JIM MURPHY DOMINATES 40TH NAPA IGNITOR OPENER

The NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor presented by Dan Wiebold Ford achieved a new milestone in 2010 as the 40th Anniversary of this storied event returned in late-April and early-May. And though the temperatures barely climbed into the 50’s, the racing was very fast and quite exciting, too.

The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage point’s series offered the second stop for the AA/Fuel Dragster, which featured 7 cars competing in an 8-car open eliminator. After qualifying on the pole at 6.01, Jim Murphy was hands down the star of the weekend as he rattled off runs of 5.83, 5.82 and 5.80 to stop Adam Sorokin in the championship final.

In the Lucas Oil Drag Racer Series, nine different champions were crowned in addition to the winners of both Super Pro and Pro in Firebird’s top two Gold Cup eliminators at day’s end, Sunday, May 2nd.

Overall, twenty new NHRA national records were established by ten different drivers.

We hope you enjoy a small slice of the color and excitement (including a wide variety of photography below) taken throughout the event.

Images presented on behalf of David Fudge, Jennifer Luna, Gary & Jessica Himes, and the Firebird Staff. Should you wish to order any enlargements from these cool photos, please be sure and drop us an email. We’ll be glad to put you in touch (via email) with the photographer. If you haven’t had an opportunity to drop by either of these two key websites yet, be sure and check out the work of Blair Alderton (http://www.pbase.com/nitroimage/ignitor_boise_2010) and Brian Losness (http://www.backprint.com/storefront.asp?PID=bp%19rFt). Hands down, their work is simply exceptional.