QUICK TIMES AT ESTN
Track records, Class records fall by the wayside as testing resumes in Valdosta
A quick glance at dictionary.com reveals the definition of mineshaft conditions – ESTN – Day 4. At least two professional classes produced unofficial record times and as for the track records, they took a beating as well during the 9th annual CSR Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com in Valdosta, Georgia’s South Georgia Motorsports Park.
Track records, Class records fall by the wayside as testing resumes in Valdosta
Andrew Hines left several thousand race fans stunned when he reeled off
an incredible 6.845 elapsed time with a speed of 194.41 miles per hour.
This run came after an impressive 6.888 elapsed time an hour earlier.
“It's the first and only major test for us this season,” Hines said.
“We just wanted to see where we stacked up with some of the other
times. Last year we were out here for five days trying to get
[teammate] Eddie [Krawiec] a bunch of laps and this year it's just
going to be about trying to perfect everything for us. We're not going
to try to beat on everything. We just want to see how consistent we can
get down the track.”
“We have had an engine on the dyno that shows it can actually run .02 quicker,” Patrick said. “The conditions that we ran this run in showed there was more in there. If the top teams were here, you would have seen more runs like this today. Running the quickest time ever means a lot to us. What means even more to me are the gains that we made over the off-season.
“We tried some things earlier in the day and they didn’t work and we ran a 6.34. But, we tried some other stuff and the car responded in the second session with a 6.27. This was an incredible way to end a day.”
Top Fuel driver Clay Millican may not race in competition this year; but he’s certainly gained the inside track for a testing world championship. The six-time IHRA world champion obliterated the SGMP track record with the first full nitro pass of the day with a 4.585 elapsed time at 323.50 miles per hour.
“I love this place,” Millican said. “I had never been here before this weekend but I’m so glad we came in this weekend. These guys [SGMP staff] have busted their humps to give us a quality race track. We greatly appreciate it.”
Other Top Fuel teams in attendance include Brandon Bernstein, IHRA Top Fuel champion Bruce Litton, Bobby Lagana and Kevin Jones.
Funny Car driver Del Worsham paced the Funny Car contingent with a 4.868 elapsed time with a slowing 294 miles per hour. Other nitro Funny Car testing include Gary Scelzi, Jerry Toliver, Frank Hawley, Melanie Troxel, Bob Gilbertson and Matt Hagan. Bob Tasca III and Tommy Johnson, Jr. were late arrivals on Sunday.
The NHRA 500-inch Pro Stock fraternity was paced by Matt Hartford as he drove the brand-new David Nickens Dodge Stratus to a 6.664 elapsed time at 207.98 miles per hour.
“We knew we needed to get some laps on the car and this really helped us out,” Hartford said. “We learned a lot that will help us next weekend.”
Hartford’s impressive “break-in” lap was followed by an impressive final licensing run by rookie Rickie Jones, son of veteran chassis builder Rick Jones. The second-generation driver was picture perfect as he drove to a straight-as-an-arrow 6.696 elapsed time at 206.89 miles per hour. This marked the first run to the quarter-mile for Jones.
Chris Russo was the quickest of the 30 Pro Modified cars in attendance. His 6.063 elapsed time was the quickest of the fast doorslammers and edged out the 6.079 elapsed time of Kirk Kuhns.
Testing resumes on Monday at SGMP with testing planned for 10 AM until sundown.
