McGilton closed out Drag Week 17's visit to Byron Dragway with a 7.60-187 pass as we made our way back to our pits. Darren and Dylan had re-installed the passenger's side header on the Valiant with a fresh Percy's multi-layer aluminum gasket. They are the only ones I've found that stay sealed for all the street driving, but they start to melt and degrade after about 6-8 nitrous passes. I installed the exhaust while Rick and Sharma inspected the front suspension and did an alignment. The passenger's side pipe wouldn't go in place without slotting the rear mount, so I knew the header had been tweaked when the 62 landed but couldn't see where exactly. Rachael had all of our stuff packed except the tools, and I was starting to feel like we might still make it out on the road at a decent hour. I fired up the 428 to check everything else out, and it was immediately apparent that we still had a bad header leak on he passenger's side. With the car back in the air on stands, Dylan crawled under with a flashlight and looked up at where the tubes met the flange.
"Yep", he confirmed our fears, "that back tube is cracked on the bottom...pretty much from bolt hole to bolt hole!"
"Crap", Boone shook his head, "what now?"
Dylan crawled out from under the car, and we were all standing around in a semi-circle discussing our options when Clark Rosenstengal walked down from the upper pits to check on us. It's not uncommon for the stragglers at the end of the day to commiserate with each other, and we had noticed that both his Camaro and John Faraone's Aussie Charger were up on four jack stands with attention on the trans area. During the conversation, I wasn't sure if both were having issues with their Rossler transmissions, or their Gear Vendors, but they were waiting for parts to arrive. Dylan eventually asked Clark if he had a welder and generator in his trailer, and I was surprised when he said yes and volunteered to drag them out so we could use them.
"It's settled then", Dale smiled, "Let's get that header back off and get it fixed!"

I accompanied Dale and Dylan up to Clark's little pull along trailer with the header, and talked to him while Dylan welded up the pipe. I noticed that Dennis Taylor was loading up the 55, which had made multiple passes during the day.
"Yeah, they lost the Badmaro last night, and have decided to throw in the towel for this year", Clark confided. "I might be joining them soon", he laughed. "It's been a trying year for all of us, and it just wears you down after a while."
The conversation proved prophetic, As Byron would mark the end of competition at Drag Week 2017 for both Rosenstengal and Faraone, as well as Dennis Taylor.

It was dark by the time we pulled out of Byron Dragway. Rick and Sharma had left several hours earlier, so it was just the eight of us when we pulled into Phillips 66 in Byron to fuel up and regroup at 7pm. We were surprised to see McGilton's Camaro and Barry's 56 there also, figuring they were well on their way before then. Plans were made for a late supper stop at Applebees in Freeport Il., some thirty miles away. Rachael and I took the lead out of Byron, and headed west on Il-72 with Dale and Dylan in the Gremlin directly behind us, followed by Boone and Billy in the Ruster then Pops and Darren in the Ram R/T. I was cruising along at 3K, enjoying the breeze through the windows and chatting with Rachael, when after about six miles I looked up and realized there were no headlights behind me.
"Where the heck did those guys disappear to this time?"
Rachael set her phone down and picked up mine, "I'll text them and see what's going on".