Just like all big racing events there were far to many stories to be told over the internet as fingers would be raw, so I'll just stick to my personal "racing stories" Got down there Thursday around 6:30 pm checked in blah, blah. Friday morning raining like SOB till about 10am, track got brushed, jet dried and ready for 1st TT, it was 1/8 mi. so big adjustment for me, ran like a 8.64, then they decided to go straight to Gambler's after all 1st time trails-hundreds of cars and literally took all day for TT's. Ran the modified class, made it to 3rd round where I got beat cause HUGE weather change gusty winds helped propell me to a 8.57 on a 8.62 dail, on the brakes BTW. Saturday went out cause I got out treed and ran .02 off my dail. Sunday-E.T. Finals, the BIG one. Pulled up front as soon as they called for odd numbered modified. Track official told competitor and I to pull into water box and shut down for opening ceremonies. Time finally came to fire them up, and I was already out of my groove-was gonna back up and repull into water to get back into rythem, but did'nt, started burn out and car immediately went sideways-never happens to me but I held it anyway and burned on out thinking "oh great am I gonna hook or not?" Hit neutral cleaned out the engine and lit the pre-stage bulb, guy I raced was from Super Pro class, waiting, waiting, looking at the board and dail-ins are'nt up on either side, still waiting for oppenets pre-stage, knock on my window tree starter opens my door and asks if the number on the car is the dail I want-DUH, more brain fry and out of rythme, finally 1 1/2 miutes after I pre-staged opponet decides he's ready and does the same, dails still not up on board, he stages forcing me to or face the dreaded auto start, lights come down I take off and hold it too the wood all the way through, look up and it says I ran a 7.99-WTF my car is NOT that fast-immediately called buddy on cell phone-right after finish line, he informs me our "track commiety" is running up to the tower to demand a rematch after all the B.S. and they also had the boards criss-crossed. Picked up timeslip it says I ran a 8.64 on 8.62 dail ****ty .595 R/T, opponet ran a 6.11 on a 6.07 dail with a .525 R/T-lost by .04 oh well, still was pissed off and my track guys tried pulling for re-run but did'nt happen. Excuses are excuses, but you guys that drag every-weekend know "The Zone" you get into and if something breaks into that it plays on your mind, I guess that's what separates the seasoned veterans from rookies like me is how to over come distractions, lookin back I should have waited maybe 30 secs then double bulbed his ***, I was way too leaniate, and maybe I should have backed out of pre-stage and shut off the car till the boards were right, I don't know. The whole thing frustrated the **** out of me cause yes it was nationals and I was the first one out of the race under those goofy circumstances, but I was alot more embarassed/demoralized cause it was also a team event pitching track against track and I let our team down. Granted others from our team were beat as well, but I'm very competetive and anytime I lose/get put out it plain bothers the hell out of me, it should'nt I guess, but it does. Our track had the least amount of entries and ended up 5th out of 10 tracks so our other racers held the ball as long as possible, winning track was of course the home team-which I guess it should be, maybe since the guy I raced was from the home track is why I did'nt get a rematch.
Other than that, the weekend was a BLAST, I'll never miss a national event like that again.

 

Going out in the 1st round is the pits. I had a month-long streak of it this summer (actually more than a month, since the Mile High Nationals played during my streak).

Going out in the 1st round of a divisional or national event is even more of the pits. 3 of our season track champions went out in the 1st round of the Division V finals this year.

But, when you think about it, 50% of racers go out in the 1st round. It's always nicer when you're in the other half, though.

I doubt there was any "homer" stuff going on in your race. At least, I've never seen it, because people just aren't going to put up with it. As long as what happened to you happened to the other guy, you don't have much of an arguement.

Still a bummer. When you're in a grove, getting disrupted can really kill you. (Try running out of gas as a way of getting you out of your grove... .)

 

I read about your gas problem in another post, I know of that happening all too many times. All my buddies run with 1/2 tank or less, most on a 1/4, now that might not be a big deal IF you have gas on hand to replenish, but you know how things get at the track and it seems the fuel situation is often overlooked unless it's part of your particular regimen, my buss. partners brother dialed a 6.80 down there in Cordova 1st round, ran a 6.90 and could'nt even make it to the time slip booth cause he ran out of gas. I've personally always ran with a full tank, and believe it or not have always had better short times that way, it's just what my car likes, when it's 1/2 tank or so the ulitmate E.T. hardly varies at all, what I lose in short time in hundrenths I'll make it back up on the big end with the reduced weight, so for me it's easier to run full, that way when I'm going rounds I don't have to think about it. As far as the guy I staged against in Cordova, like I said I was a hellava lot more leaneant than most would have been, who else in the world is gonna wait 90seconds for an opponet to pre-stage, probably not many, and everyone back in the stands from our track were like what the hell was his problem, you should have just double bulbed him and rushed him after that B.S. Looking back and having a few days to cool down I'm getting over it, I'm just a very self-demanding person with everything I do wheather it's work or racing, so in my head I'm going to the finals everytime I race, and when I get put out I have a hard time dealing with it at first, I'm not a ******** to anyone or anything like that, I just come down on myself, everyone else just shrugges it off, but I get burned inside for awhile-I'll have MONSTER ulcers by the time I'm 30, but I sure don't want to go out to the track thinking, oh if I lose that's okay, cause then I'll lose my edge. At the home track I'm the monster killer in the gambler races-I love putting down the Pro/Super Pro guys, and it was even better yet when the track here checked my car for a delay box-everyone in my class calls me the tree-*** cause I'm usually a consistent .510-.530 and that from a street class car going off the foot brake, the best I had down there was a frickin .547. I still had a blast aside from the racing and am looking foward to next season-hell I wish it was'nt over already!

 

Come out here this weekend and get an "altitude attitude". We're still racing Saturday and Sunday (if it doesn't snow, that is...).

Until the dial-ins are up, it doesn't matter if you're staged. In fact, it's a good idea not to pre-stage even until they are up (see also Stephen's comments on my other post about that).

I know about the bummed/burned/ulcer stuff. You've got to force yourself out of it. I do it by getting with my buds who are winning that day and celebrating with them. Occasionally, they hang around me.

(FWIW, my elimination RT's in the second series' races this past weekend were .509, .507, .526 - plus the .480 in the first series 1st round and a he-already-redlit/who cares .612. I tree'd everyone I ran, which made the gas thing that much worse. Oh, no electronics, no tranny brake, no practice tree, no line lock even - yet - I'm putting that in this week. Four-wheel drum, single piston master cyl, no power, etc., etc., etc. That's not bragging, I'm amazed myself...)