Lindsey Barker Takes a New Car to the Final Round in the NHRA Race in Georgia
- May 9, 2012
"It was kinda crazy since the weather that weekend was terrible," said Barker of her second outing with the brand new 632 nitrous assisted dragster. "We tested the car that Thursday before the race and everything had gone really well, except for a little top end incident." "It was really windy that day and a Top Sportsman guy comes around the corner with his chute out," she explained. "I kept trying to tell him to stop, but he just kept on going. I never put the car in park and for whatever reason this time I did. I thought I was going to be smart, because I saw it coming, and I ran over to the back of the car, thinking I could push it outta the way. It all happened so fast and his chute just grabbed my wheelie bar and pulled my whole car sideways and messed up the bracket."
Barker was able to borrow a wheelie bar from another racer and was ready for the division event qualifying the following day. "The weather just kept getting worse," she said. "The car just shook so bad during the qualifying runs, so I didn't even have any numbers to go off of for eliminations, but somehow we ended up going to the Top Dragster final." Eliminations for Top Dragster wouldn't get underway until quite late on Sunday with what equated to some very cool and dry conditions for southern Georgia -- 61 degrees, 21 percent humidity and an adjusted altitude of 483 feet. Barker made it past Kelly Cooke in round one, before the persistent weather delays and problems with the track weeping caused the event to be delayed until Monday morning. There she would face Mia Tedesco in round two for what would be a nearly heads up race. Barker on a 4.44 to Tedesco's 4.45 and with an ever-so-slight starting line advantage, Barker pushed Tedesco farther under her dial for the double breakout win. Remaining on her 4.44 dial, Barker squared off against Larry Strickland where she took a huge .040 starting line advantage with her .002 light, parlaying that into another round victory and off to the semi-finals and a very good race with Dylan Stott. The two were nearly neck-and-neck on the tree, but it was the former A-Fuel driver's .011 package that would come out on top and Barker was off to her first Top Dragster final of the season in the brand new car.
"The car just shook off the line every pass during eliminations, except the final," Barker pointed out. "So you know what happened, I went out there and was just going way too fast. I tried to tighten it up and knock more off but I was on my quickest run of eliminations. With everything that happened over the weekend, from the wheelie bar incident to getting delayed with the crazy weather, it still felt really good to go to the final with the new car," she added. Barker will be competing with the new K&N Top Dragster at one of the few available NHRA National events where the class is offered and the 32nd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, May 4-6 just outside of Atlanta. While she had hoped to compete at the event in both her Top Dragster and her Super Comp car, the 8.90 dragster won't quite be ready for competition in time to make the race. "The motor for the Super Comp car should be ready here in the next few weeks," she explained. "We will get it out later this year and run both, but for now we are really just going to concentrate on the new Top Dragster. I am really enjoying running this class and I can't wait for the new paint to be completed. [laughs] During that divisional event, I didn't really have any decals on the car because I still had all the wrap on the aluminum body, so it wouldn't get messed up for the painter. So between the white and silver and the borrowed purple wheelie bar, it was something else to look at." Just like Barker's cars of the past and her current Super Comp car, her brand new Top Dragster continues to use as many K&N products as possible. "We've had a very long, great relationship with K&N," she said. "Steve Williams, Tony Yorkman, they are all just really great. What I really like about them is that they are just like us. They are all just really good people, they understand what we go through as sportsman racers and what we need the products that we use to accomplish. The new car has all the K&N filters we can use on it, the air filter and oil filters to even the smaller breather tank type filters, it's all K&N. It's all fantastic product and we only try to use the best available on any of our cars." Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
