Bellemeur Qualifies # 1 - Joins 250 MPH Club

09-04-05 Kent, WA. The Goodguys 1st Northwest Nationals will be forever known as the “race for the record book.” Final eliminations closed Sunday with four new national vintage drag racing performance records, following Saturday'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.

At the end of three rounds of qualifying Sean Bellemeur in the Plaza Hotel car held down the # 1 spot in Top Fuel with a career-best 5.860 @ 250.60.

At 1:30 Friday afternoon it was down to business that found Sean Bellemeur paired with Rick White for the first qualifying session.

Bellemeur left hard and took over the top spot in Top Fuel by about a tenth of a second carding a career best 5.860 at 250.60. White spun hard at 200 feet and shut off.

11:35 on an overcast Saturday morning the Plaza Hotel crew prepares to fire the car of the second qualifying session.

Bellemeur heats the tires with the engine sounding like it did the run before.

Paired with Terry Cox Tom Shelar waits for the final signal to move Sean into the staging beams.

Bellemeur left hard and nearly bested his previous run with a shut off early (1000' mark) and still ran a 5.880 at just 214.01. On the other hand, Cox had major engine problems in the other lane and fortunately escaped harm.

On Saturday afternoon Sean Bellemeur and the Plaza Hotel crew were officially inducted into the prestigious 250 MPH Club. Bellemeur becomes the 14th driver to break the 250 mark in front engine Top Fuel dragsters.
250 MPH Club

The third and final session was Saturday afternoon and the tune up was finally more than the track could handle. Bellemeur smoked the tires early and coasted through with a 14.176 at just 71.04 but remained in the top spot.

Sean Bellemeur packs his chutes while Bert "The Mad Scientist" Toulette mixes the 92 (or so) percent nitro needed for five second - 250 MPH passes.

Prior to first round of eliminations Sean Bellemeur and Brett Johansen survey the track conditions.

10:30 a.m. and eliminations were under way. Bellemeur was paired with rookie, Dale Carlson who broke before staging. Sean ran it out to the 1000 foot mark and shut off to a 6.025 at just 203.65. Things were looking very good.

 

At 1:03 p.m. Top Fuel took center stage for their second round. Sean Bellemeur was paired with Rick McGee. Bellemeur's car had been on a rail all weekend but here, for some reason, he struck the tires early in the run and McGee took full advantage of it. By 330' mark you could see that Bellemeur wasn't going to catch 'The Overtime Special'. And so ended another weekend at the races. The Plaza Hotel car put on a great show and even though they didn't win the meet, their presence will be etched in the history books of this inaugural event.