Autoclub Famoso Raceway, 3-19-2011–After two sessions of qualifying for the 53rd March Meet, the Van Dykes Motorsports/Champion Speed Shop fuelers are provisionally qualified 11th and 12th for Sunday’s 16-car eliminator, with Adam Sorokin posting an elapsed time of 6.22 seconds at a top end speed of 219 mph in his Chrysler-powered machine and Larry Gotelli residing a notch behind at 6.41, after clicking it off early in his Chevy-powered streamliner.

On the down side, during Friday’s qualifier, the Chrysler mill is completely deconstructed. The catalyst? A rod through the block.

“The first hit was real soft on the clutch, as we are trying get a baseline on (Famoso’s) new track surface,” Adam explained. “So it left soft, and never really pulled—never really got up on the tire… I kinda plugged it on through, and when I shut it off, it kicked a rod again.”

The Champion pit after first round of qualifying

He’s only had one swing of the shovel, but Sorokin said it’s been a long day in the proverbial salt mines. “The salt mines would be a step up,” he said. “This has been more like a bad day in the blood diamond mines in the heat of the day….”

On a more positive note, after a long hiatus, Larry Gotelli Jr. is playing catch-up with driving a AA/Fueler, but, according to Sorokin, is making impressive strides.

“After six years out of the saddle, Larry’s coming up to speed pretty quickly,” Adam noted. “You have to realize the small-block Chevy has a different sound and a different power band. And then you take a driver used to fresh air and stuff him into a canopy… well, SFI hasn’t made a snorkel long enough for what he’s used to.”

Qualifying resumes Saturday at noon, PST, with the first round of eliminations this evening. All the action can be streamed on bangshift.com

Larry Gotelli and Adam Soroking discuss driving a streamliner

On the eve of the March Meet, Bobby McLennan shares his thoughts on BangShift about the state of the AA/Fuel Dragster scene.

Here he officially shares his thoughts about the two-car team (the Chrysler shoed by Adam Sorokin and a Chevy driven by Larry Gotelli, Jr.),

Among the hot topics: transmissions have been okayed for testing and match racing, but not competition in the Heritage Series. Of that, he says, “In Top Fuel-as opposed to the Funny Cars, our rules say we run high-gear only. No transmission. We got the okay from NHRA to experiment with a transmission-the Funny Car rule package was put together fifteen years after we did ours. They took a number of components that we had and said, “What if we do this and what if we do that?” I don’t think their rules are perfect, but they certainly sparked a class to build forty-plus cars. (AA/Fuel Dragster team owner) Mike Fuller’s recommendation to NHRA was that with the (bigger) Hoosier tire, we try the transmission to limit the rpm and limit the load that we are putting on our engines and hopefully everything last a little bit longer.”

Eseential reading for the inquisitive nitromaniac.

March 8, 2011, South City, CA–Step aside Hollywood: In what is arguably the most anticipated interview since Charlie Sheen explained the new definition of the word “winning,” tonight on the Speed Scene Live podcast defending March Meet Top Fuel champ Adam Sorokin will grab the microphone and explain the word’s more traditional meaning, while also discussing his chances at “re-winning” this year’s upcoming March Meet in the Van Dyke Motorsports/Champion Speed Shop dragster.

Besides revealing whether or not the Champion team runs on the same “tiger blood” that Sheen has credited with his success, this will be an opportunity for Sorokin to publicly reflect on last year’s conquest, a feat that had a special, familial resonance for him as his father, the late Mike Sorokin, claimed the same event title in 1966, an event that some historians claim was the most epic Top Fuel drag race ever.

Held annually at Bakersfield’s AutoClub Famoso Raceway, the March Meet is the first event for Top Fuel in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series 2011 season, and has the entire Champion team wringing their hands in anticipation, as last year’s triumph propelled them towards eventually claiming the NHRA Heritage Series 2010 season title.

Tonight’s show runs live at 6 pm PST and can be accessed at www.SpeedSceneRacing.com

Listeners with any questions for Sorokin can call in to the talk show at 1-800-809-0802.