I finally climbed back in the seat after 5 months off and entered a Summit Super Series event in No Box...a combination of a medical procedure and selling/buying a trailer were the culprit for the time off...Talk about "ring rust"...man, was I nervous my first run...part of those nerves was the fact that I had a brand new set up including a new glide, shifter, shifnoid, two step, transbrake and driveshaft...

Right off the bat I had a trailer issue...I had to have a straight back open trailer made since a dove tail will not go in/out of my driveway...my ramps could only be 5 feet due to the axle position when stored under...so I am backing off the trailer and my buddy stops me...turns out when my slicks got to the bottom of the ramps they lifted the front of the ramps up and one came off completely...yikes!!!...once the slicks were off the ramps he put them back on the trailer and the car came off it OK...

Now it is time for my first time shot...I do a nice burn out and stage at 3000 rpm...I leave off the foot and all is well until I hear that nauseating studder of the rev limiter...crapola!..the tranny finally shifted just as I went to do it manually but this was not good banging away at the 7000 rpm limiter...

I decided to try a 6200 shift chip and set my shift lite for 6600 rpm...this way if it did not shift I could when the lite came on...well, it shifted just fine and went 7.20 with an egg...1.57 short time which I expected with the glide hitting softer...

So now it is time for round one...I catch a late model Mustang dialed 8.40...I dial 7.19 and off we go...I catch him fairly early and do some whomparoonies for the W...then I find out I had a .110 tree to his .076...sheesh...I'd swear I hit my .030 spot...oh well, better to be lucky than good and he ran 8.56 on his 8.40...thank you sir...btw, I killed 8 mph and went 7.214...

Good grief, I almost forgot to tell y'all...as I leave the staging lane to turn into the burnout box, my steering wheel stops turning...I am yanking for all I'm worth and it won't budge...then I see the trans brake cord is hung up on my ignition key...I had to just about bust the wire to get it loose and then had to rush my burnout and staging...what next?...

Round two and I catch a nice older Fox body stang...he dials 7.04 and I drop to 7.17 based on my previous 330' time...off I go and we are both green...he catches me and is playing the finish line...I feel I am dead meat so I run it out the back door...lo and behold my win light comes on...huh?...turns out he treed me good with a .030 to my .049 which felt like a .010 to me...but....he broke out by .005 and I broke out by .002...oops...then I realize what I did...I forgot to turn my engine fans off...if I had I would have broke out by much more than him...just stupid luck...

Somehow I am in round 3...now I line up with a 78 Camaro dialed 7.44...I dial 7.15 since my 330' on my previous run said I would have run a 16...the fans slow me an .08 to a tenth normally...so off we go both green...I am not catching him so I can feel the fork sticking out of me...he busy whomping and playing the stripe so I stay in it and push him for all I can...it's a miracle, my W lights up...WTH?...turns out I had a sparkling .106 tree to his .026...he must have been holding a bunch because he broke out by .003..what a gift that was!...

At this point it is way past luck and into something akin to Zeus reaching down and manipulating the outcome...nonetheless, here come round four and down to 8 cars...I catch a guy I know in a 70 Challenger dialed 8.40...this is a good driver and a solid car...I leave my dial at 7.15 since my 330' was even slightly better again...the weather is not any better but I think all the new parts are beginning to wear in some...

The tree drops and off he goes with me in chase...unfortunately I spun badly on launch and it was over...my short time went from 1.54 to 1.595 and I ran 7.221 out the back...oh well...my burnout was not the best and they had to clean up my lane from a spill so who knows what happened...

I do know it was thrilling to get back in the seat again and shake some of that rust off...I will be moving the t-brake button off the steering wheel and onto the dash..I had a little short in my ignition switch as well but will fix all that this week...I need to get my ramp situation fixed as well...we're having fun now...

Chief Dan Blackcloud reporting...lol...btw, it is 2:40 am so I better hit the sack...

 

Good going. Looks like dialing tight helped you out yesterday.

As for the transbrake button, you might want to consider a handheld button instead of mounting it to the dash. I've had mine mounted to the steering wheel and dash and wasn't happy with either (steering wheel gets tangled up like you said and dash is a far reach and hard to cut a consistent light...for me anyway). Now I have it on a quick disconnect wiring harness where the button is mated to a piece of pvc and then a cord. It is real convenient and comfortable. Check the in car vid below, you can see it in action (this was my first pass in the car on a windy day which is the reason for the death grip).

 

Goes to show what we all know...in this game luck plays a big part!

Always look forward to the write ups.

I miss our Corvette Challenge days when Bob Mancuso used to do good write ups about the evening racing.

 

Thanks for the tip on the button...I have a good spot on the dash but I am a bit hesitant to be that far forward when I let go of the button...I may go to a loose button that I pick up or fab up a bracket on the shifter somewhere...one thing I know is it is coming off the steering wheel...lol...

 

Dino told me to tell you he likes your racing report in fact I like your racing report to went to IRR over the weekend got to see the blueberry in action. I didn't do good over the weekend.

My first race with a Firebird my dial at 8.42 he dial at 8.83 RT 012 his was a 013 he gets me 8.831 I ran a 8.449 I bought back in second race with a Camaro I dial 8.45 to his 6.35 I have a 067 two his 023 ran it out the back door 8.488 to his 6.403 my day was done....... it just wasn't my day. Until the next race.........LOL.

 

^^^ another proof of my point, Rick you ran well and got unlucky by getting even tougher opponents!

Man this is seeming more like gambling every minute! Does skill have anything to do with it?

Lol I know it does but so does luck.

 

We all have those weekends, Rick...I think I have a solution to the button problem...ordered a quarter stick shift **** with the button built in...I plan to move my line lock to that button and then put the t-brake button on the bracket where the line lock used to be just to the right of the shifter...

The ramps are going in this week to have some aluminum plates added to the bottom, fixing that problem...

 

Dan, did you check out these buttons?

http://www.biondoracing.com/product/TERM.html

Great for going off the bottom bulb. Shims adjust your RT.

 

Must of been pretty cold up north....your wearing gloves. Make sure you remember which bulb to go off of when running Pro.

 

Gloves are a safety requirement when going quicker than 10.0. Unlike down south, tracks up here actually have safety requirements

I can loan them to you when you bring that blue beast up north.

 

"Dan, did you check out these buttons?"

I did and decided to go with a basic one for now...when I get used to this one maybe I will upgrade...they are cool...supposedly Apex makes the best adjustable button available...

 

You guys and your buttons.... Girlie stuff...

Left foot brake, right foot gas.... Pretty simple...

 

Says the guy who will only race a Pro Tree

 

You got me....lol...actually I have never left odd the brake in my life...it is allowed in my class but I footfeed...I do want to get decent at it however for pro tree index races they have around here...