five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Super Chevy Denver was this past Friday and Saturday at Bandimere Speedway. The turn-out was outstanding (which caused some problems of its own). Lots of good looking cars in the show area (which I didn't have much time to frequent, but saw them as I drove by after each run). They also brought in some Pro Mods, which provided some excitement, and PSCA racers (which slowed down everything).

For the racers, Friday had time trials and a "bonus" jackpot race, along with a special feature "LS Shootout" race sponsored by a local Corvette specialty outfit - had to have an LS-type engine in your GM product.

Between the Pro Mods, PSCA, and infrequent racers, there was constant carnage on the track. Time trials went late into the evening, and the jackpot race didn't even start until 10 pm. The track has a self-imposed "good neighbor" midnight curfew, so there was no way the bonus race would be completed. It just went one round, and the winners got their entry fee back plus $5.

The LS race had enough entrants to go 5 rounds. But, they only got through 4 rounds before midnight, so they told me and the other semifinalist to be ready at 9 am Saturday for the final, after PSCA had their last qualifying session. That took until 10 am, so we lined up to race it off without benefit of a time trial. I managed to cut a decent light, he broke out by a tenth vs. my .03 breakout, so I defended my win in the same race last year. The prize was a dyno tune from the sponsoring business (who I was going to have do the '57 when I got it running, anyway). For that little race, I was paired with a supercharged 5th gen in the first round (who broke out by 7 tenths - saw him Saturday, he said he knew it was on a good run and just wanted to see what it would do), a local C6 racer (who was also in the 2008 Pinks All Out 16, and to whom I don't think I've ever lost), a bye in the 3rd round, a 4th gen in the 4th round (2000 Camaro, owned by the track and raced by the son of our famous track announcer), and another C6 in the final. Other than not paying attention for the bye run and going -.019 red, my RTs averaged .013 - if you include the red light and make it positive, all 5 RTs averaged .014. Suffice it to say I really wanted to win that tune...

For the "regular" Super Chevy races, they offered Bracket 1 for delay box cars, Bracket 2 for non-delay but slicks and tranny brakes allowed, and DOT which didn't allow delay boxes, tranny brakes, or open exhaust. I entered Bracket 2 and DOT.

For 1st round of Bracket 2, about anything that could mess up your routine happened. I was paired with a front engine dragster who didn't run a delay box. I pulled into the water box, and when the pair ahead took off, they held me while he did his rolling burnout. But then, the car in front of me pulled out of the groove just before the finish line, apparently something wrong with his car, so they stopped me before I started my burnout. He managed to get off the track without leaving anything on it, but they were mopping and blowing rocks off the track ahead of me, further delaying me. Meanwhile, the FED is pulling up to the start line. They finally let me do my burnout, and after having too much water in the box all weekend, this time my tires were almost dry, and I just about didn't get them spinning. Then when I let off the line lock button, I hit a patch of water, and had to keep them spinning to get them dry. I finally got up to prestage, and the FED hadn't gone in yet. I prestaged, and he rolled right into the staged beam. Great. I have to stage, then pump up the brakes before stalling up, then my lights will come down first since I'm the slower car. For some reason, I forgot to pump the brakes, just sat there, then my lights started coming down and I wasn't stalled up. I still tried to leave on the 3rd amber, but anticipated it and went red. All that to say Bracket 2 wasn't very kind to me this year. And, of course, the FED went out the next round with a .1xx light.

DOT went a little better. 1st round I was paired with a '70 Nova with roots blown SBC, which dialed slower than my little ol' daily driver. They went red, so easy win. 2nd round a '96 Camaro with no hood, stock except for headers. He said it was the first time he'd had the car out this year (usually runs a Duramax 4x4 that is quicker than my Camaro), he didn't have a very good light and broke out by almost a tenth. 3rd round everybody came back into the right lane, so I got pulled over to the left lane. I had already put on my dial before I knew who I was running, turns out I dialed .01 quicker than the '65 Nova wagon SBC did - so, almost a heads-up race. My wife was out there by then, and got a video of that race:



4th round, I'm not bothering going back to the pits anymore, so I'm the first back and take the right lane - just like everyone else, again. The guys at the back of the line are pulled over to the left, and I'm paired with the same C6 I ran in the LS final. I guess he wanted to cut a better light this time, but it came back to bite him:



I figured the car would start picking up, but just didn't know when. Well, it was 4th round, so after that I just kept a 12.84 on the window. 5th round I'm paired with a buddy who is killing it in both Bracket 2 and DOT, but his car was having trouble keeping charged. Apparently they did too good of a job getting it charged up, because he ran about .05 too fast in our race (and tree'd me - good thing he broke out).

6th round there were just 3 cars left; we flipped coins and a local kid with a stock 2000 Camaro and I both had tails, the other guy, with a '93 Camaro had heads. So, it's me and the former high school season champ in the 6th round semi-final:



I go back to the staging lanes and wait for the guy in the '93, who ends up losing in the semi-finals of Bracket 2 - yeah, he's no slouch, and, coincidentally, I ran him in the summer series final of the final season race last year (he's also a part-time tech inspector at the track). So, a rematch of sorts. Last year he took the left lane, this year he wants right, so I move over to left. The result:



So, other than the fiasco of the first round of Bracket 2, and the general chaos of the two days (tried to stuff too much into two days), it was a pretty good weekend.

The not-so-good part was of the 4 Pro Mods who came, three were broken before the 1st round of eliminations. One of them needed a torque converter, so the unbroken one suggested they wait for them to run until he could go back home 30 miles, get a converter out of another car he has, and run back to the track to install it - which was agreed to by all. About 7 pm, they are ready to run. The now fixed car runs a 6.23 @ 228 MPH, and his chutes don't come out until he's at the turn-off, and he goes into the sand. It didn't look like he braked at all (probably concentrating on getting the chutes out), went through the first catch net and finally was stopped by the second net. The car was pretty much destroyed (a family member posted a pic on FB showing the engine/tranny laying in the sand about 15' away from the car), but the driver is going to be okay. Something tells me he wishes he wouldn't have gone to get that converter...

zz17iroc

iTrader: (4)

Sounds like you had a blast this past weekend. I wish I had $1000!!. Congrates man!

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Thanks! It was a long 2 days, but it was fun.

That $1000 helps offset the $850 I've had to spend on nitrous stuff to make the ET break for another class...