some runs today.

A few of the TAFC teams that were here for licensing have left, but most of the rest of the racers from yesterday are here again today.

The Super Eliminator (7.90) Race yesterday was won by Bruce Williams of nearby Chandler AZ, when Scott Weiss couldn't make the call.

It's difficult to predict what the Pro teams will do with the weather staying very cool, but if the action gets hot and heavy, I'll post a mid-afternoon update.