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.
