Darren and I made our way to the tower to turn in our time slips. Darryl had been gone for a while, and Boone had already turned his in, picked up his route sheet, and pretty much had the Barnyard loaded up and ready to go. As we showed them our pictures and picked up our instructions, Tom Bailey rolled his ex-project sick seconds composite 69 Camaro into the water box for another last ditch effort to extend his streak. He had a comfortable lead to win Drag Week the next day, and he already had a 7.07 run in the books at Memphis. There were only 20 minutes of track time left, and announcer Ron Ward was already explaining that the relentless sun had pounded the track's earlier teeth into submission. Tom and engine builder Steve Morris, weren't about to be satisfied with "just" the win however, they were determined to get a six second ET. at every track! Watching this kind of stuff unfold in front of you is another of those things that make Drag Week so awesome. Sure enough, it stuck and managed a 6.96-211! Many people will look at the passes they turned in each day and say, "Wow, they just dominated the event", without ever understanding the absolute tightrope they traversed between that accomplishment, and abject, total failure!
Back in our pits, we quickly finished loading up and were ready to roll out. Rachael informed me that she was going to ride with Robert and Dad in the Charger, so I would have to make do with James as my navigator. Lane walked over to harass us , "The Gebhart boys leaving early? Something's not right about that!" I had to agree with him, 1:15pm was a far cry from our normal four or five!
I was the first one to exit the track. "Take a left on Fite road", James told me, looking at the sheet. "A left? 51 is back to the right". "Is that how it's going to be... already?" He stared at me. "Ok, ok, left it is".
We drove five or so miles through residential neighborhoods until we jumped onto Paul Barrett Parkway/ I-269/ Tn. 385. Eighteen miles later we exited onto US-70 east, and pulled into a gas station a mile further down the road, with Robert's rental Charger behind us. I had just started the pump when my phone rang, it was Boone. "We are stopped about five miles from the track, just past that church", he opened the conversation. "Yeah, I saw it." "Darren's car is making a bunch of noise, and we're trying to figure it out." "Well, we are only about twenty miles up the road, at a big station with plenty of lights, why don't you bring it up here?" "Well... actually we are in a pretty nice neighborhood on a side street. I think we're going to try to figure it out here." "Do you want us to come back?" "Not yet, just hang out there for a while, and we'll call you in a bit."
