Winning is Fun!

Wow, I had an amazing time at Norwalk this past weekend! I was working with Brandon Booher and the AB Construction Top Alcohol Dragster team, who just happened to runner-up at the event! Well, it didn't just happen, it took a fantastic driver and crew to get there.

On Thursday night, I headed out to the track to help Brandon and his dad, Aaron, set up the pit area. We got set up and prepared the car for two rounds of qualifying on Friday. Or so we thought. Periodic drizzles and downpours wreaked havoc on the area, leaving track officials to cancel all of the day's events, including the aforementioned qualifying sessions. By Saturday morning, NHRA decided to give TAD two qualifying runs, with 1st round around 10 pm. When qualifying was all said and done, we were qualifed 7th with a 5.44 at 260 MPH, leaving us to run Robin Samsel, who qualified 10th with a 5.49.

We entered the staging lanes around 9:30, optimisticly hoping to win first round. I thought we had a pretty good chance of winning the round, considering the gap in between our qualifying ET's. Well, I was wrong! Brandon did win the round, but Robin and crew put up one heck of a fight! Robin ran a 5.38, to Brandon's winning 5.46. Now that took a serious holeshot!

Here's a summary of the rest of our eliminations:
(W) Brandon Booher (AB Construction B/AD)       0.047      5.460 259.76
(L) Robin Samsel (A/FD)                         0.127      5.389 260.31
(W) Brandon Booher (AB Construction B/AD)       0.045      5.476 259.61
(L) Dan Page (A/FD)                             0.070      5.533 263.77

(W) Brandon Booher (AB Construction B/AD)       0.023      5.497 259.26
(L) Karen Stalba (A.A. Auto Salvage A/FD)       0.142      5.574 250.64
(W) Marty Thacker (Rapid Transit B/AD)          0.048      5.403 263.26
(L) Brandon Booher (AB Construction B/AD)       0.015      6.465 107.66

It was cool to run Marty Thacker and the Rapid Transit team in the finals, mostly because we're friends with him and a few of his crew guys. We couldn't have lost to a better group!

Although we had a great weekend, easily the team's most successful in NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster competition, the motor took a serious hit. Around the 1,000 ft mark, crap hit the fan. Standing on the starting line, all we could see was the parachutes come out early, which usually means a problem with the supercharger. Upon further inspection in the turnoff area, it was determined that the rods failed, putting holes in the oil pan and block, also damaging the pistons and sleeves. It was a disappointing end to an exciting day. Now the team is forced to miss the rescheduled NHRA divisional at Norwalk, as well as the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Brandon's home track.

Even though it was big set-back for the team, the weekend was still a huge morale boost for the whole team, especially Brandon and his dad, Aaron. The car hadn't been running well for almost a year, so the consistent E.T.'s and results were a sign of a turning point in the car's performance. The car wasn't the only thing performing well. Brandon took the holeshot in every single round, even against Marty, who cut a perfect .000 light earlier in eliminations. Without the driver doing his job on the line, we would've been packing up after Round 1.

With all that being said, winning makes racing a lot more fun! I had never experienced such a winning weekend in previous trips to the track. To be with the runner-up team at my home track's national event was such a blast. I look forward to more round wins and hopefully a few Wally's in the future! Before I end this little smorgasbord of literature, I'd like to congratulate our final round opponent, Marty Thacker and his crew, as well as Troy Stone and the Vintage Trailers Top Dragster team. Also, final congratulations to Brandon, Aaron, and the crew; Shannon Pappas, Pete Brady, and John Halloran.

Thanks for reading my blog this week, I'll post another after this weekend's NHRA Division 3 race in Norwalk. To read more on Brandon and the AB Construction team, visit www.nitronate.com/booher, www.facebook.com/booherracing, or www.twitter.com/booherracing.com. Congratulate him while you're there! Follow me on Twitter (@nitronate1320) at www.twitter.com/nitronate1320.

Thanks again for reading!

Nitro Nate