Boise, Idaho 08-10-14, 2007:
For the 36th year in
a row the New family's Night Fire Nationals made Boise the place
for drag racers and fans to be. For the thousands of fans in
attendance, it was without doubt the single most impressive event
in the track's forty year history. Nice weather (for this time
of year) greeted a record field of racers and jam-packed grandstands
to four incredible days of racing.
And once again this long established
event proved why it should be on every ones racing calendar.
Hundreds of race cars vied for some of the largest purses offered
to sportsman and pro classes anywhere. The huge event was capped
by a weekend of nitro featuring a full 16 car field of Top Fuel
dragsters along with Fuel Alterds and Funny Cars. In Top Fuel,
a number of cars dipped into the 5’s in both qualifying
and eliminations, but several were also challenged with tire
smoke for the first time during the weekend on Sunday when the
Friday and Saturday 80s turned to high 90s and track temps reached
140 degrees. It proved to be nothing shy of wild to sit back
and watch from a fan perspective.
On Thursday Jack Harris Racing
rolled into the sun drenched pits of Firebird Raceway with three
contenders - the Nitro Thunder and Paso Posse Top Fuel dragsters
and the Nitro Thunder Ford Victoria funny car. With much experience
at the Boise facility, the Harris cars are always on the short
list of favorites and this was no exception.
On the dragster side, both Brett
and Jack qualified in the top half of the field but went out
early with Nitro Thunder losing on a round one hole shot and
the Paso Posse being shut off on the starting line with oil pressure
issues in round two. But the funny car came out on top of an
abbreviated but strong field to beat the Pisano & Matsubara
Vega in the final. It was the first Nostalgia Funny Car championship
for Harris.
More of the
story and photos below.
