HARRIS' FIVE
EARNS TEN (AS IN THOUSANDS)
AT GOODGUYS MARCH MEET

by Chris Martin.
DRO file photo by Ron Lewis.

photo by Ron Lewis

Jack Harris slid his Kaysville, Utah self into the pages of the drag racing history books with the Top Fuel win at the 42nd annual Goodguys March Meet. Harris, who rejuvenated his nitro racing career in 1995, guided his "Nitro Thunder" dragster to low e.t. and top speed of the meet in a 5.993/244.56 final-round win over a tractionless Lee Jennings.

In winning, the Goodguys organization announced that Harris had won the richest purse in front-engine Top Fuel history. Originally posted at $5,000-to-win, Harris would not have had that distinction because races as ancient as the Mickey Thompson 500 Meets (where Ed Pink and Connie Swingle won $5,000 in 1965) matched that. However, thanks to MBNA America offering an "MBNA Bonus Bucks" program, the winner's purse swelled to $10,000 and that may very well be the biggest ever.

Harris and crew chief Scott Mason both would acknowledge that they were lucky even to be on the eight-car bubble with a 6.23.

"We changed our engine combination this off-season and moved some things around on the car," said Mason. "We had put the fuel tank further forward and added more compression to the motor. However, after smoking the tires Friday and again on Saturday morning, we put the tank back where it was and added 65 pounds to the front end."

As a result, every run from the 6.23 to the final-round 5.99 was progressively quicker. In round one, Harris cranked out a 6.14/223.21 to dump Mark Malde and followed with a better 6.11/234.49 to clip March Meet veteran Denver Schutz's 6.33/204.91 and later a 6.05/237.71 to edge recent NHRA Winternationals qualifier Howard Haight.

Jennings, a former Alcohol Dragster racer, was within shooting range of Harris in eliminations. His first round 6.22/226.30 beat the last non-nostalgia Bakersfield winner Butch Blair's 6.23/222.60, and a second-round 6.18 handled a broken Rance McDaniel. His semi-final 6.09 dusted Mike McClennan, and seemed to indicate he'd give Harris a beef, but in the final, his rear tires gave up and the Utah driver was up 10K.

"I didn't realize what I had accomplished until I unbuckled in the shutdown area and took a look around," said Harris. "Scott called all the shots on the tune-up and he called the right one's today."

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