The America Trip!!

Paul Marston has just returned from his latest fact finding and parts buying trip to Florida, Paul Marston Racing has been in touch to let us know how the trip went. Having attended the final Lucas Oil 06 Division 2 Event in October at Silver Dollar Raceway, Reynolds, Georgia. Paul Marston once again caught up with the Lucas Oil Division 2 Sportsman Racers as they contested the first event of their 07 schedule, at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida. Being this was the opening event, all the familiar faces were there, including for the first year as official NHRA Classes, Top Sportsman & Top Dragster, this exciting new development has been run in IHRA for a few years now, but debuted in 07 with NHRA in Division 2. Top Sportsman (Doorcars) & Top Dragster run as two separate classes but share the same rules. Fastest 16 or 32 car fields qualify (16 or 32 depend on car counts), this sees Top Sportsman (Doorslammer) competitors ET’s qualifying in the 7 second zone and lower, Top Dragster low sevens to low six second zone. Its an exciting pair of classes to watch and fills the void that was growing between Super Comp and Super Stock/Comp Eliminator/Top Alcohol Dragster/Top Alcohol Funnycar, the latter three now becoming vastly expensive, prohibitively so to most Sportsman Racers. Plus with the virtual non existence of Doorcars nowadays in Super Comp (there was only one at Bradenton in a field of 60+ Dragsters), it gives fast doorslammers their own class, a stepping stone to Pro Mod, like our own Super Modified. Paul Marston was crewing for Tony Morris in his Super Nice state of the art BLP backed Undercover Super Comp Dragster that Paul Marston drove here at Bradenton in the 5-Day Best of Both Worlds Event in 05. Since Paul Marston last drove the BLP Dragster, Tony has upgraded the power considerably, following the current trend to fit more and more powerful big inch motors in these Throttle stopped Rockets, the Dragster now sports a 565ci BBC, running 8.90 @ 170+ mph. Bradenton Motorsport Park Florida, home to both the Drag Strip and the Valdosta Motor Speedway for all the oval racers, has always had a proud reputation for having probably the fastest flattest Dragstrip in Florida; it too has had some upgrades since Paul Marston last drove there. Firstly the entire track has been resurfaced, along with being widened and now has a concrete retaining wall both sides all along the whole Quarter, extending into the shutdown area. Tony Morris was by his own admission, little ring rusty due to not having sat in or even seen his Dragster since last November. The BLP Dragster has been enjoying the hospitality of Dave Hartman in the Hartbeat Racing Engines Racecar trailer, Dave had recently sold his own Dragster, Tony Morris and Tim Hutcherson having dissolved their racing partnership at the end of 06, Tony sold his share of the operation to Tim. They still remain good friends but their racing plans did not coincide, so the parting was inevitable. Dave Hartman was still going to the races but with an empty trailer, mainly to help set-up his customer’s new engines and provide trackside support for existing customers, with accommodation built into the trailer for Dave and his wife. Tony’s racing partner for 07 Joe Holerfeld is still putting his combo together so the rig for both Dragsters is still not ready, Joe was however crewing with Tony also. All of this has not affected Tony’s performance, Tony was killer on the tree and the BLP Super Comp Dragster was right on the numbers. Prior to Fridays time trials Tony had to get the Dragster re-certified by the tech inspectors, after which it is now legal to 6.00 sec. Then back to the pits, the usual oil change, clean up, tires, warm-up, check the weather station in readiness to put down some runs. Two time trials Friday, one TT Saturday all went well with the Dragster running ----- ----- ----- ----- on Friday and ----- Saturday morning. There was a cold front moving thru over Friday and Saturday so the weather was more akin to our Easter Event than the usual Floridian climate, but the racing was awesome. Saturday saw something new, first round for Super Comp, this development is the NHRA’s attempt to get the eliminations started earlier, probably taking into account the running of Top Dragster and Top Sportsman. For 2007 alternating between all the Sportsman Classes, two will on rotation, run their first round on Saturday, the other class this time was Super Gas. Between Tony Morris and Paul Marston they read the track conditions and wind well, Tony Morris did an excellent job of driving and ran a .00 on the tree and an 8.90 at the sharp end – Good Job!! That left us in the show for Sunday so Tony, Joe and Paul set off to the Hotel then out for dinner, being it was Saturday night and we were out a little late (6.30pm), everywhere was packed but we got in at Cracker Barrel, Tony’s favorite, so it was home style cookin tonight. Sunday dawned and with a strong tail wind the eliminations played out, Joe reluctantly left lunchtime he had some pressing business to take care of, more on that soon. late Sunday afternoon Tony once again did a stellar job in second round after his opponent went red, running thru with a ------. This was of course after the stars of the show Top Alcohol Dragster, which incidentally saw the debut of Ashley Force’s replacement in the Darien & Meadows A-Fuel Dragster Lindsey Wood. Followed by Top Alcohol Funny Car, Comp Eliminator, Top Dragster, Top Sportsman and the rest of the Sportsman Classes. Unfortunately the wind and cold temperatures were wreaking havoc on the Top Sportsman Class with three crashes in two incidents, in the latter it took four hours to get the track operational again, by this time it was late Sunday afternoon, the writing was on the wall that the event would not complete on Sunday, for as soon as the sun went down the temperatures would plummet. So Tony Morris and Paul Marston had to leave Bradenton undefeated at close of play Sunday, Dave Hartman of Hartbeat Racing and Competition Engines must be sincerely thanked for his hospitality over the weekend. Dave Hartman’s work commitments at the shop meant that staying for Monday was not on the cards, but I think he was genuinely more upset than Tony and Paul were. Tony Morris was tickled pink that both he and the BLP Dragster had done so well and been so competitive. Both Tony Morris and Paul Marston had things to do Monday but when you are still in you are in, this was just one of those occasions where it simply was just not meant to be, it pays to accept defeat graciously sometimes and not torture yourself, it achieves nothing. The Gainesville Divisional was the following weekend and Tony was pumped, plenty to bring to the table for that one. With the Bradenton Event done, there was just time for Paul Marston to make sure that everything that had been ordered had arrived, place the last minute orders and to chase anything missing, prior to the scheduled Thursday departure, just the usual really. Once again as a fact finding mission Paul Marston reported that the trip was very worthwhile, this time focusing on Data Acquisition, Weather Stations and Throttle Stops for the most part along with Alcohol Tuning in different weather conditions. On the Technology front Paul Marston bought back two pieces of equipment that will be firsts in the UK, both of which are available from Paul Marston Racing. Paul Marston Racing will debut these clever and exciting pieces on two of their Racecars at the Easter Thunderball. On the subject of the Drag Racing, Paul Marston reported that he could not possibly be happier for Tony Morris and what he achieved, Paul said. `I take no credit for Tony Morris’s performance, he was simply awesome, however I do take comfort that I did not do anything to hamper him!!’ Paul Marston can happily report that Tony Morris attended the second Division 2 event last weekend where Tony qualified in the No8 spot after first round and went four rounds, which is Tony Morris’s best ever start to a Super Comp Divisional Title quest. Paul Marston would like to thank the following, everyone who are Paul Marston Racing, we could not do this without such a great bunch of people, Tony Morris, Bo Laws, Joe Hilerio, Rob Beagle, Joe Holerfeld, Sharon and all the guys at BLP, makers of just the finest Carburetors and Fuel Systems on the Planet, thank you for your hospitality, Eric Secaur from JW Transmissions, Robbie at Automotive One your one stop speed shop, Dave Hartman of Hartbeat Racing Engines, Steve and Ro Deatherage, Edmond Richardson, Charlie Owens, Peter Biondo, Kurt Damron Undercover Chassis, Peter Farrell Racedata Inc, Bradenton Motorsport Park. Last but not least all the rest of the fellow Division 2 Drag Racers at Bradenton.