Lost our streak...

Well, just as I expected might happen, we lost our streak of top stock qualifiers.

We ended up qualifying fourth out of a 99 cars.

They are not running class here, so we cant get a class win, but there are more B/SA cars than any other class here, and if we happen to get heads up against another one of the B/SA cars, we can forget the dial and run all out. But we have run two rounds of Stock Eliminator and we have won two rounds.

We hear that Sunday will be pretty rainy, but if not we could finish up the eliminations. If it does get rained out, there will be a makeup race starting from where we end up, some time in the future.

Update you tomorrow.

Until Next Time... Race Safely, and God Bless!
David

More drama....

For the first race in the last 6  that we have competed in, we are not the top stock qualifier.

We still have one qualifying run tomorrow, but with the risk of getting horsepower for going too fast, and who even knows if we can any faster since we had to add so much more weight to our car after the last horsepower hit. Things are looking pretty dim in that category.

But 5 in a row as top stock qualifier is still an awesome streak, and I had already resigned myself to having our streak end. So what the heck! We will get over it.

And we can still look ahead to the stock eliminations racing, and see if we can once again be the last Dodge Challenger standing.

Until Next Time... Race Safely, and God Bless!

David

Let the Drama begin... Will Indy be rained Out?

Well, the weather pattern is certainly ominous...With so much rain coming up from the south west, it is literally going to be a crap shoot as to whether or not Indy is rained out.

Too bad though, as we were hoping the Test and Tune on Thursday would give us a chance to test our new front brakes.

We were having a front end shudder when braking due, we believe, to a warped rotor. But it also could be the OEM front hubs that Dodge uses on the Drag Paks. Both showed some variance with a dial indicator. So, rather than waste time and effort replacing one part at a time, I went all the way and bought everything new for the front braking system.

It is unlikely that we will extend our streak of five straight top stock qualifier at Indy because of the NHRA horsepower penalties that will force us out Stock ultimately, if we keep banging on the top stock qualifier.  So I guess, that we will just have to give someone else a turn at it.


Until next time,

David

A picture and some video from zMax Raceway

In both the picture, which was taken by good friend John Park of New York, and the video which can all be blamed on me, you can see some of the four wide lanes.

The picture is during our run to the semifinals in Stock Eliminator. We ran the A/SA Camaro who dialed the same number as us. And we won. The lead you see here, is the same distance as how we won. What we got him by at the line, we still had at the stripe. No more, no less. Good driving Keith!

Next is our B/SA final against Skipper, which although I missed the end in recording the video (I just get so excited, I forget that I am doing the video. But I will try to get better in the future.) but you can take my word for it, since I have the Wally sitting on my mantle, we really did win.

And how about the burnout? Pretty nice smoke! And watch closely when the car leaves, we carry the front wheels for almost 60 feet. And just in case you are wondering, the voice on the video is me. We can't hear the announcer down there, so I added a quick verbal recap of the events for reference.

Until next time,

David

I have returned...And we were the last Mopar standing again...

ZMax four wide Nationals at Charlotte North Carolina is done. And we are all back home.

It was a bittersweet finish for us.

Once again we made the semifinals at a National event. And once again, we were close but the fates were not on our side. We lost by 6 thousands of a second in double break out. And if we had won, the finals would have put us against another B/SA car heads up, and we could have walked to the finish line and beaten him for the event win. Not that the other B/SA car isn't a fast car. He has won more than his share of races. But heads up, we have a significant edge.

But please don't try to encourage me and say that most people never even make it far. I know that. But we are not most people.And I just don't want o hear that anymore. We are capable of winning it all, and some time soon we will do just that.

Our next race will be in Indianapolis for the Divisional in a couple of weeks.

Now we are working on a small mechanical problem that we have been somewhat ignoring for a while, but it is time to fix it.

I am also finally getting the dimensions to Dennis the Diaperman for the for the engine diaper for our car.

This will be just another innovation that we have implemented on our car, that other Drag Pak owners have not.

And I am seriously thinking about doing a book on Building the Ultimate Dodge Challenger Drag Pak car.  In it, I will expose all of the secret squirrel tips and tricks that have taken us to 5 straight top stock qualifier, two class wins, and one stock eliminator. And our car is more tricked out with little things just make racing easier than anyone else's Drag Pak. The book won't be cheap, but it will also contain a lot of the decision process and other things that Chris and I considered and why some were done, and some were not. The same goes with decisions that Keith and I have made on the car. It will really give people an understanding of how to build a race winning car. And I don't mean a car that is simply so softly factored that it has an inherent advantage, because that was the way the Challengers came. but a car that can still win when the factor advantage is gone.

We are also seriously considering a motor change. So, other classes out there, be afraid. Be very, very afraid. We may be coming to a class near you.
David

Zmax Nationals Update

We got into Charlotte pretty early Tuesday evening.We dropped our trailer in line at the race track, and visited with some friends, making plans to pit together with Jim and Pam Marshall  Then we went to teh hotel we had reservations for Wednesday night and through Saturday. We just thought that might not get in until reall late Tuesday, and it shouldbn't be tough to get a room on Tuesday nightr. WRONG! Our hotel had nothing... Who would have thought?  But we did confirm our reservations for teh rest of teh week, so the trip wasnt wasted. Then,, we drove around, found a another place,  got checked in, and went to sleep.

I for one, was particualry anxious to get the car out of the trailer and onto the track. .

Wednesday, we got the track at around 9:00 am and they weren't scheduled to start parking rigs until 10:00 am, but guess what? At about 9:20, they starte4d parking them. So all was good , not too much waiting. And we got in parked next to Jim and Pam.

We got the car out of the trailer and started checking things out. We wanted to change oile, and a few other things. But basically had done nothing to teh engine since we put it in the car. And since it was running so good, why change anything? We do have a couple of tricks up our sleeves, all legal, if and when we need more speed. But for now, we just will drive it the way it has been. And we DO have four consecutive Top Stock Qualifier perfromances. That is right, at the last four Stock races, Nationals, and Points Races included, we have been Top Stock Qualifier at the last four we have attended. We would not be able to do it again, without getting horsepower.

So we did what we could do to qualify at a safe speed so we didn't get horsepower. And we ran a 10:48 in the quarter mile. And that just didn't feel right. It was a little too slow. So we made a tiny litlle adjustment. And our second run was 10.02, oooooops.... That means horsepower on Monday. But it is Top Stock Qualifier for now. We moved things back to a safe setting, and ran again, with nothing very remarkable. But the first round of Class tomorrow will also count as a qualifying round so, we could get knocked out of Top spot. And now that we have aready done it, and goten the horsepower, it would be be sad not to get it.

So here we are at Thursday, running class. We made another tweak just in case someone ran faster than our qualifier, we could turn up the heat. But we ran before a couple of folks who could get there.... What to do, what to do?

We went out and carcked a 9.97, or wsomething close to that. And as it turns out, that kept us in top Qualifying spot as anothre Challenger hit a 10.16 on a higher index, and would have taken the top spot, if we hadn't bettered our time.

Kind of funny, was the fact that when we picked our class, it was either A, B, or C, and B had the most cars, so we picked B. Then half of the people in B, moved to A, or C.  Wonder why? maybe tehy were afraid of us.... But they have good reason to be afraid of us. We won our class.

Now we need to decide what to dial for eleiminations. But we have some time to think about it, because here it is Saturday morning,and we had quite a bit of rain, so we don't even know if we will run today.

So far, a good trip. We added a Top Stock qualifier to keep our streak alive at FIVE consecutive Top Stock Quailifiers, and we got another Class win. Not bad for a 65 year old car owner, and a 62 year old driver!

David

4 Wide Nationals Apr 14-17, Picture of New Hood

Well, we are registered for the 4 Wide Nationals. This is exciting since we haven't run since last year in Pomona, and I am anxious to see if we still have magic.

Thought I should post a picture of the new hood. So here it is:

You may notice that there are no pins at the middle of the hood on both sides. We just aren't sure that we need these, so the brackets have been made, and we will have the tools to install them in North Carolina if we see too much flex after our first run.

And although the picture could be bigger, but I reduced it so it didn't take all day for you to download it in your browser. It makes it a little tough to see the hood pins.

But all we have to do, is to flip the ring, and pull the pin, eight times (maybe ten times if we install two more), and lift the hood off the. Look Ma, NO TOOLS! Putting the hood back on, is also so much easier than before, that it is a real joy. The pins align it, pop the pins in, flip the ring, and you are done. No more putting several Dzus fasteners in, and discovering that the next one won't go, as somehow it is misaligned. And Oh yeah, you also do need a Dzus tool, and where did you put it last time you used it?

This is nothing but really, really good.

And if you would like to attach Drag Pak hood this way, just send $399.99 to David Wertman at New Hemi Racing, and I will send you the required brackets for the New Hemi Racing Secure your Hood attachment system.

But wait, there is more!

I will also include a set of ten hood pins, at no additional cost.

But wait, there is even more!

You also get graphically illustrated instructions to complete the assembly and attachment of the New Hemi Racing Secure your Hood attachment system at no additional charge.

And to the first 100 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak Owners, I will also offer free shipping!

New Hood not included, but your old hood can easily be modified for the New Hemi Racing Secure your Hood attachment system.

Can you tell I am excited?

God Bless, talk to you after Charlotte!

David

Happy New Hood to me...........

Yes, not only did I pick up the new hood in Detroit, thanks Ma Chrysler!

But that new hood is now in place on the Mega Maniac Drag Pak #24...

Hood pins now secure the hood to the car. No more trying to remember where the Dzus fastener tool was last put. And no more scratching the hood as the fastener tool slips out of the slot, and scars the hood. And with as many fasteners as were used,  you would think that they would hold. But it was the wrong thing used the wrong way. The problem, and the reason our hood went sky flying solo and separate from the car, was that the front dzus fasteners were mounted in plastic that flexes. So as the car hit about 135 mph, the vibrations and air up pressure caused some fasteners to release. Then with some sections of the hood loose and more fasteners releasing, when enough had let go, the rest ripped through the carbon fiber, or in a couple of cases pulled the pop riveted brackets right out of the metal.

But even on its best day, the dzus fasteners were a pain in the backside. Start locking them down, and invariably, there will one or two that just didn't get lined up right, and so you had to undo a few, readjust the hood, and start locking more of them. It was never easy, and neither Chris nor I like them very much.

Now, there are eight pins holding the hood down. And removal of the hood is sooooo easy when necessary. But when the hood needs to be on the car, it stays on the car. And nothing will cause those pins to release, until the pins are pulled. One more thing we need to do, is to wire the pins to the chrome so you don't end up with a pocket full of pins that can get lost. I will post some pictures here, as soon as I find my camera...

One unfortunate side effect to the effort to build the new brackets and attach the hood, is that I caught another cold. I spent most of the month of December, and part of January fighting a cold, only to finally get feeling better. Part of that feeling better came as a result of leaving cold Ohio for a bit. But now I am back, and so is my cold... Don't you just love the weather in the Midwest?

Next race? We are getting ready to go to the ZMax Raceway in Charlotte North Carolina April 13- 17

See you again after Charlotte.......