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 2009 CHRR

Murphy Finishes 3rd in 2009 Points

 

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Bakersfield, CA - October 16 - 18, 2009: The 18th edition of the California Hot Rod Reunion is in the record books and for Jim Murphy, Tim Beebe and the rest of the WW2 Racing team it brought a "pretty good" season to an end.

Coming to Bakersfield on the heals of a strong runner-up finish at the 2009 Governors Cup in September, Murphy and company had high expectations for the CHRR. Coming in they were sitting #3 in the 2009 Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series points standings (which is where Murphy ended up) and although the #1 spot was pretty much out of reach with just four rounds of racing left, they still felt they could win the race and possibly move to #2.

After qualifying #6 with a solid 5.978 at 250.97 Murphy got a single in round one when Brendan Murry broke a steering arm backing up from his burnout. However in round two there would be a race and what a dandy it was. After surprising most everybody by qualifying #3, Rick Williamson advanced to meet Murphy on Sunday. Based on their round one times, Murphy had lane choice and was favored to advance.

Lane choice aside, the Murphy v Williamson match-up proved to be the closest top fuel race of the weekend with Murphy going home after losing by just 0.0094 seconds (approximately 3 feet). Nobody likes to lose but when you're in a battle like that its not quite as tough. Murphy and the team was pleased with the weekend and gave praise for a safe and productive season.

Full coverage and photos below:

 

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By noon on Thursday the pit was set up, the car was out, and Beebe, Murphy and Dan Wilkison were tinkering with the fuel system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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With the first qualifying session not scheduled until 2:00 p.m. Friday was pretty low key in the AM. The crew basically made sure the car was ready to go when called.

 

Mark Keiser and Dave Thornhill

 

With the program running far behind schedule they waited until 2:30 to warm the engine for the first session. With Michael Beebe in the seat and Tim Beebe with the primer bottle here is an interesting series of shots of a WW2 fire-up.

 

Beebe primed the engine and activated the blower snout starter.

 

 

 

Beebe checked the timing while Murphy tweaked the idle circuit on the fuel system.

 

 

 

This warm up had to me terminated early due to a fuel leak under the back of the blower. Not an easy place to get to.

 

 

 

WDIFL.com photog Bob Brown (in straw hat) recorded all this.

 

 

With the leak fixed the engine was refired and warmed up without further incident.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday was also a good time to recognize Murphy as the eighth member of the elite 260 MPH Club. Brett and Jack Harris awarded the hats marking Murphy's 260.46 run at Sacramento on 09.19.09.

 

 

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Friday - Qualifying Session One

3:15 p.m. After some timely delays because of fog in the morning that left the track wet plus two crashes later, the first of only two qualifying sessions finally got under way.

 

In the next to last pair of the session Jim Murphy was paired with Mike McClennan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the direction of Tim Beebe, Thornhill guided Murphy back to the line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The car left hard and had good early numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the 60' clocks McClennan picked up the pace.

 

 

 

About 400' McClennan started getting out of the groove and made a move toward the center line forcing him to do a bit of driving to keep from DQing the run.

 

 

Mike did save the run....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murphy clicked it early to a 6.025 at just 219.03.

 

 

 

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Saturday - Qualifying Session Two

1:30 p.m. Unlike the March Meet which offers three shots to qualify, the CHRR offered only two which put the tuners and drivers to the test as they have less room for error. After the first session, in spite of an abbreviated run, Murphy was sitting #4.

 

 

 

Now in the left lane Murphy was paired with Troy Green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The car left hard and racked up more solid early numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murphy went on to pass Green and improve on his earlier time with a 5.978 at 250.97.

 

 

Final Top Fuel Qualifying

1 - Brett Harris  5.809 @ 252.17
2 - Rick McGee 5.862 @ 245.03
3 - Rick Williamson  5.885 @ 237.90
4 - Rick Rogers  5.910 @ 255.75
5 - Troy Green 5.977 @ 254.45
6 - Jim Murphy  5.978 @ 250.97
7 - Adam Sorokin 6.041 @ 225.11
8 - Brad Thompson  6.067 @ 199.33
  9 - Mark Hyla 6.105 @ 211.56
10 - Terry Cox 6.106 @ 235.78
11 - Brendan Murry 6.151 @ 186.87
12 - Denver Schutz 6.285 @ 242.91
13 - Mark Malde 6.418 @ 214.79
14 - Mike McClennan 6.460 @ 184.53
15 - Ed Schwartz 6.846 @ 185.26
16 - Mike Chrisman 8.217 @ 107.97

DNQ - Rick White 8.369 @ 105.57

 

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2009 California Hot Rod Reunion - Eliminations - Page 2

 

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Related Link

AA/FD Inc. - Nostalgia Top Fuel Teams

 

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