Day 1, Monday 9/12 National Trail Raceway

We tend to sleep in a bit, and roll into the tracks a little later than everybody else, but that isn't an option on Monday. The driver's meeting is mandatory, and thirty minutes after that all the tow rigs and extra parts have to be in the impound area. I had fallen asleep hard, but not with a clear mind. I was worried about yet another sorting session with all our junk and I was concerned about the Belvedere in the motel parking lot.

My eyes were wide awake at 4:30 AM, and I knew rolling over and trying to fall back asleep would be a waste of time. I slept in a pair of shorts, so I just pulled on a t-shirt, and slipped into my shoes without socks to go check everything out. Our vehicles were unmolested, so I made my way back to the room, took a shower and dressed, took my bags to the car, grabbed some coffee in the lobby, and finally decided I had waited long enough to wake the others without a full scale mutiny!

We rolled into the track with about forty-five minutes to prepare before the driver's meeting. The pits were abuzz with activity, and I was amazed at how many cars were there that I hadn't even noticed the day before. Something to be said for getting some sleep, instead of walking around in a deprived stupor!

Bill,
I wasn't ignoring your question, I was trying to find his pictures again! Gotta love the internet and social media, everything is so fluid. I can't remember if he posted a photobucket or flickr link on "Drag Weekers" or not, but I cant find them now!


I figured without the use of the Barnyard Viper, or the trailer she has pulled the last two years, it was going to be a fight to pare down the gear we were going to bring along, but the final sort went fairly smooth. We decided Darren could carry things that were non-essential to our cars, like the canopy, a cooler or two, the small barbecue, and food stuff. As long as he had no tools or parts, he should be within the rules.

Rachael was ordering Dale's Son around, explaining to him that if he was going on Drag Week, he had to pull his weight and earn his keep! We had rode her future husband Skippy pretty hard the year before so I think she decided a little rookie hazing was to be expected. We had all three tow rigs moved to impound before the start of the driver's meeting, and we had quite an impressive pile of junk left over that was going to find it's way into the cars by days end!

The driver's meeting lasted about 30 minutes. Three big takeaways were noted from someone who's been through a few of them. First, David Freiburger introduced Evan Perkins as the new Hot Rod Magazine Editor. It was clear he was going to let David, Brian, and the Drag Week staff do their thing, and get out of the way, so the tension of last year was gone, and I liked this new guy right from the start!
Second, Keith Turk explained that the racers were responsible for picking the appropriate class for their cars, and that he would intervene only if there was a dispute. Another positive in my book, essentially Drag Week is 350 Street Cars trying to complete an arduous journey, and no one enjoys getting beat over the head with a rule book.
Third, Lonnie Grimm was very specific in how the lanes were going to work, who was going to be in them, and that He and Sean Fling would be in charge of them from start to finish! "It is my goal to provide everyone an equal opportunity to get multiple passes each day", was the phrase he ended with. Once again, another positive, in my way of thinking, so far so good!

The meeting was over shortly after 9AM, and since the first two lanes were already filled, I figured cars would be heading down the track before I made it back to the Valiant. National Trail Raceway, however, hadn't scheduled the Ambulance to be on site until 10AM, so while we waited, the two hundred plus class cars packed every square inch of available staging lane.

All Turk needs in that pic is a Bible.

The first official pass of Drag Week 2016 was Dan Saitz's Turbo SBF 88 Mustang; yeah, a fox body with a small block Ford! Dan is one of the best heads up small tire racers the NMRA has to offer, so there was never going to be a question about his ability to throw a number on the board, but could he keep the monster alive for five days and a thousand miles?
Saitz's Mustang had an E on the windshield which meant he was in Modified Power Adder, the same class the Gremlin and Valiant were in. You could feel a collective gasp from all in attendance when the orange Fox opened the ceremonies by tossing down a 7.782-175.57 blast.
Fifteen minutes later Rick Prospero pulled to the line in his green Twin turbo BBC powered 90 RX7, also with an E on the windshield. Rick had won Modified Power Adder in 2015 with an 8.22 average, but fell short of the seven second times he had expected. Dale and I were in our pits when Rick and the Mazda lit up the boards with an astounding 7.53-189.
"You know if we can just stay within a couple seconds of them..."
"Yeah", Dale chuckled, "just to put a little pressure on them? Make sure they know we're right on their heels?"
"Yeah, something like that", I agreed, slowly shaking my head.
"Freiburger commented that he expected more seven second cars this year than ever before, and we've already seen two in the first twenty cars", Boone added.
"What exactly are you guys working on now?" I asked, as I realized they were once again playing with the wiring of the Duster.
"Installing the nitrous system. When we got through tech last night, we had all the lights and street stuff, the car starts and runs, but the solenoids are just sitting next to the plate with their pig tails. We have to wire them, put in a relay, a button, and a toggle, mount the bottle and run the line.
"Why don't you make a motor pass first", I shrugged, "You don't have any miles on it at all, we just broke in the cam!"
"I entered the Power Adder class because I intend to spray it!" Boone glared at me as if the mere suggestion was blasphemy.

Two of the first three mopars to record times on Drag Week were 66 Plymouth Belvederes owned guys by named David M., but that is where the similarities stop. Outlawd (Dave McKenna) ran an 11.66-114 in his 496 powered example to get his Drag Week underway. David Meyer approached the beams a little later in his Troy Trepanier built "Northern Bel" 526 inch twin turbo hemi powered version, a car that had already wowed on the national show circuit, and ran 199 in the standing mile. The 4900lb Plymouth eased out of the hole, then slowly built momentum, clocking 10.50-133.

Since it was obvious to me that Boone and Dale weren't planning to run until ten minutes of track time was left in the day, I decided to put the Valiant in the staging lanes. I was directed to the back of lanes 3/4. National Trail's lanes are narrow, but very long, and I realized there was no way all of us would run through before the supposed two hour cut-off. I decided to go watch from the starting line for a good view of the proceedings.

Scott Hendrix opened the show for the A-bodies with a 10.87-127.3, and unfortunately that was it for the gorgeous 512 powered Duster. I have no idea what happened, I don't recall them loading the car during the remainder of the day, so I'm not sure if the problem occurred at the track, or during the first drive.

Immediately following Scott down the track were the only two Plymouth A cars in Super Street Small Block Normally Aspirated, the gen 3 Hemi powered 67 Barracuda of Ray Meyers, and Cory Pant's LA powered 74 Duster. The Black Pearl worked the Duster over pretty good, 9.96-134 to 10.90-123 and both drivers were apparently happy with the outcome because those were the slips they turned in.

I picked the right time to walk up to the fence because Randy Heinselman's Plum Crazy AAR Cuda clone was up next. Vince Rasch, Mark Covey, and Randy have made a personal playground out of Super Street Big Block Normally Aspirated for the last two years, with Vince's Pontiac winning the class both times, while Mark and Randy swapped places for 2nd and third. For 2016 Randy decided the old RB 535 Victor headed wedge wasn't going to be enough, so he brought out a new all aluminum 528 Indy Hemi. Worried about dialing in the new combo, his wife Connie left her 69 Camaro at home and was riding with Randy. The Cuda looked phenominal, riding on new wheels and a tweaked stance, it had all the camera jockeys paying attention when he rolled into the water. The 9.87-137.7 right out of the box represented an improvement of six tenths, and eight mph over the wedge's best ever numbers, so you couldn't blame Connie for a little fist pump when the Plymouth lit up the board.

Vince has not missed a DW.Heckuva guy.

We were two and a half hours into the class car session when Lonnie Grimm made the call for a hard cut-off. That didn't surprise me so much, as they had cleared out rows 1&2, and were about half way through lanes 3&4, so those of us left in the lanes just figured to wait where we were until they finished the session of Street Machine Eliminator. Instead, Lonnie demanded that we clear out of the lanes to allow the SME cars to fill them! I was so angry when I returned to the pits.
"This is a bad move! Now everyone is going to crowd up around the lanes in an attempt to jump in as soon as they open. I just sat up there for an hour, and when the all-run session opens, guys who already ran can jump back in the lanes ahead of me. This is ridiculous, Lonnie has lost his mind!"
I slammed the door then looked at Rachael.
"You better get the Belvedere up there, because who knows if he'll do the same thing to SME as well!"
Dale looked at me like I was crazy. "The lanes are only 5 wide here, he really didn't have the option of leaving you guys up there and still give the SME cars a chance to fill the lanes!"
"Aren't you the guy who complained in your story about the SME guys not getting a fair shake?" Boone gave me a wry smile and a shoulder shrug.
I felt like they were playing me, but I couldn't contain myself, "It was a dumb move! It'll be a free-for-all the rest of the day!"
Their laughter did nothing but fan the flames, so I sat in the passenger seat of the Belvedere until Rachael drove it to the lanes.

Rachael was the first Mopar in SME to run, and she was lined up next to a Cobra, which I was looking forward to her outrunning. Unfortunately, something was amiss with the nitrous, and she only managed a 13.19. Not a good start for our first day, one turned away in the lanes, and another a second and a half slow!

A couple of other Drag Week regulars in no-bar mopars followed right behind Rachael, as Rodney Munchiando went 11.83-112.9 in his 68 Dart GTS, and Ross Dudley followed in the next pair with a 12.04-111 in his yellow 68 Road Runner. The number led me to believe that Ross had chosen not to spray the 440, since he knew 11.50's weren't going to get anyone into the quick 32 anyway.

Rachael pulled into the pit, and we swapped bottles just to be on the safe side, and checked everything out. I sent her back to the lanes as quickly as possible because as I had predicted all the class cars were creeping towards the mouth of the staging lanes, and parking as close as they could get. Rachael struggled to move through them as they clogged the pit roads and even blocked people in to get as close as possible even though the all run session hadn't been opened yet.

Meanwhile the mopar front scratcher triumvirate of James Reeves, Jason Trotter, and Patrick Culkin had so much fun on DW2015, that they invited three more of their crazy friends to join them. So in addition to the GLH, the Daytona, and the Shadow, Warren Hill brought his 87 Shelby CSX, Marybeth Kicsenski (thankfully known as Talongirl on the web, much easier to say) in her blue 95 Talon, and Teri Skrab in a 92 Spirit RT! All six made successful day 1 passes, but I had my doubts about testing fate with that many spooled up little twenty year old transaxled Mopars!

Marybeth struggled launching her Talon, because of the Drag Week requirement for sticky tires. Jason Trotter, who now wheels the Daytona actually raced the Talon in Drag Week 2013 to mid twelves at 110-112. Now the Mitsu has the power to run 124 mph!

Sharing the track with Marybeth was Greg Huizenga's 83 Jeep Cherokee which I posted an engine shot of earlier in an attempt to see how many of you were paying attention! There was so much going on beneath the Jeep's lowered body; a C-10 chassis, a turbocharged Gen 3 Hemi, and I believe a 4L80e trans. He clocked an 11.54-119!

Warren Hall's 87 CSX debuted on Drag Week with a 13.38-105 beside Tom Taylor's blue 79 sbc powered Nova. Tom's Nova has ten successful Drag Week journeys to it's credit, progressing from 12 flats in 2006, to 10.28-131 in 2015. Tom's first run of DW2016 looked to be another low ten second shot, but the small block let the smoke out at 800 ft. and the X-body coasted to a 10.55-123. Watching that car out of the event so early was a grim reminder of just how often things can go wrong and dash any hopes of finishing.

The Jeep has a manual trans. Had a chance to talk with them the last morning, as they were in the same hotel.

CP-Carillo's Ed Urcis is usually found at NHRA Division 7 races on the west coast behind the wheel of a D/ED in Comp Eliminator, but on Monday afternoon he was running his 2015 Corvette in SME, and making a pass beside Rachael in the Belvedere. She provided little competition for the ten second C-7, but we would take any eleven second run and move on!

You are correct, Jeff
I try to go off memory, instead of research and it always gets me in trouble! 6.1 Hemi backed by a TR6060.

Right before Rachael made her pass, the lanes were opened up for the final all-run session. The lurkers poured into the breach like Wal-Mart shoppers on Black Friday, considering the large numbers of Mustangs in competition it was a wonder Sean Fink and other pedestrians weren't harmed in the sudden rush. I glumly walked back to our pits, watched the Gremlin and the Ruster Duster drive by and realized I would be the last of us to make a run despite being the first one in the lanes earlier.

I drove the Valiant up to the lanes, and was once again directed to 3/4. Dale and Boone were in 1/2 which would run out first. The track was quiet, as they were working on an 04 Silverado with a ladder rack at the last turn-off.
"We're being held up for a mule truck?" I looked at Dale.
"Mule truck went 12.77 at 109, and the engine went away at about the thousand foot mark!" Dale laughed and shook his head.
"Another one of those 100,000 mile 5.3 ls engines with an Ebay turbo, I'm guessing", Boone added.
Everyone around was attempting to be calm, but looks of desperation and anxiety were not in short supply. At this point in the evening it was pretty clear, the cars currently in the lanes had one shot at a decent number!

Kirwan in the red Challenger HellCat, and Randy Juliani in his 66 Coronet were the last two Mopars to round out the SME portion. The Hell cat would leave National Trail with an 11.32-121 opening day slip, and mrrandyj's Connecticut based Dodge would lay down an 11.74-113.7.

They rolled out the tractors for a little starting line maintenance while the rest of us chewed our bottom lips and wondered if we would ever get a shot at the track.

As I mentioned earlier with Tom Taylor, previous success at Drag Week doesn't mean you won't draw the short straw on your next attempt, Drag Week is a fickle and cruel mistress.
Coming into 2016 Matt Blasco and his 72 Dart were the 19th fastest car in Drag Week history with their 7.70-185 blast in 2015's Pro Street Power Adder Class, with one bad day preventing him from an all 7 second finish. Matt had problems on his first hit in 2016, only logging an 8.79-140 earlier, and I was hopefully expecting him to return to the lanes any time now.

Meanwhile, twenty five minutes into the final session Ev Bernardo pulled to the line in his 90 Mustang. Ev was 12th on the fastest car list with a 7.45-193 way back in 2010 with an Unlimited 68 Camaro.

Just as Ev began his burn out, Brian Lohnes announced that Elana Scherr had reported that the Blasco Dart was out with terminal transmission failure.
I looked at Boone, "dang it, that was over quick!"
"All the upgrades to improve on last year...and done in one shot", he shook his head.

On Ev's first pass, Brian explained that the Mustang belonged to one of his customers, and the motor was a mix of parts sourced from previous projects. It launched and got up on the turbo so quick he had to pedal once, then it really started to make steam, and the small tire car was moving hard to the 1/8th. The nose dipped noticeably at nine hundred feet, and a smoke cloud formed under the car. The slight wiggle of the rear bumper let every experienced fence jockey know that Ev was driving through his own oil. He fought it away from the left wall twice, but it finally got into the concrete once just after the stripe, and again three hundred feet further down, but Bernardo never once quit fighting for control, and wrestled the fox body all the way around the final turn-out.
"He did everything he could!" Dale critiqued
"Wow...that went from good to bad to worse in a heartbeat", I added. The 9.18-118 was of little consequence at that point.
We headed back to our cars in the lanes, looking at a protracted clean up, and a narrowing time window to get a good pass in.