 he Goodguys 1st Northwest Nationals will be forever known as the “race for the record book.” Final eliminations closed with four new national vintage drag racing performance records, following the previous day's action which saw five new records established. It was indeed a very quick and very fast weekend at Pacific Raceways, some 20 miles south of Seattle.
Though he missed the last race on the Goodguys/VRA West Coast Series in Pomona due to a prior commitment, Goodguys top fuel rookie Brett Harris of Kayesville, Utah showed everyone that he belongs behind the wheel of a front-engined top fuel dragster. The “Deputy” as he’s known, took his bright red “Nitro Thunder” entry through no less than seven 5-second runs over the three-day event. Harris never ran slower than 5.978 and set Low ET and top speed of the meet, blasting to a 5.836/258.96 in a semi-final victory over Jim Murphy who trailed with a close 5.914/252.52.
In the Top Fuel final round, Harris defeated Goodguys Series points leader Rick McGee, posting a 5.944/251.06 to the runner up’s 5.988/251.81.
In Funny Car competition, Dan Horan Jr turned back points leader Larry Petit in the semi-finals with a 6.049/233.64 to defeat Petit’s 6.116/233.08. Horan had what you could call a
“clean sweep” this weekend, running low elapsed time of the event and setting a new class ET record at 6.012.
In the final, Horan proved vulnerable, logging his slowest time of the weekend at 6.556/228.19, but his competition, Tucson’s Mike Savage, had his hands full, getting out of the groove which resulted in an aborted run. With the win, Horan’s second of the season, he’s now taken over the points lead and appears primed to win his first-ever Goodguys Championship title.
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