Five-time AMA/Prostar Top Fuel champion
Larry McBride garnered his 15th consecutive AMA/Prostar victory with
a commanding performance at the Pingel Thunder Nationals from Indianapolis,
IN, Aug 21st-22nd.
“It’s unbelievable,”
McBride said of his record streak. “I try not to think about it.
My philosophy has always been to go out and race the track, not the
guy on the other side. We just concentrate on our lane and try to make
consistent passes.”
McBride started the weekend as usual
- with a low six-second blast to take the pole position.
“It felt really good to unload
off the trailer with a 6.11,” McBride said. “I knew there
was a lot of room for improvement.”
During session two McBride set a new
Indianapolis Raceway Park track record by running an impressive 5.89
to surpass the 5.97 mark he established last year.
“We we’re already qualified
so we figured why not take a shot at the number,” McBride said.
“The race track was really cooling down. We put our heads together
back in the pits and hopped it up for round two.”
On race day McBride advance to round-two
recording a 6.04 at 232 mph, which proved to be quite costly.
“We hurt the motor on the first
pass,” McBride said. “We took out the main bearing. It started
going bad about four seconds into the run. I wasn’t worried. We
had Keith Adams who used to be with Jerry Toliver helping us out this
weekend. Between him, Steve, and Ro, I knew we would have it back together
in no time. I have an awesome crew.”
McBride used a semi-final bye to break
in the new motor and laid down a 6.17 at 232 mph.
In the final McBride again had a solo
pass when Ron Webb encountered problems in the burnout box and couldn’t
make the run.
“I wish Ron would have been able to make the run,” McBride
said. “That’s what the fans wanted to see. That’s
what makes good TV.”
Next up for Team McBride will be the AMA/Prostar Schnitz Memphis Blues
Nationals from Memphis, TN, Oct, 2-3.
“I’ve never raced there before,”
McBride said. “It’s always exciting to go somewhere new.”
McBride stressed, “My hat is off
to each and every one of my sponsors. Without them Larry McBride couldn’t
do any of this.”
McBride thanked; Pingel Enterprise,
Trim-Tex Drywall Products, Drag Specialties-Parts Unlimited, Red Line
Synthetic Oil Corporation as well as his other sponsors: Vance &
Hines Motorsports, Muzzys Performance, Web-Cam, Kibblewhite Precision
Machine, Vanson Leathers, Performance Machine, Kawasaki USA, Belt Drives
Ltd, Street & Competition, Trac Dynamics, Simpson Race Products,
Nitrous Express, APE, EK Chain, Arias Pistons, R&D Spring Corp,
Autolite, MSD, Protect ALL, Whipple Industries, Cometic Gaskets, B&J
Transmission, Carolina Cycle, L.A. Sleeve, PJ1 Nology Engineering, Mickey
Thompson Tires, Corbin Seats, Stark Masonry, and Valco.
