Donnie, the website was doing stupid things, and I thought I was going to lose my post, so I just submitted it, then edited it once I re-booted.

At around 11pm, I grabbed Rachael and told her it was time for us to bail. This would be our last chance to get a decent night's sleep, and I wasn't going to waste it.
"We'll drive the Belvedere over to Boone's, twenty-seven miles will be a good practice run", I told her as we jumped in. I explained to her three times that she had to remember this trans was forward pattern. Then as we were jumping out on the highway I pulled it back from second to first again.
She stuck her hands out and grabbed the dash as the car threw her forward. "What the heck, Dad!" she shouted.
"Just giving you an example of how catastrophic it can be if you revert back to a reverse shift pattern...".
"You are an idiot", was her immediate assessment.

"I'd forgotten how much I enjoy just driving this car", I looked over at her and smiled before we arrived back at Boone's place. "I can't believe I let this thing sit in my car port for a solid year without touching it."
"Yeah, 365 days for what? Eight hours worth of work? You bum!" She tossed her hands up in feigned disgust, but she had a smile on her face.

Saturday

The first thing I noticed when I drug my carcass out of bed Saturday morning was that Boone had never came back home. That was not a good sign.
Rachael and I pulled our laundry out of the dryer, packed our bags, and jumped in the Belvedere. We hit the McDonald's drive through for breakfast and rolled into Dale's around nine.
Boone and Dale were still working on the Duster, and both of them looked like Walking Dead extras. An hour later, Boone headed to his house to get a shower, and pack his clothes for the trip.
My cars were loaded, ratcheted down on the trailer and Rachael was helping me pack away all our supplies, when Dale asked me to help him break the cam in on the Duster. I looked at my phone to track the amount of run time we put on the 512, and realized it was 1:07pm...already an hour later than our agreed upon Noon deadline!

Dale was spraying water on the radiator, and the 512 was humming along at 2500, when the black paint on the fender wells above the headers started bubbling up, so we shut it down for a while.

Boone returned with all his stuff, along with some bad news.
"Darren just called and said the Charger is out, they started to fill the radiator and the water went straight into the pan!"
Dale leaned forward in the Duster, shaking his head. "I told him he should've used a different block!"
"OK, you told me he left water in last winter and the Indy heads were cracked, so he bought a new set", I looked back and forth between both brothers with my hands on my hips. "Now, you're telling me he tried to re-use the block?"
"He waited so late to get started on it...and the only machinist that could get it done in time doesn't have the ability to pressure test anything. We checked it out and it looked fine, he told Darren to take it somewhere else and test it if he wasn't comfortable..." Dale's voice trailed off.
"So, what's the plan now?"
"Dad is coming over to help me drive", Boone explained, "Darren and Sherri have already taken vacation and planned for this, so he's going to get cleaned up, packed, and just follow along in the Ram R/T like he did last year".
"Well, I guess Rachael and I better get on down the road then, because you guys sound like you're on the 'drive 90 and show up at the last minute' plan again."
"I'm not going with you Dad!" Rachael shook her head.
"What do you mean?"
"Dale is a zombie, he's been awake for 36 hours, little Billy doesn't have a license, and unlike YOU...DALE'S not afraid to let me drive his rig! So I'm hauling the Gremlin, and YOU are on your own!"
"Were you in on this double cross as well", I questioned Boone.
"I may have suggested it", he managed a weary smile, "not really sure, we're all kinda tired and all...".

Family being what it is, I stuck around until they were nearly loaded before I jumped in the twelve valve and headed out for Ohio. The 1 ton was on empty, so I stopped and grabbed 25 gallons of diesel two miles from Dale's place. I looked down at the receipt before I put it in my wallet, "3:14pm, Whew, three hours behind already!"

I can run 67 mph comfortably with the old Cummins, but I don't have weight bars or a sway bar on my tongue pull two car trailer, and above 62 it likes to shuffle around a bit. Traveling by myself, I'm a grinder, so I just put it on 62 and go until it runs out of fuel. That strategy got me to the Flying J at Sullivan Mo. a tick after 9pm. 331 miles at 13.5mpg, it's hilly Ozark country, so I was happy with that. The 24 ounce coffee was a good 6 ounces of hot chocolate, but that seems to delay the amount of time I can run on a straight coffee diet before it starts tearing up my stomach. The next leg took me through St.Louis and Indianapolis, until I pulled into the Speedway at Knightstown Indiana, 346 miles covered on that tank. We'd lost an hour crossing into the eastern time zone, so it was 4 Am local time. I'd been in constant contact with the brothers, and all of them seemed to be doing OK, they had been within twenty miles of catching me a few times, but they were all stopping more often than I was.
Ten miles later Darren blew around me, then Dale caught and passed me somewhere after we crossed the Ohio border. Rachael had been following Boone at a sane speed while she drove, but with Dale awake and behind the wheel, they were moving along pretty good. It was dawn before I entered Columbus, but on a Sunday morning the traffic was light.

Now, according to Google maps, from the time you exit I-70, onto Ohio 37, and then take a left at the traffic light onto US-40 and arrive at the entrance of National Trails Raceway, you will have covered two miles in roughly three minutes. Google didn't account for the other 350 Drag Weekers intent upon doing the same thing apparently and when I arrived in the small town of Luray, with it's one traffic signal, these outlaws from across the globe had brought the sleepy little town to a stand still. Worshipers seeking to arrive at the Luray Christian Apostolic Church were not thrilled with us.
I decided that sitting in a left hand turn lane while everyone filled the intersection going right on red from the other direction was a bad idea, so I went across the road and did a u-turn to come back the other way. Turned out to be a worse idea because the line was over a 1/2 mile long from that direction. It wasn't all bad, because I was catching cat naps between each time the line moved. An hour and a half later, I finally arrived at the entrance shack to the track. A small car ran up beside me to cut in line, and the driver flashed a card and lanyard at me, then he stuck his head out and explained, "We're the tech officials, and we need to get in there ASAP!"
I waved him by and thought to myself, "If those are the two NHRA track tech officials, how many cars have made it through registration since the gates opened two hours ago?"
I would have my answer soon enough.

Wow, Billy, you are on a roll! Keep up the good work!

After reading all the trials and tribulations that the "G Clan" goes through(put them selves through?) in a mad thrash right before drag week begins, I can't help but think of "dog years".
You know, a dog ages 7 years for one human year.
Seems like the way the G Clan does it there has to be some added wear and tear on the body and mind. I don't know what the correct ratio would be, but it sure seems like maybe they're getting 3 or 4 drag weeks worth of blood, sweat, and drama stuffed into one drag week.

Great story telling as usual Billy!!

There is a group of Drag Week participants who always arrive at each track on time, with a cup of coffee, clean clothes, and a big well rested smile. They stand around talking about getting to the motels before dark, then sharing pizza and beer in the parking lot while everyone else arrives. I don't think it would make for quite as interesting a story, but I sure would like to try a Drag Week like that just once!

As my stories have expanded every year, I like to think I try to tell as complete a story as my memory allows, and I try not to gloss over the gory details of what happens when you show up unprepared or things don't go your way. After six years of doing this, I've also been made acutely aware of the fact that writing and posting stuff on the internet about real people and real events does not take place in a vacuum. Generally the response has been favorable, but when you are critical of the processes or handling of certain issues, sometimes people may feel said criticism is unjust.

One such area is Drag Week tech. I think I've been honest in my reviews, but perhaps I should've been less vocal about it on certain face book sites and web boards. It's just that it chaps my hide when some DW rookie comes on the internet trying to get approval for something he's done to his car which may change the class he's put in, or asking about some rule in the NHRA rule book which only applies to Pro Stocks at National Events, and everyone always refers the poor guy to Keith Turk, which to me is like advising your friend who won five thousand cash in a street race to call the IRS and ask if he should report it on his taxes, or asking the prison warden if it's OK to bring in contraband!

One of the things that I've pointed out (many times, on many sites) was the fact that the Hot Rod Tech sheet only had one line for the NHRA tech official to fill out, which simply listed the minimum ET which the car was allowed to run. My argument was, "How serious do you think they are about enforcing the NHRA rules when this is all the sheet has on it!"

Now, you may look upon me as a scofflaw, or a rule bender, or even an outright cheater, but I've always approached tech at any event much the same way a batter faces a pitcher or a receiver goes up against a defensive back. As such, you want to scout your competition, so anytime I arrive at a track, I like to go up and watch a few cars go through tech and figure out what the procedure is, and what each inspector is looking for. All of them have specific favorites they like to check for, and all of them have a clock in their head as to how long they can spend on each car. Is the inspector a talker? Do they like to start at the front of the car, or with the paperwork, or with the safety gear? Knowing all this before your car is next in line is key to hiding the things on your car that aren't up to specs, and trust me, in 32 years of attending drag strips, I've never had a car that was 100% legal.

So, while most of our crew was unloading cars and gear, I made my way to the head of the line to watch. It appeared to me that the Drag Week staff was watching me with a wary eye as I was lurking around, but perhaps it was only my own guilty conscience. I didn't like what I saw. In years past they had one NHRA tech who was just running around between the cars in line checking the boxes on each sheet and handing them back to the drivers, then the final check was lights, horn, and the street stuff. This year everyone was required to fill out a full NHRA tech card in addition to the Drag Week sheet, and the two NHRA techs were doing full inspections after the cars cleared all the Drag Week street stuff!
This meant it would be harder to slide things past the gendarmes, if that was your intent. The second consequence was, that it would take longer to clear registration, on a day when they were getting a late start and there were a record number of entries. Sunday was shaping up to be a long, grueling, interesting day!

I just thought you guys figured if you didn't do it this way that you wouldn't feel like you were getting the full DW experience.

Btw...... I'm a buyer when the book comes out!!

It was great meeting you and your family at Martin MI Billy.

Dwayne I figured this was like a contest, to get them amped up FOR the contest!
Don

You might be on to something there.
Like a right of passage ritual...... Where you have to prove yourself worthy before being allowed to go to the next level....... DW itself.

and everyone always refers the poor guy to Keith Turk, which to me is like advising your friend who won five thousand cash in a street race to call the IRS and ask if he should report it on his taxes, or asking the prison warden if it's OK to bring in contraband!
ROFLMAO!!!

Not to take anything from Billy's great story but this is a good tale of one participant's adventure.

This post is a recap of the Hot Rod Drag Week experience by Hilborn’s EFI Specialist Andrew Starr. He drives a very nice 56 Chevy, but Mopar driver Scott Abbott and his wife Kim played a big part saving Mr. Starr's bacon on the road Day 2.

It does a very good job of capturing the essence of Hot Rod's Drag Week.

http://hilborninjection.com/drag-week-2016/

GREAT read! Scott and Kim are great people also. Have always enjoyed talking with them the last 2 years.

Yes! I got to know the Abbott's in the staging lanes at Bowling Green (2013?) when Scott won the Daily Driver (now Street Machine Eliminator) Top 32 race and Clark was fourth. We have seen them at every Drag Week since.

Bill

Awesome read, thanks for sharing Bill!!

Nick,

Glad you enjoyed it, I just stumbled across it on the Hilborn site.

It was nice to meet you on Drag Week this year.

Bill

Likewise, Bill! Curious to see if some of the regular DW guys here are going to enter in 2017.

I've been "recruited" for 2017. Unfortunately, as support for brand X. Still looking forward to it though!

Thanks Billy, Drag Week is on my bucket list.