(Photos by Larry Spoerlein VCRides.com) – This has to be one of the most telling photo sequences we have seen from the top end of a drag strip for some time! Just when you think a run is over and things cannot get weird, altered happens! While we are missing the pertinent information on this car and the driver we can thank Larry Spoerlein for sharing the photos with us. Larry’s website VCRides.com is a pretty awesome website that makes us hate the awesome weather in California more than we already do but Larry is a killer shooter and a hardcore car guy so that eases the pain.
Larry has been shooting the March Meet for nearly 10 years now and he love the top end of the track where these images were taken. Altereds will always be the pinnacle of crazy for us. The lack of wheelbase, the temperamental attitude and the fact that something can go wrong at any second always have us on our toes when they are running, especially the blown machines like this one.
As you will see, things seemed to be OK during the run but the rough ride started after the parachute level was pulled. Crazy, right?
CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND THEN CHECK OUT VCRIDES.COM HERE
One of my special memories: Altered I`m running against clicks off a low 7 pass,gets on the brakes before the chute hits.Goes hoppity hooper all over track.I click off a low 7 pass just behind him in my altered,slow just in time for his right slick to land right on my front air dam and left front tire as he`s bouncing all over my lane.We both come to a stop in the runoff,his slick is dead,my front end is scrap.Wants to kick my ass cause I hit him from behind.Still the best of times.
With fuel altereds, if you made it to the return road in one piece youve won.
Yeah, and the new era FA’s run a longer wheel base than the original cars back in the day. Still squirrely though which makes them a don’t miss when they line up.
Holy crap !! That’s my husband Ken Fullerton driving . I’m glad it all turned out good in the end. Awesome pictures and I hope he never does that again .
Your husband may be the full time driver Carla! He did amazing!!!!
That’s my partner and long time friend Ken Fullerton! this is the first full pass the car ever made! We just got it done three days before the March Meet with a couple of no sleep nights, Ken did an outstanding job keeping the beast going the right way, he is an incredible driver and an amazing friend! The car has been our dream for five years and its more fun than we could have ever dreamed. It is number 1947 and we were trying to slow it down to run NE 1, epic fail, 7.0 Pro, here we come! Great Job Kenny!
He did do a great job of saving it and hopefully someone told him later or he figured it out himself…but when it starts to bounce like that, you gotta get off the brakes entirely and let it settle down. If you’re on the brakes and the rears are off the ground, it skips even higher when the now stopped tires re-enter the track surface.
Must let it roll!!
Congrats on a great outing guys!
Get the chute lined up with the center of gravity.