Northwest Hitter Takes March Meet Crown

[Mark King]

Austin Takes March Meet Crown

Plueger Tune Up Dominates March Meet Field

Bucky Austin in the "Northwest Hitter" Plymouth Arrow nitro funny car picked up where he left off last season with a dominating win at the 51st Annual March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

The Steve Plueger tuned "Northwest Hitter" had a rocky start in the first two rounds of qualifying, but stunned the crowd in the third and final round of qualifying when he ripped off low elapsed time of the weekend at that point and the number 1 qualifying position with a beautiful 5.778 @ 245.96.

In the first round of eliminations on Sunday Austin defeated Dennis Taylor in the "Future Flash" Dodge Charger with a 5.754 @ 246.23, which also reset the low elapsed time of the event.

In the second round of eliminations Austin squeaked by Lee Paul Jennings in the "American Revolution" Chevy Camaro funny car when Jennings put a major hole shot on Austin. Even though Austin carded a 5.789 @ 242.06 he only won by .0085 or about 3 feet over Jennings.

In the final round Austin was paired with the second Steve Plueger tuned entry of Garrett Bateman in the "Plueger & Gyger" Ford Mustang. Austin set low elapsed time of the event and the quickest pass in AA/FC history with a 5.723 @ 246.77 in his defeat of Bateman who was no slouch with his pass of 5.853 @ 245.36.

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