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Romine
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After the sixth match-up of Mike Romine versus Steve Stordeur, finally, Romine crossed the finish line victorious during the Screamin’ Eagle Shootout at the IHRA Finals. Icing the cake, Romine’s “for sale” bike ridden by Mark Conner became the dark horse entry that finished in the final. All in all, Saturday in Louisiana was a fine one for Romine.
Mike Romine finally defeated Steve Stordeur in an IHRA 2001 round.
Based on points accrued all of the 2001 season, Romine qualified seventh for the Shootout. Facing Stordeur again, Romine had his work ahead. But Stordeur made it easy. “I knew he’d red lighted before the end of the race. I didn’t at first. I thought to myself that I was pretty good on the light.” Romine was right. His .457 reaction was the best of the round. “When I was still in low gear and hadn’t shifted yet, I looked down and saw my win light on the scoreboard. I was real happy at half-track. I think I didn’t do my job the rest of the way, I was so happy. I had a real good 1/8th mile.” Romine went to the semi-finals.
Aboard the Chromatic Nitro Harley built by Dixie Frames, Conner was the fifth alternate since the eighth qualifier opted to attend an all-motorcycle event in Las Vegas. No other alternates appeared, allowing Conner to roll his bike to the starting line against the 2001 Champion Doug Vancil. Conner went through his usual staging procedures and out-reacted the champ for a victory by three feet, .010, on a 6.600 elapsed time at 203.89 miles per hour.
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Mark Conner rode the Team Chromatic bike and won his way to the shootout final in Shreveport.
After the round, Conner said with a devious smile, “It’s all for Bill. It’s the bike he built and it’s just easy to ride. We threw some stuff at it and it seemed to work. We did the opposite to this bike what Mike did to his bike and both of them picked up. We’re real happy. Unfortunately Doug is mad at me. If I did something wrong, I’m sorry. I did what I could do.” The champ was angry that Conner had “burned-him-down.” Others verified that Conner went through his normal staging procedure and saw no problem with him.
Both Chromatic bikes advanced a round. Both faced Team Mancuso Racing bikes. Romine said, “I run Johnny. I’ll probably do something to change the bike. I haven’t decided what yet. I’m scared to do too much because it had a really good 1/8th mile. It’s getting hot and I’ve really struggled this year when it’s this hot in the middle of the day.” Conner faced the Finals number one qualifier Ray Price with a run in the 6.40’s. After the round, Conner, the dark horse, would be the only bike in the final. Romine’s bike shut off mid-track. It was one Mancuso bike versus one Chromatic bike for the final.
“We made some changes for Ray and it really didn’t improve us any. Apparently it made more horsepower when it had less clutch. I put more and more in it, clutch that is, and I still didn’t have enough.” Conner truly holeshotted Price at .501 to .560. I got to the finish line before Ray. And boy did he come by me at the top end. I knew I had him.” Conner won by .015, approximately five feet.
The Screamin’ Eagle Shootout was all about reaction times. In the final, it was the lights that awarded the victory away from Chromatic as Conner red-lighted. Conner said, “I just blew it. It was close again. Johnny pretty much knew I had the left lane figured out. He had lane choice so I had to go to the right lane. I know it sounds like an excuse, but I truly I believe the roll out is a little different. I didn’t intend to deep stage. But I was amped up. I didn’t want to do that. I knew I was ready to whack it.” Whack he did. Still, the Texan couldn’t pass up a little fun.
“At the other end, Johnny didn’t know that I’d red lighted. And I wasn’t going to tell him for a little while. When we got down there, he was wondering if he got around me. I paused just for a moment then told him what happened. This bike’s making great horsepower, but it just mowed through the clutch. I have to thank all of the people that made this possible: Hal Gottsacker of Alamo City, Dennis Paul of Chromatic, of course Mike and Patty Romine and Bill Furr for building such a sweet motorcycle. There was no pressure at all. I was trying, wanting to win and we got this far. Thanks everyone, including the best pit guy in the world.
Romine went on to qualify seventh at the finals with a 6.604. Romine didn’t repeat against Storduer. Engine shut off again. Mancuso got Conner again, this time by a tenth and a half.
Romine finished the 2001 season with IHRA 7th, up from 9th in 2000. He’ll compete one last time this weekend in Montgomery, AL at the AMRA event before returning to Michigan for teardown and renew for 2002.
Mike Romine is sponsored by Chromatic, Andrews Product, Saddlemen and Romine Racing.
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