Rado’s Roller-Coaster Ride At NDRA Finals

By Chris Harrington

October 14th-15th Norwalk, Ohio.  The final NDRA event of 2006 was the scene for record-breaking performances, high drama and some of the best racing of the 2006 season.  Cold and windy weather conditions and a track that was providing plenty of grip were the main ingredients in what turned out to be a fitting end to an exciting year of racing for the NDRA.

Chris Rado and his Scion, WORLD Electronics, WORLD Racing, ACT, Bosch, JE Pistons, Weismann and Goodridge sponsored Scion tC came prepared to entertain the fans.  Living up to his “Mr. Excitement” reputation, Rado provided some of the highlight-reel movements of the weekend.

As the completion got underway with the first round of qualifying Rado’s black Scion tC was at the head of the field after running a 7.92 second pass at 171 MPH.
 
“That was just what we needed.”  Rado commented. “Our Scion tC is running very well and the crew are all confident that we can keep improving.  Every race is like a test session for us and as long as we keep making progress, I’m happy.  I would like to see more speed, but I know that we have to keep our focus and concentrate on eliminating all of the issues that come up with a new car.  The main thing at this stage is that we are in the field with a good pass but we’ll be trying to improve in the second round of qualifying.”

The second qualifying round saw Rado lined up against hard-charging John Shepherd.  As the lights went green, Rado leapt out to an early lead as his Scion tC accelerated to mid track.  At this point, Rado’s car suddenly veered into the right lane and was heading for the wall.  Rado put on a driving skills demonstration and instantly regained control of the car, narrowly avoiding disaster as the crowd looked on in disbelief.  The crew inspected the car as soon as it got back to the pit area and found that a freeze plug, a part that costs less than a dollar, had failed which caused the coolant to dump all over the right side tire and almost caused a very expensive mishap.

Crew chief Shane Tecklenburg explained, “I was watching the pass from the starting line and as soon as the car went hard right I knew that something had failed.  Thankfully, Chris did a great job and got the car under control without causing any damage.”

Rado was typically nonchalant about his brush with disaster.  “As soon as the car moved to the right, I corrected without really thinking about it.  I was more concerned about John [Sheppard] who was somewhere in the right lane behind me.  I apologized to him as soon as I got out of the car.  It’s just one of those freak things that happen in racing.”

As the first round of eliminations started on Sunday, the weather conditions had improved and Rado’s Scion tC was lined up against in-form Stephanie Eggum in her Honda.  When the lights went to green, Rado’s .048 reaction time gained him an early advantage against Eggum’s .114.  By mid-track the Scion tC had a substantial lead but Eggum was charging hard at the big end.  In what was one of the best races of the weekend Rado took the win with a 7.924 second pass against Eggum’s 7.970.

Rado was ecstatic to get the win, “That was a great race.  Stephanie was always going to be tough and she’s been running some great numbers lately so I knew I had to do my job at the light to get a win.  In the end, the advantage we gained early in the race was too much for her to make up but we put on a great show for the fans.  Once again I have to thank my crew, Shane, Gary, Frankie, Kurt and Ty, who all worked late into the night in freezing weather to get the car ready for today.  Thanks guys.”

Going into the semi-final round the WORLD Racing team was up against Ron Townsend in his Chevrolet Cavalier.  Townsend’s car was obviously sick as it was started at the line and when the cars lined up Rado’s team were looking for an uneventful pass into the finals.  “We knew that Ron had a problem so we didn’t try anything crazy.”  Said Tecklenburg.  “His car was missing and sounded like it was on three cylinders.”

As the race started, Rado jumped out to a trademark early lead but by the one-hundred foot mark it was obvious that he had a problem.  As Rado slowed, Townsend’s sick car limped past the Scion and Townsend took the win.

Rado explained what happened, “I got a great launch and grabbed second gear to find nothing there, then I tried to shift into third, the transmission refused to shift so I kept on trying but it just wouldn‘t shift out of neutral.  I can’t believe our luck.  We should have had a fairly smooth passage into the final, but nothing can be taken for granted in racing and in this case we suffered a tough loss.”

A post-race inspection revealed that a shift-linkage bracket had vibrated loose causing the transmission problem and costing the team a final-round appearance.  “I guess we have to look on the bright side,” said Rado, “[i]t was very tough to loose a race like that, but we fixed the problem and we leave this race armed with more knowledge about our car.

The final event for Rado and his WORLD Racing team is the 6th Annual Nitto NHRA Sport Compact World Finals at Pomona Raceway in Pomona, California on October 21-22, 2006.

For more information please go to www.world-racing.com.