Something about white Dodges and deer in Kansas.Blame me. 2014 has not been nice to Mike.He bought a newer work truck and go t-boned 6 hours after buying it by an uninsured driver.Then 3 weeks before DW he destroys the "good" motor and then the deer.I don't think his Cuda likes sharing the shop with the Dart.Cuda Karma.At least he and Vic were not hurt.Bad thing was he had his vent window open and got deer crap,fur etc all over the inside of the car.$$$$hitty deal all the way around.

Twelve minutes after Dale's run, Boone rolled into the water box in the Barnyard Viper, and staged up beside Brian Kohlmann's 31 Coupe, with it's blown early Hemi. The visual feast of the run was such fun that Hot Rod went to an instant replay of it on the Pep Boy's live feed! He managed an 11.402-115.8 in the soupy Topeka air, most of the NA cars were running a good bit slower than Tulsa.

Full, tilt, Boogie! Hard to hide the concentration level when you wear an open face helmet!

Unfortunately, Tuesday was the last day for the coupe, as he didn't record a time in Noble the next day. Second DNF in a row, for such a neat, violent little stick car!

Five minutes after Boone's run, I got a text from Opal, reporting that John was ready to roll out for Noble, and asking how close we were. I sent back that we would be a while, as we had two down, three to go!
Watching the live feed I've seen he had a nice heads-up race beside Scott Abbott, and his 70 Road Runner. One and done, on their way. It was good see John and Opal had their sea legs under them already, and had this whole drag week thing figured out!

Kieron Kohlmann was out after recording an E.T. on day two as well in this slick Super Bee. Same last name as the coupe, both retired from the event on the same day, I don't know the story though, wish I did, wonder if one broke, and the other just decided to help get the car back to Tulsa?

The Super Bee recorded a 12.93-107 at Tulsa, and a 12.54-113 at Topeka.

hi Billy!

The coupe broke, had valvetrain problems, they decided to head home.

"Remember last year, when I was having trouble with that nitrous solenoid on the Satellite, so I stole the one off the Belvedere?"
"Yeah, I do recall that", Dale nodded his head.
"Well", I pointed to the solenoid at the back of the Belvedere engine bay, "That's the one I took off, I just put it back on this car after we got home".
"Brilliant, now what's the plan?"
"We'll have to swap the one off the Valiant, I left my spares at your house, I'm afraid!"

We made the necessary repairs, and Rachael's N20 was ready to go, she drove over to the onsite Sunoco pumps, and tossed in some race fuel and headed to the line. With an hour left of track time in the day, she laid down a 13.67-101...in her rush to get ready under the tower, no one had turned on the bottle!

Thanks squirrel for the clarification.

I purchased a few gallons of race gas myself and headed up to the lanes, which is quite a long drive at Heartland Park. Just as I cleared the pits, and headed through the narrow opening in the fence to get on the road to the back of the tower, I looked over, saw Eli and Austin Gould working on their 80 Trans Am, and gave them a friendly wave. When my eyes returned to the road, I realized I was on the left side, and had a Red 76 Gran Torino with a white stripe on the side heading straight at me. I hastily scooted back over to my side of the lane, as the driver in the Ford flew me the bird as he drove by.
I shook my head, laughed, and told myself, "You nearly had a head-on collision with a pair of TV detectives...and Starsky just flipped you off!" Only on Drag Week!

Fratzog doin' work.
Charley rowed the gears to an 11.533-119.02 at Topeka!

I staged in the left lane, had a decent launch, went ahead and hit second at 6200 and was whooping up on Matt Koetting's blue 11 second 68 Camaro. At the shift to drive the trans felt as if it went to neutral, and the engine hit the 7200 chip, I lifted, stabbed it again, and it pulled hard to the stripe. 11.30-119.44 on the ticket, what was that? I remembered my first pass on the street when it seemed to flair up, then I thought about yesterday when it broke up going into drive, and I was questioning the beehive springs. What is going on with this 904?

Then I was back in the pits, and Rachael was showing me the 12.43-109 she had ran right behind me. "We need better than that if you are going to stay in the hunt for the quick 32", I explained, "and that 2.12 sixty foot time is where you gave it away".

Eighteen minutes later, I was staging up in the right lane at Heartland Park, and clearly, the Chevy boys weren't happy with me outrunning that Camaro earlier, so they sent up reinforcements! Jeff Lutz and the Evil Twin 57 were bumped in on the top bulb, and bringing up the boost. His 6.789-215.41 lit up the boards before I hit the eighth mile cones! The 904 did the exactly the same thing on the shift to drive. 11.289-119.77, I'm not the smartest driver, not by a long shot, but after two identical runs, I was sensing there may be a problem here.

At 1:42 pm, Darren finally got his chance, running an 11.421-117.35 to stay in the hunt, apparently, the 4.56s and the mufflers weren't moves the Dakota was happy with yet, but it completed day two and was moving on.

Back in the pits, I cornered Boone, our trans whisperer, and told him what was going on.
"Have you checked the fluid today?"
"No", I popped the hood, "Dang it, I left the air cleaner on, no wonder it only went 119!"
He pulled the stick as I started removing the breather, "This stick is bone dry, did you bring any fluid?"
I handed him a quart, then we fired it up and checked it, then a second quart, then a third, and finally he was happy.


At 1:53 Rachael made another run, 12.135-110.27, and I went up at 2:00 on the nose and promptly left in second gear and ran 12.54 at 77mph! I was completely disgusted.

"Well that's it, I'll just turn in the 11.28".
"They extended it until 2:15", Dale explained, "You have time for another run."
"Nope, I'm done, that's it for today", I threw up my hands.
"I'll run you in the Barnyard", Boone offered.
"Want someone to show you the way to the tens?" I smiled.
"Sure, you've got a .28 today, I've got a .40, maybe the old truck has something for you!"
"OK then, lets do it!"

Dale, Darren, James, and Rachael were loading up in the Belvedere.
"Where are you guys going", I questioned.
"Got two empty bottles to drop off at Monte's trailer, then we will go to the tower and turn in our slips."

I followed Boone to the lanes, and noticed Larry was prepping the S-10 for a last attempt. "Well, they didn't extend this session just for me", was the first thought through my head.

Boone and I staged, and I put a healthy hole shot on him, but the Valiant stumbled badly, and I knew the sixty foot was garbage, then I slowly pulled away from him, as the small block ran great, and the 904 did it's job. 10.937-121.33, so my dream of tens all week would survive another day.
We were both talking about our run with Dad, when Rachael came running up with her helmet still on.
"Woohoo, back in the 11s!" she shoved a time slip in my face.
"What did you do?"
"Well, I dropped them off at the tower, watched you guys in the burnout box, then looked around and realized I was right there, why not go again?"
"11.806, at 113.27, great, now you're really in the hunt again!"

Nice R/T Billy..

Oh wait.. It was a .400 pro tree.. You're excused..



Chris..