Despite the fact that it was nearly midnight, the Quality Inn parking lot was full of drag weekers, and most of them appeared to still be up wrenching or bench racing. We had to park on the grass out front, and carry our stuff to the room. Jim Forbes (Squirrel, Bangshift) was leaning on the railing of the landing to the stairs leading to the the second floor, and he hollered down at me as I walked by.
"Hey, I want to run your brother's Truck tomorrow!"
"Sure, that would be fun", I grinned up at him.
Jim is a fellow Arizonan, and he was competing in the Gasser class with Boone. His orange and white 55 Bel Air features a 454 with a 6-71 blower that sees a ton of street miles every year. Boone had him by a hundredth on day one, but he had firmly taken control of 3rd place the last two days, and had a tenth on the Barnyard in three day average. Although this is only the third year for the Gasser class it already has two traditions, tightknit comradery off the track, and competition on the track, grudge races are expected and encouraged with this group!
"Did you hear we lost Mike Cox and the Henry J today?" he continued.
"No, I saw he ran slow at Gateway, what happened?"
"Ate a roller lifter in the BBC, we could have patched it together and kept him going, but he has a warranty on that engine, and didn't want to screw it up before he returned it to the builder."
"That's a bummer, wasn't he leading the class?"
"Yeah, so that moves me up to second, and your brother to third, and we can settle it on the track tomorrow!"
"I'm sure he'll be up for it. Why aren't you in bed already?"
He smiled wryly, "I'm just too jacked up to go to bed after the drive, I have to relax for a while!"