2006 Easter Thunderball

The 2006 Main Event, FIA Drag Racing Series Round 1,

Report for Sunday 28th May 2006

from Santa Pod Raceway

I got to the track at just after 8am Sunday morning and, again, tentatively slithered into a parking spot in the field. The whole place seemed to be drying out a little - even though there had been torrential rain in the weeks running up to the Main Event. Once I'd unloaded my bags into a safe place, I made for the pits with camera and gas mask in hand. I make no apology for the fact that I am I nitro freak. I love nitro (hence the website name!) and although I endeavour to convey as much of an eclectic mix of action going on at the track - I love the nitro cars, especially when they are warming up in the pits. The catch, as always, is that with as many Top Fuel teams that are attempting to qualify, they are all preparing themselves to be on track at roughly the same time. That means that to experience ALL the warm-ups, you have to be quick and you'll still miss one or two because, inevitably, some warm-ups are simultaneous. A moment of fun happened in the Rene Hersland pit when visiting photographer, general wise wag and chum, Martin Grosse-Geldermann, took a picture of me (with mask on) getting ready for the really smelly part of the warmup and immediately there was much a-flashing as we picture-takers mercilessly fired at each other! Martin had to take cover though, when the brown clouds of nitro moved in. On another note, I have to express some alarm at what happened at the end of Rene's warmup. As soon as the fuel line was released from the injector, a massive fuel leak sent torrents of Nitromethane spraying out directly from the fuel pump. This caught a crew member who, after I had effected my own speedy egress, worryingly collapsed at the back of the pit area, clearly in great discomfort. By the time the rest of the crew realised, he was already quite ill and, perhaps this is just a coincidence, but I didn't see him for the rest of the weekend on my return visits. Besides that moment of downside, I thoroughly enjoyed the 'clearing of the tubes' and hastened back to the start line in anticipation of the start of the next round of FIA & FIM/UEM qualifying. I mostly find it difficult to see anything outstanding within the Pro Stock Car category - it's just a personal thing - but I must say that I find the paint scheme of Kenneth Soderstrom's Pontiac Grand Am, most arresting. I love the striking Yellow/Black combination of this (I think!) ex-Jan Muren car and other racers should take note, instead of the increasing preference for a black paint job (on a black track - yeh, LOTS of contrast!).

Two runs from the first Top Fuel session stick out in my mind- Firstly the run of Tommy Möller with a storming 4.81 second pass at over 303 mph. I got the impression that the whole run was fairly soft and yet it was good enough to jump to the top of the pile. Secondly, Thomas Nataas jumped out of the relegation zone with a stout 4.998 second pass, but at a slowing 267mph. It was vital that Thomas stayed with the run (in order to avoid a repeat of the European Finals DNQ) and the slowing speed betrays a motor that was eating up on itself. When I talked with one of the crew members later, he advised me (with a terribly grave look on his face) that Thomas's motor was a 'skip job' after the run. "Block, crank, heads, you name it, the whole bag of tricks, all junk". Micke Kågered had more nightmares with a huge blower-lifting explosion in the pitside lane, all combined with a huge fire. Of course, I was taking pictures in the other lane but - you can't win them all! He was still burning well when he came to a halt at half track. The fire crews responded quickly and soon had the situation under control. Going into the last qualifying session, the two in the relegation zone were Smax Smith and Rene Hersland; a situation that they both had just one more chance to resolve.. At the end of the Pro Mod session, none other than 'Fast' Freddy Fagerström was atop the register with storming 6.33 second pass. Looking ominous in second place was Urban Johansson, also with a 6.3 second pass. A surprise in the not-qualified zone was Britain's Andy Robinson who, I guess, was not pleased with his only existing lap of 9.13 seconds.

In the final professional qualifying session, Charley Karling ended up at the top of the heap in Super Twin with Lorenz Stäuble and Ronny Aasen looking dangerous. I love it when these Super Twins carry their front wheel right down track - it doesn't appear to faze the riders when they see a 'puff' of rubber smoke when it 'touches down' past a 1000 feet - I just think they're mental! Bring 'em on! I must say I felt a little perplexed every time I saw the Top Fuel bike field. It puzzles me why funny bikes and - it seems - just about every other competition bike category, apparently fall into the classification of 'Top Fuel Bike'. Puzzling. Anyway, I was delighted to see Ian King - at last - make an appearance. One shot qualifying? That doesn't sound like Ian, but for whatever reason, that's what it was and he got into the show at number 8! Roel Koedam was still atop the heap with his shut off 6.57 second run and that was the field set. In the final Top Fuel session, there was a bit of moving around in the order. Urs was unable to improve on his time of 5.55 because of tyre shake and parts sacrifices. There was side by side shake and rattle for Håkan Nilsson and Lex Joon with both drivers pumping it a couple of times to see if their cars would hook up. Smax Smith with the Bulldog Bash/Double Two MacDonald Brothers' dragster had a good run to half track before some smoke appeared and it started moving about a little. Smax stayed with it as it laboured through the traps and an ominous cloud of smoke puthered up to near-nuclear cloud proportions. His run, however, of 5.422 seconds at 236mph was sufficient to get the MacDonald Brothers' dragster into the show to face storming number 1 qualifier Tommy Möller. The crew were delighted, and so they should be, because the low budget team is the nearest to a family setup I've seen with every one of the crew members apparently seamlessly knitted together to form a highly efficient racing machine which can perform at the highest possible levels, as they have now proven, putting many a high-budget team to shame. Then there is the fact they have simply the coolest awning I have EVER seen. Spectator viewing windows, spotless and uncluttered work surfaces, I've seen teams in the USA that would hang their heads in shame after seeing the MacDonalds' setup.

So, that was it. All qualifying finished and all the fields were set. Rob Turner aced the number 1 spot in Top Alcohol dragster and Urban Johansson was creeping up on a new European Record in Pro Mod with a 6.29 second run. I was astonished to see Andy Robinson being towed up the fire-up road without making his final run. I never did find out why until after the weekend; I decided to call up Andy to ask him what had gone on: "From Hero to Zero in one easy step! Go home! Can't race!". Andy was feeling just a little bit peeved: "On the first (qualifying) run, we knackered a sprag and that was that; on the second run, we drove through the clutch and staged with it red hot. Away from the line, it shook REALLY bad - I got off it - got on it and it then it started moving around and I gave it up for a 9.1. On the final run, the starter wouldn't work!! We've got one of these stateside 'pukka' fuel starters with an adaptor on it to run on the crank and it just wouldn't work! I've been racing since 1979 and I have never EVER DNQ'd! Let me tell you that NOT qualifying, SUCKS! Never again!" I appreciated Andy's candour but I was still left with the underlying impression he wasn't overly impressed about not making the Pro Mod show.... He will be back at the Summer Nationals to get in some testing and I wouldn't be surprised if I spotted two of these 'pukka' starters in his pit!

Check out the Sunday Picture Gallery and see if there are any shots that tell you something you didn't know already..!

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