Wayne Sagar

So much for the "known" then, let's look into the crystal ball, slip into the noose, step farther onto the limb and move onto the fictional part of this story.. My "hangman’s" prediction list then is: well, since this actually reads more like a novel, we'll stop short of calling what follows "predictions" but rather, fantasy, pure racin' fantasy!

Qualifying- Top 10 positions... and the "Story" behind them.

1st place - Strega, Tiger sandbags us good and proper with his "I’m not coming" ruse, comes to Reno with a very hot, Mike Barrow prepped engine with some very interesting "secret $#it" inside. Tiger smokes a 499, allllmost a 500 mph qualifying lap late on Wednesday after numerous early week test runs and rampant pit rumors indicating grave problems.

2nd place- Critical Mass- a disappointing first qualifying effort, followed by the first "best time of the week" firmly embedded by Dago Red at 489.015 mph, sparks a flurry of activity in the Critical Mass pit - a mysterious 3:00 AM flashlight session on the airplane with no one outside the team allowed in, sets the stage - Come Wednesday morning, Dwelle posts a 490.341 mph qualifying speed and sits in first place, the black smoke from his exhaust tells the tale, they have Nitrous on board!

3rd place- Dago Red 489.015. Skip and Dwelle hold her positions with no further attempts planned… both teams have "bought" the Strega rumors, that is until Tiger makes his late qualifying session run.

4th place- Precious Metal: Ron goes out and surprises even himself with a blistering 481.351 mph qualifying effort but his engine is toast. The team works into the night on Wednesday and all day on Thursday changing engines. Late night engine tests on Thursday look good as does an early Friday AM test flight.

5th place- Voodoo: Matt Jackson "stays on the plan" telling us before he goes out, "I’m going to go out and do my best to get a solid 480, if it looks good getting there, I’ll hold on and see, we’re not going to push it." It must have looked good getting there, Matt turns in exactly what he was looking for and logs a 480.034.

6th place- Miss America: The "Doc" was right and Miss A’s new Shanholtzer engine is, indeed, evil! Brent turns in 459.000.

7th place- September Fury: Mike Brown’s new engine sounds good but he’s not happy with the way it is running. No smiles in their pit as he takes his 440.429 mph speed and keeps it.

8th place- Furias: No smoke, no excess oil consumption, steady performance by Art Vance and the new R-4360 mounted on Furias nets him a very respectable 438.101 mph.

9th place- Risky Business: Rhino and crew have zero problems and the engine sounds and runs strong, he comes in just under Art’s speed, posting a 438.000 mph.

10th place- Czech Mate: Sherman turns in a 436.236 and looks happy.

There you have it, the known, the unknown and the "Hangman's Tales" of what might be. For my part in this, I'll leave you to your own imaginations on how the week will progress after Wednesday.

We've now both been well and duly hung and as we dangle beneath the old oak tree with our favorite target shirts on, please feel free to throw darts, flowers, beers, or whatever pleases you at us on the "Hangar Talk" discussion board [click here]

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