The BME Bulletin

Bill Miller Engineering's Top Fuel blog
by Rick Vogelin

 #1 BME Team Beats the Odds in Las Vegas

With raindrops falling on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday morning, it was a longshot that the SummitRacing.com Nationals would even happen. Top Fuel team owner Bill Miller was hedging his bets, however. While the prospects for the race looked as dark as the sky overhead, Miller and his volunteer crew were working on the BME/Okuma dragster in the tight confines of the trailer’s top-deck storage area. And when the call went out for the Top Fuel teams to assemble in the staging lanes, the BME crew was ready.

On a cold track that had seen only a single pair of Top Fuel dragsters make runs, BME driver Brady Kalivoda covered the Vegas quarter-mile in 4.636 seconds at 306.67 mph – a performance that put the independent team solidly in the field in the No. 7 spot.

With a place in Sunday’s show all but assured, the team adopted a more aggressive approach in the second qualifying run on Saturday evening – and paid the price when the run was lost to tire shake. When the rain-shortened qualifying schedule concluded, Kalivoda and the BME dragster were 10th among the 16 qualifiers.

“The mood changed from ‘We’re not racing this weekend’ to ‘Get your stuff in the staging lanes now’ in less than an hour,” said Kalivoda. “The team deserves all the credit for preparing the car in a very short time.

“The 4.63 in qualifying was a career-best elapsed time for me,” Kalivoda reported. “I was surprised when I heard the time because the run was so smooth. That tells me that we have a lot more performance left in this car.”

Kalivoda’s first-round opponent was Dave Grubnic, who drove the BME dragster in 2003. With something to prove to their former shoe, the BME team was primed for a round win.

“I thought we had a good chance to beat Grubnic and the Kalitta team,” said team owner Bill Miller. “I backed down the power and clutch to make sure that Brady could race him to the finish line – and I’ll be damned if the car didn’t shake the tires loose. Grubnic ran 4.64 and could have been beaten. When you’re racing in Top Fuel, that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

The next event for the BME team is the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas. Miller relishes the prospect of returning to the sea-level track on April 16-18.

“We’re going to continue to refine the combination that ran 4.69 in Pomona and 4.63 in Las Vegas,” Miller said. “We have a new chassis, a new driver and several new crew members, so we’re gaining experience every time the car makes a run. Top Fuel engines just love the conditions at Houston Raceway Park, so I’m expecting the BME Top Fuel team to shine at the Spring Nationals.

“This team may not have the biggest budget, but it’s got the biggest heart,” Miller added. “And we’ve got great support from Okuma, Redline Oil, Autolite, Goodyear, Snap-On, Clevite, and MSD – along with all of the technicians and machinists at Bill Miller Engineering who make the finest pistons, connecting rods and wrist pins on the planet.”

BME Race Results:

NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals

Qualified: No. 10 at 4.636/306.67 mph

First Round: Dave Grubnic (4.646/320.89) defeated Brady Kalivoda (11.108/76.12)