The brothers rolled through the gate about the time people started to head for the lanes. Darren had already started putting the slicks on the Satellite. I had dropped the exhaust off the Valiant for the first time, and lowered the tires to 20 lbs., ready for the call. I headed up immediately to the lanes, planning to get multiple runs to hopefully improve on my 11.68. Dale joined me in the lanes about 15 minutes later.
"That thing ready"? he asked
"Yeah, just like to get an 11.67 or better, so I can say I improved every day".
"If I can get a 12.60 something, I'm done...may put the street tires back on it and see what it'll run on those".
I worked my way through the lanes and ended up paired with the convertible Chevy II that had outrun Boone in Tulsa. I launched at full throttle from about 3200, and it rattled for a bit and then hooked, I shifted to 2nd at 6400, and could feel it already begin to wobble, hitting the nitrous only made it worse, the shift to 3rd made it unbearable, so I let off the bottle, and then lifted to about half-throttle. The new, shorter shocks meant it never bottomed out so the oscillation just continued to get worse. 11.71 at only 108 was what I ended up with for my trouble. I didn't see the Chevy II 'till he pulled by me about 200' past the finish line, so he must've waited at the tree for a second or two.
When I returned to the pits, Boone was livid. He was sitting there with the slicks on, and the air pump running full blast on one side. "It's leaking as fast as the air is going in... I knew those darn screws weren't going to fix it, Dale is a moron, and now he's up in the lanes without a prayer of making the quick 32, and here I sit unable to run", he was pacing like a caged animal.
"Boone, pull those slicks off, and put Dale's on as soon as he gets back".
"He's probably going up again, I doubt he even stops".
"No... look, he told me up there, one hit, and he's gonna go back on street tires, just get ready".
"Ok, ok, how far back from you was he".
"About 6 or 7 sets, he should be here pretty quick".
I was about to head up for another run when a Camaro owner came over nearly out of breath, "Heard you had a generator and an angle grinder"?
"Yep, sure do, help yourself".
"Was changing to my slicks, for the last time this week, and one of the studs is turning, so I have to cut the lugnut off"!
I heard the announcer call out a 12.68-106 for Dale as I headed back into the lanes.
Caution, the pic below is not for the squemish...this is Boone after 36 hours with no bed, and a hard week on the road!!