For the first time in ten years, Jim Dunn enters a NHRA Full Throttle national event as the defending champion.

Last season, he and his driver at the time, Tony Bartone, stopped Ron Capps in the Funny Car final round of the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

This year Bartone has returned to his former stomping grounds of Top Alcohol Funny Car and been replaced with storied veteran Jerry Toliver.

"Getting Tony's first win wasn't as good as me getting one," quipped Dunn. "No, that was cool to get Tony his first win; I was glad to get one for him. He had worked hard for it. If you're right, you're right, and on that day we were right."

Last Season’s Seattle Triumph Was A Matter Of Everything Lining Up Right …

For the first time in ten years, Jim Dunn enters a NHRA Full Throttle national event as the defending champion.

Last season, he and his driver at the time, Tony Bartone, stopped Ron Capps in the Funny Car final round of the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

This year Bartone has returned to his former stomping grounds of Top Alcohol Funny Car and been replaced with storied veteran Jerry Toliver.

"Getting Tony's first win wasn't as good as me getting one," quipped Dunn. "No, that was cool to get Tony his first win; I was glad to get one for him. He had worked hard for it. If you're right, you're right, and on that day we were right."

A complex racing surface worked in the seasoned-tuner's favor helping to make the experience “right”.

"The track was loose in the middle last year," Dunn said. "The only time we ran well was the Friday night session in qualifying. In the first round we de-tuned it and ran an '18' (4.18), and then a '25' in the semis. Everybody said we didn't run very well, and I just tell 'em we had lane choice in three of the four rounds so it was running better than the guy I was racing."

This season has been up and down for Dunn and Toliver, and prior to Denver, they were building momentum toward success.

"We've kind of lost our clutch combination, so we're going to try and set it up like we did last year and see what happens," Dunn said. "We're making power because we're running as fast as anybody from the half-mark to the finish line, but it just won't accelerate for the first 400 feet. We're usually about 16th (fastest) at the 60-foot mark, at 330-feet were about 14th, and then at the 660-foot mark we're about third, but at that point it's too late because you've already lost three-tenths of a second.

"We know we've got power because we ran 296 on Saturday at Denver, so now we've just got to figure it out. That's why racing's hard. We've got the power, now we just need to get the clutch setup, but we'll be alright."

 

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