Moparts

Drag Week 2013: The Experience

Posted By: MoparBilly

Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 05:24 AM

The Players:
Banyard Viper 65 D-100 Gasser
Engine: Filled 440 block w ARP studs,(508) 4.25 X 4.36 440 source rotating assembly with flat-top pistons. 84cc Edelbrock Performer RPM heads w/ Isky 1.5 ductile iron rockers. Weiand Tunnel Ram and 2 750DPs. .040 Cometic HG, 11.2 to 1 compression. Howards solid flat tappet, 272 at .050, .639 lift, 108. Hughes "cool face" edm lifters.
8qt. pan 1/2 internal p/u., remote filter, and oil cooler.

Ignition: MSD 6AL, Blaster II, MP Elect. Distributor, Taylor wires.

Fuel system: 15 Gal cell in Bed, two -8 feed lines through comp 5000 filter, one to Edelbrock manual pump, the other to an A1000 Aeromotive electric. Moroso fuel log regulator with -10 return. Manual for cruise, electric for race.

Trans: 727 with Super Sprag, Cheetah RMVB, TCI 8" 5500 Stall, Hurst Lightning Rods shifter.

Cooling: Large 2 core aluminum cross flow radiator w trans cooler on front. Standard rigid steel fan, 440 source front of engine kit.

Rearend: 3.91 gear on a spool in a 489 case. Back braced 8 3/4 with Moser axles and green bearings.

Chassis: Stock D-100 frame, full cage, boxed at spring mounts. Stock straight axle, with Scarebird disc brake conversion. 7 degrees worth of caster wedges. 2800lb Super Gas A Body Mopar Performance Super Stock leaf springs, mounted under the frame, and under the rear end with 2" lowering blocks.

Rolling stock: Rocket Launcher 15 X 4 front spoke style wheels with 28" Sportsman Fronts, ET 15 X 10 Aluminum Slots with M/T ET Street 31 X 14.50.

Curb weight: 3650 without driver on Beech Bend scales.

Driver: Brian "Boone" Gebhart.
Trunk Monkey: Bill "Pops" Gebhart.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 06:06 AM

The Gremlin
Engine: 440 block with ARP studs, stock steel crank, 440 source H-beam rods, .060 over Venolia flat-tops, .053 in the hole, .055 Cometic HG, 10.6 to 1 compression. Indy 63cc 440SR heads tall port with Isky 1.5 ductile iron rockers. Indy 440-3 with 1050 ultra HP Dominator. Howards solid flat tappet cam 272/639 on 108, Howards edm lifters. Milodon dragster pan with dual pickup and Milodon pump.

Ignition: MSD 7AL2, HVC Coil, MP elect. dist. Taylor wires.

Fuel system: 5 gal. plastic cell. -8 line through Fram HPG-1 filter, and comp 140 electric pump, deadhead 2 port regulator.

Trans: JW Performance complete Ultra Glide w 1.80 Straight cut planetary. JW Performance 8" 6300 stall converter.

Cooling: 2 core aluminum cross flow radiator w trans cooler on front. Standard rigid steel fan, 440 source front of engine kit.

Rearend: 4.56 geared Dana 60 with spool and Moser axles.

Chassis: Ladder bar back half with full cage. Competition Engineering Coil-Over kits on all four corners. R&P steering.

Rolling stock: Pro Star 15 X 4 front wheels with 26" Sportsman Fronts, Pro Star 15 X 14 with M/T ET Street 31 X 14.50.

Curb weight: 3060 on Beech Bend scales with driver on board.

Driver: Dale Gebhart (The "little" brother)
Trunk Monkey: James Gilliland
Class Entered: Modified N/A

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Posted By: bobby66

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 12:56 PM

Neat!
Posted By: 11secdart

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 03:10 PM

Man that truck is cool!

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Posted By: MPerry

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 03:29 PM

What kind of oil cooler is being run on the truck?
I have a partial filled block that I want to add an oil cooler to.
Weren't there a few more cars in your group?
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 06:06 PM

Quote:

What kind of oil cooler is being run on the truck?
I have a partial filled block that I want to add an oil cooler to.
Weren't there a few more cars in your group?




Derale Cooling Products 51610 - Derale Performance Stacked Plate Fluid Coolers Fluid Cooler, Plate-Type, Aluminum, Black, 16-Row, -10 AN, 6.688 in. x 13 in. x 2 in.

He probably should have went a bit larger, he still runs into a problem on hot days, or extended runs. 210 to 220 is normal temp, once it starts above 225 to 230, a noticeable drop in oil pressure starts. In the picture below, those are the feed lines, the cooler sits inside the cross member.

In 2006 we took a filled 493 with no oil cooler, and no oil temp guage, and pressure drop would begin about 4 miles into the drive! So this was much better.

Yeah, we have other cars, I'm getting to it!

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Posted By: cudadon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 06:38 PM

Quote:



Yeah, we have other cars, I'm getting to it!




SHEESH give the guy a break, you don't want to rush a great adventure story like this!

He probably has a job to go to....LOL

Great job on this tale Billy!
Don

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Posted By: rapom

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 08:43 PM

You guys are die hards driving that Gremlin with those specs.

What shocked me most was the 6300 stall, 4.56 gears and 5 gal tank.

That had to be only good for 30-40 miles between gas stations.

Love the story. You would be a great author for any topic.
Posted By: MPerry

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 08:43 PM

Not trying to rush. I just thought I saw a later Tan Charger in the mix and was hoping to read more about it.
Posted By: Cab_Burge

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/12/13 09:07 PM

Quote:

Not trying to rush. I just thought I saw a later Tan Charger in the mix and was hoping to read more about it.


Be pateint it is there. Billy works a full time job also Them boys are gluttons for punishment, the wole dang family I do admire thier persistances, determination and patiences
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/13/13 07:31 AM

Quote:

You guys are die hards driving that Gremlin with those specs.

What shocked me most was the 6300 stall, 4.56 gears and 5 gal tank.

That had to be only good for 30-40 miles between gas stations.





I had intended to do his another way, but what the heck, I'll just roll with it. Usually I try to flesh out the combinations as the story goes along, but I decided to do this, because with 5/6 different cars, it might get a bit unwieldy!

Boone's truck was a carefully thought out, clean sheet approach, with everything aimed towards Drag Week. The Gremlin is pretty much the exact opposite of that. It's an old bracket car with a bunched of used, recycled, re-purposed parts from several different projects just thrown against the wall, and lets see what happens! The converter and trans are what it took to get a 440, Indy-1, aggressive roller cam combination in a 2750lb chassis barracuda up on the wheel, and through the 1/4 in the 9.30-145 range. The rear gear, wheels, fuel system, batteries were all in the car from it's bracket days. The short block is filled with stuff Wade Metzinger pulled out of his bracket Cuda, because the shear number of runs on the stuff made him nervous. The SR heads were retired from my Dad's Challenger race car after 6 years of racing, and three years of sitting on the engine without the rockers backed off then a year of sitting on the shelf. The core of hot rodding has always been centered around individuals who have the desire, the know how, and not necessarily the funds to accomplish something.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/13/13 08:07 AM

The Belvedere
Engine: 440, ARP studs, stock crank and rods, TRW flat tops, .040 Cometic HG.
CNC ported Stealths, stock rockers and pushrods, Comp Cams 270H Magnum, 224 at .050, 470 lift, on a 110, M-1 with 800DP holley. 8qt 440 source pan, 1 3/4 headers into 2 1/2 full exhaust.

Ignition: Standard electronic ignition box, blaster II, MP Elect. Dist. 7mm Accel wires.

Fuel system: Stock tank, stock 5/16 line, Carter street pump to carb with teed off line to NOS fuel solenoid.

Trans: 727 with Transgo #3 manual shift kit, 11" 2700 stall converter.

Cooling: Off shore brass 26" radiator, full shroud, MP viscous fan package, Trans cooler on front.

Rear end: 8 3/4 with Dr Diff 30 spline axles and green bearings, 2.76 sure grip in 741 case.

Chassis: Stock front with disc brake conversion, new hemi leafs on rear.

Rolling stock: 15 x 4 Centerline Revs with 215/70 radials on front. 15 x 8 Revs on rear with 255/60 15 MT Drag Radials.

Power Adder: NOS Big Shot plate.

Curb Weight: 3725 without driver on Heartland Park Topeka scales.

Driver: Rachael Gebhart

Entered: SR BB/PA class.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/13/13 08:26 PM

The 73 Charger
Engine:66 440, stock steel crank and rods, KB 237 .030 pistons, 1009 Fel-pro HG
OOTB Stealth heads, 440 source 1.6 rockers, Comp 305H Magnum cam, 253@ .050, 560 with 1.6, on a 110, standard comp hyd. lifters. M-1 and 1050HP Dominator. 8qt milodon pan w 1/2 pick up. 1 7/8 supercomps with 3" H-pipe exhaust.

Ignition: MSD Digital 6+, HVC coil, MSD dist.

Fuel system: Stock tank with welded in sump, -8 to Mallory filter, Mallory comp 140 pump, -8 to dead head regulator, -6 to carb bowls and N20 fuel solenoid.

Trans: 727 with Cheetah RMVB, Dynamic 9.5 3800 stall, column shift.

Cooling: Champion Alum radiator and shroud, clutch fan, trans cooler in front of ac condenser.

chassis: stock, with welded in subframe connectors and Lakewood slapper bars.

Rear end. back braced 8 3/4 with Dr Diff 30 spline axles, 742 case 3.91 sure grip.

Rolling Stock 15 X 4 Centerline Split spoke with 28" sportsman fronts, 15 x 8 Centerline Split spoke with M/T Sportsman Pro 29 X 12.50

Power Adder: NOS Big Shot plate

Curb Weight: 4260 with driver on truck stop CAT scale.

Driver: Darren Gebhart

Class entered: SR BB/PA

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Posted By: EvilB1Dart

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/13/13 10:32 PM

Cool stuff Billy.....cool stuff......

Wes
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/15/13 02:57 AM

The Satellite

The backstory: The cast crank 440 was built 15 years ago by famed Oklahoma Stock/SS racer and engine builder Jimmy Lewis. He put the 66 Satellite together for his son to drive, and it served that purpose for 10 years until he finally gave it back to his Dad. If you know anything about NHRA Stock Eliminator engine builders, well you know that the straight story is never going to be told. So when Dale purchased the car 3 years ago, Jimmy told him, "It's just an old 440 I threw together out of parts I had laying around the shop, it's like a 450 lift crane fireball cam, and honestly I can't believe it's still running!"
Dale had it for a year, and swapped the stock dual plane for an Edelbrock Torker II, leaving the same 700DP in place. He noticed that the 452 heads had the exhaust crossovers filled with aluminum, I noticed when I changed valvecovers, that it had 2 distinctly different looking valve spring sets, sprinkled in randomly on the two heads. If I tried to tell you any other specs about the engine, I'd just be guessing, because we've never been in it!

Ignition: MP Chrome box, Blaster II, MP elect. Dist, Taylor wires.

Fuel system: Stock tank, stock 5/16 line, Holley mechanical street pump, Teed line to N20 fuel solenoid.

Trans: 727 with Transgo #2 Shift kit, 2200 HS stock converter.

Cooling: Champion 22" Aluminum radiator, rigid fan, stock water pump, trans cooler in front.

Rear end: 8 3/4, stock axles, 489 case 3.55 sure grip.

Chassis: stock, Hemi leafs, welded in subframe connectors.

Rolling Stock: 15 X 4 Centerline Convo-Pros with 215/70 radials in front, 15 x 8.5 Centerline Convo-Pros with 255/60 M/T Drag Radials on rear.

Curb Weight: 3715 without driver at Heartland Park Topeka scales.

Power Adder: NOS Big Shot plate

Driver: Billy Gebhart

Class Entered: Daily Driver

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/15/13 03:58 AM

Drag Week 2013: The Build(up)!

Well, I'll pretty much start this out where the above story left off, with all our cars lined up in the pit area of Beech Bend Raceway Park. In order for that picture to happen, Boone already had to snub his compatriots in the Gasser class who were frantically waving at him to pit with them! Seriously, joining the Gasser class is like joining a fraternity, this group of drag weekers are really unique in their whole approach to the game.

After the first Drag Week procedural hurdle with a hard fast deadline, The "You must be in the tech line by 2pm Sunday!", comes the next, and it has caught many newbies off guard in the past. "Your tow rig and extra equipment must be in the impound area, before the start of the Driver's meeting Monday morning!" So we rolled through the gate with a concerted effort and purpose. Our rigs were already in the proper area, we just needed to get all the gear we wanted to take back in the pits behind the cars.
As I was going through our truck, and handing Rachael stuff to put in our Satellite/shuttle, I stared at the spare 727 I had brought. "Rachael, how did the Belvedere shift on your 400 mile drive, and around town here?", I looked at her.
"Like a dream! We didn't have any trouble at all", she assured me.
"Hmm", I thought to myself, "We have 4 727 cars going, but on the other hand, that's a bulky, heavy monster to be loading and unloading every day." In the end, I talked myself out of it, and headed back to our pit. I nearly had the Satellite unloaded when Rachael, Dale, and Darryl pulled up in his truck, with his 16FT open trailer loaded down with stuff! Apparently they decided one big load made more sense than multiple trips. When it was all unloaded into our pit spots, it looked pretty daunting.
"Hope we didn't overdo it!" Boone laughed, "looks like your pack mules are going to get a workout!"
"You're the one who brought a truck", I shot back.
"That's a Thoroughbred, not a Clydesdale, she don't haul leftover parts!" he quipped.
The first call for the Driver's meeting went out. "I told you!" Darryl laughed. We had been discussing that since Hot Rod had scheduled a "Drag Week Car Show" in Indy tonight, they may be antsy to get the race started as early as possible, and it appeared they were doing exactly that, rounding us up 30 minutes earlier than in years past.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/16/13 06:09 AM

We slowly made our way up to the famous covered bleachers of Beech Bend Raceway Park for the driver's meeting, and I felt that tingle of excitement I get when visiting a track for the first time, this would be the only track on this year's Hot Rod Drag Week that I had never been to before. I walked by Mike (Mr P Body, Moparts), and he was in deep conversation with Mike Sporrong (Swede 4, BangShift), so I decided I'd introduce myself later, but that never materialized, I never saw him the rest of the event!
The announcement was made that 230 cars was the final entry number, against my recorded prediction of 237, so I was pretty close. I also predicted that less than 215 would leave Bowling Green, and I missed low on that one. My third bold prediction was that the Daily Driver quick 32 bump would be 12:37...Just ask Ross (Ross, Moparts)how I did on that one!

Keith Turk broke away when going over the rules, and finally said over the microphone, "Guys, we believe 99.5% of you have integrity, so we are going to honor that integrity as a group", his eyes seem to lock on me (I'm sure it was my imagination), "and let that other .5% be out there, and if they get caught so be it, but we can't worry about them."
I did the math quickly, .5% of 250...roughly 1! He was looking at me! Nah, I was sitting close to Darryl, he must've been looking at Darryl!

Once the meeting finished, we made our way back to our pit spot. The first session would be the class cars for an hour and a half, so I didn't need to worry about the Satellite just yet. I simply concentrated on helping everybody else get ready for their first try of Drag Week, it was crazy to think that Boone and Dale had never even done a burn-out in their respective rides!
I grabbed my trusty Longacre tire guage and made my way through each vehicle, when I got to Darren's Charger, he already had the rear tires off!
"What are you doing now", I asked him.
"The traction bars and springs were still rubbing on the tires, so I have to loosen everything up and re-square it."
"But you drove it 80 miles last night!"
"That was night before last!" Dad interjected with a laugh, "You've already lost one!"
"We had to take the traction bars off when we unloaded it", Darren continued, "That's why I wanted help last night!"
"I had no idea", I apologized, "I thought the grilles and the N20 was all you had left to work on."
Rachael came over to get me, "I'm ready to go up, so you have to come and help me.
"I thought we settled this last year..." I started
"And I haven't been in the car since then, so you need to help me for a pass or two!"

No sooner had we reached the lanes, than the track fell silent, and the clean-up crew went to work. Usually Drag Week carnage begins on Sunday T&T, and the weak links get sorted out before Monday's big start, but with that cancelled, well, we had made it exactly 5 sets in and we were already one boosted Fox body down! I glanced ahead, and realized that Boone, and James had already ushered Dale and the Gremlin into the fray ahead of us.
"What do you think, Boone?"
"10.50?, 10.60 would be a good start...", he tossed out as Dale completed his burn-out and jumped to the line. It left flat, and it didn't have that crisp sound it had just two days earlier. As the Gremlin labored downtrack I looked at Boone, "Not good!"
"Nope", he shook his head as the announcer told us 11.67 at 117, "It's gonna be a long day huh?"
"Yep, sure is!"

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Posted By: jamesc

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/16/13 06:29 AM

Quote:

The announcement was made that 230 cars was the final entry number, against my recorded prediction of 237, so I was pretty close.




you should have been pretty close, sounds like you had 200 of the cars there
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/16/13 04:43 PM

Thats funny^^^
Posted By: johnnycuda

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/16/13 06:51 PM

X2


Quote:

Thats funny^^^


Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/17/13 03:54 AM

Rachael and I were working the Belvedere through the lanes, when we heard the familiar, "Are you MoparBilly?". It was Howard (draginmopars, Moparts) and Gayle (Jnkgal, Moparts) who had came out to check out opening day of the race. Howard and I had both shared in the pain of waiting on Airwolf heads to show up on our doorstep. "Mine arrived on Tuesday after labor day, two days after I left for Oklahoma!" I informed them when the inevitable question was asked, "So I haven't even got a chance to look at them yet." Sharing stories with fellow Moparts members sure helped the 45 minutes in the lanes go by quick, and Rachael appreciated the opportunity to visit with another female mopar drag racer.
She finally got her shot at the Beech Bend track, and we agreed that a nice no-bottle warm-up pass was all we needed. She rolled up in the water box, braked, brought the rpm up, and looked over at me. Good brake stall, but we are supposed to be turning the tires! I jabbed my upturned thumb towards the sky a couple of times, and she stabbed into the throttle until the tires started smoking and I motioned her forward. She cleared the traps at 13.50-101, and the local announcer commented, "Rachael is one of five Gebhart family members entered in the event! I wonder how many of them will be speaking to each other by Friday?".
"Wow", I thought to myself, "He must've read some of my stories, or he has brothers as well".

Since Boone was only about 6 sets behind Rachael, I hung around and brought him into the water as well. He had so much smoke rolling off the ET Streets, I couldn't motion him forward fast enough. We had discussed it earlier, and had agreed he should just roll into the throttle as opposed to slapping it open, because we didn't know how the drivetrain was going to react on the first hit. He was in the right lane, and I made my way to the wall to watch his pass. When he launched, the amount of body lift, and roll to the passenger side was astounding, and it seemed to pull the Barnyard toward the wall on that side, he nearly had it back to the middle when he hit 2nd, and it made another move to the wall. "Don't be a hero Boone, lifting is OK", I was saying to myself as I heard him hit 3rd and begin wrestling the D-100 back towards the center of the lane. The announcer let us know it was an 11.45-115, but I never took my eyes off the Truck, knowing shutdown in that beast can be as treacherous as accelerating!

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Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/17/13 05:15 AM

"I wonder how many of them will be speaking to each other by Friday?".
Brian Lohnes does a GREAT job announcing on DW.Does his homework.Your posts on his and Chads site Bangshift.com he is in the know.Truck does get abit squirrely going down the track.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/17/13 06:47 AM

Darryl and his Dart went 11.18-120 a few cars after Boone, and I headed back to find Rachael in the lanes. We were about 5 sets from getting her second run in, when they cut off the class car lanes, and went to Daily Driver. I walked back over to the pits to get the Satellite and see what everyone else was up to. Darren was still knee deep in the Charger, and since the next hour and a half would be DD cars, he didn't need to rush. I walked over to where Dale had the Gremlin's Dominator tore apart, and was looking at Boone's time slip.
"You going to run again?", I looked at Boone.
"Nope, I'm Done... that thing had me white knuckled after 330 feet! Kept dragging me towards the wall, then once I got in Drive, the front end felt like it was floating and I was just praying for the finish line!
Darryl walked over with his time slip.
"You going back up?"
"Nope", Darryl shook his head, "not interested in sitting in the lanes, simmering in my own sweat for another identical E.T.!"
"Thought you wanted a 10.99?"
"Well, if it went 11.04, I might try again, but it's not getting there in this soup, no way".

Ok, two down, four to go, and I headed to the lanes in the Satellite. Forty-five minutes later I pulled into the left lane, as nervous as I'd been in quite some time, because I have virtually no seat time in this car. I launched, hit the horn (N20) at about 60ft., watched the tach jump past five grand, then shifted to neutral! Let off the N20 and the gas, found second, nailed both again, then shifted to neutral a second time. Finally found drive, then just half throttled it to the finish, 13.84-82, and embarrassingly wriggled my way back to the lanes. I had the exact same luck as Rachael, getting all the way to the front, only to get cut off and told they were running the class cars again. At least I didn't have to walk far to help her get ready! I turned on the bottle as she got situated, and reminded her to only use it from 60ft. until about a 1000ft., then drive it on through. She drove the Belvedere perfect, and we had an opening day 12.17-113, almost identical to her first day run last year! I went back over, leaned on the fender of the Satellite, and watched the remainder of the class car 2nd session for about 20 minutes, when Rachael walked up to me.
"The Belvedere won't go into reverse..."
"It doesn't have reverse? Like it just goes into neutral?"
"No...like it locks up and won't move!"
"OK", I shook my head, "I'll have to look at it after my run."

The Charger, and the Gremlin, were nose to tail, and quickly made their way through the staging lanes. Darren laid down a no bottle 12.89-106, and Dale followed him down that lane with an 11.000-122, barely denied a 10 second run to start his drag week out. I pulled around into the left lane water box, directly behind a certain purple duster. I glanced to the right lane, and realized he was racing a certain silver Aussie valiant charger... and I had the best seat in the house! Faraone took his time spooling up the Valiant Charger, so it wasn't a side-by-side match. But Eddie's 8.71-152 to John's 8.52-164 was still enjoyable from where I was at! 120 feet into my run, the bottle ran out, and I was still struggling with the shifter, this was just not my day, 15.90-74!

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Posted By: Al_Alguire

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/17/13 07:01 AM

Man I really need to go do this one day..
Posted By: quickd100

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/17/13 10:09 AM

Quote:

Rachael and I were working the Belvedere through the lanes, when we heard the familiar, "Are you MoparBilly?". It was Howard (draginmopars, Moparts) and Gayle (Jnkgal, Moparts) who had came out to check out opening day of the race. Howard and I had both shared in the pain of waiting on Airwolf heads to show up on our doorstep. "Mine arrived on Tuesday after labor day, two days after I left for Oklahoma!" I informed them when the inevitable question was asked, "So I haven't even got a chance to look at them yet." Sharing stories with fellow Moparts members sure helped the 45 minutes in the lanes go by quick, and Rachael appreciated the opportunity to visit with another female mopar drag racer.
She finally got her shot at the Beech Bend track, and we agreed that a nice no-bottle warm-up pass was all we needed. She rolled up in the water box, braked, brought the rpm up, and looked over at me. Good brake stall, but we are supposed to be turning the tires! I jabbed my upturned thumb towards the sky a couple of times, and she stabbed into the throttle until the tires started smoking and I motioned her forward. She cleared the traps at 13.50-101, and the local announcer commented, "Rachael is one of five Gebhart family members entered in the event! I wonder how many of them will be speaking to each other by Friday?".
"Wow", I thought to myself, "He must've read some of my stories, or he has brothers as well".

Since Boone was only about 6 sets behind Rachael, I hung around and brought him into the water as well. He had so much smoke rolling off the ET Streets, I couldn't motion him forward fast enough. We had discussed it earlier, and had agreed he should just roll into the throttle as opposed to slapping it open, because we didn't know how the drivetrain was going to react on the first hit. He was in the right lane, and I made my way to the wall to watch his pass. When he launched, the amount of body lift, and roll to the passenger side was astounding, and it seemed to pull the Barnyard toward the wall on that side, he nearly had it back to the middle when he hit 2nd, and it made another move to the wall. "Don't be a hero Boone, lifting is OK", I was saying to myself as I heard him hit 3rd and begin wrestling the D-100 back towards the center of the lane. The announcer let us know it was an 11.45-115, but I never took my eyes off the Truck, knowing shutdown in that beast can be as treacherous as accelerating!




I know EXACTLY what it's like herding my old truck down the strip. After the strip can be as exciting as the run sometimes. I think the worst is that floating feeling when it's on the verge of loosing all steering control.Dave
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/17/13 02:29 PM

I backed the Satellite into my designated spot in our line of six and jumped out with the intent of swapping in a fresh bottle, but I was immediately swallowed up in the flurry of activity surrounding the rest of our group. Darryl was standing nearby, studying the route map to Indy, as he had already been to the tower to turn in his time slip.
"256 mile jaunt for us today, when do you think you guys will be ready to roll?", he looked at me. I noticed quickly that he already had his Dart packed up.
"Are you done, or not?" I asked Darren.
"If I get the nitrous hooked up in time, I'd like to try another one", he shrugged.
"Boone, what's with the Belvedere?"
"It's stuck in a forward gear, it pulls forward in neutral and locks up in reverse, so it could have a clutch pack welded together, or just a valve in the valve body stuck. The fluid isn't burnt, we can try dropping the valve body if you want, or we can swap to that other trans..."
"Left it in the truck in impound!" I winced, "what do you want to do Rachael?"
"I don't care, either way, fix it or leave it, whatever we have to do", she smiled, standing there with her time slip still in hand.
Robert (6pak2go, Moparts) walked up about that time with a big smile on his face, and a firm handshake. "I see you made it! I told him.
"Yeah, rented a Charger , and I'm ready to check out this adventure, today has been awesome already, so I figured I'd follow you guys to Indy, or I'm ready to start wrenching if needed!"
I looked over at Dale, and James, in the middle of the Gremlin carb again, and asked, "Are you going back up or getting ready for the road?"
"One more", Dale shook his head, "This thing won't make any RPM, barely hit the chip that run".
I looked at my phone, it was 12:45, and the announcement had already been made that the last car down the track would be 2:15. The pits, and staging lanes were thinning out considerably as most were making their way towards Indy. My quick assessment was that the Gebhart clan was probably going to be the last group leaving Bowling Green this evening, and I didn't want to drag Darryl and Robert into that abyss on the first day! So I told Rachael to go turn in her slip, and get a route map for Robert, so He and Darryl could get rolling, and leave the rest of us to our misery. Everyone seemed to agree to that plan of attack, so we set up on our course of action. By the time Darryl and Robert rolled out of the gate, Boone had the Belvedere up on jack stands, and Dale had the Gremlin headed back to the staging lanes. I stuck a new bottle in the Satellite, and told Rachael to run the old one over to Monte's trailer for a re-fill (Thanks again to Holley/NOS for providing free re-fills to us junkies on this trip!).

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/18/13 03:43 AM

Dale made another hit, but the 11.01-121 was not an improvement. He came over to check on me, as I was fiddling with the Satellite's N20 system.
"Well, this is not what I expected!" I confided, "Bring two cars all the way from Phoenix, and my Drag Week is pretty much over before the first track session ends!"
"What do you mean?", he looked at me, "This car is fine!"
"Except I can't shift it on the bottle!" I shook my head, "If I turn in this 13.80, I'll have no chance at a quick 32 spot".
"Want me to take a shot at it?" He volunteered.
"Can't hurt!" Even as it slipped out of my lips I knew how absurd it was, yeah it could hurt bad, he can break an anvil with a rubber hammer!

He grabbed the bottle at the hit, and blew the M/T Drag Radials off, let off, stabbed it again, same result, the back end of the Satellite had wagged left the first time, then right, so he let off the N20 until the tires caught up again, then laid into it. From the fence it really seemed to be moving in the back half 12.62-118.2. The mph stunned me! "That thing will go 11's!" I laughed to myself.
I knew he would not give me a chance to stop him, and sure enough he drove right back up to the line. The time slips read 1:48pm on the first, 1:51pm on the second. I also knew the fuel system wouldn't support that kind of power with everything hot. Sure enough, it laid over at about the eighth mile, and he nursed it through to a 12.27-105.9.
He handed me the two slips, "Un-real! That thing scoots...uh, it's the 3.55's isn't it! It's an animal!
Now it was my turn to gloat, "I told you it didn't have enough engine for those 2.76's, didn't I!"

Darren was still playing with the Charger when they cut the lanes, so I coaxed him into going up to the tower with me to turn in our slips. When we got back, Dale had a cordless drill and James had a wrench, and they appeared to be removing all the screws from the lexan side windows.
"I thought you told me those wouldn't come out, and that you were going to remove the aluminum plates from the cowl ducts?"
"Well", Dale shrugged, "Don (ksj, Moparts) thinks we are gonna die in this tin can, so he came over and looked at it 5 different times and decided if we get the screws out, the aluminum they put in the channels might be flimsy enough that we can wrestle them out! So I told him we'd give it a try".
"Got the valve body out" Boone hollered from under the Belvedere. Sure enough, after careful examination he found a sticky valve. We took it out, cleaned it with some emory, and got it working again, so the re-assembly started.

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Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/18/13 05:03 AM

Dale needs his head examined. DW 07 we had someone who was all lexan windowed up.Had to get him out of the car every 30 minutes.My original suggestion was a hole saw.After I saw the way they were installed it was an easy cure.Wasnt it Dale that I saw at a Midnight Madness at TRP before DW started?Priorities. LOL
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/19/13 11:44 PM

The pits were really thinning out by this time, and Keith Turk came by to check on us.
"We may have to leave one of our cars", I explained, "So it's ok if we drive it back to impound, and drop it off."
"Yeah, shouldn't be problem, if you take it down there and leave it, then walk back up and join your group!" He was agreeable.
"Well...we thought we may have to take a car or two back there to pick up the driver..."
"You're a dang Drag Racer aren't you!" He pointed his finger at me accusingly, "I can pick 'em out of every crowd!"
"Oh yeah, guilty as charged! I've hung out in the Stock Eliminator pits at a National event and listened to all the old timers brag about the stuff tech never caught them on!"
"We just don't do that stuff in LSR racing!" He shook his head.
"I get that" I affirmed, "You have to respect your fellow competitors."
With that he went over to check on the other group still in the pits. Tom Taylor's Blue 79 Nova was under one of the huge shade trees, and it was getting plenty of attention from Troy Woolsoncroft, and Dan Wilcox, while their rides sat nearby. Troy would tell me later that Tom had popped a head gasket, and they decided to change both!

With Boone and I busy with the Belvedere, Dale turned his attention to helping Darren with the Charger. They wired in a spare tachometer, since the original had never recovered from the initial start-up last year, and they managed to finally get the nitrous hooked up, so it could live up to the "power adder' part of the class he had entered.

Darryl was well on his way, as this picture from Robert attests.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/19/13 11:50 PM

What these pictures also attest to, as you notice Darryl is always in the slow lane and getting passed by every other Drag Weeker and random Semi on the highway, is what happens when you choose to go with 28" tires and 4.56 gears!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 12:14 AM

At 5pm, the track manager drove over to check on us, and see when we would be leaving. I told him we had about 20 minutes left to finish the cars, then we would load up and be on our way.
"Alright", he explained, "I'm coming back at 6 to check, then I have to lock this place up". He pointed to the impound area, "too much money sitting down there to leave this place unattended!"

We fired up the Belvedere, after filling it back up with fluid...same result, still pulling all the time!
"Well, she has the gears we need, let's just go with it", Boone suggested.
I looked at Rachael and shook my head, "No...if we were at the second track, I'd go for it, but we've got our hands full, and to leave here with it like this doesn't make sense!

That decision was easy, the next was the toughest. I explained that we were down one mule, and we had to leave some of our stuff, but not one person wanted to leave any toys behind!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 03:47 AM

I forced them to give up the little gas powered generator, and the corded power tools and lights it was capable of running, but we still only had about a half trunk full when Rachael and I took the Belvedere down to park on the trailer. When we returned, the bums had the Satellite trunk completely stuffed full, with the fenderwells appearing to be three inches lower! When I threw a fit about it, they all just seemed to look off into the sky, or were so intent on their own vehicles that they couldn't help me out. By the time we rolled out of the gate, the light was fading and only the group of three working on the head gaskets, were left.

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Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 04:04 AM

You wont meet nicer people than Tom,Kim Taylor and Dan Watkins.They were just glad PepBoys had head gaskets to keep them going.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 04:33 AM

The sound of rubbing tires, and the smell of superheated rubber was evident before we even made it two miles down the road. Rachael and I found a gas and convenience store 4 miles from the track, and pulled in, with Dale and James in the Gremlin, and Darren in the Charger behind us. Boone and Dad in the Barnyard, just motored right on by, blatantly ignoring us. After fueling up, and getting ice for the ice chests, I pulled over to a side parking lot, and started unloading everything from the trunk of the Satellite on the ground.
"What's up?", Darren walked over.
"Can't drive it like this, that passenger's side tire will be blown out in ten miles!" I pointed at the smear of molten rubber on the sidewall.
I had all the tools to pull the tire off, but the jack was in the Barnyard Viper, which was heading north down I-65 at the moment. So we handed Rachael the jack stand and the four of us muscled the B body into the air long enough for her to put it under the passenger's side rear frame rail. I just had the tire off, when the threesome of chevies we had left at the track pulled in to fuel up and be on their way.
I handed James my two pound sledge, and he made the necessary adjustments to the wheelwell, then we re-organized the load, and added some tire pressure. Dale led us onto I-65 North with the realization that we were the last Drag Weekers to leave Bowling Green, at least, out of those that were making out of Bowling Green!

The little AMC was surprisingly moving down the big road pretty good, and I was at 2900-3100 to keep up with him for the first 6 or 7 miles, then he backed it down to where I was 2700-3000. I could tell his converter didn't like the rolling hills though, as his speed would vary considerably.

Boone and Dad had found an Arby's just off the highway, so we ran about twenty miles, and then pulled over and had supper. We walked out into darkness, and decidedly cooler air, with the purpose of putting some miles behind us clearly on our minds.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 04:15 PM

This comparison may not make sense for many, but despite my girth, I really enjoy long distance running, and there are many similarities between the way you tackle drag week, and the way you get through a marathon, or a 24 hour race.
It's important to stay in the moment, focus, and set small goals rather than get overwhelmed by the entirety of the task ahead of you. In Drag Week each instruction sheet for the drive includes two checkpoints where you must take pictures of your car to show you followed the route. these become a focus point on the drive, "Let's just get to the next checkpoint and we'll handle everything else from there" is a mantra that's used quite often! So Rachael and I pulled out of Arby's, and headed back onto I-65N intent upon finding a live bait shop roughly 70 miles up the road!
My phone rang almost as soon as I turned onto the ramp, it was Boone.
"We didn't buy gas earlier, and Dale wants to fill up too, so he can see where his mileage is. You guys go ahead, and let us know what you find up there!"
"Ok, Dale has a 5 gallon fuel jug with him right?"
"Yeah, so his plan is to run until the 5 gallon cell is empty, put the jug in the cell, then start figuring his next stop!"
"Might be slow going!"
"Probably, just let us know when you find the checkpoint."

By looking at the line by line instructions, with the mileage listed by each one, we were basically looking at a 44 mile detour off I-65 to get this picture. We jumped onto US-31W, and drove right past Fort Knox, it was probably quite a scenic little drive, for those who left at a decent hour! Rachael and I were just squinting at poorly lit businesses trying to read address numbers, to get our bearings. Once we arrived at Pepper Tackle, I called Boone, and they were about 15 miles behind us, so we decided to start chewing into the 107 miles to the next one!

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Posted By: cudadon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 04:18 PM

Billy maybe I am missing something, but it seems to me that the BV (truck) could haul some/all of that stuff better than your passenger car?
Keep up the fantastic tale that this adventure is!
Thanks for letting me live it through your tale.
Don

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Posted By: dustergirl340

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 04:47 PM

great story so far...looking forward to more!
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 04:47 PM

We were nearly back to the I-65 when we passed a silver fox body on the side of the road, the driver was sitting on the tongue of the trailer he was pulling with his shoulders slumped forward, and a forlorn look on his face, but he motioned us on as we slowed.
"He looks like his dog just died", Rachael commented.
"Or another credit card is getting smoked!" I added.

We were cruising down the big road once again, when we got the call that the boys had made their first checkpoint of Drag Week 2013...here we go!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 05:49 PM

Don,
The BV has the lightest rated SS springs under it, and they are 20 years old!

The second stop for a picture on our route, should have been fairly straight forward, as they dumped us back on US-31 North which basically runs parallel with I-65, but it's a divided highway, the crossing street signs are terribly small, and the business we were stopping at had all it's lights out, with only a county pole light out front! We passed it by two miles, then made our way back, finally pulling around the dirt road behind the business and easing up to a large 25 foot rocking chair. When Rachael and I got out to take our picture, it was eerily quiet, so we stretched, walked around a bit, and tried to get a picture that would show the chair and the car in the pitch blackness.

Then, like a scene out of a bad zombie movie, we were surrounded with activity! First, Eddie Miller and his Duster came rumbling into the parking area, followed by his buddy Luke, in his Maverick. We pulled up enough for them to get staged for pictures, then Eddie and I started talking about Ray, and Duster DJ, and the chevy boys and all the internet stuff that had preceded the event.
The conversation was going along great when Eddie said, "Is that Maschmeier?"
Sure enough the low, flat black 68 Camaro with the 4 inch side pipes was coming around the front of the building. Todd and Travis had no sooner extricated themselves from the menacing nitrous burner, than four, yes four of the local police cars pulled in with bright lights and spot lights lighting up the whole scene! Two other Drag Weekers had entered from the other direction, and were now trying to make their way near the rocking chair also! I looked at Rachael and said, "I think it's time for us to move on down the road"!

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Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 06:06 PM

Quote:

Don,
The BV has the lightest rated SS springs under it, and they are 20 years old!

The second stop for a picture on our route, should have been fairly straight forward, as they dumped us back on US-31 North which basically runs parallel with I-65, but it's a divided highway, the crossing street signs are terribly small, and the business we were stopping at had all it's lights out, with only a county pole light out front! We passed it by two miles, then made our way back, finally pulling around the dirt road behind the business and easing up to a large 25 foot rocking chair. When Rachael and I got out to take our picture, it was eerily quiet, so we stretched, walked around a bit, and tried to get a picture that would show the chair and the car in the pitch blackness.

Then, like a scene out of a bad zombie movie, we were surrounded with activity! First, Eddie Miller and his Duster came rumbling into the parking area, followed by his buddy Luke, in his Maverick. We pulled up enough for them to get staged for pictures, then Eddie and I started talking about Ray, and Duster DJ, and the chevy boys and all the internet stuff that had preceded the event.
The conversation was going along great when Eddie said, "Is that Maschmeier?"
Sure enough the low, flat black 68 Camaro with the 4 inch side pipes was coming around the front of the building. Todd and Travis had no sooner extricated themselves from the menacing nitrous burner, than four, yes four of the local police cars pulled in with bright lights and spot lights lighting up the whole scene! Two other Drag Weekers had entered from the other direction, and were now trying to make their way near the rocking chair also! I looked at Rachael and said, "I think it's time for us to move on down the road"!




Only at drag week can you have a mini Elvis in an 8 second NA mopar, and a 7 second second camaro pull up along side you at a giant rocking chair in the middle of the night.

I opted to go with the taillights in my pic as this picture didn't look near this bright on my phone.

Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/20/13 07:46 PM

Good one Clark! Nothing we took even remotely looked like a chair.

We pulled back out on US-31, and called Boone to explain how to get to the checkpoint. Darryl called immediately afterwards, and Rachael took the call.
"He says the motel is thirty miles out of route, and he is just going to find another one because he doesn't want to back track that far!"
"That can't be right, but they seem to be running us quite away over just to go to that cruise-in spot. Ask him how far the motel is from the track!"
"4.5 miles".
"Then tell him to drive to the track and finish the route, and then go to the motel".
"Yeah, he said that makes sense, he'll do that!"

This is what happens when you get tired and road weary after a long day, and you are looking at road instructions on a sheet and taking advice from smart phones...it can get convoluted in a hurry! We made it to the Barnes and Noble for the cruise-in without a problem, (of course it had been over for hours by that point), then everything went sideways in a hurry. Maschmeier and Gilpin drove by in the Camaro, so we dicided to follow them, and that turned what should have been a 1/2 mile cut-off into a 4 mile drive-around! Then they came to a dead stop in the middle of an intersection, which Rachael clearly knew was a left turn, so I made a left turn on the inside of them, and now they decided to follow us! 3 miles or so later, I made a wrong turn, then drove about 2 miles before I figured it out, so we pulled into a closed gas station to take a breather, and get our bearings. The Camaro continued on, but as we sat there in the Satellite, with the engine shut off, punching the motel address into Rachael's phone, I heard the throaty, lumping monster coming back towards us. They pulled in, parked, and Travis walked over to my open door, "what are you guys going to do?"
"I think we are within a couple miles of the track, but I'm not going to spend twenty more minutes searching for it in the dark, so we're going to find our motel and call it a night". I smiled as I looked at his weary face, and realized they were at the end of their rope as well.
"Yeah, I agree, I think we'll do the same, see you guys in the morning!"

Basically, now, when I look at it on Google maps, we missed the track by about three miles, and then back tracked and drove 8 more miles than we needed to find the motel, but at the time it felt like it cost us twenty miles and an hour of time to get it all straight!
Exhausted, I called Darryl, and woke him up to get our room numbers, he was barely coherent, but I sent Rachael up to get the key, while I called Boone and directed them in.
She came back with one room key.
"We have two rooms, why only one key?"
"This is to the other room, he just stuck it through the door, and closed it again!"
"Well, OK, I guess whoever is staying in his room will just have to beat on the door when they get here!"
Rachael grabbed our bags and headed on up to the other room, while I waited for the guys. When they arrived, Darren and Boone parked beside me near the front of the motel, but not Dale, nope, he had to rumble all the way around, and park on the far side. There is always one in every crowd who has to announce his arrival at two in the morning!
I helped Dad, Darren and Boone grab their bags and escorted them to Darryl's room, then returned to our room only to realize Dale and James had snuck in there already and beat me to the shower. I didn't set an alarm, we were going to be late to the track tomorrow, just like a marathon, pace is everything!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/21/13 05:18 AM

There was a large contingent of Drag Weekers staying at our motel, and even though I didn't get up, I think I heard everyone of them leave. Finally I jumped up, got my shower, and after dressing, started rousting the rest out of bed.
I took my stuff out to the car, and met Dad at the continental breakfast.
"Is everyone else moving in your room?" I asked him.
Well, Darryl left like an hour ago, but yeah everyone else is getting around."
"I saw Eli parked at the entrance to checkpoint #2 last night, what was up with that?" I asked. Eli Gould is from the same 1000 population town in Northeast Oklahoma that I grew up in, that my parents still live in, and his brother attends the same church as my dad, so we were keeping tabs on their effort in Daily Driver.
"Yeah he was still there when we arrived, HEI coil was overheating, and they just have to wait for it to cool off. Pep Boys is supposed to have one waiting for them at the track this morning."
"I saw Ray's Barracuda was here last night."
"Yeah, I think he pulled out even before Darryl!"

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/21/13 06:03 AM

Darryl called me shortly after we finished breakfast to let me know the first session was starting. He must've called me from within sight of the starting line because he was one of the first 10 sets of cars down the track, and had his one and only hit down the fabled Indianapolis Raceway Park track before 9:30am! His 11.181-120.1 was almost a mirror image of his run at Bowling Green, so he called it good.
I think he would have been one of the cars driving out the gate as we were coming in if his starter hadn't locked up in the pits! Once again, the traveling Pep Boy's Speed Shop trailer came to the rescue.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/21/13 08:05 AM

We took an almost 360 degree tour of the IRP grounds, before I found the main entrance, then unloaded our respective vehicles. The first session of class cars was already over, and they were running the Daily Driver class, so I reset the Drag Radials to 20lbs. and headed into the lanes with the Satellite. After Monday's debacle behind the wheel, I decided to leave the Satellite in Drive for my first run. I hit the bottle at about 30ft out, it shifted to second at around 5000 and we were moving, but valve float came before it shifted to drive. For those of you who have never experienced that while on the nitrous, um, it can be a bit disconcerting, it pops and snorts like a turbo car on the limiter! I let off the horn button and the gas at the same time, and it finally shifted to drive, then I just half throttled for a ways, and crossed with a 12.96-99. The 440 sounded rough in the shutdown area, so once I made the curve, I took a quick look under the hood to make sure it wasn't pushing out water or oil anywhere. Once back in the pits, I changed the plugs, but none of the old ones looked nicked up. I finally discovered it had blown the vacuum plug off the manifold, with that replaced, she returned to the normal 800rpm dead stick idle I had become accustomed to.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/23/13 03:03 AM

Boone asked me to help him with his fuel transfer. We had bought 15 gallons of 110 octane Rockett brand gas at Bowling Green with the plan of using it on the track for the whole trip. Boone took a line loose, drained all the pump fuel into another jug, then we dumped in some of the race gas. He had already uncapped the headers, and Dale had pulled the timing back into it.
He headed for the lanes, and Dale jumped into the Gremlin to go up for his initial hit as well.
"No hood?" I questioned him.
"Nope", he smiled, "Going to try it without this time!"

Boone soft soled it off the starting line, but after that it seemed to go much straighter than it did at Bowling Green, and the scoreboard showed 11:58-116.3.
Dale pulled in a few minutes later, and when the transbrake let go, the rear bucked hard once, and it smoke the tires for about 60ft., and went 11.90-118. As soon as he hit the stripe, Brian Lohnes announced that we had an hour and fifteen minutes left, and the track would be shut down, so we were up against yet another deadline!

Boone was happy to be one and done, and decided to take this time to get the cam break in oil out of the engine, and get ready to roll. The oppressive heat, the time deadline, and trying to get a decent hit out of each car made our visit to Indy feel more like work than fun.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/23/13 04:01 AM

"Looked like it went pretty straight", I commented to Boone as he looked for a barrel to dump his used oil in.
"Yeah, I put two more pounds of air in the passenger side ET Street, to try and compensate for the body roll, and it helped a bunch!"
I went over to check on Dale, still under the back of the Gremlin, "I think I broke the shocks on the drive last night, so I'll just have to go up there and ease it out of the hole".
"You knew how much trouble I had with those coil-over kits on my Valiant in 2011, can't believe you didn't swap them out!"
"I was working on the Truck, just ran out of time", he replied.
"Talking about running out of time, how about running the Satellite again for me?"
"Alright." He jumped up and made his way into the nearly empty lanes.
He waited until after the 60ft. to grab the nitrous., lifted momentarily to get the shift into drive, and it nosed over at 900ft., but I was happy with the 12.43-106.
I had that time slip almost to the tower to turn it in when I saw Darren rolling up to the line for his first ever nitrous pass. He hit the bottle right off the line, and the sportsman pros couldn't handle it, so the big barge started sashaying out of the hole, he let off the nitrous, shifted, and then was on and off the squeeze the rest of the way down the track for a 12.42-118.
Two cars later in the same lane, Dale pulled the Gremlin up, footbraked it to about three grand, then rolled into it out of the hole. It stuck, and seemed to move along real well until it flattened out at about 1000ft., but I knew he'd take the 10.98-122.5, and move on to St. Louis. I looked to the return road in time to see Darren blow around Jeff Lutz's 57, obviously in a hurry to get another hit!

Attached picture 7897198-drag_week_2013_larson_lutz_barry_chevy_ford_turbo_blower_fastest_street_car096.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 03:36 AM

As soon as I walked into the tower, I realized that I had left my camera with my pictures from last night's checkpoints in the car, so I called Rachael to bring it up to me. That saved me the trouble of walking back for it, and had the added benefit of allowing me more time to soak up the air conditioning. With less than ten minutes of time on the clock, Darren finally approached the starting line again. The big Charger belched a little black smoke when the nitrous hit 30ft. out, but it stayed straight and hooked up. The 440 sounded very crisp all the way through, and I startled a few people in the tower with my fist pump, and "YES!", when the 11.62-119.9 flashed on the board.
Rachael arrived, and I finished the process of showing the pictures, turning in the slip, then getting both a written official hot rod slip, and the driving directions to the next track. We were halfway down the tower stairs when Boone met us on his way up, time slip in his hand, and a nasty burn mark on the inside of his forearm.
"What the heck did you do?"
"Darren came around for that pass as time was running out, and called me to say his car wouldn't start! So I looked under it and saw the neutral safety switch wire hanging down." He shook his head, "He had to get out and lift up on it just to give me room to get to it, and then it's right next to the exhaust... it got me good!"
"Did you bring your pictures?"
"No, Dang it!, Dad has them on Darren's I-pad, and he'll have to show them for Dale and Darren both so I better call him to come up here!"
"Yep! go sit in the AC and wait for them, that will make you feel a little better!"
Rachael and I went over to check out the HOT ROD Indy shirts, and my phone rang, it was Darryl.
"How's it going?" I asked.
"It's not!, I'm sitting in the middle of I-70 not moving at all!" he exclaimed.
"What the heck is happening?"
"We are in a one lane construction area, and a couple of tractor-trailers got tangled up, pretty bad, so they shut us down. I think they have a detour set up now, but those of us who were already on here are just stuck!"
"Wow, well we are just finishing up, haven't even started packing yet." I informed him.
"I hit some rain over by Terre Haute also", He added, "pretty good down pour, so tell your brothers to be careful!"
"Alright, talk to you a little later", I hung up. Considering the sticky, hot miserable day we had been through so far, afternoon thunderstorms shouldn't surprise me in the least, but we have two cars on ET Streets, so I was hoping for dry roads!

Attached picture 7898414-Drag_Week__and_vaction_2013_110.JPG
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 05:36 AM

I started walking back among the cars and trucks.I knew we had DragWeekers behind us but they were no where to be found.I was wearing a DW shirt.Trucker rolled down his window and asked"You with those car guys?" Yes.They drove along the shoulder back to the last exit.THANKS!.After an hour of sitting we went back the wrong direction to the nearest exit. and circled around.Have to adapt.
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 05:37 AM

That day we pulled into the hotel at 4 pm.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 05:45 AM

As everything was winding down, and we were loading our stuff, we did take the time to visit with Furious70 from Moparts, along with his Dad, and also Milner351 from Bangshift. Crazy as it sounds I am often far better at remembering forum names than first names! Speaking of such, here is a picture taken at Indy of Mike (Mr P Body, Moparts) and Dale (Quick 52, Bangshift) packing up to leave in their ride!

Attached picture 7898544-SAM_2074.JPG
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 06:06 AM

Eddie. Purple Duster. Indy. 8.69-155.9.

Attached picture 7898548-SAM_2077.JPG
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 06:15 AM

Quote:

Eddie. Purple Duster. Indy. 8.69-155.9.



Who?
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 06:37 AM

This time, we loaded up with care to even out our cars. Darren was complaining that the Charger couldn't handle much weight in the trunk, but since he was by himself, I decided to load some of the heavier tool bags in his passenger floorboard, and it worked out great. Rachael and I left first, and stopped at a station for the two most important essentials: fuel, and ICE!

Attached picture 7898567-100_0911.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/24/13 06:53 AM

Tom and the Bu'/One of Illinois finest.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/25/13 06:30 AM

We headed six miles up Raceway Road, until we hit US-40 west, which was stop light to stop light, and after a few phone conversations with the brothers, we decided to find a nice air conditioned restaurant and get out of the heat. Chili's wasn't my first choice, but since it was across the street from a Napa, and a block down from an O'Reilley's, it was agreed upon to stop there.
Once we cooled off, everyone was in good spirits, rehashing the days events, and planning what looked to be a fairly easy 210 miles in front of us. Dale wanted me to go over to Napa afterwards and look for some shocks for the Gremlin.
"You know what we went through with the Valiant, everything's going to be too long! What coil-over springs are under there?"
"110s"
"Which is great for holding up a bracket car on a drag strip, but as soon as you throw in a passenger, some luggage, and an extra 35lbs. of fuel, then drive down a rough public street.... they don't have a chance!"
"I know, at first I thought the shocks were broke, but after closer inspection, it's just completely destroyed the rubber bushings on the top mount!"
I looked over at Darren, "Why were you having trouble staying on the nitrous?"
"It's a column shift, reverse pattern, and I usually grab the shifter overhand to pull down. That put's my pinkie finger on the end where I taped the nitrous button on. Couldn't hold onto it, so I shifted underhand the second pass, that way I could use my thumb."
"Should've put a full throttle switch on it", James interjected.
"Say's the man with no right thumb!" Boone laughed, "You're just going to have to race without it James, you have to have thumbs to use nitrous, it's in the rulebook!"
"Shut up Boone!" James smiled, "Everyone else notices the thumb and they never say anything, you guys have been busting out thumb jokes since Saturday!"

I walked over to the NAPA, and explained to the manager what we were looking for, he was in his mid 20's, but really seemed to have a handle on things, and dug up a shock dimension book for us to comb through. We were looking at it when Kevin rolled by in the RX7 with the small-block chebby.
"Nice!" The manager exclaimed.
"Yeah, big inch small block! I don't know why guys build cars that small with big power, kinda crazy!"
"I've got a 240Z with a 540 BBC", he looked at me sternly.
"Cool...that's cool!" I tried to recover. Open mouth, insert foot... it's an acquired skill!

Attached picture 7899966-100_0912.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/26/13 05:00 AM

I returned from NAPA empty handed, and Boone came back from O'Reilley, much the same way, but he did have some info for me.
"The clerk told me you need to turn just after the energy place, go past the water tower, and you'll see the Post Office on the left." I had told him earlier that I needed to mail some bills that I had put off paying before we left.
"Good, I'll turn off there and catch up with you guys afterwards".
It still wasn't dark when we left Chili's, and it was still darn hot, before we made the eight stop lights to my turn, we had already lost Darren to vapor lock. I made my way to the Post Office, while the Gremlin and Barnyard continued on. Shortly after returning to US-40, it opened up into the scenic Indiana countryside and we were running along at a pleasant 55mph. The "pleasant" part lasted for about 15 minutes, then the ominous black clouds moved in and opened up on us in a torrential down pour! I popped over a rolling hill, and found the Gremlin and Truck limping along at about 20mph, Darren was following, as he had the only car with 4 way flashers!
"James' Garmin says there is a gas station up ahead about a mile", Dale told me over the Phone, so we sought refuge at a Marathon station to wait for the storm to blow over.

This photo was 3 hours later, and only 25 miles further down the road, than the previous one, yeah it was going to be one of those kind of evenings!

Attached picture 7901064-100_0914.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/26/13 05:59 AM

James was now at the helm of the Gremlin, as the strain of the last three weeks appeared to have Dale at the end of his rope! We covered the next 25 miles or so fairly easily, but then we had a major problem with the directions. HOT ROD wanted us to drive through downtown Terre Haute, but they told us to stay on US-40. US-40 actually cuts off on Indiana 46, and then hits I-70 avoiding Terre Haute. The problem was my navigator, Rachael, hadn't read the instructions to me line by line, and, like all these 20 something kids live their entire lives, just gave me the cliff notes! So all my backseat navigators in the three cars behind me, you know the ones that just want to follow along and not be forced to think, but then criticize every move you make, yeah those, they start blowing up my phone! So we all pulled into a Pilot Truck Stop at the intersection of 40 and 70 for a pow-wow. I drove the Satellite around back beside a beat up old Beamer, shut it off and slammed the door. I looked in the BMW, which had it's windows down, and a 50 something woman with fake red hair was completely passed out asleep! She didn't even notice the ruckus I had just made, New York plates..."yep", I thought, "road trip tired, I've been there before!"
They were fueling the Gremlin again, as I walked around front, and after a brief discussion, we decided to just get on I-70 instead of backtracking through town.
"Where is your co-pilot?" Dad asked.
"She saw the Fireworks store over there", I pointed, "and took off towards it before I even shut the car off!"

I don't have any pictures from this stop, because , frankly, I was a little miffed that it took place at all. I certainly wasn't in the mood to stand around and talk about it for another 30 minutes either, so when Rachael returned from her shopping spree, I loaded her up and we headed out. After a relatively easy first 60 miles of our cruise, I had unwittingly pushed the first domino with my hasty exit.

Attached picture 7901096-100_0916-Copy.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/26/13 07:50 AM

Be nice.Shes your daughter.That said working for Kroger will do that.Im still recovering from my 20 year sentence.LOL. Look at me. Your future is bright.
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/26/13 04:37 PM

Great read!!!!
Posted By: MPerry

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/26/13 05:16 PM

I'm really enjoying the read.
I was hoping to learn the secrets of hooking up with a late B Body.
Posted By: DblOJoe

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/26/13 11:57 PM

Quote:

I'm really enjoying the read.




I'm thinking about getting mine ready for next year. Sounds like a blast.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/27/13 02:18 AM

The interchange between US-40 and I-70 was one of those confusing B shaped deals in which the entrance and exit for a certain direction of travel is on the same side. Apparently with the plethora of Garmins and smart phones today, the ability to read street signs is in serious decline. A semi got between the Satellite and the Gremlin as I left the Pilot, so James didn't see which way I entered, and with two people in the car, and a fifty-fifty shot at getting it right, they promptly took off down I-70 East!

Boone called to warn them, and texted Dale as well, but both were ignored, all while Dad was starting a tirade about it in the Truck with him. Darren blissfully followed Boone without a care in the world.

If you are noticing that I'm switching up my usual 1st person account with some third person reporting, it's because I've chosen to stay more chronologically based, and this section of the trip got convoluted in a hurry, forgive me for taking some liberties.

Rachael and I were easing down I-70 at 3000 rpm, nearing the Illinois state line when Boone first called me and let me know about the Gremlin's mistake.
"Dad says it's fourteen miles to the next turnaround, and Dale said they were going to try to find a cross-over in the median."
"Do we need to pull over and wait?" I asked.
"Naw, just take it easy, and we'll see what happens. He decided.

Dale and James got turned around through the center median 5 miles down the road, and headed back west. Dale told James to step up the speed a bit over what they had comfortably been running before, and promptly began dozing off again, only waking up enough to talk to Boone when he called to check on them.

While Rachael and I forged ahead, Boone and Dad, along with Darren in tow, hit the rest area just 8 miles into Illinois, but were still ahead of James when they got back on the road. A call to Dale the first time, made Boone believe he was only 4 miles behind them, 20 minutes later a second call was more confusing, as he was giving them mile marker numbers that made no sense. Boone's frustration with waiting up for a car that is barely roadworthy and has to stop for fuel every forty miles was wearing on him, and he tried to just ignore the situation and keep moving forward! Click, click, click, the line of dominoes was picking up speed!

Attached picture 7901970-DSC_0285-Copy.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/27/13 11:15 PM

My assessment, as I continued down I-70 in the closing darkness, under threatening skies, passing through one lane construction restrictions every 5 or 10 miles, was that I might as well just take it nice, slow, and let them catch up. To that effect I was only running along at 26-2700 RPM and letting all the frustrated truckers blow around me when we entered a good section of road.
We were roughly ten miles from the first checkpoint when I recognized the headlights of the Barnyard Viper gaining on me.

James woke Dale up with concern in his voice, "This thing is starting to surge...so I'm going to pull off for gas."
Dale tried to get his bearings, the garmin on the windshield said they had covered forty miles, and he began to notice the floorboard was unusually hot. "Yeah, probably a good idea".
They pulled into a Mach 1 station off of exit 129 in Casey, Il. with James complaining that the brakes were barely serviceable at this point.

The first checkpoint was Mid-America Motorworks, an automotive mail-order after market supplier for Porsche, Corvette and Volkswagen, just outside Effingham. We would have enjoyed the stop in the daylight better, I'm sure.

Here's what it looked like when Darryl rolled through some 3 hours earlier.

Attached picture 7902815-Drag_Week__and_vaction_2013_112.JPG
Posted By: 1967dartgt

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/28/13 03:20 AM

Doesn't sound like you guys were having any luck on this stretch of road.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/28/13 05:15 AM

We arrived at the checkpoint just as Eric Yost and several others were finishing up with their pictures. It seems no matter how lonely you appear to be out on the road, as soon as you get close to these spots, other guys show up. We took quite a while checking the place out, and I asked Boone if we should wait for Dale, but he told me Dale had said to go on, so I went with that.

Attached picture 7903253-100_0919.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/28/13 05:38 AM

No sooner did we pull out and start down I-70 again, I got a call from Dale, "This thing got so hot it boiled out the brake fluid!" He informed me.
"How was the water temp?"
"Never has been over 190 the entire trip"
"Is it retarded, and putting all the heat in the exhaust?" I questioned, just bouncing ideas around in my head.
"Could be, not sure, the floorboard was hot, and James said it was surging. So we stopped, fueled up, and had to put fluid in it. Now I'm driving again."
"Where are you at?"
"125 mile marker"
"You are about 25 miles behind us...why did you tell Boone to go on ahead?"
"I never told him that...where did that come from?"
Well, OK, I wasn't going to step on that land mine, so I changed the subject.
"It's only thirty-five miles to the next checkpoint, we'll stop there and check in with you...Answer your phone!" I exclaimed as we cut off the conversation.

Attached picture 7903280-100_0922.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/28/13 02:39 PM

It took Dale about five miles of driving on I-70 to figure out what the problem was with the Gremlin. If he could keep it in cruise mode with his foot on the throttle like an egg shell everything seemed to be ok. With all the rolling hills in this part of Illinois, that wasn't possible, and when you rolled into the throttle to pull a hill, the transmission or the convertor would feel like it was in a bind and start slowing the car. When this would happen, if you gave it more throttle to overcome the binding sensation, you could immediately feel heat being generated into the floor pan, and the transmission would begin to momentarily lose drive like you were pushing in a clutch and letting it back out. The only other option was to roll back out of the throttle, and allow the car to lose speed until the problem would free up and return to normal operation. On some of the long hills that meant he was on the shoulder and down to 20-25MPH.
They limped into the first checkpoint just as Eddie's Duster and Luke in the white Maverick were leaving and the Gremlin would barely pull itself up to the fake old time gas station for their pictures.

The three of us had made the relatively easy thirty-five mile drive to the second checkpoint, and the time stamp on the pictures indicate about an hour between the two stops including talking to other drag weekers, getting our cars staged for pictures and such, so we felt pretty good about our progress.

Attached picture 7903447-20130910_212108.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/29/13 05:17 AM

As we pulled up to the second checkpoint, we noticed a large contingent of Drag Weekers gathered around Gilpin and Maschmeier, and they had the hood off the Camaro working on it. Kevin in the RX7, and Eric Yost were there as well, and right on cue a police officer rolled up as we were watching! Gilpin and I had joked at Indy earlier that we didn't want to see each other at 2:30 in the morning again, well, we were right on schedule! The local Arby's closed at 10:00pm, we rolled though their door at 9:23 and they didn't seem particularly happy to see us.

Dale and James pulled into the Effingham Pilot station, and bought gas, and a case of ATF. They made it another eight miles down the road to a State of Illinois public rest area where Dale, with no jack and only basic hand tools, burnt his arm on the exhaust, but managed to drain the black trans fluid from the powerglide.

Darryl called me while we were eating. He warned me that something wasn't quite right about the route, it was longer than what is on the sheet.
"There were eleven or so of us running in a pack, and only three of us took the turn-off on the route sheet, the others just kept going right down I-70 for St. Louis. After the jaunt they sent us through, I understand why now!"
Then he said he took a wrong turn at the race track and ended up in east St. Louis.
"Wow, that's a scary area, I totally blew two red lights to get back out on the freeway!"
"Did you find the Motel?" I asked.
"Yeah, we are on the third floor, rooms 301 and 303, call me when you get here."

With the benefit of google maps now, the Official Hot Rod Drag Week route sheet told us it was 46 miles from checkpoint 2 to Gateway Intl. Raceway. In truth, it was 65.8 if you drove straight down I-70, and a whopping 81.3 along the route they had chosen. This is a terrible trick to play on road weary hot rodders, far worse than just a simple mistake, it' s bordering on criminal, not as criminal as what Dale did to that rest area, but criminal nonetheless!

Attached picture 7904429-100_0928.jpg
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/29/13 03:44 PM

We got screwed up there also, directions didnt make sense, got stuck on 70 in bumper to bumper traffic and bailed out onto 40 to bypass it.
Posted By: SCATPACK 1

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 10/31/13 03:07 PM

Quote:


Here's what it looked like when Darryl rolled through some 3 hours earlier.




I love reading about the adventure and look forward to each entry. But I am seeing a pattern here. So basically Darrel does not help you guys on your cars at the track and does not run with you on the trips. He just does his own thing instead of being part of the family trip. Oh well.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/03/13 02:33 AM

Scatpack1,
The kinder, gentler way to say it was, Darryl was our advance scout and motel check-in expert! The heat and humidity really kicked his tail this year, and severely hampered his desire to hang around and wait on us to figure out what we were doing each day!

MPerry,
The Charger's best 60ft. of the week was just 1.720, so he wasn't killing it out of the hole. On a heavy Street car, I think it's better to concentrate on getting the thing moving in the 60-330 interval, than impressive 60 times.

tsanchez,
The second checkpoint to Gateway was the most frustrating part of my whole week! You just get wore down some days, and a molehill turns into a mountain real quick!

Dbl"00"Joe,
I have to warn you, it really is a blast, but it's addictive also!

If you are old enough to remember the Odd Couple, Darryl is the Felix, to my entire family of Oscars!

Attached picture 7909813-999751_10151911544716757_563160647_n.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/03/13 03:58 AM

We headed out of the Arby's and fueled up at a station nearby. Boone had been on the phone with Dale, and commented to me, "They've only went about 15 miles since we've been here at this stop! I don't know what is going on with them!"
"Should we wait for them then?" I questioned.
"You can wait if you want, but I'm not! They need to get their act together and get moving!"

So we jumped back on I-70 for a wondrously easy 17.8 miles until we arrived at exit 45, our motel was basically around exit 10 or so and my spidey sense is telling me to forgo the route, put thirty-five more miles of interstate under me, and put my head on a pillow. Completing the route has always been a driving force in this game (pun intended), so we took the exit, and successfully followed the route through the small town of Greenville Illinois. We arrived on Illinois 140 West at 190.6 miles into the trip.
"Read that to me again Rachael, something isn't right!"
"Turn left for I-255 South, and it says 193.7 next to it", she affirmed again, clearly not happy that I had questioned her ability to read the sheet.
"Look it up on your phone, this is definitely wrong!" I added.
Illinois 140 is a dark, lonely, two lane cow path, and we were looking for a junction with an interstate, not Illinois 255, or US 255, a full blown interstate, so I wasn't worried that we had missed it, I was just wondering how far it really was.

Meanwhile, Boone was dealing with a tired, frustrated, ex-trucker riding shotgun, who kept losing his temper with each turn and each mile! "Why the heck are they running us this far out of route? This is going to be 30 or 40 miles...this is just stupid!" Dad yelled at him, wringing his hands.
"Dad, it's their game, their route, we can't do anything about it."
Fourteen miles later, I passed a small junction with Illinois 160, and Dad got fired up again. "Why didn't he take that? Dave should've turned there, that would've saved us a bunch of miles." Boone's teeth were grating, and he just bit his tongue, arguing at this point would be futile!

Finally I saw the lights of a major Interstate ahead, but Rachael shot me down, "That's I-55, we have to go further for 255", She stated glumly.

Dad really lost it when I drove under I-55, "The 55 and the 255 practically run together in front of the motel, so we're driving another ten miles for nothing! What the heck is he doing!" Dad screamed out the window.
"He's following the route dad", Boone offered. I will refrain from posting Dad's retort, what with this being a family site and all...

Attached picture 7909894-SAM_2075.JPG
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/03/13 04:17 AM

I thought the routes and directions were the best so far for DW.Thats not saying much though.
Posted By: Darryls-Demon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/03/13 04:46 AM

Quote:

Quote:


Here's what it looked like when Darryl rolled through some 3 hours earlier.




I love reading about the adventure and look forward to each entry. But I am seeing a pattern here. So basically Darrel does not help you guys on your cars at the track and does not run with you on the trips. He just does his own thing instead of being part of the family trip. Oh well.




Yep I pretty much did my own thing this year.
One evening I made it to the hotel early enough to have a Pizza and a Hooker!

Attached picture 7909953-DragWeekandvaction2013045.JPG
Posted By: rebel

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/03/13 06:15 AM

Quote:



Yep I pretty much did my own thing this year.
One evening I made it to the hotel early enough to have a Pizza and a Hooker!




pics?
Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/03/13 12:36 PM

Great story as usual.

I saw the Barnyard Viper and the Gremlin today at the "Mopars in the Park" race. I saw the Gremlin go a few rounds in Super Pro but I never saw the barnyard go down.

I think the Barnyard Viper might be edging the Valiant out as my favorite of the family rides....sorry Billy!
Posted By: Just-a-dart

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/03/13 04:37 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:


Here's what it looked like when Darryl rolled through some 3 hours earlier.




I love reading about the adventure and look forward to each entry. But I am seeing a pattern here. So basically Darrel does not help you guys on your cars at the track and does not run with you on the trips. He just does his own thing instead of being part of the family trip. Oh well.





Yep I pretty much did my own thing this year.
One evening I made it to the hotel early enough to have a Pizza and a Hooker!




Sounds to me like Darryl was protecting his sanity.

Thanks again for taking us along on the adventure Billy.
Posted By: Darryls-Demon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/04/13 01:56 AM

Quote:

Quote:



Yep I pretty much did my own thing this year.
One evening I made it to the hotel early enough to have a Pizza and a Hooker!




pics?




Attached picture 7911083-pizza001.JPG
Posted By: 6pak2go

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/04/13 03:23 AM

ROFL!
Not quite what he hoped for.
Posted By: J_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/04/13 04:39 AM

That's awesome Darryl!
Posted By: Just-a-dart

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/04/13 05:14 AM

Well played Darryl
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/04/13 07:08 AM

"Open Eat Repeat" has me concerned.LOL.In a demented state here.
Posted By: SCATPACK 1

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 12:00 AM

MOPAR BILLY
Hope you can give us an update soon on more of the story and pictures. This is awesome that you do this each year for those of us that would love to go but do not get to.
thanks and hope you can post more soon.
Jerry
Posted By: dannysbee

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 03:34 AM

Quote:

"Open Eat Repeat" has me concerned.LOL.In a demented state here.



I agree , I don't eat out. Lol
Posted By: 1967dartgt

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 04:04 AM

Ok Billy can't you just quit work and finish writing this already? Suspense is killing me.Lol
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 05:29 AM

The trio of big block Mopars finally found their way onto I-255 south, and as we traversed the sixteen miles towards I-70, Rachael was studiously poring over her phone trying to figure out which side of the motel we would emerge on, east or west?
All four men in this caravan have been OTR truck drivers at various points in our lives, and all of us have driven at levels of fatigue in which legal and illegal stimulants do little more than keep your eyes open. There is a point where you can drive many, many miles on an open road, as long as you aren't required to make complicated or quick decisions, as long as salient and precise thoughts are not required. We've became far too comfortable at pushing the edge, but we also recognize the onset of impairment, and what steps to take to protect ourselves from making bad decisions.
I was driving fine at this point, but trying to figure out how to get to the motel was proving to be far more difficult than it should have been, and this was leading to frustration. I turned onto I-70 West, and upon seeing my first mile marker, realized it was the wrong direction.
"Dang it Rachael, I give you one thing to look up, and you can't even do that!" She didn't deserve the criticism, and I would regret it later, but my nerves were on edge. "How far to the next exit so we can turn around!"
"Four miles...unless you want to just take me to the airport and fly me home right now, you Jerk!" Apparently I wasn't the only one at the end of my rope!
I turned around, made my way back to the junction, and then inexplicably, and with complete knowledge that it was totally wrong, I made a right turn back onto I-255 south, and of course, the two idiots behind me followed blindly along! I was done with this game, and pulled to the shoulder, parked the car, and stepped out for a breath of fresh air. The Barnyard Viper, and the Charger joined me on the side of the road, and soon it was just Boone, Rachael, Darren and I standing in front of the Satellite discussing our next move.

"I just want to get to the motel", Darren overstated the obvious.
"Well, it's right over there in that clump of lights, but I don't know how to get there from here!" I retorted, "and Rachael's no help"!
"You guys are the biggest bunch of Jerks I know!" Rachael added, and both of them got a laugh from that. I knew I wasn't allowed to laugh, unless I intended to buy that airline ticket!
"Well at least she isn't throwing her hands around in the air and screaming at every turn... one more outburst and the old man will be walking to the motel!" Boone explained.
"I guess we'll just have to drive down this until we find another exit..."
"It's just right down the road..." Rachael started to cut me off.
"That's what it shows on your phone?" I interjected.
"NO, YOU JERK!" She stepped out into the road and pointed, "I can see the exit right there, Collinsville Road!"
"Ok, ok, we'll take that", I agreed resignedly and we saddled up, and took surface streets over to the motel, as I didn't trust myself to get back on any big roads!

We pulled into a complex with four or five motels grouped together, and made our way down to the Days Inn. The parking lot was absolutely full, but the Hampton right next to it had plenty of spots so we parked there and grabbed our stuff to walk across. Two guys were enjoying a pizza on the hood of their 70 Buick, and they chuckled at our body language as we crawled out of the cars and gathered our luggage.
"You ever want to kill your navigator?" I addressed them.
"Sure, but what're you going to do when it's family, right? They laughed.
"Yeah, hopefully tomorrow will be better!"
"Sure it will, just get some sleep! They added.

Rachael jumped in the shower, I stretched out across the bed and called Dale. "Where are you at?" I questioned when he finally answered.
"We're getting on the I-55 right now"
"What are you doing there? I had hoped to reach you before you ended up in that mess."
"No, we got turned around, and ended up in some little one blinking light town, and the cop pulled us over! He took one look at our car, our tags, and our licenses and figured we were lost! We had no choice but to agree with him, so he sent us this way."
I explained where the motel was and told them to call me when they arrived, then I took a shower and went to bed with the phone in my hand.
In what seemed like 10 seconds, but was actually an hour and a half, the phone rang. "We're here, where are you at?" Dale asked.
Thought was muddled, but I pulled it together, "Come through the middle door, the elevator is just in the hallway, go to the third floor, and just to the right will be room 303, that's us."
"OK, we will be up in a minute!"
I hung up, went to the door, and just opened it a fraction, then went back to bed. I must've dozed off, and the phone in my hand started ringing again.
"Hey, Are you going to let us in? We've been out here beating on your door!" Dale exclaimed.
"I left the door open for you, you aren't at my door."
"We are standing right here, looking at 303!" he said it loud enough that if he was at my door, I would've heard him through it.
"What motel are you in?" My mind was trying to focus.
"The one with all our cars in the parking lot, of course!" Dale retorted.
"That's the Hampton, we are in the Day's Inn across the street", I informed him.
"Oh CRAP, JAMES, We gotta git out of here!" I heard him say, then the phone went dead.

They stormed in the room, laughing like a pair of giddy schoolboys fresh from a Halloween prank, five minutes later.
"I had my eye up to the peep hole, yelling that I could see you, and you better let me in" James explained.
"It's a wonder the cops haven't been called, it's a wonder we didn't get shot", Dale laughed, "That motel is laid out identical to this one, we followed your instructions to a tee".
I'm sure I would enjoy the humor of the situation tomorrow, right then, I just wanted to go back to sleep. A luxury those poor folks in the Hampton, probably weren't able to afford.

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Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 06:36 AM

We were at the Hampton! Glad it wasn't our room.We were on the 2nd floor.
Posted By: 6pak2go

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 06:52 AM

LOL, I knew the gist of things after talking to you at breakfast, but the details are hilarious!
Posted By: dannysbee

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 03:13 PM

Billy it's a good thing drag week only happens once a year. Too funny.
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 03:17 PM

Haha
Posted By: johnnycuda

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/06/13 08:01 PM

Wow,,thats hilarious!
Great story as always Billy!,,and thanks again for taking all of us along for the ride,I'm hoping to do Drag Week myself soon.
Posted By: SCATPACK 1

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/08/13 08:01 PM

Billy I am starting to go thru Withdrawals. LOL
I miss my Drag Week story fix. I realize you are back to work now and your wife wants her time with you away from the 'puter. But... MORE please. I want to finish my drag week experience too.
Jerry
Posted By: Hemi_Joel

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/08/13 10:57 PM

good stuff, Billy.

I keep checking back for "the rest of the story"
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/09/13 08:01 PM

Darryl was long gone by the time we got up and started getting around, and the oppressive heat of the last two days, was already making it's hasty return.
Dale and I were discussing his debacle from the night before. "When we made it to the exit for checkpoint two, John Faroane's Valiant Charger was on the side of the road with four police cars behind it, but I think the first one just stopped to help them, then called all his buddies to come check it out!" He laughed.
"I can imagine that call, telling them he's got a tubbed out, twin turbo, Australian car with two big guys in it that talk funny!"
"We saw him again once we came off of I-55 to I-70, so I think he got the call from someone to skip that little detour", Dale added.
"So, what's wrong with the Gremlin?"
"The 'glide is toast, it's just burnt up completely!" He shook his head and shrugged.
I was surprised how well he seemed to take it in stride.
"Just lucky we even made it here last night", he smiled.

I got a call from Darryl, "Don't kill yourself getting out here, they took forever to get started, and then that red 69 Mustang coupe slapped both walls, so we are waiting for them to get him off the track!"
"That car wasn't THAT fast..."
"Stuff happens pretty fast at 100 mph, when it goes wrong!" He reminded me.

Attached picture 7917753-DSC_0060_zpsd1062ed9.jpg
Posted By: J_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/09/13 09:51 PM

.....so when is the small block build post going to start??
Posted By: Darryls-Demon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/09/13 11:55 PM

Quote:

.....so when is the small block build post going to start??




Billy does his best work only after outside temps reach well over 100 degrees, so late July of 2014 would be a good guess.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/10/13 02:41 PM

In an effort to recoup our lodging expenses, we nearly wiped out the Day's Inn continental breakfast before leaving, so we felt ready for the action of day three ahead of us.
As a family, we had attended Gateway Intl. Raceway's Monster Mopar Weekend seven years straight from 1996-2002. We camped out at the track most of those trips, but we had stayed in Collinsville a few times also, so the drive to the facility felt familiar. We found a spot on the outskirts of the massive pit area, parked, and started the unloading ritual.
Dale pulled alongside a few minutes later in the Gremlin, "It stopped pulling when we got through the gate", he laughed, "The fluid is already hot in eight miles of driving."
"Perhaps you should talk to the other P'glide guys and see if you can round up some parts, or a re-build kit or something, and I'll have Rachael look for local transmission places on her phone."
"Yeah, sounds like a plan." He started meandering through the pits at a pace that had me wondering if his heart was really in the fight at this point.
Boone started into his street-to-strip conversion routine, and the Satellite had to wait for the Daily Driver session, but Darren and the Charger were already on the way to the lanes, seemed that yesterday's N20 runs had him excited to try it again!

Attached picture 7918618-DSC_0061_zps74d5107c.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/10/13 05:40 PM

Darryl walked up with his time slip in hand, and a disgusted look on his face, "11.23 at only 108, I lifted before the finish line!"
"What did you do that for?"
"Brain fade, I guess. Just frustrated with how long we were sitting around, and how hot it was getting already, and wasn't paying attention!"
"You're going back up?"
"Nope, I'm done, going to the tower to get my route map."

I walked up to watch Darren run about 40 minutes later, and noticed that Tony was bringing his Javelin up in the same lane behind the Charger, as Dale walked up next to me.
"There's Tony back again, and he ran a few cars behind Darryl the last time, so Darryl could have been up for another hit!"
"Darryl is already done?" Dale questioned.
"Yeah, he's already loaded up to leave!"
Darren ran a nice smooth 11.76-118, and Dale and I agreed that would be good enough! Then Tony put down one of his signature burnouts and Dale looked at me, "What did Tony have problems with last year?"
"Valvetrain", I stated.
"Sounds like nine grand in the box!"
"He works that 401 over pretty good!" I laughed as the aqua 69 Javelin laid down a 10.74-125, which was an improvement of five hundredths over his earlier 10.79.
"Darryl left some on the table today", I shook my head, "he should have came back up for another run like Tony did."

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/10/13 09:30 PM

"Well, how is your search for 'glide stuff?" I questioned Dale as we watched a few more cars go down.
"Not good", he shrugged, "everyone who has spare parts say it's too early in the week to loan them out, as they may still need them."
"Sounds like they don't have much confidence in their transmissions!"
"Nope, and secondly they asked if I had a spare converter."
"What's that about?"
"They all say I broke the converter first, then that led to the quick fluid temp rise that burned up the tranny."
"Well, that's certainly plausible...I'd have to agree with that assessment."
"So, without a fresh converter, a fresh tranny rebuild isn't going to get us to Memphis.
"You still need to take the start beam."
"Why?"
"To prove you made it here, this far, especially after what you went through last night, and then that gives us an option to work on it after racing is done today...something might come up."
"Yeah, I suppose."
I could tell his heart wasn't in it. The fact that it was running much slower than he expected, the rear suspension problems, the limited driving range on fuel, it had slowly sucked the fight right out of him. "You need to get the Satellite up there and make a good run in it".
"You aren't going to try it again?"
"Nope, I'm just going to tear it up, you have a better handle on it than I do."
"Alright", he smiled and punched my shoulder, "guess we better see if Boone has the truck ready to go up yet."

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Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/11/13 04:24 PM

Damn Billy, I cannot believe you remember all this stuff. You dont know how tough it was to change from my normal one pass and go, the first pass the regulator was sticking and flooding barely made the burnout and black smoke all the way down. I fixed it and lamented sitting in line again as the heat was really coming on but me and Ray were so close I thought I have to beat that first run. Ran the second pass and it wasnt even worth it for the hour lost lol.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/14/13 05:04 AM

Darryl had already hit the road, the pits were thinning out, and Robert (6pak2go, Moparts) drove his black rental Charger over and parked by our area.
"Do you mind hanging out with us for a while today?" I asked him, "we may have a few passengers for you depending on what happens with the Gremlin!"
"I told you I was up for whatever", he grinned, "I wanted to find out what Drag Week is all about!"

Boone with the Truck, and Dale with the Satellite made it to the lanes just in time. Many of the faster cars were struggling for traction on the greasy, hot track, so they were calling to shut down for 30 minutes at 11:30 to allow the track crew time to prep it for a last ditch onslaught!

Dale got the Satellite through 1st and 2nd great, but when he hit drive it laid over badly and struggled to a 12.35 at only 101. Boone rolled up in the last pair before the shutdown, the big 508 cleaned all the road carbon out of the fender exit headers, and belched it out on the starting line as the front end clawed angrily at the air. The Barnyard Viper made a rare move toward the center line, as proof that traction wasn't at a premium, and meandered downtrack to an 11.54-115, not exactly stellar, but I knew Boone would take it and call his lone attempt good. We had already watched Mike Cox and his BBC powered Henry J make an ugly 11.03-108 with smoke trailing after him, and he was the Gasser class leader, if he couldn't continue Boone would move into third place, and have a chance to go home with some hardware, so survive and move on was the game at this point.

"Ran out of fuel?" I questioned Dale, as he parked the Satellite and handed me the slip.
"Nope...ran out of nitrous, need another bottle!"
"Well, crap! It was on a nice run", I shrugged as I looked at the early numbers.

40 minutes later, Dale went 11.79 at only 114 in Darren's Charger, and was shaking his head when he parked in our pits.
"What the heck is going on around here?" He put his hands in the air, "Both of you let me drive your cars, but only give me 1000ft. worth of nitrous to play with!"
"We know how to keep you from breaking stuff!" I laughed.
Once Darren removed the bottle from his trunk, I gave the two empties to Rachael and sent her off to get them re-filled at Monte's rig. I had spares, but they had been hanging out in the pits all day, in the heat, and sure enough, too much bottle pressure, and the nitrous solenoid couldn't overcome it, so we decided to call it a day.

I was walking around to the tower to turn in my time slip, when Tom Bailey pulled his Camaro into the water for the fourth time today, and up until now he only had a 7.95 to show for his effort. With an hour of track time left in the day, he finally got it right and went 6.97-212 to keep his Drag Week dream intact for another day. Dale, on the other hand idled into the beams with the Gremlin, then the car wouldn't even move when the tree came down, while that was good enough to allow him to take a twenty flat and move on, he had already decided his Drag Week dream for 2013 was done!

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Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/14/13 05:47 AM

Theres my high school classmates slow white Dart. LOL. I think Billy has a Go-Pro going 24/7 so he can remember the whole week.BTW thanks for throwing me under the bus on the fastest DW car thread.Ya Dork.
Posted By: drag345

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/19/13 12:35 AM

Thanks for writing this Billy you do a fantastic job ,as close as I am ever going to be to being there !!!
Can,t wait for the next installment.
Hope the stars of your story ,your family are doing well

Bring on some more

drag370
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/19/13 03:28 AM

When I turned in my slip, the conversation in the tower was the Daily Driver bump, and I was shocked to find out it was projecting to be around twelve flat! We had figured our twelve thirties and forties were in the ballpark, and we hadn't been paying attention apparently. I talked with the track manager about options for leaving the Gremlin behind, and he was very helpful with a few possible solutions, so I started to feel like abandoning the car was a viable option, as we had Robert available to transport the misplaced driver and trunk monkey.

When I returned to the pits, Dale was working the phone with a friend of a friend who lived in St. Louis. He is a mopar guy who Dad built a 727 for a year or two ago, and fortunately for us it worked well, so he was willing to drop everything he was doing on a Wednesday afternoon, hook up to his car trailer, and come pick up the Gremlin at a moments notice!

Once again, we went through the process of what to leave behind in the Gremlin, and what to take with us. Since the Gremlin hadn't really been carrying it's own weight anyway (excepting Dale's fat butt, and that's asking plenty) it was more a matter of just jettisoning a few things the rest of us had been carrying that were crucial to the Gremlin's survival. The keys to Dale's truck and trailer in Bowling Green probably should have been one of the items removed from the Gremlin, but that's a bridge we will cross later in the story!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/19/13 04:34 AM

We were sorting through our stuff, loading up to head out, and I decided I would grab the trusty 12 volt air compressor, and top off everyone's tires, but a quick search through two trunks yielded only the empty box.
"Rachael, have you seen the air compressor?" I questioned.
"Yeah, I loaned it to the Aussies with the Charger while you were in the tower", she pointed.
In the middle of the mostly vacant pits sat the silver Valiant Charger of John Faraone, still on jack stands. I made my way over and could hear the little compressor hammering away on the opposite side of the car.
"I was just checking to see if you were done with the air compressor?" I asked as I pointed at it.
"No Mate, we just started on this side...it took about 30 minutes for the other one", he laughed, "so we'll bring it over when we finish up!"
"No problem", I shrugged, "We have plenty to do before we leave anyway." It was almost comical looking at the tiny compressor shaking on the ground next to the big balloon slick tucked under the twin turbocharged A-body. Apparently they had pulled the axles to work on the rearend, and those monster tires won't come off while inflated!

Attached picture 7928980-9787365632_fdd4587043_o.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/20/13 03:59 AM

I had finished packing the interior of Darren's Charger full of stuff I didn't want weighing down the Satellite when a dark colored Toyota rental car pulled up next to our pit area. Keith Turk stepped out of the car and questioned Dale, "Hey, why didn't you come to the tower and turn in your time slip from the Gremlin?"
"Well, it's broke and we're abandoning, so I didn't see the point..." Dale started.
"Hate to hear that", Keith offered, "We really like that little car!"
"I told him he should turn it in so everyone will know he at least made it here, but he didn't want to screw up his average!" I interjected.
"I agree with him", Keith pointed at me, "At least turn it in and make it one more step."
"Ah, it's really no big deal..." Dale tried to avoid it.
"Get in the car, Sugar Britches, I'll give you a ride over to the tower, and we'll take care of it, then you can decide what to do with the car after that!"
Dale busted out laughing, actually we all did, the sight of Keith, who is nearly a foot shorter, and a good 100lbs lighter than Dale, calling him Sugar Britches was just hilarious.

Attached picture 7930094-100_0931.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/20/13 04:40 AM

JMHO Dave can be a pain in the butt.Finnegan is alright. But Keith and Tonya Turk are the best thing that HotRod Magazine brings to DragWeek.Great people."Sugar Britches" I will remember that.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/20/13 05:13 AM

We made quick work of loading the Gremlin after Eric arrived, but, of course, he wanted a tour of the Barnyard Viper. Everyone enjoys checking out the Truck!

Darren had already left, with a plan to hit a parts store for both him and Boone. Rachael and I were loading up in the Satellite when I heard Boone ask Dale to be his co-driver in the Truck for a while. Dad didn't seem to mind, that meant he was riding in an air conditioned car with Robert and James, two guys who haven't heard ANY of his myriad of stories! A fresh and captive audience, he relishes that type of opportunity! Robert followed Boone into a gas station across from the track, but I figured I had quite a bit left, and I wanted to start eating into the three hundred miles on our route sheet, so I continued on the course.

Seven or eight miles down the road Il-3 merged with Mississippi Ave. and a big, tan 73 Charger popped along side me from the other street. Darren waved, and went ahead of me for about four or five miles more then he abruptly pulled to the shoulder of the road. I pulled past him, parked, and walked back as he quickly opened the hood.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Breather is on fire! Get me a wrench, it's already too hot for me to get the top off with my hand..."
I grabbed a wrench for him, then held the hood up while he fought to get it off. The element was smoking pretty good by the time he removed the top, then huffed and puffed until it was out.
"What the heck caused that?"
"It vapor locked, then backfired when I tried to restart it", he shook his head, "It's just too hot out here, we need to find a spot to eat, and get off the road!" He exclaimed.
"Robert, Dad, and those guys are working on it", I agreed, "They've been in contact with Rachael already, heck the old Satellite is running at 210, it's just miserable out here."
Luckily, once we got rolling again, we were on a stretch of road that allowed us to run about 45-50, and had no stop lights. Everything seemed pretty smooth for ten more miles until the Satellite burbled and died, apparently my fuel calculations were flawed!

Attached picture 7930187-100_0933.jpg
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/20/13 04:24 PM

Great read, I check back here every day to see what you wrote. Probably why I had this weird dream last night. So in this dream were at the hotel and I come up to the truck and you guys are all standing around and tell me that Darryl is up in the room with my hooker, I say what I didnt get no hooker what are you guys talking about then it cuts to us looking at satellite with a blown engine and you tell me that I moved the fuel reg setting and now you blew the engine after changing the nitrous jets. Ha, then were on a damn ship that you are working on the generator carb and blowing it out with some tiny compressor and I tell you that things not gonna work you need a real compressor, then I woke up. I honestly felt bad about blowing up your engine
Posted By: SCATPACK 1

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/20/13 04:45 PM

Lets hear More about the hooker in your dreams...
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/20/13 04:59 PM

Quote:

Lets hear More about the hooker in your dreams...




I didnt see her, she was with Darryl or was it Darren, I cant remember now
Posted By: Darryls-Demon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/21/13 03:04 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Lets hear More about the hooker in your dreams...




I didnt see her, she was with Darryl or was it Darren, I cant remember now




She most have been with Darren!

Ok Tony I can tell you have participated in one too many Drag weeks.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/21/13 04:58 AM

I pulled off on the shoulder, with Darren behind me, and started to call Boone. The phone rang twice, then I saw the Barnyard Viper coming around a corner about a half mile behind us. He pulled over, grabbed one of the 5 gallon fuel jugs from the bed, and walked it up to me.
"Didn't find a station up this way?" He smirked.
"Forgot all about it once we got rolling", I laughed, "where's Robert and Dad?"
"They went ahead to scout for a place to stop and eat, I think they found something behind a Ford dealership about six more miles up the road."
"That's good, I'm ready for a break from this heat!"
"Yeah, I think we all are, it's been a miserable day for sure."

We followed Boone behind the Ford dealer, and pulled into a large parking lot in front of a huge pre-fab metal building that looked like an auto shop, the big sign out front read "Bobeck's Sports Bar and Grille". Suddenly I had a Charley Daniel's Band song running through my head, something about a flat tire, kicking old green teeth in the knee, and such, this was definitely not what I expected. Last year we took Rachael to a nice Shreveport Seafood Restaurant for her 23rd birthday, as she was having a great Drag Week in the Belvedere. Now she's riding with me in the Satellite, and we're about to celebrate her 24th in a Waterloo Il. sports bar. I may have to re-evaluate my initial assessment of Robert, I mean, his Challenger is awesome, and he comes off as smart and articulate, a great guy to hang out with so far... but what the heck did he just get us into?
Robert opened the door as I walked up, and apparently I have a lousy poker face.
"It's nice and cool inside, and they have a full menu, American standards, lot's of variety, I think you'll like it... not many choices on this road", he assured me.
I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and actually he was right. We practically had the run of the place to ourselves, the music and televisions were muted to a comfortable level, and the food was excellent. Rachael was the only one who took advantage of the available alcohol, which helped her mood considerably!

It was still plenty warm when we hit the road an hour and twenty minutes later, but everyone seemed to have a little more tolerance for it after the needed break, and good meal. We once again headed down Il-3, a beautiful, picturesque little two lane that runs practically parallel with I-55, but on the opposite side of the Mississippi River. We found ourselves enjoying this road immensely as it meandered along, cradled between the big river, and the Trail of Tears State Forest, simply an amazing drive that had us lamenting the fading sun as it dipped behind the trees. Then Darren ran out of gas, and put us on the shoulder again, we are certainly consistent!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/21/13 05:10 AM

You guys really need to get your head out of the gutter! Drag Week is about comradery, fast cars, great drag strips and great drives, not about girls!

Attached picture 7931258-9787561616_d10c69727e_o.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/21/13 05:43 AM

You "could" have gone across the street to the NASCAR checkpoint but NO.......................That was a testosterone checkpoint.LOL.Te good old Pony.
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/21/13 03:22 PM

Quote:

You guys really need to get your head out of the gutter! Drag Week is about comradery, fast cars, great drag strips and great drives, not about girls!




I found it quite peculier that my car chose that place to break down, killed the battery, msd box, and wide band module. Everyone stopped to help though One guy even went as far as to bring one of the girls out to see the cars.
Posted By: SCATPACK 1

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/21/13 07:06 PM

Quote:

You guys really need to get your head out of the gutter! Drag Week is about comradery, fast cars, great drag strips and great drives, not about girls!




Hey I thought maybe the Hooker was delivering the Pizza
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/22/13 03:42 AM

As Tony and Don alluded, The Pony, just across the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau Missouri, was checkpoint one. We had ran most of the first 125 miles of the route by ourselves, but the parking lot had quite a few other drag weekers on it when we arrived. James was impressed with Eric Yost's keg trailer, but not with riding in the rental car! He was begging to take over driving or co-driving duties in the Satellite, but Rachael and I resisted the offer.

The route put us onto I-55 south for a nice easy 70 mile run through Missouri, then we caught the I-155 to Dyersburg Tennessee, it was a really easy, smooth run, but it was still a hundred miles in a 45 year old car. As usual, the truck continued to get attention from the locals.

Attached picture 7932237-100_0939.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/23/13 04:53 PM

We left Dyersburg on US-51 South, which would take us right by checkpoint #2, and then directly to the Quality Inn in Millington, just a few miles from Memphis International Raceway. Essentially we could mail it in from there, but it was still a 70 mile drive, and I was feeling pretty wrung out from a long hot day in the saddle. We rolled into Covington and staged our rides up for pictures at 11:00pm, and still 30 miles to go, so I decided to take James up on his offer, and let him drive the Satellite the rest of the way in, I mean what could possibly go wrong in a thirty mile straight shot?

I was surprised that at this hour there were a few guys sitting around on their tail gates watching the cars come in, and two of the competitors were still hanging out taking pictures, apparently they had more energy left than I did!

Attached picture 7933670-100_0941.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/23/13 06:01 PM

I hopped in the passenger's seat of the black rental charger, pulled the seatbelt across me and clipped in. Dad was in the back, and was pretty quiet.
"I think he's out" Robert laughed as we rolled down the road, "He kept James and I pretty entertained".
We had left before the rest of the gang, and we were moving along pretty good, but the Charger cancelled out the road so well I felt like I was sitting on a couch having a conversation. Robert and I were just talking about the trip so far when he suddenly said, "Hmm, that car is coming up pretty fast, I hope it's not a cop, I was a little over back there..." he didn't finish his sentence before the back of the car lit up like a Christmas tree!
"Good grief" Robert exclaimed, "I haven't had a ticket in like five years or more, my wife is going to kill me!"
The officer walked up to the window with his flash light drawn and resting on his shoulder, ready to swing. He looked 16, about 5"7' and had barely enough meat on his bones to hold up his holster
"I pulled you over 'cause you were 15 over back there, where y'all going".
"We're going to Memphis, for a race tomorrow sir. We've been to Bowling Green, then Indy, then St. Louis, we've put a lot of miles in this week and I just got a little tired officer, I apologize..."
"Do you have your paperwork, and I need both your licenses", the officer cut in.
"Yes sir, this is a rental, we are from Arizona, it's been a long trip, I just kinda lost track of my speed, I'm sorry for that, just got in a hurry to get to the motel ahead in Millington, just ready to call it a night..."
"Yes, yes, Ok, ok...I'll be back in a second", the officer cut in again, and quickly headed back to his car, clearly worried Robert was going to start talking again!
The BV, Charger, and Satellite drove by and I was reminded of the scene in Two Lane blacktop when GTO got pulled over after the Driver ratted him out.
The officer came back and returned our licenses. "Mr Reynolds, I'm just going to give you a warning. I see you have an AZ license, a Kentucky rental car, and here you are in Tennessee, so I believe your story about driving all day, just be careful into Millington."
"I certainly appreciate it officer", Robert stuck his hand out as if to shake.
The kid jerked back from the door, and put his hand on his gun, "Uh...we don't do that sir...it's not allowed", he stuttered, clearly flustered.
"Sorry", Robert apologized again, "It's been a long time since I've been pulled over, have a good night officer."
He threw the warning on the dash as we pulled away, "Got out of a ticket, but nearly got shot", he laughed.
Suddenly I could hear the sultry voice of Shemekia Copeland singing in my head, "Never Goin' Back to Memphis..."

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/24/13 03:39 PM

Despite the fact that it was nearly midnight, the Quality Inn parking lot was full of drag weekers, and most of them appeared to still be up wrenching or bench racing. We had to park on the grass out front, and carry our stuff to the room. Jim Forbes (Squirrel, Bangshift) was leaning on the railing of the landing to the stairs leading to the the second floor, and he hollered down at me as I walked by.
"Hey, I want to run your brother's Truck tomorrow!"
"Sure, that would be fun", I grinned up at him.
Jim is a fellow Arizonan, and he was competing in the Gasser class with Boone. His orange and white 55 Bel Air features a 454 with a 6-71 blower that sees a ton of street miles every year. Boone had him by a hundredth on day one, but he had firmly taken control of 3rd place the last two days, and had a tenth on the Barnyard in three day average. Although this is only the third year for the Gasser class it already has two traditions, tightknit comradery off the track, and competition on the track, grudge races are expected and encouraged with this group!
"Did you hear we lost Mike Cox and the Henry J today?" he continued.
"No, I saw he ran slow at Gateway, what happened?"
"Ate a roller lifter in the BBC, we could have patched it together and kept him going, but he has a warranty on that engine, and didn't want to screw it up before he returned it to the builder."
"That's a bummer, wasn't he leading the class?"
"Yeah, so that moves me up to second, and your brother to third, and we can settle it on the track tomorrow!"
"I'm sure he'll be up for it. Why aren't you in bed already?"
He smiled wryly, "I'm just too jacked up to go to bed after the drive, I have to relax for a while!"

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/24/13 05:50 PM

"You've been called out!" I greeted Boone when I made it to the room.
"What do you mean?"
"Just saw Jim on the stairs, and he says he wants to race you in the morning!"
"Did you tell him we're not in the habit of watching the Barnyard work against a two bit piece of junk?"
"Ha...no, you can try all the Two Lane Blacktop lines on him you want once we get to the track. He also said Mike lost a lifter in the Henry J..."
"Yeah, John Gatliff (The Outsider, BangShift) told me that at checkpoint #2, I guess he had been there taking pictures for quite a while".
"We're going to have to spin some wrenches on the old girl, put a tune on her!" Dale added as he pulled the covers up to his ears, "We may have something for that fifty-five!"

Attached picture 7934813-drag-week-2013-day-3-road-trip172-623x403.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/24/13 06:31 PM

I remember taking a shower, and I remember that the alarm clock had 1:15 on it when I sat on the edge of the bed, now it was squawking at me with 7:15 on it. Life on the road was a whole bunch easier twenty years ago, I swear! Once again, we wiped out the continental breakfast, and watched the car show as everyone pulled out and headed for the track. Memphis International Raceway was our host for day 4 in 2012, we had a fun, exciting day at the track then and I expected nothing short of that today, there's some magic in that place, I can't explain it, but I can feel it.

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Posted By: 6pak2go

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/24/13 08:29 PM

I say it again, I had an absolute blast hanging with you guys, even if it almost cost me a speeding ticket. I was pretty beat too and just sub-conscientiously kept mashing the Charger's gas pedal down as the motel bed was calling me, lol.

Your Dad had some great stories too. We rag-chewed and bench raced for quite a few hours before you got in the car. Good times!

Great story telling! Carry on!
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 01:57 AM

Robert, with Dad and James as passengers, followed Boone and Dale in the Barnyard out to the track. Darren and I made a quick stop at the station for some 91 octane to compliment our nitrous at the track. I sent Rachael in to buy some ice, but most of the guys had beat us to it, so we only managed to get three bags.

The first three days, the one and done, we want to be first in line guys had clogged the lanes early, and made it tough to get a quick hit at the track. Many of those guys in the class cars must've slept in on Thursday, or decided to do some wrenching when they arrived at the track, because a couple of the early birds were actually hot lapping in the first 30 or 40 minutes the track was open. The biggest offender was Ray and his "Black Pearl Barracuda", he was really working the G3 hemi over going 10.65,10.62 and 10.62 in the first 25 minutes of track time. I swear he must've had his own staging lane!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 03:25 AM

Last year, by necessity, we ended up pitted towards the far end of the pit, past the grandstands, but it made it really nice, because you could simply walk over to the fence to watch the cars go down the track, so the guys naturally headed for that area again. We actually scored a nice spot between a couple of motorhomes, right next to the fence, so we were literally 10 steps away from view of the entire track, and we could see the scoreboards from our pit at any time!
Darryl and Tony wasted no time getting their single passes in within the first twenty or so minutes posting an 11.25-119.25, and a 10.88-124.46 respectively.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 03:46 AM

The heat was already coming on, as we concentrated on getting the Barnyard Viper ready for her Gasser grudge race. Jim came by to check on us and make sure we were prepared to follow through, "I was ready about 5 minutes after I drove through the gate, but I understand that with a Dodge, there's a little more maintenance involved!"
He had a big smile on his face, and I decided to take the high road, "You wouldn't want anything less than our best effort would you?"
"No, I'm just kiddin'. Have Boone wave at me when he heads to the lanes, and I'll just follow him up".

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 04:41 AM

Finally, Boone was ready to head up to the lanes and I left him with one instruction, "We need the tree!" He nodded in affirmation. Robert had mounted his Go Pro camera on board, and showed Boone about 3 times how to turn it on, but I wasn't holding out hope that he would get it!
Jim would tell us later that he was interviewing with Hot Rod Magazine's Elana Scherr when Boone drove by, and he told her he had to go because he had a grudge race with the gasser pick-up. He said she immediatey started texting someone, and when the two of them rolled into the lanes, they were practically ushered to the burnout box.

Boone fogged the tree with road soot out of the pipes, but he also put two hundredths in the bank as well...this was going to be fun!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 05:00 AM

Boone had to work the wheel a little to correct for torque steer, but the Barnyard's ET Street's were stuck to the groove and she was showing the fiver her tailgate at the 1/8th mile. Then that aluminum lung started making up for the cubes, and Jim started reeling back the lost ground as they charged on towards the stripe!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 05:28 AM

We were jumping around like the Glidden boys in our pit when Boone's win light lit up on top of his score board. The Barnyard's 11.409-116.05 was a little short of the Bel Air's 11.405-120.01, but the advantage at the tree swung the results in our favor. After two weeks of thrashing around on this stuff, and wearing ourselves out on the road, this was starting to get fun!

Jim was gracious in defeat, and stopped by to compare slips with Boone after the race.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 06:43 AM

Dale and I discussed our strategy for putting the Satellite back into Daily Driver quick 32 contention. We were currently at a 12.35 average, and the bump was around 11.95, so essentially we needed to get as close to 11.50 as possible, to pull the average down that much. I had iced the top of the motor down, for quite a while and sent him to the lanes shortly after Boone's run. He pulled into the water box, barely smoked the drag radials, and quickly staged up. He grabbed the bottle right at the hit, and the ole girl rolled over on the springs, but remained hooked up, laying down a 1.625 in 60'. Short shifting to second kept the power rolling on with a 4.618 330', but it popped back hard at the top of second and he had to lift for a tick to get third gear. He recovered quickly and streaked for the finish line clearly under full power, apparently the ice had kept our fuel supply intact all the way down....11.495-117.66 DANG IT!! That's the WRONG side of 11.50!!

In a clear case of whatever you can do, I can do better, Darren pulled the Charger to the line two minutes later and laid down an equally useless 11.451-120.23!

As expected, Boone had failed to turn on Robert's Go Pro, and decided to make another pass with it. They agreed to just leave it on all the way from the pits, and Dale decided that a match against the Truck was just what he needed to get the Satellite on the plus side of 11.50.
The Satellite gave the Barnyard a run for it's money, just four hundredths back at the 330', but this time he floated the valves so hard at the top of second that he had the breather in flames with the ensuing nitrous backfire. He coasted to a 13.06-82.47, while the Barnyard Viper went 11.426-114.91.

Robert's Go Pro in Barnyard

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 02:10 PM

Darren was complaining that the 440 was making some noise in the Charger, so we pulled the valve covers for a look, and ended up tightening up a couple of rockers.
"I need another 11.50 car to run with, so I can pace myself", Dale lamented.
"Well, you got one right here!" I exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" he looked up from the Charger's fender.
"You two need to run each other, and hopefully we can end up with a couple of 11.50's or 60's".

They rolled into the water box at 11:30 am and cleaned off the tires. Dale strapped 5 hundredths on Darren at the tree, and the Satellite put another 13 hundredths on the Charger in the first 60ft. At the 1/8th mile the Satellite had 33 feet on the Charger, and as they came by our vantage point, I saw Dale hang his right arm over the seat and motion to Darren to come get him!
"Dang it Dale, you're on a killer pass, back into him", I exhorted, knowing full well this was more about showing Darren up than it was about getting us the number we needed.
Just past the 1000' I saw the nose drop on the Charger as Darren gave up the chase, the Satellite leveled out shortly after that, but he was still more than a two cars ahead. Then, thirty feet from the finish line, Dale decided to give it a victory romp and laid back into the Satellite, lighting the board with another wasted 11.499-105.72 to Darren's 11.76-108.60! I threw my hat on the ground in disgust and let loose a few curse words, "I have no idea how many mid 11 second passes that poor car has in it, and that idiot is determined to break it before we get this thing done!"
Dad was laughing at me, "Get out there and do it yourself, you're the one that put him behind the wheel!"

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Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 04:19 PM

Damn you have a great memory
Posted By: cudadon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/25/13 05:07 PM

Quote:

We were jumping around like the Glidden boys in our pit when Boone's win light lit up on top of his score board. The Barnyard's 11.409-116.05 was a little short of the Bel Air's 11.405-120.01, but the advantage at the tree swung the results in our favor. After two weeks of thrashing around on this stuff, and wearing ourselves out on the road, this was starting to get fun!

Jim was gracious in defeat, and stopped by to compare slips with Boone after the race.




damn 4 mph different for the same ET!
Those alum heads really made a diff. eh?
Great story Billy.
Don

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 02:38 AM

Bad340fish,
Hopefully the Valiant will be ready next year, and I can move it back to the top of your list.

Just-a-dart,
Darryl's sanity is something I question on a regular basis, but he never questions mine... he already knows the answer.

1967DartGt,
Boone keeps reminding of when I've finished the story in years past and prodding me to get moving on it. Hopefully everyone hasn't given up on it yet...

J Body,
Still trying to decide if I want to tackle the small block assembly myself, or farm it out.

tsanchez,
My memory is like a bunch of zip folders, lying there dormant. I use the pictures, route instructions, time slips, reviewing the live feed and such as an outline, and to help open each folder, and put me back into that moment. Once I start reliving that moment in time, it's really photographic memory, and I can pull huge chunks of time out of it, but sometimes it's more about what I was feeling at that time or how it was affecting me more than just straight facts. One thing, it's terribly time consuming and any kind of interruptions drive me crazy! Like my cars, I enjoy the finished product more than the process!

As far as Drag Week dreams, mine usually center around breaking down somewhere like US-30 through south Chicago, or some back road in Arkansas and hearing Dueling Banjos fire up!

6pak2go,
Enjoyed sharing the experience with you, and so glad you were there to bail us out!

cudadon,
Not aluminum heads, aluminum lung, as in 6-71 roots blower on the 55. The Barnyard Viper really has to do it's work in the first 1/8th because after the that it has the frontal area of a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and steers like a boat so it's never going to be a big Mph vehicle!

Ksj,
Who did all the dragstrip driving in the Challenger, you or your brother?

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Posted By: 11secdart

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 03:32 AM

Great stories! I said it before and I`ll say it again " Man that truck is cool " a guy that lives a few blocks away from me is big into drag week and has been to a few with his gold/bronze Grand Prix i know he went this year but don`t know how he did as i haven`t seen him in awhile, after all its not a Mopar so I not really that interested
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 03:33 AM

Mostly him.I had one pass the 1st day and made a pass at Indy.I owed Indy since that is where Jeff McConnell and I were 10 minutes late in 2010 and were Dq'd. Next year my brother wont be going as its his 40th Wedding anniversary.Plus he needs more seat time. LOL.Next year hopefully I will bring my 69 Dart.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 03:35 AM

When they pulled back in and parked, I took the time slip, and then immediately grilled Dale about why he jumped back in it before the stripe, and he flatly denied doing any such thing!
"Darren, why'd you get off the gas so early?" I questioned.
"The 440 is still not happy, that sound got a little worse this pass, so I was trying not to kill it!"

I took the 11.495 and 11.499 slips and showed them to Scott Abbott (Scott58, Moparts) figuring as often as his Road Runner goes under 11.50 without a bar, he might have a plan.
"I'd try to turn one in", He shrugged, "The rule is, we are teched to 11.49 and slower, and those are slower than 11.49, at least you can try."
I decided it was worth a walk, as I approached the tower I saw Keith Turk in a conversation with Monte Smith, and Monte was hammering him on the nuances of some of the Drag Week rules. Keith actually looked relieved for the interruption, but that didn't prevent him from shooting me down, "Nope 11.50 with a zero or slower!"
"It's 11.499! Can't we round up!"
"Always pushing the grey areas aren't you?" He looked at Monte, "Another Mopar guy!"
"Trust me", Monte sighed and shook his head, "I know."

I went back to our pit, and Lane Sporrong, who drives the Baja Chase Truck with it's Duttweiler supercharged LS motor, was hanging out, talking to the brothers. When the conversation came around to what we were going to do with the Satellite, Dale turned to Lane, "What have you guys been running today?"
"11.60s and 70's."
"Would you mind running us, so I can pace this thing to a good number?"
"No problem, I'd love to!" Lane smiled, along with his Dad Michael, they are the energizer bunnies of Drag Week, always helping people out, always working on something, and they LOVE putting laps down the track on their truck.

Dale got through 1st and 2nd clean, and had a lead on the truck, then he let Lane drive around him on the top end. We had an 11.63-114.76 for our troubles!
When Dale got back, I again jumped him, "Why the heck did you give up the stripe?"
"You said to make sure I didn't go under 11.50!"
"I didn't say anything about letting the chevy win!!"

Attached picture 7937788-100_0956.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 03:37 AM

Quote:

Great stories! I said it before and I`ll say it again " Man that truck is cool " a guy that lives a few blocks away from me is big into drag week and has been to a few with his gold/bronze Grand Prix i know he went this year but don`t know how he did as i haven`t seen him in awhile, after all its not a Mopar so I not really that interested



Would your neighbor be Mark Sussino? If so call him Mike.Hot Rod 2 years ago printed he had a MonteCarlo.This year they printed his name was Mike.Better yet say"Hi Mike,Nice PonteCarlo His reply will be son of a.........
Posted By: 11secdart

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 03:48 AM

Thats him, I`ll call him that the next time I see him. he came to Raceway Park a few times earlier this year to run a class called " Top Street " and he does a lot of test and tuning. He said he really does`t like bracket racing and prefers Drag week and heads up racing.
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 03:59 AM

Marks a good guy even if he does own a PonteCarlo.His car is as clean looking as they get.Between Mike Crow and I we make sure he knows that there are mopars at DW.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 06:50 AM

Darren and I made our way to the tower to turn in our time slips. Darryl had been gone for a while, and Boone had already turned his in, picked up his route sheet, and pretty much had the Barnyard loaded up and ready to go. As we showed them our pictures and picked up our instructions, Tom Bailey rolled his ex-project sick seconds composite 69 Camaro into the water box for another last ditch effort to extend his streak. He had a comfortable lead to win Drag Week the next day, and he already had a 7.07 run in the books at Memphis. There were only 20 minutes of track time left, and announcer Ron Ward was already explaining that the relentless sun had pounded the track's earlier teeth into submission. Tom and engine builder Steve Morris, weren't about to be satisfied with "just" the win however, they were determined to get a six second ET. at every track! Watching this kind of stuff unfold in front of you is another of those things that make Drag Week so awesome.
Sure enough, it stuck and managed a 6.96-211! Many people will look at the passes they turned in each day and say, "Wow, they just dominated the event", without ever understanding the absolute tightrope they traversed between that accomplishment, and abject, total failure!

Back in our pits, we quickly finished loading up and were ready to roll out. Rachael informed me that she was going to ride with Robert and Dad in the Charger, so I would have to make do with James as my navigator.
Lane walked over to harass us , "The Gebhart boys leaving early? Something's not right about that!"
I had to agree with him, 1:15pm was a far cry from our normal four or five!

I was the first one to exit the track.
"Take a left on Fite road", James told me, looking at the sheet.
"A left? 51 is back to the right".
"Is that how it's going to be... already?" He stared at me.
"Ok, ok, left it is".

We drove five or so miles through residential neighborhoods until we jumped onto Paul Barrett Parkway/ I-269/ Tn. 385. Eighteen miles later we exited onto US-70 east, and pulled into a gas station a mile further down the road, with Robert's rental Charger behind us.
I had just started the pump when my phone rang, it was Boone. "We are stopped about five miles from the track, just past that church", he opened the conversation.
"Yeah, I saw it."
"Darren's car is making a bunch of noise, and we're trying to figure it out."
"Well, we are only about twenty miles up the road, at a big station with plenty of lights, why don't you bring it up here?"
"Well... actually we are in a pretty nice neighborhood on a side street. I think we're going to try to figure it out here."
"Do you want us to come back?"
"Not yet, just hang out there for a while, and we'll call you in a bit."

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Posted By: rebel

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 11:01 AM

dang, don't you hate that? just when it gets interesting he stops for a commercial break!
Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/27/13 11:53 AM

Memphis was great again this year. They pulled some DD guys to the lanes early because they were staying so clear. I got two runs in and was on the road before 11am.

Keep typing Billy, great story!
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/28/13 09:38 PM

I relayed the situation to James and Rachael, and added, "Most nice neighborhoods don't like grease monkeys working on jalopies out in front of their picture windows for long, they need to get that thing moving".
We discussed it with Dad and Robert, and decided that they would go ahead to Bowling Green, but when they pulled out, it appeared they were driving back towards Memphis.
"Why'd they go that way?" James looked at me incredulously.
"Dad probably talked them into going back and checking on his favorite boy!"

Thirty minutes later, Boone called us back, "We backed the converter off, found one crank to flexplate bolt a couple turns loose, and one of the converter bolts were loose, but that didn't clear it up".
"Did Robert, Dad, and Rachael show up there?"
"No... I thought they were going on?" He paused, then added, "Lane and his Dad are here though."

I called Rachael and she informed me that Robert wanted to get the rental car turned in that night, so they chose to jump on I-40 to get to Bowling Green, rather than following the route, which is why they headed in the other direction. James and I decided to go back and check on the brothers, figuring we might have to help someone make a decision, and it would be easier face to face, than twenty miles away on a phone!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/28/13 11:21 PM

By the time we arrived, all the attention had turned to the engine. Dale had the coil wire pulled off, and Darren was rolling it over has everyone listened under the hood. It wasn't a sharp tick or knock, more of a rumble.
"It's definitely on this side", Michael Sporrong was pointing at the driver's side valve cover.
"Yeah, and it sounds like a piston or a valve... like air is going someplace it's not supposed to be!" I added.

A school bus pulled up and dropped off a boy, maybe 9 or 10, at the house we were parked in front of. He practically sprinted to the front door, all the while stealing concerned looks back at us. He dropped his bag on the front porch and while looking back at us, scrambled to find the key under the mat. He clutched the key to his chest and spun around putting himself between the screen door with it's powerful door retractor and the front door, squirming like he feared for his life, or desparately had to go to the bathroom. Finally the door opened and he bolted in, then he remembered his bag, and tentatively came back out to snatch it with his eyes trained on our every move. He nearly made it back in unscathed, but the screen door closed on the backpack like a clam shell. Two hard pulls brought it free, but landed the poor little guy on his backside just inside the house, he jumped up and slammed the front door with all his might!
Boone must've been watching as intently as I was, because both of us burst into laughter at nearly the same time.
"I thought I was witnessing a scene out of 'Home Alone'!"
"I was thinking the same thing", Boone shook his head.
Twenty minutes later, a little red econobox screeched into the driveway, and a girl in her late teens ran to the house and picked the boy up, both of them looking at us like we were movie ogres or something as they sped away.
"Apparently Boone, hot rodders are held in the same light as pirates and thieves in these parts!"
"Maybe so, we've already had several people stop by and ask us what was going on, one of them was a mopar guy, who just happens to be a sherriff's deputy... he said we could leave the car at his house if we need to."
"Well, I guess that may be an option, but heck, we're only 275 miles away from finishing this deal!"

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/29/13 07:33 AM

Finally, we narrowed it down to cylinder three or five, and pulled the plugs. Darren broke out his borescope (you know, one of those Drag Week tools you can't be without?) and we had a look inside. While I couldn't make out incredible detail, everything in cylinder three looked clean, relatively shiny, and nothing looked out of place. Cylinder 5 was another matter entirely, it was much darker, seemingly oil soaked, and there appeared to be some very dark spots in a few places where the cylinder and piston top were in contact.
"Um, I think it ate some of the top ring land", I surmised as we all crowded around for a look at the display.
"I can't draw a conclusion", Darren shook his head, "But that cylinder definitely is not as healthy as the other one!"
We put it back together, and Dale and Darren took it for a test ride through the neighborhood, when they returned, you could see it was smoking out of that bank, not horrible, but certainly noticeable.
"It's running, lets just try to baby it to Bowling Green", I suggested.
Darren ran his fingers through his thinning hair, "I don't know", he sighed, "We have a spot to leave it, and I'd hate to tear it up worse in the middle of nowhere!"
"It actually sounds pretty bad, and has a little vibration in it", Dale added.

The decision to leave it was much easier than figuring out the logistics. Lane and Michael decided Darren could ride with them in the Baja Truck, but then we were forced to once again decide what to leave in the car, and what to spread between the only two remaining vehicles we had left. It was about that time that Dale discovered he had left the keys to his truck in the Gremlin, and started making frantic calls to Eric, to see if he could overnight them to Beech Bend Raceway Park, never a dull moment with this group.

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Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/29/13 08:43 AM

"Darren ran his fingers through his thinning hair" Really? You all need to get a mirror.Your Dad has more hair than you kids.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/29/13 04:07 PM

Darren dropped the Charger off in the Sherriff deputy's car port, and we finally started moving once again. I had already received texts from Rachael and Darryl both that it was raining pretty good in the Nashville area, so we knew things would eventually get interesting with the Barnyard Viper and it's ET Streets when we ran into that.
We retraced our steps and ended up at the exact gas station James and I were waiting at when we were told Darren was having trouble. As we were fueling up, we noticed that Alex Taylor and her mom were across the street at the McDonalds, and they appeared to be checking under their beautiful orange and white 68 Camaro. As a 16 year old girl taking on Drag Week with Mom as her co-pilot, they had caused quite a stir, the blue jean shorts simply added to the attention. Before we knew it Michael had sprinted across the four lanes of traffic to offer his assistance.
I walked over to Lane at the pump, "Your Dad seems to move quite fast when there are pretty gals around!"
He laughed, and almost appeared to blush, "Yeah, I'm sure he'll tell us he simply likes to help people, but he's still just a horn-dog!"

The time stamp on the photos indicate that from the Satellite making our last pass at Memphis, to our second visit at this gas station just twenty miles away from the track, we had used up four hours and twenty minutes! That's how long drag week days get a whole bunch longer!

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Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/29/13 04:36 PM

Yeah it seems that anytime that Alex and her mom had
any problems there was a handful of guys there in a
few seconds... she sure turned some heads
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/29/13 04:37 PM

We stopped in the small town of Arlington a few miles later at a local burger dive and continued our tradition of eating early into our journey each day, the food was good, the company was better, and the atmosphere was decidedly backwoods with no hint that we were only 35 minutes from Memphis!

The first checkpoint was a straight shot fifty more miles down US-70, and it was the only checkpoint of the entire event that we made it to in daylight! It was called Billy Tripp's Mindfield in Brownsville Tn. (Google it!)

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/30/13 03:46 AM

Leaving the Mindfield, Hot Rod could have sent us along US-70A/US-79 in a nearly straight run to checkpoint 2 in Paris Tn., but that's just not the way they like to do things. So instead they ran us over to I-40 for a 16 mile jaunt on the big road, then dumped us off if the middle of Jackson Tn., for a little stoplight, cruise through town before we re-joined US-79 in Milan. James and I pulled into the Exxon gas station in Milan, across the street from the massive Oakwood cemetery. Two things had changed in the last 47 miles we had covered, it was seriously dark, and we were working through smatterings of rain and wet roads. After we fueled up, I called Boone to ask how far they had fallen behind us, but I barely had time to explain where we had stopped before I heard him coming over the hill to join us.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/30/13 04:04 AM

Thirty-seven miles later we pulled into Paris Tn. For checkpoint #2 which was their mini-Eiffel Tower. Last year we had a checkpoint at the mini-Eiffel Tower in Paris Tx., kind of makes me wonder how many other states have something similar, or if we've seen them all.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/30/13 05:23 AM

Before we made it out of Paris, we were hit with a pretty good batch of rain, that had James and I down to 20-25 mph, but it was patchy so we pressed on. Boone decided to park and wait it out, and have us call back when we ran out of it, this pretty much summed up our approach for the rest of the night. I remember thinking the drive from Paris to Clarksville, then on to Russellville was probably quite scenic and enjoyable, if you weren't fighting rain, wet roads and pitch back night along the way!
We stopped for one last load of fuel in the Satellite, and I called Boone to see how far back they were.
"Well, quite a ways actually, we started losing oil pressure, so I pulled over", He explained.
"What the heck is going on?" I asked.
"It was three quarts low, after I filled it up, everything is fine, but it had us worried for a while."
"Wow, are Lane and Michael still with you?"
"Yeah, they've been following us the whole way, we told them they could go on, but they didn't want to abandon us like our brother did!"
"Hey, I've got my phone!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, just kidding, call us when you get to the motel."

James and I had a great conversation the entire drive, and I was wondering why we hadn't traded off more often. In 2011 we had swapped cars, drivers, and passengers the whole trip, but this year we hadn't done it hardly at all.
At one point he looked over at me and said, "You've got Dale driving this thing at the track because you say you don't have a good feel for shifting it, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much, I had no seat time in this car before the trip."
"So we've driven through four towns in the last two hundred miles, and you left it in drive the whole time!"
"Yeah, it shifts out great when you're cruising around!"
"That's not the point, if you manually shifted it every time, you'd have developed a much better feel by now. You've driven it six hours a day for the last 4 days, and you should have put that time to good use!"
"Ok...you have a point."
He looked over and smiled, "I hope I never get old!"
"Your day will come... trust me!"

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/30/13 06:24 AM

The last thirty miles, after we cleared Russellville, were the toughest just because the fatigue had really set in and we just wanted it over. We were coming into Bowling Green from the southwest, and our motel was on the northeast side of town. I had no desire whatsoever to drive through the heart of town, so I took a loop on a hunch that it would get me to I-65. It worked out great, and even though the time on the big road added about 5 miles, I felt it was worth it!

We pulled into the crowded Super 8 parking lot, and found a spot in the back. James started shuttling our stuff to the rooms as I called Boone, to find out how far out they were. I noticed a few of the GM boys huddled around a 64 Buick, so I went over to talk with them while I passed the time waiting for Boone to arrive. I noticed their lively bench racing session was fueled by a fifth of whiskey that was being passed around, and wondered where they found the energy. That may explain why they were some of the few drag weekers still at the hotel, when we were ready to leave the next morning!

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Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/30/13 06:43 AM

Doug the guy with the 3 pedal blue Buick rocks.He stopped and gave Jeff and I a ride in 2010 when we broke before Indy.Its usually him and his brother every year.Another DW addict.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/30/13 05:28 PM

Friday morning, I was up and dressed early enough to catch Darryl before he left for the track. Even though Hot Rod had announced they would be starting an hour later, I knew he would be leaving quickly, and I needed his help with a peculiar situation.
"We have to figure out how to get to the track this morning!" I said as I walked with him to put my stuff in the car.
"What do you mean? This is the same way we drove into the track when we got here", He stated.
"No, I mean all the extra people and luggage, my car will be rubbing the tires if I overload it."
"Yeah, I have the same problem, the Dart won't handle a bunch of weight."
As I loaded my bag in the car, I heard him fire up the Dart and head out of the parking lot. I was left wondering if he just blew me off or if my communication skills were suddenly lacking?
I began to doubt myself when I tried to relate the problem to my own family, everyone seemed to be wrapped up in their own thoughts and oblivious to what we needed to do to get everyone to the track.
"Look, we've got seven people and all their luggage to get to the track in 2 cars, so obviously the Satellite has to make two trips, and I need to even out the loads as much as possible!"
"Great," Dale jumped in, "I'll wait for the second trip, so I can stay here and wash my laundry, I'm out of clean clothes".
Dad was equally as helpful, "Yeah, I'll wait for the second trip, and Darren can ride with Boone in the Barnyard Viper."
"So the two fattest guys left want to ride in the car when it's carrying four people, and one of them wants to keep his luggage", I stared them both down, "Now I understand why the airline industry gets so frustrated! One of you have to ride with Boone in the truck, you guys out weigh Darren by a bunch!"

I was able to wrestle everyone's luggage away from them except Dale's, then James and I headed to the track with Boone and Dale in the truck since we convinced him Rachael could handle putting his clothes in the dryer, and packing them in his bag!
We unloaded the Satellite in a pit spot as quickly as possible, and I told James to drive back and pick up Darren, Pops, and Rachael.
"Why me? I figured you would do it," He looked at me.
"Because I outweigh you by 125 pounds! Why doesn't anyone understand I'm trying to avoid killing the tires... and make Dad drive, Darren ride shotgun, and you and Rachael in the back seat!
"OK, ok", he laughed, "I was just pushing your buttons!"

As he drove away, Darryl walked over and asked, "Where's he going?"
I stared at him, "He's going back to pick up the rest of our group! Robert dropped off Pops and Rachael last night, and returned his rental car. Lane dropped off Darren, and he and his Dad were in a different hotel across town! How did you think we were all going to get out here?"
"You should have said something, someone could have rode out here with me", he stated.
I decided to walk away, and look at a few of the other cars before I killed somebody.

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Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 11/30/13 07:18 PM

Hahahaha
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 05:31 PM

It wasn't like we had arrived at the track on time, but there weren't any cars going down the track. As we prepared Boone's Truck for his first run, an impromptu bench racing session broke out with Scott and several other local Moparts members visiting for the day, and we found out why. Lightning had struck the timing system during the storm the night before, and the crew was frantically trying to repair the damage. The first set of cars wouldn't make it down the track until 10:25 AM, and the right scoreboard never was functional.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 06:11 PM

While it's not saying much, it was about ten degrees cooler on Friday than it had been all week, and the air was a ton better, resulting in quite a few improved time slips. Twenty minutes after the first pair, Darryl took his one and only shot at the track, netting a career best ET for the Dart, but the mph was down significantly, 11.096-117.15.
"What's up with the mph?" I asked when he handed me the slip.
"Been fighting a fuel delivery issue all week, and with the better air it just leaned out and quit pulling up there!"
"You going to jet up and try another hit?"
"Nope! That's it for me, Drag Week 2013 is in the books!"
"So now you go to the tower, and get a route sheet back to Arizona?"
"Exactly!" He laughed, "We won't be able to get back without printed instructions and checkpoints!"

Tony and his Javelin also turned in their best time slip of the week with a 10.539-126.06, but made a slower pass later in the afternoon which makes me wonder if he was just taking a victory lap, or if someone else was behind the wheel?

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 07:11 PM

On the first day, we were thrilled to find out that Rockett brand fuel actually had a distributor on site, and we had an opportunity to purchase product from a long time Hot Rod Drag Week sponsor. We bought 15 gallons of 110 octane from them for Boone to race the Truck on, and to sweeten the mix in the Belvedere while on spray. Between running out of gas on the road, and adding some to the other cars, we had used up the last of it in Memphis, so Boone had nothing to pour into the Barnyard Viper. He grabbed a five gallon jug, his last seven dollars of cash, and headed back over to the vendor's fuel truck.
"I've got a problem", Boone told the guy who sold us the fuel on Monday, "I'm trying to finish up today, but I only have seven bucks left on me..."
"That's no problem!" He smiled as he grabbed Boone's jug, "You were on 110, right?"
"Uh...yeah".
He handed the jug back nearly full, took Boone's five and two ones and said, "Get out there, and get some good runs in to complete your Drag Week!"

Drag Week wouldn't work if it weren't for passionate sponsors, who truly care about the competitors, and the event.

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Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 07:50 PM

Jack the president of Rocket Brand Fuels took my Dad into town to buy a coil on day one when mine died on the road. My car runs on pump fuel but I almost bought some of his fuel to try anyways, great sponsor!

Keep it coming Billy
Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 08:02 PM

Quote:

Jack the president of Rocket Brand Fuels took my Dad into town to buy a coil on day one when mine died on the road. My car runs on pump fuel but I almost bought some of his fuel to try anyways, great sponsor!

Keep it coming Billy




Yep... was nice of him to stop and help... a good
sponsor for sure and he has been for some years
Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 08:13 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Jack the president of Rocket Brand Fuels took my Dad into town to buy a coil on day one when mine died on the road. My car runs on pump fuel but I almost bought some of his fuel to try anyways, great sponsor!

Keep it coming Billy




Yep... was nice of him to stop and help... a good
sponsor for sure and he has been for some years





Nice of You, Dale, and Darrel to stop as well. Hard to beat the DW family.
Posted By: Darryls-Demon

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 08:20 PM

Hey I ran my best MPH of the event on the last day, and here is the time slip to prove it!
The car pulled real hard in high gear even with the fuel delivery problem. Lol.

The lady in the tower decided on her own that the real MPH must have been 117 MPH, witch is B.S. because the car has never gone that slow on a full pass, but hey who's counting.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 08:57 PM

Boone was almost ready to go up, when he saw the white high-riding 55 of Keith Harrison heading for the lanes, followed by the black Chisholm and Stasiak 55 that was leading the Gasser class. After the enjoyment of his gasser grudge race the day before, he decided to try it again, and had Dale close the hood so he could chase them down.
While Chisholm had him covered by a bunch, The Barnyard Viper was closely matched in E.T. with Harrison's 55, but he wasn't battling Boone for third in class because he had to take a 20.00-50.00 at Indy while dealing with several problems.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 09:30 PM

When Boone made it to the lanes, he did a quick count back and realized he couldn't get up to Harrison, but if he could get the black 55 to let one car around him, they would be paired. He discussed it with both Chisholm, and the driver of a yellow-gold 70 Skylark directly behind him at thought he had it all worked out when the negotiations hit an unexpected snag.
"Ok, so I had him pull forward, if you can just pull around him and we'll be all set!" Boone explained to the Buick driver.
"Nope! If you want to race each other he has to pull over! This car has a spool, and I'm not driving around!"
"His car has a spool, my truck has a spool, what's the big deal?"
"Look, you want to do this, so get him to pull over, I'm not moving out of this lane!"
Boone walked up to explain it to Dan in the 55.
"You're kidding! How does he get in and out of gas stations?" He laughed, "Alright, I'll pull over in your lane and let him drive by!"

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/01/13 10:12 PM

Boone turned on the red light with a -.039, and the black 55 didn't move for three and a half tenths after the green, so it looked almost like a bracket race. It made for a nice looking race on the track as Boone's 11.62-113.6 hit the finish line just a tick ahead of the 55's 11.26.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 12:10 AM

29. Patrick Culkin 1990 Dodge Shadow 11.86-113.9
30. Shawn Abner 1999 Chevy Corvette 11.86-115.8
31. Steve Eden 1970 Chevy Nova 11.88-113.9
32. Bill Armstrong 1966 Ford Fairlane 11.90 111.8
-------------------------------------------------
33. Ross Dudley 1968 Plym Road Runner 11.92-112.1
34. Kerby Shure 1933 Factory 5 HR 12.02-118.0
35. Jeff Williams 2004 Pontiac GTO 12.03-114.9
36. Adam Leigh 1999 Chevy S-10 12.05-112.2
37. Bobby Little 1965 Chevelle SS 12.10-115.7
38. Eli Gould 1980 Pontiac Trans Am 12.11-109.8
39. Alex Taylor 1968 Chevy Camaro 12.16-113.0
40. Billy Gebhart 1966 Plym Satellite 12.17-106.9
41. Ryan Anderson 2008 Jeep Gr. Cherokee 12.22-111.0
42. Charley Ogle 1972 Dodge Challenger 12.24-114.5

This was the 4 day averages for Daily Driver leading into Friday. Obviously the goal was to get in the quick 32 and have a shot at winning the class in the bracket race, but to assume anything below that doesn't matter would be very naïve. The way we were running the Satellite on spray, and fighting with shifting on time, I was very unlikely that we would do well in the bracket race, but I desperately wanted to finish faster than the three cars just ahead of me. Alex is the 16 year old girl, Eli lives in my Dad's hometown, and Bobby hangs out on the same Bang Shift forum, so bragging rights were at stake!
Dale started wrenching on Boone's Truck when he returned after his first run, because they had decided to jet up since the mph was down, but I was trying to get him to concentrate on getting ready to run the Satellite as soon as they switched over to the DD staging lanes.
"Look", I implored him, "We need between 11.50 and 11.62 to get to an 11.895 average, so you have very little margin for error!"
"Don't worry, we'll get it", he assured me as he fished in the jet box.
"Not only that, but you know they are going to want the time slips turned in early so they can set the ladder, that means we'll only have two hours at the most!"
"I know, I know!" He shrugged.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 12:50 AM

Dale finally staged up the Satellite a tick before 1 pm, grabbed the nitrous right at the hit and she rolled over on the suspension but stayed stuck and in the groove. He short shifted 2nd and third, and the ole 440 was groaning against the converter in drive before the 1/8th. This looked really good, too good, I was yelling from the starting line for him to lift before he even hit the 1000' mark. 11.374-104.41, he had lifted, the problem was, looking at the incrementals and comparing them to other runs, it would have went 11.23-11.27 if he had ran it out! Nice pass, but we couldn't turn that one in!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 02:18 AM

Right before 2pm, as they began to call for DD time slips to be turned in, this sequence of cars went down the track:
Tom Bailey laid down a 6.78-217.4 to clinch the win and run a six at every track.
Next up in the same lane was Boone in the Barnyard Viper and he went 11.536-113.6 to finish up his Drag Week and claim 3rd place in the Gasser class.
Then Bobby in the Chevelle went 11.925.
Kerby in the 33 Hotrod went 11.64.
Adam went 11.73 in the red S-10!
So when Dale pulled up next, I was hoping he would keep the streak alive, and give us a good number. He left on the motor, stayed on the motor until after the 330' and then it came alive and went 12.71-115.
"What the heck was that?" I asked him when he returned to the lanes.
"I forgot to turn on the master switch for the nitrous..."
"You have got to be kidding me! They are calling for time slips right now!"
"I know, take this 12.71 and get in line, I'll get another hit and bring it to you if it's better!

I was standing on the steps of the tower waiting for him to stage when Ron Ward announced over the loud speaker, "Dale Gebhart, Dale Gebhart, you have a package waiting at the front gate!" Cool, now we would have keys to his rig!

Dale pulled up for what would be our last ditch effort to get into the quick 32, and had a good run going until he floated the valves going into drive, backfired on the nitrous very hard, and the nose dropped. The Satellite trailed smoke to the finish line and carded a 13.75-77.
My phone rang and it was Dale, "I guess I'm done, I caught the breather on fire again!"
"Ok...I'll turn this one in, your keys are at the front gate."

The 12.71 raised the final average to 12.28, and put the Satellite 41st in Daily Driver. I came out of the Tower with my final slips in time to see Dale pull the Satellite into the water again! Lucky for him, it was another useless pass, or I would have beat him for letting me turn that one in, it was too late for the bracket race but we still could have counted passes until 4pm. He ran 11.481-118.43 to finish our track time for Drag Week 2013.

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Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 02:48 AM

Great write up as usual Billy... sure would have been
nice to meet you there.... but I guess it wasnt to be...
maybe next year when I have my own junk there
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 05:20 AM

I walked back down from the tower to our pits understanding that though our participation in Drag Week 2013 was done, we still had a long day, and a long weekend ahead of us.
Dale picked up his keys at the gate and immediately went to the impound area to get his dually, as he had to get to a tire shop ASAP to replace the blown tires on his trailer.
Rachael and I were plopped down in lawn chairs at our pit relaxing for a bit when a red Kia Soul drove up, and an older gentleman rolled his window down and asked if I was MoparBilly.
"Yes I am", I called out and walked over to the open window.
"My name is Ken, forgive me for not getting out but my legs don't work so well anymore. Anyway, I'm Steve Bowyer's brother, you know, in the 67 Valiant? He suffered a heat stroke on Monday, and he still doesn't feel very well, so he was wondering if you could get his rig back to Arizona."
I was a bit taken back, I had talked to Steve early Monday morning as he was making the rounds through the pits in his power chair. I had assumed he was driving his Dodge dually on the route this year, and hadn't noticed he was bringing a hotrod.
"It's just my daughter and I... how big is the trailer?"
"A 16ft. open, his dually doesn't even know it's back there."
"Alright Ken, she should be able to handle it, tell Steve we will get it taken care of, no problem."
"Ok, I just have to find the keys, he's a little delirious, so he couldn't tell me where they were...the car is at the hotel, and I haven't found the keys to the rig yet. Are you going to be here for a while?"
"Yeah, we've got plenty to do to get ready, so we should be pitted here for a couple hours at least."
"Ok, I'll bring the keys back to you"."
With that, he was gone. I tried to grasp what had just happened, and within a few minutes felt like I had not responded well. He was dealing with a tough situation, and I had failed to gather any pertinent information. What hotel? What's his phone number? Hopefully he made it back before dark so we could get this sorted out.

I started loading up my stuff in the Satellite with the plan of driving it down to impound, and loading both cars on the trailer. I explained to my family what was going on, with instructions that we needed someone in our pit area at all times in case Ken came back. Boone couldn't load The Barnyard Viper until Dale returned and mounted the wheels on his trailer anyway. James agreed to help me load up, and as we started down to the impound area, we saw a cloud of smoke and heard the loudspeaker say, "The Monza is into the wall!"
Pep Boys Speed Shop was a major sponsor for DW13, and one of their managers had brought a really nice notchback Monza, and this was not a good ending to their week!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 06:20 AM

The Belvedere fired up without a complaint, and James directed me onto the trailer. Next was the Satellite, and we pulled it up and shut it off within a foot of the Belvedere's rear bumper. Darryl was next to us, and appeared to be loaded up and ready to head out, but he was fiddling around under the hood of his 92 Dodge 250 CTD.
"Alternator just quit on me!" He shook his head, I don't know where I'm going to get another one, I guess I can swap batteries with the Dart if I have to".
"They should have them at any parts store", James interjected, "I just put one on my '91 the other day."
I started disconnecting the trailer from my dually, "Take my truck Darryl, and run to the parts store, it's going to be a while before we are ready to get out of here anyway!"
As he drove away, I looked at James, and we both realized that we would be walking back to the pits as I had just gave away our ride!

When we returned, Boone had moved the Barnyard Viper over to an impromptu photo session with his fellow Gasser class competitors. The ragged line in the pits had attracted plenty of attention, and just served to remind everyone that this group was just a little different than the rest of Drag Week.

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Posted By: 1967dartgt

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 06:36 AM

The race is over and saga continues. You guys are nuts.
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 07:07 AM

Saw all the Gassers line up for photos.EPIC!
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/02/13 07:39 AM

We were still in the pit area when eliminations started for Daily Driver, and nearly every contest that I had a rooting interest in went as I hoped. Scott, Clark, Ross, Mr. Pbody's buddy Dale, the GLHS, and Lane in the Baja Truck all advanced to round two. The most visually pleasing battle of round one was Rick Callahan's perfect maroon 68 Road Runner beside Jon Lechner's equally stunning black 70 Chevelle SS. The Road Runner moved on when the Chevelle went well under his dial!

Dad and Dale returned from the tire shop and grabbed James to help them get the big trailer ready to roll. When Darryl got back, Darren jumped in to help him change out the alternator on the truck. Boone and I watched 2nd round of Daily driver, and watched Ross live up to his "Red Light" moniker in the Yellow Road Runner. When the smoke cleared we had Clark, Scott, Lane, and the GLHS still in.

Rachael and I jumped in my truck and we headed down to our trailer to finish up final packing of our rig in order to be ready to go, we left Darren, Boone and Darryl in the general area of our pit in case Ken returned. We watched round three as we shuffled our junk around between the 1 ton and the cars to get organized. Three of the four semi-finalists, I was thrilled with, in Scott, Clark, and Lane. I certainly would have rather seen Ross or Rick's B-bodies as the fourth, but the guy in the non-descript faded blue 92 Chevy short bed was driving his tail off!

The Barnyard Viper's proof of a successful DW13.

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Posted By: johnnycuda

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/03/13 07:55 PM

Not that it needs to be said,but you're a class act Billy,helping that guy get his car back to Arizona,
Sounds like this DW had a bit more drama with car issues etc than last year, but thanks again for sharing the exploits,trials and tribulations of your group. I still hope to join in on DW in the next year or two.
And,the guy in the lanes in the Buick..what a tool.
Posted By: ross

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/03/13 10:45 PM

Thanks for pointing that out Billy! LOL
Posted By: BBR

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 12:18 AM

Quote:

Thanks for pointing that out Billy! LOL






If it's any consolation, I believe Clark went red this year AND last year before the rain came.

Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 01:48 AM

Quote:


If it's any consolation, I believe Clark went red this year AND last year before the rain came.





Yes, when the semi-finals came around, I hadn't even decided whether to root for Clark or Lane, and it was over. Then he ran off the number and gave up third place. So after a week of driving through heat and rain, and abusing his little Barracuda at 4 different tracks in 5 days, he threw away a chance at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in less than twelve seconds! The other mopar muscle versus chevy pickup match went to Scott's Road Runner however, and then he sealed the deal in the final, just toying with Lane for the last 300ft!

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 02:55 AM

I was still strapping down cars and re-organizing all my stuff when Boone called and told us they were starting the awards ceremony. It seems like that portion of Drag Week lasted about 30 minutes in 2006, and grows about an hour every year, into the time eating monster it is now! I gave my camera to Rachael, and sent her on up with instructions to take pictures of Boone when he received his plaque. The sun disappeared behind the trees as I drove my 1 Ton and two car trailer up closer to the pits. I could see Steve's truck and trailer parked under one of the large trees near the back of the property, it was the only rig left that far out at this point. Darryl had used the fact that everyone was under the tent, to hit the track shower after working on his truck. He was in our pit spot, tossing his bag back in his truck when I walked up.
"Did Ken ever come back?"
"Nope, we had someone here the entire time, and we were looking out for his car."
We went to the edge of the tent, and watched as John Faraone was called up for "The Quickest Mopar" Plaque. Eddie Miller gave him a hearty congratulation when he headed up to get it, but then DF said, "I believe that 7.85 was the single quickest run ever by a Mopar on Drag Week". I glanced at Eddie as soon as Freiburger uttered those words and saw a vein pop out on the side of his neck, and his jaw harden like he'd just bit a persimmon. It took a good fifteen seconds before he could resume a his normal jovial persona!

Attached picture 7946122-100_0994.jpg
Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 05:13 AM

Quote:

Quote:


If it's any consolation, I believe Clark went red this year AND last year before the rain came.





Yes, when the semi-finals came around, I hadn't even decided whether to root for Clark or Lane, and it was over. Then he ran off the number and gave up third place. So after a week of driving through heat and rain, and abusing his little Barracuda at 4 different tracks in 5 days, he threw away a chance at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in less than twelve seconds! The other mopar muscle versus chevy pickup match went to Scott's Road Runner however, and then he sealed the deal in the final, just toying with Lane for the last 300ft!




Yeah Yeah Yeah I know I threw that one away. I figured Lane would have trouble running his number because the blower would be hot from the somewhat quick rounds. But I went ahead and tossed that one anyways lol, I did roll through .12 under my dial on the brakes and setting a new best ET.....I think it liked the better air?
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 05:17 AM

Finally, I motioned for Rachael to join me outside the tent, and had her look up and call all the hospitals in the Bowling Green area to see if Steve was a patient. Once we came up empty on that search, Rachael got with Tonya Turk and Donna Smith and explained the situation. They gave her all the contact numbers they had for both Steve and Ken from their registration files, once again no luck.

The awards presentation ended, everyone said their goodbyes to old friends and new friends alike, and a procession of trucks and trailers began to file out of the facility. Once again we were nearly last, huddled in a group near our rigs trying to formulate an exit strategy.
I told everyone that I didn't feel comfortable about leaving without a resolution to the Bowyer family's problem, that I felt guilty somehow that I didn't take a more assertive approach earlier. They talked me through the events and assured me I had handled it as best I could.
The framework of our plan was Dad, Boone and Darren would take the Kodiak and the 48' trailer and head to Memphis to pick up the Charger. Dale and James would take the 1 ton and the open trailer and go to St. Louis to pick up the Gremlin, while Rachael and I would head to Oklahoma, and see the rest of them before we made our way towards Phoenix. The part that I couldn't get an answer to was if we were going to stay at a motel in Bowling Green and leave Saturday morning, or if we were just going to drive as far as we could tonight and sleep in our respective rigs. I had handled all the motels up to this point, and now everyone seemed to be sitting on their hands unable to make a decision. To compound that, Darryl was waiting as well, he planned to drive Friday night, and would prefer company unless we decided to get a motel, and he would go on by himself. All the adrenaline of the adventure was burned off, and I was left with anxiety, frustration, and weariness from a long day and week. At that moment I was in a profoundly dark mood, so as a truck driver, the only cure I know for that is putting miles under the tires. I told Rachael to get in the truck, and I told Darryl that I was ready to roll, and a few minutes later I was headed out of Beech Bend Raceway Park. Two minutes later my phone was blowing up, I answered Dale's call.
"We decided we are going to get a motel and hang out here until morning, you are welcome to join us."
"Nope, too late, I'm rolling".
"You need rest as bad as anybody, just follow us and I'll find a place."
"I'm putting this thing on the big road and heading to the house", I hung up, and threw the phone on the seat, it quieted down ten minutes later.

Darryl and I made it about 125 miles, found a small truck stop, backed into a spot, and called it a night. He and Rachael each took the front seats of our trucks, while I crawled in the back under my camper shell. My bladder forced me up before the other two just as dawn was breaking, I went inside, washed up, changed shirts, and felt pretty good as I went out to get them moving. My phone rang as I reached the truck.
"This is Donna from Hot Rod, is this MoparBilly?"
"Yeah, what can I do for you?"
"Steve passed away last night, and his family would like to know if your offer to help is still available?"
I felt as though I had been hit in the solar plexus with a sledge hammer, and I leaned back against the truck as all my air escaped. "I'm a, I'm a hundred miles from the track right now...but yeah, we'll figure something out...uh, my family stayed there, so I can get them to handle it."
"Ok, I've been in contact with his sister in Minnesota, can I give her your number?"
"Certainly...yeah, have her call me, and I'll get in contact with my family."
I hung up, then noticed Darryl was standing a foot from me. "Steve's gone isn't he?"
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"Was thinking about it as we drove last night, only thing that clicked. You call your brothers, I'll go grab us some breakfast."

I called Dad instead, he didn't take the news any better than I had, and told me in a quiet voice to give Steve's sister his number, and they would take care of whatever was needed.
She explained to me that the keys were still lost and that Ken was too distraught to continue the search. I gave her Dad's number, and promised we would get everything to Arizona. Once again, my only solace was the road. I met Steve for the first time at Drag Week 2006, he was in a power chair, and had no legs, the disability did not define him in any way. His love of fast street cars in general, and Mopars in particular was what moved him, the chair was just a tool.

Attached picture 7946305-9787694255_9e9efc849e_o-Copy.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 05:26 AM

Billy. THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID!I first met Steve in 07 when he ran the Dually.Continued to talk to him every year I went.He was stoked about the Valiant this year.One tough SOB!.RIP buddy.Again thanks for the report and helpinghis family out.Need to get a Kleenex.
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 05:28 AM

He is the Spirit of DragWeek.
Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 05:39 AM

Quote:

Billy. THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID!I first met Steve in 07 when he ran the Dually.Continued to talk to him every year I went.He was stoked about the Valiant this year.One tough SOB!.RIP buddy.Again thanks for the report and helpinghis family out.Need to get a Kleenex.




I first meet Steve in 09 then in 10 and again this
year.... he loved hanging out in the parking lots
talking cars.... its a damn same that HR never gave
him any award or even mention in the mag over the
years.... he will be missed
Posted By: mprhound

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 05:51 AM

My brother and I met Steve this year (in fact that is my brother by my challenger talking to Steve, as we waited in the tech line), he was so fired up about driving the valiant in dragweek! He was great to talk too, one of those people who looked on the bright side of things, and that just made you feel better. I feel fortunate that I got to meet him.
Posted By: BBR

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 06:45 AM

I first met Steve in the parking lot of a hotel prior to DW2010. We talked Mustangs for a while because we both owned one. Later, after I had to revert to driving the World Famous Dodge Durango instead of the Mustang, one of my goals for the week was to beat Steve's big red dually. I failed miserably. His big truck consistently spanked the Great White Hope at every track.

Rest in peace Steve.
Posted By: Triple Threat

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 06:45 AM

Billy, you sir are good people. God bless.
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 08:21 AM

Have to laugh.07 he had 2 spare trannys for the Dually in the bed.He grenaded both of them and had the 3rd rebuilt and made the week.The word Warrior comes to mind.
Posted By: ross

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/04/13 03:40 PM

Billy You have private mail.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/05/13 04:48 AM

Those who have read my tales on here, know that I try to stick to a chronological format, and I knew that would be tough when it came to this part of DW 13. Please allow me to editorialize a little, something I'll readily admit I'm not comfortable doing.

On my involvement.

I certainly don't think my family or I did anything extraordinary in offering our help. I just felt honored to be in a position to do something. In 1995 I was badly burned by radiator steam at the race track. Two racers were on hand immediately to greatly reduce the damage, then other racers and friends returned my rig and car home as I was hauled off to the hospital. On my next visit to the track months later, a racer's wife returned my shirt and pants, washed and folded (yeah, I was stripped to my tighty whiteys in front of the whole track), so this felt like a chance to repay those who helped me through that ordeal.


On Steve

That first Drag Week in 2006, Steve had came up and checked our 78 Dodge 1/2 ton over during tech, and then we made one soft 13.15 during T&T, I remember telling him it was a mild big block. When we finally got to race on Wednesday, it went 12.05-110 and he spun his chair around with a big smile on his face and said, "We need to talk a little more about that engine". We broke the truck and Steve came over and asked if we needed any help. I told him yes we did, and explained that we were short some tools. He was thrilled to go get them out of his dually for us, and I was impressed that he had a whole system so he could get to everything in the truck without any outside help. At that time I thought he must've been without his legs for many years to be so well adjusted, but when I visited with his long time (since third grade) friend who picked his rig up from my house, I was shocked to learn that he had lost his legs in a series of operations over a two year period starting around '03 or 04. I also learned that injuries from his war duties had left him with a plastic elbow as well, of course, he never spoke to me of any of this, he was simply a man who decided to look past his physical limitations and allow his indomitable will to push him to accomplish the things he loved doing. He would never ask for help, and was loathe to accept it when offered with the exception of good friends. Sympathy and coddling, would be rejected openly, but respect, and genuine comradry would be seized upon and returned in kind.

On the situation
Two of the first things that ran through my mind upon hearing the news, were, "this shouldn't have happened", and "how did this happen". In the time since, I have seen these sentiments repeated by many others, and even the very people who have filled in many of the blanks for me, have clearly been searching for those same answers. Sunday was very hot, and the tech line was a long drawn out process. Steve spent most of that time in his car, and drank very little. Monday was much the same story, and he finally decided he could not continue at the first checkpoint, then drove back to his motel in Bowling Green to try and recover. He refused his brother's requests to go to a hospital, and wanted to simply rest and try to make it back to Tucson and see his own doctors.

Beyond those points would be supposition on my part. I try to put myself in the position of his siblings, and I can't begin to understand their pain. I know that his sister Joyce who we were in contact with had supported his desire to do Drag Week every year, and had accompanied him in years past. His brother Ken, fighting ailments of his own, was there for him as well, but my belief is that Steve had become so adept at hiding and denying his own physical problems that no-one realized how serious it was.

Attached picture 7947454-drag_week_2013_larson_lutz_barry_chevy_ford_turbo_blower_fastest_street_car090.jpg
Posted By: Moparmal

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/05/13 08:31 AM

Excellent piece of written work Billy - I hope Tom archives this.
Posted By: orange65

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/05/13 01:57 PM

Billy- This whole thread is great writing. And your helping Steve's family in their time of need- I am sure is greatly appreciated- you are a good man for helping out. I know from personal experience that sometimes the little things people do for you in your time of need mean more than they will ever know.

The heat at DW was rough. I almost gave up on Tuesday myself- and I have heard how a few other racers that dropped out at least partially because of it. I am sure that it magnified any underlying medical problems anybody had.

Your writing makes me kind of wish that we had had a chance to hang out. I met you and your family briefly on Sunday but never caught back up with you again. Thanks for writing this.
Posted By: tboomer

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/05/13 02:19 PM

Great reading Billy! You are one of a kind!
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/05/13 06:06 PM

I met Steve for the first time in the lanes sunday, he was excited to show me the controls and talk about the car and such, I asked him if he wanted help getting out and getting to some shade. He refused and said his brother was around and he was fine. He looked overheated, but he had water with him so I went on my way, at first I was upset that his brother left him there in the lanes all alone but I guess Steve was a leave me alone kind of guy so that explains it. Glad you could help out Billy.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 04:38 AM

Thanks, Guys!

Thankfully the search for Steve's keys was over quickly, Darren had volunteered to look through the Valiant, and found them in the contents of the glove box. Dad, Darren and Boone went back to the track, and picked up the rig, then returned to the motel to load the car. Once they had everything ready to roll and let me know, I called Donna from Hot Rod to let her know that we had everything headed back to Arizona.
Boone followed Darren and Dad to Memphis, they loaded the Charger, and then all headed to Owasso. Darryl ran with Rachael and I all the way to Sallisaw Oklahoma, then we took the Muskogee Turnpike to Owasso, while he headed on down I-40 towards Phoenix.

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Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 04:53 AM

Rachael and I showered and went straight to bed once we arrived at Dale's house. Dale and James arrived a few hours later from their trip through St. Louis.

Attached picture 7948755-100_1001.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 05:06 AM

Boone dropped off Steve's rig at Dale's and along with Dad and Darren, joined us all for a big meal around Dales' table, almost a debriefing session, before they took the Kodiak and the 48 foot trailer over to their place.

Attached picture 7948768-100_1005.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 05:26 AM

Sunday Morning, Rachael and I said our goodbye's at Dale's, then went over to help Boone and Darren unload the big trailer before we left for Phoenix. We've had a long standing tradition of posing with our cars a certain way when we hurt the engines, and now it was Darren's turn...

Attached picture 7948786-100_1015-Copy.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 05:45 AM

Boone, showing off his Drag Week hardware.

Rachael and I rolled out of Owasso/Tulsa around mid-afternoon, and just south of Oklahoma City, realized that I had burned up the headlight switch on my truck. I had no clearance lights at all, so I just left the headlights on, turned on my four ways, and with Rachael following closely behind me continued on in the dark until we got into Texas.

Attached picture 7948801-100_1018-Copy.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 06:16 AM

We pulled into the same Texas rest area that we spent the night in last year on our return trip, and went to bed. I explained to Rachael that we would have to be moving at first light, and run hard all day if we were to make it to Phoenix without lights. She was a trooper, it was hard trucking all day Monday, and she kept up and never complained. We stopped for fuel and grabbed snacks only three times, and made it to within 30 miles of the house before we had to resort to the four ways again. Steve's buddy Jim Smiley would pick up the Red Dodge and Valiant Wednesday morning while I was at work, and transport it to Tucson.

Attached picture 7948818-100_1017-Copy.jpg
Posted By: furious70

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 03:58 PM

I have to admit that I hope my little girl grows up that interested in the hobby - you sure are lucky! You guys absolutely went beyond the normal scope of helping someone out, at least for this day and age...
Posted By: Dart451

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/06/13 05:09 PM

Thanks for great story!

You guys got mentioned in Hot Rod for helping out.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 02:55 AM

Last year, I threw together a list of all the Mopars, and how they fared on Drag Week, so this is the list for 2013:

#1 EDDIE MILLER 1970 PURPLE PLYMOUTH DUSTER
Day 1 8.716-152.74
Day 2 8.693-155.96
Day 3 8.708-155.56
Day 4 8.744-156.59
Day 5 8.583-159.02
5 Day Average: 8.688-155.97

Eddie did what he does best, peeved off all the chevy boys, then rubbed their nose in it with a dominating performance in Pro Street, normally aspirated.

Attached picture 7949714-SAM_2077-Copy.JPG
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 03:31 AM

#2 MIKE CROW 1969 WHITE DODGE DART
Day 1 10.117-134.62
Day 2 10.199-133.46
Day 3 10.298-133.32
Day 4 10.222-133.30
Day 5 10.133-134.34
5 Day Average: 10.1938-133.808

Children are made to be seen not heard. This little dart is clean, not visually stunning, but MUST be heard! With a stick, and a high rpm small block, Mike makes beautiful music on every pass. Mike Crow-Drag Week 2013

Attached picture 7949773-9787376791_4e4487f8c0_o.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 03:47 AM

Didn't Farrone with the Aussie Charger receive fastest mopar from the HR staff? BTW the white Dart should have another 100 hp for 2014.To quote Mike"Second place sucks". Leavy my brothers times off the lsit. LOL.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 03:51 AM

#3 RAY MEYERS BLACK 1967 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA
Day 1 10.629-127.49
Day 2 10.592-127.98
Day 3 10.638-128.01
Day 4 10.624-126.96
Day 5 10.375-127.61
5 Day Average: 10.571-127.61

4 tenths slower than last year, going from a thundering, well-sorted Big Block, to a relatively un-tested G3 Hemi combo. I was impressed, actually, but he caught grief about it all week!

Attached picture 7949804-IMG_3735.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 04:20 AM

#4 TONY SANCHEZ 1969 AQUA AMC JAVELIN
Day 1 10.752-124.76
Day 2 10.617-125.59
Day 3 10.749-125.69
Day 4 10.883-124.46
Day 5 10.539-126.06
5 Day Average: 10.708-125.31

Tony's 401 powered machine suffered charging and tranny issues, but after a quick exit from Drag Week last year, he was determined to conquer it this year. He was rewarded with 3rd place in Modified NA, as well as "Fastest AMC" for the effort!

Attached picture 7949838-1968-amc-javelin-drag-week-2013-wheelie-wheelstand-indy04111-623x467.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 04:58 AM

#5 JOHN FARAONE 1972 SILVER VALIANT CHARGER
Day 1 8.526-164.15
Day 2 8.477-161.90
Day 3 20.000-50.00
Day 4 8.707-160.77
Day 5 7.855-182.21
5 Day Average: 10.7130-143.806

The Aussies were indeed awarded the "Fastest Mopar" plaque, as Don prefaced, despite killing their average by only bumping the beams in St. Louis. The Charger was an outlandish assault on the senses, and so were the blokes herding it down the highway!

Attached picture 7949873-9778109496_acdf05d85e_o.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 06:02 AM

Me bad.LOL. Forgot about St Louis.
Posted By: Scott58

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 05:13 PM

The Aussie car is really fast, and so cool, and they have certainly seen their share of struggles at Drag Week, but I kinda felt like Eddie got the short end of the deal with regard to the "Fastest Mopar" award. The rules state pretty clearly the award is for "lowest average ET".

Scott
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/07/13 05:57 PM

#6 RANDY HEINSELMAN 1970 IN VIOLET PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA
Day 1 10.779-124.64
Day 2 10.868-123.81
Day 3 10.884-123.97
Day 4 10.866-124.60
Day 5 10.720-124.25
5 Day Average: 10.8154-124.254

Like Ray, Randy also slowed down about 4 tenths from last years times, but he did so by ditching the nitrous and moving out of a class of 8 second monsters! Doing so allowed him the opportunity to finish 3rd in Street Race Big Block Normally Aspirated, and take home some Drag Week 2013 hardware.

Attached picture 7950316-1970-plymouth-cuda-aar-plum-crazy-drag-week-2013-action-002.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/08/13 06:33 AM

Quote:

The Aussie car is really fast, and so cool, and they have certainly seen their share of struggles at Drag Week, but I kinda felt like Eddie got the short end of the deal with regard to the "Fastest Mopar" award. The rules state pretty clearly the award is for "lowest average ET".

Scott




I agree Scott, but my guess is Eddie was in on it, like maybe he thought it would mean more to them than him? Similar to this neat Nitrous Oxide Systems aluminum wall hanger I got in the mail from "All Motor Land" at "520 Big Block Drive" in Indiana! You wouldn't know anything about that would you?


#7 DARRYL FRARY 1969 TEAL DODGE DART
Day 1 11.187-120.21
Day 2 11.181-120.11
Day 3 11.233-108.45
Day 4 11.252-119.85
Day 5 11.096-117.15
5 Day Average:11.1898-117.154

Darryl added a bigger cam, and switched from 3.73s to 4.56s this year in an attempt to get in the tens. He netted an average more than 2 tenths better than last year, but the heat kept him from his goal.

Attached picture 7951301-drag-week-2012-thursday-gallery-memphis-7030.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/08/13 07:04 AM

#8 BRIAN "BOONE" GEBHART 1965 WHITE DODGE D100
Day 1 11.452-115.12
Day 2 11.583-116.36
Day 3 11.547-115.90
Day 4 11.409-116.05
Day 5 11.536-113.64
5 Day Average: 11.5054-115.414

There were some teething problems, not everything worked out perfectly, but we had fun with the "Barnyard Viper", and it came away with a little ink and a little hardware, so all was good. But when we got home and Boone looked at Dale and I and had the nerve to ask, "What are we going to build for next year?" We were ready to kill him!

Hot Rod Drag Week Mini-feature

Dale and Boone showing off their Drag Week 2013 "trophies"!

Attached picture 7951321-100_0981-Copy.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/08/13 07:48 AM

So its the same cars with some tweaking and durability testing?This question includes you as well Billy.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/08/13 04:11 PM

#9 JAMES REEVES 1986 BLACK DODGE OMNI GLH
Day 1 11.653-115.68
Day 2 11.639-115.90
Day 3 11.520-119.34
Day 4 11.585-117.08
Day 5 11.429-117.50
5 Day Average: 11.5652-117.100

RIP Carroll Shelby. How a legendary racer and automobile enthusiast could look at a 4 door box with barely over 2 liters of 4 cylinder power, and say "Sure Lee, I can make a cool little hot rod out of that", is totally beyond me.

Then you have guys like James Reeves who decide to see just how far that concept can be pushed. The undisputed leader of the angry front scratcher crowd spent an entire week kicking the stuffing out of big heavy Detroit muscle and seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself in the process.

Attached picture 7951512-drag_week_2013_larson_lutz_barry_chevy_ford_turbo_blower_fastest_street_car099.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/08/13 04:42 PM

#10 SCOTT ABBOTT 1970 ORANGE PLYMOUTH ROADRUNNER
Day 1 11.567-120.75
Day 2 11.531-120.03
Day 3 11.619-120.76
Day 4 11.591-118.71
Day 5 11.646-118.12
5 Day Average:11.5908-119.674

Scott and Kim Abbott do Drag Week right, they have fun, they help out and watch out for their fellow racers, and at the end of the week they plan to kick your tail! It's not easy sandbagging an 11.20 car to 11.60's every day, makes my head hurt just trying to do the math, but that's what is required to set your dial-in for the Daily Driver bracket race. Scott spotted everyone a hundredth this year, coming in with an 11.49 dial, when the orange bird is only legal to 11.50...but he still went through the field of 32 like a knife through hot butter! Congrats to the Hot Rod Drag Week 2013 Daily Driver Champions!

Hot Rod Drag Week Daily Driver coverage

Attached picture 7951575-drag-week-2013-action-096.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/08/13 07:18 PM

#11 CLARK LAMB 1968 BLUE PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA
Day 1 11.587-116.74
Day 2 11.682-115.97
Day 3 11.582-116.55
Day 4 11.538-116.61
Day 5 11.569-115.98
5 Day Average: 11.5916-116.370

Clark's stock stroke small block a-body does it all well, looks, reliability, quick...just a perfect all-around street car. Clark promised it would be quicker at the 2013 edition of Drag Week, and true to his word, this year's average was nearly 3 tenths quicker, and 6 mph faster.

Attached picture 7951858-1238345_10151888976926068_768341159_n.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/09/13 12:09 AM

#12 DALE PONTZIOUS 1952 PURPLE FORD F1 TRUCK
Day 1 11.633-113.54
Day 2 11.720-113.20
Day 3 11.575-114.79
Day 4 11.568-113.75
Day 5 11.606-114.22
5 Day Average: 11.6204-113.900

When Mr. P Body decided the small block Rampage wasn't up to the trip, he called shotgun in his buddy's slick Ford truck, so I've added it to the list as well!

Attached picture 7952320-SAM_2074.JPG
Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/09/13 12:28 AM

Quote:

#12 DALE PONTZIOUS 1952 PURPLE FORD F1 TRUCK
Day 1 11.633-113.54
Day 2 11.720-113.20
Day 3 11.575-114.79
Day 4 11.568-113.75
Day 5 11.606-114.22
5 Day Average: 11.6204-113.900

When Mr. P Body decided the small block Rampage wasn't up to the trip, he called shotgun in his buddy's slick Ford truck, so I've added it to the list as well!




Thanks Billy... it is a nice truck... runs well...
we didnt touch it all week... it could have had a
leaner jet setting but Dale didnt want to.... damn
it was hot all week..... I did have my Rampage finally
figured out 2 days before we left but I had already
dropped out and made my call to ride shotgun with Dale
and we had our plans set.... the heads were bad...
so now its a 416 W-2... see you next year.... great
write up
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/09/13 12:36 AM

#13 RICK CALLAHAN 1968 MAROON PLYMOUTH ROADRUNNER
Day 1 12.145-109.37
Day 2 11.539-118.49
Day 3 11.713-118.92
Day 4 11.851-101.22
Day 5 11.751-114.80
5 Day Average: 11.7998-112.560

Rick's Big Road Runner is easily one of the most beautiful cars on Drag Week. That first day is the slowest pass he's carded in the last several years, but I don't know the story on what was going on!

Attached picture 7952348-SAM_2076.JPG
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/09/13 07:04 AM

#14 PATRICK CULKIN 1990 SILVER DODGE SHADOW
Day 1 12.044-111.79
Day 2 11.934-113.30
Day 3 11.833-114.90
Day 4 11.643-115.91
Day 5 11.725-118.74
5 Day Average:11.8358-114.928

I have to think Patrick has cleaned out some wallets on a grudge night with this little unassuming monster!

Attached picture 7952893-20130908_165322.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/09/13 07:22 AM

#15 RODNEY MUNCHIANDO 1968 BLACK DODGE DART
Day 1 11.854-113.82
Day 2 11.930-113.53
Day 3 11.725-115.61
Day 4 11.748-114.62
Day 5 11.984-112.50
5 Day Average: 11.8482-114.016

Rodney's gorgeous Dart was showing off it's red butt stripes to many more cars this year, as he picked up a solid 4 tenths over last years average, and needed every bit of it to qualify in the DD Quick 32.

Attached picture 7952899-20130909_110936(1).jpg
Posted By: tsanchez

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/10/13 05:16 PM

I'm surprised you didnt mention my award for best looking AMC driver
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 03:08 AM

#16 ROSS DUDLEY 1968 YELLOW PLYMOUTH ROADRUNNER
Day 1 12.044-110.65
Day 2 11.970-112.30
Day 3 11.849-113.18
Day 4 11.849-112.32
Day 5 11.822-112.11
5 Day Average: 11.906-112.11

Ross' lone 12 second pass on Monday nearly cost him his spot in the bracket race, as he was the number 32 qualifier!

Attached picture 7957045-drag-week-2013-action-164.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 03:21 AM

#17 RYAN ANDERSON 2008 RED JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE
Day 1 12.220 111.12
Day 2 12.248 111.06
Day 3 12.240 111.01
Day 4 12.190 111.15
Day 5 12.196 111.67
5 Day Average:12.218-111.20

A nice, modern SUV, that knocks down low 12's, what's not to love?

Attached picture 7957057-jeep-grand-cherokee-drag-week-2013-action-004.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 04:58 AM

#18 BILLY GEBHART 1966 YELLOW PLYMOUTH SATELLITE
Day 1 12.278-105.09
Day 2 12.436-106.84
Day 3 12.351-101.16
Day 4 11.634-114.76
Day 5 12.710-115.39
5 Day Average: 12.281-108.64


#19 CHARLEY OGLE 1972 GOLD DODGE CHALLENGER
Day 1 12.277-114.22
Day 2 12.221-115.23
Day 3 12.096-115.26
Day 4 12.398-113.39
Day 5 13.627-105.39
5 Day Average: 12.523-112.69


#20 JASON TROTTER 1995 BLUE EAGLE TALON TSI
Day 1 12.589-109.06
Day 2 13.193-108.62
Day 3 12.967-110.92
Day 4 12.940-109.48
Day 5 12.450-111.94
5 Day Average: 12.827-110.00

Not sure why Charley and the Challenger fell off so much on Friday? Perhaps ole "Fratzog" can enlighten us!

Attached picture 7957144-drag-week-2013-action-150.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 05:46 AM

#21 GEORGE BROWNING 1979 PINK/ BLK DODGE COLT
Day 1 12.988-108.78
Day 2 12.897-110.37
Day 3 12.638-111.81
Day 4 12.727-109.50
Day 5 12.988-106.89
5 Day Average: 12.847-109.47

George is Drag Week's elder statesman, Scott and Kim Abbott keep an eye on him during the event, and though he may chafe under their assistance occasionally, I know he appreciates it. It's an interesting dynamic to watch during the week, and one that rekindles my belief that kindness, decency and respect are still alive in this world. George debuted his Colt last year with a 13.87-100 average, so he shaved a full second off, and added nearly 10mph this year!


#22 DON/DOUG MCGINNIS 2013 BLACK DODGE CHALLENGER
Day 1 13.391-108.01
Day 2 13.177-106.65
Day 3 13.202-107.50
Day 4 13.192-107.32
Day 5 13.009-109.23
5 Day Average: 13.194-107.74

That part I said about decency and respect? You can throw all that out the window when the McGinnis boys get together!
One of them was smart enough to move to Oklahoma, and the other one is just jealous!

Attached picture 7957201-1239944_10151888008296068_481231502_n.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 07:55 AM

If you remember my 2011 story, Darren used my 62 Valiant to deliver his daughter to the 50 yard line for Homecoming Royalty. This year Dale's daughter demanded the same of the Barnyard Viper, so it was pressed into "parade car" duties after completing Drag Week. Boone drove it 70 miles each way to meet her wishes!


After that it was the Mopars At The Park race at Tulsa. Dale had his spare powerglide and converter in the Gremlin, So he drove it to the track, with Boone following him in the Barnyard, pulling the trailer which was too big for the Gremlin! The grand entrance, and intense attention for the Truck didn't end well as Boone struggled with dead batteries all day, and only made 2 passes. 11.55-117.8 best, the mph was up, but 60' was a tenth off, as the thirty year old lightweight Super Stock rear springs are just completely dead, and wrapping up. New 002/003 SS springs are awaiting installation as soon as the weather cooperates. The Gremlin responded to a better converter with 10.50's, but still only at 122, as the 440 refuses to pull over 6200 rpm. I think it's springs, he thinks it's ignition, both will get changed this winter.

Attached picture 7957291-1379353_718005731560535_68334705_n.jpg
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 08:26 AM

#23 BRYAN DUNAWAY 1966 WHITE PLYMOUTH BELVEDERE
Day 1 13.518-104.31
Day 2 13.645-102.54
Day 3 12.755-108.19
Day 4 13.459-105.14
Day 5 12.863-106.39
5 Day Average: 13.248-105.31


#24 EDWARD KELLY 1991 RED DODGE SPIRIT
Day 1 14.316-99.11
Day 2 14.188-100.02
Day 3 14.160-99.19
Day 4 14.070-100.63
Day 5 15.336-99.12
5 Day Average: 14.414-99.61

Attached picture 7957300-drag-week-2013-action-152.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 08:31 AM

That part I said about decency and respect? You can throw all that out the window when the McGinnis boys get together!
One of them was smart enough to move to Oklahoma, and the other one is just jealous!
Really?No offense to Clark.Hes a good guy.As for your family?Only Rachel scares me and she doesn't live in OK. My brother hadn't made any passes since 1978.Lets just say its been awhile.I tried Friday to do some things for a 12 e.t.Did he do it? NO.Next year he says hes not going.Its he and his wifes 40th anniversary.Im keeping the door open.If he truly doesn't go I will go but not compete.Probly be the 67k survivor Swinger.Ive met way to many great people not to go.Even your family. Jerk. LOL.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 08:34 AM

#25 MIKE HOELSCHER 1967 BLUE PLYMOUTH SATELLITE
Day 1 14.956-93.54
Day 2 14.790-93.99
Day 3 15.830-92.90
Day 4 14.646-94.88
Day 5 14.559-93.82
5 Day Average: 14.956-93.82

Attached picture 7957303-drag_week_2013_larson_lutz_barry_chevy_ford_turbo_blower_fastest_street_car042.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 08:35 AM

George is a cool cat.
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 08:37 AM

Doug was adopted.Mom and Dad found him under a rock.Just saying.
Posted By: Triple Threat

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/13/13 09:09 PM

Quote:

The grand entrance, and intense attention for the Truck didn't end well as Boone struggled with dead batteries all day, and only made 2 passes. 11.55-117.8 best, the mph was up, but 60' was a tenth off, as the thirty year old lightweight Super Stock rear springs are just completely dead, and wrapping up. New 002/003 SS springs are awaiting installation as soon as the weather cooperates. The Gremlin responded to a better converter with 10.50's, but still only at 122, as the 440 refuses to pull over 6200 rpm. I thinks it's springs, he thinks it's ignition, both will get changed this winter.




Now who wants to wager that these projects shall be occuring in about 300 days, the week before Drag Week begins next year

Again, thank you for taking us on the journey and sharing your stories.
Posted By: mprhound

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/14/13 06:04 AM

#19 CHARLEY OGLE 1972 GOLD DODGE CHALLENGER
Day 1 12.277-114.22
Day 2 12.221-115.23
Day 3 12.096-115.26
Day 4 12.398-113.39
Day 5 13.627-105.39
5 Day Average: 12.523-112.69
Not sure why Charley and the Challenger fell off so much on Friday? Perhaps ole "Fratzog" can enlighten us!




In Memphis, it would not shift, so I adjusted the clutch up to make one last pass before they closed the stageing lanes, drove right through the clutch when I left the line. I thought I had adjusted it up to much (but it shifted well) any way, I backed the adjustment off a bit, loaded up and headed to bowling green. At bowling green I really tried to ease it down so I could a least finish, and I did, to the 13.627-105.39. I then called it a day and put it on the trailer, just completly elated that I acutally finished my first dragweek. Got home, and a week later pulled the 440 out and begain the plans for a 505 (in progress). When I pulled the scattersheild off, I was startled to find one of my pressure plate bolts had broke! and it went all over the place in the can, little dents everywhere! I begain wondering about the quality of the bolts I was useing, when I realized I had been using those same bolts for probably 20 years (through all the different clutches and combinations that have been in the car) and on top of that they probably came from a parts car! so no telling how old they are! to sum it up, I ordered a new set from Brewers, so maybe I won't loose a clutch next year.
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/14/13 08:08 AM

Love your car.
Posted By: Bad340fish

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/14/13 02:55 PM

Quote:

If you remember my 2011 story, Darren used my 62 Valiant to deliver his daughter to the 50 yard line for Homecoming Royalty. This year Dale's daughter demanded the same of the Barnyard Viper, so it was pressed into "parade car" duties after completing Drag Week. Boone drove it 70 miles each way to meet her wishes!


After that it was the Mopars At The Park race at Tulsa. Dale had his spare powerglide and converter in the Gremlin, So he drove it to the track, with Boone following him in the Barnyard, pulling the trailer which was too big for the Gremlin! The grand entrance, and intense attention for the Truck didn't end well as Boone struggled with dead batteries all day, and only made 2 passes. 11.55-117.8 best, the mph was up, but 60' was a tenth off, as the thirty year old lightweight Super Stock rear springs are just completely dead, and wrapping up. New 002/003 SS springs are awaiting installation as soon as the weather cooperates. The Gremlin responded to a better converter with 10.50's, but still only at 122, as the 440 refuses to pull over 6200 rpm. I thinks it's springs, he thinks it's ignition, both will get changed this winter.




Tell your brothers to look for me next time they have battery problems. I manage an Interstate Battery distributorship that's two miles from the track.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/15/13 05:41 AM

mprhound,
Wow, that's crazy! Just shows how fine the line can be between success and failure on Drag Week. A 505 will really test the drivetrain on that beast.

Bad340fish,
Some people think that when you run dual optimas all the way down, a simple jump start is all that is required, then the alternator will take it from there...

Triple Threat,
Only a sucker would take that bet! Since I bought the new springs for the Barnyard Viper, I'm going to be upset if I have to help put them on!

ksj,
Likewise, the only guy from Kansas that scares me is Bob Weakland...still! As far as which cars on Drag Week next year...no clue, give me until march to start on that!

tsanchez,
Best looking? Why do all the pictures I've found from Drag Week, feature you inside the Javelin, not out of it?


#26 BOB LARSON 1938 GREEN DODGE COUPE
Day 1 15.624-86.58
Day 2 15.281-88.57
Day 3 14.676-93.09
Day 4 15.833-71.84
Day 5 15.028-86.21
5 Day Average: 15.2884-85.258

Bob's Patina Rod made it's debut at DW2010, then at DW2011 broke an axle at test and tune, and was unable to continue. Bob had surgery for brain cancer before DW2013, and completing Drag Week with his son this year was a victory of unbelievable proportions. The 440 wasn't happy all week, but they got it done!

Attached picture 7959265-MG_4306.jpg
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/15/13 06:27 AM

LOL. Bob Weakland doesn't scare me.He was my neighbor in high school.I can remember when he got that slant 6 car. When my brother moved to Oklahoma from Kansas he raised the IQ of both states.
Bob with the 38 is an inspiration.Last year he didn't show up at HPT to test at all.It wasn't til DW we knew why.
Posted By: MoparBilly

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/15/13 06:38 AM

Mopar Small Block Fox Body

Accidently left this one off the list, but I guess I'll have to give him the Moparts "Honorable mention". Check out the Hot Rod Mini Feature above for more details.

DUSTY WARD 1988 BLACK FORD MUSTANG
Day 1 10.693-127.28
Day 2 10.706-128.49
Day 3 10.618-128.74
Day 4 10.741-126.13
Day 5 10.528-129.32
5 Day Average: 10.657-127.99

Dusty took home a win in the Super Street Race Small Block Normally Aspirated class!
Posted By: ksj

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/15/13 08:13 AM

At least it wasn't an LS swap
Posted By: J_BODY

Re: Drag Week 2013: The Experience - 12/15/13 08:29 AM

That mustang was owned by a member here.... Jesse had his W8 mill in it The front shot of the car with the lime green mopar "M" is a givaway!
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