O'Reilly Fall Nationals at Dallas, Texas are Tough for Phil Burkart
- Sep 25, 2006
Race day at the O’Reilly Fall Nationals at Dallas, Texas was tough for Phil
Burkart and his Checker Schuck’s Kragen Team. Burkart wanted to experience a
calm and steady qualifying effort, and power past his opponents on race day.
Instead, he and the CSK Team spent two days dealing with qualifying drama and then had to live through a first round battle that took place behind a smoke screen.
Burkart uses K&N's Premium Performance Gold Oil Filter
Funny Car Racer Phil Burkart
On Friday, Burkart imitated everyone else in the Funny Car class by
failing to make a full lap during the first qualifying effort. His opening shot,
5.014, was good enough for the No. 6 spot.
Burkart and his crew use K&N Engineering’s Premium Performance Gold Oil Filters. “The thick canister walls on the K&N Filters have extra strength and durability,” he said. “It reduces the risk of damage from debris on the race track.”
Phil Burkart's CSK Crew
Burkart smoked his tires during a Friday night session which featured a
number of stout runs. He went into Saturday in the No.15 spot.
Saturday’s first run came after a brief but heavy downpour and Burkart made his first full pull of the event, clocking in with a steady 5.014. The CSK Team had a solid baseline for tuning but Burkart’s teammate, Del Worsham, was still behind him on the sheet.
“It’s not a good feeling to be the second pair in the final session, knowing your teammate and boss needs to bump you out,” said Burkart. “When it’s someone else behind you, it’s hard not to hope they don’t make it, but when it’s Del doing the bumping, you have to hope he does it. Then, we’d just have to come right back and bump our way back in. It was a pretty simple concept, and we did it.”
Worsham’s 4.93 was enough to bump Burkart out, but seconds later the Havoline Chevy posted a strong 4.891 and Burkart was back in. In the end, both teammates were part of the race on Sunday.
Burkat landed in the No. 13 spot and had to face a much quicker car in round one. That car was piloted by Tony Pedregon, who qualified 4th with a 4.812.
At the start, Burkart’s machine lurched forward and then almost immediately went up in tire smoke. His crew’s view was obscured behind the line with the “white wall” which hides the race car, and usually means a loss.
“We saw tire smoke, figured we were dead ducks and began to walk away,” said CSK Co-Crew Chief Marc Denner. “I heard pedaling going on, but I figured it was Phil giving chase even though Tony was pulling away. I looked over and saw both cars in tire spoke. Tony was way out on us, but it looked like he was dead in the water. Phil was closing in fast, but ran out of room.”
“It went up in smoke as I hit the throttle,” said Burkart. “When I hit again, I saw Tony’s tire smoke, and even though we were way behind, I know how much these cars can make up if the tires hook back up again. I think I pedaled the car six times, but it would never hook up and all I could do was blaze it down there.”
Follow Phil Burkart's progress throughout the racing season at the K&N news site. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.
Instead, he and the CSK Team spent two days dealing with qualifying drama and then had to live through a first round battle that took place behind a smoke screen.
Burkart uses K&N's Premium Performance Gold Oil Filter
Funny Car Racer Phil Burkart
Burkart and his crew use K&N Engineering’s Premium Performance Gold Oil Filters. “The thick canister walls on the K&N Filters have extra strength and durability,” he said. “It reduces the risk of damage from debris on the race track.”
Phil Burkart's CSK Crew
Saturday’s first run came after a brief but heavy downpour and Burkart made his first full pull of the event, clocking in with a steady 5.014. The CSK Team had a solid baseline for tuning but Burkart’s teammate, Del Worsham, was still behind him on the sheet.
“It’s not a good feeling to be the second pair in the final session, knowing your teammate and boss needs to bump you out,” said Burkart. “When it’s someone else behind you, it’s hard not to hope they don’t make it, but when it’s Del doing the bumping, you have to hope he does it. Then, we’d just have to come right back and bump our way back in. It was a pretty simple concept, and we did it.”
Worsham’s 4.93 was enough to bump Burkart out, but seconds later the Havoline Chevy posted a strong 4.891 and Burkart was back in. In the end, both teammates were part of the race on Sunday.
Burkat landed in the No. 13 spot and had to face a much quicker car in round one. That car was piloted by Tony Pedregon, who qualified 4th with a 4.812.
At the start, Burkart’s machine lurched forward and then almost immediately went up in tire smoke. His crew’s view was obscured behind the line with the “white wall” which hides the race car, and usually means a loss.
“We saw tire smoke, figured we were dead ducks and began to walk away,” said CSK Co-Crew Chief Marc Denner. “I heard pedaling going on, but I figured it was Phil giving chase even though Tony was pulling away. I looked over and saw both cars in tire spoke. Tony was way out on us, but it looked like he was dead in the water. Phil was closing in fast, but ran out of room.”
“It went up in smoke as I hit the throttle,” said Burkart. “When I hit again, I saw Tony’s tire smoke, and even though we were way behind, I know how much these cars can make up if the tires hook back up again. I think I pedaled the car six times, but it would never hook up and all I could do was blaze it down there.”
Follow Phil Burkart's progress throughout the racing season at the K&N news site. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.
