1st
Qualifying Session
In the first of three qualifying
sessions, Jim Murphy in his WW2 Racing entry was paired with
Rick McGee in the Tedford & McGee "Overtime Special".
Murphy ran a blistering 5.724
at just 222.29 to go low for day one. McGee encountered problems
and clicked it to a 6.662 at 137.67.
After Q1 the car went right back
to the pit for routine maintenance. Here's some random shots
of the process.
Jim and crew chief Roland
Leong discuss the data from the first run.
Warm it up, good to go.
2nd
Qualifying Session
Due to several funny car oil
downs the Top Fuel cars were left in the dark, literally. Some
took a shot at a very cool track but there was not a lot of shuffling.
As for Murphy, the car was pulled out of line due to the cold
track temp.
3rd
Qualifying Session - Saturday
For the third and last
session Murphy was once again paired with Rick McGee.
Murphy had the chutes out before
the first timing light and carded a 5.92 at 198.40 while McGee
started eating pistons at the 1000' mark and slowed to a 5.95
at 197.51. Murphy didn't improve and ended up #2 behind Tony
Bartone.
Round
One of Eliminations
On a cool Sunday morning, the
call for Top Fuel brought the SRO crowd to their seats. Ironically
Murphy once again had McGee in the other lane only this time
it was for real.
After trying several different
fuel injectors over the years, Murphy has settled with this rare
Enderle system that nobody else uses.
Leong moved Murphy into
the staging beams.
Both cars left pretty much together
with Murphy having the better numbers down low.
Murphy won handily carding
a nice 5.71 at 243.37. McGee slowed to a 7.22 at 117.23.
Round
Two of Eliminations
Leong sizing up the track.
First pair out to set
the final was Jim Murphy and Bret Williamson.
Murphy was away first and Williamson
went into tire smoke before the rear tires crossed the start
line.
Murphy moved into the finals
with a 5.78 at just 220.76. However, the final would have to
wait until Monday as rain halted racing for Sunday.
After rain halted the finals
on Sunday it was left to Monday to write the final chapter of
the 2017 March Meet. The Top Fuel final was scheduled for 11:30
so the guys got the car ready to warm up about a hour prior to
that. Murphy mixed the nitro.
Top
Fuel Final
In the Top Fuel final it was
Jim Murphy who was seeking his elusive fifth March Meet title
against Mendy Fry who was shooting for her first major win, period.
Once again #5 was denied when
Murphy's throttle stop failed on the burnout allowing the engine
to go like 11,000 rpm. As a result, the fuel pump drive broke
rendering his engine DOA.
As his crew pushed Murphy back,
Fry got the one finger from the starter meaning she would have
a single.
Check out where Murphy
and the Team are racing next....
2017
Schedule
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