Hometown racing for Huff Motorsports

Seattle WA, July 1st, 2003

This past weekend racers from around the nation came to Seattle WA for the AHDRA Kresto Pacific Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent. The weather was as close to perfect as it gets around Seattle, only one problem, it was actually too hot. It isn’t often that the 90 degree mark is broken in Seattle but this last weekend there was a lot of sun and a lot of fun. On Saturday the temps neared 95 degrees and the track temperature got as hot as 138 degrees. With the racing surface so hot it was all the teams could do to get down the track without spinning the tire. Huff’s team seemed to have it figured out when at the end of the day they were sitting in the number 2 qualifying position posting a time of 7.000 seconds at just over 194 MPH. Huff was right between the #1 qualifier, Doug Vancil and the #3 qualifier Ron Houniet. “We didn’t run as fast as we wanted but I can assure you that everyone else wanted to run faster too, the track just wouldn’t take it. We did pretty good for the day, #2 means only one guy did any better and being on Doug’s heels means we’re doing something right.”, said Huff.

Sunday was supposed to be a little cooler and the teams were hoping for a better track but the changes were nominal, the fast bikes were still being limited by track surface conditions but the day was shaping up to be a good one. Eliminations got underway after the Children’s Ride came to the race track. With the great weather came a great spectator turnout. The Children’s Ride, an annual fundraiser for Children’s Hospital, brought out thousands of riders in a single file line filling the grounds and the stands at Pacific Raceways. Steve Huff was prepared and the team was ready on Sunday to put on a show for the hometown fans and that is just what they did. Taking a first round win and getting lane choice set the team up for round two. Time was short between rounds and the team scrambled to make the changes and went out and got the win in round two. The rush preparing the bike for round three was too much and the team could not get a new tire on before they had to get to the line for the semi-finals where they would face Ron Houniet, the defending AHDRA National Champion. Not having lane choice was a real disadvantage for the semi-finals, with high track temps in the late afternoon the team would have to have a little luck and a lot more traction. Huff made it out about 100 feet and started spinning the tire. The lack of traction proved to be too much and Huff didn’t make it to the finals, losing with a 7.1 second run at 198 MPH. With a semi-final finish the team gained a lot of much needed points and got the bad luck streak of two consecutive first round losses in the past two races behind them. Huff said, “I’m real happy with how the team worked this weekend. We figured out the track and ran consistently. We were the only team to make every pass under power on Saturday but when it really counted on Sunday we just didn’t have the time to do what we needed. It was a big field of Top Fuel bikes and only two teams did better than we did. I would say we were keeping pretty good company this weekend.”   

Huff was also playing host to many of his team’s sponsors and friends at the hometown event as well as raising money for the Children’s Hospital. The team received thousands of dollars in pledges and donations for Children’s based on their highest MPH run on Saturday. The total tally isn’t in yet but for those of you who made pledges, Huff’s best MPH on Sat was 194.46. “This MPH for Children’s was great. We want to make this an annual event and keep raising money for this great cause. I really wanted to go faster and raise more money but we could only do so much. Next year we will try to raise more money for the kids and hope we have a better track so we can put some power to the track and run over 200 like were used too. I was really hoping to run 210 this weekend but it just wasn’t there, we’ll get it next time.” added Huff. The hospitality area at the Huff Motorsports pit was another highlight of the event. Huff played host to hundreds of guests over the weekend with an incredible buffet and BBQ catered by Chris Cunio and the staff at The Paragon Bar and Grill in Seattle WA. Jim Beam was on hand with lots of giveaways and plenty of refreshments. The day ended with a great dinner and dozens of guests including Dan Haggarty, better known and remembered as “Grizzly Adams”, Robbie “Kaptain” Knievel, and a number of the Seattle Cossacks stunt team. It was a great event and one that won’t soon be forgotten. As the Huff Motorsports Top Fuel Harley race team continues to look for a primary sponsor you can keep up with the team by going to www.huffmotorsports.com and finding out what’s new. Steve Huff and his team send out a very special thanks to The Paragon in Seattle for their help and the great food enjoyed by everyone and would like to thank all of their sponsors that helped get them where they are today.