READING (September 28) – Reading Railroad is the first of the four railroads on the Monopoly board. With just four races remaining in the countdown to the championship, John Hale is hoping to make this stop on the NHRA board their opportunity to take home the team's first Wally this season.
Welcoming Dodge as
the title rights sponsor of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event at
Maple Grove Raceway, we hope to keep the Jim Dunn Racing/Oberto Funny Car
moving up the scoreboard to a qualifying position on race day.
Recapping last
weekend in St. Louis, with the heat soaring on Friday, qualifying didn’t go as
well as the team would have liked. Saturday’s third round of qualifying was a
little quicker than Friday’s and by Q4 we were sitting on the bump spot at
4.156. Matching our Q3 ET to the thousands, we managed to run ten miles an hour
faster in Q4. Good enough to get us in the show for Sunday.
On Sunday, we faced
Robert Hight in round one of eliminations. Coming in to this round, we were one
and one against Hight in prior matchups. Track temperature was sitting at 111
degrees when we staged. The car smoked the tires early and we slowed with E1
ending as one of our roughest rounds at this event.
While no one wants to
be out in E1, it did give us an opportunity to spend time with the amazing fans
in St. Louis. We’ve recently started incorporating some of the photos our fans
submit to social media into our event gallery. It was great to have the time
with them, though of course we would have also enjoyed sharing time together in
the Winner’s Circle. We’ll get there! Moving our ET in to the 3 second club was
one goal we have met this season and we will continue to chip away at the
gremlins.
The Dodge NHRA
Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway should be yet another chance for us to run in
the 3’s. With temperatures in the low 70’s both days of qualifying, and
mid-70’s on race day, there should be plenty of great qualifying runs. When all
is said and done, we’d like to own this railroad stop, and the next three, in
true spoiler fashion.
Reading kicks off
with the Mopar Mega Block Party at First Energy Stadium on Thursday evening
from 4:00-10:00p.m. We will be out there and signing autographs from
6:30-7:30p.m. We will also have a chance to sign autographs for our fans
attending this event during the Mello Yello Autograph Session on Saturday at
9:30a.m.
After Reading, the
next stop will be in our home state of Texas at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall
Nationals.
Nitro qualifying sessions are scheduled for 2:00 and 5:00p.m., Friday, and 12:00 and 3:30p.m., Saturday.
Eliminations start at 12:00 p.m., Sunday.
FOX Sports 1 will air qualifying action from 3:00 to 4:00p.m.,
Friday. FOX Sports 1 will carry
eliminations LIVE on Sunday from 11:00a.m. to 2:00p.m.
(All times listed in PT).
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| Photo Credit: Auto Imagery |
Standings
Position 16 - 661 points (-1612)
