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Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2319539
06/11/17 08:01 PM
06/11/17 08:01 PM
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Rachael took the lead, and I pulled out behind her, with the other three cars behind me, but Rachael checked out on me in the first five miles, as she easily eclipsed the local speed limit by ten or more, so I began to look at my route sheet since I wasn't going to try to keep up with her.

"Right Turn onto Indiana 38 E (sign says toward Stony Creek farm)", was the first sentence of the next instruction on the sheet.
I successfully made the turn and put the sheet down without reading the second and third sentences of that instruction, a mistake that I have admonished co-drivers and fellow travelers for, many, many times on Drag Week. That mistake would bite me a few miles later as we were crossing over I-69 right before entering the town of Pendleton. The street sign clearly indicated that IN-38 would turn onto I-69, so I made a left onto the access road before consulting the route sheet.
"IN-38E becomes State Street through Pendleton. Continue onto State Street/ IN-38E for 54.1 miles", were the next two sentences. Had I read and comprehended that information previously, I wouldn't be sitting on the shoulder, preparing to back up this ramp the wrong way! Traffic was very light, so I figured the other guys would continue on the proper route while I backed up the shoulder and got back behind them with my tail between my legs. I was wrong again, they were all in full on "follow Billy" mode, so before I knew it, we had four hot rods sitting on the shoulder of the access road!

Dan jumped out of the "Plan II" Nova AFX, and volunteered to guide each of us back up the ramp, and hold traffic while we got back onto State Street. Once we cleared Pendleton, we were once again cruising across pristine Indiana farmland, dotted with equally pristine farmhouses. It was dark by the time we drove into New Castle, and at the first stop light, a local pointed out that I had a taillight out, so I pulled into a Marathon Gas station beside Jeffrey Lutz and his Civic.

As I feared, Rachael had shorted out the taillight by packing my trunk improperly, so I simply needed another 1157 bulb. Meanwhile Jeffrey and Nick borrowed Boone's jack to get under the little ground hugging Civic in order to remove a damaged belly pan that had been bent back while traversing a RR crossing. Dale fueled the Gremlin, and added oil again, he would go through 3 quarts on the 244 mile drive.

IMG_20160915_204657 - Copy.jpg100_2082 - Copy.JPG

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2319541
06/11/17 08:10 PM
06/11/17 08:10 PM
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view from the other side smile


Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2319723
06/12/17 03:11 AM
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Checkpoint #1 was the Warm Glow Candle Outlet in Centerville OH. When we pulled in there for our pictures we had covered 95 miles of our trip, in roughly five hours, with around five stops along the way. Definitely not one of our best legs on any Drag Week. Rachael and Pops were waiting for us, but hadn't stopped for gas yet, so now we were going to be waiting for them to get fuel, so that was very frustrating considering the way they had ran off and left us.

Jim and Dan informed us that they intended to break off from our group and find a motel. Since racing doesn't start until the afternoon on Friday, many of the Drag Week veterans have begun to employ a strategy where they find a motel on the way Thursday, so they can finish the drive in the morning, rather than push all the way to the host track Thursday night. They bid us a safe trip and jumped directly onto I-70 while we went back across the interstate to allow Rachael a chance to fuel up the Belvedere. The station was just closing up, so Rachael ran inside to use the restroom as Pops and I topped off the Belvedere and Valiant from the same pump.

Dale looked like he was getting pretty tired, so I suggested that he and Boone go ahead and go, rather than waiting up for us.
"It's 51 miles straight down I-70 to checkpoint #2, so we'll catch up. You might as well go, because you might be dumping in fuel on the side of the road in forty miles anyway!"
They agreed, and were on their way before the clerk unlocked the door to let Rachael out of the convenience store.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2319935
06/12/17 03:11 PM
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Roughly what time was it when you rolled into the first check point? We changed a alternator there, and left around 9:30-10?


69 GTX 68 Road Runner
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2319958
06/12/17 03:57 PM
06/12/17 03:57 PM
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my picture of the candle has a time of 22:50 hours...not quite midnight, but not real far away either.


Last edited by squirrel; 06/12/17 03:58 PM.
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2320294
06/13/17 12:23 AM
06/13/17 12:23 AM
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Ahh, the candle factory scene...
As we were getting close the the candle factory checkpoint, the amp gauge on the GTX was reading negative. I stopped and looked under the hood, and found that the big long bolt that attaches the alternator to the cast iron Hemi head had sheared off even with the head. I suspected that maybe this affected the ground if the other attachment points were corroded, and thus the no-charge situation. I tightened up the other bolts, started the car, and the amp gauge swung way positive.

At the checkpoint, we were asking around, trying to find a new bolt and some tools to remove the broken stub. Eddie Miller looked at it and suggested putting a nut on the busted end of the bolt for now to tie things together, then at least I could continue without using an easy out. Good idea. So we found a nut and did that, but then upon restarting, the system failed to charge again. I am the kind of guy who likes to go through a logical diagnostics procedure and pinpoint what exactly is wrong before I start replacing parts. Since we had previously solved what appeared to be a ground issue, we ran a wire from the negative terminal on the battery directly to the alternator case. That didn't work. Next I wanted to full field the alternator to isolate whether the fault was in the alternator or elseware. But I couldn't remember if this alternator needs 12V+ or ground to full field it. I tried to find the answer via google on my phone, but the internet connection was excruciatingly slow, google was being stupid, trying harder to sell me stuff than to provide useful information, and my cell battery was almost dead. By then, we had about a half a dozen or more very well meaning helpers, trying to lend a hand, and half of them insisting that they knew exactly what was wrong, and that I should do this or do that, or they'll go get this or that for me. So even though I appreciated all the help, (and I knew I might end up needing it), I was getting a little frustrated with the nonstop barrage. Add that to being mad at my phone, I had to take a step back and calm down and resign myself to letting a crowd of people poke at my car.
Eventually I got the info I needed from the web, and jumped 12V+ to the spade terminal on the original date coded alternator, and proved it was faulty. The crowd cleared away, and Jeff stayed with the car while a local guy gave me a lift to autozone, arriving right before they closed. They didn't have the right alternator on hand, and I thought about about staying in that town for the night and trying to find one in the morning. But then with a little more internet research, I found a later model alternator that would bolt in but required a wiring modification. Amazingly they had the long bolt in stock too. 45 minutes later, I was very happy to be back on the road with the headlights shining bright!



alternator fix.jpg

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31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
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Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2322522
06/17/17 07:19 AM
06/17/17 07:19 AM
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Originally Posted By cudadon
Originally Posted By MoparBilly
Originally Posted By cudadon
Originally Posted By fast68plymouth
I'm still wondering if there is going to be some follow up on the metal in the oil........or is that just "normal" for drag week.


Dwayne I was wondering if in a few more runs down the track we would get a look at what's inside the engine?
I would be "concerned" for sure!

"It's a Mopar", he laughed, "She's just making her own clearances!"


I don't know if you mean that's a characteristic of Mopars or not?!

Don


Don,
I doubt anyone could argue against the fact that Big Block Mopars have a tough bottom end, that can survive abuse. This quote from Boone however, has more to do with "gallows humor". Boone, Dale and I are not going to stop on Drag Week until the car won't move under it's own power, if that means parts get chewed up in the process, so be it. Darren...not so much. Which is why he has more DNFs than the rest of us combined. Hot Rod had a t-shirt which said, "finishing Drag Week is not a skill, it's an attitude"!


Originally Posted By squirrel
Originally Posted By JERICOGTX
Roughly what time was it when you rolled into the first check point? We changed a alternator there, and left around 9:30-10?


my picture of the candle has a time of 22:50 hours...not quite midnight, but not real far away either.



Yeah, ours have a time stamp of 10:50 or so...then by the time we left the station, we were onto I-70 at around 11:15.


"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2322523
06/17/17 08:06 AM
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Other than Dale pulling over to splash fuel into the Gremlin, the jaunt down I-70 was uneventful, but that in and of itself, was a problem for me. It was a reminder of how boring and impersonal a super highway can be, and I found myself fighting fatigue and sleep as we approached Fairborn Ohio. When we came to our exit, the other three cars headed off in search of Foy's Halloween Store, but the Valiant and I stopped at the first available convenience store for a 24oz coffee/hot chocolate combo. It was a little after mid-night when I parked on Main Street to get our checkpoint #2 pictures, and I was shocked at how many locals were still hanging out on a Thursday. Fairborn is an Air Force/College town of 30,000 so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was an interesting gathering. Hanging out for a few minutes, along with the coffee, gave me my second wind, and I felt ready to roll when we pulled out of there for our final ninety-two miles of street driving on Drag Week 2016!

IMG_20160916_002457 - Copy.jpgIMG_20160916_002557.jpg100_2086 - Copy.JPGIMG_20160916_002612.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2322531
06/17/17 09:05 AM
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I was worried Rachael would try to run off and leave us again, but she handed off the Belvedere driving duties to Dad, and he wanted to be the caboose. I ended up as the leader again, with Dale in the Gremlin behind me.

We pulled onto I-70 for another boring, uneventful twenty miles, but Dale started spicing things up for me pretty quickly, and I found myself watching my rear view mirror as much as looking out the windshield! The Gremlin appeared to be spending quite a bit of time on the rumble strips, as it became clear Dale was struggling to stay awake, but that wasn't the only problem. When drivers are fighting fatigue, speed control is one of the things that suffers first, and usually they slow down, but Dale kept speeding up when he would drift off. One minute we would be cruising along at 3K rpm with the Gremlin two hundred feet behind me, then the next minute he would be gaining speed, on a collision course with the Valiant's rear bumper! Each time I would whack the throttle to get away from him, and it seemed he would hear the change in the Valiant's exhaust note, and then back off, but I found the whole ordeal quite unnerving!

The Hot Rod Drag Week route planners really like to avoid the big interstates as much as possible, but the first foray onto I-70 had allowed us to skirt around the metropolitan area of Dayton Ohio, and this latest twenty had allowed us to avoid driving through Springfield Ohio. Their discretion was appreciated, as my appetite for stoplight to stoplight driving had been satiated by day two. With Springfield behind us the route returned to US-40, a much smaller divided four-lane which runs roughly parallel with I-70 from Indy all the way to Columbus.

At this point in the early AM hours we had US-40 to ourselves, and with Dale's erratic driving, that was a blessing. On the open sections between towns he was doing OK as we cruised along at 50-55, but when we would enter a small town and the speed limit would drop, he would nearly run over me. We made it through South Vienna and Brighton, but in Summerford there was an actual stoplight for the intersection with OH-56, and as we approached it, I realized he wasn't going to stop so I pulled the Valiant over into the left lane. As I suspected he drove past me and a car length into the intersection before he brought the Gremlin to a stop. A cloud of oil smoke enveloped the Gremlin as it sat there with the 572 searching to maintain a semblance of an idle.
"Good grief" I thought to myself, "That thing is really hurt!"
When the light turned green, I pulled up beside him, and he motioned me ahead with a sheepish half-grin on his face, his eyes glazed over.
I called Boone to come up with a game plan.
"We have to get him off the road, he would have plowed right into me if I hadn't moved over!"
"I'm with you", Boone agreed, "He's been keeping me awake, just hoping he doesn't end up in the ditch, so if you find a spot, we'll pull over for a while."

100_2104 - Copy.JPG

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2322924
06/18/17 08:59 AM
06/18/17 08:59 AM
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Three miles down US-40 was a large, well lit concrete parking lot oasis in front of Becks Hybrids, a big seed company. Since the parking lot was unused at 1:30 AM, we took up residence with our four Mopars. Almost immediately upon parking, Boone and Billy grabbed a Harbor Freight moving blanket and spread it out on the pristine concrete behind the Duster. While Billy made himself comfortable on the blanket with his pillow, Boone helped Dale remove the hood from the Gremlin.
"We could hang out here, maybe take a nap like we did at that checkpoint in 2014."
I was clearly directing the suggestion at Dale, but he took a moment to respond as he bent over the fender of the Gremlin and checked the oil on the ailing big block.
"I'm with Dave", Boone added, "It wouldn't hurt to get in a little rest, and it's nice out here right now!"
Dale raised up and shook his head slowly, "Guys...it can't be that much further and I'd rather push on and get to the motel!"
Boone and I consulted the route sheet as Rachael was handing out cold drinks and snacks to everyone. The fact that she was trying to get us loaded up on caffeine and sugar showed me which way she was going to vote.
"Looks like 41 miles left to go", Boone informed everyone.
"We can make that in less than an hour", Dale asserted, as he emptied his fuel jug into the five gallon cell.
"No", I shook my head, "Boone, Dad, and I can make it, but you will be in the ditch in ten miles!"
He took a long swig from the Dr. Pepper Rachael had handed him, and motioned towards her for another one.
"I can make it...honest, let's give it a try, and just pull over again if I get too bad!"
Boone just shrugged when I looked at him for a suggestion, so I agreed that we would keep rolling. I was reminded of losing a front tire with twenty-two miles to go last year and hoped that our luck would even out.

Becks.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2322953
06/18/17 10:27 AM
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Eleven miles later, I pulled into a Sunoco station in West Jefferson. I had only drank water earlier, and I was ready for another coffee and chocolate, besides that, we were quickly approaching the point where we would jump on I-270 to skirt around the bottom of Columbus, so I wanted to make sure everyone was where they needed to be on pump fuel. Rachael and I went over the math, and I put another four gallons in the Valiant, and six in the Belvedere.

Dale seemed to have recovered, and the remaining miles clicked off pretty easily until we were about five miles from the motel. I was cruising along at about 3200 rpm when I lost my interior lights and taillights. I assumed it was the same fuse that had cost me my trans-brake last year, and since I had my brothers behind me and still had headlights, I continued on to the motel.

If we thought the Days Inn Reynoldsburg was a den of iniquity on Monday when we checked in, it was far worse on Friday morning at 2:30 AM! We parked next to the front entrance with our cars in a well lit area next to the main road, but I still wasn't comfortable with all the crazies still milling about. Dale, Boone, Rachael, and Billy all headed in with our bags but I waited behind to keep an eye on things while a pair of mid twenty year old gals were parked in a van next to us. Dad took a cue from me and loitered about at the back of the Belvedere. The women were jumping around in the van like they were all jacked up on meth, and I figured they would be going through the interior of our cars two minutes after we went in, so I waited. Finally a guy came out of the motel, and the girls grabbed their bags and followed him in, so I got out of the Valiant and walked over to where Dad was standing.
"You ready", I asked him, "I was just waiting for those girls to get out of that van parked beside us".
"I'm worried about that black guy in the bushes at the corner of the building", Dad motioned, "He's been on his phone since we parked, probably calling his buddies to come steal our cars!"
I laughed and slapped Dad on the back, "I saw him, he could care less about our cars, so let's go get some sleep!"
"What makes you so sure?" Dad gave me a stern look and didn't budge.
"Did you see the brown Crown Vic that pulled in loaded down with painted up gals right behind us?"
"No", Dad shook his head, "I must've missed that".
"Well, he's their pimp, or look out, or both. Two of them were let in the side entrance of the motel, and two of them went to those semis parked around back, so he's more concerned with them than he is our cars."
Dad smiled, "and you caught all that?"
"I put myself through automotive school as a graveyard cashier for convenience stores in the worst parts of Phoenix, Dad", I laughed, "seen it all before!"

I showered and crawled in bed without exchanging any words with Boone at all, and Rachael was already out when I entered the room.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323074
06/18/17 02:33 PM
06/18/17 02:33 PM
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Almost sounds like the Americas Best Value Inn we stayed at in Hebron.Squirrel stayed there.It was lets just say "Different".

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323132
06/18/17 04:05 PM
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I got to stay at both, at the beginning of the week. We found another city to stay in for the end of the week.

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323151
06/18/17 04:55 PM
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Driving tired is scary. It's kind of like driving drunk. You are so impaired, you don't know how impaired you are.

I'm glad you made it!


[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323152
06/18/17 04:55 PM
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Day 5, National Trail Raceway, Hebron OH

As I wrote in last year's story: "Friday on Drag Week 2015 was like a bad ending to a really good movie". I then went on to complain about everything that went on that day from the opening cars down the track to the awards ceremony to finish up. In response to my complaints, Scott Abbott, driver of the orange/primer 70 Road Runner wrote the paragraph below. Now, I don't know if the powers that be at Hot Rod Drag Week read this thread, or if Scott felt compelled to send them an E-mail, but all of his suggestions were implemented on Friday of Drag Week 2016, with outstanding results!

Hot Rod Drag Week 2015: The Experience


Originally Posted By Scott58 on 7/17/16
The solution could be as simple as opening a little earlier, letting the SME cars go FIRST on Friday, for maybe two hours, and have the Quick 32 determined as a result of only that session, then open the track for the class cars for the rest of the night, they could even run class cars between the opening rounds of the bracket race....and maybe just a little common sense on who gets the "fast lane" during class car runs.


The first part implemented was the announcement made during Thursday's action that the track at National Trail would go live at 1:30pm, not the previously scheduled 3:00.

100_2091.JPG063-2016-drag-week-hot-rod-engines-horsepower.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323171
06/18/17 05:40 PM
06/18/17 05:40 PM
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#37 David Pearson Groovy Grape 70 Dodge Charger
Day 1: 14.02-102.1
Day 2: 13.64-104.2
Day 3: 13.96-102.3
Day 4: 22.35-66.7
Day 5: 19.00-79.3
Final Average: 16.596-90.95

David was well on his way to a respectable high thirteen second average before the axle spline problem bit him at Indy. The big Charger managed to finish the week despite the setback, with careful torque management on the rest of the journey!

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323209
06/18/17 07:00 PM
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There was a tinge of daylight working through the curtain when I woke up, but it was only 6:30 AM. I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep unless I checked on the cars, so I pulled on a t-shirt and my shoes to make my way out to the parking lot.
Tim Hall was obviously suffering from the same kind of anxiety I was, because he was in the parking lot checking on his nine second, Hot Rod class leading 47 International pick-up at the same time. His face brightened into a smile when he saw me come out and he extended his hand.
"Coming out to check on the cars too I see", he laughed.
"Yeah, we stayed here Sunday night, and we were the only DW cars here...it's a pretty rough looking area."
"I didn't have a room reserved for Thursday night, in case I didn't feel like making the whole drive", He explained, "and this is what I found, but I could tell it was pretty sketchy, so I didn't sleep all that well!"
Everything seemed to be in order, so I made my way back through the lobby, and grabbed a small cup of coffee on my way to the room. Odd considering I planned to lay back down, but my wife is addicted and has a pot on 24/7 at our house, so it's never a bad time for a sip or two.

I was still restless when I returned to the room, so I went ahead and took a shower, laid out my clothes, and packed all my things before crawling back in bed.
"It's 9AM", Rachael was shaking my shoulder, "last call for the continental breakfast!"
She had the last of her stuff in her arms, and Boone had already cleared out of the room, so I dressed quickly and joined them at a table. All of us were aware that they would start putting food away promptly at 9:30, so we loaded up several plates in advance, and Rachael was cranking out waffles as fast as the machine would allow. Everyone looked refreshed and well rested except Dale, he looked like he could've slept another five hours!
"You just going to roll the beams and take a 20/50 and call it good when we get out there", I asked him.
"No", his voice was coarse and he shook his head slowly, "did the math already and I need an 8.97 or quicker to beat last year's average, so that's what I intend to do!"
I gave a shocked look at both Boone and Dad, but they just looked down at their food and shrugged.
"The engine is hammered, the car is hammered, you don't have anything to prove...", I tried to reason.
"Look Dave", he stared right at me, "We don't set many goals for our Drag Weeks: have fun, spend time with the family."
"Yeah...that's the way we approach it," I agreed.
"We don't come out here and try to win class or impress everyone, it's just fun. We do however, try to run faster every year, and improve our average. Right? Isn't that what you are trying to get Rachael to do with the Belvedere?"
"Yes, yes, but I don't want you to drive over the crank and put the little beast in the wall either!"
He leaned back in his chair, and laughed, "She's got another eight left in her, I'm sure of it!"

We didn't roll into National Trail until around 11:30, and we heard the announcement that they were indeed going to start with a two hour session of Street Machine Eliminator, so we turned our concentration towards making sure that Rachael and the Belvedere were ready to go first.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323221
06/18/17 07:28 PM
06/18/17 07:28 PM
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#36 James Cefalo Black 62 Chrysler 300
Day 1: 15.30-88.2
Day 2: 15.01-89.6
Day 3: 15.17-88.3
Day 4: 15.41-87.4
Day 5: 15.41-81.6
Final Average 15.264-87.05

Eddie Miller convinced his customer James to bring his big C-body to this year's event, and if the big whale couldn't get enough attention on it's own, they lettered it up like Ray Brock's Hot Rod sponsored 62 Winter Nationals entry! I think James had the adventure of a lifetime, which is what Drag Week is all about.

A low compression motor home 440 fills in admirably for the long gone 413.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323272
06/18/17 08:58 PM
06/18/17 08:58 PM
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#35 Warren Hall 87 Black/Silver Dodge Shelby CSX
Day 1: 13.38-105.0
Day 2: 17.89-79.5
Day 3: 13.58-99.5
Day 4: 13.92-100.3
Day 5: 14.23-101.6
Final Average: 14.60-97.21

Warren had to think after Day 1, when he had a second and a half advantage on Teri's RT, that he would be higher on this list. One bad day on Drag Week though, affects everyone the same, from the guy trying to finish third overall to the guy just trying to outrun his friend in SME. To his credit, Warren recovered and finished, but Norwalk killed his average!

#34 Teri Skrab White 92 Dodge Spirit RT
Day 1: 14.81-99.3
Day 2: 14.40-100.2
Day 3: 13.83-100.7
Day 4: 13.33-102.2
Day 5: 13.83-104.3
Final Average: 14.045-101.38

An early nineties attempt by Dodge to build a four door front drive "Euro-luxury hot rod" is largely forgotten some twenty-five years later, but this model may well have marked the zenith of the 2.2 front drive development and beat the Taurus SHO to be named Motor Trend's "Domestic Sport Sedan of the Year" in '91 and 92. Only about 1400 were ever sold, so it may surprise you to learn this is the second one to complete Drag Week. Ed Kelly's red '91 finished 2013 with a 14.41 average, and a 14.07-100.6 best.

Teri took advantage of the two hour window on Friday, putting four passes on the little DOHC 2.2, but couldn't match her 13.33 from Indy.


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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah? [Re: MoparBilly] #2323300
06/18/17 10:08 PM
06/18/17 10:08 PM
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The first pair of Street Machine Eliminator cars went down the track at 1:35pm to open the day's festivities.
"11:19 is the Quick 32 bump going into today", Freigburger noted, "So that's the number these competitors are shooting for!"
"It should be pointed out", Lohnes added in, "Each of the racers have completed Drag Week 2016 when they take the tree and break the beam, whether they decide to make another pass or not, so you may see a show of emotion when they return to the pits!"

The first pair down was Brian Peterson's Denmark based C3 '80 Corvette against Jeff Dean's Duramax diesel powered '77 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. Brian's 10.45-129 would slot the black 'Vette in the 5th qualifying spot while Jeff's Caddy belched smoke to an 11.58-115. The big white two door luxury barge would finish with an 11.62-114.9 five day average, good for 45th place in SME.

Dale pulled the front clip off the Gremlin, and removed the plugs. He borrowed a compression tester from Jesse Madaffari and ran through all the cylinders one by one. I walked over after sending Rachael to the lanes in the Belvedere, and looked down at the numbers scrawled on a piece of paper:

170----170
90-----30
30-----0
170----170

"Wow, that's pretty bad...", I stopped because I didn't know what else to say.
"Yeah", Dale laughed, "she's pretty used up, so I put 175 on the first hit and 200 on the second...hopefully that will get her there."

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
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