NFAA Summer Nationals 2009 Report

[BennettRacing]

We had an abbreviated field of 5 cars, as others had various rebuild or parts shortages and had to pull out, unfortunately.

The weather was great, sunny both days, 46% humidity, 70-80 degs F and corrected altitude of 1440 ft.

First Round on Saturday started with Venom against Nuthin’ Fancy, Joe away first through tyre shake, with Tony having to pedal and shutting of at half track, giving the win to the Nuthin’ Fancy team, 7.478 to 8.467.

Next up, Frank Bennett, back after a two race absence, against John Wright. Frank wasn’t rusty, leaving first with a better reaction time, but at the eighth there was 0.01 in it, with the win going to Relentless, as Chaos was checking out the top end stability on the new combination. John stopped the clocks at 6.516/220.98 and nearly not the car, when the ‘chutes didn’t deploy, to Franks slower, but winning, 6.699/193.80.

Freddy’s Revenge got a bye, with a newly repaired engine and ran a great solo pass, 7.271/186.64.

For the Second Round the pairing was Joe Bond against Frank Bennett. Joe moved first but Frank had it covered, 0.989 to 1.067 at 60ft. A great run by Relentless, 6.654/175.71, off it at 1000ft, with Nuthin’ Fancy moving around at the top end, so Joe shut off and dumped the laundry to bring it back into shape….. a great side-by-side match up.

Tony Betts had a bye as Chaos couldn’t show due to fuel pump problems, but Venom hit the shakes at 60ft, Tony pedalled, tried again, but the car was moving all over his lane, so he wisely shut off.

The Felstead, Best & Lotsabeera Topolino made it’s first attempt at a licensing run, a great burnout but at the hit the performance went away. Early teething troubles, to be expected with a new entry, but the car looked and sounded good and it’s great to have a new nitro entry.




Sunday dawned with repeat good weather, a great track, so expectations were high.

First up, Chaos with a ‘repaired’ fuel pump, staged against Venom. After staging, Tony left before the starter had activated the tree, and John sensed movement and reacted and left, pulling a ‘cherry’. No time for Tony, under the ‘first or worst’ rule, handing the win to Chaos, but a performance drop after a quick pedal indicated that the fuel pump problem was still present.

Next was Freddy’s Revenge against Nuthin’ Fancy, a great race, neck and neck to the stripe, Dave got it, 7.238/188.93 to Joe’s 7.270/186.40.

Then a bye for Relentless, but Frank wasn’t taking it easy, 6.426/191.24 – a new PB and a great run.

For the Final Round, Joe Bond got a bye when Chaos couldn’t show, 7.391/181.37.

The Final, based on the two lowest aggregate ET’s was Relentless against Freddy’s Revenge. Dave out of the hole first by half a car length when Frank ‘snoozed’, but by the 1000ft mark Frank had it in hand to record the victory, 6.571/196.09 to Dave’s 7.172/178.48 – a new PB for the Somerset Team, so some consolation at least.

On this form, Relentless is going to take some beating, 4 consistent mid ‘sixes’ and unbeaten on the day…….

A great weekend of drag racing enjoyed by all the teams, it doesn’t get much better.