Bad luck, I'm back, I hope. Tomorrow, 3rd October, is round 8. After missing the last 2 rounds due to a weird knee problem, I hope to be able to race. I can get in and out of the HAMBster , but whether I can mash the loud pedal remains to be seen . Don't be daft, of course I can. Hopefully I'll have some videos for you to peruse. So stay tuned sports fans, your weekend is about to get interesting. ( I'm so full of shit after consuming a few beers after work).
Off this morning for Eagle Field, crewing on Old6Rodder's Flying Brick. Should be a good weekend of racing here and there. Have fun and go quick and fast.
Tom, I hope he treats you right as a crew member. Feeds you, praises you, gives you a stint in the saddle around the pit area, even gives you a mention at the awards ceremony. If not, get yours finished and blow him to the weeds at the track. Saturday started with a weather report predicting temperatures in the 30s (about 90). Nothing a bit of shade, lots of water and more water wouldn't fix. My dicky knee was an issue but with true Aussie grit and determination I just got on with the task at hand (who writes this crap?). I leapt into the car for the first run(alright, I climbed gingerly in with the assistance of my wife) and lined up. As I'd made a couple of changes to the car I wasn't sure how it would go. Intake trumpets, distributor and lightened flywheel. First run it ran all over the place like a dog's breakfast including nearly stalling off the line which I put down to the flywheel not having the same inertia as before. Misfired badly as well. Nothing I could do regarding the flywheel except change launch strategy. 14.958@ 88.37mph, not good. A quick adjustment of the timing and line up for the second run against Steve. Same deal, sluggish off the line, misfiring and a dawdling 15.724 @ 88.52mph. Between the sick running car and pain in my knee, I was wondering if it was a mistake to turn up. Never fear intrepid readers, there's other ways to skin a poor, sick ,underperforming cat besides burying it. Tweak it. If advancing the timing don't fix it, retard the sucker! A quick, perfectly precise adjustment would be the way to riches. Loosen bolt, grab Dissy and twist. Looks like the right amount. Now for a test run down the back of the pit area. Check for officials, wind her up and step off the clutch. A quick change and Holy Shit Batman, chirped the tyres in second. This could be good. Third run against Gerard and the beast positively leapt out of the starting blocks(or so it felt). R/T of .036, sixty foot of 1.960 and E.T of 14.224 @91.11mph. Now we're cooking! First Chicago shoot-out was against Jeff. Car left nicely, sounding strong and then I missed second gear. Bang it in gear and mash the go pedal. I could hear Jeff catching up but couldn't keep him out. He took the win but he had to work for it. It could've been different if I'd rowed the boat properly.
Second shoot out had me against Steve. Changed my dial-in from 14.20 to 14.25. Got a reasonable start with a bit of wheelspin but managed to keep Steve at bay. I ran 14.377 against Steve's 13.877 on a 13.75. There'll be a video later when I load it. Third shoot out was against Gerry. He'd dialed 13.46 but unfortunately brought up the cherry. I'd changed my dial to 14.30 thinking that the cooler air would allow wheelspin or at least a performance difference. Wrong on both counts Dickhead! Not an ounce of spin and it ran as crisp as. I got that caught up in how it was running, I didn't notice that I'd automatically got the win and therefore kept right into it. I broke out with a 14.237, backing off right on the line. I'm now curious how good the time would've been had I not backed off.
Sorry for the tardy reply. I'm glad you like the videos, I enjoy bringing them to the viewers. When we have the Championship rounds you would be lucky to have 100 spectators. When the top fuellers are on, probably a thousand. The track was originally constructed by the state government as a vote grabbing exercise, so therefore possibly overbuilt as far as spectator seating goes.
Nice runs, keep'em coming. Please, please, please, please, please tell us here in Kalifornia how you swung THAT.
In California the government would tare down the drag strip and build more houses as a vote grabber. More fuel next year and you can make 25+ passes, great club fun day.
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the dragstrip was built next to and on top of an old rubbish tip. I'm not gullible enough to think that will stop them from building houses there, but if it pays it's way it'll be safe for a while yet. I'll be off the 'puter for a few weeks as I promised the crew chief that we'd go on a holiday between championship rounds. Keep racing and keep it safe.
When the crew chief is happy life is good around the shop & home. Have a great holiday and get ready for the rest of the season.