Shorter Mile-High Nats still long on drama
Written by Sheila Scarborough · July 14, 2008
The 29th Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Denver featured a fast all-concrete drag strip with innovative cooling strips, but less of it was used during the race than last year.
In an effort to get their arms around super-powerful nitro cars in the wake of Scott Kalitta’s tragic Funny Car death, the NHRA decreed that nitro races would run (at least temporarily) to 1000 feet instead of the traditional 1320 feet/quarter mile distance.
The slightly shortened nitro runs didn’t seem to lack for excitement. In Top Fuel, former US Army teammates Antron Brown and Tony Schumacher battled down the strip, with the Sarge running a 4.007 at 304.05 mph for his sixth victory this season and his eighth final round.
“The key to this race was getting the car to leave hard over the water so we had momentum when we got to the hot part of the track,” said Schumacher. “That’s what Alan Johnson said, and what are you going to do, second-guess him? The car was absolutely flawless all day.
“Antron [Brown] is a great dude. Me and him are buddies, and he makes me sit up high in the seat and drive hard. If it’s us battling it out for the championship, I’d be proud to have him as my adversary. Now that’s a rivalry.”
In Funny Car, teams had to contend with new chassis and tire requirements in addition to shorter runs, but that didn’t seem to faze the Levi, Ray and Shoup team. Driver Tim Wilkerson beat a resurgent “Fast Jack” Beckman with a 4.398 at 262.23 mph.
“We had a good car all weekend and went down the track every run,” said Wilkerson. “I thought, ‘If I could get the thing to have all eight holes, it’ll be fast.’ On the last run, what’s it do? It doesn’t drop a hole so it smokes the tires. I’m pretty proud of my guys, and there is obviously nothing wrong with my brand-new Murf McKinney chassis.
“The track guys really did a great job and really need to be commended. [The track] had traction out the wazoo. I don’t know what everybody thinks about the 1,000-foot deal, but it worked out pretty good from where I’m sitting. There was good, tight racing all weekend, and I want to applaud NHRA for that.”
Beckman was looking on the bright side as runner-up: “….the nice thing is it’s Mopar’s race, we put a Mopar into the final round in Funny Car, we’re back in the top 10, and maybe we’ve got a little bit of a head of steam going now. And the great thing is you always want to leave Denver on a high note, because in two weeks it’s bam, bam, two more races, and this is where we’re going to have to make our move.
“Tenth place isn’t safe. I don’t think eighth place is safe right now,” said Beckman. “We need to win first round every race up until Indy and then go a few more after that if we want to stay in the top 10. There’s too many good cars too close to us right now.” The Countdown to the Championship playoff for the top 10 in points begins following the U.S. National in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend.
As for racing to 1000 feet? “I don’t think it’s changed a whole lot,” said Beckman. “We might be able to tweak a couple of things between half track and 1000 feet, but the cars are not going to run much different, and the fans are going to be seeing 300 mph from here on out , now that we’re coming down off the mountain.”
“The feedback from the fans has been all positive. I really don’t think they’re missing anything. And, as a driver, it’s just a little bit more cushion once the ‘chutes come out down there. It’s no less exciting in the race car.”
Greg Anderson and Allen Johnson head-to-head made for an exciting Pro Stock final; Anderson held off Johnson for the Wally (his second at Denver) with a 7.024 at 196.39 mph.
“This is the most challenging race of the year for us because it’s so much different from everywhere we go,” said Anderson.
“I can’t possibly say enough about the job the Bandimere family has done to this race track. It’s absolutely the wave of the future with the cooling system on the starting line and the all-concrete surface. It’s absolutely a super track. It was a great day for racing, and I had tough opponents all day long.”
Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Matt Smith defended his title at this event against Steve Johnson, running a 7.326 at 180.74 mph (and cutting a 0.005 light.)
“We performed and had a good bike,” said Smith.
“We had the fastest run going in the third qualifying round and the bike wouldn’t go into high gear. We came back in Q4 and were fast, and we were fast all day. We brought the same tune-up we had last year, and it worked - again.”
Points standings have Schumacher, Wilkerson, Greg Anderson and Hines at the top of their respective racing classes. Grubnic, Beckman, WJ and Steve Johnson are “on the bump” for the Chase points. Click here for detailed point listings.
The next Western Swing race is in Seattle, July 18-20.
Comments
2 Responses to “Shorter Mile-High Nats still long on drama”
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Have lost interest NASCAR with their Cookie-cutter COT cars ,that if you took the “Manufacture” stickers off them , you wouldn’t know “what” they’re supposed to be ?? Now we get NHRA copying the “CHASE” like NASCAR, and now shotening the race to not much more than a burnout !!! , instead of dealing with these outdated tracks ??? What do they do with out dated tracks in NASCAR ? They don’t run on them anymore ……. I’ll bet we won’t see the ticket prices go down with shortened races…..???? I also didn’t care about MIke Dunn saying how running 1000ft. saves 1 gal. of NITRO per run ! Who cares ???
Amen brutha