Day Two Qualifying Recap - NHRA Pro Stock Drivers Quickly Adapting to Holley EFI

02/14/2016
10 min read

Day Two Qualifying Recap - NHRA Pro Stock Drivers Quickly Adapting to Holley EFI

02/14/2016
10 min read
The field is now set for Pro Stock eliminations at the NHRA Circle K Winternationals in Pomona, CA. You could consider day one of Pro Stock qualifying the first date for these teams with Holley EFI. That would make day two the second date, and teams are definitely sitting a little closer and getting more comfortable with the system as elapsed times are gradually dropping. Not only are teams adjusting to the change to EFI, but the cars now draw air from an inlet at the front of the car instead of a hood scoop, which causes higher intake temperatures that make it harder to draw as much power out of the cars. Past that, teams are adapting to the new 10,500 rpm rev limit and shorter wheelie bars. All of these changes at once are forcing teams to put their thinking caps on to interpret all of the data from their Holley EFI systems, as well as the changes to the chassis. After day one, no one had broken into the 6.5 second zone, with Bo Butner sitting in the number one qualifying spot with a 6.606 second pass at 209.75 mph. Butner was unable to improve upon his qualifying effort from day one, but he did display a little more horsepower with a 210.14 mph trap speed to match with another 6.606 pass. A familiar pair of racers were able to improve upon their day one passes and move to the top of the qualifying ladder though. The Summit Racing duo of Greg Anderson and Jason Line both leapt into the 6.5s with a 6.586 second pass from Anderson and a 6.592 pass from Line. Line also managed a 210.14 mph trap speed to match Butner for fastest trap speed of the qualifying sessions. Greg Anderson, who is the #1 qualifier heading into eliminations, and like his teammate Line, Anderson had absolutely zero prior experience with EFI before the NHRA rule changes came down. Anderson said "We didn't even know how to spell fuel injection to be honest, but the Holley system has been great to use. The onus has been on us to learn how fuel injection works. The system has responded exactly how we wanted it to with our inputs. We're the ones who have to adapt to it, and the software has made this as easy of a change as possible." When asked about his personal interaction with the software and how he felt about it, he jokingly replied, "I just leave all of that stuff up to Jason." Either way, whoever is behind the keyboard has the Summit Racing cars in contention to earn the first NHRA Pro Stock victory with EFI. To see if the Summit Racing team can hang on and earn the first victory of 2016, or if one of the other teams can rise up and take them down, tune in to Fox Sports 1 from 5:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time for complete coverage of the eliminations from the Circle K NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California.

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