Boise Nightfire Nationals 2010
Posted in Uncategorized on August 17th, 2010 by lynnHow many superlatives does it take to describe three days of racing at the Nightfire Nationals?? Incredible! Awesome! Fantastic!
Our weekend began with a display of the Warhawk at Economy Transmissions on Overland Blvd, and then also at Key Bank in Emmett. Dan at Economy – you have done so much to help us out and we thank you, thank you, thank you! Also, Grant from Bronco Motors in Boise – we would have been stranded in June without you! Finally, we ended the weekend with a display on Monday at bodybuilding.com in Boise. Again - OUR SPONSORS ROCK! If you are looking for a way to help support racing, you can also help by supporting the sponsors who make it possible for us to do what we love. Check them out on the web, in person, send your family and friends to them and give them your business. They are the best!
So, now thoroughly sunburnt, we wandered our way out to the track to get down to some serious racing. Can you say packed? Brackets, Pro-Mods, Top Fuel, Nitro – what a turn out! They must have even topped the field from last year with this year’s entries. Over 20 cars in the nitro turn-out alone….no, those were not tears of joy. They were tears from the fumes that wafted over the pits LOL We were also lucky enough to have our son Layne Conger and his wife Megan helping us this week, along with Cody Smith from Fox Sportswear, Craig (ummm…you know what? After how many races and I still didn’t ask you last name! bad me…) and Kevin Burgess and his wife, Yvette. And Bugsy (small, white, fluffy, friendly – dog, that is) Craig is incredible at making contact with the fans and selling t-shirts and doing anything needed on the car. Unless he is getting mugged by Mark Sanders (Mr. Explosive). Okay, not exactly mugged – Craig was throwing shirts to the stands and Mark came over, wrestled one away from him and did the honors. Unfortunately, Craig didn’t know for a minute that it was Mark lol. He just thought he was getting mugged for a shirt. Mark? You weren’t really, were you? Were you?
A twist to the weekend – Darin Bay, owner of the Incinerator and Black Rat Jet Dragsters opted to take a change-up and drove Twig Ziegler’s Pizza Haven Nitro Funny Car to seventh place qualifier on the nitro ladder. Not to be outdone, Mark Sanders took Mr. Explosive up to third.
Warhawk ran like the veteran and class act that she is, as always. Friday night turned in a 6.396 @ 253.16. And what better omen for the rest of the weekend that the spotting of a shooting star from the Perseids Meteor Shower on our way back to the motel. Saturday was an even quicker ET of 6.338 @ 251.95. We finished Sunday with 6.434 @ 255.02.
Our thanks, also to Brad New and the entire New family for having us out to Firebird Raceway. They run an incredible facility and keep it as close to clockwork as it is possible to do when you have so many variables and cantankerous machines to deal with. The new tower is beautiful, their announcers spot-on with their commentary, their crew one of the finest in the Mountain West and their safety crew top notch. We love coming back to Firebird!
Before I close, I do want to address one other thing on a somber note. On our way to Boise Thursday night, we reached Glenn’s Ferry and were directed to leave the highway and take a detour along a frontage road. At the time, we didn’t know what had happened, but looking down on the highway, you could tell it was something terrible – nothing but traffic at a standstill and a sea of emergency lights. We found out later that there had been a head-on collision not long before we reached that area. A truck was driving the wrong way on the highway and the Herrera family – a family of four from California – was killed. We want to offer our deepest sympathies and our respects to the family left behind by this tragic accident. Also – we want to plead with everyone – be careful out there! Please, please, PLEASE – if you have been drinking or are drowsy – DON’T DRIVE!!!