Wed, Nov 23rd, 9:57pst

The Sportsman ranks of drag racing employ some of the most deadly racers who may never see the glory of winning the "big race".  Your weekly bracket racer fine tunes his lane prep, vehicle performance, and driving skills on a consistent basis,  which enables him to make improvements to his program every week.  Once that racer feels that he has a car ready for the show, he usually makes a grand entrance.

That has been the 2011 story of Chris Murray.  After his convincing victory at the JDS Phil Eddy Memorial race in MM/PS, followed by a first place and a runner up finish at the 2011 Lions race, Chris decided to test the waters of Comp Eliminator.  He sat back, evaluated the indexes, and found a nice cozy home in A/FX.  His package of horsepower, consistent reaction times, and smart thinking enabled him to take home the win through a tough field.  Chris won with his A/FX 1967 Mustang running a 1.123 (-.039) against Edgar Pasillas running .931 (-.049)  in his 1968 Firebird BB/PM, as he lit the red bulb.

Without a doubt, the key race to victory was in the third round between Gary Lum's #1 qualifying and record breaking C/M 1998 Firebird against Chris Murray and his A/FX 1967 Mustang, qualifying in the #13 position.  Gary had knocked down his index the previous round from 1.175 to 1.147 by running a (-.078) under 1.097.  That, combined with Chris running (-.053) under 1.117  in round 2, created a very tight race. As the lights came down, Gary left first, but shook the tires to a losing 1.175 (+.028) to Chris' winning 1.115 (-.055).  This was also Chris' fastest pass of the day.  Coincidence?  I think not.  And here is the beauty of it all. Chris was able to knock out the number one qualifier, while having his Mustang set on "kill", and still only knock (.005) off his own A/FX index for eliminations.

Chris Murray started off with the AMT Street Freak Mustang, and then went about converting it into a Paula Murphy style transition car.  He added a teardrop A/FX style hood scoop and a resin Shelby style front clip. He finished it off with Tamiya Mica Red over a silver base coat.  As far as getting the power to the ground, he started with a Ross brass inline motor bracket with a WRP front guide section.  He connected the two together with .062 piano wire.  The car is completed with a Pro Slot Speed FX motor with stock airgap, reglued magnets, and a respaced armature.  Rolling stock consist of WRP Halibrand rears, and Speed Secret 5 spokes in the front.

He bleeds Dodger Blue, he drinks Charles Shaw wine (courtesy of Jim and Debbi), and he runs fast.  Edgar Pasillas made the semi at the 2011 SCCEC Springnationals in his BB/PM 1968 Firebird.  This time, he took his Firebird all the way to the finals, where the red light got him.  With three cars qualifying in the top 10 of the 32 car field, Edgar was ready to go.  Its just a matter of time before Edgar gets a sip of that fine Comp bubbly.

The Super Shootout has grown to become one of the SCCEC's most challenging events.  After the dust settled from the 70 cars, Mike Rogers went home the winner in his 1977 Mustang with Rudy Rosales (DX-2) in the runner up spot driving his 1966 Nova. Mike was able to chose his 1.200 index, and that black Mustang II ran the number all afternoon.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  That is Mike Rogers view when it comes to this car.  He has been running this Mustang II in So-Cal Super Gas for over 15 years now.  It still looks good, and runs even better, so why mess with it?  He built this car with a wire chassis, a sealed S16d motor, a top secret gear ratio, and some classic Pro Track tires that could hook in any conditions.  This Mustang II also won Super Gas recently at the JDS Phil Eddy Memorial race.

We couldn't race without you.

Koford
Pro Slot
WRP
JDS
Parma
John "A-Main" Tier
Albert Acacio
BPIR
Accucolors