Just when we were about to put his picture onto a milk carton, Adam Saruwatari showed up at Sonoma and ran a personal-best 7.399 @ 179.42mph. Adam dabbled with a twin supercharger configuration on the V-6 but at Infineon he ran the NSX with its original twin-turbo setup. While the change did Adam good, Abel has been struggling all season long with his switch from a two-rotor to three-rotor powerplant. At Sonoma, Abel's K&N RX-7 was showing some of its old stuff until a cracked rotor housing took him out of the game.
In Round 1, Grant was awarded a bye run and Adam also got a solo pass when Abel couldn't make the call. John should have had an easy time taking care of Manny Cruz in Round 1 and it looked that way as he left the lights nearly two-tenths ahead of the Cougar. But at the 60-foot mark the Summit car got loose, allowing Manny to come around. John couldn't hold it as the car crossed the centerline, narrowly missing the back of the Cougar, and then glazed the wall, flipped over, and came to rest well after the finish line. John was unhurt, and after such a wild ride, the damage to the car was surprisingly light.
In the semis, Cruz got a solo into the finals and while Adam clicked off a near-perfect 0.434 light, the Nitto/Enkei Racing Acura was no match for the Venom Toyota. Grant's 7.126 @ 195.25mph was enough to back up his qualifying pass and give the NHRA Pro class a new record.
The finals match-up between these two wasn't the first time, as Grant beat Manny at the NHRA finals in Houston while Cruz got revenge in Dallas. But this one was over before it even began as Manny lit the red, giving Grant the win and allowing him to take over the points lead from John with his now wrinkled Cavalier.
ModifiedAt Sonoma, Jimmy O'Connor was still gimping around with his cane but after hobbling into his Venom Supra, he took the Number One qualifying spot with an 8.055 @ 169.68mph. The Bothwell Motorsports team had to thrash just to get to the eliminations. During practice, the Cavalier snapped an axle just after launch, sending Nelson Hoyos head-on toward the wall. Nelson managed to spin the car to save the front end but the rear suspension was heavily damaged. After some help from a local shop and a wheel from Abel, the Cav' made the field.
But the front drivers are having a tough time keeping up with the new breed of rear-wheel-drive modified cars. When the dust settled, Nelson, Steph Papadakis, and Ed Bergenholtz were eliminated by the RWDs. In the finals, Jimmy lined up against Matt Hartford, who was trying to salvage the weekend for the Summit Team with his Chevrolet. Both the Supra and Cavalier ran 7.90s during the first few rounds and this final looked to be a good one. Both drivers slept at the lights but Matt's 0.635 was just good enough against Jimmy's 0.695. Even though the Venom car's 7.984 @ 170.39mph was quicker and faster than the 8.031 @ 165.23mph from the Summit team, it wasn't enough to make up for the starting line deficit.
Hot RodThere were some big names fighting for the Wally in the Hot Rod class. Well, Jojo and Tran aren't too big, but Mortensen, now there's a big name-nine letters long! Just kidding, folks, don't forget to tip your waitress on the way out.