I raced the event last weekend at Rockingham, N.C....or should I say I tried to....from the first pass I had problems...I could not get the car to hook up...my buddy and I doubled in my car and we both went up in smoke...we made 9 passes on Friday and hooked once...there were 5 races in three days...he went out in the first round of the second race on Friday going 6.78 on a 6.56 dial...I went out in the third round by simply leaving while I was still in...first round I won on a red light...I went 6.82 on a 6.58 dial but had a .002 light...that got me the bye in round two...I spun on my bye to go 6.84...beating on the motor for no reason was stupid so we got some refund and left at that point...

After some dinner and a nights sleep we took off on Saturday morning for home...we stopped for lunch in S.C....my buddy checked the shock settings and, lo and behold, they were set on the absolute softest setting...as in 0...as in same as no shocks at all...this car was a proven winner for years so we never paid mind to the four link set up...we got excited thinking we found the answer...it so happened we were 40 miles from Savannah River Dragway at that point and they were having an event...we hustled over there and entered...we set the shocks stiffer and off he went...we did not double since we had no idea if it would work....

Well, first time shot it went up in smoke again...arrrrrgh....he took air out of the rear tires and softened the shocks a couple of clicks...damn if it did not hook on the second time shot and went 6.500....yippee!...first round of elims it went up in smoke worse than ever...qwap!!!!...he made it to 7 cars holding 30 numbers but a lot of luck was involved...sadly he averaged 11 on the tree for 6 passes...the car would launch and then spin for about 80 feet and then hook and go...sheesh...that made a total of 15 passes in two days and the car hooked on two...

I decided to drive all night and we got home at 7AM on Sunday morning...the bottom line is this...we kept dismissing tires as the problem because there was only 145 passes on the MT PBR's...everyone gets 250 to 300 passes on these tires...after working on the car for two days and eliminating everything we could, it looks like the tires are absolutely the culprit...oh well...I ordered a new set yesterday but decided to go back to the MT 14x32 stiff sidewall slicks with rim screws...we'll see how this goes...this year I have gone up in smoke in two finals...one I was 20 to his 38 on the tree and the other I was 000 to his 32...should have won both easily...not fun...

I was supposed to race for three five granders this coming weekend but testing is closed at orlando due to the World Street Nationals...I am not going to tow 3.5 hours untested...I will go to this event with my buddy and watch him race...I plan to test on Friday, 15th and if all goes well I will race the 16 and 17th at orlando's Night of Fire event...