THIS IS JUST A QUICKIE MORE TO COME WITH PICS . ROY [348] MERRITT RAN BACK TO BACK 11/48 11/50 AT 118+ MPH .BUT LOST TO HEMIBAKER ON A HOLE SHOT 11/57 114+MPH TEMP WAS 100 WITH A TRCK TEMP OF 135 .I WAS IMPRESSED . NEITHER CAR WAS OUT OF THE 11s FRIDAY OR SAT.
I was there and can attest that Tulsa, Oklahoma is one of the hottest places on the planet. I took second place in the FED/Altered class.
I guess I was not destined to beat Hemibaker. Todd Martin is a great guy that has one of the most impressive doorslammers in the world. If you have not seen his Studebaker run then you have missed out, he ran a 6.61 and ripped the ring and pinion out about 2/3 of the way down. His SDRA car never slips a tire coming out of the hole. I looked real close at his tires but there are no suction cups on them. His 60 foot times were awesome, 1.807. The first picture is Hindman in my car on Friday, he is backing out of the parking then him and Hemibaker at the line then them going down the track. Bob had a 11.75 to Hemibaker's 11.72. That was the best my car could do on Friday and Bob would come after every run to ask how well I did, he knew he just wanted to gloat. Next is 2B Banjo working on his flathead. Bob has the greatest sounding engine in the world. I need a recording of him rapping it up and going down the strip. He comes out of the hole and he leaves his foot on the floor and shifts faster than Don Nicholson ever did in Super Stock. Next is me and 2B gassing up for a race. The next is Hemibaker and I in the last race of Saterday. His 60 foot time was 1.807 mine was 1.876 his 1/8 mile was 7.37 mine was 7.421 1000 foot his was 9.631 mine was 9.614, so I had caught up with him by then. His 1/4 mile was 11.574 at 115.07 mine was 11.509 at 118.04 so why didn't I win? His reaction time was .111 and mine was .230 so the last photo shows a new device I have added to the dragster. Roy
Thanks for the pics and report. It sure gets a guy excited about running. In fact, I'm gonna order all my safety clothing tomorrow. The performance of your cars is outstanding. Very nice appearance too.
UH, on that "new device", it looks period perfect and all. Can you recommend a supplier? We need one for Russ.
Well I have to say we did have a good weekend. We really enjoyed meeting all of the guys in person. It was a new experience trying to run the Pro Mod and the SDRA car at the same race. The Pro Mod requires so much between round maintenance. All of the SDRA racers understood and work the race out so we could make the call to the lanes with both cars. On top of that the SDRA car need a little attention this race due to the heat and I did not change it back from when we were in Blowing Green for the HHR. The weather was HOT just like always this time of year. The Air density on Saturday for the final round was 4232 feet and I did not bring the jets for the carb and I knew that 348chey was gunning for us since we won the Friday night race. Well the only thing I knew to do was to give it more timing and it helped but not enough 348chevy was still faster but Robert Tenpenny my best bud did his job on the starting line to pull out the win. It was great to double up but truly we could have lost both nights and I had a blast. I really enjoy the fellowship of all of the racers. I hope the group never loses this part of the racing. Even Butch Nassau came all the way from Houston just to watch. WOW.
Finally beat Bob Hindman, but not the Hornet. He was driving a different car. Hiney invited us over to the "Hornets nest" Sat. morn. to check out the changes he is making to the Hornet. Very impressive, you won't believe that it is the same car. Racing Tulsa is always the best, the hospitality you receive there is unbelievable. We did suffer from the heat, being from Wisconsin. Gerry Troedel, my crew chief said it was the hottest he's ever been. Met Hemibaker and Butch Nassau for the first time, great guys. Hemibaker is at the top of his game. Hope that he brings his pro/mod Stude to MoKan. If you are running a Ha/Gr rail at MoKan, run down to Tulsa Raceway for there Fri night race, now a chance to win $500, see seperate Thread.
Thanks to all who came out and braved the almost unbareable heat . I have a blast announcing the Old time drags and got the chance to meet some great people and on top of that see pieces of history in action . Cant wait till next year !
2b banjo, I do not know how to say this, you know when you see a kids eyes light up at christmas when he sees the best present ever. Well you see that same look in your eyes every time you drop the clutch on your ride in the burnout. He also shift that flathead faster than Bruce Lee can swing chuck's. To see all of the SDRA guys at the race is so funny they all act like they are 20 and have a great time.
Folks when you see one car owner ask another car owner to "take my car out and run it for me so I can get some pictures of my car", thats got to be some respect of another owner/driver. That happened at Tulsa Sat.
Guys, Your times at Tulsa are outstanding and I'm envious. To run that consistant, and that quick, on the bias ply's certainly speak a bunch to your driving and attention to detail. The best we've run is 12.10 @ 120.5 and I doubt it will get any better since we're losing so much time on the 2 slow shifts. We've tried everything with the Saginaw 3 speed and it just won't shift at 6000 rpm. I'm certain the tranny will be changed to a Glide this winter so we can be competitive. When is the big race at Mokan? August, September? Ron
To answer the question of "How many cars". Friday night- 3ea. SDRA 1ea. HA/GR Saturday- 3ea. SDRA 1ea. HA/GR We had hoped for more cars (out of state HA/GR's) but to no avail. There are more local cars that were not able to make these shows due to; Being updated. Component replacement. Under construction. Maybe next time. Two of these cars should be raceable the next race. One is iffy. Jr. Clark CrkInsp
Ron MOKAN is the 22nd. August. Don't forget about the challenge that has been issued for the Tulsa race 21 August/ Mokan August 22nd. 500$, I repeat 500$ if you win both. Jr. Clark CrkInsp
A few more pic's from the 11th. in Tulsa. 1. 2B sweating in Okla. 2. 2B and Roy asking each other "who left the oven door open" 3. 2B's car resting in the shade.
A few more. 1. If I could just figure out how to do this without gas, I could race more. 2. Don Alexander's GMC. 3. Roy Merritt putting the super tune on.
And more. 1. & 2. hemibakers car (former Red Baron). What's he hiding? 3. L to R, Roy Merritt (6) and Mr. Hueberty (2B) pulling to the line.
In the one photo of 2B and I standing under the tent you will notice that my quilt is lying on the cowl of my race car. I had everyone sign it and I am bringing it to MOKAN so anyone who didn't sign it can. Tulsa was a lot of fun just like it was in the old days. I can't tell you how great this group of guys are. As Todd Martin said the fellowship is just fantastic for a group of racers. My wife is going to the MFA store to buy a cattle prod but we don't have any cattle. She said she was going to assist me at the starting line. Roy
I left out something important in #24. That car was driven by Mr. Robert Tenpenny, crew chief on Todd Martins Pro Mod. Robert is a very focused driver, just ask Bob Hindman as he tried to rattle him on the line to no avail.
have you tried short shifting , that gmc should have lots of torque. Will you make tulsa the fri night before mokan .its possible to get as many as 6 runs in a night if we have enough cars
Don't know what his secrets are but ya might want to pm Toymaker. The tranny in his HA/GR shifts quicker than most automatics and it can't all be Lee's technique.
Until we built the header, the zoomies and big cam killed the torque below 3800 rpm. We tried 2nd gear launches and bogged the engine real bad. We had to launch in 1st and go thru the gears. Since then the header has really picked up the bottom end TQ but we've only made 6 runs, always trying 6000 rpm shifts. The next time we have it out we'll try short shifting it. Good suggestion. We'll take it out this coming Wednesday night and see what happens. I'm not sure if the guys will be at Tulsa, but I doubt I'll make it. I'm going to try real hard to make Mokan though. Ron
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