Our team headed out March 7th to begin our 2008 season at the 50th March Meet in Bakersfield California. The guys did a great job of preparing the car back at our Anaheim shop after hurting some parts during testing only 3 weeks before. Our first qualifying run netted a 5.88 at only 223 mph. The car was making a really nice run but was moving over toward the wall near the finish line so I shut it off at about 5.3 seconds. With no hurt parts we serviced the car and got ready for saturday morning. We left the track Friday night sitting in a pretty comfortable 6th spot.

With a couple of changes we head to the starting line for our 2nd shot. This time the car leaves really hard and is charging strong in the middle of the track...I just had a good feeling about this run! As I made the turnout and climb out of the car I hear one of the workers tell me we just ran 5.76 and 258 mph!
Our best numbers ever! Again no hurt parts and with car serviced and headed back up for the final session we just try to repeat the 5.76 and we do so with a 5.78 at 252 mph. As qualifying comes to an end we are planted in the number 2 qualifying spot! Good news....and bad news, Jim Murphy is in the 15th spot and the WW2 team is always tough.

Our first round match up with Murphy ended before it started as the WW2 team was shut off due to an oil leak at the starting line. I decide to run the car to finish line on a single to try to get lane choice for the 2nd round. We put up a nice 5.80 at 257 mph. As it turns out it would not be good enough for lane choice as Denver Schutz runs a 5.75. In the 2nd round Denver runs a great 5.77 as we broke a blower belt at about 900ft. and coasted to a 5.95 at 213 mph. Our weekend was over but nobody in our pit was hanging their heads as we just had one of the most successful weekends in a long time. With parts attrition at a minimum and all time best performance numbers for the car, it just gave us a huge boost and a lot of confidence heading to our next event.

I want to thank Ralf Miller for making the trip out from San Antonio to be with us for the weekend. This was only the 3rd time Mr. Miller had attended a drag race. The other 2 were NHRA national events, but I think he will carry more memories from this race than the other 2. I believe nostalgia drag racing just has that kind of impact on spectators.

Highspeed Motorsports also wants to send our deepest condolences to Judee Shoemaker. John was a great individual and will be sorely missed. I am very grateful for the time we got to spend together in Seattle and Mission BC last August. I have a lot of photos from those 2 events that have just become more valuable to me than I ever imagined they would.

John Shoemaker with Troy at Mission Raceway in 2007.

Til next time, Troy & Lara

E-mail: Top Fuel Troy