Sept 8-13. Anybody making the trip this year?

• September 8 - North Dinwiddie, VA
• September 9 - North Dinwiddie, VA
• September 10 - Rising Sun, MD
• September 11 - Atco, NJ
• September 12 - Mechanicsville, MD
• September 13 - North Dinwiddie, VA

 

yes, we'll be there again, this time with both the SpeedMu11et AND the DirtyBird

 

awesome Matt ! best of luck dude

I won't be competing, but me and a few of my camaro/firebird buddies are going to come and spectate on wednesday 9/11/19 when you guys come to Atco, NJ. I should be there most of the day.

 

Have fun, guys!

Matt, you did something to your car and it looks even cooler now. Can't really put my finger on it but something has changed.

 

First day spectating would be fun. You get to see all the cars. By day 5 so many would have dropped out.

Hope you guys make it through all 5 days.

 

Day 1 video

 

GTA91 Jeremy H is on DW again this year too.

 

Day 2 coverage

 

Day 1 results

Matt turned in a timeslip of 9.369 @ 144.840 running in Super Street Small Block - NA which makes him the fastest in his class. It's an average over 5 days so anything can happen. That time is better than what's in his Sig file so he must be doing something good.


Jeremy ran 10.340 @ 135.350 in Street Race Small Block PA. Pretty tough class. He's around the middle. Quickest in the class is 8.545 and slowest is 20.0 which is the slowest time allowed. Slowest timeslip time is 17.781

If I knew names for SpeedMu11et AND the DirtyBird I could look them up also without having to randomly guess at what cars/classes they are running.

After 1 day of racing, there are 15 cars already out of competition.

 

I hope to run next year, but 2021 for sure!! sending my wife to nursing school so we shall see. glad to see matt doing good, that car is my inspiration!

 

Matt Walters dirtybird ran 11.48 @123

 

Day 2 results

Matt ran 9.370 @ 144.75. Now that's a bracket car.
Jeremy ran 10.53 @ 132.52

After 2 days of racing, 33 vehicles have been eliminated from competition

 

Thanks for the updates Alky

 

Day 3 live coverage

 

ANNNDDDD from a three pedal car!! boy can drive!

 

Saw a pic of Matt loading his car on a trailer last night on FB, hearing he wiped a cam/lifter. Anyone else hear anything?

 

Day 3 results

I would say that Matt had some kind of problems. The #1 car in Super Street SB NA is out as he did not make a pass on the third day.

Jeremy ran 10.520 @ 136.58

After 3 days of racing, there are now 52 vehicles out of competition.

 

I was there as a spectator all day long at Atco (day 3). lots of awesome cars. Did not see Matt W, from what I heard it was a camshaft or valvetrain catastrophe that knocked him out at the end of day 2.

I took a ton of photos and videos that day, I'll add a link soon.

 

I already said day #1 would be a good day to spectate because you would get to see all the cars. Day 5 would also be nice because you would also get to see the street car shootout. These cars run as quick as they can but are not allowed to hand in a timeslip faster than 10.0. Top 32 cars get into the shootout. Their dial in is 0.100 quicker than their 5 day average. If you have a 5 day average of 12.1 even though you may have run faster and slower to get that average, your dial in will be 12.000 on every pass of eliminations. It then becomes a bracket race for those 32 cars. I did see some 10.0 cars dip into the 9's so they have the potential to run 9.90 if that's what their dial in will be. 5 day average for the quickest will probably be around 10.03 - 10.06.

If there's time and with the day 5 rain delay I doubt it will happen, they will also have a stick shift shootout. I think it's the 16 fastest stick shift cars regardless of class.

 

Oops. The Street Machine eliminator, even if you have a 5 day average of 10.05 will still only allow an ET as quick as 10.0. I did see one low 10 second car red light in the first round and ran a 9.98 so chances are if he didn't red light, he still would have lost.

Tom Baileys ProMod set a new drag week record. Drove 700+ miles and on the last pass of day 5 they still ran a 5.998 at 250 MPH. First car in drag week to run a 5 second ET.

I don't even want to think about how much it would cost to take a sub 12 second car or even a sub 10 second car for a week of racing.

 

I guess that all depends on what you have. In our "fleet" (a term I use to group my racing friends in one lump) is my buddies 67 Chevelle. Totally street and show car quality and consistently runs low 11's and about 130. (a personal best of 11.0x) Stock style suspension (albeit fully upgraded), 454 LSX w/ Holley HP EFI, a 4L60E/Yank converter and 3.73 gear. The only change made is for full slicks at the track. If he ever bothered to tune the QA1's, he'd be quicker than the 1.5x 60' he's managed with wheels up (just a little up).
His costs are fuel, lodging and meals. This years Power Tour saw him as (one) of the fastest of the truly streetable NA crowd.
Oh yeah. 25 MPG CDN too. (29 miles per US gallon!)

Now a sub 10 second car would be a different matter.

 

yup, had a lifter failure and wiped the cam out. was a pretty big bummer, but it's the way things go some days. we have committed to ramping up the valvetrain program and dw2020 is now primary mission. i didn't think i'd win, but was shooting for a top 3. to have been in first and then have a catastrophic failure out of nowhere like that was tough. the car was doing GREAT. 40-45psi oil pressure under normal cruising conditions, even after idling for hours. 175-180*F water temps, like a rock. there was no indicator anywhere that i was having a problem. was like a light switch. all of a sudden the engine made a noise and that was that.

a few things i'm addressing between now and then:
-better antiroll bar
-larger fuel cell (10 gallon tank with foam only holds about 7 gallons of usable capacity)
-integrating an x-pipe and slightly larger mufflers into the front exits (that'll be interesting)
-find some more weight to drop

pretty sure 8.90's is within reach if i can get a few details figured out. that's what we'll be shooting for. at least 1 8.999 or better pass, and FINISH!

 

It's a disease

Especially when you see someone on the side of the road doing major repairs just to stay in competition.

 

in terms of cost...it's a smiles per dollar situation. you don't do it because it's a financially responsible idea, lol.

 

Boy you aren't kidding Matt. It's not for the financially responsible. Glad I got a chance to catch up with you this year. Sucks that we broke on the first day, but I'll say this, it was almost an equally good experience helping people out, talking, playing jokes, and just having fun. Don't get me wrong, I wished every day I was in the car, but I learned a lot from a bunch of people running similar setups and just asking questions.

Like you, we will be back for DW 2020. My move up north is done, my shop is now set up, and role bar is going in this weekend. Getting a much earlier start at it now.

Yeah, it's a sickness. Only cure? Going back next year.