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Hartman
pilots ‘Bullet Bob’ to emotional victory in
front of huge Maryland crowd
Evans sets new record in Pro Fuel; Cox back
in victory lane
BUDDS CREEK, Md.
(August 28, 2010) – Just seven months ago
following a bad fire at the season opening
Palm Beach Nitro Jam in Florida Bob and
Cathie Floch, owners of the well-known
“Bullet Bob” Prostalgia Nitro
Funny car, were on the verge of
walking away from the sport after nearly
four decades in the business.
With a destroyed car and seemingly no hope
of repair by the season’s second race in
Baton Rouge, the Floch family found
themselves carefully weighing their options
as to what to do next. Then came a miracle.
Dozens of racers from across the country
came to their aid, lending parts, cash and
support to help get the “Bullet Bob” machine
back on the track.
Now, exactly seven months after that fiery
accident and the ensuing outpouring of
support, “Bullet Bob” is back in victory
lane.
On a thrilling night of racing that saw a
world record come crashing down and new
winners across the board, driver Richard
Hartman stepped in and drove the “Bullet
Bob” Trans Am to its first win of the
season, joining
Bill Evans who reset both ends of the
world record in Pro Fuel and Del Cox who
returned to victory lane in Top Fuel at the
Maryland Nitro Jam Saturday in Budds Creek.
“Richard helped give us a win tonight we
will never forget,” Floch said. “To think
just a few months ago we didn’t even know if
we could get back out here and now being in
victory lane is just incredible. Add in the
fact that tomorrow is Cathie’s birthday and
this is a weekend we will cherish forever.”
Hartman got the win with a huge upset of
five-time Prostalgia winner Peter Gallen.
The win came after an extensive cleanup for
oil that saw Gallen switch lanes moments
before the run. Despite the change, Hartman
got off the line first and never looked back
in winning his first race of the season.
Hartman ran a 5.915 elapsed time at 239.39
miles-per-hour in the final, besting
Gallen’s 6.035, 241.32.
“I can’t even say how exciting this is,”
Hartman said. “My dad and I have been racing
nitro cars for 22 years and this is our
first win together in a nitro car. To have
this opportunity given to us by Bob and
Cathie is just awesome.”
The final was made even more dramatic as
both teams were forced to wait nearly an
hour to make the run following an extensive
cleanup for oil. During that time both
Gallen and Hartman had time to get out of
their cars and think through their runs
before strapping back in and settling things
on the track.
“I got out of the car once which I normally
don’t like to do, but we were waiting a long
time. It gives you a lot to think about and
it puts a lot in your head, but once the car
starts that all leaves you mind,” Hartman
said. “We weren’t concerned at all. We knew
the
IHRA would do a great job to get it
all cleaned up and of course they did just
that.
“We followed that mess with two great runs.
We both ran good numbers and we simply beat
him to the line which is a great
accomplishment against a team like Gallen.”
While Hartman and Gallen certainly put on a
show, there was
great racing throughout the evening
in Nitro Jam’s newest hit class. In the
consolation rounds of Prostalgia Nitro Funny
Car Mike McIntire got around John Dunn, Rick
Krafft defeated Aaron Armstrong and Steve
Nichols got the best of Greg Jacobsmeyer.
Despite the great evening of racing,
Hartman’s emotional win certainly stole the
show.
In his first race of the season legendary
tuner and racer Hartman reached the final in
the “Bullet Bob” machine with an opening
round win over McIntire, while Gallen moved
on with a round one win over Jacobsmeyer.
Gallen had low E.T. of the first round at
6.032.
Another thrilling moment during the opening
night of the Maryland Nitro Jam came when
Pro Fuel ace Bill Evans reset both ends of
the world record in the new nitro-powered
dragster class and also overtook the
championship lead with only two races
remaining.
In addition to beating friend and rival Mike
Manners in the final, Evans ran a 5.309,
270.43 to back up his even better 5.302,
272.45 he ran in round one. The two quick
laps gave Evans two shiny new records and
his fifth win of the season.
“So far we have done nearly everything we
talked about doing all on the first night.
We wanted to come here and win at least
once, make it to both finals, set a national
record and take over the points lead,” Evans
said. “We have already taken care of most of
that list, now we just need to come back out
tomorrow and do this all over again.”
Evans also got to debut his brand new finals
pirate flag adorning the back of his “Black
Pearl” Pro Fuel machine. With one flag for
regular competition and another for
final rounds only, Evans broke out
the American flag tribute with the skull and
crossbones as Manners, originally from
England, flew the colors of his home
country.
“We had a little thing going with Manners
that was a lot of fun. We just bought this
flag and he comes over and shows us his new
flag so I said that if we ever meet in the
finals we need to do our burnouts together
and make it a battle of the Brits against
the Americans,” Evans said. “It worked out
pretty cool.”
In the battle Evans ran a 5.309, 270.43 to
best Manners’ 5.435, 268.01 as both drivers
came into the final with a completely
different approach.
“Honestly we had that car tuned way back
when we went to the line because everyone
else was smoking the tires. When we finally
got to the line I decided we are going to
end it right here one way or the other,”
Evans said. “They pooched their car up and
we decided to do just the opposite and it
was over in 60 feet. They were playing it
safe and we were being on the edge and this
time it paid off.”
In the consolation rounds Rich McPhillips
drove around newcomer Karen Stalba, Dave
Hill beat Robin Samsel and John Finke beat
former points leader Jeff Hamelink.
Manners and Evans set up their epic final
with a pair of record-shattering opening
round passes. Manners had the best pass of
the evening with a 5.293, 273.61,
temporarily shattering the world record for
the class in a win over Stalba, while Evans
equaled his opponent with another pass under
the previous record in a win over Hamelink.
Evans ran a 5.302, 272.45 in the win, the
new national record for the class.
Finally in Top Fuel Cox returned to victory
lane for the first time since March in a win
over Lagana, ending Lagana and Litton’s
reign of terror of 10 wins over the past 11
races.
Cox ran into trouble on his run as the front
end began to lift off the ground near
halftrack, but after a quick correction he
was able to get back in the throttle and
drive around a smoking Lagana for his second
victory of the season and the seventh win of
his career.
Cox ran a 5.386 in the final.
“It has been one tough year. I have to give
it to the guys, especially Paul Smith and
everyone on the team who has been working
their butt off this year,” Cox said. “I
think we have our old combination back in
there. We still have a few troubles, but the
car is running good. I did my job today and
now we just need to keep this going.”
In the consolation round Bruce Litton got an
easy win over Mitch King, but lost a little
more ground to Lagana who is slowly edging
away from the former champ in the Top Fuel
title chase.
Lagana reached his seventh final in his last
eight tries with a round one victory over
King, while Cox powered his way into his
fourth final of the year with an opening
round victory over Litton. Lagana had low
elapsed time of the round running a 4.805,
300.20 in his first pass of the night.
Racing will continue beginning at 10 a.m. on
Sunday with sportsman eliminations followed
by a second afternoon of FanFest beginning
at noon and two more rounds of Nitro Jam
beginning at 1:30 p.m.
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