The BME Bulletin
Bill Miller Engineering's Top Fuel
Blog #7 DISCO MADNESS AND DINNER IN DALLAS It seemed like a good idea at the time—the Bill Miller Engineering Top Fuel team would race in Dallas, then travel north to Chicago for the next race. But just about the time the rig arrived at the Texas Motorplex for the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals, Hurricane Rita was closing in on the Lone Star state and NHRA officials wisely postponed the race for two weeks. That decision meant a change in plans. Making the best of a bad situation, Team Owner/Crew Chief Bill Miller dined in Dallas and dispatched the truck back to the team's Carson City, Nevada base. "I got off the plane in DFW at 6 p.m., called the shop, and learned the race had been rescheduled," said Miller. "So we had a nice dinner in Dallas and got back on the plane at 10 o'clock the next morning. It was long way to go for a meal. At least the drive to Dallas and back was good training for our new crew guy who's getting his truck driver's license." On the following weekend, the Ameriquest NHRA Nationals went off, on schedule, at Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago. And that's when the disco madness began but it wasn't about The Bee Gees, gold chains and questionable fashion. It's about the clutch discs that transfer the BME/Okuma/Red Line Oil Top Fuel Dragster's 8000 horsepower from the engine to the driveshaft. Deep within the car's bellhousing, something was wrong. Very wrong. "We knew that conditions in Chicago were going to be better than Indy," Miller recalled. "so I put in a clutch program that was fairly aggressive. The car ran 4.77 on the first qualifying run, which was disappointing, considering the fast guys were running 4.40s. So we tuned it up for the second run and were rewarded with a 4.88. After looking at the data, it was clear that we had a race car that wasn't performing close to its potential. "Earlier this season, we changed our clutch disc supplier. After talking with several crew chiefs, it became apparent that the discs we were using had different friction characteristics. There were 200 of our old discs sitting in a warehouse in Chicago, so on Friday night; five of the guys made a run to retrieve them. "On the first run with our old clutch combination, the car ran 4.68 despite a broken intake valve," Miller noted. "That's when I realized that the discs were the source of the problems that we've been struggling with for months." The 4.681/312.64 mph run by driver Bobby Lagana Jr. put the BME/Okuma dragster in the precarious, 16th spot on the qualifying list. Despite a tire-smoking run in the final session, the BME team hung on and made the show. The bad news? Lagana would face No. 1 qualifier and two-time NHRA champion, Tony Schumacher, in the first round of eliminations. "Realistically, we wanted to run a low 4.60 against the Army car," Miller said. "Unfortunately, two seconds into the run, the engine dropped a cylinder because I hadn't compensated enough for the increase in humidity on Sunday. The water content more than doubled from Saturday, and we weren't the only team that underestimated the weather change." HOME SWEET HOME The next race on the BME team's dance card is the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, to be held at The Strip at Las Vegas Speedway on Oct. 21-23. It's the closest thing to a home race for the Carson City-based BME team—although some residents of northern Nevada are unimpressed by their southern neighbors. "It's like the rivalry between San Francisco and Los Angeles," Miller explained. "The north and south of Nevada are really two different states." Regardless of the cultural differences, Miller and company look forward to racing at Las Vegas Speedway. "I'm really excited, especially after what we learned in Chicago," said Bobby Lagana Jr. "We'll have two good tracks and good weather conditions in Las Vegas and Pomona. I've been to both tracks many times, but I've never raced on them. It will be cool to drive the BME dragster there." "The Las Vegas track is very smooth and flat," Miller noted. "Even though the engine doesn't make as much horsepower as it does at a low-altitude track, the numbers are good because the racing surface is so consistent. I think we have enough data now to put our clutch problems behind us. The weather should be nice and cool as well, and that's a plus. "We'll entertain more than 60 guests from Okuma in Las Vegas, and," Miller added, "you can expect a major announcement from Okuma at this event." BME RACE RESULTS Ameriquest NHRA Nationals, Joliet, Ill., Sept. 30 ń Oct. 2 Qualified: No. 16 at 4.681/312.64 mph First Round: Tony Schumacher (4.526/328.46) defeated Bobby Lagana Jr. (4.883/298.01) NEXT RACE
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