Friday’s Funny Car qualifying at the NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals ranked in a category of its own. An ambient air temperature of 95 degrees, 44-percent humidity and an adjusted altitude of 3,801 feet above sea level made for one of the lesser exciting qualifying sessions.

Add in a 40 minute oildown, and the track had the opportunity to heat up to a 141 degree track temperature, its hottest point of the day.

The most seasoned of drag racing tuners were scratching their heads on a racing surface which yielded a best 4.325 seconds at only 278 miles per hour.

Funny Car tuners will tell you that finding the right combination can be a complex challenge in optimum conditions, but where does one start when the thermometer tops 140?

Friday’s Funny Car qualifying at the NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals ranked in a category of its own. An ambient air temperature of 95 degrees, 44-percent humidity

and an adjusted altitude of 3,801 feet above sea level made for one of the lesser exciting qualifying sessions.

Add in a 40 minute oildown, and the track had the opportunity to heat up to a 141 degree track temperature, its hottest point of the day.

The most seasoned of drag racing tuners were scratching their heads on a racing surface which yielded a best 4.325 seconds at only 278 miles per hour.

Funny Car tuners will tell you that finding the right combination can be a complex challenge in optimum conditions, but where does one start when the thermometer tops 140?

“That’s a good question, something all the crew chiefs here in the pits would love to know,” said John Medlen, lead tuner on DSR’s NAPA Auto Parts car driven by Ron Capps. “It gets hot and greasy and all you can do is keep moving the timing out, moving the clutch out. You’re just going to have to let her slide down there the best you can. The starting line doesn’t seem to be all that big of an issue, but when you hit 100 feet out, it does.”

Capps ran a 4.861 in his first run, ending up eighth quickest.

Medlen confirmed the starting line temperature was 137 when his team ran but 100 feet out was 142. The starting line, according to Medlen, isn’t the challenge.

“You just have to get far enough out,” Medlen explained. “The trick is finding out where that far enough is.

But when you take everything out, it throws another important element out of whack – the clutch.

“When you pull all of that timing out, the clutch doesn’t wear,” Medlen said. “Then it changes how early you get the clutch. You are fighting two different battles. You can turn all of the knobs, and that’s probably the right decision, but you don’t know what the clutch is going to wear. If it wears normal, you’re good.”

Del Worsham, driver of the Alan Johnson-managed, Al-Anabi Funny Car said the trick to driving on a hot track is to maintain the same routine as running in the cool, optimum conditions.

“You hit the throttle and try to keep it in the groove just as you would with a 75-degree track,” said Worsham, who broke his engine and failed to make it to the finish line under power in Friday’s first session. “If it smokes the tires, you really want to stay sharp on your game and not over-rev the engine.”

John Force is a veteran of navigating the ugliest and nastiest of racing surfaces. He had to rely on years of experience during Friday afternoon’s qualifications.

“You just choke her down and try to make her stick,” said John Force.

"It’s gonna be a fun weekend for all of us,” Force added in obvious sarcasm.

 

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