Fuzzy Dice

not exactly a bonfire, more like rubbing two sticks together...lol...

I raced the night of fire at Orlando this weekend...I have only made 4 passes in my car since May but I need to shake the rust off for next week...

I made four time shots yesterday and the car ran well...the driver, not so much...car went 6.76, 6.74, 6.71 and 6.68 last night in cool (for us) weather of 71*...the high temp yesterday was 84*....my lights stunk....004 pink and then a 74, 56 and 48 green...vewy, vewy rusty porky...

We went into elims this morning at 11AM with no time shots at all...I caught a tough customer in his 72 Dart dialed 6.49...I put 6.72 on my window kinda guessing...I left green and so did he...at the stripe I tightened it up a bit with one good whomp...he was dead 9 and I was dead 6...I got him on the tree with a 21 to his 49 light...it was a good start for me...

Round two was 70 minutes later...I never heard them call us up but had enough time to get to the end of the line...maybe!...I jumped in my car and...ruh roh...I had left my fans and water pump on the entire 70 minutes...the car would hardly turn over...plus it was dead cold...what kind of idiot does this?...my kind, to be sure...I finally got her started and limped up to staging...I could not run anything to keep my coolant temps steady for fear of not being able to start the car again..

I lined up with an old timer who is very good...he is in his 68 Cuda he's been racing for over 35 years...he puts 6.79 on his glass and I dial up to 6.73 knowing my car will be a bit sluggish with a weak battery...this is not the first time I have done this.....sigh...we both leave green and I leave almost at the same time as him...this is good since he should have left a bit ahead of me...but wait!...I am having a tough time catching him...he leads me through the stripe by .006...I ran a 6.78 with my right foot touching the radiator...qwap!...I had him on the tree by just over 3 hun...

Nothing pizzes me off more than giving away a race I should have won easily...no one to blame but me though...this will be the last time this happens...I try to leave my fans and water pump on when I get back to the pits to cool everything off for the next round...sometimes I forget to shut them off and this happens...from now on I turn everything off when I get back from a run and will worry about cooling down when they call me up for next round..

At least I got some seat time for this coming week...I will be heading up to Greensboro NC on thanksgiving morning for the Fall Footbrake Frenzy at Piedmont...5K to win on friday and sunday and 20K to win on saturday...it will be live streamed on MMTV for those wanting to see me and my Monte Zooma doing battle....I am searching for long johns since the highs will be 48 to 55 and lows in the 30's...to me that is arctic conditions...y'all can laugh if you want...lol...my list of winter clothes consists of two sweatshirts and some sweatpants...oh well...

kazman

Everything is important. There are no little things. Even the smallest detail can cause a loss. I have a end of run routine on cooling the car. I sit in the car and let the fans and water pump run until temp drops. Turn everything off and get out of the car. Sometimes it seems that I'm anti social sitting in the car.

Dan, thank you for the courage to post things like they are. Stuff sounds so so simple but when your racing you have 10,000 variables running through your head. Bracket racing ain't east. Thanks you for your post.

Fuzzy Dice

Hey Kaz...my routine is good except for this one area...it will not be an issue any more...lol...I used to do what you do but when the weather is warm I roast like a christmas turkey in the car...

Anyway, I hope to see you around the water cooler one of these days...you going up to the new years race at gainesville?...

kazman

I haven't been able to get the car out again. IRR just reopened after Irma. My only tow vehicle is at Camping World having the generator repaired. Who knows how long that will take.

I need to get the car out a few times to get a handle on driving. My reaction was .020 and need to do a bit better aka trans brake or tire pressure. I couldn't footbrake higher that 1800 rmp, I need to work out the shift points and get some data to drop spot.

So for now the car is sleeping in the garage.

C5 Pete

Good luck this weekend and have a safe trip!