Edmonton, Alberta – September 07, 2015 – BELL / FISCUS RACING (BFR) raced at the NHRA Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals event at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Indiana on September 4-7, 2015 and were part of the quickest Pro Mod qualifying field in history.
The racing surface proved tricky to find traction on during the first round of Pro Mod qualifying on Friday evening. Jim Bell, driving his twin turbocharged, Pro Line Racing 481X-powered 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, spun hard at the hit and had tire shake right after the launch. The car moved towards the wall, and he aborted the run. Mid-way down the track, Fiscus also encountered troubles with his twin turbo, PLR 481X-powered 2012 Ford Mustang and deployed his parachutes early. Both Bell and Fiscus were not happy with their wasted Q1 efforts but went to work towards having a solid Q2 results. A bad coil wire and two iffy plug wires were replaced in Bell’s car, and the driver stated “We were confident that we had found out why my car was way down on power, and was only running on five cylinders once it got passed the 330-foot mark.”
For Saturday afternoon’s Q2 session, Bell and Fiscus were paired together. Bell’s car was still having serious issues; it launched hard, and the incrementals showed it was on its way to a solid pass, but the Camaro only ran strong until the 330-foot mark. Bell noted that the car was way down on power and struggled to gain RPM, which is why he never made the 2-3 shift. The disappointing qualifying effort produced an off-pace 6.699 at 185.54 mph run. Fiscus, who improved dramatically, clicked off his first five-second pass of the weekend. His 5.978 at 246.44 mph placed him sixteenth, right on the precarious bump spot.
Fortunately, at Indy, the Pro Mod class enjoys a fourth and final qualifying round on Sunday morning and the Bell/Fiscus Racing team had one more shot to make it in the show. The team determined that there were more problems as to why Bell’s Camaro was way down on power, specifically the fact that it was running excessively rich due to a defective wide band O2 control module and its Fuel Tech ECU adding 25% more fuel thanks to on-board safety feature. The malfunctioning parts were replaced, and confidence was high. Bell’s car performed better with a 6.110 at 240.08 mph effort, but it wasn’t enough to make the cut. Fiscus laid down another five-second run with a 5.962 at 245.27 mph hit, but his Mustang’s rear end gears were hurt big time and no doubt slowed not only the Q4 attempt, but all his qualifying passes that weekend. It took a 5.940 to qualify and neither driver was able to make it into the highly competitive Top 16.
“We were chasing problems all weekend,” said Bell, who was disappointed with how things went but retained a positive attitude about working towards a better performance. “It appears that we have diagnosed and repaired the problems with both cars, and can now focus on tuning to run quicker at our next event this weekend.”
Both Bell and Fiscus will be competing in the Pro Boost class at the PDRA DragStock XII at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina on September 10-12, 2015 as the Bell/Fiscus Racing team continues their 23-race commitment for the 2015 season.
About Bell/Fiscus Racing (BFR)
Established in late 2014, Bell/Fiscus Racing is a joint collaboration between Pro Mod drivers Jim Bell of JB’s Power Centre, and Kevin Fiscus. The two will run at various events throughout the U.S. including NHRA, PDRA, and more. LIKE them at fb.com/bellfiscusracing
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