It was fun to run against a bunch of your friends and co-workers at the strip. There was some good hearted trash talking taking place and we could line the cars up to allow for grudge matches. We were disappointed to see one hot grudge match between a couple of our Security officers not take place. Probably half of the racers at the track that day had never ran down an organized 1/4 mile track previously. Of the other half that had raced before, a couple had never raced the particular car at the track before, including yours truly! It was all for fun and everyone was ready to help anyone who needed some pre-race guidance!
We had our own pit area set up and staging lanes 3 & 4 were dedicated to our group. This way you would know who you were up against the next round. Most of the cars were close in their ET's. The fastest car had 11 second potential while other cars were spread through out the 12-16 second range. Bracket racing is about consistency and driver skill, not necessarily who has the fastest car.
John "Rambo" Davis was the first to succumb to track gremlins. He was up until 3 A.M. the previous night working on the cars suspension. This car is equipped with a twin turbo 4.6 V-8. It has dyno'd at over 500 horsepower, but has always had a problem hooking up off the line. The first run was an easy 12 second run at 113 mph. The second round they decided to see what it'll take. Well, it didn't take it well. The car launched hard, but a split second later there was a metallic snap and the day was over. The car broke a 31 spline axle at the spline. Rambo did get the car back to town by borrowing Chad's trailer. The car was repaired and he was back to drop off the trailer at the end of the day.
Randall Overturf and Lin Gowan also suffered mechanical troubles, but nothing that appears to be fatal! Both of these cars were on the faster end of our line up, so the breakage sometimes isn't a complete shock. We should see them back again.
Here's a little more first and second round action.
Mike D'Amato's little V-6 powered '28 Chevy was a group favorite. He showed up to watch and peer pressure eventually had him in the staging lanes! Mike ran Robert Milone in the first round. Mike was the benefactor of Roberts red light start. The next round Mike was given the bye run due to an uneven number of cars.
My first round match up was my boating nemesis, Donnie Henson. We're always racing on the lake, now we're lined up against each other in the first round. Bragging rights were now at stake. I had been running low 14's in the morning by riding the clutch off the line. But when I'd hit second gear, the tires would break loose. So I sand bagged it a little and dialed a 14.40. Donnie was dialed in at 14.15 in his Corvette. We both cut decent lights, and I didn't do too bad on the 1-2 shift. The finish line was approaching and I had Donnie by about a car length. I backed off the throttle to avoid running under my dial in (and getting the loss automatically) I ran a 14.396, .004 seconds too fast to Donnie's dead on 14.15. I'm going to hear about that loss for a while!
Dan Grim and Ron Younger leave the line here. Ron normally runs a 10 second El Camino, but a roller lifter had failed on the big Chevy earlier in the week so Ron left it in Prescott. Instead he brought his wife's new Toyota Camry and ran it! I think Dan took the win in this race. The other alternate vehicle was driven by Steve Coppock. Steve runs a quick 2nd Gen Camaro but had battery issues in the morning. So like Ron, he drove his Dodge pick over to the track and entered the race!
Doug
Carter had never raced at a drag strip before, but brought his 1997 Corvette out
to see what it would run. After a good first round win, Doug decided to change
his dial in to a quicker 13.99. He and Donnie Henson left the line at the green.
Donnie was off his 14.15 dial in slightly running a 14.28. But Doug apparently
found some power somewhere as he ran a too quick 13.89 on a 13.99 dial in.
The semi-finals saw Mike D'Amato run Donnie Henson. In the end, Mike ran a too fast 15.76 on a 16.08 dial in. Donnie ran a lifting 14.51 on his 14.15 dial in. Andy Sievers and his supercharged Mustang Cobra received the bye run.
The final round was set and Donnie and Andy met at the head of the staging lanes. Here, Tonna displays the purse the two were vying to win!
Andy heats up the tires prior to staging.
Andy and Donnie are ready to run. Donnie kept his dial in at 14.15 while Andy dialed in at 12.30. Donnie ran a 14.24 while Andy ran a too fast 12.15 playing catch up. However, Donnie left the starting line too early by the smallest margin, .005 second which turned on the dreaded red light, handing the win to Andy even though Andy broke out.
Well, Donnie's face say's it all, just a little too quick off the line and you're done. He was still happy with his first time in competition on the drag strip!
Donnie collects his runner up prize.
Andy received the winners share of the pot and then graciously gave back $40 to the charity fund.
A big thanks has to also go out to Alex and Marti Waicelunas. They brought their dragster out and made a few test runs. They also helped with the cooking during our lunch break and utilizing their motor home and trailer as the base for our pit. After the races were complete we sat around the pit and did a little bench racing recounting the days events!
We're setting up the grill to start lunch and
we found an added extra. While we were cooking Nathan's hot dogs, we did have a
single hamburger available. Downside? It had been turned into something that
resembled a hockey puck a week ago!
The day closes on a great Saturday! We learned a lot about putting on an event like this one. We plan on doing it again, we'll adjust things a little to make it even more enjoyable. Speedworld told us we can call any time they're having a Club Day or we can fill in during other events.
If anyone has any additional pictures or comments please contact me at mltdwn12@qwest.net or 623 486-1837
Craig Bonhoff