I've raced at just over 20 Drag Strips, and been to at least 10 more...I really enjoyed Amarillo Dragway. There will be people who will complain about it, and say HotRod made a mistake by scheduling it, I would strongly disagree.
The staff running the track were friendly, accomodating, and they cared, the spectator count was amazing for a Wednesday morning. One old timer commented, "I haven't seen this many people at this track in 10 years!! Like the movie Hoosiers, get out your tape measure, and measure it; A quarter-mile long, and wide enough to make corrections. Just like Home, let's race!! There was no need for "5 mph in the pits" or "15 mph on the return rd." signs, any more than that and you were likely to lose something off your car. The track surface presented a challenge, Small Track Charm, loved it.
Dale and I made our way down the row of cars, and backed in to start unloading, luckily we had left a gap just big enough to squeeze Boone in because the spots beside us filled in quite quickly, it was going to be tight quarters.

Can't do it again tonight, I'm gonna start taking shortcuts because I'm tired...I'll try again tomorrow.

Awesome job MoparBilly
keep up the great work can't wait!!
more pics please if you have any.
thanks for taking the time to share!
drag345

I hate Photobucket. Nothing but problems!

Amarillo was different.First time Ive heard stuff hitting the bottom of my car at 1000 ft.People were super nice and It was good to help out a track thats trying to survive.All the tracks this year were great and attendance was better tha any DW Ive been on.

By the time we had our stuff unloaded, Boone showed up and started adding his load to the pile. I crowded the Sporongs a bit to make room for him, they were a father/son team running the "Baja Chase Truck", a 2005 Silerado, with big balloon mudders all the way around, then when they arrived at the track they did a 4 wheel change to slicks, and skinnies, yielding mid 11 second ETs. Very cool truck, very cool guys, we enjoyed chatting with them at Amarillo, and the rest of the trip.
I lowered the drag radials to 22, jetted the back of the carb up from 82 to 89, wired the nitrous button up, and moved the distributor pickup wires to a new hole about 1/4 inch away from the alternator wires in an attempt to alleviate the ignition break-up problem. The guys completed thier slick swap, and Dale pulled the timing back on the 2 B-Bodies, also raising both cars from a 73 to an 82 N20 jet, to make up for the higher elevation.
Boone convinced me to remove my "Plymouth" front license plate off the Valiant, and bolt on the "Drag Week 2011" one we picked up in our goodie bags. I was doing that when a local was talking about how much he liked my car, and something in his voice registered, I gave him a good look.
"Hey man, thanks for the warning about 136 last night, that really made a difference, it was tricky in the rain"!
"You recognized me"?
"You were at the Pizza Hut in Guymon, right"?
"Yeah, that was me...I just couldn't believe they were sending you that way, I didn't want to see any of these awesome cars get tore up, glad I could help".
Dale came back from his first run, complaining about leaving it in low too long, or something, a 13.12-103.01 in his hand, "I need a 12, I have to move up on some of these naturally aspirated cars, they will really struggle in this 3800 ft air". After 2 days he was 39th, and worried about his chance to qualify in the quick 32.
Boone was almost ready to go up, and I looked at one of his slicks, "That thing looks low", I commented
"Yeah, It's starting to lose air faster than the first two days, I intentionally put 2 lbs more in it, but it's already down..I better the pump with me to the lanes", he declared.
They were ancient 28X9 M/T ET DRAGs that were mounted tubelss, and had been holding a car up (unsuccessfully) at my Dad's shop for at least 5 years, it was a miracle they held air at all.
Dale came back from his 2nd run, really upset, "Decent launch, but it just laid over at half track, 13.61-85. I think it ran out of fuel, 5 gallons wasn't enough, it's running away from the pickup"!
I gave him the rest of my race gas...C/12 in an 8 to 1 pig, what a waste of good fuel, at least that would keep him off me.
Boone rolled up the burnout box beside Mike Crow and his all-world, all conquering, Former Drag Week Champ, 73 Red Barracuda, with it's stick shifted, high winding small block, a true mid 10-sec terror! Ok, I know, he has his mild street motor in it now, but as a second generation storyteller, my Dad taught us early on, "Never let the facts get in the way of the telling of a good story!"
Mike and his Barracuda grabbed the hole shot, and had Boone by a car when he hit the nitrous and the Belvedere rolled up on the suspension, and began to give chase in an odd snakelike procession down the track that told me, "There is no way those two slicks are at the same pressure right now". It looked as though Mike would hold him off, but the Barracuda slowed to a 12.30 at only 94, while Boone streaked by at 12.03-108.64. That's one Boone will be re-telling around the camp fires for many years to come!! We'll have to get Ksj to let us in on what happened to Mike, as the car was considerably faster at every other track.

WOW.. Thank you for spending the CONSIDERABLE amount of time writing this up... I am enjoying every word of it.
Thank You
Curt
Of course if this was a movie you would have given the pizza boy the "Drag Week" lic plate.... then he might have cried a little...just a little..

Mike had the smaller motor with the Doug Nash in it.He rows all 5 with the small motor and missed 5th. All in our group were one and done and on the road to Tulsa.

I made my way through the lanes, as I approached my burnout, Freiburger took notice of the Drag Week tag, and dropped to the prone position to get a good angle with the tag in the burnout shot. My conversations with several drag radial guys had convinced me that the trans-brake was a no-no, so I purged the nitrous in the engine, pulled the Cheetah SCS into low, and staged on the footbrake to 3000. I launched at 3/4 throttle, and was rewarded with good transfer and decent traction. WOT, and short shift to 2nd at 5800, grabbed the N20, felt a little push, nothing spectacular, drive at 5800, and it immediately started wobbling so I let off the nitrous. The wobbling worsened as I gained speed, and began bottoming out the longer shocks, so I just leveled out my speed, and hoped to get to the finish line. 12.42-110.86. I can't tell you how many times I've run 11.0something in this car at a race and been disapointed, I expect 10's, but in the context of this week, and everything I'd been through up to this point, a 9/10th's improvement felt very rewarding!


Hot Rod Drag Week 2011 Day 3 Amarillo Tx.
I'll try this out, I'm not a multimedia guy, this is Hot Rod's 28 minute video from Amarillo: Boone Vs. Mike at 6:59, Me at 16:28, and Dale at 17:38

Dale was on his 3rd pass, had jumped the N20 up to 81-92, and the Satellite fell on it's face to a 14.15-79, Ugh!
"The bottle is empty, gotta be", he decides.
"Take mine, I'm done" I offered
"Gonna have to have something to wrap around the bottle so it will fit in my fat brackets"
Boone handed him a jacket, and Dale jumped under the hood, as Darren bolted it in.
"What are you doing now", I prodded
"Taking the N20 jetting to 91-102".
"Are you nuts, it's a cast crank, stock motor, and you don't even know what would have happened on the last increase"!
"I still want a 12, one way or another"!
He headed up to the lanes, I told the Sporongs next to us, "He's cutoff after this pass, If he can't get it done in 4 passes, too bad"!
David Freiburger came over to our pits with his little recorder, and asked me about the particulars of my car, how long I've owned it and such. It's nice to be noticed, even if the car wasn't performing well. But anyone who's read my drivel on this board for 10 years knows I'm a very introverted, private person who would never seek attention at all.
Dale was 2 tenths better to the 1/8, but it laid over again, and he had let off the N20, 13.15-104.
"I let a great opportunity get away here", Dale moaned as whe headed to the tower to turn in our slips.
"And my 12.42 covers your 12.44 best", I reminded him
"Still got you on average", He smiled.
"You guys are pathetic slow", Boone chimed in.
We showed our pics. of last night's checkpoints, then Tonya Turk took our timeslips, and handed us the instructions for the drive to Tulsa, all 403 miles worth, Whew!!

Billy after watching that vid at Amarillo. I can see what you mean. That thing was a handful down about 1000'. Nice driving. And nice writing. Jim

that looked fun on the top end.

We headed back to the cars to prepare for the trip. Boone had already changed out his slicks, and loaded most of the stuff going in his car, we were starting to get a pretty good routine going. He grabbed his and Dale's bottles, and headed to Monte's trailer. I hooked the pump to my Goodyears to bring them back up to driving pressure, then re-installed my breather, and started loading bags behind the roll cage in the back-seat area.
Dale was working on changing out the slicks, and then crawled further under the car to inspect something, I heard him mutter a curseword, then a slow laugh. He crawled back out with a funny look on his face.
"What's wrong under there", Darren beat me to the question.
"When I launched on the 2nd pass, I heard something weird. The top shock bolt came out and the shock is resting against the frame, pinching off the fuel line...No wander it kept laying over every pass after that"!
Boone came back empty handed, "Monte was loading everything up, getting ready to leave, he said he'll have them ready at Tulsa".
"I think I'm gonna change my oil", I decided.
"Good Idea, 400 miles ahead of us", Dale agreed, with an affirmative head shake from Boone. I had ordered Lucas oil before the event, and had it shipped to OK., but I told them to hold off on changing it because I was sure I had just changed it before the driveshaft failure. They were all in agreement I should have changed it before we left.
I took out the plug, and 5 1/2 quarts of the most vile, black disgusting stuff poured into the pan...it had the viscousity of chicken broth, it seriously looked to have zero lubricating qualities whatsoever.
"How many passes were on that engine", Boone asked with raised eyebrows.
"100 or so".
"That's the freaking break-in oil"! Dale laughed, "You tightwad, lazy bum".
"Really guys, I swear..."
"Save it", Darren cut me off, "You should be kicked"!
New filter, and 8 quarts of 20/50, and the smallblock purred to life. We stopped to get gas at a station 2 miles from the track, amid a throng of other DragWeekers.
"We finally get to run with everyone else," Darren was excited. We did the big-gulp exchange as we crawled over the side bars..you don't get in with your hands full, just doesn't work!
We drove the 10 miles to I-40 with Darren intently watching the guages, the temp did it's usuall steady climb until hit 180, then it just stopped. Darren glared at me, "15 lbs. more oil pressure and 180 degrees...you are scum, this ole girl deserves better"!

"Good Idea, 400 miles ahead of us", Dale agreed, with an affirmative head shake from Boone. I had ordered Lucas oil before the event, and had it shipped to OK., but I told them to hold off on changing it because I was sure I had just changed it before the driveshaft failure. They were all in agreement I should have changed it before we left.
I took out the plug, and 5 1/2 quarts of the most vile, black disgusting stuff poured into the pan...it had the viscousity of chicken broth, it seriously looked to have zero lubricating qualities whatsoever.
"How many passes were on that engine", Boone asked with raised eyebrows.
"100 or so".
"That's the freaking break-in oil"! Dale laughed, "You tightwad, lazy bum".
"Really guys, I swear..."
"Save it", Darren cut me off, "You should be kicked"!

We jumped out on the big road, I-40, and ran up to 3200 rpm, that put us running along with traffic pretty well. The semi drivers were doing the slow down and make us pass, then speed up and go by trick, so they could get a good look at the cars. I don't mind, of course, but when they are taking a phone pic with one hand, hollering on the CB with the other, and then trying to give you a thumbs up...well occasionally they borrow a little of your lane! You just need to be prepared to share is all. We were slowly gaining on a pair I recognized from our 2006 outing. Clarke Rosenstengal's 95 Camaro was yellow back then, and ran in Pro-Street but was limited to 10.0, now it's blue has an upgraded cage, and is running Modified normally aspirated. Trailing him is James Fall and his big tired red 74 Vega. These 2 met in 06 when Clarke punctured one of his Sportsman Pro's because the diagonal link came loose. James was pulling a trailer with slicks on it, and loaned them to Clarke, so he could get to the last track, they've been Drag Week buddies ever since.
We were about to pass them 60 miles in, when they exited off the road, We ran on until Shamrock, where we jumped off I-40, and came to our first checkpoint. We hadn't seen anyone for quite a ways, but as we approached the Checkpoint, we saw quite a few at the different stations and eating establishments. The first Checkpoint was an old Conoco Station which had been restored, and turned into a rest area/Texas historical spot.

We shot some pictures, hung out for a bit, and I talked to one of the guys who had been giving me advice on the Drag Radials, he seemed to be doing the entire thing just spectating, and so far I had seen him 3 days in a row with a crisp black X275 Tee on every time, so I figured he really liked the 275 xtreme drag radial stuff...I'm quite the Sherlock Holmes on occasion. We were 100 miles in, so we went up the road a half mile and pulled in for fuel. I filled up while Darren went in for refreshments. He came back out, and I realized the earlier big gulp was calling my name, so I went in for a nature call.
When I emerged, the Valiant was gone, along with Darren and Dale, only Boone was standing there with a funny smile and 2 B bodies, "You get the Satellite", he laughed.
"Where is my car"?
"Left here as soon as you walked in the store"!
You'd think after all these years I'd know not to turn my back on those two...

Great reading,Billy!!

Please keep going, Great read

83 to Wheeler was a hilly 2-lane, and I tried my best to find a driving style to maximize the 4200 stall, 2.73 gear, 4500lbs. and cruise speed of 55-60. The egg under the throttle technique, the speed up and coast technique, all to no avail, nothing but a trans heating, gas burning pig I determined!
We headed west on 152, which turned into Ok 6 when we crossed the state line. We didn't catch the dirty car thieves until we were nearly into Elk City, which was the home of our next checkpoint, The Route 66 Museum. I decided the Valiant did look pretty good cruising down the open road. Once at the Museum, we quickly took our required pics, I took my place behind the wheel of the Valiant, and we headed off in search of dinner. The Pizza Hut about 3 miles up the road filled the need nicely, as we had a window seat that allowed us the opportunity to watch our competitors cruise by. Darren and Dale's escapade in the Valiant had put them both in search of a solution for the long shocks.
"We've got a couple options, either shorter shocks or we change from 12" to 14" springs", Dale started in.
"I like the idea of 14" springs".
"Well, Darren called Grand Prix, and they can only get them in 150 lbs., you have 130s".
"When can they have them"?
"He said 7:30 in the morning, hopefully...or certainly by noon", Darren added.
"Naw, I don't like that, I'd like to have something for the track".
"I can get shorter shocks shipped to the store by my house", Dale offered, "But they are Ranchos, so they are more expensive".
"Yeah, Let's go that route", five words to seal my fate...

Keep them coming.

They ran us north on 34 for 15 miles to kick us over far enough to miss OK City, then east on 33, at which time my navigator reverted back to his day 1 inability to read the mileage. We were in Custer City, at a point where Darren was arguing it was still twenty miles away. We pulled into a very small gas station, that only had 87.
"We are 108 into this tank of gas, but I'm not running 87", I decided
"I can make it to the next town", Boone added, "But we better not push our luck with Dale's car".
20 miles up the road we came into Thomas OK., and found a much larger station, complete with 5 or 6 fellow DragWeekers and the Hot Rod staff in a Chrysler minivan. Dale pulled over to the side as Boone and I made our way to the pumps. The Hot Rod guys had apparently been shooting pics of incoming cars for a while, and were loading up to head out.
Wes Allison, photog extaordinare, walked up and said, "You 3 are running together"?
"Yep" I said, wondering if he was looking for a rule infraction or something, "four brothers, three cars"!
"Ah..OK", he said. I saw the 'possible story angle' light go off in his eyes. The remaining competitors pulled out of the lot, and the Hot Rod group gave chase. Dale came over and said, "I'm going ahead, you guys can catch up", and took off behind them.
As we were driving through the next town, Boone pulled up beside me, phone to his ear, "It's Dale, he says Hot Rod is taking pics of him driving down the road. Why would they take pictures of the Satellite?"
"Freibuger loves beaters, Boone, anything with patina, that's being ran hard". I was thinking of David's speech at the driver's meeting, "If we pull alongside to take pics, most people either hit the brakes, and we only get the front, or nail the gas and we only get the back! JUST CONTINUE to drive normal". I was wondering which of the 2 sins Dale had perfomed first!

Amarillo