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Oklahoma racer captures Top Fuel title at Hot Rod Reunion
Oklahoma racer claims Top Fuel title in Hot Rod Heritage Series final at Famoso
| Sunday, Oct 12 2008 10:17 PM
Last Updated: Sunday, Oct 12 2008 10:19 PM
Troy Green overcame the pressure of a must-win second round elimination run against Adam Sorokin to edge Jim Murphy for the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Top Fuel championship Sunday.
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Rick Shelar, left, keeps driver Top Fuel driver Troy Green out of the direct sun before his race Sunday at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.
Troy Green gets in an excellent run Sunday in the Top Fuel division at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.
Top fuel racer Troy Green keeps the crowd happy Sunday at Famoso Raceway while doing a burnout before his race.
In his older model Chevy pick-up, Gary McWilliams was a crowd pleaser Sunday at Auto Club Famoso Raceway as he shoots flames out of the back after going down the entire track on two wheels.
Gary McWilliams flies down the track on two wheels Sunday, pleasing the crowd for an exhibition in between races at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.
The Purcell, Okla., resident was one of six drivers to claim a championship trophy on the final day of the 17th annual California Hot Rod Reunion at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.
"It's a huge honor to be the first Nostalgia Top Fuel champion for the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series," Green said. "To be the first Top Fuel champion of that series, that will go in the books. That will be there forever. That's a really big deal for us."
Bucky Austin of Fife, Wash., won the Funny Car title and the process set a Nostalgia Funny Car record by posting a time of 5.749 seconds in the final against Kris Krabill.
Despite both feats, Austin remained subdued afterwards.
"It (winning the championship) doesn't really sink in until the next day," he said. "All of the guys are going to go home tonight or tomorrow and think about how we can go quicker. You can go from hero to zero so you don't want to get too cocky. You celebrate for maybe a couple of hours and then you go right back to thinking how you can make it run faster next time."
Austin (5.805) and Krabill (5.894) had the top two times during the first Chicago Style Session in which 12 of the 20 cars in the Funny Car class were eliminated.
"The competition we had today was outstanding," Austin said. "Kris Krabill is a hell of a driver. I was fortunate to beat him."
Green led Murphy by just five points after qualifying. But when Murphy beat Mike McLennan during Round 2 Eliminations, Green's title hopes hinged on outrunning Adam Sorokin later in the round. Green did just that with a time of 5.701 and then claimed the championship the next round when both he and Murphy lost their races.
"I don't know that I've ever felt that much pressure inside the car before," Green said. "It was a do-or-die deal. We had to beat Adam Sorokin in the second round. It was all over if we didn't."
Rick White was the Top Fuel event winner. He ran 5.819 in the final to beat Brett Harris, who had something wrong with his car and was forced to shut it down by the starter.
"I've been doing this my whole life and this is a real thrill to win the Hot Rod Reunion in this class," White said. "I won it in my A/Fuel car (in 1999) and now I won it in my Top-Fuel car."
Austin wasn't the only record-setter on Sunday. Leah Pruitt became the first woman to post a sub-six-second time in a Nostalgia Funny car with a run of 5.832 seconds.
But the story of the day centered around the battle between Green and Murphy.
"Today, the car just seemed to slip a little," Murphy said. "We don't know why. We were off about a tenth of a second. We were on a roll and we were hoping we could continue it. We came out here on Friday and ran good. We ran good again Saturday and so we had pretty high hopes. We don't know why it hiccupped today. These things are so darn finicky."
Even with the disappointment of losing the title by such a narrow margin, Murphy was able to put the season into perspective.
"It was an awesome year for us," Murphy said. "We kind of started off on a bad foot when we got shut off in the first round in the March Meet with a little -- a real small -- oil leak. That kind of put us behind the eight-ball but we had a great comeback and it was close."