The BME Bulletin
#1
WHAT'S NEW FOR BME?
EVERYTHING!
For the Bill Miller Engineering/Okuma/Red Line Oil Top Fuel team, it's a new season of NHRA POWERaid drag racing with a new driver, a new racecar, and a new setup The only things that haven't changed are the hard-working BME crew and the car owner's yellow hat. Driver Troy Buff is the latest addition to the BME roster. The second-generation racer from Spring, Texas, has driven Top Alcohol Dragsters since the early '80s, and earned his Top Fuel license in 2006. "I ran six races in Top Fuel in 2006, and qualified at every one except the Auto Club Finals in Pomona where we were bumped by the BME car," Buff recalled. "It's strange, sometimes, how things work out." Flightless in Phoenix The BME team's plans to participate in the preseason test session in Phoenix went awry when the new chassis was rejected by the tech inspectors as the ongoing controversy over chassis specifications for the nitro-burning classes continued. For more information in the chassis issue, click here. "I firmly believe that our chassis was legal because the regulations state 'equal to or better than' the specification," Miller said. "The current specifications require a frangible joint behind the driver compartment and if you look up 'frangible' on Wikipedia, it's defined as 'designed to disintegrate.' But accidents don't follow a script: If the back half of the car separates, the driver is at risk if the car backs into the wall without a deformable structure behind him to absorb the impact. And if an engine should end up in a spectator area after a crash, the result could be devastating for the sport of drag racing. "The consequence was that, at Phoenix, we were not allowed to test the new car, our new clutch setup, the new, 90 percent nitro requirement, or our new driver." Pomona Report "Pomona was a little nerve-racking at first," Buff reported. "Bill was only half joking when he told me that we're going to Pomona with a new car and throw you to the wolves. I did exactly what he wanted. The first run, Bill told me to shut it off at 330 feet, and that's what I did. The next run, he told me to drive it to 1,000 feet, so that's what I did. Then, on Saturday, he said, 'Go as far as you want.' I guess he was getting comfortable with me as his driver, and I was getting comfortable in the car...as comfortable as you can be driving an 8,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster." After a pair of easy passes, Buff put the hammer down and ran a 4.655/291.41 mph to qualify the BME Dragster in the 15th spot for eliminations at the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals. "I think we did quite well considering all of the factors," said Miller. "The incremental times were good enough to run a high 4.50. I had modified the intake manifold based on our dynamometer testing with the Gibson-Miller Mark II supercharger, and had to refine the fuel distribution to compensate for the changes." In the first round, Buff faced No. 2 qualifier, Larry Dixon, who drives Don Prudhomme's car. Dixon went 4.512/331.61 to BME's 4.686 286.25. "The car ran incremental times that were similar to what it ran in qualifying, but the engine was overrunning the clutch," Miller observed. "That's what I'm going to work on for Houston." Phoenix Flyer After rain washed out the first two qualifying sessions for the Checker/Schuck's/Kragen NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, the BME team had only two chances to make the field on Saturday. The rain-out turned out to be a blessing in disguise, giving the team time to repair a leak in a new 20-gallon fuel tank that replaced the 17-gallon tank used previously. "The Gibson-Miller Mark II supercharger requires 84 gallons of fuel per minute at the top end, which is about six gallons per minute more than our competitors burn," Miller revealed. "After the Winternationals, we increased the fuel capacity to 20 gallons and removed some ballast from the front of the car. With the larger tank, we don't have to worry about running out of fuel if there are any delays at the starting line, and after a run we still have fuel in reserve." "The Phoenix track was tricky from half-track to the finish line and the car was very loose," Buff noted. "At first, Bill thought I might be driving the car too much, but after looking at some other cars that were all over the track, I wasn't doing too badly." Buff qualified the BME/Okuma/Red Line machine 15th at 4.796/241.24 mph. He lost to Dave Grubnic in the first round of eliminations, 4.500/330.96 mph to 4.644/304.53 mph. "The engine looked great after we raced Grubnic in the first round," said Miller. "I learned that we can apply the clutch sooner without dragging down the engine, so we'll have a new clutch program for the next race in Houston. We've continued to test Gibson-Miller Mark II superchargers on our blower dyno and we have new blowers ready for sale. Our new Okuma, MU400, five-axis machining center has really enhanced our ability to manufacture these blowers, reducing the machining time from six days to six hours. It's magic." Houston Homecoming Houston Raceway Park, site of the upcoming O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals on March 28-30, is 45 minutes from Buff's home in nearby Spring, Texas. "I've never raced at Houston Raceway Park in Top Fuel, but ran a lot of races there in Top Alcohol Dragster," said Buff. "I won a divisional points race in Houston, but it rained out before the final round. We ran the final in Dallas, so I ended up winning the Houston race at the Texas Motorplex! "Spring is just three miles from the Houston city limits, so I consider Houston Raceway Park to be my home track," he continued. "It's going to be tough racing there because I've got so many friends coming to watch ñ that's a lot of pressure. I've told everyone that if I ignore you, I'm not being rude, I'm just busy."
BME RACE RESULTS CARQUEST Auto
Parts Winternationals Checker Schuck's
Kragen NHRA Nationals
NEXT RACE O'Reilly NHRA
Spring Nationals
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