Massey qualifies sixth for Las Vegas race

April 02

Spencer Massey drove the Prestone/FRAM Top Fuel dragster into the sixth starting spot for tomorrow’s 12^th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals on the strength of his run Friday afternoon here on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 28-year-old Fort Worth native’s 3.945-second/309.70-mile-per-hour pass in the second qualifying round earned the Don Schumacher Racing driver a spot in the top half of the field and a date with Shawn Langdon in the first round of eliminations.

“Thank goodness for our strong run yesterday as we had trouble putting power to the track today in our Fram/Prestone car,” he said.  “In the last round of qualifying today, we had a good run going when we hit a bump in the right lane and had to back off.”

A hot track – in the neighborhood of 120-130 degrees for both days of qualifying – provided challenges for crew chiefs trying to get down the slippery surface. Forecasts for race day offer a temperature drop of some 20 degrees, which means different tune-ups and, generally, different results.

“We’re a cooler weather kind of team,” said Massey. “So we are really looking forward to tomorrow and eliminations. The last two days have been a bit nerve racking.”

Loss of traction in both runs today resulted in laps of 5.763/114.81 and 4.345/196.85.

“But none of this means anything tomorrow,” he added. “I can’t wait to race and, of course, I love racing Shawn.”

The two young Top Fuel pilots pride themselves on their starting-tree prowess, generally compiling the best reaction-time numbers in the class. Massey topped Langdon in their one meeting of the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season. He took the win light in the second round of the Gatornationals and the tree competition (.044 over a .057 R/T).

“The reaction time deal with Shawn is fun, but I take my starting-line work very seriously,” he said.

First round begins at 11 a.m. PDT. Television coverage on ESPN2/ESPN2HD runs tomorrow from 4:30 to 7 p.m. EDT.