Lucas Oil Route 66 Nationals
July 9-12, 2015
Joliet, IL
With June’s test and tune behind him driver Bill Litton arrived in Joliet, Illinois confident the Litton Racing Team would be a threat in the 21 car field for the Route 66 Nationals. Behind the wheel of a Randy Meyer / Ted Lake tuned beast, Bill had a shot to be a contender.
In the first round of qualifications on Friday, Team Litton threw down a nice run with a 5.371 at 265 mph and a new personal best ET (elapsed time)! Good enough to land the team in the #8 spot going into the second round of qualifying. Per Litton, “That run felt awesome! And it would have been quicker but we dropped a cylinder just before the finish line.”
Round two of qualifying proved to be consistent with another quality run of 5.396 at 267 mph, but holes out again and got bumped to the #9 spot. As rain clouds loomed on Saturday, Bill and team were hoping to keep all of the holes lit in the 3rd and final qualifying round on Saturday so they could advance deeper into the top half of the qualified cars, but Mother Nature wasn’t having it. “Off and on rain” delayed things to the point that the field was set with only 2 qualifying runs. Team Litton would go into eliminations on Sunday in the #9 spot. “We’re stoked with the progress and we can win from this spot!” Litton remarked.
The conditions were hot and humid heading into round one of eliminations and Bill was squared off to face Rich McPhillips. Both drivers had excellent and nearly identical reaction times, the cars launched hard. And then it happened… the first time Litton broke into the 5.20’s. The finely tuned machine thundered down the track, never giving up the lead and posted a career best 5.282 at 267.85 mph. This 5.282 would prove to be the quickest ET (elapsed time) of eliminations for the injected nitro dragsters. Bill had this to say about the run, “I knew it was on a good run! It really set me back in the seat and never let up!” Litton and Team headed into Elimination Round Two fairly confident with three consistent runs under their belt.
The heat and humidity increased for Elimination Round Two causing the air conditions to worsen. The car launched a little softer than any of the previous runs due to a hole out right at the hit and it never cleaned up.
Although the weekend didn’t end in the winner’s circle this time, Bill and team were excited with their progress. Litton reflected on the weekend, “Two 5.30’s and a 5.28, is a great move in the right direction!”
Team Litton will be back on the track in the Randy Meyer Nitro Dragster for the Super Bowl of drag racing at Indy September 3rd – 7th. Be there!