Pomona Auto Club World Finals
November 9th-November 12th, 2017
Pomona, CA
Fresh off the Lucas Oil Regionals in Las Vegas, Team Litton headed to close out the season where it began at the infamous World Finals in Pomona. Teamed up again with Randy Meyer Racing and looking forward to an epic four-day race weekend at the historic Auto Club Raceway. It was no doubt sure to be a no-holds-barred battle for the prestigious Wally.
Driver Bill Litton was working with Crew Chief Randy Meyer, Co-Crew Chief Dan Pomponio and Co-Crew Chief Adrian Long as well as crew members Kris and Glenn. Team Litton was still coming off last weekend’s excitement breaking the Las Vegas track record for all-time fastest speed in the class @ 279.15 mph. They were determined to break even more records this weekend.
Q1 on Thursday started the weekend off on a high when Driver Litton launched hard and kept it hooked up to go to the #1 spot! It was his career quickest AND fastest pass running a 5.21 @ 280.14 mph! Per Litton, “I will remember the feel of that run for a long time. The car was accelerating very hard and stayed stuck to the track all the way.”
On Friday afternoon in Q2, the car had a strong launch but went into tire shake and Litton was unable to improve. However, the team car driven by Julie Nataas laid down the 2nd quickest run in the history of the class at 5.11! Litton was bumped to the #2 qualifying spot resulting in the team cars holding the #1 and #2 qualifying spots out of the 22 best cars in the world.
Going into Q3 on Saturday, the team was determined to kick it into high gear. Litton had another strong pass with his second quickest of the weekend and second quickest of the session with a 5.23 @ 279.73 mph, maintaining the #2 spot. Saturday afternoon brought the first round of eliminations. It was the first time Litton and Hanssen had ever faced each other in eliminations. Litton lifted when Hanssen went red, giving Litton the win. Crew Member Glenn Hirashiki described the run as being, “A brief moment of sadness followed up quickly by a sigh of relief and jump in celebration!”
On Sunday, Team Litton was buzzing with optimism. Driver Litton had another elimination face-off first going up against Eakins. Litton had another very strong launch…a little too strong, causing the front tires to come up putting enormous pressure on the wheelie bar. Litton stayed with it with the wheels in the air past the 60-foot mark when it went into tire shake.
Per Litton, “It felt like the front end stayed up past 60-feet, went into tire shake, and pedaled it. Then after they came down, washed out to the right side, gathered it up, and stayed with it to the finish line. We weren’t able to run him down this time. The best cars and drivers in the world show up for this race. We always want to win but, all things considered, it was a blessed weekend. We are hoping to come out swinging for the fence at the Winter Nationals in February!” From all of us at Litton Racing, we hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas!
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