For the fourth consecutive year, I have a Certified Street Truck. Rocky Mountain Race Week 2.0 (Race Week) was not easy, but we survived. Might as well have been Hell Week.
Album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MCEZjPJUgqbrVAFP9
There are alot more photos there than I am sharing here, since I'm limited to 20 photos per post.
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DAY 0 - Saturday
All loaded up and ready to go to the track. Total weight is around 15,000 pounds.
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DAY 1 - Sunday
After Tech Inspection. My friend brought his 62 Biscayne, it had 15 road miles in the last 16 years. He had to bow out after day 2, but he still had fun.
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Due to a lengthy oil-down delay as a car crash on Day 1, we only got 2 hits instead of 3. It caught alot of people in the class off-guard. I had to turn in a 12.1987 which effectively put me out of any competitive form for the rest of the week. Alot of people were mad about that situation because they felt screwed as well, but there was nothing anyone could do. There were 4.5 hours of delays, and the track stayed open an extra hour and change. The call was made at 11:30 PM on Sunday night as the Dew came in super heavy.
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DAY 2 - Monday
The Day 2 drive was from Lufkin, Texas to Dallas, Texas. We had 2 checkpoints - a large model train and Russel Stover Chocolates. In between the 2, the group I was in got caught behind a Super Load for about 40 miles. This royally sucked, moving at 35 MPH, then stopping while crews raised and lowered power lines for it.
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Once we got to Texas Motoplex, after 1 pass I had one hell of a problem on my hand - I went way, way too fast. Second pass I planned to be off the throttle early - which I was - but the truck was even faster through the first 1/2 track, so me lifting early made zero difference. So, I changed pulleys to my medium one and turned in a 12.302 .
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DAY 3 - Tuesday
Day 3 was our dedicated drive day - 480 miles from Dallas to Baton Rouge. We left the Motorplex at 9:30 AM and got to State Capital Dragway at 10 PM. Our checkpoints were the HEARTS Veterans Museum and a Lucky's Casino.
This is Robert Voss. He won Naturally Aspirated Big Block. Yes, this is how he drove it - on 3rd gen camaro wheels with wide open exhaust out the fenders. Talk about LOUD.
Because of the humidity, we did not tent camp in Baton Rouge. RMRW has a private group where hotel arrangements are discussed, and we band together and have paid security patrol the lots. In this photo there are 15 racecars, and there are more out of frame. Parking together gets interesting in the smaller lots; Of course me as a truck, I have the ground clearance to make room wherever I need to.
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DAY 4 - Wednesday
Day 4 saw us racing first thing in the morning in Baton Rouge.
My first pass, I did a nice long burnout for the media team (I'm one of a few that can do 300ft burnouts). However, the rear brakes did not hold in the beams, and I went straight into tire spin.
My second hit I went up and just took a guess based on how it reacted at the Motorplex - lifting way early to go 12.18 .
I had the tires off the truck by the time Jessica got back to our pit; We packed up and left the track about 5 minutes before a rain shower came through. We headed down on a side journey to Plaquemine's water front so that Jessica could see the Mississippi River, then on to No Problem Raceway. These kinds of "Bonus Checkpoints" are encouraged along RMRW to patronize local communities and just be tourists.
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DAY 5 - Thursday
Day 5 saw us going from Baton Rouge to Monroe, Louisiana, straight up Highway 190.
Our checkpoints were Swamp Daddy's Restaurant and Parts City Auto Parts.
This day was living hell for us.
When we went to visit NPR the previous night, we had to stop twice because the fuel was boiling and putting the engine into vapor lock. We figured it was a fluke issue.....
It was not.
We lost track how many times we got stuck on Day 5. It was alot.
At one point, it stalled in the middle of a busy intersection. Luckily after we re-routed a few dozen local traffic cars, some of our #RaceCarFriends caught up to us, and pulled over. It took all 6 (7? 8?) of us to unhook the trailer, roll it to the side, then push the truck out of the intersection. It was at least 30 or 45 minutes before we got back on the road - the fuel pump simply refused to make pressure. I had to keep wrapping it in a cold rag soaked in Ice Chest water.
After the last stop, we thought we were home free - 25 miles to the tack.
We came up 3/4 of a mile short, and got stranded in a really bad spot around a blind curve on a 2 lane road in the middle of BFE. I called the race organizers to get a hook using the Smart Car (the "official embarrassment of part failure fetching car") but fortunately, once again we had #RaceCarFriends not far behind us. The Hondarado (a Honda K24 swapped Silverado) had a strap and was able to tow us into the track.
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Once in the track, I changed the post-pump fuel filter. I've been running a 10 micron the last 3 years but had a spare 25 micron, so I put that in. The filter that came out was straight plugged.
First trip down the track was...not slow. I should have lifted, but needed a frame of reference. But nobody would have expected to go a 11.7997 @ 114 MPH.
I came back around and lifted at the 1000ft to go 12.2801 @ 95 MPH.
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DAY 6 - Friday
Day 6 saw us driving from Monroe back to Lufkin, where we started.
We had 2 checkpoints - DyNoMad Tuning and Mast Motorsports.
After changing the fuel filter, I assumed the pump would no longer be under such a load, and thus would not overheat as much.
That was determined to be a lie.
It took us 6.5 hours to make a 4 hour drive.
After much exasperation and exhaustion, we unloaded the small trailer and the bed of the Dakota into the back of the Ram, and I went up to make my "check-in" run on street tires. I left soft, rolled into the throttle and instantly went into tire spin, pedaled and grabbed high gear.
I turned in a 13.1148 , which was better than I expected it to be for a pedal job and short shift.
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But i'm leaving some clues in the background of the first photo....
