Last points meet I had some trouble with my car. I had just finished my 9"/disc brake conversion the night before the race. The car had run 11.8@114 the race before with a 3.08 geared 7.5". I hadn't touched anything except check the oil and the first pass with the 9" was 12.90@105. I checked over everything...relashed vavles....made sure the brakes weren't dragging etc. The car ran "clean" but revved slow to my shift point of 5200. It kept running 12.8-9. A vetran racer came over and tested a few valve springs. They only measured 140-150lbs on the seat which was pretty low compared to the 220 the are supposed to be.

I changed the valvesprings last week and went out on Friday night for a few test runs. I was hot all weekend (between 100-110*F with the humidty) and the density altitude ranged from 3900'-4700'. I made a few runs and the car ran 12.0@113 with lousy 60's all weekend (1.70-1.73).

Race 5 of our 9 race series was on Saturday. I went to the semi-final in Sportsman and then caught a -.007 red light and was done. I came around an ran round 2 in the Street class right after that. I tried to cut a safe light against the 2005 champ and his 15 second 2nd gen. He got enough tree on me that I ran out of room to run him down. A friend went on to won his third race of the season in Street and jumped by me in the points lead.

Sunday was race 6. I lost on a holeshot in round 3 of Sportsman and had to come right around and run round 1 of Street. The other cars had run through and my partner was waiting for me. I got out to adjust my dial up and then fired and went. I had noticed that the truck I was running had adjusted his dial from 16.40 an hour ago all the way up to 16.90. I stuck an extra .10 on my dial as I didn't know what he was trying to pull. I stalled after the burnout as I was in a hurry and being the idiot I am, I forgot to turn the fuel pump on. The truck I was running had double bulbed before I had even finished my burnout. I was just hoping it would start so I could at least stage in case he redlit. After about 6 or 7 seconds (semeed like 60) I got the car to fire and staged. The truck left and about 5 seconds later I did too. I caught him at about 1000' and rolled through just far enough to take the stripe. When I got back to the timeslip booth I saw what happened. They had entered his dial in as 16.40 and not the 16.90 that he had marked on his window but he had runa 16.409. I had put a huge light on him and run 12.39 on a 12.29 coasting through. I talked to him and he was livid that he had got the wrong dial. The funny thing is that he had run right on the one they gave him.

Anyways, after that I went on to win the class and then on to the annual King of the Track challenge. I drew the Super Pro winner in round 1. I put a little bit of a light on him but didn't tap the binders early enought and took too much stripe. and broke out. I have never raced a 148mph car before so it was hard to judge.

All in all it was a great race weekend (minus the heat exhaustion I had today). I moved up from 9th in Sportsman to about 5th. I traded the Street Legal class lead back and forth with last year's champ. Its going to be a close finish over the last 3 events. I think the next part for the car is going to be an electric water pump. Any tips here before I buy one?

Trevor

 

Congrats Trevor for doing well, no matter what class you still have to wheel that thing I used to hate sand baggers, but I've finally got it through my thick skull, if you have any decent amount of finish line driving skills, that is the way to do it. used to be most guys bagged .02, but anymore I've seen that window get opened up to .02-.05, and yes, these are the guys constantly getting near the final rounds...alot easier to be ahead in the race then not have enough. .5 that the truck guy was holing seemed excessive unless he was going to try and push you out the back door, but with .5, that just seems waay too excessive unless he cut a near perfect light to really open up his safety window....weird, but those are the guys I love to knock out on the tree LOL!!!

Spotting faster cars, esspeically that fast of a opponent vs the speed your running, honestly your not going to judge it, if your both on the tree and near your dial, he coming sooo hard that last 200' or so it's near impossible to judge, so you can only do 1 of a few things.

know your killer on the tree, that'll at least get you a race.
dial it tight and just keep it flat footed across the stripe unless opponent has something bad happen and there is no way he's gonna get you.
or-the hard part unless you keep track of the competition which you should
watch what he dials vs what he's been running...remember alot of the good n/b and box cars like to bag alittle....exploit that. If I know I'm running a guy that bags, I'll bag some myself since I know I'll kill'em on the tree. On the run suck them in right upto the last second and hit the binders allowing them to cross the stripe first forcing them into a break out.

most drivers will think they screwd up on the tree and push to get there first, other drivers think they missed the tree and will still try to wheel race you, either way your in their heads as to WTF am I not catching this guy, so usually primal/winning instinct takes over. It's a fun game to play and works very well....suck and dump is how I've won many finals over the years, but you just have to know what the other guys are running to pull it off, so you really have to pay attention.

Glad you had fun and shot up in points, good luck reeling the other guys in, but now you MUST chase them down to stop and more progress of them gaining points on you, otherwise it'll just got tit for tat and nothing will change..hard being a sniper trying to take out certain peep's for personal gains, but it's something you have to do in order to get ahead in points.

Good Luck
Josh

 

Add my congrats as well for your win!

Our track is posting round-by-round data and driver season stats on their website now. One stat they list is wins/losses against faster and slower opponents. To my surprise, I'm 16-6 against faster opponents, and 3-3 against slower - my last weekend of racing I went 8-1 against faster opponents and was never the faster myself.

I've had 3 races against 140+ mph opponents - in 2003 at Super Chevy, against another '57 (full steel, mini-tubbed 400 small block with a 350 shot); 2005 against an 8-sec rail, again at Super Chevy; and 2006 in Topeka for the Div 5 ET finals against an 8.35 sec '95 Camaro. I treed each of them, won the first and last but backed off when I shouldn't have against the 2nd - that one cost me $750.

 

Well this weekend was another 3-day affair with only one points race. Friday night was a street legal night...I went out and made two hits and got a good pit spot for the weekend. Saturday was the annual fastest street car shooutout. I borrowed a buddy's radials and tried to take it real easy on each pass. I lost in round one on a holeshot with the pro tree. I put the slicks back on and gained 1.2 seconds and 3mph.

Sunday was points race 7 of 9. I raced a friend in the first round of both Sportsman and Street Legal (what are the odds!). I managed to get around him in some pretty close finishes but went out with a .037 red in round 2 in Sportsman.

I went into the day tied for the lead in Street with another friend. We had each won 3 of the first 6 events and met in the Final. He was hot lapping after just loosing the Sportsman Final and I was quite cool. I treed him .046 to .115 and caught him between the stripes. I lifted and then tocuhed the brakes and took the stripe. I went down the return road thinking I had won and got the timeslip. Him 14.49 on a 14.48 me, 12.01 on a 12.03. BREAKOUT on the brakes. I had backed out on my bi-run in the semis and hadn't run in about 70mins. Boy was I choked at myself. I should have lifted earlier with that much tree on him but I thought for sure I had slowed to about a 12..07-.
08.

I went into the day 3rd in Sportsman. I probably fell to 5th or so now and am sitting right behind the Street leader with two races to go.

On a side note, my 60's aren't near as good with the 9", 3.89s and 28" ET Streets as they were with the 7.5", 3.73s and 26" ET Radials. The geometry must be off...

Next racing action in two weeks.

 

Went rounds in the wrong class, eh? Sounds familiar.

For the past several years, I've done well in either the Friday or Saturday street-type class, but never both. The final race of the year is a concurrent affair, and each year since 2001 I went out earlier in the class that I was higher in the points in that last race.

But, it's always nice to do well in something. However, most of the time the day ends with a loss, and you can kick yourself for something you did wrong in that run.

Oh, if it helps you to feel any better, all of my break-out losses this year have come against slower cars.

 

trevor, the combo you chose comes out to a slightly wider gear and a heavier tire.. thats probably why you are having slower 60's..i would have told you that if your not blowing off the 26's, stick with them or maybe go 27's.. that 1.6 is pretty good.. if it was a 1.7 or higher than i would see the need for a 28..

i'm exactly the opposite, i blow off my 26's thats why i'm goin 28..


EDIT: look at the times in your sig and my sig.. exact mph but you have a .18 faster ET.. tire spin at its best

 

I don't think there is any way to really catch #1 or #2 in Sportsman with only two races to go. I finished 4th last year, 10 points out of the top 3. I have finished 2nd for the last two years in Street. Last year it came down to the semi final against the guy who beat me. Great season.

I think I figured last night that I had about a .720 round winning percentage but only 1 car can go home undefeated...

 

Well.....I went consistant 1.63-1.65 with the 3.73s and 26" radials. I broke that diff and put in a set of 3.08s with the 26" radials and went 1.67-1.70 and a best of 11.84@114. I have now switched to a 3.89/27.6 tire which is like a 3.66 ratio and only run 1.70-1.75 slower and not consistant. I did squeak off a 1.66 though this Saturday on a test run (pushed the converter much harder than usual).

I have added a roll bar and the 9" and am still able to get 113-114mph but now its with an ET of 11.89-12.05. With the extra weight its making at least as much power. Its also going slower ETs for a given MPH. The opposite of what I was hoping would happen.

 

True, very true.

I'm 25-10 for the year, for .714. Last year I was 17-3 in two days in two cars in three different classes for a .850 round win percentage for the weekend (and I took a dive in one of the finals).

How would you feel being Greg Anderson? He runnered-up in Brainerd yesterday for a .750 for the day, and didn't improve his lift-time pro round win percentage.