Spencer Massey Seattle Final Report

SUCCESSFUL WESTERN SWING FOR SPENCER MASSSEY ENDS IN SEMIFINALS OF NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

KENT, Wash., August 7, 2011 – Aboard his FRAM/Prestone Top Fuel dragster, Spencer Massey drove into the semifinals of today’s 24th-annual NHRA Northwest Nationals here at Pacific Raceways to close out what he called a successful 2011 Western Swing.

A loss to Del Worsham, eventual race winner in today’s third round did little to dampen Massey’s view of the three-consecutive weekends of racing in Denver, Sonoma (Calif.) and here.

“All in all, it was not a bad Western Swing,” said the 28-year-old Fort Worth native. “Any time you win one of these races, like we did in Denver, you’re doing well on the Swing.

Spencer Massey, Preston/FRAM Dragster

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

“We also went to a semifinal today, where we lost again to Del (last week he lost to Worsham, by .002 seconds in a very close quarterfinal match), but we beat his teammate Larry Dixon in the round before which was huge.”

Coming out of the third-qualifying spot, the Don Schumacher Racing driver opened the day by defeating his close friend Scott Palmer in the initial round, even though he smoked the tires, with a 4.904-second pass at 197.62 miles per hour (compared to Palmer’s 8.225 at 88.44 mph).

The Dixon match up resulted in a .006-second victory as Massey posted a 3.873 lap at 317.27 mph.

The FRAM/Prestone hot rod lost traction early in the third round as the team opted for the left lane, which many had considered the lesser of the two at the scenic track.

“We had run that great 3.873 against Larry in the left lane, so it made sense for us to stay there,” Massey explained. “It just didn’t work out as we lost traction and Del motored on by.

“But we’ve beaten him in a final (Englishtown, N.J.) before and we’ll get him the next time we run. This is a great car with a great team behind it. We came into the race a solid second in the points and we remain there.”

Massey’s next chance to gain ground in the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car standings comes in less than two weeks when the series moves to Minnesota for the August 18-21 30th-annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.