November 12, 2007

I just got back from almost a week at Bradenton Motorsports Park for their annual 5 day Winter Series Bracket race. It all started last Monday night after work when we took our motorhome and trailer down to the track for early parking.

This may be a little hard to believe but we were about the 300th rig to pull onto the property which was more than a full day before the racing was scheduled to begin. It was an early indication of what was to come. Wall to wall dragsters.

Our trailer was against the fence at the head of staging with Edmond Richardson, Darren Long and Kurt Damron in front of us as well as Dave Janis to the side. Being surrounded by such talent, I was really hoping some positive energy would rub off. Monday night we returned home as work was a necessity on Tuesday, however, Tuesday night I returned to the track for the duration of the event.

After only a short period of time I was reminded of what it is about drag racing that I enjoy the most. It's the people. There is no other sport where people will give you the shirts off their backs to help you run and run well or where you're gladly willing to do the same, then fiercely compete, only to finish the day having dinner together.
During the race in Reynolds a couple of weeks ago, I took the fuel filter element out to cure the flow problem. I made a stupid mistake by not replacing it right away. On Wednesday, I went out and ran an 8.77 then an 8.84 ET which was very good for my set up and the weather. The car ran the quickest 1/8 mile ever at a 5.445 ET. I was also hitting the tree real hard with a -.003 red light. Well, when first round rolled around I was at the head of staging when the drag racing gremlins bit me hard and my own stupidity did me in. A small piece of trash in the fuel hung open the needle and seat in the carb secondary flooding and stalling the motor. I didn't even get to run first round. To say the least, I was not a very happy camper.

As a result of Wednesday, I sat out Thursday waiting for a new fuel filter element. Running Thursday would have been like adding one stupid move right on top of another and for me, one was enough. I spend the day getting the car ready, filtering all of my fuel and doing PR work for my sponsor. That evening my fuel filter arrived so I was ready for Friday.

On Friday, Dave Janis helped me tweak the fuel bowl levels in the carb and it responded very well to the adjustments, running the quickest passes ever 8.647 ET with a 5.467 1/8th mile ET. I was hitting the tree and won my first race as my opponent went red on the tree by -.001. In the second round I went red by -.004 and ran an 8.65 on an 8.63 dial in. Sooooooo close, yet sooooooo far away.

In the 1/8th mile race Friday night I dialed the car in at a 5.46 as I had run a 5.467 ET twice earlier in the day. During the burnout out in the first round when the tires hooked pretty violently it shook the bypass line loose on the fuel pump and created a small drip of alcohol on the track. The starter shut me off and I was toast in that race. Oh well....that's drag racing.
After all of this disappointment, I was ready for Saturday's $10K race. In the first time run, the car picked up a ton and it ran it's quickest pass ever with a 1.21 60 foot time, 5.401 ET at 126.10 mph in the 1/8th mile and 8.566 at 152.90 in the 1/4 mile. Couple that with a .008 green light and I was pumped with adrenaline and felt invincible. Needless to say, I came crashing back to earth as that feeling was short lived. I went -.011 red on the tree in the first round.

At this point in time my thinking was, well.....at least I can have another shot in the $5K 1/8th mile race late in the afternoon. My dreams of success were totally crushed in the 1/8th mile race when I fell asleep and went totally brain dead on the starting line. I dialed in with a 5.41 ET and the guy I was running had a real slow truck with a 6.81 ET dial in. I think subconsciously I didn't want to red light and I let him get to me. He ran .02 over his dial with an .033 light as he ate my lunch.

This sport is brutal. It is not easy by any means of the imagination and quite frankly, it's the most difficult thing I've ever attempted to do. So many of these racers are so very good and races are won and lost by only a couple thousandths of a second or less. (Edmond Richardson won the semi final race Wednesday night by .0004 seconds, that's 4/10,000 of a second) That's what makes winning so gratifying I guess. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. I just hate being that guy that crashes on the ski jump like on the Wide World of Sports.

October 31, 2007

Tonight was a good opportunity for me to use the test and tune session at Sunshine, to get the car dialed in for next week's high dollar five day bracket races in Bradenton. After finding the problems in Reynolds, GA last week, I hadn't had a chance to run the car all out to see where I really stand. I desperately needed these time runs.

I was one of the first cars out at 6:20pm and ran a 5.592 ET at 120.87 mph. For a green track this evening it was a good pass for me. The 60 foot and 330 foot times were pretty much what I expected. However, what came next was an unbelievably pleasant surprise. I ran again at 6:42pm, 8:07pm and 8:34pm and my ETs were 5.574, 5.574 and 5.573 respectively. 3 passes, two hours apart within .001 seconds. WOW!! Talk about being deadly consistent! I could not have possibly been happier. If I can run like this next week in Bradenton, I should bring home a whole boat load of money, as long as I can hit the tree with reaction times in the teens that is.

Instead of running Top Dog tonight, the track had a Halloween costume contest which was a real hoot. Personally, I liked the cow.

Tuesday night after work I 'm headed to Bradenton for 5 days of bracket racing. Each day is a separate race and they are paying $10,000 to win each day. They also have a second chance 1/8th mile race each day that pays $5000 to win if you lose in the first round. Really exciting stuff. I expect there will be 600 of the best bracket racers on earth there. Stay tuned.

October 22, 2007

This weekend we headed to Reynolds, Georgia to compete in the NHRA Division 2 points race in Super Comp. It was the final points race of the year and we were looking forward to a weekend away. Seeing that we were going as a family and taking additional kids along, of course we got a late start Thursday night and arrived at the track around 3:00am Friday morning in the rain.

Friday turned out to be wet as the rain continued until early afternoon. We were finally able to get through tech about 3:00pm and the kids were bored to death because of the weather but we survived through it. Friday evening, Mid-State RV Sales threw a racer appreciation Bar-B-Q which was well attended and appreciated by everyone there. Sonny's Bar-B-Q catered the event and the pulled pork was excellent as well as the live music. It's really hard to argue with free food, especially great food.

As this was the last chance for most racers to earn points towards either a divisional or world championship, the place was packed to the gills with racers. There were at least 500 racers as the Super Gas field alone had 91 entries. The Super Comp field was filled with most of the really heavy hitters in the nation including Edmond Richardson, Gary Stinnet and Bob Fuller just to name a few.

On Saturday, the weather was great and we had ideal racing conditions of high 70°'s to low 80°'s with 25% relative humidity. Unfortunately, I was having serious fuel system delivery problems. On my first pass the fuel filter was clogged up and my main line fuel pressure dropped to under 10 lbs. Right after the 330 foot mark the car fell on it's nose as I ran the fuel bowls out of fuel. To remedy the situation I pulled the element out of the filter which visually looked clean and the pressure came right back up.

On the second pass the same thing happened and then I discovered that my fuel pressure gauge was defective as it showed 2 lbs of pressure with nothing connected to it. It's a good thing I had a spare gauge so I replaced it and had to reset the fuel pressure. While I was at it, I stripped the carb to make sure everything was clean. At this point because of the rain out Friday, I was out of time runs, had a new set up on the car and I was lost for a throttle stop setting, so, all I could do was serve up a WAG (wild ass guess).

Sunday was another Chamber of Commerce type of day. Beautiful racing weather as well as comfortable. For a Florida boy who is used to sweating like crazy in 80% humidity and temperatures in the mid nineties, it was great. I had some serious guessing to do, so, I threw some numbers in the box and crossed my fingers.

As it turned out, the car ran it's quickest 60 foot ever and ran flawlessly in the first round. I had to run a very experienced Skip Wall who is one of the owners of Lokar Products. He welded me to the tree and I ran an 8.98 on the 8.90 index because I threw way too much delay in the box for the throttle stop. Skip did a good job of not breaking out and took the race by .03. The only good thing about it was I figured out the problems and now the car is back to normal so dialing it in now should be a simple matter with a few runs.

The drive back home should have been uneventful but noooooo, not for me. Just south of Perry, Georgia a Greyhound bus driver pulled up beside me and pointed to me, then backwards. Yeah, I knew what that meant. By the way, thanks Greyhound! I blew a trailer tire. Actually not just blew it but shredded it. Take a look, what do you think? I'm just thankful that I had enough room on the side of I-75 not to get mowed over by a passing 18 wheeler. The rest of the trip went flawlessly and we did make it home by 11:00pm Sunday night.

Just another adventure in the wild wonderful story book world of a drag racer.

October 13, 2007

This was a non-racing weekend for me so there were several things that I needed to do for my sponsor. This weekend the Florida State Fairgrounds hosted the Street Rod Nationals which drew over 1600 entries. Is was an opportunity to go chat with some new potential trailer and motorhome customers so I spent most of the day just walking though the monstrous sea of the most beautiful street rods you have ever seen and chatting with their owners. I really don't impress easily but this 68 Camaro Pro Street machine was probably the most beautiful car I have ever seen in my life. It was so clean, you could have eaten off of it and it was probably capable of low 8 second passes. Explode this photo just to get an idea of the immaculate detail. I so wanted to take this car home with me, I was drooling like a baby.

Anyway, I spent the day drumming up business then went home, had dinner and headed to Sunshine as they were having a heads-up night with Pro Mods, 10.5" tire cars, 6.50 cars and the wild stock suspension class. This is a group of racers that run in different circles so even by racing at Sunshine so much on Friday nights, Right Trailers isn't exposed to them. It was the largest fan and car count turnout that I had ever witnessed at the track. They were 6 deep at the fence to watch low 4 second 1/8 mile passes. Right Trailers wound up putting up an extra $100 for the winner in the lower 3 classes which really pleased the racers and generated a little additional excitement. I wound up talking business to the racers until I was hoarse and finally got back home by 11:30pm, way before the final. It was definitely crash and burn time.

Sunday is going to be a full clean up and load up day. I need to wash the motorhome and trailer, wax the race car, fix the water heater in the motorhome and change the oil in the motorhome. All of this is to prepare for leaving with the whole familyThursday right after work for the Division 2 points race in Reynolds, GA. Now with a good Super Comp set up in the car, I'm anticipating being very, very competitive. I can't wait.

October 1, 2007

This weekend was great at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia. It didn't necessarily have the outcome that I desired but the path to the top is a very long, slow process that usually requires one step at a time. As a team, our main goal this year is to get a real good handle on the car, learn how to dial it in, go some rounds then make a hard charge next year. This weekend we made some huge leaps in this process.

Friday was hot in the afternoon hitting 99.3° on my weather station but the relative humidity was down around 15% with a density altitude over 3300 feet. Even though it was hot, there was so much oxygen in the air that the car picked up again running an 8.76 ET and a 1.224 60 foot time. Not bad for the combination in the stage it's in. I was also starting to get a good handle on the tree with 2 reaction times within .002 of each other.

Saturday's weather was very similar to Friday's and the car ran just as planned. Mike and Hugh Scott from Right Trailers flew up to join us for the day helping out with the car and visiting with other racers who were interested in a new trailer or motorhome. That's Hugh with me in the staging lanes.

I won my first round race when the other guy had a .237 light and I was able to slow to a 9.10 ET for the win. Good, bad or ugly, geez..winning is fun!!!


If you were wondering just how good the traction was in Atlanta, take a close look at my front tires in this photo. The car is hooking really hard and the launches are great. I feel pretty good about the way the car transfers the weight at the launch so the set up appears to be just right.

Sunday however was a totally different ball game. Very early Sunday morning I needed to turn the furnace of the motorhome on it got so cold. At 8:00am it was 47.1° and when you exhaled outside you could see your breath. Additionally the relative humidity increased to about 45% so cars were going to fly today. The Super Street cars picked up over .15 in their 9:00am first round so the track was really fast.
We ran our second round around noon and by that time the temperature was up around 71° and it was what they commonly refer to as a Chamber of Commerce day. It was the most beautiful drag racing weather I've seen in years. My day ended in the second round. Good 'ole Tom Joseph from South Carolina strapped a .008 light on me and I slipped up with a slight stumble at the tree to loose.
Afterward he was kind enough to steer me to Tony Morris with BLP to give me some good carb pointers so that it wouldn't happen again.

Probably the coolest thing about drag racing is the people. Just about everyone you meet has the same friendly, positive and helpful attitude. That's what makes this the greatest sport on earth. Going to a race like this is fun because you get a chance to rekindle old relationships and meet so many new people. We spent a lot of time with Super Street racer James Noel with his family and racer friends. They were a lot of fun and really made the weekend super enjoyable. I seriously think James must be the drag racing King of the grill as he served up feasts every night.

September 27, 2007

I arrived at Atllanta Dragway last night around 2:30am after a 9 hour drive from Clearwater. As you can see I wasn't the first in line by any means. There were 42 racers in front of me and this morning there were about 70 in line by the time they let us in the track at 11:00am.
The weather here is great. I woke up to 79 degrees and a relative humidity of 32.83 %. Just beautiful. There was a small threat of a few rain drops this afternoon but they never appeared.

Today is a testing and tuning day as official time runs begin tomorrow. It's a really good thing. After my first two time runs the best I could run was a 9.011 at 145.39 mph. I need desperately to pick up over a tenth. After calling Kris Nelson for some advise, I took the 189 jets out of the carb and leaned it out with 176 jets, lowered the tire pressure to 5 lbs and added 15 degrees more heat in the motor before pulling out of the staging lanes. The car responded well with an 8.78 and 8.81 ETs right at 150 mph. I was also knocking down the tree with a great .003 reaction time. Things are really starting to look up. Now it's just a matter of dialing the car in to the 8.90 index.

One of the benefits of going to big races like this is getting to see racers that travel who you haven't seen in a long time such as Gary Stinnet, Sherman Adcock and others. Some guys come to the test and tune sessions to work hard on getting their cars to run right and some guys come just to relax and get away from the blistering pace of everyday life. And then again, maybe some of us do both.

Thanks to the marvels of technology, Atlanta Dragway has a WiFi connection that allows me to update my blog from inside my motorhome at the track. How cool is that?

September 24, 2007

Throttle stops are a necessary evil if you do any type of Super class racing like I do. I'm a die hard Super Comp racer and I love nothing more than running a Pro tree in the heads up 8.90 class. However, in order to slow the car down and be deadly consistent we all need one of these little, evil, Co2 powered puppies. It's this little jewel that has been at the heart of my problem of not being able to get wide open throttle.

Tonight I bought a new one and put it on the car. It fit perfectly first time and I made a couple other little tweaks and it appears that I now have full throttle and a good idle. This has been driving me nuts for some time now so I'm happy to have the problem resolved. I'm ready to be gremlin free once for a change.

I'm now all geared up and prepared to run the NHRA Division 2 points race this weekend in Atlanta (actually Commerce, GA about an hour northeast of Atlanta). I'm hitting the road Wednesday right after work and I'm really looking forward to a great weekend. I really hope we have good weather.

September 23, 2007

This weekend was interesting to say the least. After discussing it with Mike Scott, we deciding not to race this weekend because of the horrible weather forecast. The prediction was for rain all weekend just like Wednesday and Thursday. As it turned out Friday was beautiful. About 11am I decided if this great weather keeps up I'm going racing. I worked straight through lunch so that I could bail out at 3:30pm and head home to load up. I made it back to Sunshine by 6:00pm just in time to miss the first time run. Long story short, I found most of the performance however, I lost in the second round. My competitor strapped a .006 light on me and I broke out by .001. But...that's drag racing. I ran a 5.679 with 2/3 throttle so I was pleased with the performance. Now I just had to get the full throttle thing worked out.

Saturday I took care of some of the motorhome maintenance things then headed to Bradenton. I got to the track about noon and then proceeded to load and unload the car I think 4 times between spritzles. Dick Swenson and I were at the head of staging ready to race when it started sprinkling again and that was the one that polished off the event. After that one they couldn't get the track dry enough to race. We all got rain checks for October 20th. Other than getting to meet new people and bench racing the day was rather miserable because of the rain. Drier days are ahead.