Well since I saw a couple of others and have had a few calls I thought I would post this up for all to laugh about. It was a LONG sleep deprived weekend for sure. So here goes...

On Thursday morning after neing awakened by a guy yelling at his dog at 6 am, keep in m ind we got into Vegas about 2:30, we decided to get up and figured we could catch up on sleep with an easy early day Thursday. There was a bit of confusion getting into the facility, nothing unusual really but had time to BS with some folks. Around noon we finally are able to pull into the facility. The nice lady asked me what class, told her quick 16 and she parked us right up front by the lanes. Great pit spot but nowhere near my Moparts buddies. They end up on the top end of the track, probably best for me since my old golf cart would have probably died having to tow my car up that far, and yes it was working overtime this weekend. Anyway we quickly get the car unloaded and head to tech, figuring be up before a line so we can relax the rest of the day. So we get teched in with no issue. So we decide to warm up the car and run the valves just to make sure it is good to go. We get the car fired up after getting it up in the air, fires right up no problem. Look at the gauges and I have NO OIL pressure!!! Well I had 10lbs but this thing has 40lbs at idle hot or cold, period. So we start checking over the lines etc, everything is fine try it again, 10lbs. It will move with RPM but not where it should be. We see the carb is dumping fuel and are thinking maybe it has dilited the oil, so we drain it and it is fine. So I scramble to look for another guage just to make sure it is not mine. No luck....We, my son and I, spend a few minutes discussing our options for a few minutes. We decide after the way the year has been so far that we have to try and fix it. I pulled the plug out of the oil pump to check the relief valve, it is STUCK and wont move. Well we found the problem, now we have to getthe pump off. .The big issue here is to get my oil pump off requires my engine to be unbolted and rasied or removed To unbolt the engine requires the tranny to come out to take the engine off the mid plate/adapter. So we start to work, after borrowing some tools from neighbors, Don and Ted. Next thing we know Don his son and friend Willie are diving in to help. After plenty of cussing and banged up knuckles we get the pump out. The relief valve is very stuck! I disassemble the pump and still nothing, the valve is NOT moving. I finally was able to get a small punch through one of the oil line fitting to reach the valve and had to hammer it out Well we get it out and once again Don comes to the rescue. I found a bur on the valve but I do not have anything to polish it out. Well Don has an emery board, hmmm, and I was able to get it taken care of with the board. Next was the pump housing. We needed to ge the bur down in the housing as well. So Don begins to use a drill, bit and a rag to "hone" the port. After 30 minutes or so we are both done and and the valve is once again sliding smoothly in the bore. So we proceed to put it back together. Don was kind enough to run to town and pick up some locktite as I forgot mine, dont worry this comes up later too . So we finally get it back together enough to fire it up about 10PM. Fire it up and viola 40lbs of pressure. WoooHooo....Don and family take off and the boy and I continue to put it back together and button upthe car. About 12:30 we finally get done....

So Friday morning comes and everything is right in the world again. They call us up for first round of Q16, about 2 hours early from the schedule, this is a reoccuring theme. Anyway we make our first pass 8.53 IIRC but the car is not pulling on the top end. I did not watch much but the bullet that wizzed by my head, also known as the Wheatcraft dragster..We tow it back as I have a new carb on it and want to check the plugs. Probably not the wise choice really but it is on. We only had two passes on it the previous weekend at a t&t day due to the 250+ cars in attendance. Anyway we get back to the pit and the plug is WHITE, as in looks like it just came out of the box. So we richen it up, third time since bolting it on and decide to go from there. Next pass we tow it up again, plug reading still. Make a pass same deal, not pulling up top and go 8.53 again. This time however I look at the fuel pressure gauge as my opponent was nowhere to be seen. I have a whopping 2lbs of fuel pressure Well that aint gonna cut it. We tow it back and I tell my son the news. Yippee, we get to work on the car more Keep in mind we usually just ad fuel to this thing. So we are scratching our heads and looking it over. Electrically we are fine so we pull the line off the pump and turn it on. Dribble Dribble...barely coming out. So we start to tear into it, I have parts so we feel ok. We start by pulling the filter and checking it agian. Viola found the problem, get the spare out of the trailer and we are golden, ummmm...No spare, it is at home on the bench, we were going to replace it and ran out of time...SO on the hunt we go, this is late in the day so not many folks left at the track. But I tell anyone I know what I am after. Even bothered Dave Rayborn, no luck. But we tried. I sent the filter with a friend who's son lives in town and they were gonna try and find one. It is a BG filter. So nothing else we can do at this point for that, we leave the pump/filter apart and carry on. We are gonna run it with or without the filter. Hoping one turns up but not gonna let that stop us after yesterday. We decide that maybe this has been the carb issue so we go back on the jet to where we were before we arrived. About 10pm a friedn at the track finds a filter, so we get it in and get the car ready for Saturday. About midnight or so we get done and off to bed....

Well they call us Saturday morning, about 2 hours early. Mind you they told us many times to be ready about 11 to run at noon..So at 10:15 they call us. Keep in mind some guys are not there yet, others had just warmed up thier cars, you know blown alky cars q16 type cars. Anyhway we head up and make a pass, 8.50 well that is ok but still not pulling up top and only 5lbs of fuel pressure. Better but not right. So we get to work again. decide to drop the HS air bleeds and JET up. Up two on the jet down 4 on the bleed. Of course with all the thrashing on the carb I loos the threads on one screw. No big deal I have helicoil kit for that. D'OH no drill bit...Well off to the tool guy again. Get that fixed, drop the bleed and up the jet. We also decide to try and drop the timing and see what happens. Last shot at qualifying and there is a car just ahead of me and the bump is 8.52...So we proceed up there and it slows to and 8.53, keep in mind it is VERY VERY windy here. Anyway we tow back look it over and it is still lean but we finally have a little color on the plug. So we clean up and get ready for Sunday morning.

Sunday comes and they announce a run for the money. Sounds good, give me a shot at the tree and to make sure the car is good. I go on up. I look the ladder over to see who my possible later round opponents might be. Well we get up and my potential second round opponent lines up next to me. So I take this oppourtunity to toss out some stuff. I roll a ton of numbers in the delay box. Cut a horrific light and the car runs 8.47 at 160, not what we want but it is what we got. So we are ready for race day, or so I thought. First round, I get a single as my opponent is a no show due to a trans issue. We were up with them the night before, just could not get it fixed. Oh well I figure I get another freebie shot. Put the right numbers in the box and cut a .016 lite and trck on down track, when the shifter fails, up on the limiter and I coast out the back door. Crap will this ever end...We get the issue sorted out and head up fro round two. I get the opponent I figured I would, the Wheatcraft's beautiful dragster. We stage and I beat her off the line, not a good light but .020 better than hers, amybe my earlier strategy worked feeling good til about the 1/8th mark, the car aint pullin again..I see her coming and nothing I can do the car just is not running up top. I go all out 8.65 on an 8.51 The car just had nothing...Not sure yet what happened maybe the limiter dance urt something but it sounds ok. Have not looked at it. I think I may have just shifted WAY early, I do not recall seeing the shift lite and in my car 600rpm will be about .15-.2 slow. We will look later this week at it..

At any rate I hope I did not bore anyone. We accomplished qualifying for the Q16. Won a round, although not the way I would like to. We survived the problems we had and got home in one piece. So I guess I should be happy. I would like to thank Don, his son, Willie, Ted and Rod as well as everyone else who helped with what ever. It was a long weekend for sure but we tried to have fun. Hope to se you guys next year

Some weekends are like that Al.... they just suck,
glad you made it back in one piece

Wow, your MATS experience sounds like my previous Fontana experience.

We will need to pit together real soon, if anything, it will be some comic relief for both of us.

Man I`m glad I have a slow street car instead of an on the edge monster like yourself. I guess that`s why I do this for fun even though as you found out(again)it isn`t always that. Good luck to your future races w/that bad a$$ car of yours Al.

Ok, here is what i taped, Al iam'not a pro with the cam....lol Al Alguire at the STRIP vegas 2010

al, i'm glad you didn't let kenny tell you how to fix your car. he told me he stopped and bothered you. the guy is a pain in the butt sometimes.

Glad you got at least a little racin' in this time, Al. wow talk about gremlins, i enjoyed the read, Al, thanks!

Great reading,Al!!

Who among us hasn't had the exact type of weekend. What a drag. It just wears you out doesn't it!!!

Glad you went anyway to represent. Wish we could have been there.

Al, you were absolutely no bother, it was good to converse with you again, I was just a tad busy trying to get my stuff sorted out, I failed miserably. With all the work you did you could join the Hemi ranks.

Yada yada yada yada, blah blah blah. The really important part here is - Don carries a freaking emery board!!! WTH?

Well, after reading this, and, after having experienced similar incidences myself, I'm proclaiming the undeniable presence of the one, and only, Murphy, sole proprietor of Murphy's Law. It simply can't be refuted. An amazing chain of clusters.
p.s. Al, I watched the first round pass where you ran 10 something. I thought, maybe you were trying to hide a trump card. lol. 30 years of et racing talking there.

"Don was kind enough to run to town and pick up some locktite as I forgot mine, dont worry this comes up later too"

I'm still waiting for the part where the locktite comes up later...

Dave-You AH guys sure like working on your stuff. I am far to lazy to have to do that every weekend. But your hard work paid a dividend as you guys did pick up a bunch.

Don and the emery board, well enough said there

Bill I missed your call. Just saw the voice mail last night. Give me a shout sometime.

Leigh, ya I was holding I wish

Dont get me wrong. We still had fun, just had a lot of work mixed in with it. My car is not fast enough to have to work on it this much. But I was not alone as we had three no shows for first round. My opponent had a broken drive unit. Vettel's Stratus had a cylinder issue, I think they said it lifted a ring land they thought, and there was a beautiful Cuda that had a head gasket issue. Back to S/ST where I belong

Al - I am in your neck of the woods for a bit.

Al, I'm sorry about the time deal cause i was blind sided also with them calling you guys that early after we sat in a meeting figuring out the times for everything. Next year I'm going to try to get my hands gripped more around making sure you guys are ran at set times like we do the Hemi shootout.
Thanks again for coming and supporting the event.