Mark Sheehan has made life hard on himself with two nitro cars to drive and wife Sharon’s 300kmh dragster to oversee all in one week at Perth Motorplex.
Sheehan will be racing his Nitro Madman Funny Car against Anthony Begley in Chemical Warfare as part of the Home Group WA Nitro Slam on Friday and Saturday, but as if one 10,000 horsepower beast wasn’t enough, Sheehan was also testing his Top Fuel dragster on Wednesday.
“Just trying to work out the infrastructure with pit set ups has been crazy,” he said. “We have got some new clutch parts that we want to test and we wanted to give ourselves time to have another testing opportunity before West Coast Nitro in February.
“We have changed some of our clutch componentry which we believe is why we had problems in Queensland (with the Top Fuel dragster).”
Sheehan made two passes, one shaking and spinning the tyres about 100 feet out from the start line while the next got the car down track, though the numbers weren’t world turning with a .90 60 foot time and a 2.33 to 330 feet.
With his dragster testing completed, Sheehan will have eyes only for the seat of his Ford Mustang-bodied Funny Car which he hopes to send into the 4sec. zone again.
“Good, solid, consistent four second runs are our goal,” he said. “My crew chief John ‘Bodie’ Smith wants the national record but I don’t like to talk things up.”
During the off season the Funny Car was completely stripped down and rebuilt with everything inspected and serviced to make sure it is at its safest and also its fastest.
Sheehan said he didn’t feel the need to trash talk his opponent Begley.
“He might claim underdog status but history will show he’s beaten me once in five years so let him talk himself up!” he laughed.
Adding to the aforementioned pressure of two nitro cars, Sheehan will also be racing alongside wife Sharon for the first time as she competes in her Top Comp dragster.
“It’s an enjoyable thing and it will be good to have us both out there at the same time, though we have put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Mark said.
The Home Group WA Nitro Slam will see two passes each night from the two ‘big show’ Nitro Funny Cars of Mark Sheehan and Anthony Begley as well as four Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars and the 400 Thunder Series featuring Pro Slammer and Top Bike.
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