Dennis Taylor- LODRS D-6 Woodburn Wrap-Up

On Fire at Woodburn but Ready for Seattle

Anaheim, Calif. – Dennis Taylor saw both sides of the racing coin at Oregon’s Woodburn Drag Strip last weekend prepping for this week’s Northwest Nationals. Things got off to a decent start on Friday as the K&N / Plumbing Concepts Funny Car reeled off a 5.81/244mph charge, in spite of the hot conditions.

Saturday was almost 30 degrees cooler, so several cars shuffled the order from Taylor’s original number four effort. The car launched recording very strong numbers to the thousand-foot mark, where a valve lifter failed causing a supercharger backfire and a flaming conclusion to what would have put Dennis solidly in the top of the field. He recalled the episode noting, “This thing really liked the tune-up on that run and it was making a really hard move through the middle until the blower lifted (and it still ran 5.81). I didn’t think it was a big deal until I saw the fire windows were glowing. My biggest concern was saving the body, but the flames died just as I was about to hit the fire bottles. It fried the blower bag and a few other things, but I knew we had some work ahead of us.”

The damage proved too much and Team Taylor slipped from fourth to eighth in that ill-fated session and moved out of the field after missing the final go. Taylor added, “We were heading in the right direction with our tune-up and to go out this way really stings. We might have made the call, but it was more important to take extra time to re-plumb and re-wire another engine and be sure the car was 100-percent for Seattle. We have more at stake there.”

Dennis Taylor sends a special thanks to Parker Johnstone’s Wilsonville Honda for providing the use of a support vehicle for the event. The focus turns to Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington, for this weekend’s Northwest Nationals and the team feels as though they got rid of the gremlins in Woodburn.


Courtesy of Randy Fish