Event Coverage Welcome to Uncle Sam's Pie Eating Contest (USPEC)

Thanks for the info John and Jackson. I will start high and see how it goes, the way they wrinkle is a bit different than regular slicks with a soft sidewall-thanks. I have run ET Streets and the Hursts and Goodrich and I noticed some spin here and there with all but the ET Streets. Obviously there will be some sweet spot with the Towel City and hopefully all of us that run them find the sweet spot. Am packed and ready to leave-am going to leave enough time to stop here and there to stretch the back (that has been talking to me for some time now).

 

I made it up for a few hours today. Nice over cast day and a lot nicer than it had been lately, cooled off nicely!

Not a ton of cars racing, but a good turn out and the guys and gals that did show were top notch!

 

...I was there all day,..nice event, hope they do it again,
...here's a cool old gasser that was on display,...the Ron Colson/Gary Wood 41 Stude gasser from the early 60's,... Ron drove gassers, rails and funny cars for many years, probly the most famous being the Chi-town Hustler....the Stude will be restored back to 1962 specs, raced, shown and eventually end up in Don Garlitts' museum. The car hasn't changed too much in almost 60 years. Scott Hammond was the last guy to race the car with a blown Pontiac.

The car will be a feature car this year at the 12th annual Scrap Drive show & swap next Saturday June 9th in Belvidere, Illinois. Ron Colson will be at the show to sign autographs and bs with anyone interested.
The car and Ron will also attend the Meltdown Drags at Byron, Illinois on July 20-22nd.

 

Had a blast...........definitely puts the driver back in the seat. Balance of power, throttle and bite. I had 7.75 RADIR's on today wondering if they would hook, Ran 30PSI they hooked every pass. Can see this event growing. I liked the pairing letting the cars roll to the line without a car rumbling behind you. My SEMI final was inches.......at the line....could not tell who won from behind the wheel.

 

Had a GREAT time. Got to see some old friends, make some new ones, and the pie is DELICIOUS.



Looking forward to next year's USPEC, and of course, this year's Meltdown.

 

Sorry to have missed the inaugural event... but no-one double dog dared me to show up so I had no incentive. 16 hrs one way is a bit of a deterrent, especially if I'm doing it again in 6 weeks. The Meltdown event started small and it looks like the Uncle Sam's event is ahead of that development curve.

Well done kids...

 

You still have that triple dog dare hanging over you.

 

I see that no one has pointed out that one of the reasons that the day was very interesting is that they prepped the track very well from 60’ on out but the first 60’ was unprepped. No burnouts and no dry hops remember It made the launches quite interesting and there was a quite a bit of wheel hop and a more than a couple competitors broke. The ETs were also a bit interesting and by the usual standards a bit higher than normal. The cars that qualified for A/G were in the 12s. One of the Vettes I was watching was a 56/57 301 injected car and was 4th high qualifier until he broke an axle with a 12.55. John with his new build, a blown black 62 Vette (that he did a build thread on the HAMB) was quickest with a 11.68. A class act, as he told me he was given the option to run the A/G cars but since he was a bit quicker he kept his car back in the pits and went out afterwards and made a fun run pass that once again was a 11.68. We pitted next to each other as we both had black 62s but my ETs were way at the other end of the spectrum as I ran in the stock class.

Still had a great deal of fun and saw some old friends and made some new friends which is what it is all about. Kind of a funny deal is that my 62 is my cruiser and I have an old cassette player in the car that I have had in there for years. When I was making a pass something came at me and hit me while making a pass and I wondered WTF. After the pass I noticed it was one of the cassettes that had been loosely sitting in the player that decided to become a projectile. Wish I could claim it hurt my ET but I would be fibbing.

I would do it in a heartbeat again and I believe there will be more competitors next year. I had two passes where the car in the other lane was right beside me at the stripe and I had no idea on either who won until I got to the shack. Doug mentioned earlier about one of the runs I believe. I was launching not too high but was getting a lot of wheelhop so in my final run with Doug I came out at idle and he had me out of the hole but I ran him down and passed him probably just half track but missed third gear, found it quick but not quick enough to see him come along side me at the stripe and he won it fair and square. Fun times for sure.

As usual the Meltdown guys and Byron track guys were great and I believe they will have another can’t miss event. It will be fun trying to figure what it takes to get through that first 60’ in the shortest possible time and effort (without breakage hopefully). Cool event.

 

Dammit Brian !!

 

Don't feel bad I have the same dilemma lol

 

Personally, I really liked the lack of track prep, and no burn out rule. On my first run, I tried to launch the same as I do at The Meltdown. That is, at about 5500 RPM, or so, (my 55 has a 301 with a 4 speed). The result was a lot of wheel hop, and my slowest E.T. of the day. Afterwards, I was launching at about 3000 RPM, and was turning E.T.'s comparable to what I run at The Meltdown. It was mainly a question of learning the right way to launch, without track prep. The added benefit was less shock and strain on the driveline.

With the "No Burnout Rule", things moved along much quicker than usual. Not nearly as much time sitting in the staging lanes waiting for just one car to stage. Just pull up to the line, and go. When talking with my oldest brother, (who drag raced in the early - mid 1960's), I was told that this is how it was back then. No burnouts, and no track prep. The big racers would use rosin, etc. but nothing was used at the typical drag meet. Now if I can just get my oldest brother to go to The Meltdown.....LOL.

 

Jim, your vette was running good. That was too close at the wire....I was pushing the gas pedal thru the floor trying to an inch at the line. Had a blast..

Sent from my SM-J320V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Too much fun.....every round...you have to think wonder what the track is like, then your tires are cold......Its a game changer....

Sent from my SM-J320V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

It was fun stuff Doug but you took the win. I also ran Chuck door handle to door handle and he suggested we switch lanes and then he broke his center section (I believe). His car is an original junior stocker 57 Chevy with a 301-4 speed with a 4:11. It was fun racing him but he says he may step up to a 4:88 for the Meltdown-may make the task a bit harder. I hope Jeff (PBRmeASAP) switches from SS to stock and maybe we can get a decent group of Junior Stockers for the Meltdown. I actually ran in those classes and my memories of Junior Stock is right up there with the "big boys" IMO.

John (Torkwrench) your car ran great and I watched several of your runs. Your car ran well. As to times gone by I remember the late 60s but I ran M&H I believe and it made a difference for sure. I remember a better flow without all of the burnouts but do not remember as many wheel hops-a few yes but not as many-we hooked a bit better for sure. But figuring this out at the Pie Crust will be challenging and fun and when you can run side by side some of the launch troubles is just another issue to overcome.

 

I agree.............the no prep...........took a lot of the dwell time of burning out and backing up. I think they should go one step further............no Reaction Time on ET slips..........then you are really flying blind... I know RT came out in the 70's after 1976 ....... as my DAD was quick on the lights.... he would leave so far on many that even cars with a light spot would many times leave together. We always wondered what his lights would have been.

 

Meltdown.........a few tweaks........ want to shoot for low 14's , put on a new carb today seems smoother thru the transition. Drove it around the country roads today, rear ends does seem a little "chunky"....I may have to give it a look.

 

That's Jim Hays's 56 isn't it?

 

A.J.s View

 

Can't get enough of this 55

 

At 9:40 am Bobs already got the front wheels off the ground?

 

Both Carly and David were driving like seasoned pros, David was feathering the gas looking for a good 60 ft and II Sassy seemed to be hooking the tires good and pulling some good reaction times.

 

There were lots of class acts running a Byron's USPEC. Watching as every driver fought for traction was a total look back at mid sixties drag racing. Aside from the unavoidable slow downs from breakage, racing moved along realy quick. I had the pleasure of being able to watch every run and can say those who couldn't make it, You missed out on a great time. I have no doubt next year will be even better.

 

Tickety Boo it was great meeting you and I could not get enough of that 55 as well. First car went to look at when I got there. Hope to see you there next year with the 64.

Scotty the owner of the red 56 was named Jim so you may be right on the last name as well. Great guy and we talked on a few occasions. He broke an axle in his Ford 9". He was a hoot to watch but on his fatal run he had a bunch of wheel hop going on and that was all she wrote.

Also got to meet Bob (62 Furious) and he his car ran top notch under the circumstances. I believe he won one of the pies (trophy).

 

This 40 is really nice. This 40 is really nice.

 

What an AWESOME event! my hats off to all that put the time and effort to make this a show! The meltdown guy did an awesome job at making this happen. Already looking forward to next year.

 

First, we would like to thank everyone for supporting the idea behind this event.

We couldn't be more pleased for the first event. We had about twice as many cars as we had at the first Meltdown...which is cool! Just like the first few years of the Meltdown, we only had real car guys there as spectators.

The part we enjoyed the most is that the guys who were racing...HAD FUN! The guys who came to watch (especially the old guys) said it actually reminded them of what it looked like back then. One guy said it the best when he said...there were no wheelies back then and the 12 second E.T.s with high MPH were real.

As a guy who actually raced...wow what a difference no track prep and no burnout makes...my car was almost 2 seconds off from normal.

Our big sponsor, Radir, loved it and they think they got in on the ground floor of a winner.

I had at least 3 guys come up to me saying that they are going to build a car just for this event...kind of sounds like the first few Meltdowns.

And now we have had a couple national magazines want to feature this event in their magazines. They love this stuff and they think it is something unique.

To those who came...THANK YOU! We hope you guys know that we do this stuff for you guys and we don't want a damn penny...we give it all back to you.

 

Thank You to all that attended. We were unsure of how it would go, but were very pleased. The track owners were smiling the whole time. They loved it as well. The Apple Pie Eating contest was a hoot. I had no idea it would be that cool to see people mash their face in apple pies.

Check out vintagedragracing101.com for pictures

 

Thanks! It was a honor to be able to watch my dad race for the first time in the car.