Super Stock was fun..

Our foray into the world of Super Stock racing was fun, and we learned a lot.

We learned that we are not very far off of being very competitive in Super Stock. But running a Stocker in Super Stock without doing all of the things you can do in Super Stock was fun, but that is all.

In Super Stock, we could have modified our Cylinder heads, used a bigger cam, and used bigger tires. And in spite of not doing any of this, we were still pretty competitive.

We qualified 12th among almost a hundred Super Stockers. That wasn't too bad.

Then, in the first round of Class running against other Super Stockers in our our class (SS/JA) decided to run against the fastest car in our class, and the only one in our class to go faster than we did in qualifying. You might ask why we would, by choice, face the fastest car in our car? The reason is simple: It made no sense to us to run other cars and maybe beat them all, only to run up against this car in the finals and lose then, if we are going to lose to him at all. As it turns out, our little Stocker couldn't beat that particular SS/JA Super Stocker. So we were eliminated from Class.

So, Saturday morning we run in Super Stock Eliminator where we get to dial what we think we can run, and then we runa handicap race against other Super Stockers, we also need to run their "dial". Our first round we won by having the other driver break out or run faster than his dial. That was car a bit slower than ours. And because he got the head start, and couldn't see us coming after him, he kept pushing all the way to the light and went too fast.

Our next run later in the day was against a car far faster than our. He was a high 8 second or low 9 second car, whereas, our best runs have been high 9s and low tens. That meant that we got a head start. And on the previous run, we ran all out and recorded a 10.30 time. So we decided that with the weather change; warmer air, higher humidity, etc, we dialed a 10.33. We got a good start, and were off down the track, the other car then started, got a slightly worse reaction time, but came on like gang busters, and was catching us near the finish line, but this time our car ran faster than we thought it would. We ran a 10.25 which being lower than our dial, means that we were disqualified. Close, but no cigar.

So our next race is next weekend right here in Las Vegas at a Divisional race. We are still deciding whether we will run Stock or Super Stock in that race. But we have a week to think over the pros and cons.

Probably no reports for most of this week since we won't be racing and car is still in the trailer at Las Vegas Speedway. Also, just a note, I will be incommunicado for a while as my cell phone is dead until later in the week when I change hotels and pick up a new charger.

David

In Las Vegas... ready to run Super Stock...

We got into the holding area at the track last night, and came back this AM at 7:30 to get in the gate. We teched in and put our new numbers on the car. I also did something else. Since the car is now showing it's teeth in performance, it seemed like a good idea to give it some actual visible teeth. So I cut vinyl teeth from the edges of our vinyl letter collection, and made stick-on teeth for the lower grill of the car. Now when it does a wheelie, it will really show it's teeth.


I don't think I mentioned it before since I wanted to wait until we actually did something on the track.. And now that we have been #1 Qualifyier at two events in a row, and actually won Stock Eliminator at one of them, but we need a Sponsor. We have a car that is capable of great things, and already done sweet things. So, if you are looking for a winning car to invest your promotional dollars, we need to talk. You can contact me at david@newhemiracing.com And I get back to you with options.

As readers know, we have run in every stock class from A/SA down to F/SA.

But back to Las Vegas where we will run in SS/JA (Super Stock J Automatic).

We have a reason and a plan for this change. I won't share the plan here yet, but if things go as we plan, I will make it all known.

Met another Drag Pak owner today. He hasn't done anything to his Drag Pak yet as he intends to do it this winter, and has his hands full with a 68 Barracuda Hemi in SS/AH right now. And I met a lot of other racers today too.

We run two qualifying runs tomorrow, and we a small adjustment that I am anxious to see if has any effect.

Well, that is about all for today.

Hope to have good news tomorrow, but as you all know by now, good new or not, you can read about it here.

David

Noble Oklahoma, and no rain... lets go racing....

I didn't post yesterday since we didn't run yesterday. The sun actually came out and the ran all of the big money professional classes yesterday. We slept in and ran errands, and finally went to the track since it was rumored that when the pros left their pit spaces on the concrete, sportsman cars (which includes stock) could move up from the mud pits we were in.

We actually were in a pretty good spot at the beginning, before the rain. And even then we were still in pretty good shape. But then.... trucks started swinging wider and wider to make their turns on the road near us, and chewed up our pit something awful. Luckily the car was in the trailer, so once a couple of spots opened up, we were able to move up to park on concrete. We left the car in the trailer, knowing when we came back the next day, we would be in good shape right near the staging area.

So this morning, we got all ready. And then the call came for our one and only qualifying round due to the rain shortened program. Normally, we would two or three opportunities to qualify, so it was do or move along.. And we did it. We ran a time that qualified us number one. That meant that we ran further under our index than anyone else did. And that is the second time that we have done that because we also did it al Maple Grove. So this latest run really proves that Maple Grove was no fluke, and this car runs good.

Oh, and we have now manged to do something that no other Drag Pak has done, (and now that we cant run in anything below C/SA, it cant happen unless Chysler comes wup with new engine combinations) Drag Pak #24 has now entered and run, or at least teched in, to every NHRA stock class from A/SA down to F/SA. Pretty cool accomplishment, I think.

But back to the race at Thunder Valley Raceway.

There was no class race run. Not all races off the opportunity to go heads up against other cars that are in you class. So that meant that our only racing option, oce we qualifyied, was to run in Stock eliminations. In this situation, you put a number on your window and then you try to run a time equal to that number.

We dialed (wrote) a 10.23 on the window. And we ran against an M Stock kcar, that dialed a 12.44. We ran and did just what we hoped, we ran a few 10ths of a second slower than 10.23, and the other ran a number that was not as close to his number as ours was to our number. So, we moved to the second round where we, due to being low qualifier, gave us a bye or uncontested run. So we won that one.... lol

On to the third round. We won. A good close race against topugh competitors, but we won.

On to the fourth round, We won again. How cool is that. We were racing fast cars, and our car was predictable enough and our driver reliable enough to win us into the money. This is a divisional race, and not a National race, so the money isn't much. But winning is sure fun.

And we are in the semi finals against our good friend Jim Marshall in his Corvette. Jim is rock solid driver, and he knows his car really well. He dialed an 11.18 and ran a 11.18 so he won... not so fast... These runs are staggered starts so Jim left first, and was way out there, and Keith reeled him in, and beat him to the finish line, and did run under our dial, so we win...

Now we have a race against a guy who is one win away from a World championship, so he is certainly no slouch. He is a very good driver with a very good car. We definitely had our work cut out for us.

We had a nice burnout. We lined up with a 10.28 dial. He lined with a 10.64 dial (I think) but his was higher than ours. Keith cut a .001 light. And ran right on his dial, 10.28 dial, 10.28 run... That is as close as you get to perfection while not being quite perfect. But you have to agree with me that tha tis some bit of driving. And Keith's experience and accomlisments as a two time World Champion really showed. It was truly a wolrd class performance.

The car perfromed perfectly, doing everything it was was asked to do. And Keith performed even better, taking on some tough competition and showing what he can do with a good car.

We won it all. Thunder Valley Raceway, Lucas Oil Race, and I have the pictures to prove it!

Or if you get the NHRA publication, National Dragster, in a couple of weeks you will see it there.

Well it is getting late,a nd although I am really excited, I will sign off as we are now treking towards Las Vegas for the Nationals.. Wil keep you posted.

David

Noble Oklahoma in the rain...

It rained all day yesterday....

And it is raing all day today so far...

Well, actually we got to the track and there had been no rain for hours... But the access roads through the pit are mired in mud, and some folks apprarently felt that our pit was part of the road, and so they chewed up the area behind our trailer by swinging around too wide to get into the pits there.

Oh well, we met a couple of nice friends, and met someold old ones too. Jim Marshall got in late last night wsa was parked on the return road until things got dried out. Then they put him pitted in spectator parking area since no spectators are expected.

We also met and were invited over to join the Bukners in their motor home, but we chose to go back to the hotel room...It is about 11:30 am and it looks like we are going to have rain for the rest of the day...

But we will see.

David

Now at Thunder Valley Raceway Park

Before I get to our efforts here at Thunder Valley, I thought I would finally share the pictures of the switches I put in to provide more absolute control over the windows. Here are two views of them, and as you can see, they fit in pretty well. And they work great too.

But now for the news folks... here we are at Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Noble Oklahoma..

The weather report for tomorrow is an 80% chance of rain, and we got a few sprinkles late today. As a result of the forecasts, todays Test N Tune runs were all the more important.

We probably could have gotten more runs in, but we really only wanted to know a little bit about the track and weathers, and there is no sense just running and running and beating up the car. So we didn't push real hard.We did get two runs, one pretty good one, considering the air was not good for racing today and another one that was revealing, but did not go as we expected. We made just one change, to replace our exhaust collectors with another set that we thought might add some low end torque... And it took a bit longer than expected, so we were hurrying to get done before the Test N Tune ended.

So , we got the new collectors installed, got in line, and by then had decided that we would run in C/SA here, so while we were waiting in the staging area for our run, we got our car teched in for the race tomorrow. When you tech in, you have to declare your class, and we could have teched it earlier in the day, but we were still deciding what class to run.

After finishing tech, we went up for our run. We had a nice burnout, and I was recording the run. The car staged, and started out, and then, in racing terms, it blew the tires off. In other words, we spun the rear tires big time...

So the question now is what caused us to spin like that when our previous run hooked pretty good? Could our collector change had added so much low end torque that it caused the problem? Or, could it be that we had too much air in our rear tires? We had increased it since our last race as on that track, we felt we needed more air. Or, was it just because we ran in the right lane this time, and had run in the left last time? Who knows? We cant fix the track, so we it doesnt really matter. That is part of racing. And if we have more torque, we find that out tomorrow if we lower the rear tire pressure.

It certainly is possible that it was combination of a slick track, the increased torque, and tire pressure. And it is likely that we too much air pressure since at our last track we were too low so had added some air pressure, and it could be too much. So we will drop a couple pounds of pressure, and then we will just see what happens tomorrow.

David

Some thoughts on some things........

As we prepare for our trip out West, I was looking at our steering wheel, and had a few thoughts...





First, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the stock Challenger/Drag Pak steering wheel. It steers the car, and has a nice feel to it. And there is no air bag in it, so it won't accidentally go off at some inconvenient time. Then, why did we replace ours? Mostly, because of our quest for weight reduction, (which I will talk about shortly), we felt the need to change it, and we could do it, so we did it. Having made the decision which usually consisted of me looking at the wheel, looking at Chris, him nodding his head, and me nodding back in agreement, I went on a mission and found the Longstreet 15 inch aluminum steering wheel.

In addition to the wheel, I also opted for the quick connect/disconnect which, interestingly cost about $50, which was also about the same price as the wheel (or pretty close, I forget now..)

But like everything else, putting on the new steering wheel was a bigger project than it looked like it would be. The wheel connector needed to be welded onto the steering column. So, we could pull the steering column and weld the adapter/connector to it outside of the car, which probably would have been the "right" way to do it. But we had a colorful way of doing things, so we wrapped a welding blanket around the column, also protecting the dash, and Chris welded it right in the car.

Benefits: It looks cool, and it is easily removed for the driver, or the kids we invite to try it out at the track, to get in and out of the car. The kids (and more than a few adults) do love the opportunity to sit in the car for pictures, and I love to see people smile. But when your driver needs to get in and out of the car, especially when the car is in the trailer, removing the wheel sure seems to make it easier.

Now for more of the thoughts, on other things:

Weight reduction.

Some things are obvious, like the stock carpeting. It really doesn't fit anyway, but it is obvious heavy, and should be replaced with lighter material (We used ozite, which weighs little and with scissors, major labor fitting, and cutting, and a lot of carpet tape, it works great)

But there are lots of other items where weight reduction may, or may not be as important as you might think.

If you car is already around 3100 pounds when you get engine, cage, tranny, rear end, (almost done), you probably aren't going to find many more pounds to discard. And, if you do, each pound you lose costs you more in effort or replacement costs. And the truth is that a few pounds aren't all that critical when you have a car with an engine like the new hemis.

In retrospect, we probably obsessed about weight reduction. We discussed it constantly, we made almost every decision with weight reduction in mind. We spent hours and hours, pulling 40+ pounds of sound deadening out of the car. We went with a 904 instead of a 727, partly because we couldn't get a Pro Trans 727 in time, and because the 904 is lighter overall. Same for the rear end, a Mopar 8 3/4 instead of a Dana 60. Gun drilled axles in it too. Nothing but the lightest...

But I recently had a bit of an epiphany about all of this. Although I still believe that we are the lightest Drag Pak out there, I don't think it is by all that much. And I also don't think it is all that big of a deal. I think some of the other Drag paks, have lighter weight cages than we do, or their chassis mods are lighter than ours. (Not that I would change that at all, because I like the safety and security of our cage, and I like our chassis.) But seeing them cross the scales, leads me to believe we are pretty close on weight.

What I am saying here is, do the right things, take out or replace obvious overweight items, and weigh the car ocassionally, but don't obsess over it. Unfortunately, there is no award for the lightest Drag Pak car, or I would still be pulling things out. But we just added some weight, so we don't get more horsepower added to our combo.

With the power these engines can make, "close enough" on the weight, is generally close enough, for now.....

David

16 Volt Battery Questions and Answers

Talking to another Drag Pak owner yesterday, reminded me of one change that we had made to our car, but had not really explained. That change was our change to a 16 Volt battery, system.

Here are some questions that could be asked, and some have been asked, and my responses to why we did what we did:

Why did you replace the 12 Volt system?

We had an occasional issue where the car simply seemed as if it did not have enough juice to turn over the engine. This cost us a couple of races, so we thought 16 Volts might help.

In addition, we have been told that at high rpm, we might flame out, or lose spark due to not enough voltage with a 12 volt system. We never experienced this issue, but it was always in the back of my mind as a possibility. And heaven knows, we didn't need any additional problems..

What did you need to change besides the battery?

We changed the battery and the alternator, and obviously got a new battery charger. Total cost, about $600. You might be able to do it cheaper. We were in a hurry and didn't really shop for price.

What other issues concerned you about the change?

The ECU, (engine computer, starter motor, gauges, lights, electric windows, and anything else electric was a concern. Everything electrical was a concern.

OK then, what about all of those things?

We had 3 different ECU's in the car and they all ran fine with 16 volts. The starter was fine, and spins quicker. No step down circuitry was required for anything, including the lights, gauges, and even the E-Shift computer from Turbo Action. Windows, etc, everything seems to tolerate the 16 Volt system just fine.

Is there any caution you would offer when making this change?

YES! Don't have anything electrical turned on, while you are charging the 16 volt battery. The 16 volt charger actually puts out more than 16 volts, somewhere near 18 volts is the normal charging rate. So, although everything seems to tolerate 16 volts, a surge of 18 volts might not be met with a smile by anything electronic. So make sure your main power is off at the rear bumper, when charging the battery, and it wouldn't hurt to trip the breaker in the trunk while charging, as long as you also remember to reset it before you try to start the car.

Any other things about battery etc?

Yes. This isn't so much advice as it is an awareness comment. Your battery is located in the stock battery location. So, according to NHRA rules, if you run in Stock classes, you don't need a battery box. Most folks will want to put one in because you do have to hold it down,and a box is as good as any way to do it, we installed a battery box. But don't use the lid. Because if you do use one, it is an inconvenience, (taking it off to charge or check, putting it back on, etc.) which, if required by rules would be endured. However, since the box isn't required, neither is the lid. And having a box, doesn't mean you need the lid. So you can leave it off if you want. We do.

So that is pretty much the issue with 16 Volt Battery and charger. A little caution when charging to make sure you don't cook anything, and you are probably good. We use a powermaster 16 volt battery and powermaster 12/16 volt charger.

David

Next is Las Vegas....

Earlier today, just before my bi-weekly chemotherapy, where I again reflected on the fact that life is too short to stand around and watch it go by, I decided that we will continue to "grab life by the horns", and will go to Las Vegas to compete in the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. It wasn't only my decision as I need Keith Lynch and Tonya to also be on board with the decision, and I respect the fact that my schedule is more flexible than theirs. But they agreed that we can, and should do it. So here we go!

It appears that only one other Challenger Drag Pak is registered for the race. And that is too bad, as the challenger Drag Pak cars make for some really interested racing.

They will not be Class racing at the Las Vegas Nationals, so I initially had mixed emotions about it. But I do want to see the car start going deep into the eliminations, and I think we have the car and the driver to do that.

So, we are making a couple of minor tweaks to the car, and will hit the road in time to make it to Las Vegas for what may, or may not be our last race of the year. Getting there on time will be much better than our last attempt to get Las Vegas, where my Son Christopher, and crew mate Mandie Abraham got there a few hours late, after doing all they could to get there on time, but running into all sorts of delays.

Some reflections..

Drag Pak #24 is the most widely known Drag Pak car in existence. This blog, has helped to introduce many drag race fans, and other Drag Pak owners to the issues involved in Building and campaigning a car like the Dodge Challenger Drag Pak car. And although we have not won much yet, (we did get best appearing in Denver, and Qualified first in Maple Grove, and won B/SA class there), our history is unmatched. We were one of the first 8 Drag Pak cars on the track in spite of having number 24, and having not having picked up our car until November of 2009. At that time we were running a 6.1 Hemi. We ran a couple of races in Atlanta Raceway. Then we changed to a 5.7 Hemi engine, and were the first Drag Pak car to run that combination in a Divisional or national event, and we did both before there were any other 5.7's running. We actually ran a World record time of 10.58 in F/SA, but were disqualified when out weight came up a few (I think it was 3) pounds light. In our most recent event at maple Grove Raceway, we were the first 5.7 Drag Pak to make two runs in the 9.8 second range.

My son Christopher, was instrumental is the completion of Drag Pak #24. Together we made the decisions, rarely with disagreements as he always did the homework to be well informed, and was almost always ready to prove. In a few cases we did disagree, and ended up with the most rational choice, and looking back, I see nothing where I could say we blew it. Most of important decisions were "spot on". That doesn't mean that we haven't since changed some things though. It only means that at the time, the decisions we made were not bad decisions.

Chris did all of the painting on the car. The only thing that didn't need painting was the exterior body panels. He painted the trunk interior and engine compartment Stone White to match the exterior. He painted the underside of the car which had 4 different colors of paint in various places, a single medium gray color. That was hard, as we didn't have a life, and Chris did the work on his back with the car on Jack Stands. But the real work went into the interior. We had to mask the roll cage, dash, roof panels, door panels, etc. to paint the floor white. Then we had unmask a lot of that, and mask the floor to paint the roll cage a dark gray color.

It was all a great deal of work, but as the blog shows during those early times, we still had a lot of fun.

We have run in Atlanta, Denver, Norwalk, Indianapolis, National Trailways, and Maple Grove, some of those two, and even three times.

We have already run in more NHRA classes than any other Drag Pak, F/SA, E/SA, D/SA, B/SA, and A/SA. It is entirely possible that before the end of the year, we will add C/SA to take our already impressive collection of classes and complete it A though F.

We have a wide following on Classracer, and this blog, and have established the Drag Pak Registry http://www/dragpakregistry.com to promote the Drag Pak Program, help other Drag Pak owners, and to share our experiences with Drag Pak #24.

We look forward to continuing to provide you with interesting, useful, and sometimes amusing information about our experiences with Drag Pak #24.

If you wish more specific information or have questions about our car, or the Drag Pak Program, feel free to contact me directly: mailto:david@newhemiracing.com

Thanks for your encouragement and interest in this blog!

David Wertman

Top Qualifier at Maple Grove

Well, we have finally done it. We got our car running like we thought it should run.

I would have updated before this, but my wireless Internet system wouldn't charge. Sorry..

We were top qualifier and had top speed at Maple Grove.

But it wasn't without the kind of drama, that we have experienced in the past.

As the car was moving up in the staging lane, and we were next to go into the water pit, the car started acting strange. It choked and coughed and stopped. Keith Start it again, and it stopped. And again it started and immediately stopped. We pushed it over to the side, out of the way of the others running. Keith got out of the car and we removed the hood, (about 14 dzus fasteners later, man are they a pain in the butt, the hood was off) and we were in panic mode. Would this be like so many other times, when we had a chance to do something good, and "something bad" happened? My heart sank, as I helped push the car out of the way as I had done so many times before.

Previously we had been running a certain fuel. But on the advice of our tuner, we changed to a higher octane fuel. Fortunately, when we checked our fuel with NHRA before the run, just to be sure, our concerns were realized as the fuel did not check properly. So that morning we had gone back to the pits, drained the tank, dried it as well as possible, and put in new fuel. But apparently somehwere in that process we had knocked something loose in the line, it got through two 100 micron filers and was clogging the fuel regulator. The fuel pump was off but the gauge on the regulator showed pressure.

With the large screwdriver (used for the hood fasteners) wielded like a club. Keith calmly smacked the regulator a couple of times, and the gauge went to "0". He jumped back into the car, started it, and it ran as before sounding, Whew, Sweet! I then calmly walked over to the NHRA guy putting the cars into the run lanes, and said "We are good to go now, where do you want us?" He pointed to the left lane. Keith pulled up into the left lane, another car was ushered into the right lane and all was good. The race was on!

The car burned out very nicely. And Keith moved it up to the staging lights. He bumped the first light, and the other car bumped his, the other car set the lower staging light, and Keith began to rev and bumped up into the second light. As soon as he hit the staging light, the tree started, one, two three yellows, and Keith was off. The front wheels lifted like I had never seen a Drag Pak lift, and off he went. He red lighted, but since this was a qualifying run, that didn't matter.

And he ran 9.85 run. at Nearly 135 mph. Chris had run our previous best time of 10.58 with a completely different motor at Norwalk.

WOW! We had a good feeling as we knew we had the horsepower to run fast, but this a very special feeling. Finally seeing the car run respectably, and problem free (at least during the run) was truly priceless! And the car really did exceed our expectations.

And also, this run meant was that we won our Class! And it wasn't in F/SA where we first ran early in the the year. Nor was it in E/SA where we ran, when others blew up the index and got horsepower for our combo. It wasn't in D/SA where we ran in Indianapolis and Columbus, and could have won a Class trophy if another Challenger Drag Pak had not also registered in D, when he could have just as easily won class in C. And by beating us so badly, when he could have just nosed past us, he got more horsepower added.

This same Challenger Drag Pak wanted to run in C/SA at Maple Grove, and although he was tested and could have won B/SA, he didn't want to move to B. He wanted to stay in C. So we skipped C/SA, and moved up two more classes to B/SA, where we won Class, and got our second Wally.

Frankly, part of me wanted to go ahead and run in C/SA anyway, as he done to us in Columbus. I took their registering in a class where we were already registered, as personal, and with no regard for the Drag Pak Program. But now, we din't think he could push us around again, and that we would be competitive and maybe get some payback. We certainly aren't afraid of his car now. But rather than take personal revenge, I decided that for the good of the Drag Pak program, we would take B/SA. By taking B/SA, I allowed for the possibility, which became a reality, where Dodge Challenger Drag Pak cars took the Class wins in A/SA, B/SA, and C/SA. Hooray Mopar!

We would not run again until the next morning, so we left the track early, did some shopping, including buying a small portable radio, since tracks broadcasts the announcements over the radio, and most of the time, there is too much noise in the pits to hear what is broadcast over the track speakers, the radio will be very helpful, and relieve a lot of strained listening and stress.

We got to the track early, checked the battery level, and fuel level. We charged the battery a bit, and added some fuel, and then waited for the call to the lanes. Pretty soon, the call came. But we still had a few things to check, and we were cleaning the car which had gotten a bit dirty. When we were finally ready, we went to the staging lanes and waited for our opponent. He was late getting there, as most folks don't like running early, and we certainly understand that. You want the track to be dry, and the first few runs get a track that is bit damper than later on.

People were all saying that the track was between 2 and 6 hundredths slower today. And our own weather equipment showed at least 2 slower. So we dialed 9.88.

Anyway, we got in line with the car we had been matched against, and we waited to be brought up to run.

Finally we were up. We again got the left lane where we had run so well the previous day. And because of yesterday's red light, Keith was ready to wait a bit longer on the last yellow before launching. Staging light one on, staging light two waiting, bump, bum, Keith brought it forward till lit. The other guy was a K/SA which means he would go first while we waited for the tree on our side to come down. One yellow, two yellow three yellows, wait an fraction and then HIT IT!

Darn! Red light again. This time, there was less delay even than yesterday, and although we waited longer this time, we hit the red again. This car is tight and responsive now. It actually laid down the best 60 foot time that I have even seen for a Drag Pak. And since Keith saw the red, he knew we were out, so he went ahead and ran it all out to give us more information about the car. The can ran 8.80, which was even faster than yesterday. Well, so much for slower air, etc. .. We have a real monster on our hands.

What was dissapointing is that based on our oponents reation time, we would have won in a walk, under index, if we hadn't red lighted. But as previously said, we still don't really know the car yet.

We are looking at all of our settings and logs, and see a couple of things that should be useful in the future.

Believe it or not, we actually know that we have more performance to extract from this car with only minor changes.

I can't tell you how nice it is, to finally be in a position to simply get better. As opposed to being in a situation where we spend all of out time changing things to fix problems.

Prior to this race, after putting the motor back into the car, we only made one small chassis/suspension change. Forty minutes of work, and then we put the car into the trailer and headed east towards reading. We did stop at National Trailways, (which was right along the way) where they had a bracket race, we paid $15 to get the car in. We changed out our fuel, from a lower octane fuel to a higher octane fuel, and went out to the track. The starting line was awful, but we weren't so much worried about starting out as seeing what we had on top end, so we ran down the track once, hit the lower 10's, put the car back in to the trailer and continued East towards Reading.

All of our hard work, some obvious and public, and some secret squirrel things, not so obvious, and not at all public, were finally vindicated at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading Pa.

David

Here we go again.....

After being somewhat encouraged in Columbus, (The encouragement came from the fact that we got a little better in each of our runs.) on Wednesday, we took our engine to the Dyno to find out whether our problems (not running as fast as we thought we should) were related to the car in some other way; like the converter, or our transmission gear ratios, rear end, or the engine.

The drive took more than three hours, and we arrived around 8:30 in the morning. This obviously meant that we all got up pretty early. So we started out pretty tired. But we were still pretty excited that we were going to finally get good info about the car.

We got all hooked up on the Dyno, ran the engine and found out that we were simply just not generating the horsepower that we thought we should be generating. We have done the math, and have a pretty good idea of the horsepower being generated by some other drag pak cars. It takes a certain amount of horsepower to move a certain amount of weight. Pretty basic stuff.. And based on our calculations, we knew that we were quite low on horsepower.

Naturally the question now becomes; Why are we low on horsepower? The day ended with no good answer. We tried a coupleof things on the Dyno, including swapping our cam out for a more conservative cam. Still, nothing good.

So, we left the Dyno and went home. We surely were not feeling very good about things. We were physically tired and very dissapointed. Our dreams of a competitive car appeared to be dashed. So the drive back to the shop was pretty quiet.

Back in the shop the next day, the next day, we kept looking for something... anything that might explain our low output. With a weak Dyno report in hand, we imagined some pretty drastic issues. We considered that our heads may not be up to the other cars, or might have an issue that caused crossflow from the intake to exhaust due to the angle cut of the valves. The suggestion was that we try a couple of different heads. And fortunately we do have another set on our spare engine.

After a couple of hours more effort on Thursday, we did find a couple of things that we think might help a little. But we will have to wait until Maple Grove on October 7-10, 2010, to see if we made any difference.

There will be four DP Challengers at Maple Grove, and if things work out as they should, the four Challengers stand a chance of winning class in AA/SA, A/SA, B/SA and C/SA.

Based on the horsepower now factored on our car, we are now a natural "B", so we can run A/B/C. But, unfortunately we can no longer run D, E, or F, where we started with this car/engine combination.

We are now a bit more encouraged as we think that we can now be consistent with the car. How fast we can go is still a wide open question, but at least we think that we can now get down the track.

Keith Lynch, our driver, is also a pretty good mechanic and has put our last two engines together. Working with him has been great, as he knows the right way to put things together. But the engine is only as good as the sum of the parts, and we still really don't know if the combination is as good as what others have. Regardless, as a driver, Keith is a two time World Champion, so we are confident that whatever the car gives him, he will get the most out of it.

David