ANRA Season Opener

I have really been remiss in not posting sooner after the April 17th/18th ANRA season opener at Auto club Famoso Raceway. This was my first foray into the ANRA events, and I have to say it was a ball. They really put on a first class event that features some of the best nostalgia cars around. From the Nostalgia Eliminator classes through the Gas classes and Hot Rod, Sportsman and Junior Dragster, there were hundreds of racers. They really packed a lot into two days. Here's a link to a little video montage. Credit to Larry Luna, Quarter Mile Productions.


Dave (the wrench) Lee was otherwise engaged that weekend so I headed up to Famoso on Friday to get an early start on setting up in the pits. Good thing I did, because I would say that more than 75% of the teams did the same. It was pretty busy. I followed a couple old acquaintances into the pits and ended up having a great weekend hanging with a couple heavy hitters in the C-Gas class, namely Mike O'Neil and Mark Capps. It was cool watching them sneak up on the 9.60 index and go rounds. Mark runner upped to pick up right where he left off last season.

I don't know where he gets his energy- He runs the Mustang Ranch sales, parts, and restoration business, races his hot rod in C/Gas, and is the head wrench and No.1 fan of daughter Sabrina's cool pink-wheeled Jr. Dragster.








Here's Mark's C/Gas '67 Mustang



And Sabrina's Jr. Dragster

As for Flying Pig Racing, well I dialed in at 10.70, and red lit in the first round. To add insult to injury, I ran 10.709, just 9/1000ths off my dial. It usually works that way. That's drag racin'! When I got home I immediately hit the practice tree. I swear I'm gonna wear that thing out between now and the next race. No more red lights!
Here's a look over my hood scoop in the staging lanes...

I can't wait to get back out there and avenge my bad lights and go some rounds!

Lastly, I must send a big thanks to Mike and Allene, Mark, Diana and Sabrina, and Garret and the rest of the "family" for your help over the course of the weekend. You guys are awesome!

Summit Race #1

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!

2 WEEKS UNTIL SUMMIT RACE

Why do I always wait until the last minute? It's just two weeks until the first Summit race at Famoso , and I decided to move the Flying Pig out of the current storage joint. It's just gotten too expensive, not to mention the storage facility was 130 miles from home, and 90 miles from my "home track"! Don't ask.

Things went nearly perfecty. Well, until we started the pig, and fuel came sqirting off the steel braided lines like they were used for pin cushions in the off season. Maybe Dave punched holes in them so he could prove his wrenching skills. What the?! So we went over the fittings, checking everything for tight...and bottom line...the fuel lines need to be replaced. But not today. So that means we get to use the old winch to run the pig up onto the trailer. But first let's re-wire that water pump and fan onto two separate relays to eliminate the pesky fuse blowing that plagued us at the end of last season. Untangle a spaghetti of wires and guess what- they already ARE on separate relays. Crap. So why is the water pump blowing 30 amp fuses? Time for a new pump. I don't know why we didn't do all this a month ago...

On a good note, I got to tow with the new Flex for the first time. It was outstanding. I was really impressed with the power and the gas mileage. Remember the Flex is just a V6, albeit a twin turbo V6. This thing is unbelievable. It hauled my 4000 +/- LBS with no problem, and got 16.5 MPG while doing it. While cruising at 60MPH it was only taching 1600 RPM. The Flex never ceases to surprise me!


Anyway, after long day on Saturday, including about 300 miles of driving, the flying pig is now located just down the street, and I can spend the next two weeks (really) getting ready for that first race. We have Summit Race #1 and #2 on the 10th and 11th of April, followed by ANRA #1 on April 17 and 18th. I am looking forward to putting this "off season" behind me and getting back to competition. It's a lot less stressful than getting ready! :)

Day Tripping 2

This is what spring looks like in eastern San Luis Obispo County! That's what I've been hearing, but had never experienced first hand. Until Friday, that is.

With the temperatures creeping into the mid and even high 70's and nothing but blue sky above, we decided that Friday would be the perfect time to head on out to the eastern edge of SLO county and onto the Carrizo Plain to see if this "wildflower thing" is all it's cracked up to be. I'm here to tell you that it is!

My wife and I packed a lunch, loaded up the dogs, and set out to see if we could find something really spectacular. Without much of a plan, and no map, but with the "local wisdom" that says "go to Shell Creek Road and turn left", we struck out at 11:00 AM heading through the quaint and charming Santa Margarita, and then continuing east on CA HWY 58. A mile out of Santa Margarita the road becomes a winding 2 lane that takes you through some beautiful "horse country", spotted with the occassional ranch house and country estate. The hillsides are a lush green, and already we begin to see large swaths of yellow painted hills, and clusters of poppys along the roadside. We pass the occassional patches of blue and lavender flowers, mostly on the flatter meadowlike stretches along the highway.

At Shell Creek Road we take the left turn and immediately are greeted by a meandering country road, following a running stream, and flanked by vibrantly colored hills on both sides. We pulled off on a seldom used dirt lane where we walked the dogs and ate our picnic lunch.

It was so quiet out there that literally the only thing we could hear was our own breathing, and the occasional hum of an insect or bee flying by!

After basking in the sun for a while we loaded up and headed furhter east on HWY 58 to the Carrizo Plain. I mean this is some spectacular, untouched, expanse of natural beauty. We took the drive out a ways, driving through the largely deserted town of California Valley, and as far as the entrance to Carrizo Plains National Monument. At times we actually stopped the car in the middle of the road, rolled down the windows and shut off the engine to listen to the complete silence. It was truly a remarkable place! And a remarkable day trip!

2010 March Meet Revisited

The 2010 March Meet concluded on Monday. What a great time to take a few minutes to revisit/relive the event! I have to tell you, I didn't actually make it to Bakersfield to witness or participate. I was ambivilent about the weather, and unsure I wanted to make the drive (5 hour round trip) with the threat of rain looming. But then, as the weather began to look like it would cooperate, I found myself sitting around the house feeling like I was really missing out! I mean this was one of the biggest March Meets since it fell off of the NHRA premier series and came back as a Nostalgia Race. Grand Marshall - John Force! Among the funny car drivers - Gary Denshem, Robert Hight, Ron Capps, and the relative newcommer (and event winner) Lea Pruett-LeDuc! Plus 13 other classes, and a car show like you can't believe.



The race gods smiled on me when I went to Famoso Raceway's facebook page and found a link to Bangshift.com ! These guys are AWESOME! They were live streaming video and audio of the whole event. It was the next best thing to being there. In fact if I just could have opened a can of nitro and taken an occassional whif...



The pics below are "borrowed" from their site. I recommend you go here and have a look. You'll find replays of the event and hundreds of photos. You can relive the whole thing over and over! See ya there!

Nationwide- In Vegas!!! by Dave Lee

It was a cool and damp morning in Vegas today. But the racing Gods decided to look favorably on the Nationwide race. After about an hour and a half rain delay and the Jet Dryers working hard to dry off the track, the race was under way.

Now I had just the day before placed a small wager on one #33 Kevin Harvick to win this race. but at about the mid point of the race, and with some pretty poor work from his pit crew, my man Kevin was close to mid pack and with the sky's threatening to unload on the track, I had pretty much given up any hopes of cashing in on that wager. But with a caution for rain and some intense driving by Kevin he over came the bad pit stops and surfaced as the winner! Alas, poor Miss Danica, didn't far as well. bring out one of the cautions of the race and totalling her car.
Tomorrow! The Cup Race! I will report on that after the race.
Dave

Can't Wait for March!

It's February 26th, and looking at the calendar there are some really cool things going on in the next 2 weeks! One, my head wrench is in Las Vegas for the NASCAR race. He's camped in the infield with a great look at turn 4. I'm checking to see if he has his laptop with him in which case I'll have him guest blog from the track! Wow, that was quick. Just got his txt reply- "yes"! So we'll get that set up!

Two, the March Meet at Auto Club Famoso is just a week away. There will be a busy Test-N-Tune session this weekend in preparation (weather permitting). The March Meet is a huge draw on it's own, but to make this year's running even more special, the grand marshall will be John Force!

And three, at the NHRA Gatornationals March 12-14, Doug Kalitta will be sporting a Coors Extra Gold paint scheme in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Darrel Gwynn's 1990 Gators victory.


So for the next 2 weeks or so I am going to be following these stories and hopefully bringing some great pics and stories. Stay tuned!