We left Blairstown at our regular 6:30am time frame heading for a weekend of racing. For a change there was no sign of rain in the forecast. Cool temperatures for an Iowa August are always welcome, and I was certain there would be a great turn out of vehicle’s in all classes. I was correct. Upon our 8:00am arrival, the pits already contained a significant amount of trailers.
The INS dragster chassis had been repaired earlier in the week. A big thank you goes out to Jim Pearson owner of Performance Fabrication located in my home town of Blairstown. When I walked into his shop on late Monday afternoon, the INS dragster was missing the front four foot section of its frame, as it had been cut off and was laying on the floor. The talent of Mr. Pearson always seems to amaze me. On Wednesday he called in the afternoon and told me I could pick the car up on Thursday evening. I might add that the job he completed was flawless (as always) and the INS dragster went right down the track all weekend, straight as an arrow with absolutely no front end vibration.
The INS dragster made its first pass at 11:07am running a 7.78@172.47 mph, which was a good start to the weekend. We were back again at 12:20pm, this time running a 7.79@172.01 mph (we are always a little slower in the right hand lane) which was another good run. Our third and final practice at 1:10pm resulted in a 7.76@172.09 mph. We were fairly consistent which is very critical in bracket racing. We had three good runs which gives us a good baseline for predicting our dial in when eliminations get started.
I recently purchased a new weather station with software that is used in predicting your dial in. I would also like to welcome a new crew member, Brenton Hakes, on board. He is married to my niece and is a welcome addition. He is mostly responsible for learning this new weather program as it is very technical along with being one of the most critical pieces.
We headed for the staging lanes at 2:37pm for our first round of eliminations. We drew the point champion from last year who also has a significant lead this year. We dialed a 7.78, had a .011 RT, ran a 7.75@173.21 mph which of course is too fast. As luck would have it, my opponent also went too fast by a larger margin than us. Result: We win. Round two took place at 3:37pm. As we pull into the staging lanes, there he was in front of me bigger than life, the car I had taken out in the first round. They have this buy back rule that if you lose in the first round you can race again for $30. If you win, you go to the next round. Again as luck would have it, I got to race him again. This time I had a .014 RT which is good, but he had a .003 RT which in racing is a bad job of red lighting. The INS dragster ran a 7.74 on a 7.76 dial, crossed the finish line first, but went a little too fast. End result: We lose the second round and get ready for tomorrow.
