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Surprise AZ. 
With air temperatures hovering around 110 degrees and the track surface at 150 the first round of qualifying Saturday afternoon was pushed back to 8:30pm. This allowed the air to cool to a brisk 102 and the track to settle at 120. This being a one day show, it was obvious to everyone that it was going to be a long night.
The first round of qualifying didn’t go so well. “It was hot and my cool suit added to much bulk to already
cramped quarters. I couldn’t see much and the car shook two times during the run” said Joe Powell driver o the Warrior Blowers entry. The scoreboard showed an 8.09 at 160 mph. “I am not sure that will get us in the field” said Tammy long time crew member with the team “it will be pretty close”.
As 11pm approaches, CIFCA is called back to the staging lanes for the second shot at qualifying. With renewed intensity and after scrapping the cool suit, the Warrior Blowers team was ready to take another shot. “We didn’t drive all this way and sit around in this heat to not qualify,” said Joe. On this pass in the left lane the car went straight, shook once, and posted a 7.80 at 172 mph putting the team in the number 13 spot.
It is a bit past midnight as the team pulls into the staging lanes for first round of eliminations. “We are racing the Green Fuel Team; they are fairly new to CIFCA but they ran a 7.54 in qualifying, much better than our 7.80. They also have lane choice which could be a factor. We are going to have to make a good run to beat them” said Joe and that is exactly what they did.
Powell posted a .005 reaction time and logged a 7.58 ET to win first round. The Green Fuel guys ran a respectable 7.64 ET with a .065 reaction time. “It’s really quiet at the end of the track. Darrin (driver of the Green Fuel Funny Car) and I were trying to decide who won. I saw our tow vehicle and everyone jumping around and yelling so I knew what that meant. We won.”
Round two starts at almost 2am. “We are racing the AMP Motorsports team and that is never good. These guys are on it, running 7.50’s all day with consistent .020 reaction times. We are going to have to be near perfect to win this one” Joe said as he climbed into the cockpit. “I was pumped up for this run. If we could beat these guys it would be a huge accomplishment. I thought I saw the tree light up and I left, I guess I was way too early”. Joe had pulled the trigger .229 seconds before the green light, got the red and was disqualified.
At the end of the day the Warrior Blowers Team moved up two more spots in the point chase to 5th. Not bad for a hot early Sunday morning in Arizona.
Sacramento, Ca:
The WB team struggled with handling issues during the Friday test session. “We started in the right lane and finished in the left while rearranging the 330’ centerline cone.” “It didn’t go well or straight for that matter” said Joe Powell driver of the Oldsmobile Achieva funny car. “Sometimes this thing has a mind of its own” Joe commented.
The team made some setup changes to the car in preparation for the Friday evening qualifying session. Unfortunately a CO2 leak was
discovered in the staging lanes and the crew had to abandon the first round of qualifying hoping their luck would change on Saturday.
Saturday qualifying would put a smile on the crews face and cheers from the crowd as the WB Funny Car went straight down the left lane and grabbed the number 1 qualifying spot with a 7.51 @ 174 mph.
Just 90 minutes later the first round of eliminations would start and the WB team would be the fourth pair out. “We had lane choice and we wanted to stay in the left lane; it worked in qualifying” said Joe.
The WB car was paired up with the #9 qualifier Tony D’Oca in John Stanton’s Dessert Star. When the green light flashed Joe had left first but one of the parachutes sprang out at the hit of the throttle. 
The car shook three times during the run “I thought the car was just lazy which caused the tire shake. I didn’t know the chute was out.” Joe commented. The car still ran 7.84 @155 mph and won the race as Tony ran too fast with a 7.48 @169.
In round two after a lengthy oil down Joe would pair up with Jim Carter in the Sweet Justice F/C. With the burnouts completed Carter staged his car and turned on both the prestaged and the staged lights. As Powell prepared to roll into the staging beam the chief starter determined the Joe was taking too long and sent Carter on his way giving the Warrior Blowers car the red light and disqualifying from the round.
The starter said it took over 7 seconds for Powell to stage and that is against the rules. “I staged like I always do, this is not rite” said Powell. The WB crew appealed their case to the race director Keith. “Our hands are tied, the starter has the final say, I’m sorry but there is nothing we can do” said Keith. “Needless to say I am not happy about this decision, but as they say that’s racing. Keith, Jim and CIFCA were very supportive but we got the short end of this deal” Joe said. Video tape later revealed that the starter activated the tree and disqualified the WB Funny Car at approximately 4.9 seconds after Sweet Justice was completely staged.
All in all it was a good weekend for the Joe Powell Motorsports gang, a number one qualifier and a round win moved them up three spots in the points from 10th to 7th place. The team is busy getting ready for Speedworld on August 18th and another foray into the crazy world of Drag Racing.
n a weekend plagued with parts breakage and small hurdles the Warrior Blowers car DNQ’d for the first time since they started racing with CIFCA 1 ½ years ago. 
“We made some good passes during the Friday night testing sessions, both of which would have put us solidly in the field, but they don’t count”, said Joe Powell driver of the alcohol burning funny car. “We get two shots to qualify on Saturday and we didn’t get it done” said Joe.
The team worked hard but broke a transmission at 1000’ and ran an 8.10 ET at only 142 MPH in the first qualifying session. The Hemi powered funny car had qualified 16th in the 16 car field; “on the bubble” as they say in racing.
The entire team jumped in to get the car ready for the next round and fix the
broken transmission but with only 90 minutes between qualifying sessions and a last minute CO2 leak it was to no avail. After missing the second qualifying session the Warrior Blowers Team ended up in the 17th spot with their 8.10 just outside of the 8.01 bump spot. “Everyone spends a lot of time, money and energy to get this car to Tucson and to DNQ hurts, but we learned a lot and we are moving forward” said Joe.
This team is already looking ahead to The Famous Fox Hunt in Sacramento July 13-14 and three letters they refuse to hear in the middle of California are DNQ.
After qualifying in the number six spot with a 7.59 the Warrior Blowers Team had given their driver lane choice for first round.
As the sky darkened, the crew strapped Joe in the car and readied for the first round of competition in '07. Unfortunately mother nature had other plans and it started to rain just minutes before the run.
CIFCA and great people at Sacramento Raceway Park held out as long as they could but had to postpone racing until Sunday. The next morning the sun was shining through some broken clouds but water was seeping through cracks in the track. As safety is always the primary concern, the race was canceled and points were awarded based on qualifying.
The team, disappointed, packed up the trailer and started the 10 hour drive home. The Warrior Blowers Team vowed to make up for missed opportunities in Tucson in May.
See you there!