Jim Sickles Gainesville summary

Meyers RV Superstores TAFC team opens 2003 with win

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - In just their second race in NHRA competition, the Top Alcohol Funny Car team of Tom Anderson and Jim Sickles put their Meyers RV Superstores/JCI backed machine into the winners circle during this past weekend's NHRA Division 2 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Gainesville, Fla. The team dominated the event; qualifying No. 1 and running low elapsed time of each round on their way to victory.

Team driver Sickles qualified the Meyers RV Superstores/JCI Dodge Avenger No. 1 with a 5.853 at 245.43 mph during rain-shortened qualifying. In the first round, he defeated Mark Billington with a 5.708 at 253.23 mph. In his final round matchup with perennial TAFC powerhouse Jay Pane, Sickles out muscled the seven-time Div. 2 Champ with a 5.690 at 252.59 mph to Payne's 5.726 at 245.83 mph.

"What more could we ask for?" said team crew chief Anderson. "We come down to our first race, qualify No. 1, set low e.t. for every round and win the race. This is our first real race in NHRA trim; we went to one race last year just getting use to the NHRA setup. With only three runs in competition with our new combination, to run as good as we did with no parts breakage, we're pretty happy. Needless to say, we are pretty pumped about the rest of the year, and look to put this Meyers RV Superstores/JCI machine in many more winners circles this year."

The next event for the Meyers RV Superstores/JCI team will be the Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., Mar. 13-16.

-jci-