Hunter Qualifies No. 2, Races to Vegas Semifinal
LAS VEGAS, NV – Synoil Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Greg Hunter capped off a two-race swing in Las Vegas with 
another semifinal finish, this time at the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals. The Geoff Goodwin-owned team had the car running consistently quick, allowing Greg to qualify a career-high No. 2 and race to the penultimate round.
“We always try to go into a race with every intention of winning. I don’t know if I would say surprised, but we were definitely super-happy about qualifying No. 2. Once we realized we were running pretty good we wanted the No. 1 back,” said Hunter.
While his 5.660 and 5.628 runs in the last two sessions weren’t enough to take the top spot, Greg’s strong 5.610 from the opening qualifying session held up for No. 2. Hunter drove the Synoil Energy Services/ExactAir Top Alcohol Funny car to 5.658 and 5.686 victories over Dave Germain and Sean Bellemeur. The Synoil car smoked the tires for the first time all weekend during Greg’s semifinal race against Jay Payne.
The tire smoke was a surprise for both the driver and team.
“We didn’t really change much on the tune-up, so we didn’t expect the car to smoke the tires as bad as it did. I was in the less-favorable lane and we just didn’t have what it was looking for. We tried our best. I did my best to correct it and get the car to hook up but it just wasn’t happening,” Greg claimed.
Looking back at the positives of the weekend, the Wyoming resident was able to point out the most critical.
“One of the most important aspects of the weekend was that we didn’t have any parts breakage. The car was running very well, and we did it without hurting parts. The crew was working really well together. I’m new to the team and there are a couple new crew guys, but we’re all coming together. This weekend really has us excited about this team’s future.”
Greg Hunter and the Synoil Racing/ExactAir TAFC team will have a couple months off before their next races in Mission, B.C. (June 6-8) and Billings, MT (June 20-22).
