I went to the above event at Lakeland today...gates opened at 3 PM and time shots started at 5:30 PM due to a stock/super stock event that ran long...once again the temp was Africa hot at 95* and the humidity was stupid at 90%...

MY first time shot I went 7.08 with a .012 red light...2nd pass in the other lane was 7.11 with a .021 tree...

First round I catch a friend in his plastic fantastic little duece coup...he dialed his 32 at 8.28...I went back to the left lane and dialed 7.08 thinking I might be holding a little given a tiny bit better air...he takes off green and I leave green as well...my car acted nicely but in the traps I did not think I could quite get there to take the stripe...it was close but I did not think so...

I did what you should do when you cannot take the stripe, lifted and fed him the stripe...his win light comes on...drat!...turns out I had a .013 light but he had a .002...sheesh...the MOV for him was .003...I may have just nipped him had I stayed in it but it was too close to call so I was not disappointed...btw, I went 7.10 on my 7.08 dial...

I took the walk of shame and bought back...2nd round I get a guy in a Pontiac Sunbird dialed 7.52...I take the left lane again and dial 7.09 this time...what follows is a comedy of errors that takes some splainin'....

Last week I changed some switches over... I put the shifnoid on a toggle so it will not activate (and get hot) and moved my line lock from a button on the shifter ball to a toggle on the dash...all that button did was leave a dent in my thumb and work half the time...

I was worried my change in routine might bite me and it did... I started off with a friend opening my passenger door so I could get some more air...I was dripping sweat in the car...it felt good...but... he forgot to come back and close it...I was all strapped in and they moved us up in the staging lanes...I drove up with the passenger door wide open, what else could I do...I was getting anxious when he finally saw me and rushed over to close my door just as I reached the head of my staging lane...


With that I flipped up the switch activating the shifnoid...they waved us up and my car acted all goofy and would not move very well...I gave it more and more gas and thought I was broke...crapola!...then I realized I had activated the line lock not the shifnoid...by this time my opponent was doing his burn out...I quickly flipped off the line lock and flipped on the shifnoid...I tired to do a quick burn out but realized I had flipped off the shifnoid instead of flipping on the line lock...good grief!...

Needless to say I staged very quickly and as the tree came down I recall thinking should I change the color of the switch to blue or yellow...this resulted in a .136 light and a sayonara beotch, don't let the door hit you on the way out...sadly my opponent had a .101 tree which normally results in me shredding them...oh well...

All I can do is laugh about this fiasco...just goes to show how important a routine is...I know that seat time will cure this...these were my first two competition passes in a very long time including a new glide, converter and motor...I'll get there...at least my car ran very consistent on a terribly hot, muggy night...

Next stop Orlando on the 14th and then off to Carolina Dragway on the 17th for a 5 day event...

p.s. thanks to Glensgages for his help at the track...he was not the one who left my door open, btw...

 

FD,

I always enjoy your drag stories.

See you at OSW next Saturday.

 

Thanks Mac...I have been thinking about Orlando next Saturday...I have a rain check as you know but may bow out if I can use that check another time...the reason is it only leaves me 2 days to prep for the 5 days of racing in SC...one day if work calls me in on that Monday after....I'll be talking to Wade so we'll see....

 

Your story certainly says a lot about the importance of routine. While I haven't had quite the misfortune you experienced, there's been times I've been all strapped in, window net up, etc., and I forgot to turn on the power in the back. Or...strapped in and I can't reach my helmet and/or gloves in the passenger area.

I can usually recover as long as there are no mishaps after the burnout. On more than one occasion, I forgot to turn on the fuel pump and the motor quits crawling up to stage. If not for the possibility of my opponent going red, I just as soon back out and give him a single because my light is definitely junk.

That first round was a big time bracket race. Definitely can't beat yourself up for that one.

 

Sorry to hear about that, nothing irritates me more than when in later rounds someone thinks they are going to help you out and walk away with a door open, your tire gauge or the other 1,000 things that can happen! My wife is usually in the lanes with me and knows to stay with the car till we pull into the water box, anyone else is just an annoyance. When my window net is up I am in my office ready to work!