Troy Dial and his daughter, Savannah recently entered the world of Jr. Drag Racing. These cars are designed to introduce children age 8-17 to the sport of 1/8 mile drag racing. The entry level class that Savannah will begin in is for 8-9 year olds and can run as fast as 12.90 seconds at about 45 mph! As drivers get older and gain experience, they can move up to the next class which can run up to 7.90's in the eighth, about 12 seconds if it was a quarter mile.
These cars use a 5 horsepower Briggs & Stratton or a Tecumseh motor. Savannah recently made her debut at a local Utah track. While she may not have taken home the Top Eliminator trophy, she did gain valuable experience and confidence. Talking to Troy prior to this race, I was wondering if she'd want to continue this hobby? I guess the next day the first question out of her mouth was, "When do we get to go racing again?"
Troy is talking about having the car repainted to match his boat! Do we see a Super Comp car in the near future followed by who knows what? We'll keep track of her progress as she goes!
Here's a link to the points standings for the future TF driver!
http://www.rmrracing.com/2005/drag/points/street-legal/jr-dragster-rookie.htm
JUNE 2006
Savannah was running last years track champ in the 10-12 year old group. In the end of the video Savannah runs a 9.92 on a 9.85 dial-in. Savannah has come a long way since Troy first sat her in the seat of her original little digger! How far off can that Super Comp dragster be? Click here for the video.
Here's the proud driver with her current ride.
APRIL 22, 2005
Our first TnT of the year at RMR. Got 3 good passes in. 2-w/18mm mikuni (which is junk) and one with the 28mm Mikuni we used last season (I love that carb!) Savannah had a rough first event this year. She went red in the first round? -.189 Ran a 15.31 on a 15.22 dial in. The other kid had a .884 light but ran 13.53 on a 13.51 dial. Winable round but not when you give it away at the light.
Kids trying that's all I can say! She had a .188 and a .129 light in time trials. She knew her car was slower. She told me in the staging lanes she needed to get a "hole shot win!"
Next Race May 6th!!!
JANUARY 30, 2005
Well, just got the time to update this page, thanks for the patience Troy! Savannah ran the new car at the Halloween Classic!
OK, while pit bikes are the norm at the dragstrip, I don't know how well Troy's new acquisition will work
SEPTEMBER 1, 2004
Here's two pictures of the new chassis Troy and Savannah have just purchased. Getting ready for a new season with a new car!
AUGUST 15, 2004
Well this update isn't too good. First round of time trials Savannah ran a 12.377ET @ 50.96MPH. I have no idea why the car decided to run all of a sudden? Its been running right close to the index of 12.90 for several events. (I think its upset because its been in the garage parked next to the new Hardens car we will be running next year. But anything quicker than a 12.50 in Savannah's age group is an instant disqualification per NHRA rules. Seems strange to say we went TOO QUICK IN A FKN DRAG RACE? And to top off the disappointment, Savannah's light was a .008 which would have gotten her a bye in the first round of eliminations.
On a good note, we were allowed to run Time Only runs the rest of the night. Took awhile to get Savannah, and myself for that matter, settled down but we got the car slowed down to a 13.22. I learned a ton about what will and what won't slow one of these temperamental little bastards down. And Savannah's lights were still between .025 and .076.
Next race is the 27th.
AUGUST 3, 2004
Savannah and I are back from Denver and the Jr. Dragster Western Conference Finals. What an experience! She made it to the final 16 in the mile high shoot out on Tuesday. (100+ 8-9 year olds started the day) And we won a prize for closest to dial in with out breaking out in the first round of elim. (12.992 on a 12.99 Dial-in)
Went out first round of the WCF on Friday. All the other days were Test/Tune and Time Trials.
Savannah cut a lot of great lights (.010, .012, .087 being the best she did during the week.) And several REDS came her way. One being what put us out of the Mile High Shoot out. (those reds shows me she was trying!) Worst light of the week unfortunately came in the first round of WCF. .207, but that's ok cause I missed the dial in by 4 hundredths so she would have broke out anyway.Troy
JUNE 6, 2004
After 3 continually more dismal race nights, one of the other fathers talked me into switching the car to Alcohol. This sounds easy, but in order to run Alky I had to go to a Billet Rod, Billet Flywheel and buy a whole new fuel system. What the Hell right. The kids worth it. So I spent the last two weeks dis-assembling a Briggs 5hp motor and re-assembling with new billet stuff. I finally got it together and fired it for the first time Fri at about 1:pm....(I had to be at the track 40 miles away by 3:30, and I am just firing a basically brand new motor?)
Anyway, got to the track only knowing that it would start. First time trial one of the other dads (trying to help) adjusted the idle up while we were staging. Unknown to him he adjusted it past the stall RPM and she couldn't hold the car back in the lights. No biggie, its only time trials.
I looked at the read out from the Mychron Data Recorder (new this week amongst everything else!) and decided we were a little lean on the hit of the throttle. Changed the metering jet. Adjusted the idle back down and headed for the staging lanes for time trial number 2
Idle was still a little too high and Savannah had a hard time holding the car back in the lights. Ended up DEEP staging but ran a 13.258 ET @ 47.57 MPH Her quickest and fastest run ever! By over a second in ET and 5 MPH!
First round of eliminations, what to dial? All new setup with only one real pass. We were asking strangers to pick a number between 1 and 20 just for the hell of it for the dial in. Picked 13.18 dial in for first round.
Still had a problem with deep staging, cut a .267 light and rumbled down the track to a 13.434 ET @ 46.64 MPH....Our very first round win against a .420 light 13.058 ET on a 12.90 dial in... Everyone on the starting line said they could see 5' of air under my feet when the win light came on in our lane
Second round, didn't change a thing on the car, just added more fuel. Dialed a 13.35 based on nothing at all. We had a first round win and I could go home happy with that after the first 3 race events. Again a problem with deep staging----Cut a .279 light and ran a 13.337 ET against a 13.123 ET on a double breakout WIN!
I couldn't believe it, Again I was told they didn't realize a white man could jump so high after I saw the win light in our lane? Then when I get to the end of the track and pick up our time slip, I find out we have a BUY to the final! Not much to talk about on the buy other than she ran a 13.485 ET @ 46.25 MPH
The Final! I wrote 13.40 on the dial in board and never looked back. We were up against Paige Lundeen and this kid kills the tree and usually runs her number on the dial....I just told Savannah to HAVE FUN and drive her own race.
Well those two girls put on a hell of a race. Paige was dialed a 12.94 and we were 13.40. Savannah cut a .106 light (her best ever!) and Paige cut a .096. At the finish line Savannah ran a 13.518 against Paige's 12.962. After it was over Paige's dad came up to me and said. "neither one of lifted on that pass!" then told me good race.
Even if I had gotten the dial closer we wouldn't have gotten that one!!
Overall I would have been happy with our first 1st round win. Worked out we went all the way to the finals after not being able to get past the first round in all previous events.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words. This has been a lot more work than I first anticipated but this weekend made it all worth while...Now that the car is running consistent I might actually get back to the boatTroy
