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Romine
Racing News
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Mike Romine fired a shot heard round the world at the NHRA Carquest Nationals in Joliet, Illinois on October 3, 2004. Romine posted an e.t. of 6.260 in his final round defeat of Doug Vancil. After struggling during Friday and Saturday qualifying, Romine put together consistently improving performances during the elimination rounds on Sunday. 'We came here with high expectations, knowing that we had a bike with the potential to do great things. We got all that we had hoped for - it just doesn't get any better than this!' stated a jubilant Romine.
A dropped cylinder during Friday's first qualifying session netted only a 7.43 e.t. and the rain gods reared their ugly heads to cancel the second session. Saturday's first qualifying session also would bring disappointment as all the bolts in the clutch hat loosened, slowing the bike to a 9.68. The crew scrambled to solve the clutch hat problem as time was running out and the final qualifying session neared. Romine sat in the #6 qualifying postion and was facing the possibility of not even making the show. As one-half of the final pair of the final qualifying session, the pressure mounted as Romine watched himself be bumped into the #7 spot. 'I knew it was now or never and just prayed that we had done enough of the right things to correct the clutch problem. As it turned out, the clutch hat bolts still loosened, but stayed on long enough to get to the end of the track.' The final session provided a 6.43 e.t., enough to put Romine into the #3 spot, but still battling nagging clutch hat problems.
A long Saturday night work session ensued, with a lot of ingenuity and engineering to determine the solution to the clutch problem. As Sunday eliminations neared, Romine was confident that if the problems had been solved he would be able to give the competition all they could handle. The long night would pay off as the first round of eliminations would net a win and a 6.47 e.t. and the second round would provide another win and an improving e.t. of 6.34. Going into the final round, Romine was confident, 'My hat is off to my crew, they are working their tails off. The clutch hat problem seems to be solved and I think we are about to see our best ever number.' Romine's words would prove to be prophetic as the final round would deliver not only the best ever pass for Romine Racing and their Nuclear Tomato, but also for the entire Harley drag racing world as the scoreboard revealed the quickest pass ever recorded by a Top Fuel Harley - 6.260.
'I want to thank my friend and former Crew Chief, Rex Harris, for all his help this weekend. Rex and I started talking several weeks ago about bringing the old team back together for this race. We knew the track would be right and the air would be right and we were confident that we could get the bike right. Though the weekend got off to a rough start, the team pulled it all back together beautifully. I also want to give a lot of credit and a big thank-you to the other team members - J.C. Sparks, Darren Griffith, Mark Buchanan, David Moore and, of course, Dennis Paul and my wife, Patty. It was truly a team victory.'
Mike Romine is sponsored by Romine Cams, Chromatic, Performance Machine, Lucas Oil, Fram, Autolite, Ross Pistons, Mickey Thompson Tires, and Competition Distributing.
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