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"We did just get this car, but I've been fuel racing for about 10 years.
I was crew chief on Butch Blair's car for five or six years and I've
had my Funny Car license for about five years now," King explained.
Since he arrived at the track with documentation showing he'd made several
practice passes in his new car at Houston -- including a four-second
lap -- it took just one unofficial pass during Friday night's first
qualifying session to earn King an IHRA Top Fuel license. He backed
that up with an early-shutoff 5.093 for his first official qualifying
attempt, then bettered it to a 4.961 on Saturday night to secure the
sixth-place step on the ladder for raceday.
"We're so low on parts and pieces that when I feel it drop a hole,
I've got to get out of it. It dropped a cylinder at about four seconds;
I clicked it off at about 4.2 and we still ran a 4.96, so we were on
a pretty good run," King said after qualifying for his first IHRA Top
Fuel event. "It had an .860 60-foot time and was 252 mph at half track,
so it was probably going to run an .80," he figured.
King was in tough for his first elimination round, though, facing off
against veteran Jim Head, who strapped a .035 holeshot on the Texan,
then won going away with a 4.82 compared to King's 5.28 when he had
to shut down early again. "We're just trying to take it slow and cautious
and not hurt it more than we have to," he said. Still, King and his
crew were encouraged by the results and by Head after their inaugural
event.
"It's a big team effort here. A lot of guys are helping me pay for
this deal as part owners and we're just thrilled to death to be here.
We've got Doug Cook tuning the deal, and he's been an instrumental guy
in helping us get this thing together and running," King said. "And
Jim Head, he came over after the race and welcomed us and said he was
impressed with our equipment and that he respected Doug's work. That
meant a lot to me, coming from a guy like that."
JANIS JOINS CANNON IN RECORD BOOKS
Mike Janis tied Scotty Cannon's single-season win record at Shreveport
with his fifth Pro Mod title after appearing in seven final rounds this
year. It wasn't easy, though, as the supercharged engine in Janis' 1963
Corvette self-destructed after a 6.28 to 6.38 win over Mike Faucher
in the second round, leading to a mad dash for repairs before he faced
the always-formidable, nitrous-assisted Shannon Jenkins in the semis.
No less than five Pro Mod teams contributed efforts and expertise to
get Janis back in the race, but had it not been for an oildown of the
track by Top Fuel ace Jim Head while they were working, there's no way
Janis could've answered the call to stage. The Lancaster, NY-based driver
then had another incredible stroke of luck, as Jenkins threw away a
6.268-secs pass by lighting the red bulb on the launch, while Janis
drove through his clutch and coasted to a 7.53 win.
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