bondo3

Donnie decided that he was going to try and run for the championship this year. So January 31, 2004 was the first race of the season at Firebird Raceway. I was able to hitch a ride in the passanger seat of the Mustang for the morning warm-up. What a blast, ripping up the dragstrip to 100+mph and then having to jump on the binders to make a hard left hander. Wind down through the pit curves, ending at the staging lanes for the dragstrip. Mash the gas until you have to do a 180 to shoot back up the strip. A can now truely attest to Donnies "spirited" driving style after that ride. Back in the pit we pulled the Goodyear Gatorbacks and replaced them with DOT slicks for the qualifying sessions. Click on the buttons for a larger picture.

Donnie ended up qualifying in the number two slot when the final order was set. A friend Evan snatched #1. Donnie did have the satisfaction of setting a new class track record (again!) On Saturday's the Bondostangs run in a group with several other classes. This makes for an interesting startwhen 10-15 cars are baring down on that first turn at the end of the strip! At the first corner a slower car dove down on Donnie, forcing him to back out of it a little. After 20 minutes of racing neither Donnie or Evan made any mistakes, so Donnie couldn't close the gap and Evan couldn't put any distance between them. This made for a fun race, with Donnie taking the checkered flag in second.

UPDATE, well just after I uploaded this page to the server, I hear that Donnie, aka Mr. Never Say Lift kissed the baby coming out of the staging lanes headed up strip! Not too much damage other than some crumpled sheet metal. Guess we'll be breaking out a BIG hammer, the grinder and paint gun this month! Click on a picture for a larger view.