The biggest news out of the In-N-Out Burger dragstrip at Pomona today is the surprising, shocking, surreal #8 qualifying performance of Sooke, BC's Bob Wilson, (aka: Bobby Thunder) in his long dormant "Northern Thunder" Top Alcohol Dragster. His last appearance in the car was at the 2001 (Australian) Winternationals, where he qualified in the #8 position (the bump spot in the 8-car field). That event sadly concluded for his team when it dropped a valve on the burnout in the first round of eliminations, due to a persistent valvetrain fault.

After parking the car for over two decades, Wilson decided to bring it out of mothballs in time for this weekend's NHRA Winternationals. "The timing was finally right after 22 years on the sidelines for me to get back in the car and see what it could really do with the right parts and tuneup", Bob related in a brief interview over the phone from his pit area at the L.A. County Fairgrounds. "We're hoping we can run even better than yesterday's 5.313 - 270.00 effort and at least stay in the top half of the field", he continued, before concluding with the following statement.

"Today, April 1st, will go down in drag racing history as the perfect day to resurrect an iconic race car and prove that it can run with the top dogs in the class, even with mostly 20 to 25-year old equipment. Almost everything on the car is fresh, with less than six runs on all the running gear, and the Hadman chassis, PSI blower, Davenport fuel system and 44-amp mag are still nearly state of the art". With long-time crew chief Tom Mohan tuning the beast, and Wilson showing no rust after his very long layoff, chances are good that they will make an impact in at least the first round of eliminations this afternoon.

Stay tuned to this page for further updates on this saga, as it may - or may not - continue into tomorrow's (April 2nd) final rounds of eliminations.