NORWALK, Ohio (January 14, 2010) – If recent testing by several teams at Palm Beach International Raceway is any indication of what people can expect when the stars of the International Hot Rod Association's Nitro Jam series take to the track later this month – look out.
For months race teams have heralded the new IHRA sanctioned facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. as one of the top tracks in the nation and based on recent testing at the quarter-mile facility those people may just be right.
"It's going great. Last year was our first time here at PBIR and we enjoyed it so much. We had such a good time last year and the people were so good to us at the track that we would rather just spend our whole time down here getting ready for Pomona," said Funny Car driver Ron Capps. "The track is great, the people are great and the best part about it is the group of cars that are here. All in all it's been great, you look around the pit area and everyone's smiling."
Several NHRA teams were on hand for nitro testing at PBIR this week.
Just two weeks out from the season opening Palm Beach Nitro Jam several NHRA teams rented the facility for private testing and so far the results have spoken for themselves. Teams from the Schumacher, Al Anabi and Morgan Lucas camps all took to the track this week for nitro testing and were able to put down some very solid numbers including two of the quickest 1,000 foot passes in Top Fuel history.
Those passes included a 3.759 at 318.77 and a 3.753 at 322.88 put down by Schumacher Wednesday afternoon. Several other teams experienced similar results when they had their turn on the beautiful Florida strip.
"It's great. It's way better than what we normally get. Generally speaking when we show up at Phoenix we've got to run side-by-side with other cars and we only get to run when they want us to run," said Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher. "We're out there to test, so that's not how we want to do it. We come down to a place like this, it's an amazing facility. It's just as nice as any of the other tracks that we race on and we get to go fast."
IHRA's top teams are excited to get their turn at PBIR later this month.
While Wednesday's numbers were certainly impressive, when the IHRA adds another 320 feet onto its runs to equal a full quarter-mile pass who knows what the stars of Nitro Jam can accomplish January 29-30 at PBIR.
The debut event will feature two new nitro classes in Pro Fuel and Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car, a side-by-side battle of jet trucks, the wheelstanding "Cool Bus" and of course the kings of the sport – 320 mile-per-hour Top Fuel dragsters.
And all of it will be available for the most fan friendly prices in motorsports at one of the fastest tracks in the entire country.
"I'm really, really impressed with the facility here. The security and personnel here are very nice, the surface of the track is very smooth and it's got a lot of grip," said Top Fuel driver Morgan Lucas. "It's nice to go somewhere where you can trust what you're going to have and know that you're going to learn something and address it."
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