The Division 7, Summit Series ET Finals are Thur., Fri., Sat., & Sun. (10/12 thru 10/15). at Famoso Raceway outside of Bakersfield. I will be running the Pro category with my '03 coupe, as part of the team from Los angeles county Raceway (LACR). Thursday is a day of test-n-tune and gamblers race...gates open at 7AM, racing starts at 9.

This is my first time at the ET Finals...should be fun if the weather holds out Current forecast is Sunny with high of 82 Thursday, isolated thunderstorms Friday(30%), with high of 79, then 60% chance of showers on Saturday with a high of 70, then Sunny with high of 77 on Sunday. It should be interesting trying to dial with the interesting weather combinations and limited time shots...should have invested in a weather station

Depending on weather...two time shots on all of Friday, one time shot on Saturday, then start eliminations Sat. afternoon. I hope to still be in the running on Sunday, but I'll take it one round at a time...stay tuned!

-dave

 

Best advice you could've been-given:
don't be intimidated by being a first-timer ('they' don't know how-good you ARE!!!!! ).


Pay-attention to what is going-on around you with fellow-racers:
look-at this weekend as an 'opportunity'.


Just remember your opponents are having to deal with these "interesting weather combinations and limited time shots" , too:
throw as good a package as you can at them, run your race, hope for the best, and live with the outcome.


Will expect a FULL and DETAILED debriefing upon your return from Famoso!

 

Darn! I knew I forgot something. This, unfortunately, will be the third in a row I've missed, Phoenix and two at Bakersfield. I made the previous six consecutive Division 7 Finals. My sig pic is from the Finals in Tucson in 2003. Good luck and have a ball.

RACE ON!!!

 

Good luck Dave I look forward to your report as well. If they're anything like the Div 1 finals, you'll have a great time i'm sure.

 

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and advice.

I'm not intimidated by any other drivers...when I race, I'm racing myself...be aware of opponents dial, cut a light, run the number, be aware of where my opponent is so that I can try to avoid any unnecesary breakout losses...see>> Never take the stripe by more than you need to. I don't listen to the track radio station, so as to not change my outlook at the opponent..."track champ of so-and-so track in the tower side..." Of course I still need practice ocassionally on some of my own rules.

I'll post some interm details in next post.

-dave

 

..... don't we all.....

Kick-azz, and take-names!

 

Thursday's test-n-tune went well. Got two time shots with less than desirable R/T's...lets just say they were not R/Ts that would get me very far into the rounds... The car ran pretty good, 13.033@106 in the first and 12.99@108 in the second about four hours after the first. Gamblers bracket first round gave me a third run for the day, in the early evening...getting cooler. Dialed a 12.95, 0.073 R/T, ran 13.028@106 on the brakes as my opponent was in trail slightly and didn't want to chance the breakout. Won that round on my opponents 0.1xx R/T. Lots of redlights in the first round of gamblers, but also plenty of cars running right on their dials.

Scheduled to continue gamblers eliminations this morning but...the dreaded "R" word, and since I'm posting this now, that means that I am not at the track. Rained out completely for today(Friday)!

Got to the track today at about 6:45AM, with rain having started about 10 miles from the track. I rained pretty good for a few hours, with a pretty good lighting and thunder show going on. Rain stopped and sky was cloudy but looked cooperative...track crew worked very hard to get the track dried by about 1:00 PM. Started running the Sportsman category time trial for the day, and then close lightning storm forced an additional pause in the action so as not to allow any of the track workers to get struck by lightning. Then rain again, and track cancelled for the day by about 3:30PM. Good call, as they wouldn't have been able to dry the track out again, and the sky looked like more was on the way.

Track announced that the gamblers race was over...would not be enough time to run that and finish the regular event...assuming that the weather cooperates Saturday & Sunday. So after one round of gamblers, the money will be split among the first round winners, after the track takes their cut, of course.

Saturday schedule is to get one time shot, run the race of track champions and get ET Finals first round of eliminations completed. Hope the weather is good to us Saturday & Sunday.

More updates as time permits...hopefully not until Monday...

-dave

 

Just checked weather...30% chance AM showers tomorrow, sunny for Sunday

 

..... I'd think that come Monday, you'll still be busy eating steak & polishing that trophy.....

 

Also got a check engine light on the way to the hotel from the track. Not sure what the latest codes were to be set...don't have any of my manuals with me to tell what they are either.

Pulled all codes:

1 PCM code: P1416HC

3 IAC codes: B0516H, B0521H, & U1160H

4 AO LDCM codes: B2282H, B2284H, U1064H, & U1016H

4 AI RDCM codes: B2283H, B2285H, U1064H, & U1016H

2 BO RFA codes: C2110HC & C2115HC

Not sure which was last set, as I never cleared them last time I looked at them. I cleared all this time and will go for a drive to see if any reset.

Expect that the PCM code set the check engine light, and some of the others are due to the active handling system not liking my 275R17 draq radials in back with 275R17 Kumhos up front.

 

Hey Dave congrats on making the LACR team.

Sorry rained hurt ya. Best of luck this weekend.

PS. I don't recall you getting a C5?

 

It's the 2003 C5 that my wife was racing...see the pic in my sig. She's losing interest in drag racing.

 

Well, Saturday was decent weather...no rain.

Got to the track at 7:00AM, and got my only time shot at 4:30PM.

R/T of 0.002, 13.059@107.13... way too close on the tree...
Entered in the run for the money...best package wins the pot of money, but I had dialed 12.95, so I ended up wasting the good R/T by being 0.109 off my dial... Poor package of 0.111.

Best package was an 0.017, worth $1020.

Today's schedule is First round of Pro at 8:00AM

Updates tomorrow.

-dave

 

Good Luck Dave!

PS the 1416 code is an emissions thing. Ours did it a couple of months ago. I ran some techron through it and it did not come back. The other codes are tire sensors, and also from when your battery died.

 

Here's my elimination round results...

I went out in the first round... I was dialed at 12.99 and cut a 0.003 RED bulb and I didn't feel that I was squeezing the tree...

...my opponent was dialed at 10.83 and cut a 0.114 light, so I presented him with a gift of a pass into round two, without having to race for it

Well, I'll just have to try harder next year...and two more West Coast Corvette Challenge events left...
next one is Saturday, October 21st

 

Ya came darn-near close to handing-him-his-head, instead of presenting him with a gift, missing by just .003-seconds.


very few of us qualified for any of the 7 Divisional Bracket Finals, and that is an accomplishment.


Congrats on a fine season on NHRA points-racing, and you still have 2 chances during the remaining WCCC-events!

 

Thanks for the info Gary. I reset all the codes, and the car ran okay, but it seemed to run okay even when the codes were set and the check engine light was on.

It was the driver that needed help on Sunday morning in eliminations

-dave

 

Thanks Glen. I knew I was way to close to going RED on my last time shot with a 0.002 on the green side, and thought I adjusted properly for eliminations...guess not.

Now I just accept that I wasn't the only one that lost the first round...there had to be at least 150 others.
Personal goal is not to let it happen again next year.

 

 

I left shortly after my first round exit Sunday morning, and just heard that one of our Team LACR drivers won the high school bracket. He also drove in the Pro bracket this year, but ran this year in the high school division.

From the NHRA website (click link for more details):

Los Angeles County Raceway’s Thomas Redding Jr. rounded out the NHRA Pacific Division Summit winner’s with a victory in High School over Matt Hawk. Redding drove his ’69 Nova to a 12.440 second run at 105.59 mph.

Congrats Tom! Great Job

-dave