HOLY COW! The first Summit race of our Division 7 season was Saturday. I rolled up to
Auto Club Famoso Raceway at about 8:45 AM, fifteen minutes prior to the gates opening. I couldn't believe the number of racers waiting to get into the place. Prior to opening the gates they stage us in a big field between the track and Famoso Rd. The overflow was clear out onto Famoso Road! I can't remember when I have seen more racers, not to mention high dollar rigs for a sportsman race. This just gets better all the time!
After a short wait the line started to move, and we rolled forward to the greetings of the best darn track operators and staff at any race track anywhere! These guys always greet me with open arms, and make us feel like the most important people at the track. Once inside we picked our favorite pit location, about half track and one row off the fence. This location proved to be of extra benefit because we were directly across from the Andrada/Beasly clan, and their three, count 'em THREE, Wicked Wayz mopars.
Andrada helped save my bacon when we had a major carberator snafu right off the trailer. Me and Dave (the wrench) Lee were all over the primary side of the carberator trying to find the cause of the problem. The thing would start, run ok for a few seconds and then start drowning. A serious fat condition at idle. We had already missed the first time run. I enlisted the help of the Wicked Wayz cheif guru, and he instantly found the problem to be on the secondary side of the carb. Thanks a million for pointing me in the right direction. Once again, drag racers prove to be the most willing to help out a fellow racer at the track. We found a little sliver of rubber lodged in the needle valve, replaced the valve just to be safe, and voila, problem solved
!
We got through tech and made it in time for the last time run. The car went 10.75, although I was a little late on one shift. So with only that one pass to go on, we dialed a 10.74 for the first round of eliminations. My opponent red lit, giving me the opportunity to "run it out the back door" which I did, posting a 10.71. Second round we dialed 10.69 and I was paired with a car dialed at 11.54. I knew I'd be waiting at the tree for almost a second. I expected he'd be leaving about on my top bulb, but when I saw my top bulb on I paid more attention to his leave then mine, and I totally blinked. When I woke up, I was staring at the bottom yellow and it was BIG. Needless to say, I had a really crappy light. He dumped me near the finish line, allowing me to take the stripe first, but there was no way I could have overcome the bad RT. We ran another 10.71. In fact, identical to the thousanth of a second, with MPH identical to the hundreth, compared to our round one run! That, at least, is consistancy!
The day ended earlier than planned, but there is something rewarding about finding that consistancy, especially after the thrash to get the carb right.
Summit race #2 (on Sunday) got called during the first round of elimainations, when a huge cold front moved into the area, beginning with a massive dust storm that dumped all kinds of crud all over the track. The Famoso crew got out there with the sweepers and vacuums, but the wind wasn't about to let up, and they made the right choice to pospone the completion of the race until May 15th. We were in the lanes awaiting our first round, so we'll pick up there on the re-run. Time runs went pretty well. We ran 10.68 on both runs, with only .002 separating them. The wrench has some pics and video from the Saturday, and I'll pop the in here when I get them from him.
Looking forward to the ANRA opener April 17th!
