Back from the races..... Pics and vids......

Well guys I got back from the races about 1 A.M. this morning. It was a good weekend, with exception that the Banana appearently took on a mind of it's own yesterday. and the fact that I couldn't cut a light with a razor blade. It seems that my truck decided that it no longer mattered what the weather was doing, it was just gonna keep going faster all day. Friday night was pretty good. I ran a 6.50 @ 108mph right off the trailer, with a DA of around 7000'. Here's the pass:


Got back to my pit, checked things out, and noticed I forgot to drop the air out of my tires when I got there because they still had 10# from last time. (I always air them up to 10-12# for hauling it around on the trailer) So I drop the air to 7-1/4#, pull the charger, top off fuel, and head to staging. 2nd rd. of time trials for the Gambler, I staged it up, and popped off a 6.473 @ 108mph. I was pretty happy with that for the conditions so I went back to my pit and topped off the fuel and made sure the tires were the same as the last rd., let it cool down, and went back up, staged, and cracked off a 6.471 @ 108mph. I decided that was good enough and parked it for the gambler later on. here are those 2 passes.


Don't mind the video, I seem to be having problems finding someone that knows how to run a camera very well. But don't hold that against him.


While waiting for the Gambler, I managed to spy this guy creeping up to the starting line.


Later on, in the semi's of the gambler I noticed it had only cooled off about 10* from my last time trial pass, so I dialed in at 6.46. I broke out with a 6.451 @ 108mph. BUMMER!


AAAAH yes, Saturday. Here's where my truck started thinking on it's own. 1st rd. of time trials starts @ 10:30 A.M. and the DA is already @ 8500'. So, I thought I'd pull 1-1/2* of timing out in high gear to see if it would pick up. My 60' was off a touch, but still put up a 6.56 @ 106mph. Upon arriving in my pit, I find out that my cheapo tire guage wasn't working correctly, and wouldn't give the same reading twice in a row, and I had almost 9 # in my tires instead of 7-1/4#.


Well, after getting my tire guage problems fixed, this thing got crazy on me. Not bad, but enough I didn't think it would just keep going all day, even as it got hotter outside. After a brief, but very violent rain/wind storm they got the track dried off, and I was able to make another time trial pass. It went 6.509 @ 108mph.


After the storm, we had to start eliminations due to time constraints and having to give the funny car guys time to run their cars. Here's my 1st rd. I dialed a 6.51 since it got very hot and humid after the storm, and all they did was dry the track afterward with no further prep work done that I saw. I ran a 6.500 @ 108mph to his 6.62 on a 6.65 dial. Luckily, I broke out by less.



After a few funny car passes, they started eliminations for the Quick 8 race. Then this happened.







All I can say is OUCH! The guy just got this car to the track 2 weeks ago. It's a '68 Camaro Pro-Mod style chassis. He was NOT injured, just had a lump on his left thigh from contact with the cage, but he walked away. Very Awesome. Shows how important it is to have a well built car.

After a clean up delay from the wreck, I got to the 2nd rd. of eliminations for the Electronics class. It was still hot & humid from the storm, with a DA still of around 8700', I left my dial-in @ 6.50 from the 1st rd. 'cause I just KNEW it wouldn't run any faster in this heat. I'll be danged if it didn't run a 6.484 @ 108mph!! I just couldn't freakin' believe it!! It left hard, it felt very strong, so I shifted @ 6700 instead of 7200 to try and keep it down a little, and even dropped the throttle "at" the stripe instead of running out the back like I normally do.


Afterward, a guy asked me why I thought it would do that. I told him it was my own stupid fault! He said, why's that? I said I should've just built a Chevy!

At the end of the evening, we had our 2nd annual Idaho vs. Montana Armdrop Challenge. There were 31 cars from each team. Last year, they took the plaque home and have been telling us since the season started that we shouldn't ever plan on gettin' it back. Well, last night Team Montana laid out a "Pants Down, Bare Butt" spankin' to Team Idaho. They paired up the cars as close as possible, and if there was more than 1/10 between cars, the driver's negotiated lengths. The driver's ran 2 races against the car they were paired with, with 3 points going to the winning driver's team for the 1st rd. and 5 points for the 2nd rd. At the end of the 1st rd Team Montana was up 23 races to 7 (one of our cars broke) They had to call it just past half way through the 2nd rd. 'cause another severe thunderstorm blew in and it was nasty. By then, Team Montana was up with a total of 40 races to 12 for both rds. Both team capt's determined the weather was too severe to keep going & that Team Idaho had no chance of winning at that point anyway. Here are my 2 passes.

This pass, my opponent was 5/10 slower than me, so she and her husband told me they wanted 2 lengths, so here ya go.


This pass, we met again in the center of the staging lanes, and she asked for a couple more lengths and a lane swap. So I said OK, 4 lengths and a lane swap. We shook hands, and strapped in. Oh yeah, I must have forgotten to tell her that my truck is faster in the left lane by at least 2/100 on any given day. Here's that pass.


After the race, she came and told me, " All I can say is, that truck IS fast"
And if you listen real careful, you can hear the crowd go berzerk after the passes. It was the most AWESOME feeling in the world, hearing those cheers coming down that return road after those 2 passes .

Enjoy.



Doug...

Good job ya done there Doug.

glad ya had a great week end.

stomp-en chebys is all that counts

Cool deal Doug!!

congrats Doug!

Thanks guys. Now if I can figure out how to get my reaction times down where they belong, I might be able to put some more money back in my pocket. I have a delay box, but for some reason, every time I pulled time out to better my lights, they stayed right there at .090's. A friend of mine has a full sized practice tree, maybe I'll see in I can borrow it and get a littel seat time here at the house.

Also, I have a little bit of suspension tuning to do, but other than that, I'm pleased with it.








Doug...

Sounds like a good week-end for you and the banana!! That's a b!tch when it keeps going faster!! Sounds like you got yourself a runner for sure!!

Bill

Glad you had a good outing Doug, Sounds like you had a good time.

Awesome job there Doug Is this the engine you were going to raffle..... or a different one?

It is the same one. I would love to get rid of it so I can get my new one done. I'm gonna sit down and figure out what I can do it for, since I do most of it myself, and I'm gonna sell this one for a "Rock Bottom" price. It does run pretty good ya know.






Doug...

There's he importance of a good cage..

Sounds like you had a good time !!

Congratulations Doug We're all proud of ya and happy for you.

Charlie

go Dougy !!!! way to go man , great videos also

Dougo, the HeRo of Montana....

Al Martin wrote:Dougo, the HeRo of Montana....

Thanks Al. Somebody has to be. These guys think I'm runnin' good now? They'll really be cryin' a river IF I can get this 521 sold, and get my "other" engine done. I just wish I could cut a light now.







Doug...

Good job !!! I like the vids too.

Great read Doug and nice videos. You've come a long way with that truck, and it's been nice to follow your progress. I have a long cross country trip planned for early October, so If I'm driving through your neck of the woods, I'd love to visit you and have some dinner. I'll let you know what my route is.

Thanks Pat. That would be awesome. You have a pm.








Doug...