i have just had a meeting with fuel funny car owner spiro kontos and can confirm we are doing two more iHRA meetings in july
first is at milan michigan usa july 7th w/end followed by the cayuga meet at toronto motorsports park july 23rd w/end
this is a really big opportunity for us to step up to the big time

All this came about after the main event when i went to see the patons
who run a top fuel dragster 10 mins from my house!!!
they were helping spiro kontos prepare his fuel funny car for battle but
his cousin mike wasn t licencesd as yet so my timing was perfect
what has transpired is spiro and mike had so much fun with me driving
and meeting us all we all got along famously

We will take mike and the funny car to cayuga next w/end for him to get
some seat time but for now he is happy for me to drive while he learns
more as a crew chief

There is talk of spiro funding a 2 car team when mike is ready!!!!
this is all amazing as our first time out didnt go that smoothly
i sat in the car for the first time in the pits and luckily i could
reach all the pedals and controls-we were thrashing to get car ready for
1st qualif fri nite but a battery pack just purchased was faulty so we
borrowed 2 more which were both flat so we missed the call-we eventually
fired for the 1st time and sorted out timing etc etc so ready 4 sat morn
we were 1st pair so i was excited to get on track but mindful of only
having a 4 disc clutch- i opted for a medium size burnout which was well
received but the change in air quality had our rpm too high causing
problems over heating the clutch

also my arm restraints were adjusted too short 4 me to open hatch to
let the smoke out!!!!!!problems with running out of time!!!!
i reversed back ok
barry (paton) ran over to put plugs in the injector to slow idle down
but they were all already plugged!!!uh oh!
i was signalled into prestage but the clutch was dragging so bad at this
point it dragged me into stage
i highsided to drop rpm and pulled on the brake with all my strength-it
seemed 4ever for jack wyatt to stage
i was away first but only went 30ft and blew through the clutch
i lifted immediately and saved the motor and coasted down to get a time
-even leaning the fuel to pick up a bit of speed but the cluch was too
damaged and coasted to a stop b4 the finish line
i could have stabbed the throttle but felt really naff to hit the
throttle after 20 secs!!!however this cost us a place in the field as
the next and last session was cancelled due to rain-i won t do that
again!!!!!!
i returned to the pits covered in clutch dust-everyone was happy the car
did a burnout n launch and not upset we hadn t qualified
we turned the car around as normal and addressed the rpm issues-did our
warm up and was ready to go when the heavens opened
this was a real bummer
we argued with iHRA that we made the 8th best qualifying attempt but the
rule book states u must cross the finish line to constitute a legal
qualifying attempt
i conceded but raised the point i felt a rule change was needed as if
only 3 cars had qualified on fri nite and it rained all day sat the
paying public would only have seen a 3 car field sunday which would have
been a huge disappointment for funny car fans paying to see the 1st
return of nitro funny cars to iHRA after 12 years or so!!!!
they don t agree.....
still i was happy to be part of the return of fuel funny cars
happy to now be an iHRA member
happy to connect with a really nice down to earth team (and families)
as well as having a blast!!!
will uipdate soon with pics and news
full revs
smax
thanx to everyone who sent in pics of main event
check my site www.smax.co.uk
also more stuff for sale so ring ben @fastco-uk 01603665000 if u need
anything for your hot rod!!!!!

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