The 2002 Governors Cup was, for lack of better words, a strange event. The first round of qualifying on Friday featured fuelers under the lights - a magical sight. But this particular session would be an omen for a problem plagued weekend filled with upsets, surprises and questionable rule calls. Enjoy the photos and we'll try to explain it below.

No one will argue that Jack "The Sheriff" Harris and his "Nitro Thunder" fueler is one of the biggest dogs on the porch. Further, there is no other team in the class that can claim "we will be there for the round call" more adamantly than Jack & The Posse. Leave the door cracked and Team Harris will bust it open - just look at the 2002 March Meet. Well, we'll never know if they couldn't do it again at Sacramento because of a really bogus "rules" call (or lack of rules) that sent Harris on the road back to Utah and allowed the "Foothill Flyer" back in the race after they had forfeited the round.

Long story short: In round one Harris lost to Murphy but was the low ET loser for the round. Glen Hutchenson beat Howard Haight but murdered the engine (again) in the process. The call for round two went out and the Foothill Flyer team threw in the towel as there was no way in hell they could repair or replace the parts needed to make another run. Harris was told, "You're back in."  Keep that in mind.

The four cars for round two came to the staging lanes (after another long time delay) and were ready to run (drivers in - starters on the snouts) when a junk door slammer dumped its tranny from the three-quarter mark on. This was at 10:10 and since Sacramento has a 10:30 curfew, there was no way to get the track back in time to run the fuelers. SO - the call was made to run round two on Sunday morning. That was understandable -- but the decision to revert the round call and give the Foothill Flyer team all night to repair their car was NOT understandable. They had already forfeited the round and Harris was instated. To all our minds that should have been end of deal.

When he knew that Jensen and crew could fix their broken parts in 12+ hours, Harris handled this really bad call better than most of us would have and simply loaded up his hot rod and headed back to Utah to get ready for the California Hot Rod Reunion.

The Posse prepares to start the potent "Nitro Thunder" fueler prior to Friday nights qualifying session. Harris left the starting line like a rocket but encountered traction problems from half track on and could only muster a 6.30 ET at just 167 MPH (which indicates how early he shut the car off). The onboard computer indicated that on this run the car was on a 5.80 pass ( 1.02 @ 60 FT, 2.66 @ 330 FT, 3.94 @ half track) but got out of the groove and Jack was off the throttle at 4.3 seconds.

Normally at or near the top of the any qualified field, Jack Harris and his "Nitro Thunder" car couldn't quite get a handle on the tricky Sacramento track and was floating in the 6.30 range all weekend. The problem was getting the car to hook up from half track on and there just weren't enough laps to dial it in. Watch out for these guys at the CHRR as Bakersfield has been quite good to them in the past and Jack is very confident that Brett's new tune-up will produce some impressive numbers.

Brett Harris backs his dad up after his Saturday afternoon qualifying run burnout.

The newest member of "The Posse" is Bill Robbins who was partners with Jack in race cars over 30 years ago. Living proof that some kids never grow up. Seriously, Harris and the rest of the crew are thrilled to have Bill on the team.

Brett Harris put a cylinder head back on the engine after routine maintenance.

Two of the "heavy hitters" in Nostalgia Top Fuel in the staging lanes of Sacramento. Jack Harris' "Nitro Thunder" and Jim Murphy's "OSH-WW2 Racing".

Jack "The Sheriff" Harris becomes the first of the Nostalgia Top Fuel drivers to employ the "Hans Device". Like others, he found it hard to get comfortable in but its function far outweighs its form.

Jack Harris and Mike Fuller (Fuller & Dunlap) enjoy some quite time prior to the first round of qualifying.

Hurry up and wait is not only an Army saying - it works quite well for drag racing too. They often rush the cars into the staging lanes and then for whatever reasons, they wait for a long time to actually run.

Ready to run, Harris moves the car into the staging beams at the starting line.

Breather masks in place, the crew warms up the 3000 HP hemi in Nitro Thunder.