The BME Bulletin
#6 INTO THE UNKNOWN The Commonwealth of Virginia, home of poets, patriots and presidents, will host the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series this weekend. The Bill Miller Engineering Top Fuel Team is venturing into uncharted territory at the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, Va. No one on the BME Team has raced there previously. "I know that Virginia is a beautiful and historic state," said driver, Alan Bradshaw. "The track is a few hundred feet above sea level, so if the conditions are right we should see some big numbers produced." Bradshaw's approach to a new venue is thoughtful and methodical: "The first thing I do is go online and look at the track," he explained. "I get a mental image of how the track is laid out, its orientation and whether the turnoffs are on the right or left. "As soon as I arrive, I drive a golf cart alongside the track or on the return road to get my bearings," he continued. "I know what Plan A is, but in case I need to go to Plan B in an emergency, I want to have that figured out ahead of time. It's my responsibility to look at the shutdown area, the sand trap and the crash nets just in case. I also look at where the scoreboards are in relation to the finish line because they can often be used as reference points." Does that first run at a new venue require a leap of faith? Not according to Bradshaw. "I have a great deal of trust in the preparation of the car and the workmanship of the BME Crew," he said. "I also have a high level of respect for the race car and the inherent risks of racing at 320 mph, but every run is the same when I'm strapped into the cockpit. My role is to do the best job possible for BME, Okuma, Red Line Oil, our other sponsors and the Team. When I get into that race car; I want to be an unemotional driving machine." BME DOES DALLAS The underdog BME Team, again, ran with the big dogs at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas on Sept. 21-24. In Friday's hot and humid conditions, Bradshaw qualified 11th at 4.732/315.19 mph. As cooler conditions prevailed on Saturday, other cars qualified better so BME ended-up on the bubble in the final session. When Alan Bradshaw's chance to improve the Team's spot on the qualifying list came, he got back into the 11th spot with a 4.645/319.60 mph. "The Texas Motorplex has a reputation for big numbers, but we tend to forget that virtually all of the tracks now have concrete from the starting line to half-track," Miller noted. "We'd just run 4.55 in Indianapolis, so initially, I made the mistake of overestimating the track. "It was 96 degrees and the density altitude was 4200 feet when we made our first run and smoked the tires. By 8 o'clock the temperature had dropped to 88 degrees, but the humidity was still high and the density altitude was 3700 feet when Alan ran 4.73. "On Saturday morning, a cold front moved through and the density altitude dropped another 1200 feet," Miller noted. "I think we had the quickest 60-foot e.t. in the first session, but the car didn't make it to 70 feet before it smoked the tires. We installed a new prototype, supercharger for the final session and were solidly in the show with a 4.64. "I guess we're the little team that could, because we qualified ahead of full-time teams and drivers like Troxel, Vandergriff, Will, Cowin, McClenathan and Dixon." Race day dawned with cool temperatures, clear skies and clouds of tire smoke engulfing the starting line at the Texas Motorplex. The combination of increased horsepower and a problematic right lane led to a pedaling contest in the first round of eliminations. Bradshaw and David Grubnic both spun the tires, with Grubnic taking the win at 5.417/202.91 mph to Bradshaw's 6.720/118.59. "I figured the track would hold a middle-50," Miller recalled. "I was wrong—and so was nearly everyone else because most cars smoked the tires in the first round and the race became a pedal-fest. The relative altitude went from 4200 feet to 1600 feet in two days and all the crew chiefs were chasing the tuning combination. "All in all, it was a good weekend for the BME/Okuma Dragster," Miller declared. "We successfully tested our new blower and learned from our experiments with jetting the fuel nozzles above the supercharger. That will pay dividends in the future." Bradshaw was disappointed but philosophical about the results at his home track. "Unfortunately we don't have as many runs down the track as the full-time touring teams and that puts us at disadvantage when the conditions are changing as quickly as they were in Dallas," Bradshaw commented. "Given the challenges that all the crew chiefs had to contend with, I believe Bill made the best decisions he could at any given moment. He who sorts it out the quickest, wins—and that's what we're aiming to do with the team as we continue to gain experience. "More than 100 people came from Odessa, my hometown, to see the race," Bradshaw added. "It was very rewarding to see so many family members, friends and well-wishers come by to support a local Texas boy." BME RACE RESULTS
NEXT RACES Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals, Richmond, Va., Oct. 6-8 ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, Las Vegas, Oct. 26-29
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