Five7; are you healed and ready to drive? Make any recent passes? Firgure out how you're going to slow the car down?

 

Healed - finally better than before the surgery.

Ready to drive - I was born ready.

Any recent passes -

Oh, I bet you mean runs down the quarter mile. No, not since October 1. Remembering back to the first T&T last April, I had two .00x RT's that evening. I figure the break will just help me forget bad habits.

Slowing the car down - full tank of gas, cut a good light, be ready on the whoa pedal at the top end.

 

Of course you're going to have to make at least one flat out pass during time trials just to get that low ET time slip.

 

My fastest timeslip is a couple of 12.94's in Topeka: One in TT; the other 1st round of eliminations backing off, early morning with a 5 mph headwind.

Both Topeka & Pomona are 1100' elevation. The air conditions (humidity, wind, bara press) may be "better" to produce a quicker timeslip. We'll see.

I've also considered using an open element instead of the cool air inlet, but I'm a bit skidish about the potential effects hot lapping may have (if that even could be an issue - I have no idea).

Car's on the trailer, pulling out in the morning...

 

Well good luck from me and everyone else on TGO!

 

Friday qualifying session. He was the second quickest in Sportsman ET.

He managed a 13.064 at 102.34 so I guess he's able to keep it slower than 13.00. Number 1 qualifier ran 13.052.

Slowest car in the field of 7 ran 16.462.

 

Do you have a link?

 

www.nhra.com

 

With 5/7 cars being very close in MPH and he won't be able to play the top end games as much.

 

Sunday eliminations
First round. Adjusted altitude 2329

First round win .100 reaction time. 13.181 on a 13.08 dial and his opponent broke out by -.007

 

Round 2 results. Adjusted altitude 2190

13.114 run on a 13.13 dial with a win from a double breakout

Next round is the final. His opponent is a low 13 second 1980 Mustang.

 

Final round. Adjusted altitude 1914 feet

Mustang: Dial 13.08. Runs 13.024. 0.066 RT -0.056 under
Chev: Dial 13.10. Runs 13.037. 0.092 RT -0.063 under

Double breakout and the Mustang breaks out by less for the win.

 

.007 - so close to winning it all. Congratulations! Nice light in round 2 also.

http://www.nhra.com/2004/events/race...unday_sm.html?

 

Just got home from Pomona. No internet access since we pulled out last Tuesday morning.

"Qualifying" was by drawing - Summit has some of their sponsored racers come to the banquet they hold for us on Thursday night to draw the pairings. In the past, the first person drawn got the bye, then they laddered the rest. This year they decided to draw out the suspense and give the last one in the bag the bye. Super Pro was drawn by Gregg Anderson, (I forget who the Pro celeb was), Sportsman by Danny Fletcher (Stock & Super Stock racer), and Bike by Craig Treble (sp?). I hadn't been drawn after the first 5 Sportsman, then was picked as #6 (which was the #2 place in the ladder). I was paired with the Division 6 champ in the first round.

As for slowing it down, I filled up the gas tank and set the timing at 34 degrees (normally run 38 here). The first pass Friday sealed the deal - no more changes.

2nd TT Friday, it was after 7 p.m., they had us Sportsmen go last because we had mufflers and they have a 7 p.m. curfew, the water box was a lake (my tires made a bow-wave as I went through the water), the entire burn-out area was wet, so I couldn't get the tires to dry off. It slipped on the line, basically a wasted run.

3rd TT Saturday went as it should. The water box was just moist, it hooked and ran well.

1st round Sunday, I decided on the 13.08 because it was warmer (although humidity was lower). The Div. 6 guy had run 14.58 & 14.60 in TT's. He went out of the staging lanes with "14.6" on the windows, so I stuck with mine. Then, just before we were pulled up to the box, he gets out and puts a "4" on the end. I figured I'd let it go and see how it went. I never caught him, backed off at the traps, he did too but broke out. I was puzzled by the slow time, it was slow from 330' on, I figured from the 1000' time it would have run a 13.13, so that's what I dialed for Round 2.

The GTX had run 13.08, 13.13, and 13.11 in TT's, and 13.10 in the first round. In the staging lanes, he had wiped off the "0", then while we waited added another "1". I figured that was silly, and stuck with the 13. While we waited and the sun started going down, the hood was open and the sun shone on the air cleaner - and I could see the filter through a gap between the housing and lid - the lid had come loose, letting warm air in - finally understood the slow 1st run. Tighten that down, left the "13" and figured I'd be ready on the top end. I didn't think I had a very good light because he seemed to leave right after I did, but the TS tells it all. My calculations said I would have run a 13.07.

In that round, Hale (in the Mustang), smoked his fronts hitting the brakes at the top, so I figured he was capable of much more than his dial (all of his TT's were sub-13's). But, in the final he left the 13.08 on the window. I figured I'd bag a little myself and put on 13.10, then mash the brakes at the traps. Burn-out went well, but after I staged the car slipped in the beams as I stalled up the converter - I knew I'd bulb if I left "normal", so I gave it an extra tick. He was ahead of me out of the hole, and started feathering at about 1000' - I figured I'd run slower because that's what always happens when it slips in the beams, and since he was backing off so early, I'd better try to take the stripe instead of hit the brakes. Didn't work, he took the stripe and broke out less. Had I stuck to my original plan, I would have had him.

So, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it...

 

Nice work five7kid - ya almost got a Wally! Hopefully we'll be reading more about it and seeing some pics in the ND.

 

Thanks. It was quite a trip.

I do have "a" Wally, from the Division V Finals in Topeka in September. It's just a little lonely, that's all (and I'm a little greedy).

Last night was Bandimere's annual awards banquet. Tony Schumacher was the guest speaker (he's in town for the opening of a truck repair business he's involved in here). He's a pretty cool dude, had a lot of interesting stories to tell about his early racing - got his first TF ride out here.

It was certainly a crazy season for me. The class I runnered up in in 2003, it took me 5 race dates to get 5 round wins (and I got 4 that night). I was up near the top of two classes early in the season, slumped badly in mid-summer, and barely made it on the team to Topeka. Then, after that - well, basically a fairytale ending.

As for photos, interesting choice here http://www.nhra.com/2004/events/race...sman/index.htm - bottom row, 2nd from left.