NHRA

Noble: Alan Bradshaw wrap-up

Back Attack Racing Ignition problems end Bradshaw's day in semifinals NOBLE, Okla. - Sometimes in drag racing, a driver can do everything right, but unless the car is willing, a win will not come. Such was the case for NHRA Federal Mogul Dragster ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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Back Attack Racing
Ignition problems end Bradshaw's day in semifinals

NOBLE, Okla. - Sometimes in drag racing, a driver can do everything right, but unless the car is willing, a win will not come. Such was the case for NHRA Federal Mogul Dragster driver Alan Bradshaw at this past weekend's NHRA Division 4 Federal Mogul Drag Racing Series closer at Thunder Valley Raceway Park just outside of Oklahoma City. Despite taking a huge holeshot on his semifinal opponent, and four time defending World Champion Rick Santos, an ignition problem slowed his "Back Attack" Blown Alcohol Dragster, and allowed Santos to take an easy win.

Bradshaw, who is a chiropractor in Odessa, Texas, qualified his dragster seventh with a 5.673 second elapsed time at 248.41 mph. In the first round, he defeated the defending Division 5 Champion Bruce Bowler when Bowler's A/FD went up in smoke immediately off the line. Bradshaw marched away to victory, posting a career best 5.551 at 258.91 mph. In his semifinal matchup with Santos, Bradshaw cut a near perfect .402 light (.400 is perfect) to the champ's .452. Bradshaw held the lead for much of the early part of the track, but rapidly lost his lead when his apparent ignition problem caused a tremendous loss of power. Santos took the win with a 5.479 at 259.59 mph to Bradshaw's 5.747 at only 227.79 mph. With the holeshot he gained at the line, Bradshaw could have ran a 5.529 or better and won the round.

"We had the opportunity to bring Tom Conway (former two time World Champion) on board for some tuning advice," said Bradshaw. "We had a pretty good tune-up for the high altitude environment, but when it came down to 2000 ft of corrected altitude, we really weren't quite sure where we were on our baseline. As always, he came through with his knowledge and expertise. We were able to run a 5.55 at 258 against Bruce [Bowler]. From there, we stepped on the engine program a little more, and expected to run a little quicker."

"The incremental times against Rick [Santos] show that we could have ran a .51 or .52," continued Bradshaw. "Unfortunately, ignition problems got in the way of that goal. The car slowed to a 5.74, which is a far cry from what it takes to outrun a World Champ like Rick Santos."

Even though the round loss was tough to swallow, "Quick Draw" Bradshaw and his team are looking forward to their next race at this upcoming weekend's O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at the Texas Motorplex just outside of Dallas.

"We look forward to going to Dallas," stated Bradshaw. "We feel like we have a decent baseline to play with on raceday. We'll just have to fine tune it from there. If we can parlay some of what we learned in Noble into Dallas, we look for the car to run some .40's out of the trailer, hopefully in excess of 260 mph."

For more Federal Mogul Racing news, log on to InsideFMRacing.com

-BAR-

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