Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series: Round 4 D RAGRACE ~ ~ John Myers (near lane) edged out John Mafaro (far lane) in the final round, and vaulted himself into first in the series point standings with one round remaining. Myers untouchable in Ohio By Todd Veney KIRKERSVILLE, OH, JUNE 19-21 efore the 1992 NHRA Springnationals, Star Racing's John Myers had won every race on the NHRA tour but two. Now just one remains: the Southern Nationals in Atlanta, where he has been to three straight finals but lost every time. With as convincing a-victory as any drag racer ever enjoyed at any race, Myers, the 1990 NHRA Champion, has vaulted into first place in the NHRAI Winston rankings in what was the fourth lead change in as many races this season. But that's not what he wanted to talk about. "I finally won a race here," Myers said of National Trail Raceway in bucolic Kirkersville, Ohio, just east of Columbus. To hear him tell it, Myers, a three-year veteran who has yet to finish ranked lower than second, still hasn't gotten over an upset firstround loss at last year's Springnationa1s, a defeat he blames for his losing the 1991 NHRA Championship to Dave Schultz by 190 points. "Every round is worth 200 points, so if I had beaten anyone else anywhere else last year, I would have won the championship," Myers said. "But because my loss here came in' the first round, it should have been the easiest to win. It bothers me to this day and it always will. That was a real slap in the face." B Only a fluke like the snapped chain that sabotaged him in 1991 could have brought Myers back to earth this time; right from the outset, it was obvious that no one would be handling the Star Racing Suzuki in an all-out race., Myers' transmission skipped 3rd and 4th gears on his off-the-trailer qualifying lap and he still recorded a strong 7.90, which would have placed him second in the field behind Byron Hines' 7.86 on Vance & Hines' brandnew Yamaha OW01 had he not improved. "When I went 7.90 and the nansmission never saw 3rd gear and was in 4th only for about five feet, I knew we had big power," Myers said. "I knew it would run a lot better on my other qualifying runs and in eliminations." It did. When the transmission shifted smoothly on subsequent laps, Myers improved to a 7.84, and finally aNo. I-qualifying 7.822 at 170.94 mph. In the opening round of eliminations, Myers charged to an even better 7.77/171 (low E.T. of the meet and just one-hundredth of a second off of defending champion David Schultz's track record) to bury Steve Johnson's Slick 50-backed '91 Suzuki GSXR, the bike Myers rode to an all-time record 7.61 last season. "The tire could spin, the bike could shake - a lot of things can happen to ruin any run. But when you run that hard in qualifying, it gives you a lot of confidence for the race," Myers said. On a day when the best non-Myers run was a 7.93 (in the first round by fourth-ranked Jim Bernard, whose run was disqualified because he foulstarted by just two-thousandths of a second). Myers never ran slower than 7.84/ 170. Yes, no one came within a 10th of a second - which amounts to about to two bike-lengths at 170 mph - of Myers all day. Steve Meiterman fell to Myers in the second round, 7.80/170 to 8.13/167, and fast-rising rookie Kerry Larkin trailed Myers in the semi-finals, 7.84/ 170 to 7.97/169. That set up a final-round match between Myers and "Pizza John" Mafaro, the 1989 Springnationals winner and 1989 NHRA Champion who is growing stronger with each race in 1992 after finishing just 10th in the Winston points in 1990 and missing the 1991 Top 10 entirely. "Pizza," as his fellow competitors refer to Malaro, beat Ron Ayers in the first round, 7.95/169 to 7.95/166, and Benny Mens in the second set, 7.96/ 168 to 7.99/172, by a total of twothousandths of a second. In the semi-finals, he handled David Schultz, aboard Cliff Wright's Kawasaki ZX-IO for this race only, in the semi-finals by a still-tight margin of six-hundredths of a second, 7.98/ 168 to 8.04/167. "I may not win the championship this year," Mafaro said, sounding relieved to be competitive again, "but they'll know I was here. " In the final, Mafaro, whose four quarter-mile eliminations runs varied by just l/33-second, stayed within that range with a solid 7.97/174. But Myers, who left the starting line last, had the lead before he had tucked in and punched the second gear button and won by a comfortable margin with a 7.822/175.37. Myers' winning time matched his pole qualifying number to the thousandth of a second, and his speed was an all-time track record. It also was, as Myers was the first to point out, bogus. Myers' Katana evidently hit a bump right before the start of the speed trap, which effectively shortened the 66-foot traps by the wheelbase of the bike. (Translation: Myers started the clock with his back tire arid stopped it with the front tire.) "That 175 mph speed was a £luke," Myers admitted. "It looks good on paper and most people who saw it come up on the scoreboards will believe it, but everybody who knows what's going on knows that I didn't really pick up four mph over my best previous speed (171.23 mph in round one). " Myers' victory, of course, was more than an illusion. For those who have watched him win nearly half the races he has entered since he first swung a leg over George Bryce's Star Racing Suzuki in 1989, it was all too real. tN Results NHllA WINSTON SEIlII'S POINT STANDINGs: L John Myers (3622); 2. Dave Schulu (3358); 3. John Ma£aro (2864); 4. Jim Beft,ard (2752); 5. Byron ~nes (2118); 6. Kerry Larkin (1660); 7. (TIE) Steve Meilerman/Norm DeVine (1658); 9. Ron Ayers (1644); 10. Lance Boyer (1444). 39

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