Phil Burkart Finishes 10th in NHRA POWERade Points
- 9 Nov 2006
Phil Burkart made two solid qualifying laps at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
including his best run of the entire season in the final session. Burkart and
his blue Checker, Schuck’s, Kragen team did just about everything right in
Nevada but were edged by Tommy Johnson by a grand total of 8-thousandths of a
second.
The difference was barely visible on the stop-action replay, as the nose of Burkart’s car was equal to the leading edge of the front wheel on Johnson’s machine as both were going forward at more than 318 mph.
Phil Burkart's blue CSK car
During qualifying, Burkart posted a solid 4.821 in front of a packed house
at “The Strip.” At the time, some of the other big hitters were cranking out low
4.70s, but Robert Hight made a 4.687 pushing Burkart back.
In the first session, Burkart entered the final lap in the 14th spot, and by the time he ran his lap he was in the 15th position. 4.750 seconds later, Burkart posted his quickest lap of the season, and for a short time he was in the top half of his race field. As a few other teams also stepped up, he eventually landed in the 10th position, which earned him a race with Tommy Johnson.
“When we ran the 4.75, I knew it had jumped us way up the sheet, but then some guys came in behind us and we ended up 10th, which was kind of a shocker,” said Burkart. “We were back in the pit servicing the car by the time the session ended and someone told use were in 10th. We couldn’t believe it, but that just tells you how good the conditions have been here. After all the rain we’ve been dealing with, we’ve had three days of beautiful, gorgeous, almost perfect weather, and a lot of teams were taking advantage of it.”
Phil Burkart uses K&N Products
Burkart was back in the bottom half and had a stout opponent to face. “The
track here is very good,” said Burkart. “But there is a tunnel going under it
and that creates a bump out there past half-track. We just had to give it our
best shot.”
Burkart left the line first by a hefty margin, leaving with a .067 to Johnson’s .083 reaction time. The two cars raced down the track side-by-side, each pounding out huge numbers and avoided any serious problems going over the tunnel bump.
Near the finish line a few odd flames came out from Burkart’s left-side headers because of a slight malfunction within the left-side cylinder head. Johnson inched ahead to take the win with a 4.813 to Burkart’s 4.837.
“It was another one of those laps where I never saw him, and I didn’t know who won until we got to the other end,” said Burkart. “But hey, when the other guy beats you by 8-thousandths, and you both run as well as you can, you just move on and try to feel good about how you did. We ran our best lap of the year, moved up to the 8th spot on the points sheet, and did a lot of really good stuff. It’s just a little frustrating.”
Burkart finished 10th on the POWERade points sheet. Phil Burkart and his blue CSK Team use K&N Engineering Oil Filters (HP-5001) every time they race. “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.”
Follow Phil Burkart throughout the racing season at the K&N news sitee. 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.
The difference was barely visible on the stop-action replay, as the nose of Burkart’s car was equal to the leading edge of the front wheel on Johnson’s machine as both were going forward at more than 318 mph.
Phil Burkart's blue CSK car
In the first session, Burkart entered the final lap in the 14th spot, and by the time he ran his lap he was in the 15th position. 4.750 seconds later, Burkart posted his quickest lap of the season, and for a short time he was in the top half of his race field. As a few other teams also stepped up, he eventually landed in the 10th position, which earned him a race with Tommy Johnson.
“When we ran the 4.75, I knew it had jumped us way up the sheet, but then some guys came in behind us and we ended up 10th, which was kind of a shocker,” said Burkart. “We were back in the pit servicing the car by the time the session ended and someone told use were in 10th. We couldn’t believe it, but that just tells you how good the conditions have been here. After all the rain we’ve been dealing with, we’ve had three days of beautiful, gorgeous, almost perfect weather, and a lot of teams were taking advantage of it.”
Phil Burkart uses K&N Products
Burkart left the line first by a hefty margin, leaving with a .067 to Johnson’s .083 reaction time. The two cars raced down the track side-by-side, each pounding out huge numbers and avoided any serious problems going over the tunnel bump.
Near the finish line a few odd flames came out from Burkart’s left-side headers because of a slight malfunction within the left-side cylinder head. Johnson inched ahead to take the win with a 4.813 to Burkart’s 4.837.
“It was another one of those laps where I never saw him, and I didn’t know who won until we got to the other end,” said Burkart. “But hey, when the other guy beats you by 8-thousandths, and you both run as well as you can, you just move on and try to feel good about how you did. We ran our best lap of the year, moved up to the 8th spot on the points sheet, and did a lot of really good stuff. It’s just a little frustrating.”
Burkart finished 10th on the POWERade points sheet. Phil Burkart and his blue CSK Team use K&N Engineering Oil Filters (HP-5001) every time they race. “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.”
Follow Phil Burkart throughout the racing season at the K&N news sitee. 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.
