Southwestern International Raceway Oct. 12-15, 2006 Southwestern International Raceway Tucson, AZ Oct. 12-15, 2006 The weekend of October 12 -15, 2006 was the Division 7 E. T. Finals in Bakersfield, Calif. The track hosted a Test and Tune on Thursday and saw many racers taking on the 1320 for practice and trying to figure out their set-up. Friday brought black clouds, a cool breeze, and rain. The High and Low Roller Gamblers only completed one round of competition. NHRA decided to just split the money among the 1st round winners and call the rest of the day hoping to start fresh on Saturday. Saturday morning arrived and most of the clouds were gone and the excellent crew of AAA Famoso Raceway prepared the track. Thanks also to two other California tracks, AAA Fontana and Infinion, who came to the rescue with two jet dryers for the racing surface. First order of business was the Race of Champions. SIR amassed 24 points during the ROC with three out of the four in Super Pro, Pro, and Sportsman classes making it into the second round. Tom Patterson and Matt Hawk went two rounds each for Motorcycle and High School respectively. Don Graham and John Hindley Jr. both went all the way to the finals. Sunday morning saw scattered clouds, fog, sun, and cool temperatures again. The racers from Team SIR were ready to gather points and go rounds. Twenty-three of our thirty-three members attending went to round two. Tom Patterson went three rounds in Motorcycle and Nate Johnson, Chris Stout, and Don Graham continued to the quarters in Sportsman. Larry Cannon went to the semis in Pro. Matt Hawk was the runner-up in the High School class. Special congratulations were earned by Larry Spitali who took home the honors and Wally in Super Pro. SIR showed great team spirit as the team stood together in the stands to cheer on each other through the rounds and into the finals. The cheers were loud enough they could have been heard by Larry as he cleared the track. Team SIR was one of the smallest in total number of participants at the E.T. Finals. Because of the ability and skill of the drivers, Team SIR ended up in third place overall out of eighteen teams. Thanks to the crew and management at AAA Famoso for a great show and all the hard work to make sure the race happened and in fine fashion. Thanks also to Team SIR when they stayed up helping replace a converter and transmission until 1:30 AM Sunday morning so one of their own would be able to make the call. The next race at SIR is a Test and Tune on Friday, Oct 27th. Gates are at 4 PM. Our King of the Track and 1/8 Mile Shoot-out is Saturday, Oct 28th with gates at 8 AM.