On August 18th 2023, with hurricane Hilary looming out in the Pacific, the Flying Pig Racing bunch headed out to conquer the quarter mile at the ANRA Summer Nationals, held at the famed Famoso Dragstrip.
Myself and the indefatigable Weldo Plasmoski, aka Not Dan!, aka B-Dawg, my Wingman Barry headed out for the patch with high hopes and great expectations. We were sitting tied 4th in HR points after a pretty stout semi-final showing at the spring race and having put some new shocks on the rear of the Pig were pretty sure we solved the wheel hop and spin that plagued us at that last race.
From down the coast Woollybear and Jungle Frank checked in at around 9 AM and they were locked and loaded, and ready to set off too. Woolly was also chasing the dream- tied 4th in D-Gas points. Word was that Zac ("I make bad decisions") and Chuck, the brains of the "Sneaky" operation were rollin' up later that day after Zacster tended to some adulting stuff.
So it was shaping up to be a fine weekend of racing and doing racing things. Our crew was a little light this race- just six of us but we were gonna give it H-E-Double Toothpicks anyway!
Butchie said there was some space for us out by the old oil dump (don't tell the grumpy old man) so we were on a casual roll. Me and B made our customary stop at James Dean's Last Stop aka Blackwell's Corner and topped off the Newmar fuel tank ensuring that we would have plenty of petrol to run the generator 24/7 so we could blast those rooftop air conditioners all weekend. And we did. In fact, we fired 'em up as we were pulling back onto the highway and we rolled into the patch at about 74 degrees, while the outside temp was heading for a slightly muggy 97.
Upon arrival we found Woollybear and Jungle Frank already in set up mode. We slid into the pit beside their pit, and Barry began unloading and setting up while I got the hot dogs on the grill. We had the customary accoutrements- sauerkraut, onions, pickled jalapenos, relish, mustard, mayo. Nice break from the sun- and with full bellies- we finished up the pit-in and soon enough Zacster and Chuck rolled in. By late afternoon we were all tech'd and ready to rock.
Saturday dawned cloudy and muggy, but not too hot. As we got ready for 1st round of qualifying the illustrious "voice of ANRA", Mike English, announced that in an effort to complete the event before the predicted rains hit Sunday, we, the Hot Rod class and Jr. Dragsters would run 1st round of eliminations Saturday afternoon to get a jump on it. So we were looking forward to 2 quick rounds of qualifying followed by some afternoon elims. Cool!
As I prepared for the first hit I spied a barometer of 29.08 on the weather station. That's a little on the low side from what I'm used to seeing out there. That no good Hilary was out there somewhere! We went out and ran a 10.56, with a 60 foot time that was about 5 hundredths better than last race, so I'm thinking the air is pretty bad but the new shocks helped get the 60 foot back where it should be. All good. Woolly went a 10.60 in Hot Rod and then ran a little too quick in D-Gas, while Zac went out and blistered the track with a 9.30 second pass in Open Wheel (the class bottoms out at 10.00) so Zac came back and hid in the trailer (jk) because the hotrod is not cert'd for that ET, nor is he licensed for it. Oops. Gotta slow it down before they kick you out! So, with a little time to kill before Q2 the B-Dawg caught a little nap...
...and then we went out for Q2. That was pretty uneventful- we did our best but no number 1 qualifiers in this group!
I'm not sure anyone was convinced we would finish this race on Sunday, but I'm pretty darn sure NO-ONE thought we'd see what happened on Saturday afternoon! We got called to the lanes for Eliminations Round 1, I guess it must have been around 3 PM. I took a look at the weather station and the density altitude had gone up around 1000 feet, and more disturbing, the barometer was reading 29.01. Now I ain't no meteorologist but I'm pretty sure that's getting into the big time storm type low pressure. I know I've never seen it that low out there. Anyway we took a s.w.a.g. at a dial-in and rolled up to the staging lanes. The joke in the lanes was- everyone had no idea what their car was gonna run in these conditions! So as we sat there ready to roll and immediately after the last Jr. Dragster completed their run, some godforsaken agent of Hilary, sent out to scout for victims, descended on the Patch like a scene out of some low budget end-of-the-world movie! The eastern sky went black, the wind started to howl, and a tumbling wall of ground dust came racing at us intent on destroying everything in its path. It was an absolute traffic jam as a hundred or so hot rods tried to get turned around and headed back to the pits. But the agent of Hilary was too quick! Those that were lucky enough to be in their pit or at least out of their car had an opportunity to grab what they could protect or hang onto their shade canopies, but the rest of us, well we drove back to the pits to find our stuff scattered all over hell's half acre as the wind blew through at - I don't know- maybe 50 - 60 MPH. I know that our EZ-UP which had about 40 Lbs. of sand bags holding it down was wadded up and deposited against the car trailer with a couple broken legs and bent arms. The dust was pelting the skin and covering the racing surface. Then came a brief but powerful burst of rain. Well it was more like mud balls as the rain accumulated all that blowing dirt on its way down and deposited little explosions of mud on everything. And then it was over. Just like that. And when I say it was over I mean the storm was over AND the race weekend was over! The decision was made that we would postpone eliminations until the Friday before the next race, as there was no way the track would be able to be returned to a raceable and safe condition.
So, about half of the racers out there decided they'd load up and get out of dodge before anything else could get them while me and my Wingman decided we'd stay and camp, carry on with the BBQ and worry about travelling tomorrow! About then Some friends from a few pit rows up came by and invited us to a shrimp and crab boil over at their pit in about 2 hours. I said "let me think about it, Yes"!
So me and B, did a little clean-up around the pit, bade farewell to Woollybear, Frankster, Zac and Chuck, took some time to put on our game face, and relaxed in the cooler air left behind by the (here it comes again) "godforsaken agent of Hilary"! And then headed off for the best dang dinner going down that night. Thanks Yvonne, Rodney, Jerimie! And anyone else who was responsible for that incredibly delicious feast!
On Sunday, me and my wingman left the pits which were punctuated by little piles of broken stuff and took the uneventful ride home and wrapped up the weekend Monday with a post race burger and beer! We'll try this again on September 29th!
SLOracer. Out.
