Nancy Matter Topeka summary

Excessive Tire Shake Ends Nancy Matter's Weekend Early at Topeka's Heartland Park

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Although the Top Alcohol Funny Car Team of Nancy Matter lost in the first round of eliminations at this weekend's NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas, the team had many successful events that happened over the course of the event.

The second round of qualifying was the only time the team made a full pass, running a 5.89 and securing the 15th position of the field.

"On the first run, we broke the number two spark plug at the hit and posted an off-pace 6.30 on seven cylinders," lamented Matter. "The second qualifier was better, but we knew to be a contender for first round, we needed to find some additional horsepower".

Matter's Team enlisted the help of Clint Thompson, and together they opted to work on the clutch area. The third qualifier resulted in shake at the top of first gear forcing Matter to quickly pedal the car and finish the run.

"We had Sean in first round and they've been running well. So, without any computer data from the final qualifier, we decided to try something that we've never tried before to get more response out of the car at the hit. We knew it would either really shoot out from the starting line, or hit really hard and shake. The gamble didn't pay off as the latter of the two was what happened".

Matter added, "The best part of the whole weekend was due in part that we've been working so hard in our marketing campaign on and off the track. We would like to send a very special welcome to our new marketing partner and friends, Monroe Guest and Marvin Yoder, of TigerFlow Systems of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Without their support, we would have never made Topeka for the Summer Nationals".

-credit: nmr