The guys spent Thursday getting
used to the car and then finding a problem that kept them from
making a qualifying run.
1st
Qualifying Session
Friday 2:30 p.m. Weather conditions:
air temperature 80 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer
26.31 inches, adjusted altitude 2,867 feet.
The last pair
out was Jim Murphy in his WW2 Racing entry and Brett Harris in
the "Nitro Hemi" (ex Nitro Thunder) car out of Denver.
Both cars racked up good
early numbers.
Murphy slipped into the #3 spot
with a 5.797 at 240.25 while Harris was right there with a 5.831
at 247.70.
2nd
Qualifying Session
Saturday - Weather conditions:
beautiful
Pair three of the second
and last session pitted Jim Murphy and Terry Cox.
Both cars had good early
numbers.
Neither car improved
leaving Murphy #4 and Cox #7
Eliminations
- Round One
Second pair out of the waterbox
Saturday evening was Jim Murphy and Ron August Jr.
August got a slight lead
at the hit.
Murphy got even before the 330'
mark and pulled away for a closer than expected win. His 5.805
at 261.02 (top speed of the meet) held off August's game 5.941
at 242.50. This win was a biggie - combined with Jim Young's
loss, it sealed the 2013 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series
Top Fuel Championship. Things were good at WW2 Racing.
Eliminations
- Round Two
Following the pre-race ceremonies
Top Fuel was first out. Jim Murphy and Brett Harris were matched
in the last pair of the round.
The usually
stout WW2 fueler was flat at the hit.
With two dead holes all
Murphy could do was watch Harris pull away.
At the other end it was obvious
that Harris had dodged a bullet. His sub par 6.018 at 233.52
would not have covered any previous pass made by Murphy. Jim's
6.265 at 228.73 was not good enough to take advantage of Big
Red's falter.
What went wrong in his own words,
Jim Murphy. "We warmed up the engine in prep for round 2
and found the rear main seal was leaking. After checking it out,
we decided to change engines, and did. The whole swap went good,
but what we didn't know was a spark plug must have got dropped,
had no gap and the #4 cylinder did not run from the hit. On top
of that I made a mistake when changing an idle nozzle and put
a small idle nozzle in place of a large run nozzle and hurt #6.
Hence a very poor 6.20 on 6 cylinders. That's the essence of
a bummer of a Reunion finish as the run before was top speed
of the meet at 261."
Further. "We are changing
a few things about the car to make it easier to service and I'm
very excited about next year as this car will run big numbers,
we just need to get our arms around everything. Can't wait for
the 2014 March Meet."
World
Champs
Gathering in
the Winners Circle did take some of the sting out of the disappointing
second round loss.
Check out where Murphy
and the Team are racing next....
2014
Schedule
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