Sunday am looked like a day we have seen much of this summer, RAINY!! The announcement came over the speaker telling us we were getting two (2) time runs (instead of the usual three) and then we’d start hoping to beat the rain. The “Quick Sixteen” is being run today, so we were hoping to qualify for that race.
We managed to qualify number nine with a 7.89 run. First round came about very quickly today, and I was sure we were going to get wet well before this round was over. I pulled in to the staging lanes (after second call had been announced) and ended up as the first pair to go down the track. The individual who qualified number 8 was my competition. Needless to say, he’s a racer that I have never beaten (that I can remember) and is definitely a very tough competitor. He was the faster car (he dialed a 7.51) so I would be leaving first. I had changed the delay on my two practice rounds and was hoping my reaction time would be better, especially if I wanted any chance to beat my competitor.
This race ended up being a double break out which means both cars ran quicker than what they displayed. The INS dragster dialed a 7.88, ran a 7.844, he ran a 7.488 on a 7.51 dial, I cut a .014 light, to his .027, we crossed the finish line first BUT!!!! We lost. The margin of victory was .0143. Now this is where things get strange. It started to sprinkle as I am driving down the return road, so I hastened toward the trailer to quickly get loaded. It takes an effort to get the car in that quick, mainly because the nose of the car needs to be removed, cart under the front end and then have a couple people push. We no more got the INS dragster out of the rain and it poured, I do mean poured. Either way I was out of competition for the weekend, so it was time to put everything away. The only problem is that everything is outside getting drenched.
As we are standing in the trailer visiting with our competitors we hear this loud boom, then a very loud hiss (like air coming out of a tire). Just when I thought the first weekend for the new car had gone trouble free we had a right rear slick going flat. The air would leave the tire as fast as we put it in. Try tying down a race car to the trailer with a rear flat tire. We had enough wooden blocks to place under the frame, along with a so called chassis stabilizer (hard air pillow) to place under the frame. We used a different strap for the right side, but I was fairly confident it would ride back to Blairstown without any complications. The rain finally diminished to where we could finish loading and head for home.
We made the trip without any problems, but unloading presented a complete new set. Lets just say we finally got the INS dragster in the garage just in the nick of time as it was pouring from the sky again, imagine that!!!!
