Oct 6-7
On Saturday,we returned to Action City Dragway in Terre Haute,IN for
the second time this year and again, we made it to the late rounds with
luck being a big factor. Despite having a perfect .000 reaction time in the
4th round, my reaction times weren't great, but I had a car that pulled me
through to the quarter finals.
Sunday at Coles County Dragway, RED was all that I saw. After
Saturday, I guess I was trying to push it too hard. 1st round, I was red by
.002 of a second and bought back into the 2nd round. The 2nd round, I
had a great .506 and won that round, but in the 3rd round, I was back to
red by .007 and was done for the day. These days are hard, but you're
going to have them, you just have to look back on them find your
mistakes, hit the practice tree and head back to the track and try again.
If it was easy everyone would do it. It's the hard part that makes it fun
and rewarding.
On Saturday,we returned to Action City Dragway in Terre Haute,IN for
the second time this year and again, we made it to the late rounds with
luck being a big factor. Despite having a perfect .000 reaction time in the
4th round, my reaction times weren't great, but I had a car that pulled me
through to the quarter finals.
Sunday at Coles County Dragway, RED was all that I saw. After
Saturday, I guess I was trying to push it too hard. 1st round, I was red by
.002 of a second and bought back into the 2nd round. The 2nd round, I
had a great .506 and won that round, but in the 3rd round, I was back to
red by .007 and was done for the day. These days are hard, but you're
going to have them, you just have to look back on them find your
mistakes, hit the practice tree and head back to the track and try again.
If it was easy everyone would do it. It's the hard part that makes it fun
and rewarding.
Oct 12 -14
This was a disappointing weekend at O'Reilly Raceway Park in
Indianapolis IN. The Fall Classic is the last hurrah for Division 3 class
racers for the year and most would like to go out on a good note. For us,
it was a sour note, we made some very good qualifying runs of 8.87,
8.91, and 8.91 in super comp and in Super Pro 5.17, 5.15 and 5.15 with
excellent reaction times in both classes. When it came time for
eliminations, it was a different story, red lights in the 1st round in both
classes. After looking at the information and analyzing the situation, it
appears that we probably were lifting the tires out of the starting line
beams causing these red lights. I had taken some weight out of the front
in the summer when the tracks aren't hooking as good and with a track
that was hooking hard, I needed it back in.
Live and Learn, if your not learning something every run, your not
winning.
For the class racers we have raced with all year, hope you have a good
off season and can't wait to see you next season.
This was a disappointing weekend at O'Reilly Raceway Park in
Indianapolis IN. The Fall Classic is the last hurrah for Division 3 class
racers for the year and most would like to go out on a good note. For us,
it was a sour note, we made some very good qualifying runs of 8.87,
8.91, and 8.91 in super comp and in Super Pro 5.17, 5.15 and 5.15 with
excellent reaction times in both classes. When it came time for
eliminations, it was a different story, red lights in the 1st round in both
classes. After looking at the information and analyzing the situation, it
appears that we probably were lifting the tires out of the starting line
beams causing these red lights. I had taken some weight out of the front
in the summer when the tracks aren't hooking as good and with a track
that was hooking hard, I needed it back in.
Live and Learn, if your not learning something every run, your not
winning.
For the class racers we have raced with all year, hope you have a good
off season and can't wait to see you next season.
| Coles County Dragway Charleston IL |
| Coles County Dragway Charleston IL |
Oct 20-21
We showed up at Coles County Dragway Saturday to camp out and
ended up making some runs, a little practice never hurts. With a cold,
windy track that had mostly street cars on it, we still ran times in the low
5.20s and even had a perfect reaction time.
Sunday was a beautiful fall day with the exception of high head winds
and gusts of 18 mph. We made it through the 1st and 2nd rounds with no
buy backs, but in the third round, the guy I beat in the 1st round played
pay back and put me out on a close run. We had nearly identical reaction
times, but the decider was his dead on the dial with zero 6.620 on a 6.62
dial to my dead on with a eight 5.218 on a 5.21 dial. 21 years ago when I
started, you rarely heard of runs that close, but today it's common place.
This is it the last weekend for racing. We're headed to Coles for their
final race and then the off season work begins.
We showed up at Coles County Dragway Saturday to camp out and
ended up making some runs, a little practice never hurts. With a cold,
windy track that had mostly street cars on it, we still ran times in the low
5.20s and even had a perfect reaction time.
Sunday was a beautiful fall day with the exception of high head winds
and gusts of 18 mph. We made it through the 1st and 2nd rounds with no
buy backs, but in the third round, the guy I beat in the 1st round played
pay back and put me out on a close run. We had nearly identical reaction
times, but the decider was his dead on the dial with zero 6.620 on a 6.62
dial to my dead on with a eight 5.218 on a 5.21 dial. 21 years ago when I
started, you rarely heard of runs that close, but today it's common place.
This is it the last weekend for racing. We're headed to Coles for their
final race and then the off season work begins.
| My Office |
Oct 28
This weekend reminds me of a Clint Eastwood movie 'The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly.' Lets start off with the ugly, Buy Backs, 2 of them, and the
bad, how I lost them,and now the good, the next 5 rounds that I won.
Lets not talk about the first 2 rounds, where Billy Joe Mason waxed my
a$$ with a 6 thousands package in the 1st round or when I went horribly
red against Chris Sanders in the 2nd round and wasn't going to buy
back into the 3rd round.
Now, lets talk about the next 5 rounds that I won, and I must say this
probably goes down as one of the weirdest wins of my racing career. In
between the 2nd and 3rd round there was a awful oil down and while
that was being cleaned up my competitor's car was rear ended in the
staging lanes luckily no one was hurt and we went on to run the 3rd
round. In that round, he decided to play games on the starting line which
cost him the race when he lit the red light. In the 4th round, it was a re-
run of the 2nd round with Chris Sanders, even though he beat me off the
line, at mid track his car got loose and had to lift. This is where testing
pays off, because a week earlier I had tested under similar conditions
and knew what to do with the car to get it from point A to point B. The 5th
round was similar to the 4th round, I got beat at the tree, but at the end, I
was able to run my dial and my competitor ran off. In the 6th round, my
opponent and I went through our burnout procedure and as we staged
my opponent fully staged and backed out. I quickly went in and as he
followed back in the tree lit and I killed him on the line and at the big end
by the numbers even though I lifted I would have still ran close to the
dial. In the final, I had former track Champion, Paul Hargis, and as we
staged, I went in he went in and out of the corner of my eye I saw his car
lurched forward as he hit the trans brake. When the tree came on, I was
.567 on the tree which I should of cost me the race but his reaction time
was a lot worse. At the finish line, I pedaled to a 5.222 on a 5.13 dial to his
5.47 on a 5.39 dial in. A week earlier, I was cursing Buy Backs, now look
at me, I just remembered how I love them.
In the end, it's not how pretty you win, it's that at the end of the night
your holding the check.
PS. Ron I made it to work on time.
This weekend reminds me of a Clint Eastwood movie 'The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly.' Lets start off with the ugly, Buy Backs, 2 of them, and the
bad, how I lost them,and now the good, the next 5 rounds that I won.
Lets not talk about the first 2 rounds, where Billy Joe Mason waxed my
a$$ with a 6 thousands package in the 1st round or when I went horribly
red against Chris Sanders in the 2nd round and wasn't going to buy
back into the 3rd round.
Now, lets talk about the next 5 rounds that I won, and I must say this
probably goes down as one of the weirdest wins of my racing career. In
between the 2nd and 3rd round there was a awful oil down and while
that was being cleaned up my competitor's car was rear ended in the
staging lanes luckily no one was hurt and we went on to run the 3rd
round. In that round, he decided to play games on the starting line which
cost him the race when he lit the red light. In the 4th round, it was a re-
run of the 2nd round with Chris Sanders, even though he beat me off the
line, at mid track his car got loose and had to lift. This is where testing
pays off, because a week earlier I had tested under similar conditions
and knew what to do with the car to get it from point A to point B. The 5th
round was similar to the 4th round, I got beat at the tree, but at the end, I
was able to run my dial and my competitor ran off. In the 6th round, my
opponent and I went through our burnout procedure and as we staged
my opponent fully staged and backed out. I quickly went in and as he
followed back in the tree lit and I killed him on the line and at the big end
by the numbers even though I lifted I would have still ran close to the
dial. In the final, I had former track Champion, Paul Hargis, and as we
staged, I went in he went in and out of the corner of my eye I saw his car
lurched forward as he hit the trans brake. When the tree came on, I was
.567 on the tree which I should of cost me the race but his reaction time
was a lot worse. At the finish line, I pedaled to a 5.222 on a 5.13 dial to his
5.47 on a 5.39 dial in. A week earlier, I was cursing Buy Backs, now look
at me, I just remembered how I love them.
In the end, it's not how pretty you win, it's that at the end of the night
your holding the check.
PS. Ron I made it to work on time.
| Winner of the final 2007 race at Coles County Dragway USA |
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