Race day coverage of the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO, dated July 18, 2004. The racing community regroups after the tragic passing of Darrell Russell back in St. Louis, and an Australian Funny Car driver Robert Schwab has a storybook day at this event. Thanks for watching and enjoy the race!
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Race Chapters:
0:00 Intro
3:24 Top Fuel – 1st Round (Telecast Abbreviated)
16:40 Funny Car – 1st Round (Telecast Abbreviated)
26:02 Pro Stock – 1st Round Highlights
28:47 Powerade Power Time – Steve Johnson
29:58 Pro Stock Bike – 1st Round Highlights
32:47 Joe Amato & Wayne Dupuy Interview
41:00 Top Fuel – 2nd Round
49:50 Funny Car – 2nd Round
1:01:33 Pro Stock – 2nd Round
1:08:41 Pro Stock Bike – 2nd Round
1:12:31 Top Fuel – Semi-Final
1:18:12 Funny Car – Semi-Final
1:24:40 Pro Stock – Semi-Final
1:28:55 Pro Stock Bike – Semi-Final
1:33:24 Final Rounds
Along with the new Top Fuel roll cage Shield will have quite an effect on the second half of the season the crew chief that Nails the right combination will have the inside track to the Championship ESPN the worldwide leader in sports presents exclusive coverage of the $50 million NH Power Aid drag racing series today we’re in the Foothills and the Rockies for final eliminations of the 25th running of the Mopar Mile High Nationals from band toir Speedway in Denver Colorado hello again everybody
Marty Reed here with you as you can see the crews getting ready for final eliminations and we have perfect weather conditions it’s going to get on the warm side however so it will be another challenge for the crew chiefs we’re so glad you’re you’re able
To be with us and of course this is the first race back after the tragic crash that took the life of Daryl Russell just a few weeks ago in St Louis and while everybody in the NH tries to regroup so does Jo Amato’s race team he made the announcement yesterday that they will
Return to competition at Brainard in Minnesota in August now last Wednesday Mike Dunn had a chance to sit down with Joe and he talked about the thought process that went into that decision I guess I’m hooked on the sport and you know the easiest thing would be
To walk away but I don’t want to walk away like this I want to walk away under my terms and conditions and not somebody else’s that you know the plan God God had a plan for Daryl I guess when when he sent him to me to and may we were
Lucky that he won and we won the races he did and it’s like the big picture sometimes we stand back and we don’t know what was on his mind and why he did what he did but I guess he let him win what he let him win and he had his fun
Doing it and I you know I was blessed that I was able to do that with him and know if I can take some other young man or somebody already you know experienced and let them go forward and live their dream and all and I can be part of it
And I get special pleasure out of that the racing has been good to me and and if I can give some back that way and just just move forward I think you know whether it’s the team or let a guy like Wayne become an expert Crew Chief and
Develop and you know that’s gives you good it feels like you’re giving something back to something that you’ve been lucky at and it’s worked good for you and I think I I want to do that and we’ll hear more from Joe Amato and crew chief Wayne d a little bit later in the
Broadcast want to bring in now 22 time National event winner Mike Dunn and yesterday on our qualifying show you admitted as many of us thought that uh Joe might not return but and you were a bit surprised too yeah I mean I was a bit surprised I mean he really doesn’t
Have anything to prove he doesn’t you know it’s not his business it’s not what he makes money uh doing it fact he spends a lot of his own money because he loves the sport so much but uh that’s the reason he wants to get back in
Because of the love of the sport Sport and I think he’s right I think that’s what darl would would have wanted anyway I know if I was in that situation I mean I always want if something happened to me I would want everybody that I love to
Carry on well we do know one driver’s name who is on the possible list to replace Daryl in the cockpit and that is Morgan Lucas I ran into his father Forest Lucas the head of Lucas Oil last week and he confirmed that they had had discussions as of now that’s all we know
We’ll keep you posted let’s turn our attention now to the race today and let’s bring you the Top Fuel ladder brought to you by Lucas Oil and show you the matchups Brandon Bernstein remember the last two times he was number one he lost he’s remembering it as well and he
Doesn’t want to have it happen today Doug kala Doug Herbert Scott Keta they have Lane Choice as well on one side then it’s Larry Dixon John Smith David grubic and Cory mcclenathan with the lane Choice over on the other side and you heard us mention the new
Rules let’s go a little deeper Top Fuel and funny car have a new rear tire it’s an evolution of the old 1430 it’s labeled the 2300 rear minimum Tire tire pressure has to be 7 lb per square in Top Fuel 6 and 1/2 in funny car and in Top Fuel it is
Now mandatory for roll cage shielding but as we found out yesterday we’ve already seen some cause and effect well that’s right Mario the biggest adjustment is going to be that rear tire they’ve actually changed the compound which will allow the tire to slip a little bit more in the middle of the
Racetrack also the construction isn’t going to allow the tire to grow as much which is going to shorten the gear ratio both of those things should theoretically slow the cars down in the middle of the course now the roll case shielding is actually causing problems
Too that we see right there a lot of the air has been getting past there and buffing the back of the driver’s helmets as a result they’ve actually had to raise the windshields up to try to get that air to go up over the top of the
Roll case to try alleviate that and we’ll show you more on that when Tony Schumacher comes to line right now you’re looking at Scott Wise up against Doug Keta Keta the first time in nine years that a Keta met family members had the points lead here we
Go and Doug you saw him dropping some still cylinders down course 4.99 seconds later 287 mph he takes the first round win watch Doug Keta yesterday he had to backpedal this car I couldn’t tell if he had to do it this time but he did have some pretty slow numbers early it looked
Like the car was just soften right about here you’re going to see a lot of cylinders start to go out as they just weren’t plying the clutch had at least one or two over there on the right hand side but he got the win well and we have a chance to show
You the weather conditions because that’s a big factor track temperature look at at 121 and look at these num we don’t see this anywhere else I mean low humidity 34% but look at the density altitude right there that’s the corrected altitude when you factor in the temperature humidity moisture in the
Air almost 9,000 ft above sea level is what these engin feel like they’re running in and that’s equivalent to the starting line of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb to give you an idea Tony Schumacher he had a big problem yesterday notice they have holes now drilled in this titanium he had to Pedal
The car and his head leg literally came forward and he couldn’t get it back he was leaning forward in the car Parker you’ve got more Marty you can’t change one thing on these cars without affecting something else most of the Top Fuel cars have doubled the height of the
Wind screen but now it’s happening the air is not going into the engine properly and the problem is variable boost pedal Fest who’s going to get to the line first Tony Schumacher in the army of one and look at Don he is breathing a sigh of
Relief I tell you Tony shoe marker has been doing his job this year when he’s been smoking the tires he’s won most of the races where it’s been a backpedaling contest he just knows how to get that car to the Finish Line under power that’s the key you can’t over rev these
Eng especially up here on the mountain it’ll throw the Bell off before it gets to the Finish Line John Smith he’s been running good but look the cylinder out soon as he hit the throttle then it goes into Tire Shake into Tire smoke he does
The same thing tries to get the car to recover but at that situation what he needed to do there was St throw a little bit longer try to get that tire to settle down it’s easy to say but it’s very very hard to do so the 1999 Top Fuel Champion puts John
Smith still in the windless column and look at those tire marks we saw on the RAC whoa wait a minute Cory mclenan climbing out of the car he has been shut off at the starting line Ronda Hartman Smith will have a solo this is two times in a row that
Ronda has now uh got the win over Cory last time she beating heads up at Indie in 2003 but this time and let’s go back and see what happened with Cory he was backing up the race car oh man saw this happen with Kenny Bernstein a few years ago once the
Thing got back backing up started whipping the tire back and forth and it looks like it pulled the parachute out when that happened and you saw the shoot there tied up underneath the race car so now we move on to Scott Keta and Bob Vander grip
Jr well a little tire smoke from Bob Vandergriff and a 4.88 second blast at 299 mph for Scott Keta gives him the round win and it also moves Scott ahead of Cory mclenan in the points now we focus on Doug Herbert Doug Zilla no notice how much they have raised their wind screen
Area to keep that air from getting inside the cockpit and they did that coming into the race anticipating that that could be a problem I think it was a pretty good move because some of the other team have had to do it after qualifying Mike straber will be over in the left
Lane well straber was out on Herbert early but then you saw the tire smoke and Doug takes the win 5.06 seconds and whoo hold on he’s trying to get it stop the second shoot just finally deploys and he’s into the sand and oh no into the
Catchet so now I’m sure Doug is a okay there is Ed the ace Mulla and there’s Doug climbing out he is more Angry than anything else because uh we’ll have to wait and see how much damage occurred to the front end of this race car and if he tweaked the
Chassis I think the chassis may be okay the biggest problem they’ll probably have is the amount of sand that’s going to get into the fuel system because of that fuel tank vent in the front that’s normally the big problem and as we saw with Larry Dixon and Columbus they had
To take basically fuel strip the whole car fuel tank and all the lines and everything and that usually becomes the biggest problem yeah we have not seen very many cars go into the sand here but yesterday Jeff Oren in funny car had a problem when he reached for the shoots
Couldn’t find the Leever and ended up in the kitty litter as well so while they try and uh pull him out of the sand let’s go back a few pairs ago when Cory Mack had all these problems and then the shoot deployed you can see it dumped on the ground just
Underneath the chassis there let’s go to Parker no doubt Doug Herbert isn’t happy neither is our top fueld winner at Atlanta Cory mcclenathan Cory what happened well as soon as we started the car when I went to go for the burnout it was really aggressive so once I did the
Burnout it didn’t want to come out of forward I out of out of forward basically to back the car up so I basically put it on the high side that’s the only thing you can do with anybody else without somebody out there is put on the high side get it back in reverse
And get back there and try to figure it out well the brakes wouldn’t hold it it was going too fast when I tried to reach over and grab the brake even harder with both hands I lost control of the steering by the time I reach up to grab
It I try to stay away from the button but sometimes when they’re going back and forth like that it’s inevitable it back smacked my hand off and it accidentally probably hit the air shoot at the same same time but it was over before it started because once I got
Back there I couldn’t get it back and forward so we had a clutch problem and it’s something I I kind of felt something in here but obviously we didn’t catch it once again and we’re down here where the safety Safari has already fished Doug Herbert’s car out of
The sand but uh how come you almost stopped in Veil that’s about the truth I had I didn’t have any breaks I should have uh I don’t know what I could have done if I if I was like Fred flinton I would have jammed my feet right through
The floor and brought her to a stop but we we won the round so that’s the most important thing so we’ll come back for next round we can get it back together no problem we got snapon tools and Doug Herbert foren parts we got plenty of stuff to Boulder back together Red Line
Oil I’m sure that that kept everything good in the bottom so we’ll be fine and remember up here on the mountain the air is thin so when the shoots come out they don’t tug as hard as they do at sea level that’s very true bill as we get
Ready now for uh David grubnic and Rob passy now grubnic was involved in the tire pressure remember we have a minimum set pressure let’s get more from dayve Bri yeah and as you said earlier already that minimum pressure 7 lbs for these Southfield rers 6 and a half for funy
Car how do they check it very simple you’re looking at Ray allly the director of competition with the tire gauge in his hand good your officials on hand making sure that that number is above 7 lb per square inch in this case on D s’s left rear slick it’s good check on the
Right side that’s good he’s set for run and so are we with Rob passy and David grck no contest David grck all the way in this one you see the numbers there 4.90 seconds so as of right now team Keta has all three cars advancing to the second
Round and you can see the crowd in fact they’re still coming in the traffic was backed up quite a ways on the freeway outside of bmir Speedway we get ready for Don cink and Brandon Bernstein now remember Bernstein he won from the pole back at Houston but the last two times
He’s been on pole Columbus in New Jersey he’s been upset and so s this morning and he still remembers that he doesn’t want to relive it and Don cenka is in the other lane yeah I mean Don cka what he needs to do is just go from A to B
Down the racetrack you know he’s not going to run the big num but if something happens to Brandon buring like it’s happened before basically smoken the tires Don secet could be there but Tim Richards I mean he’s very good up here on the mountain I he’s not going to
Take any chances he’s definitely not going for lowy especially in these conditions he just wants to get it to the other end if that happens he should get the win Well you saw Brandon had cylinders out from the GetGo but still manages to go low for the ground 4.87 seconds at 301 mph yeah as soon as Brandon Bernson hit this throttle look on the right side of your screen right over here he’s going well basically he’s
Going to right there as soon as he hit the throttle the cylinder went out Tim Richards was making sure that he was not going to smoke the tires I mean he didn’t go up there purposely to smoke the tires but what I mean to drop a cylinder but what happens is you back
That thing thing down enough take enough horsepower away it can’t burn the field and as a result you drop the cylinder but it got to the finish line ran 487 low de round thus far so that brings us down to our final pair in Top Fuel so far four out of the
Top five in the points have advanced Larry Dixon is the remaining member of that group he is fourth in the points right now and there he is as he’s backing up in the right lane as the number two qualifier and an old Nemesis for him Mitch King over in the other
Lane now there is VOR miror if you were watching the IR IRL race yesterday from Nashville you know VOR did not have the kind of day he woned he finished 12 Tony Kanan won the race but he’s out here experiencing the event with Doner race team there is
Larry Mitch King’s first race and first round win ever was when he upset Larry Dixon at Houston back in 2002 both cars were up in Tire smoke there’s dick Le and 532 is the winning number for Larry Dixon and let’s check in with Parker well it’s good to have
Another indie car driver in the house you led the first 100 laps last night but Fedor what do you think of in that’s the first time I’m I’m on the The Starting Line it’s crazy I mean I thought I was going quicker and now now I realize they are the man because Jesus
Christ that’s quick that’s it’s just like somebody hits you and hitting H and hitting you it was it’s just crazy it’s great that’s not going to be the first time I’m going to be here I going to are going to come back and for sure come more times here bring David Letterman
And Bobby Ray Hall with you won’t you oh they going to be impressed also I’ll bring Bob suton also with srix and uh well it’s it’s that’s the first time I’m here it’s tough it’s not it’s not easy to be here he came off the ground Marty all right Brandon Bernstein and Scott
Keta have Lane choice on one side in top Fiel and then over on the other side Larry Dixon actually that 532 does have Lane Choice over Tony Schumacher so is David grck funny car when we come back here’s the BART Mile High Nationals and we’re back here at the
Mopar Mile High Nationals in bamir Speedway Denver Colorado and let’s take a look at our funny car ladder presented by Lucas Oil and you’ll see that Whit basemore boy two great runs yesterday to take the number one spot lower the track record a bunch Eric Medlin Gary denum
And Cruz pedregon have Lane Choice that’s going to be the first pair we’re going to take a look at Tony pedregon over Gary s that’s going to be a barn burner Wilkerson force and Tommy Johnson Jr also have blame Choice Let’s Get Down track side you’re on board with Cruz
He’s over in the right lane Cruz the runner up here last year to John Force well crw leans on it pretty hard but he gets down the track 5.31 seconds at 260 mph but Cruz advances to the second round as we look back from the far end
Of the RAC trck down that 75 ft incline that helps slow the cars down except when you don’t have any braks whatsoever track temperature 129 and that is getting very warm that’s the warmest it has been and there is Gary seli the winner last time out in St
Louis in fact this is a rematch as you take a look at his last six race this is a rematch of round one back in St Louis when seli beat Tony pedon there even though Gary seli only qualified to number 15 position yesterday he was on a
Very very good run and the parachute fell out just about half track slowed him down now you got to throw all that out because the conditions are completely different today the track with this new tire they’re still trying to get a handle on obviously with 129° track temperature they’re going to have
To back these cars down I guarantee you crew chief right NE right there was back in there turning the knob trying to back these cars down to try to get them hooked up the full quarter mile Tony pedregon has one round win in the last three races these guys been going in opposite
Directions well maybe the bleeding is stopped for Tony he gets a little Revenge after the loss of St Louis and he comes back to take the wind light here as both cars go up in Tire smoke this is going to hurt seli in the points
Remember he came in in fourth only 9 4 behind John Force yeah Gary SEL I mean looked good off the starting line had 200s of a second Advantage off the starting line in Reaction Time picked up another 200s of a second by 60 ft so the car was moving but right there it
Started to slide around they were applying the clutch a little bit too hard a little too much horsepower smoked the tires and that allowed Tony pedregon even though he smoked the tires it was farther down track to go by for the win and you saw that uh crane cam shot that
We had and let’s show it to you there is RJ way up there and he showed you the great pictures better him than me gungadin there’s the view from up top looking back down 135 ft above the race service you know we should close Gary sel’s chapter for today this track has never
Been good to him you know he has never made it to a final in either his top fuel or funny car career and here he is out in round number one let’s talk a little bit about band deir Speedway well I mean basically it’s a normal racra
Quart mile long surface at concrete into asphalt the Launchpad pretty much a standard 600 ft before transfers into the asphalt but look at the elevation it’s 5860 ft above sea level and what that does it makes it very hard to make horsepower because the pressure is down up here the parametric pressure it
Doesn’t Force as much air into these engines at sea level Mother Nature sea level push pushes a much more much more air into these engines naturally and as a result they spin the superchargers faster to try to create the power you’re looking at number 16 qualifier Robert Schwab came to this country from
Australia with $300 in his pocket and a dream to someday rise a funny car suffer one serious crash early in his career here he is qualifying for his first ever event and he’s got to go up against the track record holder number one qualifier with Bazemore baz is up it’s smoke look
Out at the strike and upset Robert Schwab 5.66 seconds basemore the number one qualifier he ran two perfect passes yesterday and he’s on the trailer I mean not only did he make two perfect passes he made two unbelievable passes yesterday that 484 a tenth of a second quicker than the previous track
Record but throw it all out for today because the track is nothing like it was yesterday obviously Lee beard you know he backed this thing down he’s a smart man but the new tire and the new track obviously he’s been making horsepower it just caught him and smoked the tires and
As a result they lost the race this is the the fourth year in a row where Whit Bas Moore has not gotten past second round and today stunned in the opening stanza by a rookie by the name of Robert Schwab only the third time there is Robert Schwab only the third time that
Wht has lost from the pole there is Whit let’s go to Bill Whit basemore just going over what happened in the race car obviously you did everything you could to save that run with but it just didn’t happen well you know we have a difference of opinion and in our team as
To uh how to get a car to hook back up and uh uh you know when um people tell you certain things uh it can influence you you have no time to think but you go with your subconscious and when I did what I wanted to do it hooked up and uh
That’s just how it goes it’s it’s unfortunate it’s tough but uh you know we’re uh it’s a crap shoot today you know it’s a new guy I just met him he seems like a nice guy he was a little squirly yesterday but I’m sure with more experience he’ll get better driving and
Uh you know uh good luck to him the rest of rest of today so wh will have to wait and see what happens with Dell Worsham John Force and look at this crowd they can get great attendance here had Friday’s wash out and that was uh no fun because
We had a great crowd there as well speaking of D Worsham he’s in the left lane up against this man Eric medin the new track speed record holder in fact just shy of the 1999 Mark set in Top Fuel by Joe Amato and Del worship and his father
Chuck right there they don’t have Lane Choice everybody’s chosen the right lane and funny car up to this point but these guys are very very good at finding a combination on Race date these are the kind of conditions they like where it maybe a driver’s race tell’s as good as
Anybody if it if that does happen they’re also very good at hitting the setup in these kind of conditions Tire smoke for worship and takes the win so numbers two three and four in the points are on the trailer 521 for Eric Medlin as he takes the windl and
He will match up next round with Robert Schwab now let’s show you what else happened in funny car first up Gary denum and Bob Gilbertson and at the hit of the throttle densum Goes Up in Smoke Gilbertson pedals his way to the windlight so now make its numbers two
Three four and five in the points out of here on the trailer what about number one John Force he’s got Jerry Tolliver in the opening round force is in the right lane toer he gets Tire smoke force gets to a 516 270 mph so the points lead are
Going to open up some ground Tommy Johnson Jr car doesn’t sound very good in the right lane Jeff Ren went back to the Corvette body after yesterday’s Adventure in the kitty lit but TJ actually even runs quicker than fours 5.13 seconds he’ll have Lane Choice over John next round and finally Phil burkart
And Tim Wilkerson Wilkerson with the lane Choice he goes right lane but then it looks like he lose the blower belt burkart takes the win 5.35 seconds here’s the ladder so Eric medin has the lane Choice over the rookie Robert Schwab Cruz pedron Lane Choice over Bob Gilbertson second round
On the other side Phil Burkhart and Tommy Johnson Jr with Lane choice now let’s meet Robert Schwab here’s Dave reef everybody wants to know about the Australian Robert Schwab and how he did what he did against Whit basore Tire smoking Affair but it’s four years of
Match ration in Salt Lake City that got you that round Robert yeah we you know I watched these guys Gary danim all those old guys they did a lot of match racing that’s what they learned out of drive and I’ve been studying everybody and we uh we’ll get this thing rebuilt
And go back out there and hopefully he won’t the toys they’re only playing this race but hey maybe after today who knows maybe they’ll continue on could this be a Cinderella Story well still to come we’ll talk with Jo who remembers his driver and friend Daryl
Russell I think it was his uh his his demeanor his smile his attitude he wasn’t cocky at all he wasn’t Brash he didn’t uh if he beat somebody he didn’t rub it in their face I me he just was just a nice guy back here at the Mopar Mile High
Nationals let’s get you caught up on what happened in Pro Stock in the opening round let’s kick it off with Dave connley and Ron chrisher and watch Conley in left lane because he’s going to turn on the red light chrisher runs 7.23 seconds at 191 mph to take the
Win and next up it would be Jr Carr and Larry Morgan wgan in the right lane gave up a little bit at the starting line but had too much at the other end he goes 7.21 191 mph to take the win V Gates closest to you running against Jake cof with the
Two time power a champion V in front of his hometown fans he lives nearby Lakewood he takes the wind light a 722 to a 724 both cars running 191 even though V gains had the power Advantage all week and a bit of a mild upset right
Right here is the Mopar just had a little bit extra on the top end next up it would be Bruce Allen and Jim Yates starting line Advantage would go to Jim Yates as you can see by 3100s but watch at the other end Allen goes 7.21
Seconds 191 mph to take the wi then it was Jason line and Mike Edwards line in the right lane he goes 7.22 seconds to Edwards 728 wins this one by almost a car length that would bring us up to Kurt Johnson and Kenny kety it would be the advantage off the
Starting line to KJ and Kurt would Cruise 7.22 seconds later at 191 milph hert Johnson didn’t have Lane choice on this run but he makes a nice straight and true run this time second round he will have Lane and that would bring us up to the power a points leader Greg Anderson new
Paint scheme with the summit colors on board and he picks up right where he left off going low for the round 7.20 seconds 191 mph Mark wisnet never a factor and finally Steve Johns and the professor WJ and watch this Warren with a big hole
Shot and he’s going to win this one in a hole shot 724 quicker but losing 723 and it’s the fourth Reaction Time loss this year for Stevie Johns here’s the ladder presented by Lucas Oil and in Pro St it’ll be Greg Anderson and Bruce Allen with the lane Choice as does Larry
Morgan and Kurt Johnson now we’ve got to take a commercial break but we come back we’ll get you caught up on what happened in the opening round of Pro Stock bike stay with Us all right we’re back here at Denver Colorado at bamir Speedway for the bowar mile high Nationals and we’re glad you’re with us and it’s time for this week’s edition of power eight power time for 17 years ago Steve Johnson began racing proo bike he probably didn’t
Think it would take 191 stars to get his first win well it finally came several weeks ago at St Louis he told us that he hopes win number two comes a little sooner when we won at the Sears Craftsman Nationals the team is just like a a load
Of this bricks on our chest had just disappeared they they know they can do it we know we can do it our budget doesn’t allow me to have a mark piser it doesn’t allow me to have a George or a Matt Hines I want to be able to have
That and I want to be able to talk to the fans and and sign autographs and play a little Golf and ride the motorcycle but until we get to that level I I’m going to have to struggle with Shane and and right now we still are struggling believe it or not I could
Do something that no other Racers done if you if you’ve taken 191 win or 191 races to win one if I can do it the very next race man look at the odds hey I’m two for two now after the 191 let’s take a look at our Pro Stock bike
Ladder presented by Lucas o you’ll see that Steve Johnson has the lane choice in the opening round over gos SC as does Andrew Hines our number one qualifier Angel sais and Craig treble and over on the other side it will be Antron Brown Karen stoer GT tonglet and sha Gan with
The lane choice so let’s show you what happened in the opening round and would Steve Johnson go two for two well he would be in the right lane against the defending power Hamp goino scall and the answer was very very quick it was a no
By one 1,000th of a second he goes red but he would not be the only one in this opening session that would go red Gino runs 771 next up it was Angel or Ken stoer and Michael Phillips and Phillips turns on the red light stoer goes 7.64
Seconds at 180 mph as to take the win Karen stoer H an engine in their first qualifying run but look at nice rebound as she has to lean that bite to keep in the middle of the of the lane and get into the second round we told you we
Were seeing a lot of red in the opening round well here goes Blaine hail the defending event winner over in the right lane he turns on the bul Shan Gan goes 7.64 seconds at 176 mph would anybody get a good green start well Craig treble
And Mike Barry made it yes and it would be treble at the other end 7.60 seconds at 177 mph taking the win easily over Mike Barry then it would be Andrew Hines and Rell Harris number one qualifier gets number 16 and oops that’s number four on the red Hit Parade Rell
Turns it on Andrew goes 7.53 seconds that would be low for the opening round 185 mph they don’t seem to mind the altitude and then Indianapolis own Josh HBY turns on the red light andron brown gets the automatic win he then runs 7.64 seconds at 173 mph that would bring us
Up to the other harley-dav a GT tonglet and Fred camerana both car both Riders get green starts and it would be GT easily 7.64 seconds taking the win over Fred and finally anel seis and Kurt M they would round out the and it would be onel second quickest elapse time
7.57 seconds 179 mph easily out distancing Kurt mod so let’s take a look at the updated proo bike ladder you’ll see that and Drew Hines and Angel safoa have the lane choice on the other side it is Anon Brown and GT tonglet with the lane Choice there and coming up next arol Russell
Team motor Joe Amato discusses his driver and the tragic crash from win Circle back here at bamir Speedway and the Mopar Mile High Nationals round 13 of the NH Power Aid drag racing series and of course the last few weeks have been very difficult for the NH Community
Especially for the family of darl Russell and Joe mod in his race team last Wednesday Mike Dunn had a chance to sit down with Joe Amato and Joe talked about his friend and his driver darl’s Russell name was brought to my attention by Gary seli and when I
Was looking for a driver when I retired and uh basically we put the deal together and uh it was the right choice at the time and I was happy with it up till this point in time but uh yeah I always look back and say you
Know cuz there was other people we were talking about and you always second guess yourself especially after you have a tragedy like this but uh I think I did the right thing and I think Daryl was definitely the right guy and I gave him
A chance to live his dream and he and he loved doing what he did and uh I guess if you’re going to have to go you might as well go you know doing what you love to do and go out kind of at the top of his game you
Know we’ve done a lot together and it it’s really a tough thing for the for the sport and the fans and just it’s and for myself when I got that phone call that Sunday night I’m kind of glad in a way that wasn’t at the race cuz I don’t
Know if I I want to remember Daryl how I remembered him week before at English town and the week before when he gave me my 60th birthday present which I’ll something I’ll always cherish remember I could never forget that and that’s the picture I have in my of Daryl and that’s
Where it’s going to stay not seeing them pull him out of a car crash at the end of the starting line I remember when Rob Greger called me up and you know it just it was a bad deal I mean but you know I guess life you have to go forward and
Try and do what you can do to try and carry on his memory and and and remember him as what he was a true champion it’s just a sin because I think he had the qualities to you the Charisma and and the desire and all I think some point in
Time hopefully I could have made him a world champion in in his class and I’ll never get the chance to do that he goes out and he wins his first race for you in in a Top Field dragster did you did you think that maybe you quit a little
Too soon or were or were you really happy for him I was real happy for him I mean it was one of those all- American Dreams of you you try something new and and it worked out and you know I couldn’t have been more tickled for him and the whole Jo M Racing
Team all of us I mean we we triy to do something and we were lucky I mean that’s how life is if we didn’t lose the blow but we might have won the shoot out that weekend too so I mean it was really uh a good way to start a second career
For me and and it was really exciting to have Daryl start that way did that just kind of solidify the fact that you made the right choice when he come out and won came out and won the first race well one thing I I noticed right away is that
When we got to the the further rounds in the race he didn’t rattle he didn’t get nervous he just kind of went went with the flow and that was one of his true characteristics why I think he could have been a a champion because he didn’t
He didn’t roll over under the pressure I mean he just kind of in his laid-back style of that being Daryl Russell he just went and did it I mean just like when he won the race Columbus my birthday he he was on a mission that day
And he accomplished it what that win I mean it seemed like you and darl really genuinely liked each other just by by watching I mean is that pretty much the way oh yeah yeah yeah yeah we used to I mean when I was in the at the track we
Always went out to dinner and every night that I was there that they could get out meet him and Rob guer and you know a couple other friends and stuff we we always spent a lot of time together at the track off the track and which I
Thought was good it was good bonding you know he could get away at night where the crew guys had to work and so I you know had a good relationship on that end of you know we used to always teas him about his horses and all the things that
He was involved in you know his wife Julie and they were talking about starting to have a family and you know like all that that kind of stuff so that’s the that’s the hard part you know you have all those memories of the wh if
Stuff and you know to every once in a while that comes into your brain you know I guess the further we get away from time it’ll heal everything but it’s still all pretty fresh you mentioned this before you not being at the at the track you actually mentioned that it was
Maybe a good thing so you think it would have been harder had you been there yeah I’ve I’ve you know every time I at the track and I I’ve seen most of the major wrecks out there and being as close as I was to Daryl if
I was at the track and had to go down to the finish line and see the whole thing as it transpired I think it was hard enough as it was but I I just I’m kind of glad I didn’t actually see it in person and just cuz something like that
You know it’s in your this will be in my brain for the rest of my life but there’s also a lot of good things I mean and I didn’t actually see it physically you you know and I don’t I haven’t watched the TV that much to really look
At it I did once and then I’m not going to get crazy with it you know just you have to kind of let things go sometimes and let it heal you don’t have any desire to watch the footage of it I watched it once I’m not in a you
Know make myself crazy I mean I know Wayne and the team were were really striving toward uh trying to have some good come out of this I mean there’s some rule changes on the on the issue with the you know they’re changing the tires they’re putting the shielding
Around the drivers that’s a Dar I’ll call that the Daryl Russell Rule and you know there’s going to be some future changes on the safety and we’ve got the the chassis builder that built our car and there’s another uh person that builds the most of them build the Top
Fuel cars they’re going to come to our shop and we’re going to show them what you know we think could be done better so you know the Long Haul the safety issue when they is looking at it all and they’re analyzing so you know things
Will get better as in the case with Mo most accidents but it’s a sin that we have to get to that point but that’s at least at least if some good comes out of it what should the fans remember most about Daryl Russell I I just think
Remember him for for what he was he was just a a nice guy he was nice to everybody uh he loved doing what he loved to do whether it was playing with his animals his horses or drag racing that was his lifetime dream he was lucky
Enough a lot of people have a dream where they don’t can’t fulfill it so darl Russ will fulfill his dream it may have cost him his life in the end but uh he was living his dream so I guess just maybe the young kids out there that want
To be race car drivers and all they have to live their dream and work hard to get there if they can use Daryl as an inspiration to to try and live their dream maybe that’s a good thing to say and if you weren’t with us at the
Beginning of the broadcast Joe Amato has announced that the team will return to competition at Brainard now crew chief Wayne D also had a lot of fond memories and uh what he would miss most about Daryl Russell he too talked with our Mike Dunn last Wednesday oh just how
Great of a guy he was you know Daryl always had times for his fans he always uh treated every fan and every body with the great most of respect and uh they need to remember that and I think all of them will uh there’ll be another never
Another guy standing at the ropes like they all Russell for the fans or doing an interview or or anything that he did for all those fans and uh they need to remember him for that cuz he was there you know they might have had to wait two
Or three minutes to get for him to get undressed or dress but uh he was out there um talking to him and relating with him and uh he appreciated the fans a whole lot cuz darl knew without the fans that we probably wouldn’t be out there racing you
Know and here at band deir Speedway there is a star of course Daryl from the state of Texas in his memory a Tribute back here at the Mopar Mile High Nationals it is bamir Speedway and let’s get you caught up on what an exciting first round of Top Fuel we had remember
A pedal Fest John Smith over in the left lane Tony Schumacher in the right Tony recovered better and got to the stripe first and then the problem for Cory mcclanan clutch was not working right he tried to back the car up and accidentally deployed the shoot that
Ended his day early and then poor Doug Herbert had absolutely no breaks and the parachute is not enough to stop these cars even in this thin air and he goes into the catchet no severe damage and he will make second round action let’s talk about the Top Fuel ladder presented by
Lucas Oil and you’ll see that Brandon Bernstein and Scott Keta have Lane Choice as does Larry Dixon and David grck in fact this is our first match up we’re going to look at Dixon and Larry our Tony schoer yeah and uh Larry Dixon’s chosen the right lane is seem to
Be better in the first round we saw a lot of cars more often spinning the tires down track than in and then in the right hand lane and that’s why Larry Dixon chos there great drag race in the heat track temperature 131 the hottest has been all weekend and Tony Schumacher takes the
Wind light 4.97 seconds to a 498 let’s check him before we go to Dave Reef let’s uh take a look at this run well Tony Schumacher had 200s of a second off of the starting line and then you’re going to see Larry Dixon start to
Haze the tires about 300 ft out that was a problem we saw in the left lane in the previous round so Lane Choice may be starting to change a little bit because Tony schoem marer not a great run but it was good enough to get him into the
Semifinals take a look at the incrementals the arrow indicates who was leading at that particular point on the RAC track and where it really counts it was Tony Schumacher now let’s bring in Dave re Marty as you mentioned Doug Herbert able to make it back after only minimal damage they ripped the spill
Plates off the front Wing have replaced that entire thing and as far as that other piece is a mud flat back here directly to the right of Doug Herbert and a belly pan on the bottom of this car that’s all they had to fix otherwise it was normal maintenance there is there
Is one other thing I can remember what it was oh yeah brakes brakes are pretty darn important when you’re going 300 mph aren’t they Mike well as we saw it put uh Doug Herbert right in the same box back out on the starting line David grubnic taking his burnout alongside is Ronda Hartman
Smith and if you’re just tuning in we want to welcome you to the Mopar M High Nationals here at vamir Speedway it is round 13 of the NH power a drag racing series I’m Marty Reid along with Mike Dunn and down the pits it’s Phil Stevens Dave brief and Parker Johnstone in fact
Let’s check in with Bill Tony Schumacher is always singing the pr raises of his tuner Alan Johnson and there was a great example of what he can do you know he’s a genius he’s uh he’s smart enough to be able to redit trct 131° out there it’s
Hot it’s oily it’s slippery and that was a great race 6,000 they said at the Finish Line what you guys pay your money to come out and see but hey for the United States Army for Gates belts and hoses MCO tools all the wonderful people that have helped us out most importantly
For my beautiful wife Cara Anthony and Michael at home you got Miss in this one and it’s a good one we’re back on track new tires big big new deal here but we’re going to get it squared away we are make them safe for for the
Fames and he keeps Pace with the points championship for he’s in second place right now and there is Aussie Dave grck play like Tony shoe marker said 131° track temperature a new tire these crewes are going to have to deal with very very tricky conditions cylinder out for gumnick
And the win light to Ronda in a whole shot 5.08 seconds to a 507 and neither driver was really Stellar off the starting line well what happened there was David grck was trying to Stage the car shallow he was blinking the stage light I think that threw off both
Drivers both drivers were very late David rck later than than Ronda Hartman but uh it really threw him off you see the cylinder out right there early in the row and uh did didn’t have the horsepower but still this is one of those deals with David gbck he’s going
Home after second round third whole shot loss this year and Ronda Hartman Smith we just want to hear you describe how good it feels to be David grck on a whole shot it feels good considering I didn’t think I was all that great with the first
Round mishap and um with Cory you know I wasn’t all that great and uh I didn’t I didn’t think I you know would drill David grck he’s really hard on the tree but uh for this whole Fram AirHog team we’re glad that we got the win and we’re
Hungry for it so I think that’s it’s just all coming into play and I hope we can get in the finals after a dismal first half they really do look forward to a better second half this season it’ll be her first semi-final appearance of 2004 and as we turn our attention
Back to the starting line Doug Zilla on the line and would if you had a break failure would you be thinking about it right now no I think he’s got all the confidence in his crew and uh and mull they’re definitely very uh very good and
He’s not going to worry about right now he’s worried about getting the Finish Line first they don’t worry about stopping it up there goes the floor belt and Scott Keta takes another step towards a return to the Winter Circle where he has won here twice 4.87 seconds at 300 mph
Parker party all weekend long being a mile high here at bamir Raceway I’ve heard people say I need more oxygen well in fact you don’t need more oxygen you need more pressure because no matter what altitude you’re at air is composed of nitrogen 79.1% with 20.9 % of oxygen
If you’re in a commercial airliner they don’t add oxygen they add pressure when you’re down at sea level you’ve got all this atmosphere pushing down but here at bamir you’re 15% less pressure than you are at sea level for the fuel teams they have a huge advantage over Pro Stock and
Pro Stock bike they simply spin the supercharger 15% faster to get the same pressure inside the engine the same amount of boost that they had at sea level for Pro Stock well they’re the guys in the white bag that’s all the air they can get their engines but for the
Fuel classes wow they can put as much air into that engine as much pressure as they need to Parker as long as you’re not in the bag back down on the starting line Doug Keta in the points lead but he’s got to keep Pace now with Tony Schumacher and
We mentioned it at the beginning of the broadcast in first round it has been n years since the Keta has had the points lead and that seems hard to believe that is hard to believe and it’s interesting that Brandon Bur SE is gry Tim Richards have chosen that left hand lane now
Qualifying the left hand lane was better the best runs were run in that we saw in the first round everybody was kind of choosing that right lane but it does change from from round to round and Tim Richards feels comfortable in that left hand lane the win light to Brandon Bernstein
4.88 seconds so number three in the points takes out the points leader and as it stands now Tony schumach has regained the points lead by eight wow Brandon Bernstein dodged a bullet Doug colet had 700s of a second Advantage off of the starting line I
Didn’t think he was going to be able to make it up but Tim Richards put the tuneup on the race car for the mountain up here 488 that doesn’t sound like great numbers down at sea level but for up here it’s good enough to get him into the Semifinals take a look at the photo finish by almost half a car length Brandon Bernstein takes the win let’s take a look at the matchups now for the semi-finals it’ll be Lane choice to Scott ketto over Brandon Burnstein and then Tony schacher over Ronda Hartman Smith the helmet’s off so let’s go to
Boom how big was that round Brandon Bernstein oh that was huge you know uh that it just goes to show you man Tim’s got this thing dialed in um you know the heat of the day to run that number you know and I I don’t know about the the
Leave on there but we do I might have been a little late there I kind of kind of felt like it but hey you know what that’s Tim just got us there that’s what that’s what this team just did this Budweiser Lucasville team just got us
That round now I got to do my job the next round it it seems to have been a reversal of Fortune from those last two first round losses they’ve had that’s true Doug Kida eight points behind as uh Tony Schumacher has now taken over the points lead Brandon Bernstein is third
Stay with us we coming Back back here at the Mopar M High Nationals where we have already seen one of our professional categories have a lead change at the top Tony Schumacher now has the top fuel lead again take a look at the funny car ladder and you can see that it is Eric medin Cruz pedregon Phil
Burkart and Tommy Johnson Jr all with the lane Choice here in round number two look at this crowd way do they turn out from this mountain race Cruz pedregon Bob Gilbertson down on the line the body comes down on the Advanced Auto Parts Bonte Carlo crew in the right lane and
Crew chief West’s got a lot of experience up here but you can’t count out Bob gilerson and that team right there because with these kind type of conditions it’s a great equalizer I mean it’s very very tricky out there West Cy right there that man has a lot of
Experience you can’t count him out but I’ll tell you what anything can happen right now off gon went to the finals here back in 2001 Cruz was in the finals last year both cars having problems who’s first Cruz 5.79 seconds and as you’re on board with
Him he’s not even going to pull the Laundry and a is going to make the and finally the shoot comes out so he makes the turn bouncing all the way yeah he was trying to make that Apex wasn’t he let’s go back to replay here they both spun the tires almost identically just about 100 feet off the starting line
Cruz did a good job back P let’s go on board and watch how he’s got to work the steering wheel you hear him working the throttle there driving the thing all the way to the other end trying to keep it from over revving too much and getting
To the Finish Line under power that is the key right there Bob Gilbertson let’s watch like he like we said he spun the tires almost at the same point that uh Cruz Petron did he tries to get back in look at him feather that throttle then
He gets back on tries to get it to recover but Cruz pedron just did a little bit of a better job at that point and and got the win and as Cruz gets ready to climb out from underneath the helmet let’s take you back to the first round to the
Biggest upset of the day Robert Schwab over in the left lane takes out the number one qualifier as Whit basemore was on the trailer now let’s go to Dave Reef words from Whit basemore following a disappointing round one loss I’m down in the Whit basemore pit with the team
Owner Don shoe marker now and Don Whit refer to a difference of driving opinion a little bit and uh was was pretty upset but do you know what he was talking about not really I didn’t hear the the actual words and I really haven’t even
Spoke to it about it as of yet but we all know how emotional wit is and how he wears his emotion on his sleeve at times and says things at the end of the racetrack that after the fact he wish he wouldn’t even have commented or done or
Or been involved in but what’s a great driver does a great job for us and I’m sure everything will work out just fine but to lose first round again here being qualified number one uh it it’s really disappointing and hard for a driver an owner and a crew to
Take so I mean it doesn’t surprise me that he said some things that he may not have chosen to say so there is no chemistry issue no there’s no chemistry issue at all I mean I really consider whip one of the best py car drivers
There is out here and he does a great job for us shock it up to the heat of battle well and if we’re on target nobody has come out and said it but uh it’s a technique that you sort of and that’s grabbing the break well yeah there’s different driving Styles and
With and obviously they disagree on how to get the car to recover the best and that’s is something you have to work out between the crew team and sit down and and figure out what’s going to win you that round John for first time since uh
November of 2002 that was 35 races ago that he was the funy car points leader the last time that happened you have to go all the way back to 1990 Tommy Johnson in the right lane well TJ has put the points leader on the trailer you can see that John had the
Big Advantage off the starting line there is Tommy’s wife Melanie and uh it was Tire smoke that cost John the win 5.32 seconds at 276 yeah we’ve been seeing a lot of Tire smoke today but like you said John Forest had about 300 of a second Advantage off the starting
Line he was on his game uh they were he ran about the same 60 foot laps time but then right at that point the tire went into Shake started to spin the tires you see John trying to get the thing to recover as that thing’s bucking down
There but at that point he sees that Tommy Johnson is far enough ahead that he knows he might as well just shut it off and save it for the next race let’s go to Bill well crew 131 degree RAC track a new Goodyear tire but the crew
Chief can only do so much you did your job that time didn’t you well I have to cuz the team’s coming together now it’s our second semi final uh event in a row and I I know all these cars these engines feel out here because I’m out of
Gas I’m I’m uh really tired up here it’s a thin air but hey for Advanced Auto Parts and Snap-on and American race products appreciate everybody what they do for us but it really feels good I think we have our car turned around now it’s just a matter of trying to get that
Elusive win but I think uh I feel good yeah he should he did a great job getting that car to the finish line and he’s right the last couple of races this team has started to show signs of life and boy have they been looking for it
Now time for Eric medin to see if he can avoid the Cinderella story known as Robert Schwab Schwab over in the left lane if you weren’t with us in the opening round we showed you how he upset withit basemore this guy literally had a very serious crash years ago and it took
Him a long long time to put this program together his dream is to race an NH competition and he won his very first round in his very first race can he make it to we’re about to find out let’s check in again with Bill with John forest and an unfortunate turn of events
To you you could have put a little distance between you and the rest of the guys today well we still put some distance on him every Point counts and uh you know for DOL and his guys here Tommy Johnson they worked hard and uh they deserve a win but you wi you win
Let you negotiate and we didn’t get down the racetrack but for castal report and new sponsor start up uh from Mo staying in a points lead that’s what’s important keeping our eyes on Petron right now and his brother Cruz and I guess we got to keep an eye on Tommy
Johnson right now numbers one two three and four in the points are out of here medland’s in trouble and yes the clock has yet to strike midnight for Robert Schwab and for only the second time this year all three John Force cars are eliminated by the end of second round can you believe
This Cinderella story for Robert Schwab oh my wow Robert Schwab obviously a little bit nervous he he was about about over a tenth of a second behind in reaction time from Eric medin but it didn’t matter because Eric medin he was doing everything right early in the run
But then right at that point boy you just saw just a little bit of Tire Shak and it was pretty far down track and then immediately went into Tire smoke just not any grip out there with 131 degree track temperature and as a result
He tried to get it to recover but man he just couldn’t do it and Robert Schwab just went by for the win Dave Reef wife Lisa unbelievable and the crowd loving it too well thank you so much thank you this is icing on the cake all
We want to do is qualify now we’re in the show even more surprising too no not surprising he knows what he’s doing but my God thank you it’s just wonderful everyone has been so good to us thank you so much Robert he’s not racing Bill Tomy Johnson Jr’s having quite a day I
Know you feel like a witness to all of this that’s going on around us but you got past the 12 time champ yeah you know for is tough every time you race a car like that so that shows how well this blue skull team has really turned around
And uh come out here and uh get the performance of this car where it needs to be and take out a guy like force you know that’s what it’s all about we we struggled the first half of the season but the crew hung in there and uh maybe
Today’s our day a very unusual day on the mountain unusual think about this Tony pedon and Phil barart the only two left in the top 10 in the points so one of these guys is going to advance and that will be it let’s quick go to Parker hey
Marty there are two ways to measure tire pressure with an oldfashioned analog gauge or with a digital gauge with all the concern with tire pressure look what we found whenever we’re transmitting or the teams are transmitting on their walkie-talkies the digital gauges go absolutely nuts well great don’t stand so
Close that’s another see TV we just keep messing up everything don’t we it went off oh golly all right this is a big matchup here Tony pedregon hasn’t been to the semi-final since toeka they have been trying to get this car turned around and they’ve taken a first step
Can they take the second Phil burkart’s in the way here we go and it is Phil burkart that’s going to go to the semi-finals 5.72 seconds that will not be good enough for Lane chy over Tommy Johnson Jr so only one member of the top 10 in funny car points
Phil burkart is going on to the semifinals wow there is the lane choice to Robert Schwab over Cruz pedregon and the crowd you heard him they’re pulling for this guy because he is a definite Underdog TJ with the lane Choice over burkart in the other semi-final let’s
Check in with Bill what a story still wearing scars from an accident in this very State 5 years ago that almost ended your career Robert Schwab today you are going further than anyone would have expected here on the mountain you know it’s just a matter of building car when
You come to a race like this you got to be ready you know the next round we got Cruiser Cruiser beat me in a match race like uh 2 three years ago and I’ve been wanting that back ever since and your crew a lot of the guys never been to a
National event before that’s exactly half my crew have never been to a national event before you know and um uh hey you’ve already said all the saying you got to do let’s go back to the booth all right thanks Phil and we’ll see him in the semi-finals take
One more look at that last run by Phil Burkhart and Tony pedregon we’ve got to take a commercial break Pro Stock when we come Back back here you can see the crowd they are still just marveled at the stunning upsets that we’ve seen here at the Mopar Mile High Nationals the only member of the top 10 in points still in the event in funny car is Phil burkart there’s his win and he’s with Bill at
The far end of the racetrack is it a jungle out there today or what oh it’s unbelievable I haven’t shook that hard and felt that head rattle since my alcohol days I felt like I was in the ring with Mike Tyson tell you for Checker Shucks and kraan I guess today
You know Dell went out first round so I’m carrying the banner for the rest of the day you know it was bad out there you know it shook so hard and it moved over towards the wall I pedal it I had to get my focus again because you know
It was shook so hard that I just totally went out of focus and uh got focused and just drove it for the Finish Line it was putting holes out and getting ugly down there but uh get to the Finish Line first that’s the name of the game on
Sunday you want to pick a winner and funny car today be my guest I’m not going to take that bet as we take a look at the Pro Stock ladder here presented by Lucas Oil and you can see Greg Anderson and Bruce Allen as well as Larry Morgan and Kurt Johnson
Have Lane choice in the second round matchups and it will be KJ and V gains the Lakewood Colorado resident trying to go to his first semi-final in two years but he’s going to have to get past number two in the points Kurt Johnson you can see the margin off the starting
Line and the win goes to Kurt Johnson in a hole shot V actually ran quicker 7.22 seconds but Kurt goes 7.24 and he had almost well he did have 700s off the starting line fourth reaction time win this year for KJ and as we get ready for the next pair
Which will be Kurt’s father Warren up against Larry Morgan let’s talk about the rule change that we’ve had in proo and this rule was basically put in place to reduce the cost of proo racing and it’s all moving engine parts are restricted to aluminum steel iron titanium magnesium or other conventional
Alloys push rods and valve springs must be made of steel and that’s an effort to keep away and and here’s the weight of of the internal parts you see these weights here that’s in an effort to keep away some of the Exotic materials such as burill ium Ceramics and carbon fibers
Once again to keep that cost down and as we get ready for this run the professor Warren Johnson remember it was 2001 right at this very track when he passed Bob glinton to take the all-time lead in Pro Stock wins with number 86 and he has won here more than that including last
Year he’s the defending event Champion you can see his round record on this mountain it’s pretty astounding it’s also astounding one on a hole shot in the first round so uh he likes the mountain Larry Morgan this is his sponsor’s race he’s going to try and keep the mopark colors going into the
Semi-finals who’s going to go in first it’s Warren uh-oh Warren a little late this Time and Larry Moran puts him on the trailer 7.22 seconds at 191 mph so the professor will not defend his win from last year here at bmir and we come right up to our next pair it’ll be Jason line and Bruce Allen and you’ve got a couple of grand
ANS on the starting line General Motors products and last Thursday the Pro Stock drivers gathered at the 32nd annual Oakland Club International Convention in Joplin Missouri and GM drivers Warren Johnson Bruce Allen Jim Yates Mike Edwards all came out for the autograph session and over 500 fans were on hand
To visit with the NH drivers and as we come back track side there is Jason line let’s get more on him from Parker well Marty as we’ve spoken about Jason L’s first pass in the hand-me-downs from Greg Anderson that dominated the first half of the Season
Jason told me that the controls are all placed differently than his previous car clutch pedal brake pedal gas pedal position of the steering wheel Mike Dunn that’s got to be critical when in this class you have to be dead consistent yeah I would think it’d be critical it’s
Like getting the hmme Downs that does that don’t fit you know I think I would try to you know go to a tailor and get it altered a little bit but uh he’s done a great job up to this point looks very comfortable in the car Jason first off the
Line and first to the stripe so far that is low for this second round 7.20 seconds at 191 milph so number three in the points keeps Pace let’s check in with Bill Larry Morgan you know and I know for a long time you’ve been out here and you
Haven’t always had a car that can run with Warren Johnson but you just beat him flat head to head well you know we work very hard and to be at the Mopar race get this Mopar car in the final that’s what we come here for and that’s
What we intend to do I wouldn’t bet against it right now and we’re taking another another look at his run by a car length over WJ and now it’s time for Greg Anderson the man who has won 16 of the last 23 races dating back to last year Parker hey we talked a
Little bit about how the fuel classes can compensate with their blowers for horsepower they can also increase Wing angle in order to make up some of the down for as they lose at altitude but Mike these Pro Stock cars have almost no downforce to begin with at sea level
I’ve been told it’s like driving a car across an ice Lake what happens when they get here up on the mountain how do they hold on to these things well I mean it’s kind of a great equalizer I mean the lack of downforce goes along with the lack of horsepower because they
Don’t have the air and they to make the horsepower I mean to put it in perspective like the fuel cars that have the superchargers that can run them faster you look at funny car with basemore basically in the good conditions ran about 1500s of a second slower than the National Record Pro
Stock on the other hand because they don’t have that supercharger Advantage are running about 5/10 of a second differ so I think that kind of equal izes everything out well and if you think about Greg Anderson being dominant well it could be just about everywhere but here he has never Advanced past
Second round guess what round we’re in right now now as far as tracking his history for the year you can see that he set the record last year and now he is up to 42 and3 so far in 2004 chrisher first off the line well Greg Anderson goes low for the
Round and for the first time in his career he is out of second round and going to his first semifinal at Denver 7.19 seconds 192 mil an hour boy what can you say about Greg Anderson I mean this was a brand new car only had four runs coming into this race
But I mean it looks like he’s had a whole season on this thing I mean thing’s been Flawless all weekend just like he’s been all year and let’s check in with Bill Jason lion has got Greg Anderson in the next round if I were you
I’d go over to his pit area and find out what he’s doing over there think you can do that I think I can actually hey uh his car which you’re driving now seems to be as good a piece as it was for him H yeah yeah the variable is the driver
And uh I’m getting better at it so hopefully uh hopefully I’m not slowing down a whole lot slow down next round you never know well we won’t have an Anderson line final we’ll have an Anderson line semi-final and all four now in the top four in the points are
Going to match up in the semi-finals because Larry Morgan has moved ahead of Dave Conley in the chase Greg Anderson number one against number three Jason line he’s got Lane Choice there Larry Morgan who is now number four has Lane Choice over number two Kurt Johnson bikes are Next all right we’re back here at Denver Colorado at bamir Speedway for the bowar mile high Nationals and we’re glad you’re with us and it’s time for this week’s edition of power eight power time 17 years ago Steve Johnson began racing Pro Stock bike he probably didn’t think
It would take 191 stars to get his first win well it finally came several weeks ago at St Louis he told us that he hopes win number two comes a little sooner when we won at the Sears Craftsman Nationals the team is just like a a load
Of this bricks on our chest had just disappeared they they know they can do it we know we can do it our budget doesn’t allow me to have a mark piser it doesn’t allow me to have a George Bryce or a Matt Hines I wanted be able to have
That and I want to be able to talk to the fans and and sign autographs and play a little Golf and ride the motorcycle but until we get to that level I I’m going to have to struggle with Shane and and right now we still are struggling believe it or not I could
Do something that no other Racers done if you if you’ve taken 191 win or 191 races to win one if I can do it the very next race man look at the odds hey I’m two for two now after the 191 let’s take a look look at our Pro
Talk bike ladder presented by Lucas o you’ll see that Steve Johnson has the lane choice in the opening round over gos scall as does Andrew Hines our number one qualifier Angel sais and Craig treble and over on the other side it will be Antron Brown Karen Sofer GT
Tonglet and Shan Gan with the lane choice so let’s show you what happened in the opening round and would Steve Johnson go two for two well he would be in the right lane against the defending power Hamp Gino scall and the answer was very quick it was a no by one R 1,000th
Of a second he goes red but he would not be the only one in this opening session that would go red Gino runs 771 next up it was Angel or Karen stoer and Michael Phillips and Phillips turns on the red light stoer goes 7.64 seconds at 180 mph
To take the win Karen stoer hurt a ninja in their first qualifying run but look at nice rebound as she has to lean that bite to keep in the middle of the of the lane and get into the second round we told you we were seeing a lot of red in
The open opening round well here goes Blain hail the defending event winner over in the right lane he turns on the ball sha Gan goes 7.64 seconds at 176 mph would anybody get a good green start well Craig treble and Mike Barry made it yes and it would be treble at the other
End 7.60 seconds at 177 mph taking the win easily over Mike Barry then it would be Andrew Hines and Rell Harris number one qualifier gets number 16 and oops that’s number four on the red Hit Parade Rell turns it on Andrew goes 7.5 3 seconds that would be low for the opening round
185 mph they don’t seem to mind the altitude and then Indianapolis own Josh HBY turns on the red light andron brown gets the automatic win he then runs 7.64 seconds at 1073 mph that would bring us up to the other harley-davison GT tonglet and Fred camar both car both Riders get green starts
And it would be GT easily 7.64 second taking the win over Fred and finally anel seis and Kurt M they would round out the session and it would be anel second quickest elapse time 7.57 seconds 179 mph easily out distancing Kurt mod so let’s take a look
At the updated proo bike lad you’ll see that Andrew Hines and Angel seis have the lane choice on the other side it is Antron Brown and GT tonglet with the lane Choice There and we welcome you back to the Mopar Mile High Nationals it’s round 13 of the NH power a drag racing series and as we take a look at the Top Fuel ladder notice in the background the cloud cover starting to roll in that may help the
Race teams we’ll talk about more on that in just a moment Scott Keta and Tony Schumacher have the lane Choice here in the semi-finals and it is that Schumacher Harman Smith match up that we’ll focus on first but let’s give you a sneak preview of what’s going to go
Into effect another rule change next week at Seattle yes the 90% rule is in effect right now that means the maximum 90% nitromethane the remaining 10% is methanol next week in Seattle they’re going to lower that to 85% nitromethane and 15% methanol and what that means for
Every 10 gallons right now of of fuel nine gallons of nitromethane one gallons methanol that’ll change to 8 and 1 half and a gallon half when we get to Seattle there you can see ronda’s numbers as she is looking to go to her first career Final in 147 attempts but she’s got a
Tough competitor cuz Tony has taken her out the last five times they have matched up make it six and the points leader goes 4.93 seconds at 298 mph to move into another final wow what can you say about Allan Johnson you give him enough time he’s
Going to figure it out doing a good job just not going crazy knew if he could get the car down the racetrack make a representative run he had a good shot at taking out Ronda Hartman and that’s exactly what happened schacher did his job had about 300s of a second off the
Starting line and then Tony just carried it all the way to the other end let’s watch this run it wasn’t a quick run I don’t see a whole lot go wrong here I didn’t see any Tire Shake but you do see the cylinder out right there they’re
Obviously got the car set up fairly soft but they want to avoid smoking the tires let’s go to Bill well there an old saying in racing they give the money away at the end of the weekend and not the beginning of the weekend and Tony Schumacher an in auspicious start and
Qualifying when you missed that run but boy you’re saving the best for last absolutely it keeps getting better I’m not sure what we ran there but it doesn’t matter it felt a whole lot better than it did on the first run so uh Hey for the United States Army MCO
Tools especially G belts and hoses they’re right here out of Denver yeah we love you guys man Mopar I’m the only one caring the torch right now I mean our two funny cars got beat on fortunately first round but yeah man this thing’s got a Hemi and we’re using every bit of
It 493 FYI Dave Cruz pedon beware Robert Schwab is waiting patiently in his car waiting to race you and like a lot of teams are figuring out this Salt Lake base driver has done a lot of racing at altitude mentioned it earlier it’s a th000 ft difference between Rocky
Mountain Raceway and this Speedway vmir Speedway that’s one reason why this team has done so good but I can tell you one thing this team did not fire between rounds so we’ll have to keep our eyes out and see what happens and Marty that’ll affect more so the the clutch
Than the engine I mean the engine not having any temperature they can bring that up to to temperature on the burnout but the clutch is the critical key there all right let’s set the match up now for Brandon Bernstein and Scott Keta both of their fathers have won here at this
Racetrack Scott has won here twice that was back in his championship years Brandon this is his first trip ever to the mountain let’s talk a little bit about the weather and the track temperature has dropped all of uh what about 4° yeah and it’s still plenty warm and
They’re going to have to definitely be concerned about spinning the tire still Parker party but we’ve had cloud cover Move in from the West in just the last minute or two we’re going to see that Ambient Air Temperature and the track temperature continue to drop
The win light goes to Scott Keta in a hole shot he runs 4.80 seconds to the quicker but losing 479 of Brandon bernate he had two 100s Advantage off the starting line and he made it hold up wow this was a great drag race considering all the tire smoke we’ve
Seen all day both teams had these cars hooked up very good runs for the conditions right now like you said 200s of a second Advantage off the starting for Scott coleta that was the difference watch Brandon Bernstein here Tim Richards had a good tuneup on this race
Car I’m sure he was trying to run that number just unfortunately Brandon was just a little bit late off the starting line Scott Keta made a very good run also and got the win take a look at the incrementals there’s the margin of Victory and it’s Brandon’s first whole shot loss this year
Bill on a whole shot you beat the number one qualifier man I don’t know what to say that’s what this is all about you’re up here on the hill it’s nice when Jim o and my dad said we may need some help and what can I say I’m glad I came through because
It’d be uh pretty tough if I didn’t I just you know I can’t thank M tools and Jesse James techn technicote and red Lon everybody else and hopefully we get an Oscar it’s been a long time yes it has and the help he’s talking about it keeps
Cousin Doug Keta in second place in the points and keeps Brandon third and he will have Lane Choice over Tony Schumacher and that’s going to be a big big final we’ve got to take another break there is Robert Schwab can he keep the dream alive Cruz pedron is the next potential
Victim you’re on board with Cruz pedregon as he completes the burnout here at the Mopar Mile High Nationals he’ll be in the right lane as Robert Schwab actually Lane choice but he’s had such good success over in the left lane he decided to stay there well and we saw
Tim Richards choose the left lane when he had Lane choice so he wasn’t worried about it when he was when he didn’t have Lane Choice against Scott colet and put him over there and he ran a 479 so we know there’s nothing wrong with that left lane right now let’s uh put a
Period on Top Fuel Bill Brandon it was a year ago that you made your first appearance at a national event here after the English town accident I know you were hoping for more this weekend kind of a disappointment yeah we were you know um Budweiser Lucas team did a
Great job uh the driver just uh let him down today you know a round before we got lucky and Tim pulled it through and um you know I don’t know what the lights were on that run but um I thought I left you know right there with him but
Obviously it wasn’t so um you know hey that’s okay um we got you know next race next week and um you know we’ll try and get this but lcas car in The Winner Circle in that’s all we can do and remember let’s not lose sight of the fact theoretically he’s still a
Rookie take a look at the ladder show you the matchups real quick his swab we told you has the lane choice and TJ over Phil burkart day brief Mar quickly talking with robertab wor through up the door said what do you need guys said we need nothing we’re
Okay we got PL of time well that was what bit them time but Chris pedon was in the same boat they were late up to the L and Robert already went in and stays oh is he real late he’s going to need help the dream is over of taking home
His first win but he has nothing to be ashamed of Cruz in a big big hole shot 554 to the quicker 539 and uhoh let’s take a look did Cruz have problems getting stopped again boy sound like he went in the sand but he did an excellent job there backpedaling the car
Sound like about three times to get that thing to the other end and then as he tries Robert Schwab was just dead late he I think he had some nerves there because he went up there put both stage lights on I don’t think that was intentional to try to throw Cruz off or
Anything I think that was a mist probably threw Robert off a little bit he had cylinder out the hit of the throttle but he still had enough car to beat Cruz pedron had he been able to leave on time and we were listening to Cruz and
We heard him bouncing the tires and yeah the shoot is late again and it didn’t come out the last round and here it is again and he is turning it sideways to get it stopped before he goes into the sand so they have definitely got a problem with that
Parachute release that they’re going to have to figure out yeah but Cruz is one of the best guys I’ve seen him you know lose a shoot at a number of tracks and be able to get the thing stopped he’s very good at being able to do that but
He probably flat spotted those tires a little bit on that run all right watch all right let’s tell you about next week cuz we uh head to Seattle and then we’ll have qualifying for you at 7:00 eastern on ESPN 2 Saturday night Sunday at 11:30 a.m. it’ll be NH today
And final eliminations 3 hours 8:00 Eastern all of it on ESPN 2 and for more just log on to espn.com burnout for Tommy Johnson Jr and there is Phil burkard side by side let’s check in again with Bill Cruz one of the most bizarre weekends I’ve ever
Spent up here in Denver I know the same for you the car almost didn’t stop you just shouted to your crew what well we had we had trouble getting up there but we’re just fumbling around here but we’re winning that’s the key uh Vance
Auto Parts put a lot of faith to me and I was telling him I’m a winner but I I haven’t shown it lately but I think we’re starting to come together I really feel like uh you know we’re coming together we’re getting a little lucky here and there but that’s what it takes
You got to hang in there and keep charging and uh but I want to thank I always have to thank the sponsors Pur light everybody cuz without them I’d be in the boo still next to mik done he yelled to his crew as he get out of the
Car you better get these bleeping parachutes fixed did he just take my job cuz he’s going to be sitting next to you being Cruiser hey there we go hey that’s the first final Cruis is going to this year and congratulations them the last time he was in a final was Maple Grove
Of last year now Tommy Johnson looking to go to well his first Finals since Chicago of 2003 standing in his way is Phil burkard Phil burkard he’s a tough customer very good driver very consistent knows how to backb the car if he gets in a situation where he needs
That Tommy Johnson very good too this is a good matchup good drag race and Phil burkard 5.18 seconds at 296 mph is going to his second final of the year and remember the last time he went to the final was Las Vegas and he won that
One wow Tommy Johnson had 400s of a second Advantage off the starting line then the car went into Tire shake and he backp did a good job to get it to recover but unfortunately for him Phil Burkhart was in the other lane with that Chris Cunningham Mark dinner tuneup just
Run straight down the middle of the lane to a 518 and there is Phil climbing out from the cockpit and let’s check in now with Dave Reef not a tremendously happy driver pretty happy car owner though yeah no Absolutely I’ll tell you what uh we fall through pretty bad today you
Know and Phil and Phil Mark Chris entire check checker Tru CRA team they pulled it together that 518 with a zero that’s a great run out there you know they’ve been spending all day long and uh probably gotten some tuneup numbers we’ve never seen before you know with
With this race team in the history we we’ve been back five years in our books and cannot find backing something down this far but uh they ran the number Checker shs Craig and the Monte caros staying hooked up and excited about this final guys too bad about Robert uh
Robert Schwab he did a great job this week I wish him luck in the future not going to hurt him in the points today though all right let’s take a look and Lane choice will go to Phil burkart in the final because of the 518 let’s go
Back to Bill well Nitro Phil she didn’t shake that time did she no it was nice and clean my guys all the Checker Shucks and Craig and people out here I appreciate it wor thanks TJ and uh you know I mean it was smooth it was clean I
Was ready for it to do something it’s done everything something on every run so far today but uh you know the guys had it set up perfectly it just went right down through there he needs one more like that and we get one more look at the run
From high above we’ve got to take commercial break they’ll head back to the pits we’ll head for Pro Stock semi-finals when we return to Bamir it has been a wild day of NH power eight drag racing here at the Mopar Mile High Nationals if you are just tuning in we’re glad you’re with us but boy you have missed a lot I’m Marty Reid along with Mike Dunn Bill Stevens St brief and partner Johnstone we’re in semi-finals
Of Pro Stock and here are the matchups as Greg Anderson has Lane Choice over his teammate Jason line and Larry Morgan has Lane Choice over Kurt Johnson and that’s the one we’re going to focus on First and uh you made a very good observation about that mop park car well
You know not only is it Dodge versus shery it’s also Mopar versus AC Delo in the previous round Larry Morgan took out the GM performance parts remember this is a Mopar race if Larry Morgan can win this round the mopart brass are going to be ecstatic he will have done just about
Everything he can if just winning the race would just be icing on the case cake if we can win the final round but this is a very important win round for Larry Morgan right now we found out in funny car only one member of the top 10
Was in the semi-finals in proo the top four in points are all here here we Go guess what Larry Morgan is going to please the Mopar brass 7.20 seconds there’s Bob Glen giving him the numbers Kurt runs 721 and speaking of mopar on Thursday night in Golden Colorado Mopar had their big block party to kick off the Mopar Mile High Nationals fans had a chance to
Get up close with some of the racers and get some autographs on hand were Mopar drivers including Whit basemore Gary seli Larry Morgan and Allan Johnson and live music cap the night off in downtown gold Expect so now we get ready for Greg Anderson and Jason line and these this team is guaranteed of going to its 12th Final in 13 races Dave Reef looking forward to Pro Stock bike big match up Andrew Hines on the Harley-Davidson been dominating once again here but in his
Way now stands Craig treble a guy who’s had a heck of a weekend they’ve made three motor changes one before each of the two qualifying sessions one very early this morning before first round they heard a noise in the engine but so far so good they’ve got Lane choice and
With Craig doing some great driving at the starting line they’ve got a shot to knock the Harley off that is still to come and right now you’re on board with Greg Anderson the points Dominator he goes right in his lead right now well if he wins this round it goes up to
436 points over Kurt Johnson who just got beat is that amazing and he just goes out and brings out a new car figes out what the heck you know yeah and the old car which won nine races is over in the left lane yeah here you go kid take
This one I don’t want to hear you complain about it cuz we know it’s good yeah may not fit real well but it runs real well almost dead even off the line the wind light to Greg Anderson look at these numbers what a performance 7184 to a 7
189 that is spectacular take a look there’s the photo finish b a fender the combination of the starting line and the Finish Line right there and we’ll check in with Bill what a weekend at the Mopar Mile High Nationals Larry Morgan Daryl Alderman leaves the team Mike corvo alen
Johnson didn’t qualify and look at you going to the final hey you know Mopar what can I say this is their race we want to win this race Matco Tools Gates without those guys we wouldn’t be here moer all the guys to shop Bob gliden I mean what can I say Paul Yates
Doug Culver everybody here that’s worked on this team I mean this is all for them and Mopar as well this is their race we sure like to win this thing don’t forget Larry Morgan guy yeah he beat Kurt on a whole shot all right here’s the matchup
In the lane Choice by two 100s of a second is going to go to Greg Anderson in the Pro talk final first time he’s ever gone to a final here on the mountain and work continues back in the top fuel pits we’ve got bikes when we return to
Bmir back here at the Mopar Mile High Nationals Pro Stock bike there’s anel Savo taking a little video of teammate anron Brown here is the lad as it will be Craig treble and sha Gan with the lane choice and it’s Shawn choosing the right lane in this first matchup with
The army of one that left is left Antron Brown and I think anon’s crew chief Mark piser is okay with that choice of of lame with sha Gan because we heard him talk about the roll out being shorter and what that means is when they stage those bikes there’s usually about 11 in
Of roll out but it’s they seems to think it’s a little bit shorter in the right hand lane which makes it easier to red light and guess what Antron goes red in the left lane and I think that’s number eight and Shawn only runs a 767 only
It’s hard to do up here on the mountain Antron ran 772 there’s Don Schumacher not thrilled about the red light but Johan Gan is going to his third final of the Year Parker in the top fuel pits of Scott Keta they’ve been back 10 minutes crew chief Jim oberhofer tell us what
They’ve done well right now I got my brother jono there packing the shoots and I got Ron tobler here helping the guys on the back half of the car check these big good years and uh rest of the guys as you can see we got Controlled
Chaos going on here got about 30 guys and they’re going through the engine and clutch and then um we’re hoping that we keep Connie away from the car a whole lot so so we don’t do something stupid you been doing this a long time are you still impressed with what
Happens oh yeah I love this stuff I’m like I hope I can be like Connie someday be 66 years old and be like a little kid when you’re around these things it’s great I love this stuff we’re all little kids Marty I love it Jim he’s always
Trying to keep Connie away from it when they get to this stage let’s get ready now for Craig Trel and Andrew Hines treble of course the runner up at St Louis also back at Englishtown in that vent was he was running up to the guy who’s over in the right hand lane Andrew
St Louis he lost the final on a hole shot but he’s been looking much better on the tree today he’s going to need that obviously for this run and our ninth red light and it’s the Harley that throws it away oh and what a break uhoh fire and
This is not good on a Pro Stock bike you can see Craig is trying to get the motor shut off get his foot from out of there he I’m sure he is feeling the heat right now on that left foot the fire appears to have extinguished when he successfully killed the motor but
Wow that was unbelievable looked like a funny car going down through there the way that thing erupted like you said i’ never see anything like that big break for Craig treble obviously I mean he he the race was given to by Andrew Hines and he needed it because look at that
Thing erupt it broke well before the finish line and then just as he crossed the finish line that thing was burning pretty good obviously had to put his foot up there because I guarantee he was definitely feeling some heat take a look at the super slow-mo of Andrew Hines and
You can just see him going through and then the camera sort of follows Craig right there and what’s really dangerous here is obviously the oil getting onto the slick and with only two wheels you’re going down if that happens so a great job by Craig treble Craig treble already one of the
Strangest days we’ve ever had in drag racing and that was the icing on the cave a proo motorcycle fire yeah was pretty cool huh I looked down I was getting a hot foot going down the track and the shut down and uh man soone was
Burnt I looked down I saw this big old ball of fire but hey you know what these old Simpson boots they hung in there pretty good uh Hey guys down there at Scottdale Dino sorry about the paint job it’s acting pretty good we’ll fix her up
But uh hey this day has been insane I have been using my MCO tools all weekend long we changed three motors we had a problem with the transmission last P had the oil pan off the gu’s over at the V hind guys the guys with Harley shirts
Came over to my trailer got the bike going down the track again we had a bit of transmission glitch so now we have a huge glitch cuz there’s like cranking rods and stuff all waded up so can you fix it we’re going to go change another motor I’ll talk to you all later
Absolutely yeah they’re going to be going for number four in the motor department and it will be Shawn Gan with the lane choice he’s number two in the points and can close some ground on Andrew Hines now that Andrew is out of here stay with us we’ll be back with
More from the most part Mile High National we’re back here getting ready for the finals of the Mopar Mile High Nationals and in Pro Stock bike the big question was what was going to happen after the semi-finals when Craig treble wins the round courtesy of an Andrew Hines
Redlight and then catches on fire giving himself a hot foot and somehow he keeps the bike on two wheels well back in the pits 45 minutes was all these guys had to do a turnaround there you see Dino scall everybody from uh the Byron hindes the ven Hines screaming EES team about
Five or six teams came over to help Matt Hines included the three-time champion and there is Craig and believe it or not with 5 minutes to spare these guys were continuing and here they go they started up so congratulations to the team and then here we are down on the
Starting line getting ready for the proo bike final let’s check our Castrol startup of the day best reaction times in Pro Stock it belongs to Jim Yates and Drew Hines in the bikes Doug Keta in Top Fuel Jeff aen and funny car the irony there is not one of them is around for
The final and there is sha Gan as he’s trying to go for his second win this year treble trying to go for his first let’s get more with Dave already you talked about the huge thrash down there it was a busted Crank that got as many as 15 different players and over half
The qualified field drivers up there helping out but I understand we have a problem at starting line with Craig maybe uh looks like there may may be some fluid maybe one of the fittings did not get tightened enough yeah Marty it looks like it’s dripping fluid off the
Bottom of the bike but they’ve given them the okay to go ahead and Stage It Anyway it’ll be interesting to see if any of it gets underneath the tire here we go they’re going to send Them Shan Gan was near perfect at the starting line and then runs seven points 65 seconds to take the win and that is going to pick up additional 40 points and he’s cut Andrew’s lead to 126 Parker one of the hardest working men today in NH Mike Stevens for engine changes we
Saw some fluid at the start what happened oh I think all that was just residual from the blow up on the semi-final pass and uh Matt cou Suzuki was running good today you know it’s been a hell of a day we just we were thrashing so hard we just need to get
Everything cleaned out of the belly pan underneath and some splashed out I think that’s all it was the fact that got that bike to the uh start line for the finals Marty that’s a victory in itself there’s Sean Gan at the far end bill can you repeat that please come on
Now you know that’s hard to do man hey Sean you know what when we started the season off it looked like the Harley were going to dominate but in the last two races the Suzuki Gang has really come on and you did it today well M
Tools is uh showing me a fine display of what they can do to help me and and all I said is I needed some help with some of the other things that was going on and I’m telling you I just got to thank God and Technic Co company my dad when
He gets up here it’s going to be life let’s go to Dave one of the greatest displays Craig treble of sportsmanship I’ve ever seen between rounds hey you know what I’m a Von Hines guy I’m a magical tools guy and uh those are two of the best companies a guy could ever
Be associated with in drag racing as far as I’m concerned my boss is standing right here Ving he guys if not one there was probably 10 of those guys in my pits helping us thrash we changed four Motors this weekend we fixed the transmission we wor we’ve been we’ve been using those
MCO tools this weekend uh you know uh our Distributors they worked their butts off and uh you know we paid them back for one this weekend uh we didn’t quite get that last round win that we wanted but uh hey we’re getting these valuable Power Aid points we got the old 25th
Anniversary bike back out here we’re going rounds and that’s three finals in a row we’ll take it that’s all right it is three in a row as we get ready now for Pro Stock and there is Greg Anderson’s road to the final as he’ll be over in the right lane
Larry Morgan will be over in the left lane and of course this is one of four tracks where Greg has not collected a win in fact until today had never made it out a second round there’s Larry’s road to the final he’s looking to go to The Winner Circle for the first time
Since two years ago at Sonoma Parker Morgans won two Mopar sponsored events before but both times behind the wheel of an old mob he told me if he wins this event today for most part would be as big if not bigger than winning the US Nationals there is Greg Anderson’s wife
Kim and Greg looking for win number 10 of the Year we’re at Round 13 Advantage Anderson Greg Anderson has just tied Lee Shepard for sixth on the all-time win list with number 26 and he does it again and you can mark off one more track where he’s never won it’s now down to three wow I mean Larry Morgan needed to get the whole shot off the starting line
But when Greg Anderson Cuts an 022 light that’s hard to do both cars R excellent time neither one has anything to be ashamed of right here I mean Larry Morgan 719 he was right there if he could have got a slight Advantage off the starting line could possibly won it
But Greg Anderson has been on his game all day long take a look at the points 456 over second place Kurt Johnson it’s 20 per round folks let’s go to Bill Craig Anderson the assault continues and I and I got to ask you this ever since
You got here this weekend I have sensed in you a real commitment to win the race there was something special up here wasn’t there absolutely this mountain has escaped me it’s absolutely frustrated me for all these years just wanted to get off this mountain every year we come here we conquered the
Mountain this year not only that we put Summit Racing Equipment at the top of the drag race chart where they belong so happy to start the relationship like this absolutely a great feeling and this team’s going to be awesome for a long time to come a lot of people to thank M
Tools Pontiac that Pontiac just crushed that Mopar in thear Nationals Finals one of the most astounding strings performance we’ve seen in this category in a long time the march to history continues for Greg Anderson when we continue it’ll be time for funny car and Top Fuel finals here at mofar M High Nationals well it’s time for the Nitro finals here at the Mopar M High Nationals round 13 at the NH power a drag racing series who is going to take home the wall in Top Fuel will it be Scott Keta or will it be Tony Schumacher and in funny car Phil
Burkart’s going to try and deny Cruz pedregon his 20 third Wall-E of his career and that’s where we find ourselves right now the body on the Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo and Cru pedregon and there’s cruises road to the final we’ve talked about how tricky the track conditions have been today right
Now I think it’s the best we’ve seen I mean it’s cooled off we got some cloud cover a little bit better than what we saw the first round Tommy Johnson ran a 513 in the first round I think you’d be able to run a 0 in this final round but
Boy you got to really be careful still these two have met in the first round of the last two races and Cruz has won both those matchups Phil has a little revenge on his mind right now Tire spoke for Cru and Phil burkart takes home his
Second win this year and third of his career he runs 5.33 seconds at 289 mph and the Checker Shucks Kagan team is celebrating wow I’ll tell you Phil burkard he went in very deep but you look he had a cylinder out soon as he hit the throttle which slowed
Considerably Cruz peton was out theree but uh Phil Berard drove by for the win there’s Phil getting out you can hear him hooping and hollering take a look in super slowmo watch over here you’re going to see the cylinder go out soon as he hits the throttle really took
Away a lot of horsepower right there but the good news news was he didn’t smoke the tires unlike Cruz Petron who at that point was probably a little bit ahead but then start hazing the tire which allowed Phil burkart to drive around right into the Winter Circle let’s go on
Board with Cruz oh man does that shake get violent and that’s what it feels like and looks like when you’re on the board burnouts now for the final race of the 2004 voar Mile High Nationals Tony Schumacher will be in the left FL Scott Keta over in the right the last time
These guys met in a final round and Top Fuel was 1999 Tony won that matchup well both these drivers I mean you got to rate Scott KET a slight Edge he’s he’s had the numbers but both teams have improved on each round of racing with their laps time so can’t count
Allan Johnson out he’s definitely struggled here he know they’ve kind of gotten a couple lucky breaks to be in the final round but I mean you got Allan Johnson Tony schoe marker excellent driver excellent crew chief but I’ll tell you what Scott K is looking awfully good right now Parker
Party we’ve talked about the effect altitude has had on these race cars all weekend long but I asked Scott Cut’s crew chief Jim Over Hopper how the altitude has affected he and his crew and he said after turning this car around four times today he and this team
Are absolutely exhausted and these guys are bad and this is an important round because obviously Tony Schumacher has retaken the points lead Scott can help his cousin Doug he can keep the margin at 28 if Tony wins this round he picks up another 20 points opens the Gap to 48
And Tony Schumacher has never won five races in a single season he’s got four already this year here we go what a great drag race and number five is going to have to wait for Tony Schumacher Scott Keta 4.74 seconds picks up his first win of
The year his 15th and top F which now ties him with the man he just beat he coasts the car on out and I guarantee you he won’t be in that cockit long Scott wow Mar that was a welld deserved win team Keta Scott Keta improved on every single run and they
Saved the best for last a 474 but give credit to alen Johnson and Tony shoar Tony was first off the line ran a good number but Scott Keta was able to drive around at the other end for the win great job his first win in Top Fuel since
1997 at Topeka Scott Kida helps cousin Doug B Scott ketta it has taken almost a year for you to be standing here after coming back to the sport I know this is a special day for you Tony schacher with a smile and a handshake appreciate it
What can I say uh you know I wouldn’t be here if went for my dad M tools everybody else helps there’s techic co uh Red Line Oil um I can’t remember everybody else you know uh come through this deal and only have really get down the track one time qualifying it was a
Nailbiter all weekend and my family’s here so what more could I ask for let’s go to Dave Phil burkhard you’re still plenty pumped up about your third win of your career absolutely you know the Checker Shucks and Kon guys got it done today you know we all work together as a
Team and make this thing happen uh you know it’s been since Las Vegas you know last time I waited 5 years and I thought that was a long time you know uh but I can’t do it with all the guys the wors especially they’re the reason I’m here
Checker Shucks and craigan puts the whole team out here and I can’t thank everybody enough but there are a few people that make this all happen for the most part mark denner and Chris Cunningham the tune this car they’re the best those names right there are going
To be the household crew chief names of the future and I just hope to be a part of them and another thing that I want to add and I want to really dedicate this win too is everybody’s friend out here Daryl Russell we uh definitely thought a
Lot about him this weekend and and miss him and we’ll never forget him amen well said Phil take a look at the Top Fuel Points cuz the lead has changed but boy look how tight it is between the top three and Scott with the win moves ahead of Larry Dixon into fourth place
In the top field point standings we’ll wrap things up from here in Denver when we return the celebration is just beginning I got to get this on our har up go ahead and time now for our FR Winner Circle and our tribute goes to Scott Kena Phil burkard Greg Anderson and Sean
Gan let’s go to Bill at the far end Tony schacher you lost the race but you leave with the point weight yeah that’s important uh you know really pomone at the end of the year is when it’s real important to leave with the point lead they really deserved it it was a great
Race they were running good all day we really were struggling we were getting on the track ahead of the other car we knew what we were doing there but we were down to run you know uh we come in with all these new tires and we had that
Fuel leak in the first qualifying round we were down to run so uh but they deserved it they beat us fing Square it was an outstanding race for him uh plus I didn’t want my price for my West Coast Chopper to get out of control it was
Important that that he got the job done there I don’t know how close it was but he run a a 70 something on race day and that was a just an outstanding run and we picked it up up to so we ran an 80 we
Go on the western swing and uh have a good time and before we say so long there’s our schedule for next week Saturday qualifying at 7 Eastern on ESPN 2 NH today at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and the finals on Sunday at 800 Eastern the World Series of Poker is
Coming up next for Mike dun Bill Stevens Dave reef and Parker Johnstone I’m Marty Reed thanks so much for joining us here at the Mopar Mile High Nationals we’ll see you next week stop number two on the western swing
3 Comments
Like #3, Good morning from Yipma Baruya You Tube channel. I enjoyed watching your contents, Papua New Guinea
Good ol NHRA. Never change a thing til kt costs someone thisr life. Tires had been a problem for a long time before st Louis in 04
I used to live in Westminister, CO. Just a few miles away from Bandimere. And my dad who lives in Bailey which is in the mountains raced his 1963 Dodge Polara up at Bandimere. Bandimere is Dodge territory in the mountains. And in my opinion Dodge will always try and win on its home turf. Drivers like Chuck Etchells, Darrell Alderman, Gary Scelzi, Allen Johnson, Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr., and Matt Hagan.