That's not to say we didn't have a good time...but it turned out to be more about the food than the racing!
The Nuke and I arrived Friday evening and set up camp. Our good friends the Irvin's (that's Crystal who drives the Camaro, and dad Chuck who drives the El Camino), along with the McIver Motorsports crew, saved us a couple spots way out past the finish line. So, me and the Nuke rolled in, set up, got teched, and popped open a cold one.
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| way out there |
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| serious ribeye |
About that time, word came that Dale Thomas from McIver Motorsports was BUSTED on the side of the highway about 60 miles from the track. That is, the motorhome died, so picture that- motorhome with the trailer and race car behind it- dead on the shoulder. Anyway, Chuck hopped in the one ton dually to go to the rescue. Me and the Nuke popped open another pair of cold ones and got busy on the red meat, BBQ'd bread and some rabbit food. Now that's livin'!
Saturday was qualifying day.
Autohaus Dan in the Flying Pig Racing blue Camaro had himself a couple of pretty good runs in EGas, holding the #1 qualifier spot for round one with an 11.61, and settling for #2 after the second session! Not bad for a Gnomish looking old guy.
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| Gnomish Dan |
Meanwhile, in the Hot Rod class, didn't do much to hang my hat on- red lighting both qualifiers, and running a tire spinning 10.49, and a timing slipped 10.49.
In other words, come race day I had no idea what I would run with the timing corrected and if I hooked up- which I did.
With qualifying in the bag we proceeded to the main event (food). Here's the deal- Chuck Irvin brought out his bitchin' portable pizza maker. No lie. He told us last race that he would be making pizza for everybody and he wasn't kidding!
Chuck, Cindy and crew went to great lengths on this deal. I mean they had about 20 pizza doughs rolled out, a gazzillion toppings all chopped and ready, and the McIver bunch had 700 square feet of shade set up with tables and chairs. So we all got to make our own pizza to suit, slide 'er into the pizza oven and 7 minutes later- presto just like Guido's! I'm talkin' the real deal!
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| Pizza made in the pits! |
So...1st round of Hot Rod I am paired up against Dale Thomas. Yep the very same one of broken motorhome fame and McIver Motorsports affiliation. We knew we were paired so we musta bench raced for 2 hours the night before. At least until everyone got sick of hearing us yammer on about who was gonna kick who's what. So anyway, we went to the line, I cut a decent light (.02 better than his), and flogged 'er downtrack. I knew I hooked up and was on a pass, so when I caught Dale I started to roll off the throttle a little. About that time he hit the brakes (dumped me, in parlance) and left me way out in front wondering what the hell was going on. I gathered my wits and stomped on the brake just before the finish line. But i still went 3/1000ths of a second quicker than my 10.44 dial. And that's all she wrote. BUST. At least we loaded the hot rod on the trailer under it's own power.
Which brings me to the Gnomish Dan and his EGas run. Well sorta run. Well didn't run far. Ya see, Dan, the #2 qualifier who was cutting stellar lights all weekend and in a great position to take this one to the final got it about 300 feet off the starting line when the transmission BUSTED. I was watching from around the finish line. All I know is he looked great on the launch. Then all of the sudden the car went sideways. I could hear the tires screaming all the way down track. I guess the tranny locked up and sent him toward the wall. But Gnomish Dan had the skills and will to bang it back into second gear and free it up to coast down the rest of the track. Day over.
BUST, and BUSTED.
And that, as they say, is racin'!
SLORacer. Out.
