Sunday started just like Saturday with lots of sun, but a little warmer with a little more humidity. It was sure to be a great day for racing. We added a few more cars through the evening and morning, plus it seemed as though there were more spectators than normal. It is, after all, the last holiday of the summer. Lots of people were taking advantage of the three day weekend.
I was prepared for the morning as I had completed several of my morning tasks yesterday evening after loosing the 1st round. It was 10:00 a.m. when we reported to the staging lanes for our first time run. The INS dragster was a click slower this morning running a 7:861 @171.21 mph with a 1.148 60′ time. My reaction time was a little better at 0.049, but I know I can’t win many races with that kind of light. I took a few thousandths out of the delay box and went back up around 11:31 for my second time run. We ran a 7:861 this time @171.45 mph, had a 1.161 60′ time but still had a poor reaction time. A 0.070. Man, I am beginning to think I am never going to figure this out.
We were two hundredths slower than the 1st time run because we had a 60′ time of 1.161 (That 0.02 slower in 60′ carried all the way down the track as all the incremental track numbers showed). Back to the pits, take out some more time, and get ready for round one eliminations. After a couple hours in front of the weather station I decided to dial a 7:87 and hope for the best. We headed for the staging lanes around 1:00 p.m. feeling pretty confident about my dial and hoping for the best in reaction time.
I drew an 8:00 second car which means we will be the faster car and doing the chasing which is always better than be chased. We pulled into the water box, completed our burn out (which cleans off those big rear tires) and wouldn’t you know the car loses power. Now this has never happened to me before but several opponents have told me it can and will happen. I think they were just trying to make me feel better, and trust me it didn’t help. I made the mistake of taking my right foot completely off the throttle too quick which means the butterflies on the carburetor slam shut cutting off the oxygen. The fuel continues to rush in because the motor is still spinning and it cannot ignite all the fuel. Its like your flooding the motor.
To add insult to all this they pushed me back, my opponent left for a single and an easy win. All this took place in probably a minute, and guess what, I tried to start the car again and the car started! What’s a racer to do? Drive back to your pit, and go hide. Oh yah, I forgot one more thing, I just made it to my pit stall and it STARTED TO RAIN, HARD! Fortunately, several friends and racers dashed to help me get the car loaded, but we all got wet. The rain only lasted for a half hour, but it certainly helped take my thought away from another embarrassing outing. I wiped everything down as the car, golf cart, scooter, weather station and all got a very good washing. I watched a few rounds of racing, and headed for home.
