I left out of Osos at about 9:30 AM Friday with my wingman Barry (not Dan) riding shotgun. We decided to drag the Flying Pig up to the Patch a little earlier...hoping to get a better pit entry number. Last race we thought we got there pretty early and got NUMBER 65, which still put us a little farther down track than we wanted. So this time we were a little surprised when we arrived some 3 hours prior to gates opening- and when Chaplain Matt gave us our pit entry number...guess what - it was NUMBER 65 again! Co-incadinky? I think not! We got in and pitted with Woolly Bear and Gangster Frankster, Kenny the Nuke and Ashley, and Dave, biscuits-and-gravy Jann and Karen and Jenna. So we got our stuff moved into the pits, unloaded, tech'd, and settled in for a relaxing Friday night complete with ribeyes
on the grill! Life is GOOD!
The weather was great on Saturday and we laid down two qualifying passes within 13/1000 of each other and reaction times good enough to qualify #4 for eliminations Sunday. Oh, I hear there were 96 cars in my class (Hot Rod). I didn't count them myself but I'm gonna go with that number. Man that's a boatload of cars. Since 1/2 the field is eliminated each round, it'll take 7 round wins to snag the trophy in this deal.
Sunday eliminations came and the weather was identical to Saturday...Density Altitude and Humidity were staying within a really tight window, so we dialed a 10.55 for round one. I can't really come up with enough words to properly describe the rest of the day...but it was the best day of racing EVER!
We went the distance, grabbed the brass ring, outlasted the field... however you want to say it... TOOK THE TROPHY HOME!
I NEVER CHANGED MY DIAL. NOT ONCE. 10.55 ALL DAY
It went something like this:
Round 1- I treed him with an .012 light and lifted to an easy win at 10.67.
Round 2- I treed him with an .014 light and lifted to an easy win at 10.65.
Round 3- My opponent red lit, and I ran 10.552 on my 10.55 to win.
Round 4- I treed him with an .022 light and lifted to win with a 10.59.
Round 5- A really close double breakout race I took the win with the closer 10.547.
Round 6- My only gift of the day (Bye run to the final).
Round 7- Opponent red lit against my .019 light. I ran a 10.541 to take the trophy!
A couple notes---
- Thanks to Dave, Barry, and Kenny for doing the work to get the car ready, and doing final prep in the lanes. (also Kenny for the jug of fuel ;)
- Thanks to Autohaus Dan for keeping the car tuned, solid, and safe at the Central Coast Autohaus shop.
- Thanks to Woolly Bear and Frank and Ashley for the support and the laughs.
- Thanks to Wayne Rich for coaching me into a winning mentality over the many talks this last year. (wish you coulda been there)
An then there is this: Woolly Bear, "the surfboard guy" as track announcer Mike English calls him, had some really spectacular runs in his bitchin' Nova. He has found great consistency lately and is honing the reaction time. He came out with a great win in round one, and just got nipped in round 2. It's awesome to see more competitive cars in the Flying Pig Racing stable!- or poke I guess.
AND LASTLY- My wing man Barry (not Dan) and I went out for a celebratory lunch on Monday. We ate at one of those places where you order your food at the window and they give you a number to set on your table so they can find you when they bring it out... and the random number the cashier handed us was NUMBER 65! Ya can't make this stuff up. I might call NHRA tomorrow and ask if I can swap out my competition number for number 65!
SLOracer. Out.
