five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Busier than usual. Friday evening was "Club Clash" race, Saturday & Sunday were "Stick Shift" class scheduled races. Sunday was also a specialty race, which they called "Best of Detroit Footbrake Nationals" (no box, no tranny brake, American-made only).

Friday I ran the stick shift car, since my son's S10 Blazer/LS1-clone is still down, so I let him run the LS1/4L60E car. This was the 4th scheduled race of the season, but 2 have already been rained out. "Club Clash" requires mufflers and DOT tires (no box/no tranny brake), and since I normally run ET Drags on the stick shift car, I had to scramble to get something DOT that is better than the 9.50 DOT Hoosiers I run on the auto car. I had a pair of 10.50 QTP DOT's that I ran on the '57, so I had them mounted on rims that would fit the Camaro. Let's just say that the tread width of a 10.50 DOT tire is well short of the tread width of a 10.0 ET Drag tire. At least 60' was reasonably consistent in how much it spun each hit, but was well short of what the full slicks pull. We had over an hour rain delay during the 3rd round - I was about to stage when they shut us down. Nothing like trying to figure out what to dial after sitting for 80 minutes. I lost in the 4th round due to a poor light, while my son went one more round than I did.

Saturday in Stick Shift I was back on the ET Drags. I had to change launch approach from Friday evening, and went red 2nd round. Managed to move into a tie for 3rd place in season points in spite of the early exit.

Sunday I didn't get to the track until the last time trial/qualifying session (Stick Shift is "qualified", rather than random pairing - if you miss the qualifying sessions, you don't race). I barely got the car cooled down and tires changed before I had to get to the staging lanes. Good news is the car ran right what the weather station predicted. Oh, and I got this timeslip (I'm P346 in the right lane):




For the Footbrake race, they separate brands for the initial run-off - Chevy, Ford, Mopar, and BOP. I entered the Footbrake class just to get another pass in before Stick Shift eliminations, and happened to win first round against a poor light in the other lane. First round of stick shift, I'm paired with a 10.0 car, who happened to be the Saturday race winner. I tree'd him, but missed the 1-2 shift - how do you miss the 1-2 shift??? Needless to say, since he was green and had an otherwise flawless pass, he got an easy win.

I went back for Footbrake since I was already there. They also separated the cars based on slicks & DOT tires within each brand for the first 3 rounds, so I was against what should have been the better racers. Another not-so-good light in the other lane, same in the 3rd. 4th round when they put us all together (slick & DOT - brands still separated), I get paired with the high school daughter of a track worker - he asked me to take it easy on her, so I didn't hit the pocket practice tree in the staging lanes like I normally do. Of course, that resulted in my best light in eliminations for the day. 5th and semi-final round I'm paired with the fastest footbrake car at the track, who dials a 9.98 to my 13.34 - our RT's were within .004 of each other, but he took too much stripe and broke out.

In the finals I'm running another 13-sec car, who hasn't had much luck against me. He usually runs left lane & I right, so he jokingly said earlier that the next time we meet up, he wants the right lane so he can see what my car looks like from the other side. Well, he changed his mind and stayed in the left lane. I'm slower so I left first, our RT's were within .002 of each other, I'm still ahead as we're coming up on the lights so I start whopping the throttle - one time too many and gave him the stripe by .0059 - Rats!

The winners of each brand group then went on to a "Best of Detroit" run-off. The Chevy guy took out the Mopar guy (who is a pretty good racer in his own right), and the Ford guy took out the BOP guy (who is a reigning track champion). In the final, my Chevy guy went red - oh, well.

So, 3 days of racing, 4 classes (2 of which were season points classes), moved up in points in one class and sort of held my own in the other, one trophy in a non-points class.






Oh, I figured out why I missed the 1-2 shift. The Hurst T56 shifter that the factory used in the SS cars is getting sloppy. Not only does it have some side-to-side slop, but the shaft will also rotate a bit. Driving in on the street Monday, I twisted it from the centered position when pulling away from a stop light, and it wouldn't go into 2nd. An MGW shifter is on its way.

Edwardgp

Nice hardware they gave you to take home.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

They were bigger than the usual trophies because this is a once-a-year race. I kind of prefer the smaller ones, because it's really hard to figure out what to do with these big tall ones.

Edwardgp

You will have to build a shelf, a low shelf.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

haha, awesome. i love how your track gives trophies at each event. is there a pay out too or are you only running for a trophy?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

The Stick Shift class has a payout. Of course, I go out in it first round, then go to the final in the trophy-only class...

mikebondi

congrats tim

do you have a room for all the trophies. i lost count of all of them i have seen you win this year alone.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

I get asked that a lot

Not yet. It is a topic of "discussion" around the house...

mikebondi

the best was the ls shootout though. me and my sister are still trying to figure that out.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Which part?

mikebondi

How you dialed when it was running so far off. And still won the thing.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

I had 3 people red light against me (two in the LS Shootout). They weren't paying attention.

Then the car finally started behaving and I could put on a half-way believable dial-in.