BURKART DEFEATED BY WHAT HE COULDN'T SEE
Phil Burkart never saw him. The guy who picked his pocket, ruined his day, ended his weekend, and dashed his hopes, did it invisibly. On a brutally hot Sunday in bone-dry Seattle, Burkart saw all his hopes and confident aspirations ended in round one, and never saw the guy who did it. For the record, the mystery opponent was Whit Bazemore.
The weekend, yet another broiler on the NHRA tour despite its location in the normally cool Puget Sound area, was a challenge from the start. Soaring track temperatures, a tricky racing surface, and no real night session kept the tuners guessing and the drivers pedaling. On Friday, Burkart posted a strong 4.898 during the late sunset lap, and then watched as car after car took aim at his mark, but all came up short. For the first time in his career, Burkart ventured to the media center to meet with reporters as the overnight No. 1 man.
"Our public relations guy said 'Are you ready to go?' and I said 'Go where?'," Burkart recalled. "I didn't know you went to the media room if you were number one on Friday night. That was pretty cool. And we earned it, too. We ran great, and we were the quickest ones on the track on Friday. It set us up pretty well for the whole weekend, really."
The original weather forecast for Saturday was more scorching sun and high temps, but a surprise bank of clouds kept a lid on the conditions for much of the day. The overcast environment allowed the rest of the class to continue shooting at Burkart, who most likely would have continued to hold the top spot had the sun been out. By the end of the day on Saturday, the special-edition Techron car was in the 5th spot, and Burkart was confident his group could make the most of it.
"We made a real nice lap on our final qualifying pass, too, so we felt pretty much in control of what we could do out there," he said. "We weren't guessing or grasping at ideas. We knew what the track would offer, and we knew what we could run on it. There was no doubt in my mind that we'd go down the track on Sunday, and very little doubt that we'd win."
His No. 5 qualifier and consistent performance earned Burkart a Sunday morning date with Whit Bazemore.
Running one pair after teammate Del Worsham, who was ousted by Ron Capps in a tight battle, Burkart knew the hopes of the CSK contingent were resting on his shoulders. He was ready. He crossed the finish line 5.020-seconds later, and to that point had still not seen his opponent.
"I never saw him, period," Burkart said. "We left together, and ran together the whole way, but I had no idea if he was next to me or still at the starting line. It's not unheard of to lose a race when you never see the other guy in your peripheral vision, but it doesn't happen very often. Even at the turn-off, as they were guiding us off the track, I had no idea who had won. Right up until then I thought we'd beaten him.
"To see the ESPN guys go over to Bazemore's car was a huge letdown. We were in good shape here, and I honestly believed we were going to get on a roll and keep winning rounds. It kills me to see it all end on a lap where we did everything pretty much right, but still lost. It couldn't have been much more than a foot or two down there at the finish line, but your day ends the same way it does when you get blown away. It doesn't seem fair, but no one ever promised us that this gig was all fun."
Out of sight, out of mind? What you can't see won't hurt you? Wrong, and wrong. Just ask Phil Burkart. He never saw the guy.
