Fiscus Qualifies #2 and Takes Points Lead

July 21, 2015

Fiscus Qualifies #2 and Takes Points Lead

BELL / FISCUS RACING (BFR) qualified at the top of the pack in the Pro Boost class at the PDRA North-South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, Maryland on July 16-18, 2015 and Kevin Fiscus retained his lead in championship points.

Pro Boost qualifying began on Friday afternoon, and Kevin Fiscus’ first hit with his twin turbo, PLR-powered 2012 Ford Mustang resulted in some tire shake early on in the run. Fiscus pedaled briefly, and was able to drive through the shake to pilot the Mustang to a 3.926 at 203.09 mph pass in the heat of the day to end up second after Q1. He slipped into fourth after Q2, despite a slight improvement with a 3.925 at 203.58 mph run. Fiscus improved again in Q3, and his 3.864 at 204.79 mph pass put him back in second. For the fourth and final round, Fiscus went 3.949-seconds at 202.18 mph and was still number two in a highly competitive field of thirty cars.

The first Pro Boost qualifying pass for team owner Jim Bell and his twin turbocharged, Pro Line Racing 481X-powered 1969 Chevrolet Camaro went fairly well. His car moved around about 400 feet out, so Bell lifted and went 4.034 at 182.13 mph which initially ranked him twelfth. In Q2, another wiggle had Bell’s Camaro loose mid-track. The seasoned driver steadied the car and clocked a time of 3.934 at 200.95 mph which moved him up to eighth. For Q3, Bell had his best qualifying pass of the weekend. His 3.883 at 202.64 mph run bumped him into the number five spot. Bell went 3.921 at 201.19 mph in Q4, but his ET from Q3 ensured he was still number five.

Saturday evening marked the start of eliminations. Fiscus was paired against David Monday, the #15 qualified driver, in the first round. Fiscus’s Mustang struggled to come up on boost so he left the line down on power, and then ran into tire shake which cost him the win. Bell was up against Kevin Rivenbark who had qualified #12. As soon as Bell staged, Rivenbark left the line and went red which gave the win to Bell. Bell got on it hard at the launch and was on his way to another strong pass, but the top off his intake manifold blew off just past the 330-foot mark and he aborted the run. Back in the pits, the team thrashed on the Camaro; they swapped intakes off Bell’s spare bullet and repaired the car’s damaged front end. They fired up the car twice to confirm everything was working properly, and brought to the car to the staging lanes for E2 to face Tommy Grey’s blown Corvette.

“Unfortunately, my car wouldn’t start for the second round and we lost,” said a disappointed Bell. “When we got back to the pits, we discovered the problem was that the mag wire connector had disconnected. Most likely the connector was loose already, and the intermittent spark is what blew off the top of the intake during E1 but we missed seeing this in the pits during the intake swap. Since the car fired right up after we replaced the intake, we weren’t looking for bad connectors.” Bell’s confident that he and the team will get them next time out.

Fiscus lead the Pro Boost class championship points going into this event stayed at the top, while Bell moved into fourth overall. Both Bell and Fiscus will be competing in the Pro Boost class at the PDRA Memphis Drags at Memphis International Raceway in Millington, Tennessee on August 20-22, 2015 as the Bell/Fiscus Racing team continues their 23-race commitment for the 2015 season.