National TV Host Kathy Fisher Puts K&N Dragster Into Final During IHRA Event in Michigan
- 24 Aug 2012
As with many a new combination, there are nearly always a handful of ‘bugs' to work out, as was the case with Fisher's new ride. "It was just little things here and there, nothing major and things you wouldn't learn about until you actually put the car on the track," she pointed out. "We never got to take the car and test it anywhere before we took it to her first event, which was the NHRA Div. 3 event in Norwalk back in May. Plus with the way my work schedule has been this season, we've only had it out five weekends and when all of those are NHRA or IHRA races, there hasn't been a lot of opportunity to test or get used to the car." One would think going from a dragster to another dragster would be a simple switch and Fisher points out that while it would seem that way on paper, there were several factors that took a little getting used to. "This new car is simply a Cadillac with all the best equipment," explained the co-host of the upcoming Fox Sports Net national TV series, Performance TV. "While I felt I should have been able to hop right in and pick up where I left off in my old car, well it just didn't work out that way for one reason or another. Racing has so much to do with consistency and I was certainly to the point in my old car, which was the only one I raced week in and week out for the last eight years, where I wasn't thinking about what I was doing when it came to staging and how the brakes felt or the tranny brake button and even playing the top end. All these things have a completely different feel to them in the new car, right down to a much shorter throw on the throttle pedal."
During her first four outings with the new K&N American dragster, Lima, Ohio's Fisher had only been able to take the car down the full quarter-mile just over ten laps, and as the team made its plans for their most recent event in Martin, Michigan, she had full intentions of taking part in a rare test session that the track was offering on the Friday afternoon before the main event.
"I wanted and needed some seat time since by now, the only reason this car hasn't gone rounds is me and my lack of time getting myself dialed in," she admitted. "Beside the fact I hadn't been down the track since the national event at Norwalk, six weeks prior, I just thought it was a good idea to get some hits at the tree and see what kind of numbers I could put up. After the heat we have had during every outing, we were going to be running in temperatures twenty and even thirty plus degrees cooler than all season. Even if this wasn't still a very new ride, I think I still would have wanted some laps." "I was also going to be running our '10 K&N Corvette for the first time in a year and was all set to test both cars, since I don't normally foot brake race," she continued. "Mother Nature had plans of her own and Friday was a complete washout. It rained and rained and we couldn't even get the cars out of the trailer until first thing Saturday morning, and by then it was crunch time with all hands on deck to get everything out, the pit set up and all three cars ready."
In addition to the K&N American dragster that Kathy drives, her husband also competes with his own K&N/Ohio Crankshaft dragster in the super quick Top Dragster category. Although Fisher didn't get the opportunity to test either of her entries, come Saturday morning it would seem that both she and the K&N dragster were ready for the first round of eliminations of the weekend's first race later in the day. Fisher posted an 8.920 and 8.896 in her two time runs.
"I was very pleased with running those kind of numbers right out of the trailer with the air being so much different than anything else this season," she said. "It was just my time in the delay for the tree that had me concerned going into first round. I am able to stage this new car so much better and more consistent than ever before. With only two hits going into first round, I thought I might be seeing the tree better and I would get more comfortable. Well, I should have trusted myself and put more time in. I went .013 red in round one. Based on the huge number I had in for delay, I know at that point no one would have been able to convince me to put so much more time in. I wouldn't have believed it, so that would have been my own hard head, but when it comes down to it, numbers don't lie." With only just a few passes in the new car where she got a chance to play the top end so far this season, after turning on the red-light in round one, she decided to make the most of it. "I thought ok, let's at least see if I had the car set up on the number and went ahead and ripped the throttle what I thought I needed to based on what number I should have been set up on. Although I went red and lost, I was pretty happy to put an 8.905 up on the board. I knew I had something to work with for Sunday's race."
Fisher also competed in the team's K&N 2010 Corvette, which is completely stock, minus its K&N AirCharger kit, Borla Exhaust and Dragon Racing Fuels Unleaded Concentrate in the tank. "Man, I wish I could have made some laps Friday for testing and I think that sort of hurt me come round one," she explained. "Sure, going rounds would have been great, but what I had that car there for was really just a little fun and to get some time slips. With the additions we have made to it between the K&N and the exhaust, she gets 31 MPG and her best time last year was a 12.44 in the quarter. I wanted to try some runs with and without the traction control, but with just two time runs, I left it on. She ran two 12.57's last year at this same track and first pass this year was a 12.570, I was about to say she was my new permanent race car with those kind of numbers, but first round the traction control got me and really bogged her down on the line."
"So, I think I'll stick with my real race car," she joked. When Sunday rolled around, officials first had several rounds to finish from the race the evening before. All classes were scheduled for one time run and then head directly into eliminations for the second division event of the weekend. "For this race it was just our Pro-Am cars, both dragsters," she remarked. "Boy as the day went on I was very thankful for that, we had two very happy dragsters and one seriously unhappy golf cart. Kevin's car has water in the block, but doesn't have a radiator or water pump. We have to push him everywhere and go pick him up at the top end. Well, after trying everything on the cart it was completely out of commission. Even though we had an awesome spot and were pitted as the 2nd rig from the rear of the staging lanes, we were still almost at the eighth mile mark. We managed just fine for our one time run, but after that it got completely nutty. After we both won first round to the point where I had to stay back at the trailer when Kevin went up to make his runs and our poor crew guy, Shane, was literally killing himself running back and forth from the head of staging." And for Fisher, there was that magic phrase she had been waiting for in her new 2012 K&N American dragster, "won first round." After appearing in several finals each season, she's the first to admit that not turning on one single win-light in the new car was starting to wear on her mind. "Of course I've wanted to win something, a round, whatever, at every race we have attended this year, but it just wasn't meant to happen for one reason or another," she confessed. "Coming into this weekend and this very event at this track, I was beginning to wonder what in the world was wrong with me. It had been a full year since I had won a round and you know I would have even taken a lucky one, but I couldn't even seem to grab one of those." "When that first win light finally came, I think I was so much in shock that I didn't really get that excited," she laughed. Fisher came from .012 behind at the tree in round one of Quick Rod to outdrive her competition at the stripe and in round two, sent home Dan Seamon after grabbing a huge starting line advantage and pushing him way under the 8.90 index. That would take her on into the quarter-final round. "At IHRA divisional races, we are not put on a ladder but they play cards, so to speak, all the way through to pair us somewhat randomly," she explained. "At this point, I pointed out to Shane that we were down to five cars and if I could make it past this round and get the best reaction time of the winners, I would have the automatic bye into the final." Fisher not only won the round after Pat Forster turned it .002 the wrong color, but she also ripped the tree to a near perfect light with a .001 reaction time and turned her weekend from winning her first round in her new K&N American dragster to going to her first final. "Wow, now I was excited," she exclaimed of learning she would earn the bye for the semifinals. "I had been in the left lane all day, so I took my bye in the right and ran it through the 1000' mark, just to compare numbers. I don't usually have the best lights when I run alone, so I didn't think much of my .027 light. I put a few more in the delay, because I was not going to take a chance of going red and went up for the final." After being very close on the tree with her .015 to her opponent's .011, Fisher played a little too early and let what could have been a close round and possibly a win get away from her. "Of course I was pretty upset with myself for not making the right decisions down track when I ran Jeremy [Mason], but my only excuse is going back to that lack of seat time," she pointed out. "In this new car, I am still learning right where my front wheels are and I had got to the point in the old car where I didn't really have to look at them anymore. Even though my new car is a hair longer in wheelbase, I sit fifteen or so inches closer to my front wheels than I was used to. One would think that would make it easier, for me I think that they [front wheels] should be out there farther than they really are, but I'm getting it." For Fisher, making a final in only the fifth time out with the all new car is still something she is quite proud of. "That fat monkey on my shoulder is gone," she smiled. "This K&N car was built with nothing but the best and deserved to be in the final. I certainly don't plan on waiting another year to get back to another one." Much like Fisher's previous dragster, the new car is loaded with all the best protection from K&N Engineering. "K&N has taken me to many a final and many a win over the years," she noted. "There is no other air or oil filter I would have on my race cars and that goes for our daily driver and anything else we can protect with K&N. With the new car, we also added one of the new in-line filters for my methanol line from K&N's new line product line. Air, oil, fuel, you name it, it doesn't get into my engine without going through a K&N product first and thanks to their unsurpassed protection, that's just one thing less for me to ever have to concern myself with." Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
