June 7, 2008
Round 4 of the Palo Verde Hot Rods event was held for the first time at night due to the heat of the day this time of the year. It was still in the 90's at sundown. Temperatures probably got down into the high 80's by 8 PM when we started our time trials. While we didn't reach our goal of 20 cars, we did have 17 cars show up and 14 paid an additional $20 to run our bracket program. This was our car make up come 10 PM, which was the first round of our race;
8 Mustangs (7 late models & one older), 1 ex-Pro Stock Olds Starfire, 1 Trans Am, 1 Titan Pick-up, 1 Gran Sport, 1 Monte Carlo, 1 Camaro SS, 1 RX-7 (small block Chevy powered), 2 late model GTO's
There were 2 downsides to the weekends race. One, I was running my GS for the first time on slicks since 1994, so I was spending a lot of time just ensuring everything was set up right and not wondering around with the other racers. The second thing was that running at night made it tough to get some really good pictures with a normal camera set up. We were trying to get a photographer we knew to attend and take pictures for us, but that didn't work out. So this event doesn't have as many photo's. Tonna took some photos, but didn't get all the cars in attendance. If anyone did get a few good shots, please e-mail them to me if you would and I'll add them to the page. We'll make up for it at the next event!
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1) Tony had his 1967 Mustang out for the night. Tony had been running some consistent 15.1's. He waited for eliminations to start experimenting with shift points and dropped 4 tenths on a run, good pick up, but a break out. He'll keep dialing this combo in for the next event.
2) Rambo had his twin turbo 4-valve Mustang out. With an easy tune, he was still knocking down some 11.60's, unfortunately, he left the red light glowing in the first round, opps!
3) Lin & Dana brought their 1999 Trans Am back out. They did much better this time. The first PVHR they broke the rear in the car. Lin made it to the semi-finals, breaking out with a high 12 second run on a 13.0 dial in.
4) I had my 1971 GS out for the first time in many years running slicks. First run off the trailer was a 12.58 and I eventually got it down to a 12.38 playing with launch shift and points. I made it to the semi's but red-lighted against eventual winner Jared.
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6) Andrew gets his 2003 Mach 1 ready to run.
7) Todd's 2003 Mustang Cobra
8) Jay's 2003 Mach 1.
9) Tony's 2003 Cobra was running high 11's and made it all the way to the finals. Tony had previously won the 3rd PVHR event.
10) Kris's 2004 Mustang GT
Steve brought his ex-Pro Stock Olds Starfire, equipped with a 455. This was the first time Steve had run the car since he bought it and rebuilt everything. He had just finished modifying the front end to look more like a real Starfire, hence the black primer. The first pass was just a get acquainted squirt. Good burn out and short shift it down the track to make sue it drives OK. Everything was set, but before he could make his second pass the car started running hot and burped a little water on the track. While a less than expected debut, it runs and Steve can start dialing it in for the next race.
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1 & 2) Lin & I heat up the tires and make a run.
3) Kris & Tony go down the track side by side.
4) The two Ricks make a run. Rick & his 1984 Monte Carlo have been a regular at our PVHR events.
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5) Andrew and Richard make a time trial run.
6) Kind of an interesting screwed up picture of Tony's Mustang.
7) Jay & Kris
8) Rambo & Tony make a pair of 11 second runs. Bolt some forced induction on the little 281's and hang on! Rambo has the twin turbo's and Tony has ported the stock Eaton Roots styled blower.
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9) A classic match up for the finals, Tony's Mustang and Jared's Camaro.
10) The two finalists exchange congrats!
11) Tony was running against the clock. It about 10 till midnight and the tower was calling for the finalist to report to the lanes for the last race. Tony was thrashing in the pits, his intercooler water pump had become air bound and he really had to work to get the car to the lanes before they sent Jared on a single. He made it just in time. It was a close race with Tony dialing a 11.70 and Jared a 12.22 (I think!) Jared turned on the win light. Tonna divided up the winnings, $200 to Jared for the win and $80 for Tony for the runner up.
Well, we don't have a 5th date set in stone yet. The hot temperatures tend to keep some racers away from the track. We may try and go out on July 5th just to make some time runs. Steve, Rambo and I all want to do some more testing. But who knows what will come up next! Check back once in a while for an update.
