Chris Karamesines’ veteran tuner Tim Finley and two-time IHRA Funny Car winner Jack Wyatt both simply couldn’t detune their engines enough. Wyatt said, “I took timing out, a tooth off of the blower pulley and a percentage out of the fuel mixture and I still spun the tires hard.” The result was more than the usual engine carnage, and tire shake from all of the pro teams and especially the nitro classes.
Because of that, possibly the two teams with the least funding and perhaps the most conservative engine tune-ups met in the historic final round. Karamesines used a solid 4.958/280.54 to thump points leader Doug Foley, who had a troubled 7.532 after shaking
the tires and shutting off. It should be noted that Karamesines put an almost half-tenth holeshot on Foley on that lap.
On the other side of the ladder Lagana got the semi-final win over Bruce Litton in a pedal fest that saw the Indianapolis driver slam the right guard rail, resulting in a concussion and a seriously injured right arm.
Both Karamesines and Lagana damaged their engines in the semi-finals and since neither have the crew to do a 90-minute turnaround, Mike Kloeber, the crew chief tuner of the Werner Top Fuel car, split his crew up and half helped the Lagana team and other half worked on Karamesines’ car.
After about just over 90 minutes both cars rolled to the lanes as the air and track temp got colder and colder. The final round was all Lagana as he left on Karamesines. Both carsshook almost instantly but Lagana recovered to run a respectable 5.468/283.65 for the win. Karamesines also shook the tires hard, causing a fuel line close to the fuel cell to rupture and spray the track. Karamesines wisely shut off and coasted through with an 8.293/115.75.
Lagana was nearly in tears as he shook “the Greek’s” hand at the end of the track. The win wasn’t pretty but it was certainly historic. How many active racers can say they beat Chris Karamesines in a Top Fuel final round at a major championship?
