After the third or fourth dry hop on the return road, Dale had determined that the 50cc pump Darryl had added to the front bowl of the HP 950 when he ran it on his Dart was just too much fuel for a clean launch on my car. Finally, he simply tightened the arm down to limit pump travel in an attempt to lessen the problem since we didn't have enough parts to convert it back to a 30cc pump.
My second pass resulted in a much better leave, but it seemed to flatten out on the big end, and the time slip read 10.57-125.8. Dale demanded a few more dry hops, much to my chagrin, as we contemplated what we needed to be satisfied with our attempt at Cordova.
I knew Aaron and Robert, as well as Jeremy and his Dad, had been at the track much sooner than we arrived, so I quizzed them as to what Bridger in the Camaro had ran earlier in the day. No one could quite recall, but Jeremy's Dad felt it may have been somewhere in the high ten forties. That assessment wasn't exactly filling me with confidence.

My third pass, I pulled up in the left lane, and looked over to see John pull his 67 up in the right. I smiled as I thought about how he drove away from me on the 428's maiden voyage last year...time for some redemption! He slapped a .110 light on the four tenths pro tree to my lazy .467 for a healthy three and half tenths head start, but the small block was reeling in his 440 by half track to the tune of .26 and 4mph. The little 62 had a bumper out front by .005 at the 1000ft mark, then stretched the advantage to 16 feet, nearly a full car length, by the finish line. 10.591-125.32, to 11.039-119.70. It didn't help either of us in the grand scheme of things, but it sure was fun!

John shrugged at me when he got out of his car, "What were you doing up there...spooling your imaginary turbo?"
"I was giving you the tree, just to make it interesting...then I still drove around you like that thing was tied to a post", I shot back.
"Yeah, sure", He shook his head and laughed, "I kept waiting for that all-powerful small block to make a move, and it just barely gained on me all the way down...finally I realized you don't have a bit more motor than this tired old 440, just a car that's 350 pounds lighter!
The verbal jousting was fun, but both of us realized we were running out of time, The Drag Week staff had already announced that the day was officially counted as complete at 12:15, but they would continue to run until Two PM, weather permitting. From the looks of the black clouds arriving, and the sudden change in the wind...the weather was not going to permit any such thing!