Darren had been watching the last few runs down the track, as well as checking out all the stragglers still in the pits, and he walked over next to the Valiant as I was installing the passenger's side exhaust pipe.
"Can you get that thing on there, Chubby, or do I need to jack the car up higher?" He teased, as he sat down on a canvas chair next to the car.
"No...I've got it just fine...if you really want to help, you could just get down here and put it on for me", I countered.
"Don't think so", he laughed, "since I'm just following along, and not an official trunk monkey that might get you disqualified, besides, I thought you had Skippy trained to do that for you?"
"Yeah, but he went with Boone and Dale to get the head off the Gremlin fixed."
"So he baled on you to go sight seeing?"
"I think Rachael sent him along to keep an eye on the Belvedere...I don't think she trusts her Uncles to be out on the streets in her car without supervision!"
"Probably a good call, who was driving when they left here?"
"Dale", I stated.
"Definitely a good call on her part then", he chuckled.
"Did Goldstone get his six today in the red AMX"? I changed the subject.
"No, he made three hits today, but all were low sevens...he just couldn't get the power down at about a 150 feet out, and had to pedal it every pass."
"What about Joe Barry?"
"He was struggling today too. Monte got him lined up in the groove on his last hit and it was great to the 1/8th, but then it laid down in the second half and only went 177!"
"Only"?
"Well, the ole Creamsicle '56 been over 200, so I think 'only' applies in his case", he laughed. "Did you see them haul the green Nova out of here on a trailer"?
"Brad Dyer in the '72, that won Modified NA last year? I saw them working on it down at the end of the return road."
"Yeah, he's done! They were interviewing him on camera earlier today, and he admitted to running his entire Drag Week trip on C-14 fuel!
"That's just crazy! I know the Horns did the same thing last year in that small block Challenger, but I think they had 110 octane fuel with them. I'll just have to be a slow guy in the NA classes, because I'm just not going to do it that way".
"Well, there's E-85!" He started laughing.
"After your debacle last year...no thanks!"