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Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2405780
11/19/17 02:22 AM
11/19/17 02:22 AM
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Sixteen minutes after the meeting ended, the first two cars staged to open the official racing. The CBK team trio of John Dodson (blue 80 Malibu), Jason Doisher (tan Mercury Marquis wagon), and James Karger (white "lstuners.com" fox notch) were the first in line. Realizing that they needed multiple passes to run as close to 8.500 is one thing, but how did they manage to coordinate being first in the lanes? We were still trying to get our pits in order, and none of us were even remotely ready to race.

Corey Pant and his 74 Duster came up 3 sets later, but he spun the tires hard at the hit, and an 11.10 wasn't going to work for him, so he would be back in line. A couple of pairs later Mark Gissendaner stood his 40 Chevy B-Gas "Gizzo Gasser" on the rear bumper for the first "Oh, wow" from Brian Lohnes of Drag Week 2017. Ten minutes in and Scott Hendrix's 70 Duster Twister was the first Mopar to toss down a good number and be ready to hit the road. His 10.65-124.6 in Pro Street NA was two tenths quicker than his only pass of DW16.

Hot Rod Drag Week 2017 was off to an awesome start, with 38 cars down the track in the first twenty minutes before they took five to drag the first 60 feet.

Rachael and I dropped the exhaust off the Valiant, let the air out of the rear tires, backed the timing down, and bolted a fresh nitrous bottle in. Then I grabbed an empty fuel jug and went off in search of the Rockett brand fuel truck. I bought 4 gallons of 114 and headed back to our pit. Even though the first session was going remarkably smooth, getting sent back to the pits at the end of the first session last year still had me leery, and I was determined to just wait for the all-run session to head to the lanes.

Ten, fifteen, twenty more sets of cars ripped down the track with nary a problem. Radar Watson would accept his initial hit of 12.31-111, and the big Fury was packing up for the trip to St. Louis. Squirrel would also be happy with the A/FX Chevy II's 10.24-131, but I knew that Dan and he would likely stick around to help Brian Kohlmann with his 31 Chrysler A/Fuel Altered.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2405984
11/19/17 05:00 PM
11/19/17 05:00 PM
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Mark Hill's interesting little low deck powered NA 65 Barracuda was the 70th car down the Cordova pavement to start Drag Week 2017. The stumble at the hit was both audible, and visible when the score board showed an 11.68 at 126.2. With that mph, it was clear the orange early A had left a half second on the table but there is a huge fear for rookies of getting behind on day one, so he accepted the pass and started loading up for the drive.

Rick Callahan was competing in his 11th Hot Rod Drag Week, and after four years of Hemi powered F.A.S.T. style B-Bodies, he was back in the maroon 68 Road Runner that he brought from 2007 to 2012. He had switched the wedge car from Weld wheels to stock steel wheels and dog dish caps, but it apparently didn't slow the car down as his opening 11.42-118.9 was quicker than he could turn in without a roll bar.

Ross Dudley made his first run count in his 68 Runner, with an 11.75-112, now he would just have to wait for his running mates to get their first taste of DW action before he could start the drive. With 98 cars already collecting time slips in the first 40 minutes of track time, we couldn't have asked for a better start to the week!

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2406130
11/19/17 11:18 PM
11/19/17 11:18 PM
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Link to Marks Barracuda build.He had a blast and said he'd be back next year with some minor changes to the car. https://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum/ba...ar-65-barracuda

Last edited by ksj; 11/19/17 11:19 PM.
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2406225
11/20/17 05:50 AM
11/20/17 05:50 AM
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I poured two gallons of the fuel into the Valiant, and walked the remaining over to the Ruster for Boone. He was changing plugs, and looked up as I peered under the hood.
"Seems to be going pretty smooth out there", he commented.
"Yeah, Monday's first session of class cars has been such a disaster the last few years, I was gun shy to head up", I admitted.
"Well, we spent so much time in line yesterday that you kinda get staging lane fatigue," He laughed.
I turned back to look at the starting line in time to see the green Demon coming out of the burnout.
Dale must've been paying attention too because he walked over from working on the Gremlin. "That is Cornman right? He missed last year."
"Sure did", Boone looked up, "Won Street Race Small Block NA in 2014, finished 3rd in 2015 even though he picked up two tenths in average, then took 2016 off to build a new engine, so he could be competitive again in 2017! Those NA classes have just gone crazy!
"Yeah, and then you guys talk me into trying Modified NA, and Dyer shows up with the Nova again", Dale shook his head, "I should be spraying into the deep eights this year!"
"Dyer's entry said he was putting his stuff in a fox body and switching to Pro Street this year", I shrugged, "Then I found an old thread on a drag racing forum where he was talking about building exactly that, so I figured that was confirmation!"
"Because everything you read on the internet is true", Boone laughed.
"You mean like those Moparbilly drag week stories?" Darren's timing was impeccable as he jabbed me in the ribs with a wrench, "based on one man's skewed perspective of true events should probably be the disclaimer on every one of them!"

The small block Mopar screamed off the starting line with the front end hanging in the air, it sounded fantastic as the 71 flew by us at the thousand foot mark, and 9.351-143.92 flashed up on the board. A few pairs later Randy Heinselmann rolled through the water with his Plum Crazy Hemi AAR Cuda (I know, I know). His run was just as impressive as Paul's Demon, and the E-body shut the clocks off with a 9.304-144.97.
Darren let out a low whistle.
"You said it brother", Dale shook his head and his shoulders slumped, "We better load our junk and head back to Oklahoma before we embarrass ourselves!"
"Naw, then who would provide big brother with comedic material?"
"Fair point, Boone", Darren agreed.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2406280
11/20/17 12:02 PM
11/20/17 12:02 PM
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As usual Billy great read. Paul Cornman's Demon is impressive to say the least. He slowed down some later in the week, I am hoping you have that story.

I know he added Brett Miller W-9 heads and manifold. I would be interested to see if you knew of any other changes.

Keep up the good work!
Bill

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: 340Cuda] #2406435
11/20/17 05:27 PM
11/20/17 05:27 PM
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Originally Posted By 340Cuda
As usual Billy great read. Paul Cornman's Demon is impressive to say the least. He slowed down some later in the week, I am hoping you have that story.

I know he added Brett Miller W-9 heads and manifold. I would be interested to see if you knew of any other changes.

Keep up the good work!
Bill


Bill are you going to have Brett do you extra set of heads?

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: 340Cuda] #2406599
11/21/17 12:24 AM
11/21/17 12:24 AM
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Originally Posted By 340Cuda
He slowed down some later in the week, I am hoping you have that story.
I know he added Brett Miller W-9 heads and manifold. I would be interested to see if you knew of any other changes.

Bill


I thought I heard W-8, so I was assuming new engine, but no, I didn't get the scoop as he was on the first shift all week, and we weren't! Was hoping Clark got all the info on it Tuesday at St. Louis.


"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2406783
11/21/17 01:15 PM
11/21/17 01:15 PM
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Billy,
I was with Clark at St. Louis, while I am pretty sure they were W9s, I really made an assumption as much as an inspection. However saying that I think W8's would have jumped out at me cause they do look a little different than the W9s. I wanted to ask Paul a thousand questions but he was pretty busy at the time we dropped by.

Jim:
Thinking about it, he sure builds some fast stuff, although mostly big CI. If we build an ultimate DW motor I would use his stuff for sure.

Already looking forward to DW 2018!

Bill

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2407239
11/22/17 08:23 AM
11/22/17 08:23 AM
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118 of the 256 Class cars had their first runs of Drag Week 2017 done when John Dodson and Jason Doisher, who had kicked things off, brought their rides into the water for a second run. The fact that they made it back around that quick made me want to kick myself for making the decision to wait! So far this had easily been the cleanest, trouble free first session in the thirteen event history of Drag Week. Doisher's 8.509 out of his Mercury wagon meant he had the number he was looking for, and wouldn't be back for a third.

Paul Castiglione was up next in his stroker 383 powered 72 Challenger, and ran a nice 10.77-123 to start out his week. Freiburger announced that since Drag Week was "Powered by Dodge" for 2017, the Dodge social media team had chosen to follow Paul's E-body and report on his progress all week! Corey Pant brought his 74 Duster back around to try and better his first tire spinning effort, and got the opportunity to outrun 3 time NHRA Champion Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon. His 10.62-126 got the job done against the 66 Nova, and it was two tenths quicker than any pass he turned in last year so I was sure he'd be happy with that.

"Do you think his grand kids are going to get tired of that story about how grandpa whipped Larry Dixon on Drag Week 2017?" Rachael asked me as she handed me a cold drink.
"I guess it depends on how many different ways he tells it", I chuckled.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2407749
11/23/17 09:08 AM
11/23/17 09:08 AM
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Boone and I helped Michelle and Will push the Purple Duster back onto the return road so they could get to the lanes for their first attempt. While Boone was right there, I had him help check the trans fluid in the Valiant, and we brought it up to the full mark. This would be Drag Week #3 since we rebuilt the 904 and I didn't want to give it any excuse to leave me stranded.

Marty Gorman's impeccably worn 72 Valiant ran 12.53-110 with the stock stroke small block being capably handled by driver Fake Billy, the engine builder.

"Is that name on the door a shot at you?" Rachael had asked me during tech the day before.
"My dear daughter", I explained to her at the time, "Probably not, but always assume the Canadians are making fun of you, until it's 100 percent proven otherwise. If the teasing gets worse the more you act offended, that means they like you!"

Two pairs later Scott Abbott made the long awaited debut of his 67 Belvedere with the 588 millennium headed Hemi aboard. Considering he had zero time on the car, the 12.92-105 checkout pass was likely a prudent plan, but I knew he'd be back for more before the day was done. The same could be said for Terry Keifer, who's Fire Amber 67 Plymouth Barracuda rolled a fourteen flat to start their third Drag Week. If you blow up the bottom picture you can tell it's of Terry's slow pass because the look on his face is one of utter disgust.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2407885
11/23/17 03:17 PM
11/23/17 03:17 PM
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Imagine owning a Mopar and being Canadian... the flack we get is relentless.


TT Predator headed 572 7 Second Street Car.
Fastest Mopar Drag Week 2015
Fastest Mopar & Dodge Drag Week 2017
Pro Street Power Adder Champion Drag Week 2017
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2407888
11/23/17 03:27 PM
11/23/17 03:27 PM
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It can't be for owning a Mopar.


Have a great day
Iowan

"obsolete is neat"

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2407890
11/23/17 03:31 PM
11/23/17 03:31 PM
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drumhit haha

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2407899
11/23/17 03:49 PM
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Damn it.. lol


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Fastest Mopar Drag Week 2015
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Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2408476
11/25/17 12:25 AM
11/25/17 12:25 AM
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Fake Billy would never make fun of Real Billy ......that would not be very Canadian


A new iron curtain drawn across the 49th parallel
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2409522
11/27/17 11:13 AM
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We were 150 passes into Drag Week 2017's first session, and with an hour and ten minutes in the books the prevailing narrative was just how clean the event had started out, and the sheer volume of mid eight second runs we'd seen.
At this point, the anticipated heavy hitters started rolling around the corner and into the water, and there was a feeling that the next 10 or 15 sets down the Cordova Dragway tarmac would set in motion the story lines that would shape and define this edition of the event.

Magnus Frost and the boys from Sweden were up next with the 73 Opal Ascona which they'd shipped over last year. The 6 time Stockholm Open street race winners had placed third in Unlimited in DW16, and ran a best of 8.01-169, despite hurting a piston early in the week. You don't accomplish the kinds of things they have with this car unless you are driven, focused and dedicated, and they came to America for a seven second pass. So they left the car behind, had the big inch nitrous BBC repaired stateside, and flew back for another attempt on Drag Week 2017. Their efforts were rewarded with an opening shot of 7.89-172!

Two pairs later Janne brought the flying Finn's 67 Plymouth VIP into the water. Considering the condition I'd seen the engine in the day before I had no idea what to expect. I had been following their Facebook page on my phone, and even though I couldn't understand the conversations in all he videos, it was quite clear they'd been on an amazing adventure just to arrive at this very point in time. The big blue behemoth left extremely hard and seemed to make a clean pull all the way down, so I couldn't help but give a fist pump and a "yes" when the 8.08-160 lit up on the board.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2409939
11/28/17 01:21 AM
11/28/17 01:21 AM
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An 8 second wounded C-body. Those guys are my heroes. bow

I believe a previous incarnation of that car has done high 7's

Kevin

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2414564
12/07/17 03:17 AM
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whistling popcorn work


LemonWedge - Street heavy / Strip ready - 11.07 @ 120
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2416071
12/10/17 04:24 AM
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"Lonnie is telling us in the tower that there are forty-five minutes left in this first session of class cars", Brian Lohnes' voice boomed over the PA.
Dale had fired the Gremlin, played with the carb linkage a bit, then walked over to me after putting his hood back on.
"I'm going to put mine in line", he explained, pointing towards the staging area. What about you, is the Valiant ready?
"Yeah, but I was seriously just going to wait for the second session", I shrugged.
"They said in the driver's meeting that they weren't going to turn us around, so why not take it up now?"
"I just don't want to get stuck in line and have to sit there through the entire Street Machine Eliminator session", I complained.
"Why not?" Dale threw his hands up, "when they shut off the lanes for class cars, you walk up and sit in the bleachers to watch SME".
"Yeah, I suppose", I agreed.
"If you leave the Valiant sitting here, you're going to walk down to the bleachers or stand here and watch SME, so where the Valiant is parked at the time has no bearing on what you're going to do for that hour or hour and a half!"
"I see your point, but you go ahead, and I'll be in the lanes shortly".
"When is the last time you made a nitrous pass in that car?" He continued to badger me.
"Uh, December...basically", I colored a bit.
"Then you better plan on making two today, because the first one will be you learning how to drive it all over again!" He slapped my back, laughed through a huge smile then walked back towards the Gremlin.
"Your fire suit pants make you look fat!" I retorted at his back.
"Really Dad?" Rachael shook her head, "that's the bast comeback you had?"

Matt Blasco and the Dirty Drag Week Dart were rolling through a good burnout, so my attention went back to the track, and I walked up next to Boone.
"Glenn Hunter just went 7.504 at 186, the quickest pass in the history of the Pro Street Power adder class, coming off his win from last year and a top three finish!"
"And I suppose you're wondering if Matt can hang with that?"
"I'm thinking Matt just wants to get through the week without pulling the trans out at this point", Boone laughed.

The Dart belched soot for the first 60ft. as it squatted over the huge rear tires while gingerly dangling the fronts a few inches in the air. The rest of the pass looked near perfect and the right lane scoreboard lit up with a 7.76-183!

"A quarter of a second down on day 1?"
"It's a long week, and he's just six hundredths off his Drag Week best", Boone shrugged, "I think I'd call it good and roll out if I was him!"
I took a deep breath as I realized the Monte Smith Performance 66 'Vette of David Schroeder was in the water prepared to follow in Matt's tracks down the right lane.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2416089
12/10/17 06:57 AM
12/10/17 06:57 AM
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As Schroeder completed the burnout, Brian Lohnes was explaining the crash that ended the Vette's DW16 bid on day one, and my mind flashed back to last year's story.

I hadn't wrote about the incident until February 12th 2017, when I posted the iconic picture of Monte surveying the damage with crossed arms, while Schroeder's cousin and co-pilot John Ens leaned against the wall behind the car:


Originally Posted By MoparBilly
Five sets after Boone ran Jamie Hochbaum pulled his Modified Power Adder silver 2010 Challenger into the left lane water box for his second attempt at Drag Week. Last year he failed to make it past day two with a best of 12.05-152, if you are wondering why I haven't mentioned it before...well, it has a turbo LS under the hood.
The right lane was occupied by Dave Schroeder and his Canada based, nitrous huffing, big inch 66 Corvette tuned by Monte Smith. If you remember my story from last year, Monte and the Schroeder/Ens team used Friday afternoon and Saturday to make huge strides with the car. They were hoping to capitalize on those gains at 2016 Drag Week.

While the Challenger sat on the line and spooled, the Vette left good, with a respectable 1.14 60', and was running 165 at the 1/8. Jamie finally let the Challenger go as the Vette went past the thousand foot mark. The board lit up with 6.85-199.5 but the chute never blossomed. Jamie had the Challenger humming at the 1/8 mile mark as the back of the Vette started bouncing on the big slicks, and Dave was obviously in serious trouble. The rear of the Vette hopped towards the centerline, shoving the front end towards the left wall and forcing the car to make contact at a hard angle, catapulting him into the right lane, where the car came to rest. Jamie cleared the traps with a fine 8.31-167, dropped the laundry, then had to navigate around the wounded car sitting cross ways in his lane. Luckily the time differences between the beginning of each run gave Jamie plenty of time to make the needed adjustments and navigate the shut down area.


Monte responded to my post less than twenty-four hours later with the following on February 13th:


Originally Posted By Monte_Smith
The boys from Canada picked up the Vette this past Saturday. It was hurt pretty bad.

Flashing back to last year, when Billy mentioned we were struggling with the car.......well that's an understatement. This was likely an old Super Gas car or something. While it worked great with the 648, the 867 has been a struggle. The car is just unhappy. I was in Canada testing with them last summer and finally told them "it just won't work". So I hauled the car down here and dropped it at Chris Terry Race Cars for some much needed updates. Full double frame rail from 4-link to motor plate down tube bars and plenty more bracing. The first pass at Drag Week was the FIRST pass on the new chassis. I had it set really soft to just go A-B and it went 6.85, which was a best for the car by a lot. On the crash, Dave threw the chutes, but they had put new cables on and left too much wire hanging out of the sheath and it never turned them loose. Car has carbon brakes and he was on them hard. Once they got hot and grabbed one time.......it was over.

Looking at it now, it's a good thing we added the double frame rails to the car, or it would have been junk after the crash. Back on the jig at Chris Terry's, the car was perfect from firewall back. It just needed a new front clip. The body was the biggest concern, as that is a real Corvette, plus wheel wells and rear of body were modded pretty heavy. Richard Earle at Suncoast made us a rear tail for the car, so we just hacked the whole rear off to nearly the wheelwells and grafted a new tail on. That was much easier than trying to repair the crashed up stuff. Also whoever built the car originally had done some not so nice things in the rear and we fixed all that. We also installed new carbon tubs and replaced all the rear tin with carbon. New heavier 4 link bars, new heim ends and Santhuff struts this time.

They still have plenty of work to do, as they are building the front cradle to mount radiator and mounting the nose themselves. So as usual, will likely show at Drag Week AGAIN having no chance to sort the car first


Then, less than a month later, Monte was gone, and I, like so many other racers across the United States was left wishing for one more bench racing session at the track or one more exchange on Moparts...I still miss him.

I had a knot in my throat already just listening to Lohnes and Freiburger talking about Monte and the Vette as Schroeder purged the nitrous and turned on the stage bulbs. The Vette left as hard and as clean as I've ever seen and Lohnes' voice rose perceptively as he proclaimed "Shcroeder's going in the sixes" just by translating the early numbers on his computer screen.
"He is four twenty-eight to the eighth mile, here it comes kids...six fifty-seven seven, two hundred seventeen!" The emotion and excitement in Lohnes' voice was carried perfectly over the PA as it rose in volume and pitch to a crescendo when he belted out the MPH numbers. The fact that he has quickly became the most sought after announcer in motorsports is easy to understand when you listen to him work the mic on Drag Week.

I let out a loud yell and a fist pump when the numbers hit the board, but knowing I couldn't control my emotions, I growled at Boone that I was going to the bathroom and walked off before he and Rachael could see me wiping my eyes.

"If only Monte could see that", Freiburger added as Lohnes was attempting to set up the next pair.
"Yeah, well, somewhere I can guarantee you, somewhere Monte is smiling...with red shoes on!" Lohnes retorted, before gathering himself for a second and moving on.
I had made it to the empty bathroom during that exchange, and allowed myself to sob and let all the emotions of the moment escape me. I felt like an idiot for letting a single pass down the drag strip turn me into a tub of blubbering goo, but I was reminded of the Jim Valvano qoute about laughing, thinking, and having your emotions move you to tears.
"It's been a heck of a day already, Jimmy V!" I thought to myself, "I think you and Monte would both approve."
I walked out of the bathroom and headed back to our pit, and when I looked at Boone and Rachael still standing in front of the Valiant, I thought to myself again, "There is no where else on this planet I'd rather be right now, than right here".

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