DRAG RACERS ARE DUMB!

I have been drag racing competitively for some 20 odd years.  And I do mean odd.  I have won some rounds, won some races, and even won a track championship.  So you could say we have enjoyed a certain level of success over the years.  However, after the last race weekend, I have concluded that the only one constant, the only irrefutable fact, the one thing that really bonds us all together is this: Drag racers are dumb!
I mean, beyond the obvious.  Of course some people think it is dumb to spend incalculable amounts of money building, and rebuilding, and rebuilding the same car over and over.  Some people might think it's dumb to spend 4 hours packing, 3 hours hauling the car and trailer (each way), 12 hours of baking on the asphalt in temperatures over 100, just to spend a total of say 60 seconds actually racing over the course of a weekend.  I get that. But I am talking beyond that obvious observation. 

Case in point.  Last race weekend we hauled the stuff out early Saturday morning to take advantage of the Saturday Test and Tune day at Famoso Raceway.  It's a great opportunity to try new stuff, or make adjustments, or as was the case for me, just get some more seat time in preparation for Sunday's Summit Series race.  So we made a jet change on the carburetor, and made the first pass, which was largely uneventful, and yielded a 10.50 ET which was pretty much dead on for the conditions.  I came back to the pits to let the car cool down before making another pass.  Dave "the Wrench" Lee walked over and raised the hood to aid in the airflow.  Pretty standard practice.  Some time later, I went over and lowered the hood, just because it was kind of windy and there was some dust blowing and I didn't want any foreign bodies to drop into the open carb.  So I lowered it and mentioned to the wrench that I closed the hood...

So we sat around and yucked it up while Autohaus Dan fiddled with the bitchin' camaro which he had just brought out to the track for the first time.  But I digress...Anyway after sufficient cooling, yucking, and whatever, I loaded up to make my second T&T pass.  Well about 100 feet out, maybe more, just about the time I pulled second gear, I was suddenly blinded by...What the? And just as quickly the windshield cleared as I saw the fiberglass hood rip off at the hinges and launch airborne at least 20 feet in the air.  Yep, someone forgot to put the hoodpins in!  Drag racers are dumb!  Back in the pits with chunks of fiberglass hanging onto the outstretched hinges, I saw the wrench walking through the pits having retrieved the remainder of the hood from the track.  I never laughed so hard in my life.  Man, drag racers are dumb!

 

Anyway, outside of that, we had a great time!  I was sporting a new 22 ft flagpole on the RV, Dan brought the camaro out for a shakedown run, and we went a couple rounds on Sunday before I red lit by .001 in the 2nd round.

The camaro was looking good, but due to a less than perfect ignition system, Dan couldn't get it to run beyond 4500 RPM, so he made a couple attempts that ended in a sputtering, popping and generally frustrating aborted effort.  But rest assured, he'll be out at next T&T with updated parts and the eye of the tiger look.  Can't wait to see what the "street" car can run!

Oh yeah, did I mention that the air conditioner shroud on the motor home self destructed on the way over?  We rolled in with the shroud flappin' in the breeze on the roof and the wrench went up and ripped it the rest of the way off. (making a list of new parts to order).  Oh, and did I mention we had a flat on the right rear slick after the losing run on Sunday?  Man, drag racers are dumb!  And broke!

SLO Racer. Out.

ANRA Season Opener

The Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig Racing mustang made the season opener of the American Nostalgia Racing Association (ANRA) a launching point for the quest to win the season championship and the coveted "Butchie" statue for 2012!  Anyone that is racing west coast nostalgia classes knows that the Butchie is the hallmark of Nostalgia racing- the "wally" of our world and the Oscar of the go-fast guys.

We headed to Bakersfield on Friday, April 20- me in the new rolling house, Dave "the wrench" Lee in his toy hauler, and Ken "the nuke" Wilson in the hi-tech airstream.  Oh wait, the airstream wasn't road worthy so Ken came on Saturday.  Never mind :)  We were also joined on Saturday by Barry the twin, who was working on his own reaction times!

Anyway, on the track we had more fun than should be legal.  Well, OK, we had a couple decent runs, a whole lot of tire spinning drama and a few lucky breaks.  All of which translated into a 4 round showing in a field of 67 cars.  Bottom line, we qualified 7th based on a .015 reaction time in the second qualifying pass, and we went to the 4th round of eliminations, meaning in this case, that only 5 cars advanced past us.  So, the Flying Pig Mustang is sitting in a tie for 6th after the first race.  It's actually the same place we were in last year after 1, and we parlayed that into a 4th in the overall season standings for 2011.

It was a blast staying at the track versus cutting out to the hotel.  Fireworks in the pits and all.  No, really, someone had some killer fireworks.  Not your run of the mill bottle rockets and safe-n-sane crap, I mean real fireworks. So the free show was pretty cool.
We're looking forward to next race which is a Summit race.  Planning to go some rounds!

Slo Racer. Out.

Putting The Fresh Mill In The Old Pig

The Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig Mustang team gathered at the Autohaus shop on Saturday morning to put the fresh motor in the car.  Ric Fauset of Fauset Racing Engines started by freshening it up with the basics- rings, bearings, etc.  Then he took a stab at a slightly different approach to putting the power to the track.  After observing a whole lotta tire spin last year, Racer Ric talked to me about changing the cam profile, which made a hecka lot sense.  His concept is to soften the launch a little, giving us a better shot at hooking rather than spinning, and then throw a little more power on at the big end.  The result should be as quick if not quicker ETs, with a lot less drama! 

When we pulled the motor at the end of last season, we were looking at some cracked, tweaked and otherwise pitiful motor mounts, so they had to be replaced.  Only thing was, nobody seems to reproduce that exact motor mount.  After searching the web for hours, exhausting the archives of a gazillion message boards and ordering a pair that flat didn't match the old ones, we turned to the one Flying Pig guy who could fabricate our way out of the jam we were in.  Barry.  Formerly known as "the twin", heretofore known as "Where's Weldo"!  Oh yea!  Barry says "give me the old motor mounts and we'll make some trick new all steel pieces.  Then he saw the old ones were broken and bent.  Hmmm.  Well says "Weldo", I'll just make the plate and two end tabs for each side, we'll hang the motor in place, tack the welds, pull them out, complete the welds and BAM, done!  And so the plan was hatched...

So, here's the 557 hangin'                                            

 And here's "Weldo" tacking the tabs...

It all was going to plan...until we broke the tack on one side of each mount when removing them.  So Weldo headed back to his house to finish them on a better welder.  Well...as these things go...the finished pieces were "just a hair" off, so for the next coupla hours, "The Wrench" and "Weldo" filed, grinded, filed, grinded, beat, bent and cussed those motor mounts into place. 

And at last the mill was securely mounted! 

But as time wound down for everybody at FPR (Flying Pig racing), we had to put the big piggy on the back burner until next weekend, when we can finish the plumbing and fire it up.  Looking forward to the 20 minute break-in!  WooHoo!  But until then it will rest in the Autohaus under the watchful eye of Santa.  Ehr, I mean Dan.

Installation to be continued...

Keep the shiny side up.
SLORacer out.

                              

                                                                             

2012 Season Schedule

Well the 2012 season is sneaking up on us quickly!  The Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig racing group is once again prepared to compete in both the Summit racing Series and the ANRA series at auto Club Famoso Raceway this year.  The schedule (so far) looks like this:

March
24 Open Test and Tune - Gates 7am
25 Team Famoso Summit Race - Gates 8am

April

14 Open Test and Tune - Gates 7am
15 Team Famoso Summit Race - Gates 8am

20 ANRA- arrive and pit
21 ANRA- qualifying
22 ANRA-eliminations

28 Open Test and Tune - Gates 7am
29 Team Famoso Summit Race - Gates 8am

May
19 Open Test and Tune - Gates 7am
20 Team Famoso Summit Race - Gates 8am

June
15 ANRA- arrive and pit
16 ANRA- qualifying
17 ANRA-eliminations

August
24 ANRA- arrive and pit
25 ANRA- qualifying
26 ANRA-eliminations

September
22 Team Famoso Summit Race - Gates 8am
23 Team Famoso Summit Race - Gates 8am
26-30 Summit Series ET Finals @ Bakersfield - Gates 7am (More info coming soon)


Racer Ric, Fauset Racing, is freshening the motor and making a slight change to the cam grind.  Based on his observations from last year, watching us spin the tires hard at launch and often down track, he has decided to try softening the launch and give us a little more power on the top end.  Theory is that it should improve consistency and reduce the tire spin.  I'm looking forward to that!

As far as Flying Pig race team is concerned, we'll be working with the same crew- Dave "the wrench" Lee will be handling fuel and tire pressures, as well as keeping the driver company in the lanes and turning wrenches under the direction of Dan.  Autohaus Dan will be overseeing mechanicals both at the Autohaus shop and at the track, and Ken "the nuke" Wilson will handle photography. In addition to them,  Barry "the twin" will be assuming all other duties (like making sure the beer is cold, and the dinner menu is satisfactory), oh yeah, and making sure Dan gets to the hotel safely. :)

As for me, I'll be staying at the track this year after picking up an RV during the off season!  I am stoked to be able to spend the nights at the track and not do the hotel commute thing!  This way I can devote more time to keeping the wrench focused on racing!  just kidding Dave.  Not.

That's it for now.
Remember to "keep the shiny side up"!
SLORacer out.

Flying Pig finishes 4th in ANRA points

The 2011 ANRA season came to a close on October 9th, with the Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig Mustang finishing a respectable 4th in the season points total.  While it wasn't the finish we were looking for, you have to look back at the 2011 season as being very successful.  Given that there were as many as 80 cars registered in the Hot Rod class, and about 45 of them made every event, we feel pretty good about a 4th place finish!  I'm confident that next year we will improve on that!

Since we are now in the "off season", there are lots of things going on away from the track.  Last weekend we had the car over at the Central Coast Autohaus shop and pulled the motor for some off season freshening.  Racer Ric from Fauset Racing will be going through the 557 cubic inch mill, doing the necessary maintenance and looking at upgrading to roller lifters and a slightly different cam grind.  According to Ric, we can soften the launch a little and pick up a little more power and MPH down track.  That should help with consistency because we spent much of the season spinning the tires off the line.

We're also toying with fielding a second car!  With any luck, there could be a second Central Coast Autohaus car running in the Sportsman class at ANRA and Summit next year.  Stay tuned!

SLOracer. Out.

Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig Heads for the final ANRA race in 2nd!

The Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig Mustang is heading into the ANRA season finale on October 7th - 9th in second place, just 2 rounds behind the leader!  That means we need to "go hunting" for the leader in the early rounds, take him out, and then go on to win the race and the season championship!  I don't think that we're setting our sights too high!  This is totally do-able.  This season has been the best the Flying Pig has experienced in a long time- a credit to the whole Flying Pig Racing team!  Dan (Central Coast Autohaus) has provided the mechanical confidence I needed to allow me to focus on driving.  Dan gives the car the once over at the Autohaus shop before each race, and keeps his trained eye on the mechanicals at the track.  Dave "the wrench" Lee, who you can always spot standing beside the car at the starting line, manages the fuel and tire pressures in the pits and all the way through the staging lanes, and right up to the burn out box.  Dave, Dan, and I noodle last minute changes to our dial in right up to the last seconds before each run, and we've been pretty much dead on most of the year. Ken "the nuke" Wilson has been there to make the early trip in to the track on Friday nights, get the Pig off the trailer and get us through tech and ready for Saturday qualifying.  All I have to do is show up and drive!

We ran the ANRA Summer Nationals on August 27-28th and once again made it to the 4th round, racking up enough points to keep us just 20 points (two rounds) back of the leader.  Consistancy has been our key this year.  No other car has gone as far in every one of the ANRA events.  We haven't nailed a win yet, but we just might do that when we return to Famoso Raceway on October 7th for the season ending event.   We just need to go 3 rounds farther than the current points leader to secure the season championship.  That's why we do this! 

Oh yeah, in addition to getting me there on Friday nights, and cooking a mean linguica and egg breakfast, the nuke also shoots the video. 

Check out the August ANRA runs at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRAf4CXkSGQ  Enjoy!

SLO Racer. Out.

Flying Pig Makes Final Round at Summit #3

Talk about having fun and going rounds!  The Central Coast Autohaus Flying Pig Racing team had a huge presence at Bakersfeild's Auto Club Famoso Raceway on the weekend of April 30 - May 1.  We were celebrating my birhtday at the track, and we had quite the crew with us.  In addition to Dave "the wrench" Lee and Autohaus Dan, we had Sean, Betche and Lucas from the "friday nite live" crowd, as well as "Autohaus Jamie", and the drivers wife!

Sean, one of the best chefs on Marianela Lane, brought along a boatload of Fillet Mignon, not to mention a concoction he called an "appetizer" that consisted of a sirloin roast butterflied and stuffed with all kinds of good stuff, like garlic and basil, and marinated til it was melt in you mouth tender.  He threw the thing on the BBQ for a while and we started on the adult beverages.  The next couple hours were spent feasting on the best race track food ever.  This is going in the cookbook.  But that's another story.

On the track, we had the best day in, well, a hecka long time.  We made it to our first final round in a very long while, (longer than I care to remember) and although we came up a little short, it was a great day of racing and a nice jump in the points.  In fact it moved us up to #4 in the Summit Pro points for the year. And the car ran really consistantly. That's just so important.  Thanks to Dan and Dave, we have gotten much, much better at keeping the car in a really narrow performance window. That means that we're not changing the set up of the car at all, and all we have to do is follow the weather changes carefully and we can get a lot closer on predicting what the car will run.  We made 8 passes (2 time runs and 6 rounds of eliminations) and 6 of the 8 were within 15/thousands of a second.  That is consistency!!  That combined with a series of pretty competitive reaction times by the driver, and we strung together 5 round wins before facing Mark Kirby in the Grape Ape for the final.  Mark and I had very similar reaction times and we should have been in for a close race, but my hot rod got a little squirelly at half track and I had to pedal a little.  As a result the best we could post was a 10.62 on a 10.45 dial in.  Just way too far off the number to get a win.  But, as they say, a good time was had by all!  And I can't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday!  What a blast!

May 1st brought us to Summit Race #4, and coming off yesterday's final round appearance we had big plans for another stellar day. But that was not to be.  I went out in the first round, when my opponent absolutely chopped down the tree.  I mean a PERFECT .000 reaction time.  Another way of reading that is 1/1000 of a second from a red light (foul)!  It doesn't happen too often in competition but every once in a while someone will rip off a perfect reaction time, and it just happened I was in the other lane.  I ran a 10.53 on my 10.50 dial which is not too bad, but my .086 light left me with over 8/100 of a second to make up.  That just doesn't happen.  So we rolled out of there on Sunday having made a significant jump in points, and having proven we can race with anyone in this series.  Looking forward to climbing further up the points ladder June 11/12!

SLOracer. Out.