The Perfect Storm-NHRA Lucas Div. 3 Burndown at Sundown

Saturday was a beautiful for racing at Route 66 Raceway for the Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning Burndown at Sundown. This event is run in conjunction with day 2 of the NHRA Lucas Oil Series Regional Division 3 race.  The racing started early with the final time trials and qualifications, followed by the start of eliminations. There was non-stop racing, all day, as we approached the 5:00 p.m. start of the first Burndown at Sundown show. The National Anthem was sung by Nickey Farr

This year's show presented the wheel-standing Detailers Studebaker Fire Truck of Rick Ream, Dave Modder's  Dragon's Fyre  jet fire truck dragster, Barry Richter's jet funny car Hypersonic, Scotty Heat's jet dragster Fifty Cal, Danny Sullivan's Chicago Rush jet dragster and Al Zukasukas' Hot Blade jet dragster.

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They put on a spectacular show. The only issue was shortly after the launch, Chicago Rush had a flame out. All the jets were set to return for the 9:00 p.m. show. This was when a set of circumstances occurred to start the Perfect Storm scenario. The racing continued but due to  some unforeseen minor incidents things got backed up. Everyone was working hard to catch up when Brian Brown crashed his Top Sportsman car. Fortunately, Brian was uninjured, however the car was extensively damaged. After the cleanup, it was decided to continue the racing and delay the second Burndown show to the end. Here are some images from the day's racing:

We were able to complete the day's events and as a finale, the second Burndown show was really spectacular.

You will notice that the shape of the flame on Chicago Rush is not quite the same as that of the Hypersonic.  Something let loose inside the jet engine showering the track with red hot metal fragments. Fortunately, there were no injuries.

At the conclusion of the day, the Wally's were handed out to the Motorcycle winners.

Now, the second part of the Perfect Storm. Due to a poor weather report for the next day, it was decided to start early at 8:00 a.m. to take advantage of a window of opportunity to complete the event. This was how it started and ended.

The decision was made to cancel the day's remaining races and to complete the race at Columbus.

To see all of Saturday's events, please click here