IHRA POSTPONES
RICHMOND RACE

Words and photos by Ian Tocher

Mother Nature turned out to be top eliminator at the IHRA's ACDelco Nationals Apr. 18-21, at Virginia Motorsports Park. Heat and humidity were the enemies most of the weekend, but it was rain on Sunday that finally put a halt to the action before the first round of Pro Stock could be completed. With more wet weather forecast for Monday, IHRA officials decided to postpone eliminations until June 1, 2002, though the track will open to racers the day before.

LITTON TOPS TOP FUEL FIELD

Indy-based Bruce Litton was fast off the trailer in Virginia, grabbing the number-one spot in the first round of Top Fuel qualifying with a 4.789-secs pass at 313.44 mph, then improving to a 4.747 at 308.43 in the third and final session. Defending class champion Clay Millican was second with a 4.818-secs pass, with 17-year-old Josh Starcher qualifying a surprising third at 4.825 seconds in his Top Fuel competition debut.

Number-one qualifier Bruce Litton (right) and second-place man Clay Millican were paired together in Saturday afternoon's Top Fuel qualifying session.

Rounding out the top half of the eight-car field was Paul Romine at 4.900, followed by Louie Allison, Jack Ostrander, Don Reed, and Roger Dean with a 5.141 on the bump spot. Grant Flowers, John "Doc" Sipple, Jim Head, and Vicky Fanning failed to qualify.

STARCHER MAKES PRO DEBUT

It's hard to believe, but the last race car Josh Starcher drove before strapping into Joel Collins' WIX Filters-backed Top Fueler was a Briggs&Stratton-powered Junior Dragster. In just his ninth pass in a nitro-breathing dragster, Starcher went 5.074 at 287.60 mph, then got his first ever four-second pass in the second round of qualifying with a 4.966 at 295.08 mph.

Starcher, who is just a Junior at East Fairmont High School in West Virginia, then went one better in Saturday's Night of Fire when he joined the 300-mph club, going 4.825 at 300.60 mph to secure the number-three spot for eliminations. "It's entirely too much to soak up at this point in time," the youngster said later. "I'm just trying to stay calm and enjoy it as it comes."

Crew chief Richard Hartmann said Starcher is "a natural" when it comes to giving feedback about what the car is doing on each pass down the track. Hartmann said he'd never met Starcher before their first test session together a few weeks back. "The first day was a little rocky," Hartmann admitted, "but the second was a huge improvement. He's very excited about the whole thing, but it doesn't detract from his driving once he's in the car. He really has a feel for the car."

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