.001 Red Light Ends Booher's Day at Norwalk

Courtesy of NVW Motorsports Promotion
Photo courtesy of Booher Racing

NORWALK, Ohio (July 9, 2013) – AB Construction Top Alcohol Dragster driver Brandon Booher added another late-round finish to his 2013 scorecard when he reached the semifinals at last weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. Booher’s unique torque converter-equipped blown car was on a streak of 5.4-second elapsed times before he left the starting line just one thousandth of a second too soon.

Booher qualified his AB Construction/Torque Management dragster in the top half of the field for the sixth race in a row. Making the best of two qualifying sessions, Brandon ran 5.42 in the second qualifying session, preceded by a 5.39 that stood for No. 3 in the twenty-three car field through qualifying.

“I think qualifying well is one of the most important ingredients to a successful race day. Getting a good ladder position and making your draws as optimal as possible sets you up for a long day of racing. The car continues to run well consistently. It’s good to see that the car has the consistency and performance to put us in that position,” Brandon said.

The car kicked off eliminations with a decisive 5.42 win over class veteran Mike Kosky, who struggled to get down the hot Ohio racetrack. A/Fuel driver/tuner/owner Randy Meyer would be waiting in the second round of eliminations. Booher left on the nitro-injected dragster then ran a clean 5.40 at 268 MPH to beat Meyer’s close 5.42. Brandon’s 5.42 in the semifinals against rival Dave Hirata was negated when he red-lit by the smallest detectable margin - .001. As Brandon explains, a minor change to the tune-up may have been the culprit.

“The car was idling really low. We changed a few things in the fuel system to try to get better sixty foot times so it had more fuel. As I went in to pre-stage, the motor surged and it bumped me in way further than I usually go. I wasn’t in deep but it was further into the beams than I normally would’ve put myself. That resulted in a -.001 reaction time and cost us the round.”

Though he knew he was out of the race, Brandon continued the run to prepare for the AB Construction/Torque Management team’s next race, the Buckeye Fuel Wars LODRS regional event in Columbus, Ohio.

“I saw the red light come on. All I could do then was focus on hitting my shift points, keeping the car in the groove, and gathering data. Although I red-lit, the Racepak and fuel system don’t know that. By that point I was disappointed but it was out of my mind by the first shift light. My focus is compiling data for Q1 at Columbus. We’re going into that race strong, coming off a semifinal finish at a national event. Hopefully we’ll continue our run on the regional side of things. I would’ve liked to go further – I know the car would’ve done well in the finals. We’ll just push forward and try again in two weeks,” said Booher, now in his third full season in the NHRA’s fastest Sportsman class.

Booher Racing is a Champaign, Illinois-based Top Alcohol Dragster team, competing in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. Former Junior Dragster driver Brandon Booher pilots the family-owned AB Construction blown alcohol dragster. The team owns the world record for quickest and fastest converter-equipped TAD. Booher Racing receives support from Motorsports Unlimited, Goodson Tools, Spitzer Race Cars, and Torque Management. To learn more about Booher Racing, please visit www.nitronate.com/booher.

For news and results throughout the 2013 season, follow Booher Racing on Facebook (www.facebook.com/booherracing) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/booherracing).