UPDATE: November 16, 2009
Team wins the 2009 Las Vegas Nationals followed by a runner up at the AAA NHRA Pomona Finals.
Strong performance by the team and great driving by Daniel Oliver resulted in the teams first ever NHRA National Event win on November 1, 2009. A string of mid to low 5.60 runs at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway combined with holeshot wins when they were needed most put the team on top.
"Daniel drove like a seasoned veteran with a holeshot victory over his semi final opponent and in defeating Alexis De Joria's Bob Newberry tuned mount in the final," said team owner Randy Goodwin of Daniel's 5.65 to 5.64 final round victory. "We couldn't be happier."
Two weeks later at the AAA NHRA Pomona Finals, ESPN and NHRA broadcaster/announcer Bob Frey commented that Daniel is "Certifiably the hottest driver in TA/FC right now," after his semi final victory, marking 7 National Event round wins in a row.
Daniel and the team qualified number three in the 23 car field with a great 5.58 at 257 miles per hour. In the semi final round, Daniel posted a 5.56 to defeat his opponents 5.53 (low et of the event) in a holeshot victory. Daniel carded a .056 reaction time to his opponents .110 for a margin of victory of 7 feet.
In the Final, Daniel and the team faced the number one qualifier in a match held after dark. Looking to make it two National Events in a row, Randy made some safe but significant changes to the tune up on the Monte Carlo funny car in an effort to challenge the competition.
At the green Daniel posted a good .062 reaction time to his opponents better .049. Daniel spun the tires hard in the middle after the car slid over near the right side guardrail. He corrected and made it back to the middle of the groove by the finish line. In a stunning defeat in a great drag race, Daniel posted a carreer best 5.54 at 259 miles per hour to his opponents 5.53 at 260 miles per hour. The margin of victory for our opponent was about a half a car length.
Between the two National Events, on the weekend of November 7th, Daniel and team had a great showing earning a semi final finish at the Las Vegas Lucas Oil Divisional Event. The team lost a close one to the team that finished number two in the world last year by just .0054 seconds, which translates to 2 feet. Daniel's 5.66 coupled with a great reaction time nearly held off his opponents 5.63.
Over the winter Randy and the team will be refining their program and making some significant changes to the combination followed by extensive testing before the season opening Winternational's in February, 2010.
"We are expecting the current NHRA world champ to compete at this event and we hope to make a significant challenge for the trophy at the end of the day," said Randy. "Daniel is doing a great job driving the race car and now it's up to the rest of us to give him a race car that can win."
Update: August 6, 2009
2 Pomona Events, Las Vegas and Infineon Raceway's Record Field Tops The List.
The Randy Goodwin Racing rookie driver, Daniel Oliver, has earned the reputation of being an "Unknown Quantity" after attending a handfull of races since his license runs in 2008. Daniel has consistantly qualified in the top half of the field in nearly every event, and he most recently earned a spot in the quickest Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional event ever. He is an "Unknown Quantity" in that you never know what to expect when he pulls to the line, and anyone who races him does not take him lightly.
As Daniel shapes his experience behind the wheel he is admittedly still figuring out what's going to happen next. The team isn't bashfull about wanting the car to run hard, and they aren't cutting Daniel a lot of slack, either. "This is a car that has run multiple 5.50's. We aren't here to run 5.70's," quipped Randy.
Daniel surprised everyone when he jumped straight through the 5,70's and ran a 5.66 in near 90 degree weather at the season ending Final's at Pomona, placing him number 6 out of 29 cars in the class at the end of qualifying. First round he won on a hole shot with an engine-wounding and slowing 5.68 at 245 miles per hour, then went on to face Steve Harker in round 2. Daniel had a huge starting line advantage but that wasn't the story. Daniel experienced heavy tire shake and was momentarily disoriented to the point where he almost hit Harker's car and the left side guard rail twice. His unbelievable run shown on ESPN2 can be viewed on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Ry1P-NL1w
With his weekend done and new found respect for the race car, Daniel was still determined to get the job done. With a rainout after several attempts to run first round at the 2009 Winternationals, Daniel was forced to withdraw after the flu hit him hard. The next event was the Phoenix Divisional, where the team decided ahead of time to sacrificed the event as a test and tune.
"We made some changes to the engine combination and decided in order to try it out we needed a well prepped track and a good safety crew," said Randy. "I don't want to step on this thing on an off weekend, and I don't want Daniel, who is still learing to drive, to be under pressure to try to qualify for this race. And if he finds himself in a bad position should it all go wrong. I want the best safety crew available and we have it here at division events."
The results were obvious at the Summit Racing National's in Las Vegas as Daniel, once again, qualified in the top half of the field. First round, Daniel posted a fine 5.67 at 253 miles per hour for the win. Second round, Daniel struggled with the clutch on the line, let the car roll deep and inadvertantly left the line with a .250 reaction time. He posted another 5.67 at 254 miles per hour, but lost the round.
Infineon Raceway proved to be an interesting event. The team decided to test on Thursday, making just one run to 800 feet. Daniel posted his best ever incremental time and speed to half track, shut it off at the high gear shift and still ran a 5.82 at just 199 miles per hour.
Ready to go in qualifying , Daniel once again had issues with the clutch pedal in the first session. The car pulled through the beams and Daniel ultimately aborted the run. The next day Daniel was put in the right lane for session number two. Even though Daniel is the "clutch guy" on our team he is still getting used to driving a clutch car. He did a lot better this time but still ended up sliding it in deep which hurts the elapsed time. Although deep, he still ran a carreer best 5.63 at 258 miles per hour. The incremental times to half track on this run were 3 hundredths of a second slower than Thursday's test and tune, though. We felt it should run 5.50's before the weekend was over and were determined to do it.
Unfortunately on that run, Daniel ran it well past the finish line and up the Sonoma hill before he stepped off the throttle. The engine, well over 10,000 RPM in high gear, just barely blackened the rear main in the engine. Just enough that the team had to put a new engine in the car that evening. It was completed on time and ready for first round on Sunday.
Figuring the track was ready for more power, Randy made a change to the tune-up which he admits in hindsight was "Not very bright." Couple that with the fact that Daniel had a very lethargic .268 light which, in Daniel's words "Will be fixed," spelled first round blues for the team. The car launched hard with a "too agressive" .951 sixty foot time, then proceeded to blow the tires off handing our opponent the win.
Considering the fact that Infineon Raceway typically has the quickest fields in the country, the team was happy to be a part of the 8 car show out of the 16 cars that made qualifying runs. Number one qualifier was a 5.60 and the bump for number 8 was a record 5.65. Considering Daniel deep staged and ran a 5.63 the team is feeling optimistic about it's chances the rest of the year. And Daniel hopes more seat time will improve his abilities and hone his talents in the car as he looks toward his first win in TA/FC.
Daniel Oliver set to make TA/FC debute.
Daniel Oliver, 29 year old crew member of the Randy Goodwin Racing owned machine, earned his TA/FC license on October 19, 2008, at The Strip At Las Vegas running 5.96 at 247 miles per hour on the tricky track surface. Earlier in the year, Daniel cruised to a 5.84 at 250 miles per hour when Randy made good on a promise to let Daniel "make a few laps" in the funny car for all his hard work for the team over the years.
Daniel is the son of Greg Oliver, longtime friend of Randy Goodwin. Daniel's first trip to the drags was as an infant in the back of the tow vehicle while his Dad drove Mike Buonocore's Top Gas West dragster at places like Orange County International Raceway. Daniel started working on various drag racing machines owned by Randy and his Dad as soon as he was old enough to hold a tool in his hand. As an 11 year old kid, Daniel assumed the clutch duties and other responsibilities normally done by people much older on Randy's TA/FC.
In the 2000's, Greg and Daniel built and campaigned a Super Comp and Super Eliminator Dragster for a few years, with Daniel winning his very first club race event. Daniel went on to win more events but eventually decided he wanted to step up. Daniel went to work for Jerry Darien as the clutch specialist on the Courtney Force driven Darien and Meadows A/Fuel Dragster in 2007 in an effort to gain A/Fuel experience until the team decided they needed full time help. As a tech for Verizon Wireless, Daniel did not want to leave his position and eventually had to leave the team. Daniel returned to crew on Randy's TA/FC for the 2008 season.
After Randy's former driver crashed the race car at Pacific Raceways in Seattle sidelining the team, Randy offered Daniel the opportunity to drive for the remainder of the 2008 season. Once repairs were made, with one full run left to complete Daniel's license upgrade from Super Comp to Top Alcohol Funny Car, the team headed for Las Vegas where they completed the licensing project.
Two races remain for 2008 which includes the Las Vegas Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event October 7-9, and the Auto Club Finals at Pomona, California, October 13-16. The team is optimistic.
"I hope to see Daniel progress and get comfortable in the car. Right now he looks like a guy who has 20 to 30 laps already. He gets the RPM's right up and stages immediately, he knows where the grove is, and he has about 500 or more laps down the quarter mile along with a few wins under his belt in the Super classes, so he knows how to drag race. I'm completely confident in his abilities," said Randy. "Jay Payne came by and offered him some good advice at Las Vegas, and If I know Daniel he was paying attention to Jay."