I hardly recognize Thursday...feels like it was a week ago.
We rolled out to Tulsa around 7AM Friday morning, arrived to the track right at Noon. Got the pit all set up, talked to friends, go through tech inspection, went to the driver's meeting at 5:30pm.
I loaded the tune from our previous outlaw race as a starting point, but put a little more power in it for Q1. It went 3.869 and put us #1 on the ladder. But at some point on the run, the filter lid blew off our puke tank, which gave us a challenge...how not to oil the track. We ended up packing a balled up rag wrapped in duct tape inside the filter, then putting a sock over the outside and zip-tying it on. Usually a set of socks lets 2 runs, so we keep a stock in the trailer. But no whole ones...so a set from our luggage got sacrificed. (There is a wire mesh filter that we then put a sock over normally)
There were 3 other cars capable of going around us, so we came back, changed pulley and fuel curve, left the timing map alone, and ran a 3.859 in Q2. Couple cars below us picked up, but we were still #1.
Got to the hotel around 1AM, took a quick nap, back to the track at 9AM.
Air was getting worse (it rained overnight and the density conditions weren't going to improve anytime soon), so we left the pulley on it but I trimmed up the timing map to get more aggressive down low. The air was 2 hund worse and I figured what I trimmed out of the timing map was worth about 2.5 hund, so I figured it would be a mid 3.85 for Q3, depending on how the track looked. I'm friends with all the local track announcers, so I messaged him from the staging lanes after reading the track and said "It's gonna be a 3.855".
Keep in mind, we only have to predict to the hund, in eliminations. I threw a 5 on the end for fun in qualifying just to have a little fun.
I didn't actually expect it to go dead nuts 3.855, but it did. Nobody else really improved, so we maintained #1 with an even bigger gap on the field.
With 13 cars in the field, we had the bye for first round. Air wasn't really changing much and the track was getting a bit warmer, so we figured it would stay in the 85 zone and put that on the board for round 1. Dad had a .007 light and ran a 3.839 out the back door.
OK, so here's the thing. There was a car 2 trailers down from us having all kinds of hell with his car. It just would not run. So they were set up against one of the fastest MPH cars in the field (he covers all of us by 10 MPH) in round 1, on our R2 pair. They go up there, the fast car red lights, but the other guy's car dies before he can roll out of the beam. Some rule discussions ensue, and ultimately, the red light stands and the other guy, though he never left the beam, is considered the winner.
So we know the guy we run in round 2 is all-but-broken. But in racing, you can't take that for granted, he could pull a rabbit out of his hat. Dad rolls 20 in the box to make sure he won't be red, and we dial up a number (3.82) to give us some room out the back door without breaking out.
The other guy's car dies on the burnout and he just pulls over, gets out, and hops over the wall.
Dad's .012 on the tree (good thing he rolled the 20 in) and runs another 3.855.
Now we have Brandon Harris in the Semi-Finals, dialing 4.70 against our 3.85. That's a solid 0.85 of a second handicap at the tree (or about 45-55 feet or so). At the same time, he's running 140MPH to our 186 MPH. There's no way that much speed differential can be judged to wheel-race the finish line for the dial-in. Our plan was for dad to just lift when he goes around the other car, figuring it might run another 85 or maybe an 84 out the back door.
The track had other things in mind. It had cooled down to 67 degrees (it'd been mid-70's all day). That meant the track was not going to be as sticky in typical conditions, so after the burnout I took 2 seconds of air out of each tire (about 0.05-0.07 PSI) to give me a little more contact patch to work with (normally I would pull half a degree of timing out instead).
The car absolutely left like an Ape. The other guy goes 0.001 red, dad is .018. But I don't see that, I'm watching the car try to rip the tires apart as it leaves. Runs a 3.839 out the back door. I don't know where that came from. It should NOT have reacted to a colder track like that. My last minute adjustment shouldn't have made that big of a change. I don't know what I did, but it liked it. But that is scary going into the final. I go get the time slip. 0.954 sixty foot. I had to read it twice. I didn't believe it. That is basically called no-mans-land for a suspended car. That's when things start to rip apart and break. That's why fast cars don't have suspension.
So now what. We know we have a local guy, Jeremy Maples in the final. He's good.
We don't know if it will leave like that again or not. OK, so throw an 82 on the board and go out the back door. If it picks up, we're safe, otherwise it's gonna be tight at the other end.
Jeremy's dialed 4.44 to our 3.82. Another long handicap.
Track warmed back up to 72. I have the tires on the low side of 5.5 PSI. So I know I'm okay there but it might try to shake. Not sure it will run the number (mind you i'm thinking this after the burnout, when i take the temp).
Dad stages, and the car rocks forward in the beam. That's bad, usually leads to a red-light or cuts .010 off the RT. Jeremy leaves, dad leaves, It's green but I know it was close on our side from being in deep. I can't tell if dad catches him. Then the win-light comes on with a 3.84. I don't know what to think other than being happy.
Dad was .001, Jeremy was .028 and mathematically ineligible to our .023 package (he went 4.451 on 4.44 for a 0.039 pack).
We rolled across the scale to check legality (we are 2130 with a 1800 pound minimum) got our photo taken, packed up, and left the track at 1AM. Got home at 6AM and passed out for most of the day, woke up at 6 PM.
We rolled out to Tulsa around 7AM Friday morning, arrived to the track right at Noon. Got the pit all set up, talked to friends, go through tech inspection, went to the driver's meeting at 5:30pm.
I loaded the tune from our previous outlaw race as a starting point, but put a little more power in it for Q1. It went 3.869 and put us #1 on the ladder. But at some point on the run, the filter lid blew off our puke tank, which gave us a challenge...how not to oil the track. We ended up packing a balled up rag wrapped in duct tape inside the filter, then putting a sock over the outside and zip-tying it on. Usually a set of socks lets 2 runs, so we keep a stock in the trailer. But no whole ones...so a set from our luggage got sacrificed. (There is a wire mesh filter that we then put a sock over normally)
There were 3 other cars capable of going around us, so we came back, changed pulley and fuel curve, left the timing map alone, and ran a 3.859 in Q2. Couple cars below us picked up, but we were still #1.
Got to the hotel around 1AM, took a quick nap, back to the track at 9AM.
Air was getting worse (it rained overnight and the density conditions weren't going to improve anytime soon), so we left the pulley on it but I trimmed up the timing map to get more aggressive down low. The air was 2 hund worse and I figured what I trimmed out of the timing map was worth about 2.5 hund, so I figured it would be a mid 3.85 for Q3, depending on how the track looked. I'm friends with all the local track announcers, so I messaged him from the staging lanes after reading the track and said "It's gonna be a 3.855".
Keep in mind, we only have to predict to the hund, in eliminations. I threw a 5 on the end for fun in qualifying just to have a little fun.
I didn't actually expect it to go dead nuts 3.855, but it did. Nobody else really improved, so we maintained #1 with an even bigger gap on the field.
With 13 cars in the field, we had the bye for first round. Air wasn't really changing much and the track was getting a bit warmer, so we figured it would stay in the 85 zone and put that on the board for round 1. Dad had a .007 light and ran a 3.839 out the back door.
OK, so here's the thing. There was a car 2 trailers down from us having all kinds of hell with his car. It just would not run. So they were set up against one of the fastest MPH cars in the field (he covers all of us by 10 MPH) in round 1, on our R2 pair. They go up there, the fast car red lights, but the other guy's car dies before he can roll out of the beam. Some rule discussions ensue, and ultimately, the red light stands and the other guy, though he never left the beam, is considered the winner.
So we know the guy we run in round 2 is all-but-broken. But in racing, you can't take that for granted, he could pull a rabbit out of his hat. Dad rolls 20 in the box to make sure he won't be red, and we dial up a number (3.82) to give us some room out the back door without breaking out.
The other guy's car dies on the burnout and he just pulls over, gets out, and hops over the wall.
Dad's .012 on the tree (good thing he rolled the 20 in) and runs another 3.855.
Now we have Brandon Harris in the Semi-Finals, dialing 4.70 against our 3.85. That's a solid 0.85 of a second handicap at the tree (or about 45-55 feet or so). At the same time, he's running 140MPH to our 186 MPH. There's no way that much speed differential can be judged to wheel-race the finish line for the dial-in. Our plan was for dad to just lift when he goes around the other car, figuring it might run another 85 or maybe an 84 out the back door.
The track had other things in mind. It had cooled down to 67 degrees (it'd been mid-70's all day). That meant the track was not going to be as sticky in typical conditions, so after the burnout I took 2 seconds of air out of each tire (about 0.05-0.07 PSI) to give me a little more contact patch to work with (normally I would pull half a degree of timing out instead).
The car absolutely left like an Ape. The other guy goes 0.001 red, dad is .018. But I don't see that, I'm watching the car try to rip the tires apart as it leaves. Runs a 3.839 out the back door. I don't know where that came from. It should NOT have reacted to a colder track like that. My last minute adjustment shouldn't have made that big of a change. I don't know what I did, but it liked it. But that is scary going into the final. I go get the time slip. 0.954 sixty foot. I had to read it twice. I didn't believe it. That is basically called no-mans-land for a suspended car. That's when things start to rip apart and break. That's why fast cars don't have suspension.
So now what. We know we have a local guy, Jeremy Maples in the final. He's good.
We don't know if it will leave like that again or not. OK, so throw an 82 on the board and go out the back door. If it picks up, we're safe, otherwise it's gonna be tight at the other end.
Jeremy's dialed 4.44 to our 3.82. Another long handicap.
Track warmed back up to 72. I have the tires on the low side of 5.5 PSI. So I know I'm okay there but it might try to shake. Not sure it will run the number (mind you i'm thinking this after the burnout, when i take the temp).
Dad stages, and the car rocks forward in the beam. That's bad, usually leads to a red-light or cuts .010 off the RT. Jeremy leaves, dad leaves, It's green but I know it was close on our side from being in deep. I can't tell if dad catches him. Then the win-light comes on with a 3.84. I don't know what to think other than being happy.
Dad was .001, Jeremy was .028 and mathematically ineligible to our .023 package (he went 4.451 on 4.44 for a 0.039 pack).
We rolled across the scale to check legality (we are 2130 with a 1800 pound minimum) got our photo taken, packed up, and left the track at 1AM. Got home at 6AM and passed out for most of the day, woke up at 6 PM.
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