Pics 08 - Saturday at Dragway 42
First a story, then the rest of the pics. There should be 3 time slips, a YouTube video, another time split, and a picture of Randy in this post.
I had only been drag racing one other time a long, long time ago. I showed up at the drag strip planning to run once to see what the car would do, and then sit back with Katie and enjoy the people, the show, the cars, the cheering, the food, the fun.
I lined up with a couple in a BMW who was part of our group. I was hoping for maybe mid 13's? That would be nice.
It turns out I ended up running the car again quickly in the day light because Katie didn't get pics of me staging the first time. So I ran again. This time against some slightly snobby local who was there with his buddy. His buddy had an 11-second Trans Am. He had a much more stock Firebird. They were purposefully ignoring us, but reflexively did a double-take when I started the car up to move down the line. I guess they weren't expecting that kind of a noise to come from this kind of car.
I ran the same exact time, same exact MPH (pretty typical for me since I don't ever do anything differently when launching). I was done for the night.
The itch to join the 100 MPH club bit later on in the night, and I lined up again with $1 in hand with Mark in the B13 race car beside me also going for the honors. Mark suggested I drop the pressure in the front tires to see what happens, so I went from highway fuel economy 35 psi up front to 30 psi. How adventurous of me you say.
I made a complete ass of myself when the car stalled in the staging area, taking forever to restart, and then the engine wouldn't spin the tires to clean them. I free-revved the engine and it wouldn't go over 4.5k rpm. I signaled to the official that I was broken and Mark ran down the track alone.
I was slightly worried about what had happened to the car, and worried about getting home, and then immediately worried about if I should limp down the track taking up everyone's time and possibly dripping fluid all down it, or if I should back up and GTFO some how. I was done for the night.
Sitting there wondering what to do, and convinced that the car was probably still okay and if anything it was a vacuum hose loose or something, I free-revved it again and all seemed okay. I was hoping to clean the tires but the official saw the car was good (turned out to be the 30-second count-down fuel enrichment I'd setup earlier that weekend causing an extreme rich condition preventing the engine from revving or making any power immediately after starting it up) so he waved me up to the starting line. I overshot the lasers, had to back up and by then I think the crew had had enough of me. I went down the track slightly quicker, and a little faster than the last two runs. I sat my stupid-ass down in the bleachers for the rest of the night. I was done.
By now I'm well and fully convinced I don't like drag racing. I said as much to a couple people. I told Katie I wasn't going up again for anything, and not to worry I wouldn't be ditching her anymore. I love lining up against people from a stop and racing them. I've done it over and over and over again at makeshift drag strips before in all manner of cars. I enjoy that. It is the pressure of staging and launching all within the shortest time possible with lines of cars behind you waiting and rows of spectators waiting that seems to put the pressure on I guess. I'm not scared to make a fool of myself in front of a crowd. That happens on the daily. It's being part of a well oiled machine and the pressure to perform and make everything go smoothly for the track crew and "show" that does it I guess.
I sat down with Katie again and enjoyed watching the races and relaxing and taking pictures and chatting with folks. We got some food and really could enjoy the evening. Some really unexpectedly fast cars were great to watch and being on the sidelines with the community was a great way to spend the night.
While Katie went to the bathroom, I heard something over the intercom.
If you watch sr20guy's video below, at 5:17 you can hear the track officials calling me up to the line for a race. I've been called out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCee9kloAk
I'm not happy about going down the track again, but I'm a team player and maybe this will be fun. I really just don't want the car to break.
I told Jay who was outside of the bathrooms to tell Katie that I had to race again and got back to the car. I lowered the pressure in the front tires another 5 psi to 25 psi total and lined up for the race.
As it turns out, no one had called me out for a race.
The track organizers saw my 3, consistent, near 14.0-second ETs and saw Randy's (ny5speed) consistent, near 14.0-second ETs and decided we should both race for a shot at a trophy.
Randy is the nicest guy (I voted him for the Matt Kempe award) and I knew that whatever happened at least it wasn't going to be any more stress. I could relax some. I actually was hoping Randy would win the trophy. I just wanted to get down the track and be done with it.
We lined up. I took forever to trip the lasers trying not to repeat the overshoot from last time. The tree went and I just bogged the launch (not enough revs). There was a split second I considered a clutch-kick around the 60' mark but it seemed fruitless. I spent the rest of the time playing catch-up trying to reel Randy in but "the force is strong with this one".
I was kind of sad that I didn't do better, and give people more of a show, but I was happy Randy won and when it was time to pack up and leave I made sure Randy went and collected his trophy.
Eventually after that race Katie and I walked down to the staging area where a good portion of the SR20 folks were and got to enjoy the noise and the burnouts and camaraderie of everyone excited about the silliest races between stock SE-Rs and hilariously slow Hondas. It was a really fun night despite my own issues with drag racing and I can't wait to make a complete ass of myself next year when I send the car down the track at least once. I'm looking forward much more to the relaxing and the food and the show of the drag strip. It is a completely different thing when you're cheering for tons and tons of friends and there are all sorts of friendly rivalries to watch and folks you know going faster with each pass.
Stay tuned for the pics.
I had only been drag racing one other time a long, long time ago. I showed up at the drag strip planning to run once to see what the car would do, and then sit back with Katie and enjoy the people, the show, the cars, the cheering, the food, the fun.
I lined up with a couple in a BMW who was part of our group. I was hoping for maybe mid 13's? That would be nice.
It turns out I ended up running the car again quickly in the day light because Katie didn't get pics of me staging the first time. So I ran again. This time against some slightly snobby local who was there with his buddy. His buddy had an 11-second Trans Am. He had a much more stock Firebird. They were purposefully ignoring us, but reflexively did a double-take when I started the car up to move down the line. I guess they weren't expecting that kind of a noise to come from this kind of car.
I ran the same exact time, same exact MPH (pretty typical for me since I don't ever do anything differently when launching). I was done for the night.
The itch to join the 100 MPH club bit later on in the night, and I lined up again with $1 in hand with Mark in the B13 race car beside me also going for the honors. Mark suggested I drop the pressure in the front tires to see what happens, so I went from highway fuel economy 35 psi up front to 30 psi. How adventurous of me you say.
I made a complete ass of myself when the car stalled in the staging area, taking forever to restart, and then the engine wouldn't spin the tires to clean them. I free-revved the engine and it wouldn't go over 4.5k rpm. I signaled to the official that I was broken and Mark ran down the track alone.
I was slightly worried about what had happened to the car, and worried about getting home, and then immediately worried about if I should limp down the track taking up everyone's time and possibly dripping fluid all down it, or if I should back up and GTFO some how. I was done for the night.
Sitting there wondering what to do, and convinced that the car was probably still okay and if anything it was a vacuum hose loose or something, I free-revved it again and all seemed okay. I was hoping to clean the tires but the official saw the car was good (turned out to be the 30-second count-down fuel enrichment I'd setup earlier that weekend causing an extreme rich condition preventing the engine from revving or making any power immediately after starting it up) so he waved me up to the starting line. I overshot the lasers, had to back up and by then I think the crew had had enough of me. I went down the track slightly quicker, and a little faster than the last two runs. I sat my stupid-ass down in the bleachers for the rest of the night. I was done.
By now I'm well and fully convinced I don't like drag racing. I said as much to a couple people. I told Katie I wasn't going up again for anything, and not to worry I wouldn't be ditching her anymore. I love lining up against people from a stop and racing them. I've done it over and over and over again at makeshift drag strips before in all manner of cars. I enjoy that. It is the pressure of staging and launching all within the shortest time possible with lines of cars behind you waiting and rows of spectators waiting that seems to put the pressure on I guess. I'm not scared to make a fool of myself in front of a crowd. That happens on the daily. It's being part of a well oiled machine and the pressure to perform and make everything go smoothly for the track crew and "show" that does it I guess.
I sat down with Katie again and enjoyed watching the races and relaxing and taking pictures and chatting with folks. We got some food and really could enjoy the evening. Some really unexpectedly fast cars were great to watch and being on the sidelines with the community was a great way to spend the night.
While Katie went to the bathroom, I heard something over the intercom.
If you watch sr20guy's video below, at 5:17 you can hear the track officials calling me up to the line for a race. I've been called out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCee9kloAk
I'm not happy about going down the track again, but I'm a team player and maybe this will be fun. I really just don't want the car to break.
I told Jay who was outside of the bathrooms to tell Katie that I had to race again and got back to the car. I lowered the pressure in the front tires another 5 psi to 25 psi total and lined up for the race.
As it turns out, no one had called me out for a race.
The track organizers saw my 3, consistent, near 14.0-second ETs and saw Randy's (ny5speed) consistent, near 14.0-second ETs and decided we should both race for a shot at a trophy.
Randy is the nicest guy (I voted him for the Matt Kempe award) and I knew that whatever happened at least it wasn't going to be any more stress. I could relax some. I actually was hoping Randy would win the trophy. I just wanted to get down the track and be done with it.
We lined up. I took forever to trip the lasers trying not to repeat the overshoot from last time. The tree went and I just bogged the launch (not enough revs). There was a split second I considered a clutch-kick around the 60' mark but it seemed fruitless. I spent the rest of the time playing catch-up trying to reel Randy in but "the force is strong with this one".
I was kind of sad that I didn't do better, and give people more of a show, but I was happy Randy won and when it was time to pack up and leave I made sure Randy went and collected his trophy.
Eventually after that race Katie and I walked down to the staging area where a good portion of the SR20 folks were and got to enjoy the noise and the burnouts and camaraderie of everyone excited about the silliest races between stock SE-Rs and hilariously slow Hondas. It was a really fun night despite my own issues with drag racing and I can't wait to make a complete ass of myself next year when I send the car down the track at least once. I'm looking forward much more to the relaxing and the food and the show of the drag strip. It is a completely different thing when you're cheering for tons and tons of friends and there are all sorts of friendly rivalries to watch and folks you know going faster with each pass.
Stay tuned for the pics.
Last edited by BenFenner
on 2012-06-27
at 16-18-41.
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