Another build thread + Racing Updates

Magnethead · Jan 26, 2020

Have an update for my engine but I'll relay that when I have more info to give.

Took the dragster out yesterday. Was basically a waste of time. But transmission seems to work with all the changes we made, and new camera+mount works.

Magnethead · Feb 10, 2020

Got the lifters back from Bullet today for the truck. Hopefully that project can get refinished soon.

Took the dragster out on Saturday. It went too fast the first run (1000 ft planned shutoff), so I slowed it down a little and it was still too fast.

We have a race in 2 weeks in Belle Rose, Louisiana (Baton Rouge) and we have to slow this thing down to 6.12-6.15 in the 1/4 by the time we get there...Going to short-shift, knock ALOT of timing out, and keep that timing out until the 1/8 mile.....like, damn!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cr4PfzaQttSpTrJt8

DanicaFreak · Feb 10, 2020

are YOU driving it mags or is your Dad?

Magnethead · Feb 11, 2020

DanicaFreak said:
are YOU driving it mags or is your Dad?

dad drives, I handle power management

Magnethead · Feb 17, 2020

Purchased the throttle body yesterday. Also did some math.

The charge piping will be 3" aluminum.

Four 1-¾" throttle blades = 3.5 square inches
Four 1-¾"x¼" throttle shafts = 1.75 square inches
Total Flowing Surface Area = 1.75 square inches

Four 2-¼" throttle blades = 4.5 square inches
Four 2-¼"x¼" throttle shafts = 2.25 square inches
Total Flowing Surface Area = 2.25 square inches

Half a square inch doesn't seem like alot, but trying to squeeze air from a 3" pipe through an equivalently 2.25" pipe (or even 1.75") is still quite the restriction.
But with a manifold that is almost 4500 sized and needs the raised mounting surface anyways.... Why not?

Stock air hat is 3.5" tall.
New hat is 5.5" tall.

Keg is 8.25" tall
M1 is 7" tall

Stock TB is 1.5" tall
4500 TB is 2" tall

So according to that math, I should only be 1.25" taller than a stock setup. That should easily clear the stock hood I think?

Magnethead · Mar 8, 2020

Went down to Belle Rose, Louisiana last weekend. South side of Baton Rouge, in the middle of exactly nowhere.

Qualified #1 in Q3 with a perfect 6.100 on the 6.10 index at 231 MPH. #2 qualifier ran the pair behind us, 6.101 at 206 MPH (coasting).

Due to the short field, we had a ladder-bye in round 2. "Woulda, shoulda, coulda, didn't" set us up for a round 3 loss.

TexasRaceLady · Mar 8, 2020

Magnethead said:
"Woulda, shoulda, coulda, didn't" set us up for a round 3 loss.

Magnethead · Mar 8, 2020

At least we have some super-solid notes for Houston next week, which will be the start of 3 weekends back-to-back-to-back. The sea-level air just throws us for a loop in these cold months. Now we know what weather factors to pay alot of attention to.

Magnethead · Mar 11, 2020

Here's the qualifying sheet....perfect on the 6.10 index

Nitro Dude · Mar 11, 2020

[/QUOTE] Nice job Mag.

Magnethead · Mar 12, 2020

Nitro Dude said:
Nice job Mag.

We went 6.100 at 231MPH (roots). Jim went 6.101 at 206 MPH lifting at the 1000 (procharged). The class parity is rediculous. Bunch of guys are running high gear only - Exner went 3.96 with his procharger on a high gear leave (we went 3.97 on the 6.100 run). It's A-fuel but with boost at this point. Gotta love index racing.

Magnethead · Mar 15, 2020

Alot of news happened today. NHRA event next weekend got cancelled. The 2 weekends after that are TBD but the prospects aren't good.

Procharger came in yesterday. Manifold got machined today.

Took a 4150 manifold and made this behemoth Accufab 4500 throttle body fit into it with some help from PDH Precision Engineering , then chipped away quite a bit of material to flow ALL the air with minimal restriction and also open up the plenum volume a bit. Still need to clean up the transition into the runners.

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Magnethead · Mar 22, 2020

This update will comprise of two posts to split the photo count...

Got the new lifter from Bullet this week. Pulled the head off and replaced the lifter yesterday and FINALLY have 16 oiling rocker arms. What a cluster that was.

I still need to grind away alot of material on the intake manifold. The exhaust port plates also need some massaging. I also have a LOOONG shopping list.

Once the manifold has been cleaned up inside, I'll put the injectors and fuel rails on.

Setting the distributor drive gear was a little fun. It took 3 tries but I finally got it in the right place.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Aj3vWi8FqNpMViW36

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Magnethead · Mar 22, 2020

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Magnethead · Apr 15, 2020

Another bulky update.

1- Got the intake installed, but the end gaps are HUGE. We didn't use the kit end gaskets but probably should have... if it blows oil out the front or back, we'll know why.

2- Sorted out making the throttle body clear the fuel rails. It clears by literally gasket thickness.

3- Working on a strut from the motor mount to the blower plate.

4- I've been looking at photos of another truck with Spintechs to sort out exactly where things are going to land

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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/RBeCSjBf_21KhQEvYexO03hNGHf7DWCWOYzQAyoRlEDVDjaKiYQiZWSRULL0i5x8kWmqiYO_VcrsqT24s2Gg9fHTBSx8O4HaZPN3PHtZPlh5-qJVFAwB4sC191EoYDKE5jHaZA0RqiRfw-o266GynbKV9MZz3W76OvZoG5aTqNGKl_TDSSqy1ThnDAcMD5itPgt5we7jSxVBkZZiLx3e6ME4So1HSdSPQCUYgZ1xd7eXM14b1eq4F7O4aSqOGxKsllmqlqsJR9uER_H9vbe6WqatrYJEE6H3aPCAqmYIWJaxQXWOoXgIb5y2vCB9hQmrc4cHMYLdQBgCXbMwdwTrb78XhanzeEJ3TPk0TdmSJSIhPZpvVoYGRHhE9MpuhCCqCXXKS2TvFxznDfJEdFGfZGw1iqk0m7K87eouZ3crv51PFm3y3cmwV3CJgoTPIemblg3gF9t1mN-XwVBxBPcfdK_t5tmWnoZGiMIDyNM3u7lYQ0PgqXPCQXfaj2K5PjXwQDUwdym2MGws8oX17ouTiSLwadQiVSH5o6PDO5IMJvxPwhtuIWmylfEQtNZrh4kksn8pDrCdHP9Jq40FioIPk-ll9FrJ5_HFTQ4YguPj559rGcVlMeoPLxahI1kaeXuLYN1t_htP4yIM1869ZG0ZW04iS6sWRG4orhyO6gmHrJsi_rMWzTreYOyPO0eEd_TUEi6Jm6DevpiKRF1bBuOKyIBwFunJbGejGNDkTBs8Tg9WKCXTZS4riEc=w1545-h869-no

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Magnethead · Apr 15, 2020

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Magnethead · Apr 16, 2020

More update photos. The motor mount plate is welded ridiculously on the bottom - it's not pretty, but there's alot of attachment.

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Magnethead · Apr 19, 2020

FlowKooler water pump arrived yesterday. It's a GMB generic pump housing, but they make and install a billet impeller rated for +30% flow. Because the block is half-filled, water volume is reduced, and I'm also looking at using a smaller radiator to make room for the intercooler. Thus, the water pump will be working overtime.

Got the aluminum spacer block drilled this morning. Still need to take a chunk out of it to clear the power steering pump, weld up the strut, and get the coolant bypass hose and fitting. Slowly but steadily getting closer. MAP sensor and pigtail is installed, TPS pigtail is installed.

Only thing really left to sort out is crankcase evac.

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Magnethead · Apr 25, 2020

A couple things going on here -

I might have a solution for Crankcase evac. I found a company that makes combination pulleys for Alternators. This would allow me to mount a vacuum pump outboard of the alternator, and use something like a 24 or 30" V-belt to drive it off the alternator. https://www.cuoffroad.com/product-lines/airboss-components/

Everything goes together nice and kindly, but the power steering pressure hose is kind of arguing with the water pump over space. Not sure if a crimped 120 can be done, but that is what it looks like it will take.

Scott Batiste is doing a similar FMIC setup to what I plan. Only difference is being a 99, his radiator is behind the core support, allowing the intercooler to reside inside it, allowing for a bigger FMIC. Mine being an 01, plus having 2.5" of pulley hanging out there, I have moved the bumper out 2" to hopefully fit a 3.5" FMIC in front of the core support, a 3" radiator inside the core support, and a 1" condensor somewhere between them. Main issue will be grille clearance.

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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/J_EdZjegRnJAi_EifxYibC6Vq5GhvkgU7NV-USOyBaoXpnUcaZA3A8WGCJ14XW_NmufGOwDAX_1m0Bl_F32dZmTJVYFqJMbf7bvr2RhPMVX4Uh--4rOuPHFM13EUmeMPlTjsblbPHbrNEsMpffXmC2CM3geyeLxtHanxLkCrdvPkRdMS6O7cepVkgHVeBaVFMbBlMmErqvb3kWiplMBdC3_tADX_VOCXsVSxd85t0PZGX96-heyeADJGFklJhRhf53x0sAXnE7ylc0fvA86_lXDfA6wtZ6Ii19ZpjM6oeKLA9SPTbe9aDOSM2ny55Q04OLnFkcP4r7bZxPMZsvn4Pt0nZTgwDjHyzTQ6muMu1CA9kpPptNLarWehOMs_iprlRY3VVXhk61UZJG-EEQNJP7bDt5oSjK2hsihkJDcWDYXXI835Nx1ZyLyzpC1hmn3334FawBCJNVvXMGgXhfPmMIIXSsmuUI0cXqzec--Z56-0Ktx80JuJCr-CY-sATlXBYfNG3Iw4e69dSrdeAjxuW7fuuYoQl3sSuATcqvnFtU9IzD7VjAHKsCmm1Y3gjUoP-V7ZGtNdhJfPfGzTuX267O1lwoHEJoOXd44gw19gJF7TIpvZHpkh3WX8BtOW281OLdLDPjAicKAU6vxJIZXUOjrAeozBmxRy1eXWZgv_oVu9N-FPgiRsWLNL9o5sh3O498kOzUevEGIDvOti_7C-hHo3mP9hJd_h_GnH4nRyGDtieus7nr7mDWk=w462-h820-no

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Magnethead · Apr 27, 2020

I'm not gonna call it a super productive weekend, but I did make some forward progress.

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Magnethead · Apr 27, 2020

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Magnethead · May 12, 2020

Was in Houston for work on Thursday. Left at 7:30 AM, got home at 10:30 PM, then turned around and left for Tulsa to race at 6AM on Friday.

Our friend Bob Alberty brought his car back out - Twice he's been 1 for one with parts breakage on his first run. Well this time he managed not to break anything until Q4. He's one of those guys that doesn't go easy on things, smoking the tires in the previous 3 qualifiers before laboring it down through to a 3.97 in Q4.

Another friend, Chanse Bullock broke a driveshaft in the lane next to us in Q4. He's lucky it didn't tear more stuff up.

Coming back from Tech Inspection, the rear end started locking up. We barely got it into the pit space when chunks started spitting out from inside the wheels....wheel weights. Turns out the aluminum tape had come loose, and the weight glue delaminated enough for them to droop down and get stuck in the caliper. We ended up super-glueing the weighs back in place, then covering them with gorilla tape to make sure they stay, then aluminum tape to reflect the brake heat. We've had this happen once before, the the brake heat will vaporize regular duct tape - almost caused a fire last time. So now we know better.

Q1 dad had to pedal it once as the car drifted out of the groove, went 3.96 with our NHRA setup in it, was on a 93 run or so, about 5 faster than we'd like.

Q2 was almost midnight, the air temp was 50 degrees and track temp was 72 degrees. @Nitro Dude knows a cold track is bad...but I decided to throw all the timing at it and rotate earth for the hell of it. It stuck with a .959 short time, dad had to pedal twice, out fo the throttle for a full second, and still went 3.90 to put us in the #2 spot.

In Q3 I left that same timing map in it, the 60' slowed to a .980 but was good enough for a 3.88, still #2 to Bob Henry's 3.870.

For Q4, we took some fuel away and threw some timing at it (not a combination you'd normally do) and that was good enough for a 3.870 to tie for pole position - but our 188.4 MPH was not enough to catch Bob's 189.3 MPH.

First round, we ladder up against a guy that lives 10 minutes from us. Nothing like driving 5.5 hours to race your neighbor....and lose by 0.0022 seconds.

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Magnethead · May 16, 2020

Photos from last weekend:

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Magnethead · May 26, 2020

Hope to have an update on my truck this week...it's been a minute, and I'm waiting on stuff that's getting made at the machine shop.

So after unloading from Tulsa, We found out that the flexplate had come loose.

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Magnethead · Jun 7, 2020

I've reached a new level of exhaustion - I think.

Got to the track at Noon on Thursday for testing. First run it dropped a cylinder at the hit and never really cleaned up. Turned out to be a bad spark plug.

Second hit was way slower than we wanted, but the air was miserable.

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Saw a couple neat cars. The Gary Scelzi "Tribute" car is owned and flown by one of Clay Millican's crew guys.

The Prowler is a 1 of two - the guy custom made the mold himself and has 2 of the bodies from it.

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In Q1 Friday morning, we took the pole out of the gate with a 6.103 on the 6.10 index. Nobody was able to touch it in Q2 or Q3. Back to Back poles for NHRA events.

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First round off the trailer Saturday morning we had a friend of ours here in DFW - AGAIN (3 races, three locals in first round). His nitrous didn't work, so dad shut off and coasted around him for the win. Second round the sun got up in the sky and the air went bad - we were doubting the predictor, but it was right. Luckily the other guy red lit because we were way slow.

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Third round is it's own story. All weekend long the track was having clock issues. Unfortunately, it bit our opponent, so they made us re-run the race, even though our opponent was mathematically ineligible.

0.315 light + 6.506 ET = 6.821 total
0.021 light + 6.270 ET = 6.291 total
6.76 dial - 6.27 dial = 0.490 handicap
6.291 total + 0.490 handicap = 6.781 total , for a margin of victory in our favor of 0.040

Using historical incrementals, I was able to determine that we were on a 6.235-6.242 run. We didn't want to slow ours down, so we rolled with it. Our opponent is on nitrous, so we knew they would be turning theirs up.

A small burn-down ensued at the tree, and dad was late. But it didn't matter because they turned their up way too much and went out the back door while dad shut off at the predetermined point, beating them again.

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Once through that hurdle, we had the world champion up next. He didn't make it easy for us, but he left a door open for us to go through. That led us to the #2 qualifier, where dad made a mistake of lifting too early when our opponent lifted and got back on it.

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Nitro Dude · Jun 22, 2020

I'm sure Mag will show pics and results later...but they did an amazing job this weekend in Houston securing their third number 1 qualifying spot in a row against some of the best race cars in the Country.

Magnethead · Jun 25, 2020

Nitro Dude said:
I'm sure Mag will show pics and results later...but they did an amazing job this weekend in Houston securing their third number 1 qualifying spot in a row against some of the best race cars in the Country.

It's been a busy 10 days or so around here. My butt is certifiably worn out.

Monday - work 11.5 hours
Tuesday - work 12.5 hours. Come home to load the car, find a tire chunked out while winching it in. Immediately start a tire change - took 1.5 hours.
Wednesday - work 13.5 hours
Thursday - drive to track, get tires balanced
Friday - Qualify #1 off the trailer
Saturday - Lose first round and drive home
Sunday - Unload and pre-service the car
Monday - Work 7 hours
Tuesday - Get up at 6AM, drive to job site in San Antonio. Work ~8 hours. Swing by the track we race at next weekend (never been before). Pick up my chrysler dealer tool from a friend that borrowed it. Get home around midnight.
Today - work 9.5 hours

We got an honorable mention at the very bottom of: https://dragchamp.com/2020/top-10-list/dragchamp-top-10-list-6-24-20-edition/

New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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New item by Steve McDermott

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Magnethead · Jun 26, 2020

They announced today that next week's race is pushed to August. San Antonio in August is going to be soooo muchhhh funnnnn.

If it even happens.

So Friday night, the owner and his wife from San Antonio came to Houston - they've never had a divisional (SanAn hasn't ran 1/4 mile since 2015-16ish). Well the wife got sick Friday night and ended up testing positive. so the entire Houston tower staff had to go into quarantine, including all the NHRA staff. They deep cleaned the place overnight and brought in another track's crew (not sure who) to run the Saturday show.

Meanwhile, Frank Eckert bought the Geronimo car earlier this year and converted it from a nitrous car to a blower car. In doing so, he took the 40 pounds of lead out of the nose.

That photo is from Q1. He scrounged up 15 pounds of weight and put it in the nose and skipped Q2. It got just as high in Q3 and got in the field at a 6.29 at 207.

Our Q1 the car melted down the plug in #4 so I used my phone-powered endoscope to inspect the cylinder. Other than the cosmetic blemish, all looked good, so we threw some fuel at that cylinder and sent it.

Erica Enders qualified #1 in Comp Eliminator. She's been running somebody else's jellybean car while Royce Freeman runs a former scoop-style Pro Stock. She says doing this is way more fun than the pro tour.

Between dad and Erica is Darian Boesch, this was his second #1 in a row in Top Sportsman. He has a second door car on the way to match their three Top Dragsters. Only he and his dad drive - they have one dragster each while Darian drives the door car. They keep one turn-key-spare dragster in the trailer and will now have a turn-key spare camaro.

Magnethead · Jul 12, 2020

Dropping the individual videos from this weekend for now. I'll come back with the recap.

Magnethead · Jul 12, 2020

Magnethead · Jul 14, 2020

Finally have my breath long enough (ish) to do a writeup and process photos.

We left the fuel setup from Houston in the car but changed pulleys from a 54 to a 53 to make up for atmospheric losses. Left the same launch control profile in the ignition as well, and went 3.94 off the trailer. A decent hit, quicker than we expected. The track indicated to me that it would hold alot more.

So I fed it alot more in the launch control for Q2. Not quite the kitchen sink, but something that was safe-yet-aggressive. We rolled a little bit of timing into it, and went 3.92. The track had ALOT of grip in it, not enough to upset the tire, but plenty to take a little more.

Several other cars took the launch control all the way out, and subsequently smoked the tires. I threw a lot more at ours, and I wasn't really sure if it would hold or not after watching the smokeshow, but I was confident that it wouldn't smoke the tires. Sure enough, it slowed down a bit on the 60', but the extra wheelspeed picked up at the other end to do 3.90.

We got home around 3AM, I went to bed around 4 and got up at 1. We left the house at 2, got to the track at 3, and did a full service on the car before Q4. I went up and walked the track several times - before any prep was done, after they scraped it, and again after they sprayed. I was really skeptical initially given the 136 degree track temp and softened launch control setting to the Q2 level, but once they scraped and sprayed it, dad and I decided to throw the Q3 setup at it - knowing it would stick in E1 once the sun went down. So I put the Q3 launch control profile in and dad and I both prepared for it to smoke the tires - I moved the over-rev control RPM down from 8400 to 8200 (we launch at 3300 and shift at 8000, with high-limiter of 8600). It definitely slid the tire hard and killed the 60', but at least it stayed hooked up and gave us data.

At that point, E1 was a guessing game. We dialed what it ran in Q2, figuring the air and track were fairly similar. WRONG. Luckily the driver in the other lane red-lit, dad was able to send it out the back door to a 3.90.

And we stuck with that number the rest of the night. Round 2 was fundamentally a Top Alcohol Dragster that was slowed down to get under our 3.66 field cap, running 3.70's - spotting most of the field by over a tenth and 10 MPH. The driver in the other lane, being unable to see over the sidepanels, was going to go out the back door, and dialed what they ran in E1. So dad prepared to drop if she was ahead significantly. It was a close race, dad stayed with it to go dead-on while she went 2 hundredths too fast.

That put us in round 3. We stuck with the 3.90 dial going out the back door and had to run our friend Rusty Baxter. He's usually pretty good on the tree and runs the number, so we knew we had to match his run. Dad had a great light, and the car actually slowed down for an unknown reason. Unfortunately, the onboard data recorder activated too soon, so I lost all the data after the shift. Running the timeslip numbers, I knew it slowed in the backhalf.

For the final, we had the guy parked next to us, ironically. He's a big hitter, too - John Biagi. He'd been running 4.00's all day with great lights. We rolled some base timing into our car to try and get back to the 3.90 dial. Dad had his worse light of the day, but so did John - which saved us as the car slowed to a 3.91 once again - and he broke out trying to get there after being late at the tree.

There was one crash on Friday night, when Jonathan Johnson had no parachutes and panic-braked, pitching the car sideways and into the wall head-on. He was okay.

Magnethead · Jul 14, 2020

Nitro Dude · Jul 14, 2020

Magnethead said:

Finally have my breath long enough (ish) to do a writeup and process photos.

We left the fuel setup from Houston in the car but changed pulleys from a 54 to a 53 to make up for atmospheric losses. Left the same launch control profile in the ignition as well, and went 3.94 off the trailer. A decent hit, quicker than we expected. The track indicated to me that it would hold alot more.

So I fed it alot more in the launch control for Q2. Not quite the kitchen sink, but something that was safe-yet-aggressive. We rolled a little bit of timing into it, and went 3.92. The track had ALOT of grip in it, not enough to upset the tire, but plenty to take a little more.

Several other cars took the launch control all the way out, and subsequently smoked the tires. I threw a lot more at ours, and I wasn't really sure if it would hold or not after watching the smokeshow, but I was confident that it wouldn't smoke the tires. Sure enough, it slowed down a bit on the 60', but the extra wheelspeed picked up at the other end to do 3.90.

We got home around 3AM, I went to bed around 4 and got up at 1. We left the house at 2, got to the track at 3, and did a full service on the car before Q4. I went up and walked the track several times - before any prep was done, after they scraped it, and again after they sprayed. I was really skeptical initially given the 136 degree track temp and softened launch control setting to the Q2 level, but once they scraped and sprayed it, dad and I decided to throw the Q3 setup at it - knowing it would stick in E1 once the sun went down. So I put the Q3 launch control profile in and dad and I both prepared for it to smoke the tires - I moved the over-rev control RPM down from 8400 to 8200 (we launch at 3300 and shift at 8000, with high-limiter of 8600). It definitely slid the tire hard and killed the 60', but at least it stayed hooked up and gave us data.

At that point, E1 was a guessing game. We dialed what it ran in Q2, figuring the air and track were fairly similar. WRONG. Luckily the driver in the other lane red-lit, dad was able to send it out the back door to a 3.90.

And we stuck with that number the rest of the night. Round 2 was fundamentally a Top Alcohol Dragster that was slowed down to get under our 3.66 field cap, running 3.70's - spotting most of the field by over a tenth and 10 MPH. The driver in the other lane, being unable to see over the sidepanels, was going to go out the back door, and dialed what they ran in E1. So dad prepared to drop if she was ahead significantly. It was a close race, dad stayed with it to go dead-on while she went 2 hundredths too fast.

That put us in round 3. We stuck with the 3.90 dial going out the back door and had to run our friend Rusty Baxter. He's usually pretty good on the tree and runs the number, so we knew we had to match his run. Dad had a great light, and the car actually slowed down for an unknown reason. Unfortunately, the onboard data recorder activated too soon, so I lost all the data after the shift. Running the timeslip numbers, I knew it slowed in the backhalf.

For the final, we had the guy parked next to us, ironically. He's a big hitter, too - John Biagi. He'd been running 4.00's all day with great lights. We rolled some base timing into our car to try and get back to the 3.90 dial. Dad had his worse light of the day, but so did John - which saved us as the car slowed to a 3.91 once again - and he broke out trying to get there after being late at the tree.

There was one crash on Friday night, when Jonathan Johnson had no parachutes and panic-braked, pitching the car sideways and into the wall head-on. He was okay.

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Steve McDermott

photos.app.goo.gl

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