We are saddened to pass on to all of you that Doug Herbert’s two sons, Jon and James were killed in a car accident near Charlotte Saturday morning.  Our deepest sympathies to the entire Herbert family.

Here’s the report on Saturday’s action...

After battling with ignition problems for two days of testing driver Melanie Troxel and the Gotham City Racing team discovered the culprit and, according to crew chief Brian Corradi, “got our hot rod back.” Corradi explained, “We found the ignition problem that’s been plaguing us since we pulled in the gate, and on that last run, we knew we were right back where we ended the season in Pomona."

Cory McClenathan with his Don Schumacher Racing alliance netted a best of 4.641 E.T. at 266.27 MPH run putting him in the mid-pack at 7th for Saturday’s testing numbers.  Mike Green is tuning Cory Mac’s dragster this season after leaving the Snake’s now defunct funny car team.

Doug Kalitta’s 4.545 E.T. at 274.33 MPH was good enough for the #2 position after Saturday’s testing… right behind Tony Schumacher’s solid 4.480.

Now carrying the #1 on his Dickie Venables-tuned Impala flopper, 2007 POWERade Champ Tony Pedregon could only muster a best of 5.329 E.T. at 204.35 MPH in Saturday testing.

Getting near 6:00 PM, Ron Capps nailed down the #1 performance slot driving the Ed McCulloch-tuned NAPA funny car to a 4.785 E.T. at 322.34 MPH.  Capps lined up next to former teammate Tommy Johnson Jr and in the dim light, TJ shut off early and Capps drove it out the back door with the header flames pointing the way.  Capps and the other DSR teams will continue to test at Firebird Raceway until Wednesday, if necessary.

“It’s learning what these cars need. If you can imagine bolting 100 pounds onto something and trying to get it going from zero to over 300 mph in four seconds, you’ll realize how this poses quite a dilemma for all the crews chiefs.”

Teammates Morgan Lucas driving his Lucas Oil dragster and J.R. Todd on board his Torco/Seelye Wright railer made their initial three runs of the season with Lucas recording an impressive .855 60-foot time while Todd posted an improved 60-foot time of .847 which placed the Morgan Lucas Racing duo in the No. 2 and No. 4 positions in testing, respectively at the National Time Trials on Saturday.

“Everything worked just fine today and I have to give all the credit to John Stewart and Richard Hogan for having our cars so professionally prepared,” said Lucas. “It’s difficult to get down a green track with very little rubber on it for grip, so we’re here to keep making runs along with everyone else and step up the pace tomorrow."

Del and Chuck Worsham have the blue Checker, Schuck’s & Kragen flopper improving with a good 900 foot, shut-off 5.216 E.T. at 216.62 MPH.  Technically this is still a two car team if you include the “Blue Max” Mustang Nostalgia Funny Car sitting in the team’s So Cal shop.

Tommy Johnson Jr. is getting comfortable in the former Kenny Bernstein seat of the Monster Energy Drink-sponsored Funny Car.  His late Saturday afternoon pass netted a 900 foot shut off 5.228 E.T. at 216.31 MPH.

Bob Tasca III made four passes on Saturday in an attempt to gain his license upgrade, in all four shots he failed to make a full run down the track and on this late afternoon pass dropped cylinders, pedaled and exploded the engine.  Mike Kloeber and Co-crew chief Chris Cunningham have their work cut out for them getting the new combination together when testing resumes.

Note the body burst panel position.

Just before noon Saturday, with the sun burning through a morning cloud cover, Tony Schumacher in the US Army-sponsored dragster was the first nitro car down Firebird International Raceway cranking off a 4.874 E.T. at 212.29 MPH pass. 

In the late afternoon Nitro Session, Schumacher ran the quickest pass so far with a stout 4.480 E.T. at 322.04 MPH lighting up the scoreboard.