Bakersfield,
CA - March 06-08, 2009: Jim Murphy has been on a mission for the last five
years and that is to win an unprecedented 5th March Meet. His
last MM win was in 2004 and since then he has come close three
times - including this year - but even a new car could not get
the WW2 Racing team in the winners circle at the 2009 edition.
Although Murphy was pleased with the overall performance of the
new car it was ultimately an aggressive tune-up that ended the
weekend just one round shy of a shot at another win.
Photos and
full results below.
NEW
2009
March Meet Video - Burnout
NEW
2009
March Meet Video - Full Run
Videos
will open in your default movie viewer
With the first qualifying session
not scheduled until 2:00 p.m. Friday was pretty low key in the
AM. Jim Murphy spent some time with NHRA Pro Director Dan Olson
who had a weekend off from the Big Show.
Murphy and Tech Director
Jeff Norton
Friday Qualifying - Session
One
First of three sessions: Friday,
2:13 p.m. Under cool, cloudy skies the call went out from starter
Bill Condit to 'Fire the first pair', and the pro side of the
51st March Meet was underway. However, it was apparent early
on that following a week of rain and cold weather, the normally
tight Famoso track was not ready for the 3000 HP fuel cars. Low
track temp and lack of rubber made for an interesting first session.
Murphy, who finished #2 in the
2008 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series points race, was paired
with the '08 champ, Troy Green.
Dave Thornhill guided
Murphy back from this burnout.
Crew Chief Tim Beebe made his
final adjustments before sending Murphy to the staging beams.
The car left hard and
carded very good early numbers.
But by half track Murphy had
over powered the cold track and started drifting toward the guardwall.
As can be seen in the following
shots, the car got dangerously close to the wall and Murphy wisely
clicked it then gingerly guided it back to safer ground.
His 6.236 at just 178.71 reflects
how good the car ran to half track and how early the run was
aborted. Knowing he had two more sessions on Saturday Murphy
was not unhappy with the results.
The crew did their standard
maintenance to get ready for session two the next day.
Saturday Qualifying - Session
Two
Saturday 2:12 p.m. Weather conditions:
air temperature 61 degrees, relative humidity 33 percent, barometer
30.12 inches, track temperature 92 degrees. Overall conditions
were much better than Friday.
Michael Beebe lines Murphy
up for his burnout.
Paired with Mike McClennan, Murphy
didn't have a super 60' time but picked it up big time down track.
By half track McClennan
was fighting to keep the car in his lane... but failed.
Murphy shut off a little early
but still stopped the clocks with a very nice 5.767 at 240.77
which was good for the #2 spot at the time. In fact, for several
different reasons, Jim didn't drive the car under power past
the 1100' mark all weekend.
Final
Top Fuel Qualifying after 3rd Session
1 - Brett Harris
5.692 @ 251.32
2 - Rick White 5.724 @ 257.51
3 - Jim Murphy 5.767 @ 240.77
4 - Troy Green 5.822 @ 261.78
5 - Denver Schutz 5.902 @ 253.23
6 - Rick McGee 5.913 @ 241.02
7 - Mike McClennan 6.021 @ 219.51
8 - Adam Sorokin 6.063 @ 232.13 |
9 - Shannon Stuart
6.067 @ 207.08
10 - Terry Cox 6.119 @ 231.36
11 - Brad Thompson 6.269 @ 190.35
12 - Howard Haight 6.336 @ 187.34
13 - Brendan Murry 6.379 @ 200.84
14 - Rick Williamson 6.510 @ 164.41
15 - Rick Rogers 6.668 @ 166.38
16 - Mark Malde 10.880 @ 70.93 |
With their 5.76 still holding
down the #3 spot, the team decided to pass on the last qualifying
session Friday evening. Taking their time, the crew got the car
ready to do battle on Sunday.
Sunday morning: With the first
round of eliminations scheduled for 11:00 a.m. the car was out
of the trailer early and warmed up by 9:30.
Sunday - Round
One of Eliminations
11:13 a.m. Weather conditions:
air temperature 56 degrees, relative humidity 52 percent, barometer
30.06 inches, track temperature 75 degrees. A lovely day for
a drag race.
With his game face on, Murphy
waited to fire up for his race with Rick Williamson.
The green business coupe was
ready... Murphy's incremental where 60ft-1.017 sec., 330ft-2.597,
660ft-3.810/205.10mph, 1,000ft-4.841.
Williamson was in trouble
early.
Shutting off early again, Murphy
still clocked low ET of the round with a 5.768 at just 225.50.
Between rounds it was
all business in the WW2 pit.
Sunday - Round
Two of Eliminations
2:16 p.m. Weather conditions:
air temperature 62 degrees, relative humidity 47 percent, barometer
32.06 inches, track temperature 81 degrees.
Murphy was scheduled to meet
Brad Thompson in this round but Brad was a no show so Jim got
the single.
From the hit the early
numbers were stellar again.
Murphy decided to save some parts
and clicked it off early to a 5.960 at 209.64. This may have
proven costly as he lost lane choice in the semis against Rick
White.
Getting ready for the
semis.....
Semi
Finals
4:50 p.m. It was cooling off
and Murphy was paired with Rick White who hadn't made a mistake
all weekend. He was also in the least favored right lane.
The early times were an indication
this could be close but Murphy, with a very aggressive tune-up,
drove through the clutch pretty early in the run and that was
the weekend for his efforts. He clicked very early and White
streaked away for the win.
Another March Meet ends without
a 5th win but you can bet Murphy and team will be back in 2010
to try again.
Related Link
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