Event Coverage The Fall-Out Drags #4 roll call

...looks like there was a great turnout there, thanks for all the great pics...glad the weather cooperated.

 

the weather was not a issue for the coupe. the same cant be said about low gear in the lenco. the clutches were smoked.

 

Fall Fall Out 4 was an absolute blast... The weather was not an issue. The track was great and the Rock Falls staff ran a great event. I'm still bummed the track discriminated against the Canadian effort for the wheel stand contest... We may have to build a wall or something... In hindsight it was probably a good thing they did throw us off the starting line... I'm pretty sure the fat guys on the back of the cart would have dug a pretty decent groove in the track...

All 4 Canadian cars made good laps on Friday but Larry had some issues with the Sheets & Giggles altered Saturday... but a good time was had by all. My friend Gary "The Champ" Misko made some runs in the scout on Friday and ripped off an arrow straight 9.93 / 133 pass....

Fall Fall Out 4 was well worth the 10+ hr trip there and back... I'm relieved to say my trailer brakes were working on the return trip through Minneapolis... made for a lot less stress than the trip down without them (Holy Crap !!)...

Thank you to Drag Racing 101, Rock Falls Raceway and all the great racers and people that made this event such a success

We'll be back for Fall Fall Out 5

 

Drag Racing 101 - Fall Fall Out 4 was Awesome !!

My wife Lori and I were there with the Scout, Larry and Arlene Arnold made the trip with the Sheets & Giggles altered after an epic 3 week thrash to change motors (Hurt the blower motor) and Fall Out rookies Dave Williamson (9 sec 62 Olds Starfire) and Ryan Tront (63 Falcon) also came down. The Misko clan Gary, Kim and Katie, made the trip without their 39 Willys street rod (Broken) but Gary did some driving duties in the Scout and Katie was doing back duties for her dad and I on the track.

The trip down was relatively uneventful with 4 trucks and trailers in caravan... The only excitement was me losing trailer brakes while navigation through traffic and construction in Minneapolis... Yikes !!

We would find the problem... which made things a lot less exciting for the trip home. Some of our crew highballed it home Sunday, but the Arnolds, my wife and I did some shopping on the way home and an overnight in Fargo...

The threatening weather was never a factor and the Rock Falls Raceway crew did a fantastic job keeping the track in great shape for the Friday / Saturday event...

Both Dave's heavyweight Olds and the Scout were limited to 10.00 or slower as we did not have NHRA chassis certs... so 1000 ft shut offs were the order of the weekend (at least for me)

The highlight of the weekend for me... and the I'm sure the Misko's, was Gary's 9 second run in the Scout. Gary did 3 passes prior to this run and had a best pass of 11.14... pretty good for a guy whose previous best was a 12.50... I really wanted Gary to have a 10 second pass so I asked him what it would take to go .15 faster... Gary simply said... "I've been shutting it off at 1000 ft like you said"... My response... "Well... Don't"

Gary's 4th pass completely ignored the 10 second zone and blasted a 9.93 / 133... I really wish I had been at the time slip shack when Gary saw that little piece of paper with that 9 second time on it... Katie and I were pretty sure we could here the hoot'n and holler'n as we walked back to the pits

Dave and Ryan were running laps all weekend. Dave ran a personal best 1/8th mile time on a shut off pass and then he dipped into the 9's one time too many and got "the talk" from the track. Ryan got numerous requests for match ups irom some very popular racers and I'm sure he got at least a dozen run in over the 2 days. I can't wait for the warmed over 429 in the primer Falcon to be replaced by that rowdy 521 BBF for next year...

After a 3 week epic thrash to put his daughters Super Comp motor in the altered, Larry ran bracket like 10 second passes on Friday... then things went sour on Saturday and the problem was not found...But not without Larry trying his damndest to find it

I made 5 passes in the Scout and they were great !! Since I was shutting it off early I tried to put on a show at the starting line. I made some really good burnouts and roasted the hides off the slicks past the starting line. I kept the wheelie bars low to keep the little plow truck low and less expensive, but still did some good wheel-stands. Sunday was pretty special as I got to match up with some great machines and good friends. Ron Green with his low 9 second Possum Chaser Crosley Wagon, Bill Killough and his 63 Lemans with blown Pontiac power (He went 9.49 this weekend !!) and then a great match with Robert Nieves to end my weekend.

Both Thursday and Friday night saw our group at "Randy's Family Restaurant" for great food, great conversation and some seriously good times. Saturday night we enjoyed the racer's BBQ and then socialized at the track with the likes of the Stuper family, Mark Dietrich (Meltdown / Fall Out announcer) and a number of the MDA / Drag Racing 101 crew... Damn that was fun...

2 really fun moments:
On Gary's first pass with the Scout I prepared 2 signs that I held up to the windshield. The first simply said "Be Safe / Have Fun" which got a nod from Gary... The second said "Don't Shit the Fire Suit"... That got a laugh from a nervous driver... and then the starting line staff...

The second was when Brian Kohlman (31 Chrysler coupe on nitro) rolled past to say hello. As we talked and he sold t-shirts, they announced the Wheelstand Contest. I looked past Brian at his golf cart and said "You know... 3 fat guys hanging off the back... we could win"... 2 minutes later... Gary, Ryan, Brian, one of Brian's crew and myself are hanging off and out of the cart with helmets on and Canadian flags flying... Brian... being the quiet shy type... (not) rolled this motley crew right through the staging lanes and right up to the starting line... It took a moment for the starting line crew to figure out why we there but once they did it took far less time to throw us out of the area... It didn't stop us from doing 3 really long bumper scrapers (literally) in the staging lanes... Much to the delight of the fans. In spite of the controversial decision and probably discriminatory action of the track... we're claiming 3rd place !!

Thank you to the MDA/Drag Racing 101 crew and the staff and crew at Rock Falls Raceway for a fantastic event and facility.

Also... thank you to the Sponsors... Suburban GM who gave away and engine (again), CTech Technologies who gave away 5 shop carts (again), Scott's Rods who donated a 1/4 scale Anglia go Kart body (Gorgeous paint, stripe and lettering by Smokey Mo Peterson), Competition Products, NFG and others

Also - thanks to Gasser Wars Magazine for being on site as well as all the other photographers and online magazines attendance.

Make plans to join us for Fall Fall Out 5 next year... it's worth the effort, even if you don't have a nostalgia car
(You'd have more fun if you did though)

 

@Saxxon - Very nice report out! This was a great event.

 

Just ran across this video on YouTube.



My brothers and I all had a GREAT time. Hope to be back again, next year.

 

Great video coverage