Hot Rod Drag Week 2015: The Experience.

Drag Week 2011: The Experience

Drag Week 2012: The Preparation Begins

HOT ROD Drag Week 2012: The Experience

Drag Week 2013: The build(up)!

Drag Week 2013: The Experience

Drag Week 62 Valiant's small block is finally ready (DW14 prep)

Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience

Hot Rod Drag Week 2015: The Build(up)

Ok, I promise this will be the last time I post links to all the previous renditions of this tale...it's just that brother Boone tells me each time I do, the stats show people are still bothering to go back for a look. Maybe they are new readers, maybe it's just a long, boring winter for our northern friends.

I still have a few installments to make on the build(up) thread, but I was getting bored and wanted to at least get started on this one.

Hot Rod Drag Week 2015 really started when we headed out of Dale's back yard, with Rachael, Skippy, and I loaded up in the front seat of the trusty 1 ton, followed closely by John Hindley and his wife Opal in their Dodge dually.

I had promised Rachael a visit to Lambert's Café, Home of the throwed rolls, on our trip in 2013, but we had missed it both times through Springfield Missouri, and this year, she wouldn't take no for an answer. That meant we had to bail on the brothers, who still weren't ready to leave, and forge our own path towards St. Louis!

My buddy Mike gave us directions to cut through Claremore, and catch the Will Rogers Turnpike (Interstate 44) there. This would be another of those times I would regret taking a shortcut that people normally use with their daily drivers, not respecting the fact that I'm driving a bumper pull trailer, 32ft long, with nearly 19K GVW! We found ourselves bumping along right through Claremore's small downtown area on Main Street. The stop lights were so close together that my rig, combined with John's would fill the entire space!

We drove by a Quick Trip just as we entered the on-ramp for the Turnpike, and noticed the Ogle Family at the pumps, making their trek up from Texas. Charley was pulling his gold 72 Challenger, Jason was pulling his yellow 73 Cuda, and their parents were hauling the two Drag week trailers on a utility trailer! They would pass us about forty miles later with horns beeping and big waves...yep Drag Week 2015 was officially ON!!

Our first stop for fuel was Joplin Missouri. Where I grew up in Northeastern Oklahoma, Joplin was our closest "big city",(even though it isn't) and we went there often to shop or for entertainment. This was my first visit back since the 2011 Tornado, and it was awesome to see the new, beautiful, St. Johns Mercy Hospital that has rose from the ashes of the one that was destroyed.

As we drew closer to Springfield, I began to worry if we would make it to Lambert's before they closed at 9pm, so I had Skippy counting down the miles as we approached while I was watching the time.
"I found a shortcut that will knock off sixteen miles", he announced proudly.
For the second time that day, I found myself regretting the mention of a shortcut, as I quickly found myself on small, rough, poorly lit two lanes. We made it to the restaurant at 7:40, and were seated at about 8:20. The place has always been quite a spirited experience, but our late arrival muted that somewhat, as the jovial and rowdy staff were clearly on their last legs of the evening!
The walls are covered with old license plates, hubcaps, and tin signs of eras gone by, and John and I noticed the one at our table immediately, and took it as a good omen for the week to come!

It was nearly 10pm when I called Boone on my long walk back down to the truck from the restaurant, for an update.

"Dad, and I are ready to roll. We broke in Darren's cam about twenty minutes ago, so He's hooking everything up to leave, but he still has to go by his house and pack.
"You aren't going to wait for him are you?"
"No way, we figure my rig will be the slowest anyway, so I'm getting ready to hit the road, Dale has to clean up and get some other stuff done also, so I'm going to head that way!"
"Alright, we're leaving Lambert's now."
"Are you driving all the way to the track", Boone questioned.
"I doubt it. John has a room in Collinsville, north of the track, but I'll probably stop short of St. Louis...like Sullivan or there about."

Rachael and Skippy were asleep before we made it back to I-44, and John was following me, so I was left to my own recognizance, and I did fairly well for the first hour, then the full belly and long day began to wear on me. The first thing you notice when driving fatigued, is that speed control is the first thing to go. Anyone who has traversed Southern Missouri understands that there is precious little flat ground, and I found myself charging down hills at 70, and cresting the next at 35, and that just wasn't acceptable, so I started looking for a suitable place to bail. Finally, I came upon exit 161, Fort Leonard Wood, and pulled into a Kum & Go.

"Gotta get rid of some of those throwed rolls?" John laughed as he pulled up beside me in the parking lot.
"Naw...I'm just done! Think I'm going to grab a room here and then make it into town in the morning."
"Ok...we're going to keep going", John agreed.
I grabbed one room with two queen beds on the side of the Liberty Lodge that was facing the parking lot we parked in, and called Boone before I settled into my bed. I told him where we were, and based on his calculations they were five hours behind us, Dale was an hour behind them, and Darren hadn't left his house yet!

Good read as always.
thanks for sharing the experience.

Had to laugh at Rachael at Registration.I stopped to talk to you and the brothers.Her and Skippy were a few cars behind.She heard the laughter and immediately went into defense mode as I was walking her way."What did dad say"? Told her she should have been there. LMAO!.I got the 'Look" Told her not to worry as I didn not hear hear her name.

Spent two hours typing out the next installment, decided to switch to full reply screen...site locked up, and I lost it all. Really getting frustrated
with the process. They completely ruined Bangshift with the last upgrade, and very nearly the same thing here.

Deep,deep breath.

Deep,deep breath.

You might try typing it in a word processor and then cut and paste it over hear, that way you can save it periodically and have less chance of losing it.

I slept a good solid four hours before the sound of Skip's sleep apnea woke me up, and I knew trying to go back to sleep would be a waste of time. I called Boone, and explained where we were and gave him the room number. They were ten minutes or so out.

"Where's Dad", I asked, when I let him in.
"He just fell over in the seat of the truck and said he would sleep there", Boone shrugged. He rolled into my bed, pulled the covers over his back, the pillow over his head, and was asleep in seconds.
I took a shower, dressed, and re-packed my bag, then took it to the truck. I decided to walk up to the corner convenience store for a nice big cup of coffee as dawn was just beginning to break. I was headed back to the motel when I saw Dale's rig miss the right turn, so I hastily called him and explained where we were for the third time.

Back in the room, I rousted Rachael and Skippy, and told them we needed to get moving. They had no sooner collected all their stuff, and went to the bathroom for a shower, than Dale and James entered the room, kicked off their shoes, and rolled into the freshly vacated bed, fully clothed, and passed out.

Twenty-five minutes later, a plume of steam preceded their exit from the bathroom, as Rachael and Skippy walked out, half dressed, and still toweling off their heads. Skippy made a move to sit on the corner of the bed but froze when he bumped Dale's foot. He stood there, wide eyed and slack jawed until Rachael said, "That's Dale and James, they came in while we were in the shower."
He moved towards my bed then froze again, and pointed. "There's someone in that bed too", he gasped in a hoarse whisper.
"Yeah", Rachael giggled, "That's Boone, he sleeps like that, don't ask! He was there when we got up."
Rachael had warned me Skip wasn't a morning person, now I was beginning to believe her.

I woke Dad right before we pulled out, and gave him the second key card to the room.
"I'm putting you in charge of getting them up and moving", I explained, "They'll sleep right through registration day if someone doesn't."
He agreed, took the card, and ambled off with his bag towards the room.

We worked our way through patchy fog in every low valley for the next hundred miles, until I pointed out Six Flags over St. Louis to Rachael as we drove by.
"Oh, man...I'd love to go there!" She exclaimed, bending forward to look out the window and take it all in.
"You've been there, and as I recall you really enjoyed it!"
"When? You're lying..", she shook her head.
"We stopped for a whole day on our way to Indy for the Mopar Nationals In like '93, or '94!"
"Great! I was like four or five..."
She's an amusement park junkie. She tried to wake Skippy for a look, but he had been out since we jumped on the road. He sleeps way better upright in a moving vehicle than he does in a bed! She immediately began consulting her smart phone for information on the park.

We tooled along through St. Louis at 50 mph, as Rachael took in the sights, steadily moving towards the Arch in the light Sunday morning traffic.

I decided to stop at the Pilot truck stop across from the track, and fuel the 1 ton, while Rachael grabbed ice, and replenished the coolers.

We had been told that test and tune would be limited on registration day, because the track already had another event going on. Much like when LS fest was going on at Bowling Green in 2013. In both cases it makes for a mess because it means the facility tries to tuck us away in a corner so as not to impede with their on-going event. It's hard to squeeze 300 street cars, all the support rigs, entourage, and everything else it takes to pull off Hot Rod Drag Week, into an existing event, and the track personnel always underestimates how much room we are going to need!

As I stood there fueling the Dodge, the 301 Street Cars gang pulled into the left turn lane to enter the track. "CARLOS!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, and the driver leaned forward to look past the passenger, then they both shot their arms out of the truck in a friendly wave. Registration Sunday is just like that, nerves, anticipation, expectations, all rolled into greeting old friends and making new ones. It has that first day of summer camp as a youth feel to it.
An 85 Caprice Classic rolled up behind them, with 24" spinners, and a bass boat paint job. Rachael noticed it as she walked out with the ice, "Is that going on Drag Week?"
"No, that's a show car for the event they are having today." I had noticed the signs which pointed each direction, stating "Race cars" and "Show cars", but now I strained my eyes to read the event sign.
"Well heck", I chuckled, and rubbed my neck, "It's Black Sunday!"
"What's that?" Rachael looked me in the face, for signs I was joking.
"It's an annual event, put on by the United Black Drag Racers Association. Legendary event, actually, I just never figured I'd get the opportunity to attend one!"
"So...it's only for black people?"
"No", I laughed, "everyone's invited, and I guarantee you, there will be plenty of Mopars, so, much more fun than that LS Fest we were trapped at before!"

We drove across the street, and were directed behind the oval track. As we drove around, we noticed, as I had expected, that they had tried to pit everyone in what was basically their maintenance area at the back of the property, and had quickly over flowed that area. We were directed to park against the oval track fence, in the narrow concourse between the front stretch of the oval, and the return road of the drag strip.

A quick recap of the numbers look like this: Fueled the truck twice, another motel room, we arrived at Hot Rod Drag Week for registration day and have only spent 2062.50 so far.

We unloaded both cars, then started unloading the contents from both cars and the truck onto the trailer so we could sort them into separate piles of "staying with the truck", and "going on the trip". It helps to try and get that done on Sunday, when you have a little time, because things come at you pretty fast Monday morning.
Hot Rod Drag Week has hard deadlines that you have to make, so it's important to understand what they are, when they are, and what EXACTLY is required to meet them.

The first: You have to be in the tech line on Sunday by 1pm (or 2pm) as will be announced all day long. It's important to note, no part of this first deadline say's anything about actually having the car ready to tech, just have it in line!

The second: Get through tech, and get your numbers and class designation by the end of the day Sunday. This doesn't necessarily mean pass tech, just get through it. They will list the things you need to pass, and check back with you Monday.

The third: 30 minutes after the driver's meeting on
Monday, all the stuff you intend to take with you must be in the pits, and all the stuff you intend to leave has to be in impound. THIS IS IMPORTANT, this is the one you don't want to screw up!

To that end, Rachael and I decided it was time to present our respective rides in the tech line, which was actually on the 1.25 mile Gateway Motorsports Park paved oval track. That in itself provided it's own entertainment, and photo opportunities.

Rachael, and I thought John was going to follow us up to tech but when we pulled onto the oval, he was no where to be found. Later we would find out his Valiant made it about 15 feet from where he unloaded it, and promptly ran out of gas! Dad caught it with his camera as John made a hasty recovery. As it turned out we ended up with 15 cars between us entering turn 3!

Once out on the oval, it was pretty much hurry up and wait. Walking around and making conversation with your fellow Drag Weekers, while checking out the cars was thankfully enough entertainment for most of us. Rachael attacked me with a bottle of sun screen nearly as soon as we parked on the tarmac.

Tech was an all day affair.

The sun screen wasn't a bad idea. Between Tech day and Monday I was FRIED. I did way too much standing in the sun both days, but it was worth it.

As I sit here in my office, looking out the window into the cold Minnesota November, what I wouldn't give to be back in the heat on that oval track, ready to start Drag Week again...

Should have rolled out for Drag Weekend.

You are right about that! I should have, I just couldn't break away from work that week.

You and me both Joel. It's not even that bad yet. Honestly, all I can think about since Drag Week is next years Drag Week. For those that read Billy's great threads about it, but have never gone, DO IT. It really is one of the coolest things you can do Automotive. The sights, cars, and people are almost overwhelming.

Think I will take both Harley's next year........somebody else might need a "pit bike".............LOL!!!

It was a very warm day, some might even say it was "drop top" weather! Then, of course, there was "early bird Ray", who did nearly every facet of Drag Week 2015 about twelve hours ahead of our crew. Here he is relaxing in the infield pits, already teched, as we were just starting our 3/4 of a lap around the track.

Not wanting to break with Drag Week tradition, even though Boone and Dale were ready to get in line some time earlier, they waited for Darren, who was blowing through St. Louis at well over the posted speed limit to arrive. Taking their place at the back of the tech line was a little tougher than usual, as a few stragglers hung out and waited for them to make their grand entrance, then snuck in behind them!

Behind The Curtain
Sometimes, it's hard to tell the story, within the story. Sometimes a story has so many plot lines, characters, points of emphasis, and interesting footnotes, that it becomes unwieldy, especially in the hands of a part time hack like me. Hot Rod Drag Week, quite honestly, deserves better. It also deserves better than the small group of journalists that are charged with covering it. Harried by deadlines, and the sheer logistics of the entire thing, working in multiple mediums, for multiple taskmasters, it's a thankless undertaking, and one that leaves them as strung out, tired, and road weary as the competitors themselves. As this is the eleventh running, and many of these journalists are veterans of the event, the production of content becomes formulaic. This is not a holier than thou type observation, as I am just as guilty in my own approach, both as a competitor and a storyteller. The thing is, every Drag Week is uniquely different, with it's own challenges, and rewards, from both the human, and automotive side.

Boone and I share another passion, and that is running, notably distance races. The parallels between competing in, preparing for, and understanding, say a marathon or ultra-marathon, compared to Hot Rod Drag Week, are numerous, and staggering. Event to Event, year to year, one of the things that raises the stature of a quality and popular race, is history. The history of the race, it's competitors, and their accomplishments must be nurtured to gain prominence whether we are talking about the U.S. Nationals, or the Boston Marathon. So, we were perplexed when we noticed that the results from each Hot Rod Drag Week would be posted on Hot Rod's website every year, then disappear in a matter of months, and no longer be accessible. We religiously track our races, and nearly all the results are on the internet, and archived. So, a couple of years ago, we began to accumulate as many of the Drag Week results that we could find, then reached out on websites to racers who might have yearly results from the specific Drag Weeks we didn't have. Eventually we were able to put together a comprehensive list, from every year, and we have enjoyed sharing tidbits from Boone's spreadsheets from time to time. This year, Hot Rod hired a new website and internet guy, and they also brought along a statistician for the event. Both contacted us early in their arrival to see if Boone's excel files would be available to share as I had posted some stats on facebook. Boone was only too happy to pass the info along, as we were just thrilled to see that someone under the magazine's umbrella saw the same value in preserving the history as we did. He also printed out some of these results in the form of a handout, which he distributed to the captive audience waiting in line for tech on Sunday.

If you've ever raced or attended a marathon, and you've been around the starting corrals before the first gun goes off, you've seen, or felt, the boundless, nervous energy that emotes from everyone about to undertake the challenge. Hot Rod Drag Week competitors put off this same vibe on Registration Day, and sometimes the decisions and conversations that happen early on, while in anticipation of the event, however casual and random they may appear, end up shaping and changing the very journey, and final outcome of said endeavor!

My case in point, presented for your consideration, is the tale of the Drag Week 2015 Odd Couple. Two men, who's lives (ok, maybe just their week) would be changed by the chance meeting of pulling their GM products onto the banked oval nose to tail, in the tech line on Sunday. Mike Grandinetti, from Nashville TN. decided to bring his 71 Firebird to DW15 after reviving it from a long slumber, dating back to the time he drove it in high school. Entered in the Street Machine Eliminator class, he had no lofty goals or low ET's in mind, he simply wanted to survive the week, and enjoy his old car. Lined up behind him was Daryl Yost's brutal pro-charged 69 Chevelle. Hailing from Bayfield CO., Daryl had suffered a DNF in Drag Week 2014, and was quite determined to finish in 2015. Their four hour wait to get teched allowed plenty of time to talk strategy, plans, and expectations for the week. Both men were running solo, and neither had buddies in the field so Daryl proposed that they run together, so that if either broke down, someone would be there to help out, and run for parts. The die was cast, the deal was struck, and these two strangers were about to embark on an adventure together that would become a staple of Drag Week campfire stories for years to come.

DW is the only "vacation" that makes you want to take another week off to recover.I went in 07 at the urging of 69 Lawndart.Took til 2011 to get my brother to go.Each spring we say we are not going to go.This year will be our 6th year in a row.Damm you Freiburger

I ran the Drag Weekend event a couple weeks ago, enjoyed myself, as I actually looked forward to the adventure. I talked to MoparBilly at Phoenix for a few minutes, told him it was because of his tales I wanted to run DW.

Love these stories

After the first few hours of hanging around, taking in the sights, and the new cars, you begin to notice the people who were on the pre-entry list who aren't in line, or present for registration. Some made it known well ahead of time that they weren't going to make it, and in some cases, you hear tidbits of information, but many are left to bench racing speculation. 350 people signed up, and only 290 showed, then you sprinkle in 10 hardy souls that signed up the day of registration, and out of that pool, only a tick over 200 will turn in the final time slip on Friday. That's about a 55 percent success rate, and you wonder why the t-shirts have slogans like "Where the weak will fail", or "If you haven't done Drag Week then just shut up"!

Larson, and Miller were there, without their cars. The Reh family's two entries were not around. Ahokas wasn't there, nor Cline. Scott Smith's Malibu, or Todd Maschmier's Camaro...nope. Not that I was disappointed or anything, the Event is the attraction, the adventure is the hook, not individuals or certain cars. The new rules package was in place for 2015-2017, and I have no idea if that affected some peoples decisions, or if like the majority, they just ran out of time!

Here, thanks to Bob Brehm, is a photo of Larson, complaining to DF, and a photo of Miller complaining to KSJ...notice that David and Don have the same looks on their faces!

are we allowed to say "lmao" on here?

Did the small block survive??

ROFLMAO!Look at who LL and I were talking to.

"Larson, and Miller were there, without their cars. The Reh family's two entries were not around. Ahokas wasn't there, nor Cline. Scott Smith's Malibu, or Todd Maschmier's Camaro...nope. Not that I was disappointed or anything, the Event is the attraction, the adventure is the hook, not individuals or certain cars. The new rules package was in place for 2015-2017, and I have no idea if that affected some peoples decisions, or if like the majority, they just ran out of time!"
Millers time at DW had passed him by.LOL.LL and Dave agreed to disagree.LOL. Lack of enforcement of the rules last year would explain a lot of no shows.Bob Brehm will not be receiving a Christmas card this year.Took a pic of me with a gold chainer? LOL

Dom Vallejos, and the Ram SRT-10

Bang Shift SRT-10 Ram rebuild

Twin Turbo SRT-10 into the sevens

The Official stats for Dom on Hot Rod Drag Week read like this:

2012 Pro Street PA Day 1: 9.097-148.36, out of competition.
2015 Pro Street PA Day 1: 9.002-171.66, out of competition.

The first link is to the thread on Bang Shift where they tore the Truck apart and started over right after DW12. The second 1320 Video covers their passes at Gateway this year. It's amazing how many guys have made incredible runs on Sunday T&T, or the Saturday Shoot-out, but haven't been able to lay down the big numbers on day 1 through 5 of the event. Hopefully these guys can make it back at a future Drag Week and back up that incredible 7.97-183 from late Sunday night.

C'mon Brian,
Pretty hard to break something that doesn't make any power! Ok, more accurately, that I can't tune to make power...

I was out on the Oval when a slender guy on a bicycle, who I had noticed checking out all the cars, rode up to the Valiant and introduced himself as Moparts member longram60. He explained that he was racing NSS at the Black Sunday event, but took some time to check out the Drag Week cars. We had a nice chat, but it was frustrating that I was trapped in Registration, and unable to check out more of the main pits.
I noticed they had a generator and my battery charger attached to Darren's Dodge, so I went over to investigate.
"I've got the idle jacked up real high", Dale explained through gritted teeth, "because we didn't finish breaking the cam in at home. I figured we'd have time before tech, then he shows up at the last minute, and we just have to drive it around here. Now, he won't follow my instructions on starting it, and ran the battery down!"
"So, what took so long to get it together? You guys looked fairly close when I left..."
"He had those stupid sheet metal valve covers", Dale cut me off with a shrug of his shoulders, "and a 440 billet distributor with an adapter for the 400 block, and that combination wouldn't clear. So Wade Metzinger had to drive over to a buddy's house and borrow a set of covers and a distributor that would fit! I was ready to walk away and forget it, but somehow we got it here".

I must admit, as cool as it was to see the Charger, and Belvedere out on the not-so-high-banks, (I kept teasing Rachael that she had to represent!) the Gremlin...not so much!

Mike Chenoweth's big 70 Hemi Roadrunner, side by side with Jason Ogle's Big Block 73 Cuda, working through tech...

Billy, on a side note. Jason past away last week. His son plans on running it for him in dw next year.

That's terrible news Bill. He was a sweetheart of a man, my heart is aching for his family. If the Gebharts can do anything for Chuck, Jo, Charlie or Amy, please let us know, our prayers for comfort are forthcoming.

Thank you Billy, for your kind words. It has been a rough couple of weeks for the Ogle's. Jason absolutely loved drag week and was so happy to be able to take his son last year. As posted above Dillon my nephew plans on bringing the Cuda next year. Jason will be ther in spirit with myself and Dillon.
Thanks again

It was good meeting you and checking out your and all the family cars. It's amazing the wide variety of cars they have for this event.

Well, this is tough. Called my brothers yesterday, spoke to them at length, they encouraged me to carry on. I cannot overstate how important family is to the whole Drag Week experience. Husbands and Wives, Fathers and Sons, Mothers and Daughters, Brothers, multiple cars, or riding together, it's the norm, not the exception. The family interaction, battling mechanical and logistics problems, head on, together, is what gives the event the emotional juice, the palpable texture that draws us back again and again.
We make friends, and we form bonds, that are hard to replicate in everyday social settings. We also feel loss, and pain, when those bonds are broken, or our friends suffer setbacks or tragedy.
The emotional risk/reward equation is no more complex than the mechanical. Sharing this journey with people who share the same passions is awesome, wringing out your car on the track, while depending on it to get you across the street or to the next town, is exhilarating. You feel, you FEEL! We become numb to the routine, numb to our co-workers, and our surroundings, and sometimes it takes horsepower, friends, and the open road to shake that off! Then tragedy strikes, and you lose someone who shared that journey with you, then you long for the insulation of everyday life, long for the dullness, and the numb.
It's good to feel, it's great to care, even when it hurts. I didn't get a chance to talk with Dillon Ogle this year. I look forward to meeting him next year and telling him face to face how much I liked his Dad, and miss the opportunity to get to know him better. I cherish the memories I've made with my daughter on Drag Week, so I take solace in the fact that Jason and Dillon shared that as well.

Well said Billy.

You remember the old concessionaire's call-out, "You can't tell the players without a scorecard"? Drag Week exemplifies that, as every year we have about 90-100 rookies, and even the veterans are switching cars or classes. Boone and I had a print-out of the pre-entries, so we were consulting it, and comparing the numbers to the sea of cars filtering through.
"Have you seen the Horns", he squinted into the infield.
"Nope, and I've made several loops around, no way that Challenger could hide from me".
"So the Super Street Small Block Normally Aspirated Champ from 2014, pre-entered, and is a no-show?"
"Looks like it. It's a long time from late April to September...reminds me of those big Marathons that give you a discount if you sign up early, knowing many of those people aren't going to make the race", I answered.
"Yeah. How about Cornman?"
"The Demon? He's here to rough up the Street Race Small Block Normally Aspirated boys again."
"I'm not so sure, there's like five guys claiming to be in the nines", Boone shook his head.
"Well, he can run that fast, so he'll be in the hunt".
"Who else has a Mopar that you haven't seen, or don't know? I looked at him as he perused the list.
"Clint Livengood, 71 Duster, black."
"Nope, not here...it's a little rough around the edges, big block, back half, fenderwell exit headers, with exhaust down the rocker sill like mine. I've been looking for him".
"How do you know so much about a car that's never ran DW?"
"He's pre-entered in Pro-Street Normally Aspirated, same as I am, so I did some facebook stalking..."
"You've ran Modified every time with the Valiant", he cut me off with a flip of the papers, "Why a switch to Pro Street?"
"Did you look at the new rules? Modified can run lexan, non-stock dash, no bumpers, and no weight limit, it's basically small tire unlimited! Anybody could build a lightweight tin can, and crush that class!"
"Like Dale's Gremlin!" He gave me a toothy grin.
"Exactly...only the next guy might actually bring a real engine!"
"But...the pre-entry numbers favor Modified to be a softer class".
"All I know is last year, I finished fourth with a 10.88 average, and Darren finished third, and won a plaque, with an 11.26 in PSNA, so I'm going to try it."
"Those tires technically aren't big enough", he began to protest.
"I know...but they are bias ply, they fill up the fender-well, the car has aluminum tubs visible on the inside of the car, small as they may be, so I should be able to sneak in.
"Any other thing to worry about?"
"Well...they wrote a specific rule about every car in NA, cannot have any power adder parts at all, and I always leave my plate and solenoids on, just no bottle in the car..."
"Probably wrote that in after you bragged about spraying during the shootout in last years story!" Boone was laughing at me now, "you are your own worst enemy!"
I know, I know, you're supposed to write the tell-all book AFTER you retire from the game...I just can't help myself!"
"Ok...we've got Darryl Johnson, 70 Plymouth Dust..."
"Nope, that's DusterDJ! They were just getting the new Hemi on the dyno before I left Phoenix!"
"How many years in a row has he missed?"
"A bunch, he's a having a major race with Mr. P-body, and I'm not giving odds on that one for nothing!"
"Next up is David Meyer, Blue 66 Belvedere, Super Street Power Adder."
"Where from? I need more."
"Pittsburgh, PA", Boone was smiling, knowing I was stumped.
"Holy crud...that's Northern Bel! No way Troy would've let him take that on Drag Week!!"
"Northern Bel? Who's Troy..." Boone looked at me, puzzled.
"Troy Trepanier, Rad Rides by Troy, he's building it, Stock looking on the outside, 572 TT Hemi on the inside...think Urban's green Nova, only show car, not ratty! Way too nice for Drag Week, that baby will be headed straight for SEMA!"
"How do you know so much about it, if it hasn't even been shown yet?"
"Are you kidding, Troy's been calling me every other day asking for advice, I've had to hold his hand through the entire build!"
Boone started laughing before I got the sentence fully out, despite my best effort at a straight face, "Now I KNOW you're full of crap!"

"Did you see Addie, and Gary Ross' Falcon Wagon today?" I pointed back at them as I mentioned it to Boone.
"Yeah, the woodgrain? Very cool, and it's Adalie this year".
"What's up with that?"
"Well, she's growing out of those childish nick names, I suppose." Boone smiled.
"Or maybe they are twins, and only one gets to make the trip each year...which one is better looking", I added with a laugh.
"Well...Adalie, of course...she's a year older...and blossoming into a stunning young woman..."
"Gary will cut you with a knife if he hears you talking like that!" I gave him an elbow.
Now his smile was a full on, ear to ear grin, and he chuckled, "I meant it in a distinguished gentlemanly sort of way", he protested.
"Keep it up, as a father of two daughters, I might cut you!"
"Did you see their class letter...Street Machine Eliminator, and it has a bottle this year!" Boone deftly changed the subject.
My shoulders slumped, "Yeah I know. They changed the name from Daily Driver to Street Machine Eliminator, and dropped the minimum ET from 10.80 to 10.00, and as soon as the rules were released, everyone complained that they have killed the no-bar cars from making the quick 32. I screamed from the highest mountain, and on multiple websites that they were over-reacting. I spelled out how the numbers don't support that big of a move. What I didn't count on was how many class cars would make the move to Street Machine Eliminator...was it the name change, or the ET? I don't know but it looks pretty tough for the 11.50 cars already!"

Top pic: Addie in 2014
Bottom pic: Adalie in 2015

That car is DEADLY.Always like the long roof cars that have gone on DW.That one,Prospero's and ShowCar Frank Sapanaros cars have caused me to have a soft spot for wagons.IM thinking a Gebhart needs to bring a Pentastar wagon to DW.

Good stuff sir. Here's my pictures. If you need a copy, let me know.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hemipwr70/sets/72157658402017589



Ryan

Speaking of long roofs...
Kelvin Poe's 61 Tempest Wagon on late model GTO chassis.

Top pic: 2014
Bottom pic: 2015

People were upset when he admitted the patina had to go, imagine what they thought when he ditched a set of doors as well!

Been debating restoring the Dart. If so Probly going to be Kelvin doing it.An honest paint and body guy.He told me he didn't want to do it.Only original once.

Holy crap, I didn't even notice that he made it a two door, I just though he painted it lol.

Dad and I talked to him last year about the patina. Everybody loved it but Patina isn't a good thing to have when your a paint and body guy for a living.

The one thing you can count on, year after year, is that Michigan's own Rick Callahan is going to show up with a beautiful 68/69 B Body. Which B-Body, well sometimes he doesn't even know, as many times the car he pre-enters is not the one he shows up with. I was always a fan of his absolutely stunning maroon 68 Road Runner, but the last few years he's been on a Factory Appearing Stock Tire kick, bringing Hemi power and Dave Dudek with him.

In 2014 it was a Super Bee.
In 2015 a Road Runner.

We were getting closer to tech, I was seated in the Valiant with the door open, and decided to make sure I was ready. I remembered that I had wired the horn to a shared button...but now I couldn't remember which way I did it. I tried several, and was frozen in thought with a dumbfounded look on my face when Jim Forbes (Squirrel) bent over and looked at me with a knowing smile.
"It's the horn, isn't it? It's always the horn!" Jim shook his head
Busted, just like that, so I had to explain what I'd done.
"How was the trip up from Sierra Vista", I asked him.
Jim and his son had driven their Drag Week car, his blown 427 AWB 62 Chevy II, all the way from home in AZ to the starting drag strip in St. Louis, no support vehicle or trailer required (hopefully). A feat also matched by Troy Clark in his twin turbo 30 model A coupe from Phoenix. I love my fellow AZ drag weekers, but that's just crazy! Boone and I did it in 2006, and we were only 500 miles from the start...never again.
"It went well", He replied, "We took our time, hung out with some drag weekers, used their shop to do some maintenance, it was nice".
We chatted for a few minutes more, then he moved up the line. The next button and toggle switch combo I tried was the right one, the horn beeped,
Jim gave me a thumbs up as he walked without even turning to look.

Keith Turk was the first part of the tech gauntlet, he was in charge of class designation. He hasn't been as involved with Drag Week as much the last few years, and frankly, it's suffered without it's Napoleon. He's not always right, but he's official.
"What class you runnin', Sugar Britches?" He asked me with his usual toothy grin and a hand shake. Despite his upbeat demeanor, he was looking pretty haggard, and worn down...it had been a long day for all of us.
"Going for Pro Street Normally Aspirated", I tried to project an amount of certainty.
"You should've brought more car if you want to tangle with them boys", he observed, looking down the side of the Valiant, with his head slightly cocked to one side.
"I brought all I had, Keith!"
"Good enough for me! Pull up to this next spot, and those two will check your lights and horn, then Tonya will need your registration."
First rung on the ladder, done. Pulled the light switch, blinker handle up, then down, step on the brake, hit the horn button again, rung number two completed.
The headlight checker stuck his head in the window, "Pull up under the pavilion, and the NHRA tech guy will be with you in a minute...we're kinda in a delay because he's certing the chassis for one of the Aussies!"

"Sorry about the delay", the Gateway NHRA tech offered as he took my registration sheet from my hand.
"Don't mind at all", I motioned towards the Brian Jensen's Torana (think Australian for "ugly vega") "I just think it's cool you took the time to do that for them, I appreciate that".
"Aw heck", he smiled, and reddened a bit, "I couldn't let them get this far, and not be able to run the car all out because of one little sticker!"
He paused, and looked down at my sheet, I had pre-checked the 10.00 box...you know, just to help out a little...
"Ok, ok, you got a helmet and jacket?"
I pulled the foam back on my helmet and showed him the snell rating, then held up the three layer jacket.
"Seat belts up to date?"
I flipped up the harness for his perusal.
"Great...you're good!" He signed off on my sheet and handed it back. I pulled up one more car length, handed my registration and insurance to Tonya Turk, and she gave out instructions to the guys about what numbers to affix to my front and back glass.
That was it, I shot out the other side of that pavilion like gas through a funnel, eggs through a hen! Ok...not really, but any time you get the chance to use a line from Wolf Creek Pass, you should probably take advantage of it (youtube it, young folks, it's a song).

I know, I know, twenty days and 24 posts and this guy hasn't even made it through tech/registration yet! Bear with me, the setup is important, and I warned you, there were so many storylines to follow, and I'm not willing to narrow the focus this early in the process. Also, you can blame Bob Brehm, for taking so many quality photos, and I'm looking for excuses to share as many of them as possible with you.

Robert Reynolds (6pak2go/moparts) was all set to bring his amazing 67 Barracuda for Street Race Big Block Normally Aspirated this year after running out of time to finish it before the 2014 edition. Last year, he settled for taking his Ram R/T instead, and completed the event. He had even recruited a young, energetic gearhead to ride shotgun with him, plans were made, motels booked, vacations scheduled, green lights all around. Then a week or so before their planned departure, on a road test of the four gear beast, a cylinder head developed a crack, and pumped all the coolant out the exhaust. They decided to make the trip without the car, and had been visiting with me off and on all day. I was surprised he wasn't going to run the truck again, but as he explained, with the new tire rule, he wasn't going to buy drag radials for it, and the whole "been there, done that, nothing to prove feel". I was nearly through the tech process when I realized neither of them would have wristbands to get in each day since he chose not to enter, so I volunteered for them to sign on as our passengers.
We were standing in line to fill out the waiver and get our bands when Robert unexpectedly mentioned, "Yeah, if Aaron here rides with you, he'll have a chance to get the real experience, instead of just following around in a new truck".
I was just trying to get them arm bands, and had no intention of stealing his sidekick, but I've pretty much made it known that I hate doing Drag Week solo, so that was fine with me.
"Sure Robert", I smiled, "I'll break the kid in for you...so you will have a proper trunk monkey next year!
27 is not really a kid, and he struck me as well educated, well spoken, and most of all willing, so in a few minutes of offhand conversation, I had a co-driver...now I just had to hope he wouldn't bail once he realized the passenger's side seatbelt was still on my "to do" list!

Top pic: Reynolds' Barracuda
Bottom pic: Brian and Dianne Jensen's 77 Holden Torana SS

Blame me for all the pics that Brehm took.He and my brother were classmates in high school.Bob has ridden with me 3 different DragWeeks.This year he took thousands of pics.You are correct about getting the story setup correctly.

"Sure Robert", I smiled, "I'll break the kid in for you...so you will have a proper trunk monkey next year!

And a fine job you did! Aaron was in gear head Nirvana. He really enjoyed helping where he could. He was scheming to get a Dart for a DW project all the way home, lol!

Hold on to your seats folks, he just getting started!

With arm bands secured, I was directed to the Gear Vendors motor home, to get my windshield banner, and the Hot Rod T-shirt vendor for my event t-shirt. Knowing how quick they sell out of big guy sizes, I went ahead and picked out three of the other Drag Week designs as well. Most of our group had cleared the pavilion by the time I returned to the Valiant. Darren was last in the Charger, and when he got out, I could tell he was ready to bite someone's head off.
"Keith's a freaking idiot! He says I can't run my tires, because they're treaded!"
"I read the rule a hundred times", I explained to him, "It says no CONVENTIONAL treaded tires...there is nothing conventional about M/T Sportsman Pros...they're a soft compound, bias ply, wrinkle wall tire!"
"That's what I told the moron...but he just kept repeating 'treaded, treaded', I wanted to pop him in the mouth! Where the heck is DF, or Lonnie, I need to talk to someone else."
"I brought that pair of M/T radials with me, we'll just have to get them mounted", I offered. I would argue his point tomorrow if we had no option, but you have to pick your fights, at the right time, and right place. The end of the day, when everyone was worn out, wasn't it. He seemed to be mollified by the fact we had an alternative, and headed off to get his banner.
"What did they say about the nitrous plate", Boone asked me once everything had settled down.
"Uh...well", I shrugged, and looked over towards the Valiant, "Now that I think about it, I went all the way through tech and never raised the hood!"

LOL

Robert and Aaron helped Rachael and I put our windshield banners on, and everyone had cycled through the process of t-shirts, then goodie bags. We were just basically standing around chatting, when John looked around and mentioned, "don't you think we should get back to our pit spots, and start getting ready for tomorrow, we still have plenty to do".
"Yeah", Dale quickly agreed, "I'd still like to get a test hit or two tonight if I can".
I groaned audibly, but kept my comments to myself as we loaded up in our cars. Secretly, I was hoping Dale wasn't serious, we had plenty to do without beating on stuff.
Aaron jumped into the passenger's seat of the Valiant, made a quick assessment, and said nothing. We made it about half way around the outside of the oval, and he finally said, "I'm not going to call my mom and tell her I'm riding with you instead of Robert. Her first question would be about seat belts, and I'd hate to be forced to lie to her!"
"It's on the list", I shrugged.
"Duly noted", he laughed.
First hurdle cleared.

Once back in the pits, the preparations started in earnest. I decided to take the alternator off the Belvedere, and put it on the Valiant, so I could be sure it was good. I put Rachael and Skippy on the Belvedere, while I started removing the one from the Valiant. The long alternator bolt wouldn't clear one of my electric fans, and the bolts on the individual fan were spinning in the bracket.
"Let's just pull the entire set of fans loose from the radiator", John suggested, as he peered into engine compartment from my right side.
"That could get ugly in a hurry", I protested, "I don't want to take the car half apart!"
"Naw, come on, it's just a couple of bolts, then we'll slide it down and get that alternator out". He started grabbing wrenches off the inner fender, and I realized he wasn't going to be run off this time.

I met Troy Clark on his way to DW almost by accident. Jim Forbes (squirrel) txt'd me and said he and his son were in town, so I ran over to see them. When I arrived, Troy was in the parking lot of the same hotel. I introduced myself and then Jim and his son came out and we bs'd until late. The next day, I found Troy at a local O'Reilly's with dang near the whole top end of his SBF apart. He was grooving roller lifters in an attempt to get some top end oiling because he was burning up pushrods. It worked and he made it to DW only to succumb to a trashed roller cam on Day 1.

You are doing GREAT Billy! We love all the details.
I'm in Illinois so my racing is done. I love living DW through your stories!!!!

Thank you, Don

John and I managed to get the fans removed, slid out of place, then installed the Belvedere's non-functioning alternator. Once we had the fans back on, I fired it up, and as expected, the voltmeter registered 13.5, so obviously I had something wired wrong on the Belvedere.
When I shut the small block off, John looked at me and shook his head, "That driver's side header gasket is shot!"
"Yeah, I know...the fel-pros last about a thousand miles, I bought some more, and also bought some Percy's multi-layer aluminum ones, but I haven't tried those yet."
"Well, you might as well try the Percy's, since you already know the results with the fel-pro. You are going to change it, right?"
"I've still got to figure out the Belvedere...I don't really have time..."
"I'll look at the Belvedere!", He cut me off, "you get that gasket changed!"

James walked over and started chatting at me about the fact that Dale kept running off and leaving him to try and prepare the Gremlin by himself.
"Where is he now?" I looked up at all the activity around us, we were literally surrounded by guys working at packing up trailers, or preparing to go up for some test and tune.
"That Buick guy came and got him...something about a carb problem."
"Covey? The Stage 1? He's helping the enemy?" I whistled, "he better hope Randy doesn't find out."
"He's been over there a while...I think Boone went over there too. It's the 70 GS."
"Yeah, that's him". I pointed towards our right, "I can't believe that Camaro is here, and in my class even! That thing's a legend!"
"The black 67? It's a pretty car", James agreed.
"No, no", I corrected him, "I'm talking about the winged 69 on the other side!"
"You...MoparBilly...are geeking out about a yellow 69 Camaro?" James shook his head with a chuckle.
"Not a yellow 69, THE Yellow 69! That's the CARS Camaro that Rick Dyer owned, that was one of the icons of the nineties street car racing explosion!"
"Ok, ok...I don't need a street car racing history lesson...just try and outrun him!"

As the long evening shadows descended into darkness, and the Drag Week cars were working through their time runs, every nut, bolt and issue we were dealing with on my two cars seemed to compound themselves. My attitude was on a similar trajectory, and I found myself being short, and impatient with everyone around. I was turning into a "have a snickers" commercial, and seemed powerless to do anything about it. There came a point, after it was completely dark, and we were using John's small generator and lights to do just about everything, that I decided to thin our group out to only essential personnel.
"Boone, why don't you take Dale's truck, and drop Dad, Rachael, and Skippy off at the motel. That way, they can get us checked in, and at least some of us will be ready to roll in the morning."
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea", he agreed.
"And take all of our bags, that'll be one less thing we have to worry about when we finish up", I added.
Dad didn't say anything, but he had his bag in the truck, and was settled into the passenger's seat in about ten seconds flat. In recollection, he'd been done for about two or three hours, and I probably should have thought of this earlier for his sake. Rachael and Skippy had been nothing but helpful all evening, but they were constantly looking for direction from me, and it was becoming a chore in itself to come up with tasks I felt they could handle. I found myself longing for them to take more initiative, and that was only adding to my exasperation. I noticed Dale had joined John at the front of the Belvedere, so I made my way over to see what they were doing. I was shocked to find that they had my beautiful tape job all cut away from the alternator plug, and were re-splicing the wires.
"What the heck are you doing", I questioned, tossing my hands in the air.
"Fixing your screw up, apparently", Dale answered.
"I looked up Andy F's site on my phone", John chimed in, "and it says blue is sense, green is 12V switched, and red is the idiot light".
"Dang it", I ran my hand across my face, "We couldn't get his site to work, so I just went off an 85 Toyota diagram..."
"I told you like ten times, the plug had to be wired wrong", John reminded me.
"I know, I know." I spun away, and went back to the Valiant.
Once they finished up the Belvedere, they came over and kicked me off the Valiant as well, they were like a two man wrecking crew at that point, so I left them to it.
Boone came back, so I checked with him on the Barnyard Viper.
"We had the cooler plugged into the truck ever since we left Oklahoma, so it barely started all day. I've charged the batteries fully and I think it's ready to go now."
Boone helped me grab the set of drag radials I had decided not to use on the Valiant, and we rolled them over to where Darren was still playing with his Charger.
"You about done for the night", Boone asked him.
"Well, not really", He looked up at us from under the hood, "I was hoping to drive it to the motel tonight, and at least get some street miles on it".
"You think that's a good idea", I asked him, "shouldn't we get the tires off tonight, so we can get them mounted first thing in the morning?"
"Dale ran the valves again this evening", Darren shrugged, "and this is a fresh engine with no miles...I NEED to get some time on it! I'll worry about the tires tomorrow!"
In my current state, I really didn't want to start a fight, so Boone and I walked away.
"Ok Boone...Dale helped Darren on the Charger, Mark with his Buick, and now he's helping John finish up both my cars. Did he do anything he wanted to do to the Gremlin?"
"That's what he's got James for, right?" Boone laughed as we headed back towards my 1 ton.
"What was the deal with the Buick by the way?"
"He's on E-85, carbed, and they were trying to get rid of a hesitation at the launch, they must've done forty dry hops under the bleachers earlier."
"You're making that up!"
"No, they were throwing squirters, pump cams, everything at it, finally swapped on a 50cc pump. Eventually it was yanking the front end off the ground, so they decided it was good enough to start tomorrow with."
"Crud! I've seen guys tossed from Divisionals for stunts like that!"
Boone stopped, put his hands on his hips, and stared at me, "This ain't no divisional Dave, this is freaking Drag Week, and ya do whatya hafta do!"

Mark definitely appreciated the help.

Boone and I took the Belvedere, and drove towards the back gate to the facility. We made it through just as an employee showed up to close and lock it for the night.
"You better call Dale, and tell him to exit out the main gate", I told him.
It was around 12:30 when we arrived at the motel, and got parked. Rachael answered her phone and let us in the room. Boone volunteered to let me shower first, so I did so quickly, and was passed out in bed before I even heard him turn on the water.


Monday, Day 1 Gateway Motorsports Park

I managed to sleep until 5:15, and was actually happy to get that much in. I showered again, dressed, then woke Rachael, and found out where our other room was.
Dad opened the door on the second knock, and let me in. Dale, James, and Darren weren't moving.
"Join me for breakfast?" I asked him.
"No...I better stay here and make sure these guys get up, and around...I'll be down in a little bit!"
"There was already a loud, boisterous group of Drag Weekers making quick work of the continental breakfast, and I joined in and was finally able to procure a table. Rachael joined in a few minutes later, and basically took over waffle making duties for everyone.

Boone and I were the first ones finished, and took our bags out to the Belvedere. Collinsville, Il. is eight miles from the track, and the area we were at has 5 or 6 motels all clumped together. It was veritable hive of Drag Week activity, as DW t-shirts and cars were everywhere, preparing to assault the track.
"We might as well head out", I looked at Boone, " those guys will be along eventually."
"Agreed, we've got plenty to do, and who knows what traffic is going to be like."
We climbed in, and were about to fire up the 440 when Skippy came out of the motel and walked over to us.
"What are you guys doing?"
"We're going to leave for Gateway right now, so if you are ready, jump in", I told him.
"Ok...I'll see what Rachael wants to do", he nodded and headed back to the lobby door.
About 90 seconds after he disappeared, the 440 roared to life, I dropped the 727 into low, and we pulled the Belvedere out of the parking lot.
"I guess the next time I tell the young man 'right now', he may comprehend my meaning!"
Boone was taking in the sights, and merely chuckled in response.

Top pic: Shawn Fink 2013
Bottom pic: Shawn Fink 2015

The Monday morning traffic snarl only affected us for about a half-mile before we made the exit for Gateway, and the left into the facility only took one light, but the newly working temp gauge under the dash of the Belvedere was sitting at 210 when we parked at our impound spot.
"That doesn't make any sense, it's really cool this morning."
"Yeah", Boone agreed, "it was running nice and smooth, shouldn't be that warm."
"Well, here's what I want to do...let's cram this car full of junk we are taking on the trip, then I'll take the Valiant and you follow me down to the pits, so we can start setting up our pit spot."

By the time we parked the Valiant, unloaded the Belvedere, and returned to the impound area for another load, the rest of the group had arrived, and were trying to put eight hundred pounds of junk in Boone's trailer. While he ran off to deal with that, Rachael walked up and punched me in the shoulder.
"You ran off and left us, you jerk!"
"I told your boyfriend we were leaving right now...I didn't say anything to him that would suggest we were going to sit around and wait on anybody!"
"That's just rude!"
"C'mon Jay, how many Drag Weeks have you been on? We got no time for diplomacy!"

We had our pit spot pretty well established, and most of the stuff out of the impound area by the time they started calling for everyone to report to the bleachers for the driver's meeting.
Darren already had the back of the Charger off the ground, and was removing the tires when we headed towards the meeting.
"You coming?" Boone asked him, as he grabbed a drink from the cooler.
"I'll be up in a little bit", Darren confirmed without looking up from his task.

We sat there on the bleachers listening to David Freiburger introduce new Hot Rod Editor in Chief, David Kennedy and I wondered how this would effect future such gatherings. With DF turning much of his attention on Road Kill, and other hands guiding the flagship, how long would Drag Week continue? I mean, we have been attending Nostalgia Drags for thirty years which basically celebrate a legendary 7 or 8 year period in our Automotive history. This is the 11th Drag Week, and Hot Rod has done twenty Pour Tours...how long can this keep going without losing impetus, or spinning out of control?
"Hey! What are you thinking?" John looked past Opal and chuckled at me, "thought we lost you for a minute there".
"Oh...nothing, I've heard it all before!" I smiled.
The mic passed from Kennedy to Lonnie Grimm, then Keith Turk, and finally we were ready to get to our cars.

The first car to light up the scoreboard was, of course, our very own Ray Meyers (sixpackgut , Moparts) and his satin black, gen 3 hemi powered, 67 Barracuda notch back, I'm pretty sure he was the first through tech also. I don't know if he's paying off officials, or if it's the rented muscle he brought this year in the form of Drag Week veteran Zac Ravencraft, but it seemed like he was first in line all week long! His 10.08-134 kicked off Hot Rod Drag Week 2015 in fine style. Three sets of cars later, an eight second fox body tossed it's factory windshield all over the 1000' line, and we had our first down time of the event. I'm pretty sure Ray had turned in his time slip, and was motoring towards Indy before the glass was cleaned off the track!

Roughly 40 minutes after Ray started the festivities, Paul Cornman's Green 71 Demon pulled to the line. He was the defending Champion in Street Race Small Block Naturally Aspirated, but the class was loaded in 2015 with 27 other competitors shooting for him. He won the class in 2014 with a 10.02-134 five day average, so when he opened the 2015 attempt with a stout 9.79-139 I felt confident that he was capable of repeating his win.

Boone and I both decided to jet up before our first runs, Dale was waiting for a fresh nitrous bottle, Darren was swapping tires, and both Rachael and John were in Street Machine Eliminator, so they had to wait for the second session. So, even on opening day, even though everyone was at the driver's meeting before cars went to the lanes, we were going to be late to the party!

I had my head under the hood of the Valiant, but Gateway Motorsports Park has a very good speaker system, and I heard Drag Week Announcer Brian Lohnes' voice raise perceptively as he described the 8.08 run made by Matt Blasco's 72 Dart.
"Have you checked that car out?" Robert came over and asked me after the Dart returned to the pits a little later.
"No...I kinda ignored it because I didn't want to get my feelings hurt when I saw a BBC under those turbos!"
Robert chuckled, "No need to worry, it's a Predator headed deal!"
"Well, in that case, lets go have a look!"
70 and up Darts are some of my least favorite Mopars, and this is a particularly hideous example, but it exudes cool, and mean in equal parts, and I absolutely love it. Matt and his crew were nice guys, laid back, and very friendly, so I enjoyed the visit. I also noticed "Montana" Dan Nissen was hanging out with them and lending a hand. Dan has raced chevys at every drag week he has attended, but he shows up on all the Dodge truck, and Sweptline sites with regularity. He describes his condition as "Automotive ADD". The C on the window put the Dart in Pro Street Power Adder which was absolutely stacked in 2015.
"Tough class", I commented.
Dan smiled as he stood beside me, "and this car is only going to make it tougher!"

Those boys did good this year. Shame about the transmission.

Lots of people have transmission trouble on Drag Week, the shame was in the timing of it all. But, that's later in the story...

Matt (Efidart, Moparts) finished off Monday with a 7.87-184.9 shot that left him in first place. Two bona-fide 7 second players, Shawn Fink's nasty new black 'Vette, and Mike Roy, who's Maroon 71 Monte Carlo had won the Pro Street Power Adder class 3 of the last 4 years, never even turned in a time slip, or left the property. Trailing him in 2nd was the absolutely bucks up, no expense spared, white 2013 ZL-1 Camaro built by Larry Larson for Drag Week veteran Tom McGilton, with a 7.94. Trust me, when the soft spoken Canadian drove out the gate, headed for Indy, he had everyone's attention.

Boone was the first of our group to get a shot at the Gateway starting line, about an hour and twenty five minutes into the first session. I went up with him, to get a good look at his launch, hoping that the new rear shocks and proper pinion angle would straighten out the violent leaves exhibited before and hopefully extend the life of his 8 3/4.
The truck left smooth...and slow. It was evident at the first hit of the throttle that the new converter was too tight, as the engine loaded hard against it, and the Truck didn't start pulling until 60ft out. He left on the injected Nova, then got drove around, the board lit up with an 11.30-119.3, and Drag Week 2015 was over for Boone. Ok, not Drag Week, but, his hope for a ten second pass on Drag Week most certainly was dashed, as we weren't going to get there on that path!

I was only about 6 sets behind Boone in line, but the cars coming out of the impound area have priority, and apparently the whole bunch decided to make their runs right before Sean Fling motioned me up under the tower. Forty-five minutes after The Barnyard Viper's attempt, I pulled the Valiant into the water, did the first burnout on the virgin Hoosiers and staged against DW Dishman and his 71 Ventura. I was a little disappointed, as this is basically a street race every pass, and I was hoping to get something better to try myself against than a thirteen second Pontiac! On the bright side, I also knew DW was an experienced racer, so staging wouldn't be a problem.
I stalled it to about 2500 and left off the footbrake. The hesitation that had haunted me throughout DW-14 was back, but the car pulled hard after the initial leave, and felt strong all the way down. I was rewarded with a 10.53-128.3, that was initiated with a miserable 1.55 60ft.

This was out of Matt's Dart.

I was watching the run when it ate this part. I don't know the incrementals, but visually it was really moving before it let go.

Bill

Dale and the Gremlin pulled into the water for his first run of Drag Week. Also his first run on the new front end, the new Et Streets, and the new 4.10 gears. He stabbed the throttle, and did a nice, arrow straight burnout to the eighty foot mark, then calmly backed up in his own tracks, pulled up and turned on the top stage bulb. He accomplished all that without the aid of a person in front of the car, or a person behind the car, or some one to show him where the beam was, or someone to measure the wheelie bars, or someone to open the passenger door and turn stuff on. I was pretty sure a couple of the twenty somethings standing around me had never seen anyone do such a thing after an across the start line burnout.
The first kit is on a timer and full throttle switch, the second is thumb activated. The Gremlin jumped off the line and immediately pulled the front tires about 8 inches off the ground, then ole greedy thumb fed the second plate in at 20 feet out, and it struck the tires and the front end slammed down so violently that he freaked and lifted off the throttle. I'm pretty sure the twenty somethings standing around me have seen that move plenty of times!
He stabbed back into it and marched out the back door at 150.23, but the 9.59 was definitely not what he had in mind.

I think Boone and I were ready to stand pat on our first runs, but we knew Dale wouldn't, and they had already called Street Machine Eliminator to the lanes, so it looked like we were all pretty much locked into sticking around for the final, all run session.

The Street Machine Eliminator session was next, and 16 mopars were in the field, including the usual suspects, Clark Lamb, Clark Strong, the Ogles, Scott Abbott, Rachael, and John. Then the were the very unusual suspects, including three Dodge by Shelby front scratchers, and a 79 300! When I looked to the starting line and saw a pairing of the 300 and an Omni, I hid my Mopar cap under my Drag Week shirt, and hoped nobody noticed. When the Omni drove around the big Chrysler I was embarrassed! Then the Omni put a 10.89-130 on the board, followed by the 300's 11.59-116, and I stuck my hat on, pumped my first, and yelled, "Those are my boys!!"

The silver Shadow of Patrick Culkin was up next, and in the middle of his burnout, the car jumped out a little crooked, and then I saw the front fender jumping up and down as he rolled forward. It was obviously a broken axle, the bane of any powerful front drive car, but I was shocked when he opened the door, and motioned for his buddies to push it back. I felt that was a huge tactical mistake on his part, as he should have at least staged and took the tree, allowing him to take a 20.00/50 and move on to the next track. The problem now was, if he wanted to continue, he had to fix it and get back in the lanes before they closed out the day. I glanced at my phone, it was almost 12:30, and I figured the lanes would close at 3:00pm, so he had two and half hours to get the thing ready for another shot.

Rachael, rolled up in the water, and since this was her first run of the year, I coached her through her burnout. I had also instructed her to just run it all the way out on the bottle, instead of lifting off the spray at 1000', as I have had her do in the past. She launched the car very conservatively, and it seemed like she was past the 60' clocks before she grabbed the nitrous, so I was a little upset that the ET just wasn't going to be there. It did appear the Belvedere was scooting pretty good though, and when Announcer Brian Lohnes boomed out that she was almost a hundred mph at the eighth, I knew we were in trouble.
"Lift girl, lift", I whispered.
Nope, the scoreboard lit up with 11.41-122, a tenth quicker, and two mph more than the car had ever ran before. She would be happy, but we still needed a time slip we could actually turn in.

Joel Nystrom (Hemi_Joel, Moparts), and his 67 Hemi GTX Convertible, followed Rachael into the water box, and followed her example of laying down a time slip quicker than he was allowed to turn in by motoring the luxury barge down the quarter in 13.42 seconds at 103 mph. While Freiberger and Lohnes were discussing whether Joel's pass was legal over the loud speakers, Kevin Rolph's red Mustang pulled up to do a burnout.
Brian Lohnes, being the consummate professional, transitioned right into "in his 67 Shelby GT500 Mustang", then lost his composure as soon as it rolled off his lips. "Wait a minute, is that real? Because if it is...they built virtually none of those cars!"
Yeah Brian, this is Hot Rod Drag Week, where a Hemi, and a 428 still strut their stuff wearing the 48 year old sheet metal they were born with!

Both Joel's and Kevin's cars are very real. Kevin ran all of Drag Week with 4.56 gears, and NO overdrive, or trunk monkey. Only thing he had a problem with? A burned out fuse. I had the pleasure of riding in both during drag week. OK so 1/2 mile in Kevin's car from trailer impound to the pits, but still...

John pulled his 67 Valiant up roughly five minutes after Rachael, and they were already calling people up for the open run last session. Five sets of cars after John's run, I saw the first class car pull into the water, and decided I better get back in our pits to get everyone prepared for a second hit.
After a nice 11.09-120.6 (his best of 2014 was 11.06, with a five day average of 11.22), I had expected to see John loading up the trailer, and preparing for the trip. When I walked up to him, he was leaned over the fender, pulling the bowls off the carb.
"Not good enough?"
"No", he glanced up, over the top of his glasses, "little more jet, little more timing, hopefully put it in the tens. How about you, going up for another one?"
"Yeah, might as well, looks like everyone else is", I determined.

I walked over to Boone, and asked him if he intended to make another run.
"Hadn't planned on it, but might as well, since we're obviously going to be here 'til the bitter end!"
"Would you have it any other way?"
"No, might as well get our money's worth!" Boone nodded towards the Blue Barracuda, where Clark and Bill Lamb were busy stuffing all their belongings back in the car, "looks like they are satisfied".
"Yeah! 11.38."
"Weren't they in the seventies last year...and didn't they have to put the same tired 360 back in it after they had problems with the new stroker motor?"
"That's the story, definitely running better now though. Adalie kicked his tail with the Wagon!"
"How's the falcon running with the spray?"
"She went 10.01-133, that wood grain really picked that thing up", I laughed.

The truth is, we have a bunch of fun on Drag Week, and what makes a really good run feel that much more rewarding is the torture you endure to pull off a successful trip. Some guys, year after year it seems, only get the torture part. When you consider that roughly a third of the cars teched on Sunday will not collect the six official Hot Rod time slips required to finish, it's clear there will be plenty of failures to talk about.
Honestly though, there are failures, and then there's getting kicked squarely in the teeth, again, and again.

Rich Frost, 93 Mustang

Rich Frost hails from Liberty Mo., and made his Drag Week debut at Heartland Park Topeka for the 2013 edition. Rich likes light weight, small tire, fox body notch backs with a whole bunch of boosted horsepower. He didn't make it to the shutdown area on his maiden voyage as the then orange mustang got out of shape before the eighth mile and bounced off both walls.
Determined to get back on the horse that bucked him, Rich showed up in Tulsa for Drag Week 2014, in a now satin blue Mustang and recorded his first two official runs, an 8.36-171 on opening day, then an 8.48-163 in Topeka, but was unable to make it to Noble for day three.

Undeterred, He was again present in Tech for 2015. His first run on Monday, the Fox Body left horribly soft, but threw a booming 177 mph on the board. His second run came about twenty minutes into the last session, as they were already counting down the minutes until the lanes would close. Rich was on a great pass, arrow straight, with a puff of smoke at 1100ft, then crossed with an 8.27-163. Then I heard Lohnes' voice pick up and get frantic, so I turned to listen.
"That is on fire down there! That car is being consumed in flame as it goes down the track! The fire crew is rolling right now, as he brings it to a quick stop!"

I tell you, I'll be rooting for Rich to hopefully have a successful trip in 2016, but if he chooses to avoid this like a plague, I can't say that I would blame him!

Will the silver Shadow make it back in time? Will the brothers Gebhart still be on speaking terms when it is over? Will Skippy run from the crazyness and take the bus home?

So many story lines, Thanks Billy for the fun read!

I abandoned MSD for coil on plug, threw some new springs in it(I do every year) and put some exhaust cutouts on it. It actually ran a new best a few weeks ago(11.16) but it's still down 1mph from before I had to swap the crankshaft the weekend before Drag week 2014. It was for sure pissed about something in 2014 but it seems to have gotten over it for the most part.

Keep it up Billy!

I walked over to the Gremlin for a chat with Dale, then noticed the Charger was gone.
"Where's Darren and the Charger?"
Dale threw his hands up, and shook his head.
"I've been over here helping him ever since I made my run. Got everything adjusted, carb dialed in, told him to put it in the lanes and see where we are at. He refused, said he wants to see how it runs on the street first, before he tries to make a pass!"
"Do what? We've got like thirty-five minutes before they close the lanes", I exclaimed.
"I know, but he drove out the gate and headed down the highway about fifteen minutes ago", Dale shrugged.
"What about yours, you blew the tires off with the front end in the air."
"I adjusted the tire pressure...and put another fifty horse in the first hit", he rubbed the back of his neck.
"What are you thinking? You need to back it down and get a clean leave before you worry about more power! How much did you take out of the second plate?
"None! Look...I just need to hit it a little harder right away, and get it up on the tire, so it will take the second one!"
I swear, he can tune anybody else's car just fine, but his own...not a chance! Before I had the opportunity to talk any sense into him, Darren returned from his test drive. He pulled up beside the Gremlin, and you could clearly hear the valve train rattling over the rumble of the three inch exhaust.
Dale looked over at me while he gave Darren the cut off sign, "It's done!"
Darren jumped out and looked at Dale, "It pulled real strong to 67 in low, then about 62 in second, and drive wasn't all that impressive. Then when I idled back in here I could hear noise in the top!"
"Well", Dale was trying to chose his words, "if you had made that pass down the strip, we could've turned that slip in and tried to find another cam. As it is, you're out of time and have at least one flat lobe."
"If it ate the cam, I'm done then", Darren resigned himself, "I'm not going to tear up more stuff, trying to rush it back together".
That was easier than I expected, maybe finishing last year changed his perspective, but for the 73 Charger...it was now 0 for 3 on Drag Weeks.

See, even I need help to remember! I was looking for the perfect segway, but since Rod brought it up I'll return to the turbo 4 banger, front scratcher group. The little shadow was shoved into the pit spot shared with the red Daytona, and the black Omni. They had an E-Z up in the middle with their Shelby Dodge Auto Club banner strapped to two of the legs. The five guys present all jumped in to help with a practiced, measured demeanor that led me to believe this wasn't their first axle replacement. The real surprise to me was when one of them opened the top of a large plastic tote, reached inside and produced a ready to bolt in axle wrapped in bubble tape. I wondered to myself just how many axles did they bring to make sure they could finish the week? Now you have to understand, it's not like they just drove back to the starting line, once the car was repaired, they had to get in the lanes and wait for their shot. Still, from broken parts burnout, to ready to race burnout, the total elapsed time was one hour and forty seven minutes! Patrick actually made his second attempt before all the Gebharts made thiers, and he took an 11.99-115 for his trouble!

Five hours and fifteen minutes of track time was in the books, and only forty five minutes remained. Nearly everybody left in the lanes really needed this run to establish a time to move on, or to improve upon an earlier run. Glenn Hunter Jr. had spent a ton of money and time converting his famous Whipple charged 56 Chevy Belair over to twin turbos in an effort to finally gain a better foothold on the Pro Street Power Adder Class. Glenn has ran in that class at five previous Drag Weeks, with one 2nd place, and 3 3rd place finishes while dropping his average times from 8.75 in 2010 to 8.41 in 2014.
He ran a high 7 Sunday night but had not been able to get ahold of the track earlier, now he had one shot to try and keep pace with Matt's Dart and McGilton's ZL-1. Both of whom had turned in 7's and were on the road to Indy already. With the pressure on, he logged an 8.013-183 to keep him within range of the two class leaders. Twenty minutes later, he was asking the announcers to put the word out that he needed an internally balanced flex plate for a BBC...it was going to be a long night for Glenn.

LMAO...you do have a way with words, that was great.

I can hear the soap opera music playing in the back ground...LOL

Thanks keefe!

Rachael was the first of our group to make her final shot. I instructed her to simply make the same run, lift off the nitrous at '1000ft., and we would be fine. The fear of going under was more than she could stand, however, and she lifted off the throttle as well, carding a way conservative 11.96 at only 97. Joel was in the next set and was conservative as well easing the drop top GTX to a 13.78 at only 100.
Boone and I managed to get paired shortly there after, and the smaller squirters I put in helped the launch a little, but the Valiant made a hard move to the right, and it took a couple hundred feet as well as a short shift to second to find my way back in the groove. My 10.62-127.2 was no help, but it did outrun the Barnyard and Boone, who ran an 11.32-120.2. Dale was next, and when he grabbed the second plate this time, it actually kicked smoke off the tires, and jumped out of the groove. He lifted, smacked it again and went a best ever 151.73 Mph, but the 9.66 et was not going to help him in the least.

Jack Miller, and his 68, twin Paxton supercharged, FE, Mustang oiled the right lane on an 8.90 pass, and they decided to run the last 8 or 10 competitors out of the left, on singles.
John and the Valiant was about 3rd from last on the day, and made good on his ten second plan with a nice 10.95-121.

Awesome story tellin' Billy!

Enjoy reading this and past years accounts of drag week. Also putting some faces to the names! I'm pretty sure we will be back next year to show the Chevys where its at.

I know before this year I read all your posts about drag week as I had no idea what I was getting into. Glad I did.

You could tell the pressure of a much quicker Street Machine Eliminator class this year was already forcing guys to make extra passes, as Jason Ogle was still banging gears in his barracuda, also Clark Strong and Scott Abbott were still around to close the track out, trying to get their Road Runners as close to 11.50 as they could.
Monte Smith didn't have to drive the route, but he still had a long night ahead of him, as the Nitrous fed, monster motor, 'Vette that he was offering assistance to, was the very last car down the track.

Once we were all back to our pit spots, it would have been nice to sit around and decompress a bit, but we had to get all our stuff situated, and get prepared to hit the road.
Rachael already had her time slip turned in and had her route map. Darren was going up to explain that he was out , and get permission to pull his trailer out of impound. He was not alone, as there were already about 5 or 6 other lonely trailers in the pits, with guys loading up their Drag Week 2015 dreams as well as their cars.
I tried to grab Boone to join me for the walk up to the tower, but he was scrambling through his truck for something.
"What are you looking for?"
"I can't find my first time slip now", he was digging through his pockets, "I swear I had it right here!"
This is a totally foreign concept to me, of the 2500 or so passes I've made, I've only lost about 6 time slips, and even that irks the heck out of me. Dale on the other hand, stuffs his in the glove box, scatters them around like confetti, I bet he doesn't have 10% of his time slips left.
Finally Boone gave up and decided he would have to turn in the second one, and give away 2 hundredths in ET.
"Just think If you would've decided one was good enough!" I tried to cheer him up, it was not effective.
"Where is that going to put Rachael? Boone asked as we made our way into the tower and collected our maps.
"She's done", I determined. "She gave away 46 hundredths, so even if she was to run 11.50 with an 0 for the next 4 days, I don't think she can crack the quick 32...there were an awful lot of ten second cars with an R on their window today."
"You going to tell her?"
"No...I don't really think she cares, and if she can put down a new best five day average for the Belvedere...that will be good enough!"

When we returned, Dale and John were just heading up to turn their slips in.
"Did you get your ten, John?" Boone asked.
"Yeah...10.95", John answered.
Boone looked at Dale, "Gosh dang-it Dale! THATS supposed to be my time slip!"
Dale just laughed and shrugged. Boone's five day average was just .04 slower than John's last year, and this was supposed to be his year in the tens in his mind.
Rachael and Skippy were working hard to get us ready for the road...now if I could get them to work smart. Laws of leverage are apparently not taught any more, so I had to give a brief tutelage on the concept of where you put the weight is just as important as how much you are hauling.
Darren and Dad returned from impound with Darren's trailer on the back of his silver R/T Ram.
James jumped behind the wheel, and Dale, Darren, and Dad all got a running start with the beast in hopes of getting it up the ramps in one shot.

oh no...I don't want to read the next words in this part of the story!

When the full weight of the Charger's front end jumped onto the trailer, the hitch jumped off the ball, and the momentum of a 4400lb. car being pushed by 4 guys shoved the trailer forward until the upturned hitch tried to impale the tailgate on Darren's fancy 2013 sport truck. As soon as it made contact with the back of the truck, Dad jumped from behind the back of the Charger, started throwing his hands in the air, and let loose a litany of loud profanity, while Darren simply stepped away with a chuckle and a shrug. I was quite puzzled with the reactions from the two until Darren stepped closer to me and said almost comically, "I gave the old man ONE job! He decided he would hook the trailer to the truck". Now that the silver R/T was reduced to just another work Dodge at that point, we re-centered the hitch on the ball, latched it this time, and pushed the Charger on successfully. Dad then came over to me and animatedly complained about James whipping the wheel back and forth going on the trailer.
Finally, we had our seven vehicle convoy ready to roll, and we made it the 1/8 of a mile across the street to the pilot in order to fuel up and ice up the coolers, hit the bathrooms, get snacks, all that fun stuff. There were at least 10 or more other Drag Week cars in the lot, which is normal for the closest gas station from any departing race facility.
John looked at me after a while, "I'm ready to get rollin', get some miles under our belt!"
Me too, "I agreed, "let's go...the rest will catch up to us soon enough!"
The one thing you learn quick on this deal, is that if you are in a group of three or more cars, it doesn't make sense to always wait around, and try to run nose to tail. All that does is waste time for everybody. It's easier just to leap frog along, stay in phone contact, and only wait for each other at a checkpoint or something.
I had consulted the route sheet, and the first checkpoint was only 40 miles away, so It would be pretty hard to get split up in only that short of a distance!
I fired up the Valiant, pulled out on Il-203, and handed Aaron the route sheet.
"Where are we going?" He asked as he casually looked at the sheet.
"I don't have a clue...you're the navigator, you tell me!"
He sat up a little straighter in his seat grasped the sheet in one hand, and fired up his phone in the other, "Uhh...take a right on this cloverleaf, we want I-70 east!"
I pulled the Valiant into the afternoon traffic, and noticed John was back a couple vehicles behind me, but I didn't see anyone else in my smallish rear view mirror.
"What's normal on this gauge?" Aaron was asking as he pointed at the water temp.
"There is no normal...it's all bad", I explained, raising my voice over the sound of the small block at 2800 rpm.
"All bad?" he repeated.
"Pretty much, but if we can hold it in the 210 range, I'm OK with that!"

We weren't ten miles in when we passed Jim Forbes (squirrel, Moparts) sitting on the shoulder with his 62 AWB Chevy II. He gave a half-hearted wave as we drove by.
"The guys drive that thing all the way from Arizona, and break down ten miles into Drag Week, DANG!"

After 13.5 miles we jumped off I-70E/I-55N onto US 40 East, which is a nice two lane cutting across the bottom of Troy, Illinois. Aaron had been talking to me all the time we were on the big road, but now he turned quiet. He stared out the passenger window as the scenery alternated between corn fields, clumps of lush forest, housing developments, big barns, and grain silos. I saw him shoot a few photos, and finally he turned, and glanced over.
"This is awesome! I've never really been to this part of the country...and to see it like this...just awesome."
Seven miles later, we took a left on Illinois Hwy 4 North, and I noticed that Robert in his R/T Ram, and Boone in The Barnyard, were catching up to us. My phone went off a few seconds later, and it was Rachael, telling me the Belvedere had overheated and they were on the shoulder letting it cool off.
"Who is with you?"
"Dale, and Darren in his truck", she explained, "We are here with Jim in the red chevy II...he broke his blower!"
I told her to have Dale track down a new fan clutch and give that a try, as I motored on.
We crossed under I-70 a few miles later. Four miles after that we ran into I-55 North, but instead of jumping on the highway for the three miles into Livingston IL, where the first checkpoint is, they ran us down the narrow, rough, frontage road. We were just barely on that road when we came across six or seven Drag Week cars, lining both ditches, with barely room to fit between them, we eased our way through at five mph.
Aaron was looking out the back glass, "Your Brother pulled over with those guys", he informed me.
"Yeah...probably just going to see if they need any help. He'll catch up."

The first checkpoint is always a place of celebration, as everyone feels fortunate to conquer the first road portion of the journey, even if it is only forty miles! The Diner/Ice Cream Parlor/Antique shop/junk yard that Hot Rod had chosen was perfectly suited for the task!

Awesome!!

We parked in front of the Antiques sign, and took our required picture at 4:48pm, then I parked under a tree to make room for everyone else. We usually get to the checkpoints so late the places are closed, and no one is around, so this hive of activity was a welcome change.

Jeff Lutz was out front, working on the pro-mod Camaro, and it didn't look like they were having much fun. I know hot rodders are eternally restless, but how do you go from two cool 57 Chevies in 2014 to a funny car with doors and a Honda in 2015?

Boone rolled in about ten minutes later, and Robert parked across the street.
"Had to give those guys our wheel bearing grease back there", Boone explained.
We walked into the ice cream parlor looking for a bathroom, but when I took a look at the size of the cones, sundaes, and banana splits they were selling, I knew I wasn't leaving without a treat.
After I ordered, I told the girl behind the counter, that when I was younger, a little girl in my home town made the best banana splits in the world.
"You haven't tried one of mine, yet", she retorted confidently.
"I liked hers so much I married her", I explained, "That was thirty-one years ago!"
With that, she blushed bright red, and took off into the kitchen!

At 5:11 pm, I got a text from Rachael that simply said, "I think we're screwed".
Instead of calling her, I called Dale.
"What's going on?"
"Not much", He commented, "We made it to an Advance Auto parts, after Skippy ran us down a bunch of rough roads and railroad crossings, he nearly beat my Gremlin to death!"
"Yeah, these dang kids hit 'shortest route' on their smart phone maps, and then bury their head in it without actually looking at the surroundings", I commented.
"Well, anyway, We got most of the stuff we needed here, but they don't have the fan clutch, so the counter guy loaned Skippy his van to go down to O'Reilley's and pick one up. I've got this one off, and I'm just waiting on him to get back."
"You want us to wait for you guys?"
"No, go ahead...we'll catch up.

We were about ready to roll out when an ancient tricycle front end Farmall M came around the corner of the building. The Dad was sitting in the seat, handling the throttle, and his ten year old son was standing in front of him and doing the steering. They pulled up next to the Barnyard and shut it off.
"We live on the frontage road, and have been watching all the hot rods drive by for quite a while", the Dad explained, "but when this old Dodge rolled by, my son wanted to come down here and check it out!"
We talked with them for a little bit, then they fired up the tractor, and headed back down the road. This seems to happen often with the old Truck, it just connects with a bunch of people in middle America.

billy, does the gremlin normally sit low in the rear, or is this just the amount of stuff in the box and rack causing this stance ? also, if the extra weight is causing the stance, how much does this affect the shock and spring on the coil overs ? you do a SUPER write up on drag week ! if my health was lots better and i was a bunch younger, i might entertain such a venture. keep up the good work and thank you !!!!

moparx,
It has a bit of the gasser rake all the time, but not this bad! We've been taught for years, lightest coil spring that will hold the car up, then a stiff adjustable shock, that's how you get down the track the quickest, and control traction.

Guess how well that light coil-over spring works on bumpy streets with an extra human in the car, and gear loaded on the back! Yeah it's a problem, because street car!

We were at the first checkpoint for over an hour, and the sun was all but gone by the time we pulled out. Right before we entered I-55N, I pulled into a Shell station to top off the fuel.
"Robert told me you guys don't drive by many stations", Aaron commented.
"Yeah...it's only been forty miles, but you never know what's around the next corner!"
We cruised at 3000 rpm up I-55N for fifteen miles, then jumped off on IL-16E, as is the usual for these small two lane state routes, they go through the heart of each small town along the way, and even some not so small towns. In the dark, trying to keep track of the route, as it snakes from Elm Street, to Broadway etc. with only small white route signs, it gets pretty interesting, but Aaron had his smart phone and just kept giving me simple "Right on this next road, or the second left", and I followed along.

We cruised into Pana Il. with a false sense of accomplishment. We were already at the second checkpoint, but we were only ninety-seven miles into our 266 mile jaunt. I parked in front of the mural, and left the car running, snapped the picture, then parked out of the way. We were on a large gravel lot with plenty of room. As with the first checkpoint, the Hot Rod staffers were there shooting pictures, and everyone was in high spirits.
I pulled out my phone, and called Dale again.
"We're still at the parts store", he laughed, "got the Belvedere all lined out, jumped in the Gremlin, backed up four feet, and it died. It's the module in the distributor. I've got another, but while we were testing it something's weird between the alternator and distributor wiring, and I keep getting a ghost spark. I've already burned up one alternator, this one's acting crazy, and now the dizzy...so I think I'm going to take the time to re-wire it now!"
"Good grief", I looked down at my phone, it's already 7:15, and you haven't put fifteen miles down yet!"
"I know, Darren's still back with Squirrel...they got someone to re-build the blower, and Darren took him to a parts store for all the extra's he might need, but he's not rolling yet either".

this picture of the gremlin with the front end off in the middle of the night sorta sums up what drag week is all about to me. Man, do I want to do this!

We formulated a plan as we stood around at the checkpoint. Boone decided he would stay behind and wait for Dale and Rachael, but his co-pilot, Dad, would ride on in with Robert, so he could get some sleep. We decided to go just across the street to the gas station, fuel up, then Boone would come back to the gravel parkng lot, and try to get some shut eye while waiting for the stragglers.

When I finally pointed the Valiant east again on IL-16, it was 8:00pm, and we had 158 miles still in front of us. John and his Valiant took up residence off my back bumper, while Robert trailed him.
We clicked off another fifty relatively stress free miles on the Illinois State Route system, then, as the Drag Week planning staff is famous for, they kicked us off for eight miles of "East County Road 500", followed by seven miles of "County Road 2120 North", or, as veteran Drag Weekers know them, "Fifteen miles of suspension and low hanging parts test, Road".

Forty miles per hour worked out to be the best speed to avoid bottoming out shocks on that stretch for the Valiant. We came out on US-40East, near the small town of Marshall, and realized they were going to dump us on I-70 for the rest of the trip into Indy. We had around ninety miles gone since we left the second checkpoint, and eighty or so left, so we figured it was a logical place to fuel before we jumped on the big road.

Earlier John and I had discussed cruising speed, and he requested that I stay around 2800. When I would kick it up to 3K, which seems to put the small block in it's happy zone, he would struggle to keep up, as his electric water pump equipped big block would start to climb in temperature.

Once we hit the I-70, though, I thought he was going to run me over, so I ended up at 3K-3200 for most of the run into Indy. Aaron realized his services weren't going to be needed for a while, so he started cat napping on the four lane. For a while, he'd jerk awake when we would hit a bump, or get passed by a semi, but after about twenty minutes it was full-on, mouth open, drop the phone in the floor, unconsciousness. I grabbed the route sheet right before it blew out the window.

Worried, that I might fall asleep myself, I called Skippy to check on them, but couldn't really get any information from him, so I gave up and then called Dale.
"Where are you guys now?"
"We just left the first checkpoint, we should make good time, no traffic out here and it's plenty cool."
"We're almost to Indy, it's midnight, and you are just now at the first checkpoint?"
"Actually we are fueling up right now, and I'm paying for gas in the Belvedere...you left me babysitting a broken car, and you didn't give Rachael any money? She's flat broke!"
"Well, yeah...I planned on giving her a credit card, but we got separated so quickly..."
"Separated? You ran off and left us!"

About ten miles out of Indy, I nudged Aaron awake, and gave him the address to my motel. He punched it into his phone, and struggled with the screen, alternating between looks of intense focus, and a blank stare.
"Just stay on seventy", he finally determined.
We were approaching the I-465 loop, and I noticed that John and Robert moved over to the right lane to take it, so I questioned Aaron again, and he still told me to stay on seventy.
Dad called, and asked if we were lost, explaining that Lucas Oil Raceway was a good bit north, and most likely our motel was also.
John and Opal took the exit, and headed to their motel, satisfied in the knowledge that I had no idea where I was going, but Robert, along with my Dad as his passenger, followed us as we rolled by the airport, and headed towards the center of Indianapolis.
"Take this exit for Holt", Aaron ordered in a bland monotone. I complied.
"Now take a left at the bridge", he continued.
I did that as well, and took a look at my surroundings, old warehouses, poor lighting, very little retail. Then the road narrowed and we were in a residential area with small houses set tightly together, and close to the road. We went under a railroad bridge and then he instructed me to take a left. This was clearly a residential street, perceptively narrower than the previous, with cars parked on both sides and even smaller houses. I was waiting for Clint Eastwood to step off his porch, walk out into the road with a shotgun, and tell us to get off his street!
I looked over at Aaron, his smart phone was his singular focus, as he squinted at the screen, both thumbs moving rapidly.
"Is my motel somewhere down here?" I asked with a good deal of trepidation, as I tried to keep the 428 at a steady rpm in the hopes of not setting off car alarms, or waking the entire neighborhood.
"No...they were right, we should've turned on 465, so we're taking a short cut back to that", he said it without even looking up.
I really wanted to take this teachable moment, and work with it, but decided I just wanted to get to a bed, so I let it go, and hoped to see a real interstate again before the car broke down!

This was the motel that I had been comped, when the rooms I purchased had been cancelled due to maintenance issues, so I had no idea what to expect. We pulled into a Clarion, set back in a corporate office style development, and once we parked, I noticed how quiet it was in this area, it was also obvious we were the only Drag Week vehicle in the parking lot!
Dad and Robert walked over, as Aaron jumped out of the Valiant and headed for Robert's truck.
"How far away is your motel, Robert?"
"About twenty-four miles back the other way", he chuckled and shook his head.
"Oh, crud! I'm sorry, you should've called, and we could've swapped these guys earlier!"
"It's OK, I have a feeling you guys won't be in the first group of cars down the track tomorrow!"
"No", I agreed, "Probably going to sleep in for a while!"
"I think we will too!" he agreed and with that, they left.
Dad, and I went in and checked into our rooms. I called Dale as soon as I sat down on the bed.
"We made the second checkpoint", he informed me, "Now we are working across the rest of Illinois Sixteen".
I warned him about the fifteen miles of county road upcoming, then asked if Boone was with them.
"No, we called ahead when we realized we were re-wiring the entire alternator circuit, and told him to go ahead. We have Darren with us though".
I took a shower, then called Boone, and gave him instructions to the motel and told him to call me when he arrived so I could open the door for him. I fell asleep in a few seconds, but didn't need the call, as the sound of the Barnyard in the quiet parking lot woke me up just fine, I'm sure it had the same effect on other patrons as well!

I think I had just rolled in at this point...that was a long night!

We got in about 2 am, only got worse every day after that lol

Yeah, Tony Sanchez was following up his first complete Drag Week in 2013 (10.70-125 5 day average), with an equally smooth attempt in 2015. He had a 10.40-130 in St. Louis, and a 10.39-129 at Indy, and it looked like the thrash to change the transmission and rear end right before the event was going to pay off. Things change very quickly at Drag Week though, and as Tony alluded, his story changed big time Tuesday afternoon...

Thats an understatement lol

I heard the Gremlin pull into the motel sometime in the morning. I opened the door to let Rachael and Skippy in the room, but that's about all I remember, as I was back in bed, and asleep before they set their bags on the floor.

Tuesday, Day 2, Lucas Oil Raceway, Indy

It was 8:30AM before I really started getting around, so I figure I was just out of the shower when our early bird Ray Meyers was putting the Black Pearl 67 Barracuda through it's paces to the tune of 10.19-132, based on the gen 3 Hemi's run on Monday, she could've used a re-jet and another pass, but Ray was running with a sealed hood, so that wasn't possible. I'm sure Ray had his time slip turned in, and his route sheet in hand, before the rest of my crew even opened their eyes!

I took my bags out to the car, and grabbed a few things off the continental breakfast, then I received a text from John, letting me know they were already calling the Street Machine Eliminator session to the lanes. I figured if that was the case, it wouldn't do any good to rush the brothers around, but I might as well get Rachael up and get her out to the track.

The second day at Drag Week always has a decidedly different feel than the first, most notably, because the drive just punched a majority of these competitors straight in the mouth. Everyone responds to that in different ways, some go on the defensive, some come out swinging, but either way, it's not all fun and games! While Rachael and Skippy were preparing to leave, I fired up his laptop to check out the day one results. The first thing that leapt off the page was the Street Race Small Block Normally Aspirated. Last year, it was a nice, easy class to talk about, with a very defined pecking order from Day 1 to Day 5. Paul Cornman, led wire to wire, with a 10.02 average, Steve Reimann, was comfortably in second at a 10.29 average, then Danny Roberts was third at 10.90 easily covering Kevin Studaker's 11.03.
With five of the top six competitors back for 2015, I felt it was reasonable to expect a similar outcome. My first look at the results of the first day, blew that completely out of the water.
Paul's Demon had thrown down a solid 2 tenth improvement from the previous year, and that left him currently in 5th! Danny Roberts' Used Antifreeze Metallic 80 Malibu was leading a pack of six 9 second cars, and seven 10 second cars, with an unreal 9.52-141, a 1.38 second improvement over his first run in 2014!

Dannys Malibu is for sale.Just saying. LOL.I kid,I kid.

This Javelin makes a statement when you open the hood! Twin Dominators on tunnel ram, the coolest AMC at Drag Week for sure!

Sorry if I missed it. What do you mean "sealed hood"?

Great story!
Thanks, Don

There was an award this year for those that would complete the week with a sealed hood.Ray was one of them as well as Jim with the Nova gasser

That Malibu is killer looking! Love the story.

I scanned the rest of the day one results. I was fourth in Pro Street NA, but was just 5 hundredths behind Glenn Bridger's 68 Camaro. Boone was also fourth in B-Gas, but rumors were flying at the second checkpoint that the Gold Falcon might not make it. Street Machine Eliminator looked pretty hopeless for the no-bar crowd. Only two cars with E.T.s higher than 11.50 were in the quick 32, but Dan Smith's (qwkmopardan, Moparts) 79 300 was equipped with a bar, and was 36th, so if he could tune the small block to sub-11.50 times, the potential was there to remove another spot.

Clark was in the third set of Street Machine Eliminator cars down the famed track, and he was within a hundredth of his St. Louis pass, so the blue barracuda was one, done, and ready to roll toward Wisconsin. John made his first run twenty minutes later, and since it was an 11.04, there was going to be second one. John made his adjustments, and the 67 Valiant returned to the lanes before Rachael and I even entered the facility.

The big Hemi in Mike Chenoweth's 70 Road Runner ran within 3 hundredths of it's St. Louis pass as well, But Rick Callahan, and Dave Dudek's effort suffered a setback, as the black 69 Hemi Road Runner fell off more than a second, and fifteen mph!

Rachael and I drove into the facility around 10:30, and we met a few Drag Weekers exiting at the same time. We backed into the first open area we could find, and began to unload the cars as quickly as possible. Skippy grabbed the jack, and started removing my exhaust from the Valiant, while I backed the timing off a couple degrees on the Belvedere, and poured in a gallon of 118. I was bent over, lowering the tire pressure on the Belvedere when I heard Lohnes announce that John had successfully tuned the Valiant to a 10.92-121.4

As the minutes ticked by, and we were nearly prepared to head to the lanes, I grabbed Rachael for a second.
"Where are my brothers? I thought they were only a little behind us?"
Rachael raised up and pointed, "They're pitted over there!"
I hadn't seen them drive in, but I was definitely breathing easier knowing they were on the property.

Whos copper barracuda? what class did he compete in?

I didn't get to look at it much, I had never seen it before. Very nice car, supercharged big block running low 11s.

I'll tell you what I do like though: a killer, a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold blooded, clean, methodical and thorough. Now a real killer, when he caught up on the story this morning, would've immediately asked about the picture of the Copper Barracuda that I snuck in with no explanation.

Anytime the oportunity to paraphrase Zorg presents itself, I take it!

When I first saw Terry Keifer's 67 Barracuda in tech, well, it's such a clean car, and I saw the turbo, and I expected better than low elevens. The car was solid, reliable and finished the week without much trouble, so I'm quite sure he wasn't worried about anyone else'e expectations other than the one he set for himself.

After Day 1, he was a distant 5th in Super Street Big Bock Power Adder, behind two seven second cars, and two nine second cars.

Despite the fact that Rachael and I arrived fifteen or twenty minutes before Boone and Dale, the Barnyard Viper followed us into the lanes. Boone is pretty quick at converting the truck over from pack mule to strip ready. I pulled up beside the 69 Chevelle of Darryl Yost, which appears to be your typical hot rodded SS 396. While the body and the stance say boulevard cruiser, the drive train, featuring a pro-charged 540, and a G-force 4 speed, align more with the full cage on board. He had a 9.82 on day one, but had made four runs to get it, so I figured I had a chance to get to the finish line first.
The Valiant still had a slight hesitation when I slammed the holley wide open, but it pulled quite nicely, and I shifted to second at 6400, hit third at 6200, and looked over my shoulder for the Chevelle. Reminiscent of my T-stop SST days, he just appeared out of nowhere as we hit the stripe, but I got the win light. I followed the Chevelle up the return road, and was handed a 10.39 time slip, that thrilled the heck out of me. I had no sooner let out a whoop, and started to pull away from the booth, than the beautiful rumble of the small block turned into a thud, thud, thud that sounded like it might be hitting on two cylinders! I shut it off and coasted over to the edge of the pavement, before entering the scale area, and stepped out of the car to have a look under the hood.

Rachael was only two cars behind me in the staging lanes, so she was staging as I stood there helplessly by the Valiant on the return road. The extra lift that the N20 provides to the front end of the Belvedere didn't appear until well after sixty foot, but the 440 sounded good, and the shifts were on time. I could tell she let off the bottle just past the 1K clocks, and when Lohnes announced 11.62 at 114.9, I was very pleased.
She drove up the return road, grabbed her time slip, and was studiously reading it as she blew right past me! If I'd have stepped out in the road, the Belvedere would have a new hood ornament.

Boone was in the next pair, pitting the Barnyard Viper up against Luke Duncan's Maverick with it's tunnel ram equipped, Eddie Miller built 302.

From my vantage point, they were tied together all the way down, with Boone getting the win light, despite running a hundredth slower. He pulled into the grass on the other side of the road, and walked over to the Valiant.
"Looked close", I exclaimed.
"Yeah, that was fun", he agreed, handing me his time slip. "I have to admit, there may have been some hollering and a fist pump, when my win light came on!"
"Your 11.21 at 120.3 beat his 11.20-119.7", I started deciphering the incrementals, "wait a minute, you had the tree, but he had six on you at sixty foot!"
"That's what made it such a good drag race", Boone laughed, "I didn't even know I had the tree, because he killed me so bad in 60 foot. I pulled even a little after the 330, then just kept inching ahead the rest of way down!

Billy, you guys are having too much fun. LOL

He smiles on Sunday and Friday most of the time. LOL

I dont remember what day it was but Rachael was down in lobby making like 6 waffles, she was alone. I said does your dad just get to come down and get served breakfast, she said yup. haha

"So...what do you think is wrong with it?" Boone motioned towards the open hood of the Valiant.
"Not sure, it sounded terrible, so I shut it off. Then I re-fired it and it sounded fine, drove about fifteen feet and just flat died."
"Fuel or ignition?"
"I think ignition, but why don't you go get a couple of gallons of pump gas, and we'll try that. Bring back the tow rope also, in case that's not it."
"Alright, be back in a few, but I'm not sure it's legal to tow you back."
"Why the heck not? I've seen it done about twenty times in the last few years!"
"Yeah...but those were racers helping other racers...we're considered a team, so it might be looked on that I'm your mule!"
"You ARE my mule", I exclaimed.
"Screw you", he smiled, "I'll be back in a bit."

The amount of cars pounding the strip had slowed to a trickle, but quite a few of the Street Machine Eliminator guys who were close to the bump were making multiple runs trying to find a spot in the quick 32. The quick 32 bracket race requires you to subtract a tenth from your 5 day average, so if you have a no-bar car limited to 11.50, you want to average 11.60 in order to set yourself up for eliminations. Veterans of the class like Ross Dudley and his '68 RR, and Scott Abbott with his '70 RR, had nailed it on Monday, carding an 11.67, and 11.64 respectively. The problem became clear when they checked first day results though, and they realized that an 11.60 five day average wasn't going to make the bump! Ross' crew was obviously pleased when he laid down an 11.51-120.8, but Scott was forced to try it once again in his Orange beast, and finally settled for an 11.57-120.5. Despite their best efforts, they still drove away from Indianapolis with Ross in the 36th spot, and Scott at 38th...Rachael was 49th, by comparison.

Turk was busy this year.Decision depended on whether he had a Diet Coke in his hand or not. LOL

When Boone came back, he pulled the fuel jug out of his Truck, then chuckled and shook his head as he handed it to me.
"What's so funny?
"I had to explain to Sean Fling in the Staging lanes why I was heading up the return road backwards", Boone expounded, "and he thinks you need the fuel to make weight on the scales!"
"Why would he think I would try to skirt the rules?" I laughed, knowing that Sean has read my stories in the past.
After we dumped the fuel in, the small block fired to life and sounded just fine, so Boone headed back to the pits. I jumped in the Valiant and rolled up on the scales.
"You're good", Matt smiled, and gave me a thumbs up, "3140 lbs."
I pulled off the scales and idled down the return road, made it to about the eighth mile mark, when it suddenly started missing, and sounding like it was barely hitting on two or three. I shut it off in disgust, and coasted over to the right, hopefully leaving others room to get by. Here I sat holding the best time slip the Valiant had ever produced normally aspirated, and I couldn't get back to my pits! I pulled my phone out to call Boone again, when I looked up and noticed a track worker coming towards me on a four wheeler with one of those rollers attached that you see them use to clear the Top Fuel cars off the track with. He spun around, and bumped my rear tire, then checked to see if the height would work on my car. Talk about customer service, he pushed me all the way down the return road, through the lanes, and all the way through the pits to my pit spot!

While it seemed much longer, the time from my pass down the fabled track, to my embarrassing shove into our pit spot, only covered thirty-five minutes, and Dale was just heading up for a pass in the Gremlin. John had the back of the 67 Valiant jacked about four feet into the air and I could see that he had already switched to his street tires, but he was under the transmission now. I walked up beside the car and questioned him on the problem.
"This thing has one of those US Car Tool drive shaft loops that bolts to the trans cross member", he explained without coming out from under the car, "and the flimsy piece of junk was flexing so bad last night on those bad roads that I thought it was going to grab onto the shaft and rip it out of there!"
He rolled out from under the car, "but, the bolts are all tight, nothing seems out of order, and the drive shaft is only scuffed...it's just not approved for rough Illinois county roads!"

Dale launched the Gremlin, and I didn't hear him pedal it, so that was a good sign. He was on a single, so I heard the announcer call out 9.08.
"He'll want another one...no doubt about it", Dad declared.

Thanks for keeping the story alive, Billy!

Oh there's more to come I was on the phone with Billy's Dad today and he had a few after Drag Week stories to tell.

Okies FTE DW win. LOL

When I bought the Valiant in 2006, the first thing I did was add an overhead electrical control panel, and a MSD Digital 6 plus. At that time, it was a pure bracket car with no passenger seat, so I laid on my back, and tucked all the new wiring under the dash. With two seats in the car, it's pretty much impossible for me to get to.
Robert, as an electrical engineer, and Aaron, as a low voltage tech (I don't even know what that means) were infinitely more qualified to chase down my current problem than I was, and more importantly they were willing!
"We can have all the major components tested over at the MSD trailer", Robert explained.
I showed Aaron how to remove the factory glove box, and lid to open more space to work with, he's half my age (and size), and twice as flexible, so it appeared as if he would have no problems getting to everything. Then the two of them started talking about a circuit that was opening up due to heat etc. and my head started hurting, so I had to walk away.
Robert took the coil off, and headed in the direction of the MSD guys.

Dale was swapping out bottles in the Gremlin, so I talked to him for a minute, and asked him what he hoped to accomplish by making another run.
"Well...it only ran 147", he shook his head, and stuck the time slip in my face, "that bottle was done on the big end...whole pass really, the second plate had no punch. It'll go eights with a fresh bottle".
"That's the quickest pass you've ever made on Drag Week, and you want more..."
"I went 9.04 last year", he cut me off, "and it's been eights plenty since then, no reason it won't do it now!"
"The 9.04 was during the Saturday shootout, not Drag Week, that time slip represents your quickest run."
"Not after this one I'm fixin' to make!" He smiled.

James and Dale headed to the lanes, as Robert returned with the coil.
"Tested out great", Robert explained to Aaron and I, "they really put it through it's paces, it was pretty cool! So this isn't the problem, we need to pull the distributor next and try it out!"
Robert looked a little flushed, and I wasn't sure if it was the brisk walk through the pits, or watching the test procedure!
I started to pull the distributor, while they discussed whether or not we need to pull the box all the way out.
"He's got quite a bit of this hard wired", Aaron explained, "and what isn't, is just butt connectors and black tape!"
Robert had a disgusted look on his face.
"It's just wiring!" I tossed my hands up, "What's the big deal?"
Now they both just glared at me like I was from another planet.

Dale left with the front end hiked on the Gremlin, then immediately hit the second plate, it dropped the front hard and smoked the tires, jumping out of the groove. He hesitated, then smacked it again, resulting in a 9.99-146. I knew if he returned to our pits, he was done, but I feared that he would drive right back up for another shot!

Robert and I headed towards the MSD trailer, with the billet distributor in hand. I also had Dale's BB distributor, with hopes of getting a new module put in it.
"Did they say that they had a Digital 6 plus in stock?"
"Yeah", Robert nodded, "I asked about that when I brought the coil up."
"I'm thinking I should just buy it, if they are leaving at two pm, we may not have time to get the box out and get it tested."
We walked into a small enclosed trailer, with neat, white, aluminum cabinets lining both sides. The technician popped the distributor into his machine, and started turning knobs and adding rpm. The thing was actually making music as it threw out blue sparks across a board. Robert had worked his camera out of his pocket and was trying to discretely record the test, but I was starting to feel uncomfortable and awkward. Watching your buddy get all excited and short of breath like that, I felt like I was the third wheel!

Once the test was concluded, the tech determined it was fine, so I purchased the box, and gave them Dale's dizzy. They were in a hurry to load up and get on the road, so they agreed to have it ready for him when we arrived in Union Grove.

Back at the Valiant, we decided to switch the boxes. I remembered that the distributor lead snaked between the two firewalls, and there was a connection in between. I started slowly removing the inspection cover so I could fish out the wire, and disconnect it, when John walked over to see what I was doing. I explained it to him, and he jumped in to help with the job. He handed me the cover, then reached in to grab the lead wires.
"You guys can stop pulling the box out", John boomed, "I just found the problem! Billy put a butt connector splice in the distributor lead, and it pulled apart as soon as I touched it!"
Aaron raised up from where he was crouched under the dash, and Robert looked up from the door opening.
"You have to be kidding! He spliced a MSD distributor lead? They come with fancy connectors and shielding for a reason!"
All of them were looking at me like I had three eyeballs.
"It worked for eight years, and three Drag weeks..." I mumbled and shrugged my shoulders.

Lol, good reading!!

We used the long distributor lead that came with the new box, and I handed Aaron a cordless drill with a step bit so he could enlarge the hole in the inside firewall. The small hole didn't allow the connector to fit through, which is why I had spliced it in the first place. We decided to hook everything up, and just give it a shot before we put everything back in place. The 428 fired easily, and sounded like it's old self again, so we tasked Aaron with re-attaching the box, securing the wires, and screwing the glove box back in place.

Dale had the timing light hooked up to the Gremlin, and was prepared to return the 440 to street driving status, but when James hit the starter button, all we heard was the whir of the starter motor, the drive never hit the flex plate teeth.
"The drive is broke, you need a new starter", John diagnosed from his back under the Gremlin, after Dale and James jacked up the front and put it on stands. I rustled around in one of the totes Rachael carried in the Belvedere, and dug out my new in the box spare that I've carried in every Drag Week since 2011.

Jeremy (furious 70, Moparts) and his Dad, have spectated at multiple Drag Weeks, and they joined in on the fun at Indy. I always enjoy hanging out with them, even though there never seems to be enough time to really enjoy the visit! They were cruising, in the big purple beast, and were also making the trip to Union Grove.

That Fury is cool!

That's not my Fury, that's Radar's. I've never actually met him. The Fury will show up like a ninja, sit in the back of a parking lot, and then magically disappear...

I had my Fury up at Union Grove (took the lazy way out with my 2012 Charger down to Indy and Cordova), but there were so many people there I was parked way back.

THe new issue of Hot Rod magazine says Billys car looks like a frog. I really disagree. Frogs don't have fins. I was thinking more like this:

I have a affinity toward them, my best friend growing up had one given to him by his mother, she bought it new. 1962 valiant with a slant 6, 170 and my first car I bought for 50 dollars was a 63 belvedere 225 slant six. Both of us couldn't drive yet(13 or so) so we proceeded to fix his car up and use my other car for the 225, we ended up porting the head, new crane solid cam and offy intake with a 390 holley, we sanded and had a neighbor paint it red with gold in the trim. Later swapped a junkyard 8 3/4 391 gear. Drove that thing everywhere as young dudes. We spent lots of time learning on it, tuning etc. was way cool

Me too. THe creature and the car!

LOL.Nailed it Joel.LOL. As for Radars car I dont think ive heard a better sounding Mopar.I first saw it at DW 07.

100%, Radar and his wife are way cool. I think that is the one of, if not the coolest 69-71 C Body hotrods out there.

Thanks for the good read Billy, I haven't missed a year yet!

Now thats funny! You know they say our cars are a reflection of who we are

Hear ya go Billy, I think you could pull it off.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DON-POST-MASK-CR...E-/151904350789

Checked E-bay the link.You would be correct. LOL.Kind of looked like Boone though.

Ok, Jeremy, now I'm really confused, this is at least the second time I've met you at Drag Week, and Radar's car has been there, so I thought you had purchased his! Like you mentioned, in those instances, I didn't see Radar anywhere, which only perpetuated my confusion.

It's not at all unusual that people (and cars) from previous drag weeks tend to show up for at least a visit on the current one, kind of like a moth to a flame, I guess!

Lewis Martin, who's taken his 301 Street Cars 72 Chevelle to four DWs, was on hand with his family at least one day, as was Mike and Vicki Crow (lawndart69)

I had to laugh at the "froggy-faced plymouth" moniker Hot Rod used in this issue, as I figured the person who wrote it was too young to remember that these cars were called "road toads" in their hay day!

Other former competitors rides spotted during this year's event included Mike Angerer's '74 Opel Manta, and Kris Henderson's '59 Jaguar.

Darren, walked over and asked to see my route sheet.
"Crud!" I reached in my wallet for my time slip, "I haven't turned my time in yet, thanks for reminding me. Did you get some good rest? I didn't even see what time you made it out here".
Darren decided to stay at the motel and sleep in, since he wasn't in competition. As I've chronicled before, sleep deprivation and exhaustion have taken as many people out of Drag Week as parts failure (although the one is usually the symptom of the other).
"No!" Darren shrugged, "they kept knocking on the door to clean the room, the second or third time I was sleeping so hard, the gal came in, and started the vacuum cleaner before she realized I was still in there!"
"That was more of a corporate motel", I explained, "They were already cleaning rooms when we were leaving at nine."
"I saw Jim sleeping under his car", Darren laughed, "and they just announced that Jeff Lutz threw in the towel about fifty miles down the road bacause he was too tired to go on. At least I got more sleep than Dale and James, they are going to be dragging on the trip this afternoon".
"Yeah, Rachael too", I agreed, "Hopefully she'll let Skip drive some. Why's Tony's Javelin up on stands?"
"They've got the transmission out of it, something about the case", Darren commented.

Oh boy

I was fine after my little nap.

I like the gear lube bottle next to you so nobody asked any questions.

hey, I was checking the rearend oil. It was pretty comfy under there....I had about an hour of sleep so far that night/morning....

this one is mine

I would so drive that, actually like this one more, can you say sleeper barge!

Well that was kind, Brian Lohnes referred to it at least once as something like "a Chrysler design error from the sixtyies".

I don't care what they say, I like it!

Bill

Look at who said it.LOL.

He is still my favorite announcer. I think his best was when he said a car he really liked, a fast, turbo, big block Chevette, started out as a collection of bad ideas.

Bill

He does a helluva job.

yes most people don't expect this

LOl, nice!...I was thinking if it was mine, a stroker big block with nitrous, but this works!, whats it run?

I've not gotten it to the track since turbos, that's the funny thing about having 2 young kiddos...
for that reason I'm still only running 5psi (to ensure the whole thing stays together). It's a stock parts house rebuild 383 under all that, nothing special at all. I'm also afraid for my a500 OD and 8 3/4. I do have 10psi springs that someday will go in...

When the car was setup with a magnum 383, 750 holley, headers, and 3.91's it ran 14.18 @ 98mph, how's that? :P

Very cool, fun ride for sure!
I've been keeping my eyes open for a '70 Fury 2-dr project, always liked the front of those.
Billy, didn't mean to hijack.

That's quite alright John, been busy last couple days anyway!

I asked Boone to help me get a picture of my time slip, then he joined me on the walk up to the tower to turn them in, and get our route sheets.
"So, how much sleep did you get before Dale called you to go ahead at the second checkpoint last night?"
"None", Boone shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as we walked, "it was crazy, I was at that gas station for two and a half hours in a big, bizarre, bench racing session with locals, and other Drag Weekers... I thought I would never get out of there!"
"Really! How the heck did that happen?" I'm always amazed when Boone has long conversations with anyone other than his brothers,as he's not exactly a social butterfly.
"Well, first, that guy with the blue 427R mustang pulled in to get gas, and he walked over and started telling me his impressions of Drag Week so far. He talked about how his brother Roger wanted to go in that '58 Volvo contraption, so he convinced him to do it, and he bought that '08 Roush just for the event!"
"That's a stick car isn't it? Seemed like he was struggling, a bit", I added.
"Yeah", Boone agreed, "not much seat time! Anyway, his brother broke the Volvo on the first day, so he decided to just ride with Charles in the Mustang, but they asked one of the Drag Week staff and were told that wasn't legal!"
"BS", I exclaimed, "Guys have been doing that since the beginning of Drag Week!"
"That's what I told him also, but he said it was for the best, because his brother decided to take the Volvo back home to Illinois, then pick up his son and meet back up with him in Union Grove, and follow along from there."
"That's cool, but that's not a two hour conversation".
"Oh no", Boone laughed, and shook his head again, "We're just getting started!"

"So then", Boone continued, "this guy pulls in driving a short-bed Dodge, 72 up style, with big tires, and a small block, and he gets out all excited, and starts talking about how his buddy Trevor is going to freak out when he finds out that the one and only Barnyard Viper is right here in the middle of his home town."
"You're making this part up!" I challenged him, looking to see his expression.
"I swear!" He looked at me seriously, "it gets crazier, this guy looks me square in the face and says: 'with Trevor, there is is wife', and he put his hand level, 'then God', and he put his hand higher, 'then the Barnyard Viper!', and he raised his hand even higher."
"That's a pretty strong statement", I added.
"Yeah, so he's looking at the truck, I'm showing him everything, and I kinda figure the Mustang guy would excuse himself, and head on to Indy, but he just kept right on talking. Then, a little later, another guy pulls in and immediately starts talking to the first local about whether or not Trevor knew the Barnyard Viper is in town! The first guy tells him that he already texted Trevor, and he's at work, with no way to escape. Then the second guy starts telling me how much Trevor loves my truck!"
"You're lucky you made it out of there alive", I teased.
We walked up the stairs and into the tower suite where Tonya Turk, and Tara Fling took our time slips, looked at our pictures of the checkpoints, then handed us our official Drag Week time slips and route sheets.
On the way back Boone continued, "then that Father/daughter team pulled in driving a slow Camaro in Street Machine Eliminator, and they were looking for emory cloth for Jeff Lutz, so he could try to polish his crank up, and keep going..."
"Polish the crank?" I interjected, "Where was he?"
"He was on the far side of town, in a dealership parking lot, according to what they told us. So the guy in the Dodge truck volunteered to go to his shop and pick some up for them. Meanwhile the Camaro group just jumped out and started right in on the bench racing session with me, Charles in the Mustang, the second local, and two guys on a golf cart from the car lot across the street! Just when I thought it couldn't get any more bizarre, a mini-van flew into the parking lot, and a woman gets out dressed in a nursing outfit, and explained she was on her way to work, when she looked over and saw the real Barnyard Viper!"
"Stop it, Boone! If I write that, I'll have no credibility left!
"It's the truth! She was Trevor's Wife! So then she handed me her phone and asked me to take pictures of her and the truck, because the Barnyard Viper is his screensaver, and now he could have a picture of it with her in the shot as well!"
"Oh, boy; I'm surprised you could even get back in the truck as big as your head had to have been at that point!"

Now that is funny as hell Billy... you have a star in your
midst.. LOL

"Eventually, she headed off to work, the guy in the Dodge came back with the emory cloth, the convenience store closed, and they shut off half the lights", Boone continued, "So I told them I had to go back to the checkpoint to wait for Dale, and escaped.
"So, then you still didn't get any sleep", I asked.
"No...about five minutes after I returned to the mural on the wall there, Jeffery Lutz pulled up in his Honda, took his picture, and asked me if I knew where his Dad was! I told him the location, and about ten minutes after that, Dale called me to go ahead. When I drove by the parking lot Jeff and the Camaro were in, there must've been seven or eight Drag Week cars all huddled around trying to help out!"
Boone and I walked past Tony's Javelin on our way to our pits, and I asked him what was going on.
"Well, I was back from my run, and noticed a trans fluid leak. Checked it out, and realized the case was cracked, so I asked myself what would the Gebharts do? Then I decided to pull it out and try to get another one and keep going!"
Now, I have to admit, I appreciated the sentiment, but I knew there was more at stake than that for Tony. This is a dyed-in-the-wool AMC enthusiast from the South West, and our Tuesday journey was taking us to Union Grove Wisconsin, which is a scant 34 miles from the promised land of Kenosha Wisconsin, birthplace of AMC. Tony and his 401 had a homecoming planned, and no busted GM trans. was going to keep them from it! He told me he had one coming from Cincinnati, Ohio, which sounded like he was calling in a favor from another of the AMC faithful!

Boone had parked the Barnyard next to Dan Holdren's 65 sweptline when he came back to the pits. Dan was at the festivities spectating, and his truck is equally as popular as Boone's on the old Dodge websites and FB pages. It was crazy how many people were shooting pics of the drastically different "twin '65s"!

Dale and James had just crawled out from under the Gremlin when we got back, they were under it in an attempt to adjust the coil springs up higher on the shocks in hopes of not bottoming out quite so much on this portion of the road trip. With all that crap hanging off the back on their hitch cart, I had my doubts!
Rachael, Skippy, and Aaron had both of our cars ready to roll, Dad and Darren had already hooked up the trailer to the Barnyard, and John had his trailer hooked up, and the tarp bungied down with precision, so it appeared we were ready to roll.

Darren and Dale got the early jump on us this time, as we sat at the track entrance forever trying to find a hole in the traffic to make a left on US 136. Rachael and I, along with Boone, John, and Robert, all pulled into the first gas station we came across, about four miles down the road. We filled up with gas while Rachael stocked up everyone's coolers with ice and drinks.

We were almost ready to head out again when Daryl Yost's thumping 69 Chevelle came to a stop behind us, and he jumped out along with Mike, from the passenger's side (remember, the Drag Week Odd Couple). Who'd of thought, when they made their pact on registration day, that the 9 second car would be playing parts gopher for the 15 second Firebird? They were looking for an electric fuel pump, or possibly fittings to help them convert over to a smaller parts store electric pump. John stared at his perfectly wrapped trailer, then started taking straps loose, and dug out his spare mallory 140. Boone went through Dale's extensive collection of spare fittings, and since Dale wasn't there to complain, gave them enough for several different options. They left in the Chevelle, fairly confident that they could piece the Pontiac back together, and get it on the road.

We all pitched in to get John's trailer back under the tarp, and started out of Indianapolis.

Five miles up I-74 West, Skippy called me to complain that the Belvedere was already at 220. I told him to have Rachael back off my bumper a couple of hundred feet to allow more fresh air through the radiator, and to tape over the gauge!
"Don't call me on this again, unless the thing is whistling like a tea pot and spitting water out on the windshield", I explained to him.
Fifteen miles later we jumped off on IL-136, and spent the next fifteen miles on a picturesque little two lane bracketed on both sides by farm houses and mature corn fields. Twenty miles in, Skippy was already done!

We were 56 miles into our 284 mile trip, when we made a right turn onto US-41 heading due north, with only thirteen miles to go until the first checkpoint.
"A little warmer than yesterday on the temp gauge", Aaron pointed out.
"Yeah...she'll be fine!"
We were cruising along behind Doc McEntire's Camaro, and he was only running about fifty, which led me to believe his billet Goodwin Hemi was probably running warmer than he liked also...

Damn sorry I missed it.would of been cool to meet you guys.I live right off of exit 150 and work on fort wood. Maybe next year if you come back this way.cool story.

There really wasn't much to complain about at this point in the game, cruising down the back roads of rural Indiana in the lengthening shadows of the evening with the windows down, the window wings open, and the sound of 600 ready and willing horses reverberating off the occasional barn set out near the road.
"Did you and Robert get much sleep last night?"
"Not so much", Aaron pulled his gaze in from the side window, "you're in a catch 22 of sorts, how much do you sleep in, versus how much of the action on the strip do you want to miss!"
"I really appreciate all the wiring help today, kind of feel like an idiot!"
"Well, that was actually fun", he chuckled, "I wanted to be involved, today, I definitely was."

We drove into the beautiful little town of Attica Indiana (population 3100), nestled between the Harrison Hills Golf and Country Club, and the Wabash River, for our first checkpoint of the drive. The Drag Week planning staff has always been partial to buildings with murals on them, especially if they have somewhat roomy parking lots, and this one was no different. We rolled up around 6:15pm, but somewhat surprisingly, the NAPA store across the street, and the Tire and Auto store whose parking lot we were using, had already rolled up their sidewalks and went home!

Who wouldn't love the nose on that gremmie

Skippy was complaining about the Belvedere reaching 250 degrees almost as soon as they parked for their picture, so that got everyone's attention. Drag Weeker Jeff McConnell, who was riding shotgun in Doc's Camaro this year, walked over for a look, with a small infra-red temp gun in his hand.
"Two twenty at the very hottest spot", he shrugged, "I don't think the gauge is accurate".
"I've suspected that for a while", I confirmed, "What about you guys?"
"Well, he had zero road time on that big Hemi, before we arrived, so we've been dialing in the fuel injection as we go. With all our little tweaks along the way, we've pulled about twenty-five degrees of engine temp out of it since we left St. Louis, but those first twenty miles had us really nervous!"
James "Doc" McEntire walked over and I asked him if he got the number he wanted today. His face instantly lit up, "Yeah! 8.37-169! Quickest NA car on Drag Week, now we just have to keep it together!"

Rachael, Skippy, John and Opal had all been monitoring social media for constant updates from other drag weekers, and there was a report of a bridge out fifty miles up the road, and several, different versions of which was the best way around it. Rachael was scribbling alternate routes on my sheet...now that made me nervous!

8.37 in a "soft" class.Doc and Jeff are good people.

We were all enjoying the shade provided by the buildings in the fading sun, planning our next move, when the relative peace was interrupted with the staccato exhaust note of very big, very nervous BBC in the engine bay of Michael Wenzler's nitroused gen 3 Camaro. They had removed the hood scoop, the lexan side windows, and the lexan grille blocker for the drive, and it gave the mid seven second car a dicarded eighties Pro Stocker look.

I used the distraction to get the jump on everyone, and Aaron and I jumped back on US-41, crossed over the Wabash river, and headed out of town.

It was thirty-seven easy miles into Kentland, where the directions required us to make a left to exit from US-41 onto US-52. Every one of these deviations on the route sheet is accompanied with a mileage total, and for old school guys like me, that's how I know when to gas up.
"How far are we in?" I asked Aaron when he told me our turn was forthcoming.
"107", he informed me.
I made a left at the intersection, then an immediate right into a Marathon gas station, and pulled up to a pump. John and Opal followed us in, as did Darren and Robert. We were out of the car and walking around when the Belvedere went straight through the intersection at 50 mph, still headed down US-41, with the Gremlin following suit about 200 feet off their bumper. Boone and Dad made the left and entered the gas station, shaking their heads in laughter as I pulled my phone out to call Rachael.
"I know, I know", She said before I even spoke, "We're turning around!"
I filled up the Valiant, then instructed Aaron to move it out of the way, so Rachael could pull up to the same pump and I could get both in one shot. He gave me a strange look, but hopped inside and had it fired up with no difficulty, so I could tell he had been paying attention to the process. He moved it out just as Rachael brought the Belvedere in the parking lot from the opposite direction.

Dale, and Darren decided to get the jump on me out of the Marathon, and were out on the road first, with Rachael only a few minutes behind them. John and Opal headed out after them, and I pulled out with Robert following me, and Boone, who likes to be the caboose, catch-all guy, leaving last.
The fading sun was barely over the trees, John was a good quarter of a mile down the road ahead of me, and I surveyed a nice straight piece of asphalt in front of me. Aaron was already concentrating on the phone screen in front of his face, but gave a barely perceptible sidelong glance as the tach trickled up to 3K, and we were still in low gear. That was the cue I was looking for, and I hammered the 428 to full throttle. The Valiant jumped up on the tires, and the tach marched from 5K to 6K faster than Aaron could brace himself and say "Holy..."!
I popped second at 6400, third at 6200, and lifted a second later.
"That's way better than an energy drink", Aaron smiled and laughed, "instant adrenaline rush!"
"Yeah", I agreed, "This thing is so much fun on the street...I struggle to behave myself!"
"I see what you mean about the wide, flat torque curve...it's instantly there, then just pulls hard and steady all the way through! Robert's Barracuda pushes you back harder in the seat as the rpm climbs." He added.
We had been riding together for ten hours plus on this trip at this point, and had discussed the philosophies I have come to depend on when building a combination, so I had told him the reasoning behind each component on the Valiant.
"Yeah, I've rode in Robert's car, that thing has way more cylinder head, and cubic inches, and horsepower, than I do!"

I had lost sight of the others, and we drove into the little town of Sheldon, made a right to continue on US 52, and were greeted by orange signs which proclaimed "Road Closed, local traffic only!" We drove around, and immediately started looking for the county road short cut described in Rachael's scribbles on the sheet. The first one we came to was barely more than a one-and-a-half lane dirt road, and I made the instant decision that we weren't trusting any county roads to complete this trip. I was about to turn around and head back into Sheldon, when I saw Rick Prospero's green BB turbo RX7 on the side of the road talking with a local in a Ford truck. I pulled over a few hundred yards behind him and just waited, figuring that after the local gave him directions, I'd just follow the RX7 through this mess.
Surprisingly, the guy in the Ford pulled up to my window, as soon as he pulled away from Prospero. "Are you guys with him?" He asked, leaning his head out of the window.
"Yeah, pretty much!"
"Ok, I'll tell you the same thing I told him! Go back to that intersection where the sign was and take a right on twenty-four, you'll run into the town of Watseka, take a right on highway one, and it will take you back to 52. Basically, it's just the opposite two legs of a square", he held thumbs to index fingers to illustrate, "it's eight miles, either way, so it's not costing you any more miles from that sheet he had!"
We thanked him, and flipped directions as the RX7 rumbled by with a honk and a wave.

We made it a mile down US-24, when Rachael and Skippy drove past us going the opposite direction in the Belvedere.
"She's lost again!" I told Aaron, and reached for my phone.
"They are turning around," he informed me as he turned to look out the back glass.
We drove into Watseka, and immediately noticed an inordinate amount of street rods and old cars cruising the main drag. We drove by a Steak and Shake, where a couple of guys sitting in lawn chairs out front waved us towards the large grocery store parking lot directly behind the restaurant. We could see a large car show in progress, which seemed odd for a Tuesday evening, but many of these mid-western small farming towns have week long festivals right at the end of summer.
"There's some muscle here tonight, we just have to rope one out!" I breathed as we idled on by, I really wanted to stop, but I knew everyone was hammered, and we needed all the sleep we could get tonight.
"Huh? What did you say?" Aaron asked.
Apparently he doesn't know Two Lane Blacktop line for line, while I find that disappointing, he is only twenty-seven, so I'll have to give him a pass.

In a couple of pics of the Grem.. the carrier on
back, the stick, sticking up (gas can filler) looks
like a shifter.. the first pic I seen it on I LOL..
I thought it was a shifter... it was appropriate
EDIT
It sorta reminded me of the Ratfink cartoons with
the gear shifter out through the roof..LOL

We cleared the outskirts of Watseka, and came up to the bridge over the river Iroquois, and it had a makeshift stoplight and construction barriers, because it was one lane only on IL-1. This is the same river which we couldn't cross because of bridge construction on US-52. Who the heck is planning bridge projects in the Illinois Dept of Transportation?

Two miles down the road, all my brothers started calling me with questions about the possibility of stopping to eat. The fact that they chose to make this a priority after we were all split up into three different groups, after we just drove through a town with 10 or 15 eateries, and after seven at night did not make me happy, or agreeable to much, and I made that abundantly clear.
Dale must've drawn the short straw, because he called me back about thirty minutes later to let me know that they had found a Mexican restaurant in a strip mall next to a Wal-Mart, right before we jumped onto I-57. I live in Arizona, so my first thought was that I probably eat better Mexican food off Taco trucks than we were going to find in a strip mall in Illinois, but I went with the flow.
When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was that we had lost John and Opal. Dale explained that he tried to call them once they made the determination to stop, but John didn't answer. Obviously, in this instance, John was smarter than I was.

Actually it was quite a nice place, and they slammed four four tops together to accommodate us banquet, long table style. Shortly after the drink orders, everyone had their smart phones out, checking the Drag Weeker face book page, and looking up the days results on Hot Rod's website.
Rachael sucked a breath in and commented loudly, "The guy with that white Chrysler had a wreck today!"
"The 79 300, Dan?" I asked, motioning her to show me the post.
Sure enough, there was a picture of the late B-body sitting at the second checkpoint, with the passenger's fender shoved back considerably.
"You are in second place now!", Dale pointed at me, "That yellow Cars Camaro didn't show in Indy!"
"Oh, yeah, I heard a rumor about that last night", Boone added, "The Black Camaro he was with was having all kinds of overheating issues right out of St. Louis, so the two of them threw in the towel."
"I was fourth after day one. How did I get around the other red Camaro", I asked.
Dale was squinting at his screen, "You went 10.39 to his 10.50 today...so you're average is 10.465 to his 10.490!"
"That's going to be tight all the way back to St. Louis", Robert chimed in.
"You're third in B-Gas, Boone", Dale continued, "That gold metal flake Falcon never made it to Indy."

Uh yeah, all roads into and out of Illinois sux, but the bridges especially! Wonder if the 300 guy ever found a grille, I have a couple laying around... Your stories are amazing, there really should be a book or magazine write-up on them! I will chime back in after the rain stories in northern Illinois.

"How about you, in Modified, Power Adder?" I asked Dale as he thumbed through the results.
"Well", he chuckled, "I jumped all the way from 9th in my class to 5th!"
"Just from picking up four tenths today", I questioned, "That's a big jump".
"No, the ET didn't help me at all", he whistled, "four of the cars with a faster slip in St. Louis, never made it to Indy! One more day like that, and I'll be in the lead!"

The waiter took our orders, the chips and salsa were passed out, and the conversations continued.

"I saw Blasco put down a 7.70 in the Dart today", Robert offered, "Where did that put him in Pro Street Power Adder?"
"Yeah", Dale confirmed, "7.706-184.35, and that means he's leading the class!"
Rachael handed me her phone, so I could play along, "You know, Pro Street Power Adder could've been the best class of the whole event, BY FAR, if the four guys already out would've had healthy, sorted out rides."
"Definitely", Boone agreed, "Mike Roy, three time winner, 7.56-188 best. Dom ran a 7.97 in the Viper Truck!"
"Fink went 7.90 in his old wagon, so you know he expected that 'Vette to be quicker than that. Then, Wischmann's old small block Mustang was an 8.50 hitter in Street Race, so he had to be shooting for a ton more with a big block Camaro", I added.
"Look", Dale shrugged, "It's still going to be a barn burner, Hunter went 7.63 in the '56, and McGilton ran 7.73 in the ZL-1. Anything can happen, and Leslie Smith's 67 Nova went low eight's at 180, just waiting for one of the top three to screw up!"
"Isn't Tina in that class", Rachael asked, "with her new Colorado?"
"Sure is", I nodded, "pair of mid-eight second runs, good for fifth so far".

The food started to show up, but I was still mining the results for nuggets of information.
"Dad! Bad news!"
Dad looked up from his plate, he had been extraordinarily quiet tonight.
"The little Willy's pick up you were eyeballing so much, never made it to Indy either", I informed him.
"Dang it! I really like that thing." He conceded.
I looked over at Boone, "Charley Ogle went 11.26 at 123.9 today! That has to be the quickest he's went on Drag Week?"
He consulted his stat sheet quickly, "Yeah, by quite a bit!"

I was seated with James to my right, and the waiter set a large platter in front of him piled high with loaded, fajita style, nachos.
"Oh boy", I quickly commented, "James is going to be the last one done eating by a bunch!"
"Why do you say that?" He looked at me with a guarded grin.
"Haven't you ever heard the old saying, slower than a one thumbed man in a nacho eating contest?"
Laughter erupted from the table, "You starting already?" He shot back.
"I've been saving up the thumb jokes all year, James", I assured him.

"How's the Barracuda Vs. GS455 battle going this year", Dale asked, having already stowed his phone, and working his way through his meal.
"Covey and the GS have a pair of 10.19s, while the purple AAR ran 10.43 and 10.50. Randy's going to be mad at you!"
Dale looked up, as if suddenly remembering something, "Did I tell you he's got an Indy single plane on that big Buick?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's running an Indy Dominator intake with flanges modified to match the Buick head, I guess no one casts a big enough intake for them...thought that was odd when we were working on it."

Oh yes, the Fun Wash a couple blocks from my house, I use it all the time! I wish I could have made it to GLD for the runs, but that darn work thing kept getting in my way...

We didnt see the elephant until about 1 or 2 am, at that point I had changed the trans, we got lost where the bridge was out and had maneuvered through a corn field, I lost my wallet, we blew through the toll booth and we had not had anything to eat.

We had about and hour and a half invested in our supper, but everyone walked out of El Mexicano satisfied, and ready to roll. Darren was the leader of the pack, followed closely by Dale and James in the Gremlin, with Rachael and Skippy giving chase in the Belvedere. I fired up the Valiant, backed out in front of Boone, turned on my lights, and...no headlights. I pushed and pulled the switch several times...nothing.

I circled back into the parking lot, and shut the car off. Robert was still there, as was Boone and Dad in the Barnyard Viper. After about fifteen minutes of messing around, then searching through the Valiant, I realized about 90% of my electrical tools and stuff were in the Belvedere, so I called Rachael, and told her to turn around and come back.

The good news was, once again, I had electrical expertise in the form of Robert and Aaron, on location. The bad news is, with guys like this, you don't just run a jumper wire and head on down the road. You have to test, diagnose the problem, and eliminate any weak or potential problem areas.
"Where's the fuse box?" Robert asked, with Aaron already probing around under the dash with a test light.
"Uh...I yanked that out and threw it away", I reluctantly explained.
I could see Aaron's hand with the test light in it recoil, almost involuntarily as Robert groaned, "So what kind of circuit protection do you have?"
"Well, I did the race car wiring first, then I ran a jumper wire from that over to the factory wiring, and stuff just started working, so I left well enough alone!"

Rachael pulled back in the parking lot, and the headlights on the Belvedere were two very dim orange orbs that couldn't have possibly been providing enough light to drive by!
I instructed her to leave it running, and opened the hood to find the plug dangling from the back of the alternator. Apparently, with all our attempts to get it working properly, someone had broken the clip feature which holds it in. I stuck it back in place, and the lights began to brighten considerably. The 440 sounded like garbage though, piston slap, rod knock, lifters?
"You here that Robert?" I asked in a hushed voice, as he was standing right beside me.
"Yeah, but I wasn't going to mention it...doesn't sound all that healthy!"
I shut the hood, and gave Rachael a thumbs up. Things always sound worse when you are tired and road weary, we would re-visit that problem in the morning!

We tested, and determined the switch was good, determined that the wiring from the firewall to the lights was good, determined that the wiring from the switch to the dimmer switch was good. Finally it was narrowed down to a short in the wiring from the dimmer switch to the firewall plug.

The two experts determined that I was lucky I didn't melt the whole mess together, or burn the car down. Since I already had a fused light circuit on my painless panel that was powering the gauge lights, they decided to tap into that relay, then jumper to the headlights.

A few minutes later we were rolling down I-57, and I commented to Aaron that the lights were much brighter than they had ever been in the past. He rolled his eyes, chuckled, and shook his head, but refused to comment.

We jumped off of I-57 fourteen miles later, but before we could cover the 1 and a half miles to US-45 North, we lost the headlights again, fortunately we were right at the entrance of a BP Station. We fueled all the vehicles, and my suggestion that we replace the blown fuse with a higher amperage rated fuse was shot down by the electrical Nazi's that I had unwittingly teamed with for this trip! The solution they came up with was to unplug the inside two headlights, and run on the outboards only.

Looking at the time stamps on these pictures of Darren and Dale at the same station, they had about an hour and twenty minute lead on us at that point.

We covered the twenty miles due north on US-45 fairly easily, and ended up closing the window wings, and rolling the windows up about 80% to ward off the chill in the night air. The route had us jog west for five miles on I-80, then we found ourselves on I-355 North, a toll road, to get us around/through Chicago. Even at that late hour, with virtually no traffic, it was amazing how much heat Chicago's concrete holds in, as both our engine temps, and our willingness to open the windows back up could attest to.

Rachael's driving was becoming erratic as we worked our way from toll booth to toll booth, so finally I flagged her over, and demanded that she let Skippy drive the rest of the way.

At 12:15 AM, I got a call from Dale, stating that they were at the second checkpoint, and needed the address to the motel, so they could punch it into their navigation.
"Anyone else there?" I asked.
"Just Joe Barry's 56, and a van full of the Hot Rod guys!"
"Ok...get us checked into both rooms when you get there."

We jumped off the toll roads, and onto poorly lit, narrow, undulating two lanes canopied by lush foliage for the last twenty-two miles to the checkpoint, If Aaron hadn't been there calling out rights and lefts, I certainly would've been lost, as tired as I was. Once at the Fun-Wash, Aaron and I had to wait another twenty minutes or so For Boone, Rachael, and Robert to show up. Learning from the Indy fiasco, Robert decided to load up Aaron on the spot, and head off to their motel, rather than risk another long drive following me around. It was 2:25 AM when we left the second checkpoint, and we still had thirty-three miles to the motel.

The motel parking lot was jammed full of drag week cars, and after one circuit through, I started eyeing the truck stop across the street for parking. My phone rang, and Dale explained that he had been talking with the motel manager for the last hour, he was a huge car enthusiast, and he would help us with parking. They met us outside a few minutes later, and found us all spots. The Valiant ended up about five feet from the front entrance, which was actually about four feet further than I wanted to walk at 3:30 AM!

Dale's first words to me once he showed me to our room was, "Man! Those four-tens I just put in the Dana were growling like crazy that last thirty miles, I don't think they will finish out the week."
When Boone walked in our room, his first statement was, "I think the eight and three quarter has had it! The four-thirties were howling so bad, they will probably just toss teeth all over the starting line tomorrow!"

Day Three, Great Lakes Dragaway, Union Grove

For me, this was the day I most anticipated, when the schedule for Drag Week 2015 was released. A chance to visit, and race at a fabled old track, that I had heard about my entire life.

GLD didn't disappoint. More impressively, the Illinois and Wisconsin race/real street car fans didn't disappoint. It was packed, it was a party, rockin', crazy atmosphere; it was a Wednesday morning for goodness sakes!

Crowd was awesome!!!

You won't see a track this busy with spectators at 8:30am on a Saturday much less a Wednesday.

One of my favorite pictures of DW15 was the fans at Union Grove

GLD was crazy. It took longer than I expected to get there on my back roads route to avoid the rush hour, and dad and I were greeted with nary a place to sit that the view wasn't blocked by the Sat truck!
The one day we didn't pack a lunch I stood in line for 45min for burgers! Was great vibe to the place for sure.

You are correct guys, when you look at all the spectators around Ray's car, you have to realize that Ray gets to the track super early, and was in the first pair down the track.

The practice of being the first or second pair down with stock suspension, and small tires, bit him on Wednesday, as he struck the tires and went elevens to open the day's festivities. He would have to wait about 45 minutes to get a second attempt, and put down a 10.21 that would have him bound for Cordova Il.

Mr cool and the black pearl

Darn work! I heard the next day how packed it was on Wednesday, I knew I shoulda blew off the day...

While the first pairs of class cars were warming up the groove at Union Grove, the Gebharts were dragging themselves into the continental breakfast room at the Days Inn Sturtevant.
We plowed our way through assorted plates made up mostly of grains, pig parts, and high fructose corn syrup, as we planned our attack on Great Lakes Dragaway.

The Barnyard Viper's 440 block has a high fill in the water jackets, and the oil cooler is a little too small, so on hard drives it has a tendency to kill the oil. The first symptom is a 10lb. drop in pressure, the second is, it starts burning the oil. Boone had experienced both in the last fifty miles of the drive the night before, so he needed to find a parts store to get an oil change. Darren, James and Dale were trying to steal another thirty minutes or so of sleep, so that left Rachael and I to set up camp at the drag strip in advance.

There was a large amount of road construction around the motel, as well as the entrance to US-41. Apparently I was not quite as coherent as I hoped, and I screwed up our exit from the parking lot, by driving onto the wrong side of a divided road, with Rachael following along in the Belvedere blissfully unaware of the situation. I adopted an "If you're going through hell, keep on going" attitude, and promptly blew through the red light at the intersection while making a left turn, with Rachael in tow, to get us back where we were supposed to be, much to the chagrin of the trucker trying to make a right turn into the lane I just vacated!

We stopped at a convenience store a couple miles from the track, for ice, and drinks. We were about to head on over when I received a text from Opal explaining where John had pitted, and that they had saved us room for our eventual arrival. Upon entrance to the facility I was taken aback by the huge amount of spectator cars, and didn't realize right away which direction the track was running, luckily, the overzealous crowd just kept pointing further down the single track pit roads, and eventually I saw the white 67 Valiant pitted in the grass.

John had his car pretty much prepped, and ready to go to the lanes when we parked next to him. He was just waiting for the call to the lanes for Street Machine Eliminator.

By the third day of Drag Week, the process of unloading the stuff from the cars, setting up your pit spot, and preparing the cars for the drag strip becomes more a matter of routine, than the semi-controlled chaos it is at the start of the event. Rachael and Skippy started making piles of stuff behind both cars, while I went into my normal process of leaning on the front fender and bench racing with everyone within earshot.
John was teasing me about another late arrival, so I had to relay our story of a long supper, and lighting issues.
"We lost our lights momentarily as well", Opal added.
"Yeah", John explained, "We were on one of those two lanes, in a valley, with large trees overhead, running about forty-five, and the headlights just went out! I hit the dimmer switch a couple of times, and moved some wires around, then they came back on, but it had me worried."
"We saw a bunch of guys already driving out," I commented, "how's it going so far?"
"Well, Tony just ran the Javelin, and I'm sure he'll be back for another hit", John shrugged, "he only went 10.99".
"I wonder if that transmission they picked up is up to snuff?"
"Not sure", John answered, "but that guy we loaned the parts to in the Chevelle tossed his driveshaft out at the 1-2 shift...he was probably in the first ten sets of cars. Then ten minutes ago they announced that he was looking for a 1350 joint, as well as caps and bolts for the yoke!"

Typically on Drag Week, when a car breaks at the track, they send someone to the tower and have it announced over the PA. With the live feed in effect, and so popular, it also gets the info out not only to the competitors and spectators, but everyone watching the world over. Then you get it out on facebook and twitter, and you follow all the leads that this brings in. Often a spectator will walk up, without actually having anything you need, but they offer a phone number to an individual or shop that they think might be able to help, those second and third contacts are often the ones that gets you to what the racer needs to continue.

"Any of the big hitters ran yet", I asked.
"Not that I've noticed, but I haven't been watching every pair. They did announce that Jeffrey Lutz was done, as well as Schroeder with the nitrous Corvette, something about eating a lifter."
"Well, maybe Monte can get out of here at a decent hour tonight!"
"They said the guy in the seven second Chevette had to go home for personal reasons", Opal added.
"Good grief", I shook my head, "the Unlimited class is dwindling to nothing!"

Drag Week is the best 5 days in hell you will ever have.

Darryl Frary

First pass I launched and proceeded to test the 8000 rpm rev limiter again by shifting to neutral instead of 2 nd

At around the same time that the call for Street Machine Eliminator to lanes four and five went out, the news spread through the pits that the route sheet to Cordova Illinois was only 150 miles. Everyone was very relieved to hear it, for sure, following the two 260 plus mile jaunts we had made so far.
I'm not sure if it was the news of the short drive, the difficulty of doing a good burnout uphill (see the dramatic morning burnout shots I've posted by photog Larry Chen), or just the energy of the large group of spectators, but many of the "one and gone" crowd made multiple passes at Great Lakes Dragaway.

John was headed to the lanes when Dale and Darren showed up, they drove in one pit lane over from us, then drove across the lush grass to pit beside the Valiant. Boone, despite making a trip to pick up oil, made it to the pits just five minutes after they did. Everyone was busy prepping their cars for our first run when we heard them announce Tony's second attempt, a 10.65 at 126.8.
"Think he'll stick with that", Dale asked me.
"I doubt it, he's been in the thirties". I shrugged.
The very next announcement was that the lanes were closed for the class cars.
"He might take that and move on", I changed my mind, "He didn't get much sleep last night, so I don't think he'll want to stick around for the all-run session".
The next announcement was that the parts needed for Daryl Yost's Chevelle were located in the pits, and he could pick them up at the tower. Once again, a timely Drag Week PA shout out for help had saved someone's day.

The very last class car to run in the first session was the flat black 72 Dart, that was leading Pro Street Power Adder. As Matt expertly traversed the tricky burnout box, and staged for a single pass, an anticipatory hush fell over the crowd. He launched the Dart at full song, and the track held it quite well, so it was immediately apparent that this run was going to be a keeper. The 7.70-185 was nearly identical to the pass Blasco made at Indy, proving that the Mopar was dialed in, and ready to defend it's lead in the class.

There was about a 15-20 minute lull between the end of the Class session, and the beginning of the SME session, while the GLD crew drug and re-sprayed the track.
Rodney Munchiando's 68 Dart GTS was in the first couple of pairs to run in the Street Machine Eliminator session. When we were loading up to leave Indianapolis, Rodney, and his buddy Rick Callahan were feverishly thrashing on the small block in the hopes of repairing whatever had slowed it to a 15.84-81. Rodney and the Dart have ran nine times on Drag Week, and we've watched as the beautifully restored A-body has steadily progressed from high 13's to mid 11's. His 11.583-115.7 blast at Union Grove would be the Dart GTS' quickest ever on Drag Week.

And that with a car WITHOUT a cowl hood! You are really making me regret not getting up there...

Always interesting to see what happens with all the other guys on the trip, I am so zoned in my my junk I miss lots of the action.

While most of the Street Machine Eliminator group were trying to make their first run count, so they could move on to Cordova, several were getting their proverbial wrists slapped for running too quick.
Adalie's first pass in the Falcon Wagon on spray was a stout 9.91-135.7, which would look real cool in the scrap book, but she couldn't turn it in for her official run. The same result was in store for Hemi Joel and the drop-top GTX, as he went 13.45-102, and would need another pass to turn in that was slower than the cut-off of 13.50.

I usually search the internet far and wide to find pictures to include in my story, and one observation I thought was appropriate for Drag Week was Dan Smith's 79 Chrysler 300. Sunday tech, through Tuesday at Indy, it's difficult to find pictures of the late B-body anywhere as it was flying completely under the collective Drag Week radar. After the accident on the way to Wisconsin that left the passenger's fender shoved back 18 inches, there are ten times as many photos of the white beast available!

Dan's 11.51-115.6 at Great Lakes left him on the Street Machine Eliminator quick 32 bump spot after the three days, and the only car of the 32 over the 11.50 cut-off for no-bar cars.

Comparing the photo from the second checkpoint to those at the track the next day, it appears that Dan and his crew had spent a few hours in the parking lot of the motel messaging the front end back into working order.

John managed the uphill burnout with nary a problem, and the 69 Valiant hooked hard and went 10.95-121.32 in the left lane. Immediately behind John in the left lane was the 69 Valiant of Kevin Webb. While John's white version has never been called a show car, in direct comparison with Kevin's yellow one, well...John's is pretty darn nice!!

Kevin's method of getting noticed at Drag Week began last year with his silver 72 El-Camino. His program is to sit in the burnout box and annihilate the tires for the gratuity of the fans, and while the Australian contingent would consider him a rank amateur, it makes his thirteen second cars unforgettable. The small block powered, six pack scooped Valiant went 13.77 at 99 mph at Great Lakes, Kevin's best pass of Hot Rod Drag Week 2015.

The man certainly had absolutely no regard for his tires!

Or transmissions as they had to change out the overdrive transmission halfway. That Valiant is was so beat up it looked like it was used as a logging truck. But you have to give them proper respect the car completed where a lot of others failed.

He drove it out from Newark Oklahoma also, pretty big accomplishment in an old car regardless of ET

I guess he must have been changing tires the way it
sounds like he fried them... but to each his own..
I dont care if he fried the tires at each track as
long as they were still safe to run on.. its his money

Ross Dudley's Yellow 68 Road Runner was spared the need for multiple runs at Great Lakes, when Ross nailed an 11.514-118.8, that would leave them in 35th place on the Street Machine Eliminator quick 32 list...achingly close, but so far away!

The Three Shelby Dodge Turbo four cylinders made their debut attempts at the GLD tarmac next, and while the red Daytona, and the silver Shadow would join the ranks of one pass and done, the back Omni GLH of James Reeves would struggle with the launch, and return for another hit at the very tail end of the Street Machine session.

Billy, I think my stomach would hurt from laughing at you guys all week. Before Drag Week we planned on staying late at the track every day but I was really sick and just wanted to get to the next place asap. I really couldn't look for the ET I was missing with the hood taped shut. Ill never do that again

Hold you to that next year.

Now, granted, I'm far from an accomplished writer, and while I hope most of you enjoy my attempts to give you an inside, blow by blow account of Drag Week, occasionally I like to hit zoom out and give a broader view. The problem is, I simply don't have the literary tools required to do that seamlessly within the context of the chronological story. I've spent a full month of my life on Drag Weeks, and every single one of those days was uniquely different. The event, from the competitors, the track officials, the Drag Week crew, to the Hot Rod crew, and even the spectators, often forces us to adjust on the fly, to situations barely within our grasp to control.

One of the underlying themes that came to the forefront at Union Grove, was the pressure on the organizers to "put on a good show". If you've done a great deal of drag racing, you've undoubtedly, at some point, found yourself at a "show" that features jet cars, or nitro Harleys, or funny cars, playing to a packed house, and the local bracket guys suddenly become filler. To their credit, the guiding hands of the Drag Week event have studiously avoided that vibe, carefully treading between the need to promote the record shattering unlimited cars in their media outlets, while projecting a feeling among the competitors that we are 300 street cars, all in this together. It's a tightrope, and as Drag Week has grown and evolved from 40 cars, with an eight second champ to 350 cars with a top ten in the six and seven second range, it becomes more difficult to traverse with each passing year.

To peel back the curtain a little, I've been blessed with a darn near photographic memory, which allows me to go back and pull minute details, feelings, and sounds, from my past. But, like any library or pc, I need markers, and tabs to find my place, so I consult the pictures I've collected and the route sheets to take me mentally back to the point in time I wish to immerse myself in. Another awesome tool at my disposal are the replays of the live feed which has been vital to growing the event over the past three years.
Great Lakes Dragaway is a well oiled machine, with a veteran crew that knows how to put cars down the track in a quick, efficient manner. So it was odd to hear David Freiburger discreetly implore the track starter to slow things up from their usual cadence, "We need to allow the set of cars on the track to hit the finish line, before the next set start their burnout" he spoke quietly into the handset, then paused, "it's for the live feed camera crew" he explained apologetically. So, suddenly, it became less about how can we get as many passes as possible for each competitor in the time alloted, and more about feeding the beast that provides the impetus for the event as a whole. Just for the record...I'm OK with that.

The second part of this equation, this tightrope, has to do with the handling of those Drag Weekers who feel that their single digit ET slips entitle them to preferential treatment. In the early years, they were simply given their own lane, and allowed to cut in when they were ready to run. That model of operation was clearly outgrown by 2011, and 2012 nearly saw a few fist fights as some of the fast guys tried to muscle ahead of people who had yet to get a chance at a run. The divided session concept debuted with great success in 2013 (after I strongly lobbied for it on Bangshift following the 2012 debacle!! I'll regale you with my tales of Al Gore and I inventing the internet together later). While the class session, followed by a Daily Driver/SME session program helped immensely, it still didn't address the upper crust cars, and how to allow them quick access, on demand, to the track. Far brighter individuals than I devised a little tax shelter called "IMPOUND". From the outset, this arrangement sounded quite punitive. Impound is a reserved area for cars quicker than 8.50 which are top three in their respective class. When in impound, only the driver and passenger are allowed to work on the car, or supply parts for the car. So, it seems like a way for the Drag Week technical staff to keep a close eye on these guys to make sure they are legit street cars, right? I agree completely, and it has been a huge success, but allow me to flip this impound coin over and look at the other side...cars in impound have their own lane and immediate access to the head of the staging lanes...wow, see what they did there! It's not Alcatraz...it's a Country Club! For the record, once again, I'm OK with that.

Now that I've bored you to tears with that explanation, let me get back to Union Grove, and the "Show". The only time our boys in impound don't have access to the lanes, is during the Street Machine Eliminator session. At Great Lakes Dragaway, with a packed house of spectators, a record number of live feed viewers, and a large contingent of Impound cars who hadn't made a hit at all in the first class car group, even that small concession was beginning to chafe and gald, both on the duo in the booth, and the hitters in their gilded cage.
Not even twenty minutes into the middle, Street Machine Eliminator session, in between introducing the cars on the track and calling out ET's, Brian Lohnes began plugging the action in impound and giving accounts of who looked as though they were ready to run. Clearly the directive was given to end this session as quickly as possible, so they could roll out the big guns for the crowd. Thirty-seven minutes after the first set of Street Machine Eliminator cars started their burnout, the Gold 79 Le Mans of David Burke was spotted approaching the head of the lanes, since he was in the first four cars to go in this group, this gave the lane director the ammunition he needed and the call was given to close the back of the SME lanes. Seventeen minutes later James Reeves' Omni closed out the fifty-four minute whirlwind little guys party as Bailey's Sick Second 2.0 sat quietly waiting as the first car in the final open session, after a quick track cleanup!

Billy
If I may a quick impound story. On the final day of Drag Week 2013 I was # 33 on the outside looking in at #32 wondering how I was going to make it in. When I drove into the pits that morning deep in thought Keith Turk flagged me down and shouted " you into impound ". I just stared at him for a moment and then said " what are you crazy you known I"m a daily driver" " don't argue with me into impound". I just smiled, shrugged my shoulders and took one of the best pit spots in the place between Rick Prospero and Mike Crow.
I promptly unloaded my car, opened the headers, put on my tires and drove to the gate. The class cars were already running but the gate keeper must have had his orders because he opened up and gave me lane choice before the next class car was allowed up.
Well you can imagine how that went over. Next thing I know I have Keith in my face wanting to know what in the hell I was doing and that he had guys jumping all over him to stop me. I nicely explained to him the rules for impound and even went so far as to remind him that if he had given me a chance I would have told him about the position he was putting himself in when he ordered me into impound. First time I had ever seen him lost for words.
It was fun and I did the run just to get a rise out of him and it worked.

Ross I would have worn my car out making passes if I was in impound haha. That was a fun but long day in 2013, I think I got 4-5 time trials in and then went down to 4 cars in the bracket race.

Clark
I was cheering for you and Scott but you let me down so I went with Scott. I don't know if you guys ever thanked me for taking Big G out of the equation.

Wish I could have seen Turks face. LOL

Its pretty bad when you let Red Light Ross down with a Red Light!

Needless to say I am OK with the switch to a pro tree.

While my last post may have sounded as if I was taking them to task for rushing into the final, all-run session at Great Lakes Dragaway, it was, once again a great decision. When the tractors and sprayers finished up on a somewhat lengthy twenty-seven minute track prep, the place really started jumping, and the Drag Week 2015 drama was ratcheted up a few notches.

As a family, it seemed as though we mutually agreed to take the time to catch our collective breath that morning at GLD. with the knowledge of a short drive ahead of us, the georgeous weather and great atmosphere, none of us seemed to be in a big hurry to get to the lanes, and we spent some quality time visiting with Ryan Brutt of BarnFinds.org, as well as other racers and the throng of spectators. As noon was rapidly approaching however, we moved as a single unit, nearly nose to tail towards the staging lanes.

We weren't the only ones trying to decide how to make the best use of our time on Wednesday. Tom Bailey's Sick 2.0 Pro Mod Camaro was on seven cylinders, with two rockers removed. He had a spare head with him, but the decision was made to run the car at GLD as is, try to get a representative number, and then fix it before the drive, rather than tear it apart and chance missing the 2:30pm lane cutoff time!

The line for burgers was so long and they ran the daily driver session so fast I nearly didn't get back to the stands in time to see the big dogs run. The double cheeseburgers were pretty tasty though...

That is Jay Browns GT500 clone, and Kevin's real 1967 GT500. HEMI Joel is on the far left holding his straw hat.

Sean Fling was working the entry to the lanes, and asked us if we had any runs yet. Our negative answer caused him to direct us to lanes three and four, and we were assured that would allow us a quicker entry to the line under the tower.
Of course, the aforementioned Impound cars had first dibs, so we patiently waited as Bailey went 6.84, and McGilton went 7.81 to give up another tenth to Blasco's Dart.
Then, as we were anxiously waitng our turn, we noticed that race director Lonnie Grimm was alternating between the no-run lanes, and the other guys who already had a shot, at the head of the lanes. This wasn't the first time that we've noticed a failure to communicate between Sean and Lonnie, and I just shrugged it off. Boone however...well, Boone is a patient and genteel guy in real life, the only time that doesn't ring true, is when he's in a drag strip staging lane, then he's a whole other cat, and it's been that way since our first trip to Mo-Kan Dragway in 1984. Dale and I both exchanged looks when we saw Boone jump out of the Barnyard and head directly towards Lonnie in a purposeful strut through the cars ahead of us.
"Should we go up there", Dale laughed, as Boone got Lonnie's attention and started gesturing between the two sets of lanes.
"No...he's a big boy, and I think he made his point."
I saw Lonnie walk over to the cars in the opposing lanes and tell them to take their helmets off and relax, then he started pulling exclusively from our lanes, so apparently the message was successfully relayed without prejudice or rancor.

Boone was the first of us in line, and pulled up in the left lane, as he finished his burnout, he realized that in his overzealousness to get his shot at the fabled GLD tarmac, he was a little unprepared for his run, but he put it in the beams and waited to get his wrist slapped.

Photo 1: Boone's "impatient in the lanes" face.
Photo 2: Can you spot what Boone forgot to do before staging?

I like the impound area, as it accomplishes a few things. One, it lets all the heavy hitters be together in one area, which is better for both tech crew and fans alike. Just a couple tech guys can watch the whole group and not have to be all over the pits, plus easy for the fans to find those guys if that's what they want to see. Second, I personally think it's fair for those guys to get a shot whenever they are ready. At most, unless they have problems, they are only going to make a couple passes anyway and with some of the maint and work done on those cars, it can't happen if they have to sit in the lanes all day.................And on a personal note, with them all in impound, I don't have to walk as far.............LOL!!!

I agree Monte! It's been hugely successful. You seemed to stay quite busy, even with Shroeder's Vette not able to make it.

"Photo 2: Can you spot what Boone forgot to do before staging?"

Looks like the headers are still corked.

I remember how the lanes were at Tulsa in 2011 and got to see Boone in action.LOL.Only 3 of those 6 people in that bottom pic get my wifes cookies every year.Joe,Joey and Michelle.LOL

I don't see a racing harness.

Looks like unstrapped Helmet.

Or a helmet...if he is really in the burnout box or in
the lights

Hood doesn't look closed...

All of my Sweptline era trucks look like that. I don't see any belts from here. Not that I have ever done anything like that before.

I think the helmet just has a long strap, but ding ding ding on the harness! He said he didn't really notice until he was staging. I don't know if it rattled him, or if he just wasn't into it that day, but he took his 11.36-118.8 and called it good.

Dale came up in the left, immediately behind Boone, and after two failed attempts at burnouts, asked for more water, then did a high rpm, drive only, nitrous enhanced, no line lock, burn out that took him up the hill and nearly into the beams.

That pic was a discussion about me being on the line helping line up Joe Barry and Tom Bailey.........somebody complained. But it has been made clear in previous years, that me, being a sponsor of the event, can help anybody do anything, impound or not. The complaint was that Dennis was told he couldn't line his daughter up, because he dropped out and wasn't riding with her and somebody wanted to know why I could. Wasn't Dennis I'm sure, but maybe someone in their camp. Anyway, they got it straight.........and anybody who has ever seen Joe race by himself, he NEVER gets the car pointed straight......LOL

LMAO!!!If Joe wouldn't sit so dang low in the car.And Joey isn't 16 and technically shouldnt be on the starting line.

Love the Barry family.2011 Joe did a shout out on Bangshift that he would not be in Topeka in time to get his trailer from U-Haul in Topeka picked up before they closed.I contacted him and got it handled.By chance one of the mechanics there knew me and knew about DW.Michelle asked who is picking it up. Joes reply"Some guy named Don" LOL.

Joe is a great guy and the whole family are outstanding people......but Joe is a big boy. The seat is actually mounted a bit wonky in the car and he is not sitting straight. So when HE is straight, the car is NOT. He does not race all the time, so has a tough time getting it lined up. As mentioned his son is technically too young, plus he nor Joe's wife are comfortable in their ability to find the groove and get the car straight. Something that fast, HAS to be straight

Yes it does.Good info Monte.

The only difference between Dale's launch of the Gremlin at Great Lakes as opposed to the first two days, was that he knew what was coming. It spun just as hard at the hit of the second stage of nitrous, then pushed itself out of the groove, but he pedaled and recovered much quicker with the knowledge of what to expect. From my vantage point four sets of cars back, it looked like a decent pass, and I was expecting another 9.0 at a buck fifty. The 9.26-141 was a little concerning, but with two aggressive stages fed by a common line and a single bottle, usually anytime his mph falls off it simply means he was running out of spray.

Rachael was in the next pair, and I knew the chances of her not having enough nitrous in the current bottle was pretty good, as she had made her previous three runs on it, and I had used it for a half pass in Vegas. When she went 12.35-111, I figured it was the bottle, but it trailed a good bit of blue smoke in the shutdown, and I was reminded of listening to the engine with Robert the night before. Maybe the old 440 was just too tired for the beatings we were giving it.

I was the straggler of our group, and there were two sets of cars between Rachael and myself. The first pair were Charlie Ogle in his Challenger, and Jay Brown in his SOHC Shelby. Like Rachael and I, both of these guys made multiple hits in the last two hours at Great Lakes. Jay was chasing electrical issues in his fuel delivery system, and Charlie's Gold Dodge wasn't getting anywhere near the number he ran at Indy.

Not even close, little did I know that I had pushed a head gasket. Found out as I left the gate and I finished it off. I pulled over on the side of the road at the first turn. Part of my problem was solved by one of the staff from great lakes drag way, he came by and told us we could work on it at his place that was about a mile down the road, we (Billy my trunk monkey, Jason and my nephew Dillon in the Cuda) got it down there and then realized the next problem, I had a blown head gasket and only one spare gasket, so which head do I pull? I decided to pull the left head because that was the side the O2 sensor was on and the afr gauge was going crazy. In the mean time the Great Lakes crew member ( for the life of me I can't remember his name) located another head gasket, so Jason takes off in the Cuda to get it. So with two head gaskets we go ahead and pull the other head, the left one was pushed into the water passage and the right one was almost there, so with two fresh head gaskets and 4 1/2 hours later we got back on the road, thank god it was the short trip that day! The next day with good head gaskets I blew through the clutch and had to baby it the rest of the way, at that point I was still in the top 32 but could not muster up a quick enough pass the last day to keep me there with all if the clutch issues. Made the top 32 in 2014 but bent the clutch fork in Tulsa and told them I couldn't make the bracket race, broke a pressure plate bolt in 2013 in Memphis, every year a common theme so when I got home after last year I called John at Cope racing trans and ordered a killer 727, and a gear vendor, we will see if that gets the monkey off my back next year! And Billy thanks for the pic of my brothers car on the line that is one I did not have.

His name isn't Don is it?

Always like to hear tales of a trunk monkey earning his or her keep Charlie! Seems co-pilots named Bill don't always pull their weight. While yours was turning wrenches, this is what my Dad was doing! I'll let Clark decide where his Dad is on that spectrum...

Dad his supervising.Someone has to.

I was paired for my first hit with Nick Plewniak, and his stretchy truck. I raced Nick last year in the shootout, and I know he takes quite a while to do his burnout and stage, so I decided to wait on him in the water. One of the frustrating things for a drag racer who'd trying to race a street car with a t-stat is engine temperature, and I was trying to get at least one pass in without the thing being completely heat soaked.

I was shocked when Nick did a shorter than normal burnout, so I went ahead and did mine, and approached the line, then waited, waited, and waited some more. When I looked back over my shoulder, guys had both doors to the S-10 open, and appeared to be helping Nick with something. I motioned at the starter, but he told me to sit tight. Apparently Nick had pulled the same stunt Boone had, and they were putting his belts on him while my tires got colder and my engine hotter. The Valiant hesitated at the hit again, then spun a little, so I was already formulating my plan for the next run as I approached the finish line. I remembered John's description of the shutdown area and track exit, so I decided to concentrate on that, halfway through the braking zone the track falls away from you downhill, then you navigate a quick button hook onto the return road which had me wondering how a 250+ inch dragster would ever make it!

My dad Bill is a great trunk monkey, I haven't caught him napping in the pits yet! We have been fortunate enough to get more sleep than you guys have on the last few DWs however.

This is what I woke up to in Cordova, I know none of your cars were there when I went to sleep.

Don sounds right, he was a great help.

The 10.62-126.7 slip, with a 1.53 short time, didn't leave me all warm and fuzzy, but the drive down the return road with all the cheering and thumbs up from fans hanging on the fence certainly did. Usually by 1:00pm on Drag Week, the energy is definitely waning, replaced with desperation as a handful of racers struggle for that money time slip. With the GLD crowd, that simply wasn't the case, and their enthusiasm permeated the pits. John went up for a second run in his Valiant, not because he needed a quicker pass, just for the enjoyment of running at a track he may never visit again, an d to enjoy the atmosphere. He wasn't alone in that regard either, Clark Strong's 69 Road Runner had already went 11.55 without a bar, about as close as he could cut it, but he made at least three more runs after that.

I changed squirters again on the Valiant, and took a half pound out of the Hoosiers, then helped Skippy swap bottles in the Belvedere after Rachael's second run, staying on the nitrous out the back door, had only netted an 11.89-114.5. My second run was forty minutes after the first, and after complaining about my less than stellar launch the first time, John walked over to help me get the burnout right. The Valiant pushed through the line lock twice, so he backed me off, and had the track official re-spray the pad. With a good burnout, and a quick stage, my confidence that this would be a good run was high, but that slight hesitation at the drop of the pedal was still there. 10.53-126.9 with a 1.51 60' was the third quickest ET. the car has ran NA, but coming off a 10.39 the day before, and knowing it's went a 1.42 already to the first clocks...I wasn't satisfied.

If thats him in the pic his name is on his Shirt

Dustin and Jason, in the lanes at Great Lakes Dragaway.

Rachael's third run of the day was a single, probably the first she's ever ran. The change in routine and the nervous jitters of the fresh bottle on board, caused her to drive through the beams before the tree activated, and she didn't get a time.

I had parked in our pit area, and was expecting her return, but she drove directly back to the lanes and was re-staging the Belvedere a scant six minutes later.

"It's almost like one of those jokes about three guys walking into a bar when you see the Gebharts going down the highway..." Hot Rod Drag Week Announcer Brian Lohnes boomed out as she staged.
I was pretty anxious to hear where he was going to take this comment, I mean this is the same guy who once introduced my Valiant with the age old line about beauty being skin deep, but ugly was to the bone!
"Because it's like a Belvedere, a Valiant, and a Gremlin are going down the highway", he continued , "and there should be a punchline, but the only punchline is, they're all really fast, and really reliable, and belong to people who love this event with all their beings..."

"Dang", I thought, "He was going completely off the cuff, and put together a wonderful compliment on the fly...that's real talent, no wonder NHRA hired him."

"We have to thank the Gebharts for putting the data together that we are using here to look at the historic numbers that have been run at Drag Week", David Freiburger followed up on Brian's comments, "they keep a list...like we have not, and they've got it nailed!"
"Yeah, absolutely, he's got it locked down", Brian added.
"It got us talking last night about how we really should put together an official record book, but who knew eleven years ago that this thing would get this big...kinda crazy!" Freiburger finished up.

I saw Rachael lift off the nitrous just past 1000ft., but judging by how hard the Belvedere left with the fresh hit, I had doubts it would make a difference. 11.30, at only 114...best ET ever for the car! Stood there shaking my head, wishing she would have just ran it out!

Billy.. how do you remember all of this... do you
have a tape recorder that you tape that days events
then do that daily... even with the help of the family
member no one can remember all this.. nice job... hell
I have a hard time remembering my name

My friend of ours Donnie had the TT Chevette this year going 7:80's for some of the events until he got called home for an emergency family reasons.

He must have a photographic memory...although I can remember how I set up my first race car over 35 years ago, I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday. You remember what is important to you.

In an earlier post Billy said he had been blessed with a photographic memory and that is obviously the case!

Bill

There is some self hypnosis involved...and a whole bunch of research and record keeping! As Polarpete alluded, it's easier to remember the things you are passionate about.

I walked back to our pits, and noticed that Dale had the front end removed from the Gremlin.
"I thought you were going to make another pass?" I questioned Dale as he leaned on the passenger's side front tire.
"That was the plan", Dale shrugged, "but something doesn't sound right on this side of the engine, so I'm going to pull a valve cover and have a look!"
"Did you hear those guys talking about us on the loud speaker?" Boone interjected with a nudge.
"Yeah", I chuckled, I'm sure John mentioned something about it."
"Said he was surrounded by a bunch of celebrities, and insiders." Boone laughed.
I walked over to show John my time slip, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Rachael wasn't returning to our pit, but was instead driving the Belvedere right back up the staging lanes.
"I better go stop her...or she will burn that poor thing to the ground", I explained, then sprinted across the grass, waving to get her attention. "Sprinted", in this case, is of course, relative to what you expect from a 300lb. fifty year old! The effort felt like it to me, even if the result didn't appear to be "sprinting" to anyone else.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked her, between gasps for air. She had the driver's door open, helmet still on, and I was bent over in the opening, with my hands on my knees.
"That one was too fast, and you told me we weren't accepting the 11.89...so I need another run!"
"Yeah, but you can't be making three back to back runs, everything is too hot, so bring it back to the pits, let it cool off, and we'll formulate a plan for how you're going to get an 11.50 time slip to turn in."
"Fine", she threw up her hands, "But I didn't run the car all out when I rolled through the beams on that first one...I'm smart enough to know that was a wasted pass!"

She parked the Belvedere in the grass next to John's Valiant, and headed straight for Boone while I opened the hood to cool the 440 down.
"Where is your time slip Boone?" I heard her ask, politely, almost sweetly. He handed it to her, and she immediately pulled out her phone and took a picture of it, then handed it back.
"I already got a pic of it", Boone looked at her, with a puzzled expression.
"This photo is for me!" She explained, then produced her last time slip from the Belvedere and took a picture of it."
"Because I want everyone to know that on this day, at Great Lakes Dragaway...the Belvedere drug the Barnyard Viper's butt!"
"Hey!! That's not funny", Boone protested, but judging from the laughter of everyone else in our group, he was apparently the only one that felt that way.

Rachael was faunching at the bit for another pass, and I just decided if I couldn't calm her down, I might as well join her.
"I'll follow you up in the Valiant", I told her, as she was already back behind the wheel despite the hood still in the up position.
"Look...if it feels as good as it did on that last pass, you're going to have to lift early. But if it spins, or you are late on the N20 button, or it does anything stupid in the front half, run it out the back!"
She nodded in affirmation, and pulled her helmet back on, as Skippy lowered the hood.

By this time, there were only a handful of cars still making runs. Some, because they had yet to hit their goals for the day, some were chasing problems, and some were wringing out every hundredth they could, in an attempt to try and stay in the hunt for their respective classes.

The latter group included three of the six Street Race Small Block NA cars which still had nine second averages for the week. Roberts and Tabscott were trading body blows all day at the head of the pack in their chevies, making run after run to shave off hundredths. The third was Paul Corman's Demon. Paul was the defending class champ, and he had been blindsided on day one by the onslaught of fast cars challenging for supremacy in Drag Week's most competitive class. His willingness to punish the green a-body had rewarded him with a move from 6th to 4th by Wednesday, putting a pair of C-6 Corvettes and a pair of fox body Mustangs in his rear view mirror for the rest of the week.

Hunter's 56 Chevy, and McGilton's Big bucks Zl-1 '13 Camaro were loading up their trailers and preparing for the trip ahead, apparently deciding that giving up a tenth to Blasco's Dart on hump day would have to be good enough. Only 6 of the initial 12 Pro Street Power Adder entries were still in the battle, so perhaps survival was the smart call.

I was directly behind Rachael, sitting in the water box, when she launched the Belvedere, and it was fairly obvious by the time she made the one-two shift that the ole 440 was making a stout pass.
"Better get out of it!" I shouted into my helmet.
The starter motioned at me to begin my burnout as an 11.53 at only 100 mph flashed on the scoreboard.
"NICE", I breathed a sigh of relief, "now we can call it a day!"
My pass was anything but nice, with a bad hesitation at the hit, followed by spinning, but by the time I clicked second, I had put it behind me, deciding instead to focus on the track, and my surroundings as we traversed a quarter mile I may never see again. The 10.66-126 was nothing of note, but I enjoyed the run in spite of the numbers.

When I returned to our pit spot, and pulled up behind Dale's Gremlin, all I saw were somber faces gathered around his engine. It became fairly evident that my prediction of "calling it a day" was not even remotely close!

"Dropped an intake valve", Dale mumbled at me as I walked over, "Can you go up to the tower and put a call in for some parts?"
"Sure...I guess, I've got to turn in my slip and get my route sheet anyway. How do you know it didn't shatter the piston?"
He shrugged, "I had it running, it wasn't smoking...just sounded rough. There isn't any junk on the plug, but I found this when I took the cover off."
I peered over John's shoulder, the #4 intake valve was about halfway open, and was stuck in the guide. The retainer was broken half into, and the locks were in pieces. "That's ugly...gonna pull the head? I questioned as Dale handed me a scrap of paper.
"If we can find some parts", Dale surmised.
"Actually it doesn't matter Dale", John interjected, "if we have a chance of fixing it...the head has to come off, so we might as well get to it!"
Dale's head snapped up as if he had just been awakened from a dream, "Yeah! You're right", he looked at me, "Go put out the call, and we'll tear into it."

I walked to the top of the small tower, and handed the paper to a track worker. A few minutes later Freiburger was calling for a 2.19 Indy valve, 1.55 retainer, and 10 degree locks. He questioned whether or not it could be for the Dart, but Brian Lohnes quickly corrected him, "That was one of the Gebharts, so I'm thinking Gremlin! If any body can offer them some help, seek out the Gremlin in the pits!"

John and James were doing most of the disassembly as Dale was busy networking with locals who had leads on parts, and the people who could handle the work he needed done. It always amazes me about Drag Week, how quickly you can go from utter desperation to back on the road, due in no small part, to people who are more than willing to help keep these steel chariots rolling. America's love and romance of Hot Rods is still very much alive and well!

Rachael and Opal pulled out their small grills, and began preparing food for our little army in short order.
"Did you turn in your time slip yet?" I asked Rachael.
"Oh...yeah, I better run and do that. Let me get these brats started first!"
"Let me see your last one compared to the 11.30. How quick did you get out of the nitrous?"
She handed me both passes, "I lifted completely off the gas, right after I got off the bottle!" She smiled and shook her head, "the thing was flying, I knew it was a great pass!"
Five hundredths quicker to 60ft. (1.65), six hun at the 1/8 (7.15), and she had lifted early enough to scrub eight mph on the 11.30 pass. The numbers left me wondering what the old, wore out, 3800lb. b-body would have ran out the back door, perhaps an 11.20, or even a fifteen? I whistled, and shook my head before handing her the slips back, and in my best Forrest Gump imitation said, "440's and nitrous go together like peas and carrots!"
"Very funny Dad! But we didn't bring any veggies, unless you count the relish!"

"We've got it figured out, I think", Dale explained to me, "We found one place in Kenosha that has the parts we need, then Don's Auto Parts and Machine Shop say they can repair the guide, seat, and get the head back together". He looked longingly towards Darren's Ram as he talked about the thirty mile round trip.
"No, take the Belvedere. Someone sees you drive off with that cylinder head in Darren's truck, and they will be sending pictures to the Drag Week staff before you even hit the gate!"

billy, do you [or any others] have much trouble with trailer tires ? especially those that haul the "run of the mill" lowes, home depot, harbor freight, and similar utility trailers ? and if so, how many spare tires/wheel assemblies [along with spindles and bearings if necessary] are required fare ? this may be just a rhetorical or unnecessary question, so please don't hold it against me if it is not a problem. i just wondered.

Barnyard Viper is taking on a life of its own.... Was just watching the new roadkill..... There it is in the Staging lanes at Tulsa Raceway Park!

In the time honored tradition of Big Daddy Don Garlits; sometimes, if you really want to get noticed, you have to go west! So next up for the Barnyard Viper is a trip to Bakersfield for the Famoso March Meet!

Damn! John has the larger old school steel Coleman!! He's outdone me once again!

the place is going to LOVE that old truck!!

moparx,
When Boone had to give up his wheel bearing grease thirty miles into the trip on the first day, it was for a competitor who had burned up a bearing on his trailer. The consensus among the HF trailer users seems to be that the 12" wheels are a must. The 8" versions create higher bearing speed, and more drag, which the typical high stall converter cars are sensitive to.

Quite a few of the custom trailers use the exact same wheel/tire combo on the trailer, as they run on the front of their car. While this may seem to be the height of vanity, it does allow them to carry less spares.


I've also noticed quite a few of them have extended the tongues. If you notice in this picture of James Reeves' Omni GLH, the wheel base of the car seems to be the same as the distance to the trailer axle.

Great post!

i was thinking those small wheels would potentially be a problem, as well as creating problems with the bearings and hubs. those that used the same front runners as on their car was thinking good ideas ! and lastly, i know from the old "flat towing" days, the longer the tow bar was, the truer the towed vehicle tracked. i personally flat towed a new ss GTX from 68-72 with a 72" long bar, and it was miles ahead in handling from the locally available 36" long bars the dune buggy and jeep racers used. i could go 65-70 mph with a pickup or a u-haul clamp-on-bumper hitch[now that was safe ] and not even feel like it was back there. i would think those that tow the hardware store utility trailers find more stability extending the tongue as i found with the longer tow bar. i also used tow hubs that were for a chevy pattern with the 4 1/5" pattern drilled between the 4 3/4" pattern with a hand drill. there was no tapered seat because the hub was too large to accommodate the taper, plus we didn't have any thing to make the taper with. just used regular nuts that had to be tightened with an open end wrench. life seemed so much calmer and laid back then as opposed to today. and for those that wonder, that GTX was fast around town and a local track or two, but a real slug against guys that knew what was going on. it was fun none the less.

Dale tossed the wounded cylinder head in the empty trunk of the Belvedere, as Skippy and Boone jumped in with him for the trip to Kenosha.

John had some emory cloth and brake clean on hand, so he decided to tackle the job of dressing up the dinged piston top as best he could given our current predicament, while James was tasked with cleaning up all the other parts for re-assembly.

I decided to concentrate on the Valiant. We had some time on our hands, right at that moment that we were going to pay dearly for later in the night, so we needed to make it count for something. I changed the oil on the small block, went over the header bolts, and just tightened and checked everything I could think of, then started to install the pipes and pack everything up for the road trip.

Darren had been watching the last few runs down the track, as well as checking out all the stragglers still in the pits, and he walked over next to the Valiant as I was installing the passenger's side exhaust pipe.
"Can you get that thing on there, Chubby, or do I need to jack the car up higher?" He teased, as he sat down on a canvas chair next to the car.
"No...I've got it just fine...if you really want to help, you could just get down here and put it on for me", I countered.
"Don't think so", he laughed, "since I'm just following along, and not an official trunk monkey that might get you disqualified, besides, I thought you had Skippy trained to do that for you?"
"Yeah, but he went with Boone and Dale to get the head off the Gremlin fixed."
"So he baled on you to go sight seeing?"
"I think Rachael sent him along to keep an eye on the Belvedere...I don't think she trusts her Uncles to be out on the streets in her car without supervision!"
"Probably a good call, who was driving when they left here?"
"Dale", I stated.
"Definitely a good call on her part then", he chuckled.
"Did Goldstone get his six today in the red AMX"? I changed the subject.
"No, he made three hits today, but all were low sevens...he just couldn't get the power down at about a 150 feet out, and had to pedal it every pass."
"What about Joe Barry?"
"He was struggling today too. Monte got him lined up in the groove on his last hit and it was great to the 1/8th, but then it laid down in the second half and only went 177!"
"Only"?
"Well, the ole Creamsicle '56 been over 200, so I think 'only' applies in his case", he laughed. "Did you see them haul the green Nova out of here on a trailer"?
"Brad Dyer in the '72, that won Modified NA last year? I saw them working on it down at the end of the return road."
"Yeah, he's done! They were interviewing him on camera earlier today, and he admitted to running his entire Drag Week trip on C-14 fuel!
"That's just crazy! I know the Horns did the same thing last year in that small block Challenger, but I think they had 110 octane fuel with them. I'll just have to be a slow guy in the NA classes, because I'm just not going to do it that way".
"Well, there's E-85!" He started laughing.
"After your debacle last year...no thanks!"

Thats crazy, c114. My car is 12.5-1 and I run pump for the drives no issue. That must be a tick higher in compression lol

87 for the drives, and I fill up with 93 to race. Or 91, if there's no 93 there.

2011 was the year the staging lanes were absolutely nutso.

2012 started the separate run groups. Works ok I guess but sucks if one guy in your group is a SME car and you have to hang around for him to make his run(s).

That would be me in my group James Lol

"Did you see those crazy Aussies?" Darren asked as I moved to the other side.
"Which ones? There's like 5 cars this year, or 6 maybe".
"Well Faraone didn't make it today in the Valiant Charger, so there is one less, but I'm talking about the purple Holden".
"The Trapnell's Monaro. Didn't they make like five or six hits right at the end of the day? I couldn't figure out what was going on, but it didn't sound happy".
"They're parked in front of the fuel depot right now, with the car up on jack stands, and parts scattered everywhere...something about a camshaft problem."
"Well...that's not good! I wonder what time they are going to shut this place down and want us off the property?"
"There are cars rolling in on trailers right now", Darren observed, "so I think they are running another program tonight."
"Cool! At least we won't have to push the Gremlin out on the street to finish up."

Dale was back with the cylinder head much quicker than I anticipated, rolling back into the facility around 4:30pm. He had barely placed the head back on his hitch cargo carrier/converted work bench to clean it up for re-assembly when a gentleman walked up with a bunch of Indy rockers, shims, locks, and retainers. I think his name was Steve, but I remember faces far better than I remember names, anyway, he had heard the call over the loudspeaker for parts, and had driven forty-five minutes back home, gathered up some of his stuff, and drove back to see if he could be of assistance! He ended up selling the stuff to Dale for about half what it would have fetched here on the Moparts classified section, not to mention his time and fuel.
"You are a lucky dog!" I teased Dale
"People on Drag Week just never cease to amaze me", he shook his head, "the amount of help we've gotten over the years from random hot rodders and car enthusiasts...it's just awesome!"

Shane McClelland pulled up in the Crusty Nova, trailer in tow, clearly on his way to Cordova, and checked to see if Dale needed anything else. Shane and Dale were in the final of the Shootout last year, but neither were having the kind of Drag Week in 2015 that they had planned. Shane was currently fourth in Modified PA, and Dale was fifth.

Haha, that was me with the rockers and junk. I remember seeing Dale trashing on the Gremlin, and thinking how I was glad that wasn't me. In any case, I was happy to help and hang out with you guys, and listen to the awesome stories from your dad.

Tony

Good job Tony. Way to come to the aid of a fellow Mopar racer in need. You sir are a true MOPAR HERO!
Jerry

I agree... it takes guys like you to keep the
Drag Week guys on the road when in a time
of need

Tony,
Sorry, I couldn't remember the name...just so much stuff going on at once! Once a year my faith is always restored in the great people involved in the hobby in general, and Mopars in particular! While Dale didn't use that much of the stuff at Union Grove...it was a life saver once we got back to St. Louis...but that's another part of the story!

Thanks for the comments guys, but I wasn't that much of a hero. I took the day off to see the DW group (as did most of northeastern Il) and was hanging around for the Wednesday night ladies race that my sister in law is always in (GLD has something going on 5 days a week pretty much). So it a way to kill time till the pm racing started, and get rid of the old indy rockers that i swore never to use, but had to keep from rusting up in garage.

Trying to pay forward some good race track karma!

As luck would have it, my dad pulled out a rocker arm bolt and bent a shaft about a week later!

I love reading the stories, carry on Billy!

Tony

Congrats Tony, nothing better than helping out other racers, especially on a race like drag week, you showing up with those parts tells me your a pretty special guy.

As Tony mentioned, the Great Lakes announcer soon let everyone know that Wednesday night was ladies night, and women could race for free.
"You know Darren, you've been wanting to see what the Ram R/T will run, maybe you should toss Rachael in it and find out", I was half joking, almost thinking out loud more or less, but he seemed receptive to the suggestion, and so did Rachael.
The next thing I knew, she was helping him clean all his stuff out of the truck, and preparing it for tech inspection.

"The Belvedere sounded like one of the pipes were loose on the drive back", Boone mentioned, motioning towards the Plymouth.
We hadn't been opening up the exhaust this year, so I hadn't even looked under the car to this point, "OK, I'll check it out".
He followed along with me as I retrieved my floor jack and headed towards the 67 as it sat on the paved pit road. "I saw the odd couple at that machine shop in Kenosha".
"Mike in the Firebird, and Daryl in the Chevelle? What were they doing?"
"Getting a new driveshaft built for the Chevelle", Boone explained, "the other one was bent."
"I knew he tossed it out, and had to borrow some u-joints to make his last pass, but I figured all was good when he went 10.60."
"He said it shook all the fillings out of his teeth just to get to the finish line on that run. Those two have had a heck of an adventure so far!"
I jacked up the passenger's side of the Belvedere, and noticed that only one bolt was still in the three bolt header flange. Further inspection revealed the real culprit was a missing bolt in the aft tailpipe hangar, which had allowed all the vibration to transfer forward to the flange. Aaron peeled away from helping on the Gremlin to help me replace the flange gasket, bolts, and get the rear of the pipe re-secured.
"Appreciate the help", I told him, "sorry we're stuck here babysitting Dale's Gremlin, instead of rolling towards Cordova!"
"Are you kidding?" He laughed, "where else are you going to get the experience of rebuilding a broken eight second car, so you can drive it a hundred and fifty miles in the same night? This stuff is crazy, and fun, at the same time!"
Aaron is twenty-seven, and recovers quickly, for the older guys, this was not so much fun, I walked by Robert's Black R/T a few minutes later, and he was sitting upright in the driver's seat, head back, mouth open, completely out! The long days and short sleep were taking a toll.
The satellite truck which had provided the live feed was growling it's way towards the gate, and I took a quick look around the pits...seemed like our group, and the Aussies were the only Drag Weekers left at the track by then.

Some shots leaving St.Louis.

Rachael's first pass in Darren's Ram R/T didn't go quite as well as planned, as she spun pretty hard out of the hole, and did a terrible job shifting. It was somewhere in the low 15's, and after consulting with Robert about his experiences racing his truck, they decided to leave it in drive for the next attempt. The second pass was 14.54 @ 95, which was faster than Robert's black R/T ran on Drag Week last year, so that seemed to make Darren happy. I was sure Rachael would run the silver 1500 until it was out of gas, but after the 2nd run, she parked it back in our pit spot, and started helping Darren re-load his stuff.
"That's it? Just two runs?" I shrugged my shoulders at her, "I figured you'd make more than that!"
"Naw", she wrinkled her nose, "It's not nearly as much fun as the Belvedere!"
Robert laughed as she walked away, "You've created a monster!"
"Wow, I guess, that 440 on nitrous has her spoiled", I agreed.

Meanwhile, it continued to be all hands on deck, as Dale re-assembled the Gremlin. One of the Trapnells walked over from the Aussie camp to commiserate. Apparently they had found someone local who could re-grind their damaged BBC 50MM camshaft, since they were unable to find a replacement.
"How the heck do you find someone who has the ability to do that!" I asked him.
"Only in America, right!" He laughed, "but we will be at Cordova before 2pm tomorrow, I guarantee it!"

I could be wrong but I think these are day four leaving Cordova.
Bill

I was trying to figure it out Bill, and I'm not exactly sure...maybe pulling into the track at Cordova...because when we left, it was raining...

They sure are nice pictures though, I get plenty of pics of my car at the track, but I really like the ones that show it on the open road!

As the sun began to disappear, and it looked like they were about to wrap up the repair on the Gremlin, Boone and I took some time to walk around the facility. We hit up the t-shirt shack for a couple of souvenirs, and found it interesting that about half of the Great Lakes Dragaway shirts were emblazoned with NHRA logos, and the others there were with IHRA logos! I'm not sure which sanctioning body was current, or how long ago the switch was, but it made for a large variety of shirts to choose from. We checked out the onsite bar as well...didn't expect to see that. As we were heading back towards the pits, we stopped to look at some of the Mopars that had shown up for the test and tune, including a beautiful Pro Street style Road Runner, and a nice small block Dart. There were a couple of Chicago street/grudge type racers with ratty G-body Malibus on hand as well, with N/T scrawled on the windows and a huge entourage for each of them, they had been loud and boisterous for about an hour, setting all the bets, and particulars before hand, and we watched as they headed into the lanes, then turned our attention to the Aussies all huddled around the Holden. Once we got within ten feet of them, the smell of alcohol nearly knocked us over! Only two of the guys were actively working on the car, the other eight guys and gals, were all far too busy with the red solo cups they were supporting.

We talked about ten minutes with the Trapnell's as they attempted to re-assemble the stack injected and fogger equipped BBC, when we noticed that the grudge racers had returned from their race. We only thought their entourage was loud before! Now the stories were flying, and excuses were being made, money was being exchanged, and it got really loud!
"Maybe we should walk over there and see what all the fuss is with those blokes, mate!" One of the Aussies, who was clearly in no shape to walk the 200ft between the cars suggested.
"I think not!" Another one spoke up, "you need to just sit there with your drink, and watch from afar, before you get us into more trouble than we need tonight!"
Boone and I decided that was a good time to beat a hasty retreat back towards our encampment!

Happy B-day Boone.You magnificent sob.You share your B-Day with me.Not many can say that. LOL

We made it back to our pits, as the sun began it's quick descent. Rachael and Opal had ran the grills for the second time, so Boone and I grabbed a couple of Hot dogs and walked over to see where they were with the Gremlin.
"Looks like they are going backwards!" Boone commented.
"We are!" James rolled his eyes as he walked over to plug a grinder into the generator that was supplying light, "John here, has decided to blueprint the rocker spacing! Right here, right now!"
"Yeah, I have", John growled, "they weren't even close to being centered over the valves, and Indy rockers are not forgiving when they are abused!"
Dale continued to do what he was doing, and left John to his own on the rocker situation, which spoke volumes to me, so I figured he felt it was worth the time. I looked at my phone, 8:05pm, and they had another hour of work easy..it was going to be another long night!

All of the shots Jeff had on his Facebook page were from St.louis. This wasn't too far from the track, the first day.

Ok, Jeff.
I'll put on my Sherlock Holmes hat, and don the pipe: Definitely not first day, because Aaron is driving my car, and Skippy is driving Rachael's, that only happened on Thursday's drive from Cordova to St. Louis.
Now that we've established, that, Where?
As I commented earlier, it was raining, and I was driving when we left Cordova, it was also still very cloudy when we hit the checkpoint 30 miles in. I gave Aaron the wheel somewhere on US-67, after we passed through Monmouth. It was dusk when we pulled out of Jackson, so it couldn't have been after that. So, we were traveling south on US-67, and the sun is fairly low on the right side of the cars, so late afternoon, I'm going to say between Macomb and Jackson...

Jeff Oviatt lives in Clear Lake Iowa, so he may have just left his place, followed the route and scouted out a good place to set up...not exactly sure.

Ok, Jeff, now you ask him on Facebook and see how close I am...

My mistake. His pictures were taken at Cordova. The Drag Week fog still fills my head yet.

When I'm trying to write the story, there are numerous times when I'll be talking to Dale and Boone, trying to iron out details that are stuck in my head, but none of us can agree upon which day they happened or who was around at the time! Lots of stuff packed into one week!!

Once the engine, was buttoned up, and fired off, we still had to pack away the tools, and strap down all the stuff we had borrowed from John's trailer, so it was closing in on 10:00 by the time we were ready to head out.

As our 6 vehicle caravan made our way past the waving Aussies, still surrounding their wounded purple beast, we turned onto the single exit road, and there, to our surprise, were ten to twenty spectators, stragglers and track workers, all lining the road, giving us an ovation as we crept by. It was surreal, and gratifying in the same instant. That moment will forever be imprinted in my brain, and will always remind me of that crazy, long day we spent at that fabled old track!

We had no sooner pulled out on the road in front of the facility, than the place went dark as they shut off the main lights, and I could barely make out one single pole light left on above the fuel depot where the Morano was parked!
"Wow, that was quick", Aaron laughed as he looked back over his shoulder.
"Yeah! Maybe that's why they were clapping as we drove out...it meant they could go home!"

We pulled into a QuickMart five miles down the road to gas up for the trip, both the cars, and the drivers. I grabbed a 32oz Powerade, a five hour energy, and a bag of mini Reese's cups...if that wouldn't get me 150 miles, nothing would. When I walked out to fuel up, I noticed the splits between the fuel grades were like 40 cents each so I opted for 89 octane.
"Rachael! I hope you aren't putting 91 in that car", I teased her from two rows over.
"Yeah, I am, why?"
"Did you see the price difference!"
"Not my money", she laughed.

Robert had pulled Aaron aside in the store for a discussion, and when they came out to where I was fueling the Valiant, I could tell Aaron was a little disappointed, by the look on his face.
"Billy, can you make this run by yourself?" Robert asked me.
"Yeah, no problem, I'm feeling pretty decent", I answered as I dumped the five hour energy in the Powerade. "Why, are you shot?"
"Yeah, pretty much...I think I should just take Aaron, and head straight for our motel, instead of following the route...that way I can get some rest for tomorrow."
"I agree with that plan", I told him.

Fatigue and sleep deprivation are part of the game on Drag Week, but everyone has to know their limits, and I'd much rather have someone say something than have them running off the road hours later.

You guys were about an hour behind me, love hearing these repair stories. I didnt know about the Aussies breaking that car, I did however know they drink lots lol.

Why were you running so late out of Union Grove, Tony? I didn't think you did the second trans repair until the next day at Cordova...

We left union grove around 3, headed out after waiting for clay to get a decent pass. Made it about 30 miles out and started getting a little vibration, made it to around mile 50 out and stopped to get fuel and a spare fan belt as it pitched on every pass. Left the O'Reilly and made it to the advance auto parts at the turn off and it lost all but 1st and reverse. Went to see if there were any Trans shops open and too late, so decision was made to yank it right there in the parking lot. We started about 6 and had it out, guts swapped from the broken case Trans to the current slipping Trans and back in by 9, left about 9.30 after eating some pizza one of the guys bought,he had the El Camino. Jesse stayed and helped me with it.we made it to Cordova around 1am, earliest all week.

Darren led our pack out of the station, with Dale and James behind him in the Gremlin, the Belvedere next, then John and Opal's Valiant. I pulled out behind them, then Boone and Pops were once again the caboose in the Barnyard Viper.
We rolled along WI-11W effortlessly, until we made the left for Interstate 43 South, as soon as we jumped on the divided four lane, Rachael decided to blow around Dale and Darren, and take the lead.
"What the heck is she doing", was my first thought. All she had to do was follow along and let Darren lead us, "it's late, everyone is tired, and there is no need for this!" I reached for my phone, but decided against it.

Thirty-two miles later, as the route took us off the four lane and into the town of Beloit, Darren, along with Dale and John, pulled into the first station we came to on the right. Rachael, of course was a quarter-mile ahead of them by that time, and kept going, I decided to follow her, as I watched Boone pull in with everyone else. This time I did reach for my phone.
"Everyone else stopped at that station to the right", I informed her.
"Well screw my life! Why didn't they call me?" she shouted into the phone, along with a few other expletives.
"Why the heck did you think you needed to lead?" I shot back, feeling the anger beginning to rise.
"You told me to keep the air clean coming into the radiator, and they were all bunched up", she retorted.
"It's fifty degrees tonight, you don't need to worry about the car getting hot! Now slow down, and just cruise along until they catch up", I hung up.

We worked our way though Beloit Wisconsin, driving stoplight to stoplight through downtown, crossing the Rock River twice. I could imagine it was a good test for those who hit this during the day, but it was a traffic free ghost town for us. It seemed as I followed Rachael through town that the tail lights on the Belvedere were dimmer than usual, but I chalked it up to my tired eyes and the inconsistent city lighting. We crossed into Illinois on Highway 2 south, which seemed to follow along the river we had crossed in town, and made our way through Rockton. As soon as we were out of town, I found myself pushing the small block to 3200 rpm just to keep up with her on the narrow rural two lane. I reached for my phone again.
"Which part of slow the hell down did you not understand the first time!" I yelled into the phone when she answered.
"I'm running the speed limit", she retorted, indignant.
"The heck you are! Whatever that speedometer says, back it down ten, no, fifteen mph, and let's try that for awhile", I shouted.
"Also, you should consider pulling over and getting Skippy to check your alternator plug, the lights are dimming and I don't think it's charging".
"My dash lights are fine!" she exclaimed, and hung up on me, but she did back off the speed as instructed.

That was interesting run through the downtown area. We were bunched up with Randy's Barracuda and his Wife's Camaro through that area. It was just enough stop and go in the middle of the day to make me keep an eye on the temp.

The road from GLD back to Cordova was where I lost my wedding at DW 07.Wife wasn't even upset as she knew if I had done something wrong Vicki Crow would have handled it.She keeps a lot of DragWeekers from mis behaving very much.LOL

A few miles later, we entered Rockford Illinois, and the route sheet simply told us to follow 2 South signs through town. They didn't explain that Il-2 South was under construction, with lanes closed and detours all the way across the city.
I kept waiting for Rachael to pull over, and allow Skip to take a look under the hood, but it never happened. When we finally cleared the overhead lighting of civilization, and were once again driving through the dark countryside on a shoulderless, narrow ribbon of asphalt, it was blatantly obvious to me that the battery in the Belvedere was on it's last leg. If she was more than a few hundred feet ahead of me, the taillights would completely disappear, the glow from Skippy's cell phone was brighter!

Now, I need to take a few minutes to shed light on a few things about me that may (or may not), explain my actions over the next thirty or so minutes. My Dad grew up in a hardscrabble lead and zinc mining town, shortly after WW2. His legendary temper, and willingness to deal with conflict physically served him well in those formative years...later in life, not so much. As the oldest of four boys, I spent my formative years tasked with the job of peacekeeper, and disciplinarian any time Mom and Dad were away, unfortunately, Boone and Darren share Dad's disposition, and lack of control, so my job was never an easy one. As such I've developed a healthy disdain for the inability to control rage and anger. At the very least, I consider it a weakness, at the most, a character flaw. I hate the behavior, not the person, and I hate it most when I'm the person!

I picked the phone up once again, seething as we approached another small town, Skippy answered Rachael's phone, and it took all my effort to control my tone, "Tell her to pull into the first big parking lot we come to on the right, and to leave the car running!"
After a short pause, he answered, "OK", and hung up.
It was a grocery store. She pulled in, and stopped parallel with the road. I pulled up on her side of the car, and shut the Valiant off. I was yelling before I could even get around the front of my car to approach the Belvedere, I stopped short of her door by ten feet in an effort to control myself, "Both of you get the hell out of the car right now", I screamed.
Skippy complied immediately, his eyes as big as saucers. Rachael sat in the car, both hands on the wheel, staring straight ahead.
"Is it in park?"
"Yes!" She turned to glare at me. Every inch, her Mother's child.
"Then get the <expletive> out of the car and look at these dang headlights!"
As she opened the door, I turned to Skip, "Get that hood up, and plug the alternator back in!"
She walked around the door, and peered at the orange orb, who's light only spilled out four or five feet in front of the bumper, and said "I could see just fine!"
Skip was struggling to hold the hood, and fumble with the plug at the same time, so she grabbed the hood for him, using that action to turn away from me.
"The heck you could! Don't give me that crap! You guys need to learn to pay attention to the car, not your darn cell phones!" My throat was already getting raw, as every word I shouted was at max volume, "Did he get it fixed?"
Skippy had stepped back from the car, and was nodding his head affirmative, but still hadn't spoke.
"I don't know!" Rachael responded, turning to face me again.
"Look at the DANG HEADLIGHTS!" I crouched forward, pointing, "They are reaching across the parking lot now, pay ATTENTION!"
Skip shut the hood, and returned to the passenger seat of the car, his jaw had hung slack throughout the entire ordeal, with nary a word...perhaps I had underestimated him, but I was beyond cognitive reckoning at that point.
"Drive to the checkpoint, but whatever you do, don't shut it off when we get there...it's going to take the rest of the drive to charge that battery back up", I growled, then spun on my heels to return to the Valiant.

I followed her out of the parking lot and back onto the road, trying to gather myself and reign in the frustration that was flooding over me, as a result of my outburst. Unfortunately, we arrived at the checkpoint a scant two miles later, which didn't allow me any time to recover. We pulled into the drive-in, and positioned our cars in an attempt to get a picture with the 57 Chevy delivery elevated on a pole. Skip jumped out and shot a few pics, while Rachael sat stoically in the driver's seat, making no effort to look my way.

To make matters worse, the rest of our crew rolled into the checkpoint a few minutes later.

I pretty much hate myself when I lose my cool too.

Sometimes our own kids won't listen to us even after they know wiser people than them do listen and follow our advice. On my kids and grandkids when advice fails instruction follow shortly there after, if I still feel like helping them anymore
Some kids have to learn the heard way, like we did

Since I'm usually a jovial, happy person, when I'm upset it's difficult to hide, and most people, even casual co-workers, notice almost immediately.
With Family it's impossible.
"What's going on?" Boone asked, nearly as soon as he exited the truck, "You look ticked!"
"Rachael and Skip. They've got their heads stuck in their phones, the clouds, everything except paying attention to the car, and where we are going!"
"Got it", he quickly changed the subject, "You see all those Drag Week cars across the street at the Casey's?"
I hadn't, so I peered over and noticed four of them, "Scott Brown, in his 53 Chevy", I commented.
"And three Fox Bodies", Boone added, "wonder why he's hanging with them?"
"Yeah, a Mustang, a Marquis wagon, and a Fairmont...If memory serves me Boone, I believe all four of those are LS powered!"
"Well, if you're right, that would explain why they are running late...no way a pack of four LS cars can travel together without breaking one!"
Still, I found it was odd that we had left the track hours after everyone else, and were already finding others still out on the road. About that time, I heard the Belvedere shut off, and any chance of me retaining composure went away. I ran to the car and yelled.
"What the heck are you doing now?"
Rachael didn't answer, she simply tossed her hands up.
"Man, Back off!" James stepped between me, and the door of the Belvedere, "I told her to shut it off because I needed the keys to get in the trunk for a can of Bars Leaks we bought earlier! The Gremlin is losing water somewhere."
"Your idea huh? Fine! YOU can babysit her the rest of the way to Cordova!"

With that outburst, I spun on my heels, headed straight for the Valiant, fired it up, and headed back onto the route without another exchange with anybody. I cleared Byron fairly quick, and found myself driving through the tranquil, moonlit, Illinois countryside with only the sound of the 428 to accompany me. I felt like a character in a Snickers commercial; frustrated, embarrassed, dissapointed, and still trying to reconcile why had responded in that fashion. I expected my phone to ring, but it didn't...I picked it up, and checked the time: 1:00AM, and still seventy miles of back roads to go.

The route sheet showed a turn in the town of Forreston at 92 miles, and the next mention of a town was Mt. Carroll at 118 in, so I began to plot my next fuel stop. The Valiant features a Summit brand aluminum fuel cell advertised as a 15 gallon unit, but in all the time I've owned the car 13.1 is the most it will hold. I usually average between 10.5 and 12.5 observed MPG on Drag Week, so I should have an effective range over 130 miles, but I feel much more comfortable trying to stop every 100 for a little cushion. Forreston had a Mobile station in the heart of the little town, but it was roped off because they had just re-sealed the entire asphalt parking lot. Five miles later, I entered the even smaller town of Shannon, and was surprised to find a Casey's Country Store open, and functional. They don't carry 91 as a rule, so 89 would have to do. I was even more surprised to pull in, and find Tom Bailey and the Sick Seconds 2.0 Pro-Mod Camaro sitting at the pump.
"You guys doing OK?" I asked, as I crawled out of the Valiant.
"Yeah, pretty good...you?" Tom smiled, but it was clearly forced, both he and his trunk monkey looked worn completely out.
"Hanging in there!" I shot back with a smile, likely seen as forced as his, and stumbled off towards the store. By the time I poured a 24oz coffee and paid for my fuel, they were rumbling off into the early morning darkness, and I didn't see them the rest of the trip to Cordova.

The next hour on the road was pretty calm, and I soon found myself on IL-84 cruising next to the Mississippi River. As I drove through Clinton, where a large number of Drag Weekers were already in their motels, and where John and Opal would be stopping, I shook my head. I have this innate skill or just dumb luck, that I always end up booking our rooms on the opposite side of the track from the way we are approaching, so we were going to drive past the track by fifteen or so miles, to LeClaire Iowa on I-80.

I entered the motel parking lot at around 2:30AM, and found myself confused by the Comfort Inn sign, when I was booked at Super 8 under the same address. I finally figured out that the entities actually shared the same building, With Comfort Inn in the main building, and the Super 8 was an adjoining building at a right angle to the first.

I walked up to the clerk behind the desk, and explained, "I have two rooms."
I was expecting her to ask for my name, but in a gruff voice she replied, "Ha, you want two rooms, not likely tonight".
I looked at her sternly, allowing her time to meet my gaze. She was a squat, round, frumpy woman with natural grey hair combed straight down, parted in the middle. I was taken aback when I realized that while her hair was far more salt, than pepper, the sparse mustache hairs scattered across her wrinkled upper lip, retained all of their youthful dark color.
"I HAVE two rooms! Prepaid." I emphasized.
"Uh, OK, let me look that up for you!" She sprang into action, and in a short time handed me two cards, and the room numbers. While not exactly personable, she certainly wasn't incompetent.

I walked down the hall a short distance, sat my bag down and stuck the card in the first door. It beeped, the light went green. I opened the door about halfway, and was one step in, reaching for the light when I noticed a large pair of bare feet sticking out of the covers on the bed nearest the door. The next sight was a tall redhead in his forties sitting up in bed, looking at the open door and managing a startled, "Hey"!
"Sorry Man, they gave me the wrong room", I uttered as I took a step back, and shut the door.
The next room was indeed empty, so I dropped my stuff inside, washed my face, and walked back down the hall to confront the clerk. I handed her the key, and explained the situation.
"Dang idiots at central booking! Can't do anything right! That room was supposed to be empty!" I was beginning to figure out that her gruff, direct dialogue was merely a self defense mechanism, but I was undeterred.
"I still need a second room", I pressed.
"Well at least we got you one", she kept her attention on the monitor in front of her.
"That's not going to make the other seven people in my party very happy, I can assure you!"
She looked up, almost startled, "Why would you put eight people in one room?"
"I wouldn't! That's why I PREPAID for two rooms!"

That whole area is confusing.

I did the same thing Billy, went in to the comfort inn side and said I need my room, and same mustachio lady says oh, go to the super 8 side. I didnt know there was one. Headed over and and nobody in there, a few seconds later and she shows up lol, can I help you? I just had to smile, my whole night was like bizzaro world. While I was working on the car I told my buddy Clay to just head on out and make it to le claire because he was in 2nd place in his car and I didnt want to ruin his chances by hanging out with me in case the trans didnt make it. I had him make sure my room was good to go although I dont think it made any difference.

Great job on the story, Billy. I always look forward to the next installment.

I just talked to my buddy Clay Forrester, he said it was his room you busted into, I said "hey didnt something happen in your room that night", "he says I vaguely remember something like that, I think Glen saw him" "hell I dont remember, by that time the whole week was getting very blurry.

Before we were married, my current wife had a guy come into her motel room while she was in the shower. He had a key, too. She ran him out of there. When she is in a certain mood, there is no way I would cross her either and we have been married 33 years.

I heard a barely muffled machine pulling into the parking lot, as the clerk stared at her computer monitor, while tapping the keys on her board, presumably trying to conjure up another room.
I stepped out of the lobby door, expecting to see one of my brothers coming around the corner; instead it was Daryl Yost's Pro-charged Chevelle. He pulled just past the lobby entrance and shut it off, as I held the door open for him to enter.
"My brothers said you were getting a driveshaft made in Kenosha when they were having their cylinder head repaired! So why are you just now rolling in?"
"Oh good grief", He laughed, "We installed the new shaft, and prepared to head out, only to find it vibrated just as bad as it did with the damaged one! Turns out the chrome-moly 1350 yoke on the rear end was bent as well. Finally, we located a shop in Union Grove called SRT that claimed to have one, and we limped over there to get it."
"That place was insane", he shook his head, "Lots of toys, 4 wheelers, snowmobiles, every kind of race car you could think of, so they got me fixed up and we finally got away from there!"
"So Mike made it okay in the Pontiac", I questioned, referencing his "odd couple" traveling partner.
"Oh, yeah...but he had the good sense to get a motel on the other side of the track!" he laughed again, still pretty lighthearted after a long day.
He picked up his room key, and entered the room just down the hall from the one I had, only long enough to toss his bag inside, then he came back to the desk and asked the clerk for a luggage cart. That struck me as a strange request, but she produced one from a back room, and he wheeled it out the door. Five minutes later, he came back in with his slicks stacked on the cart and headed for his room. He had been carrying them strapped to a hitch receiver rack behind the back bumper of his Chevelle, but obviously didn't like the idea of leaving them on it overnight. When he brought the cart back, we resumed our conversation, and I explained my current situation to him.
"Hey, if they don't find you a second room", he offered, "I'm by myself in a two bed room, so a couple of your crew can bunk in there if need be!"
I assured him that I wouldn't hesitate to knock on his door if it came to that, and he sauntered off in the direction of his room. After a couple of steps, he half-turned, and with a big smile, commented:"Ya know, I've dreamed of doing Drag Week for quite a while, and this has been great, but an eleven hundred dollar day can suck that enthusiasm right out of you!"
"Get some rest buddy! I promise it will be better tomorrow", I told him, as he headed off in the opposite direction.

Ten minutes later, all the Gebhart crew rolled in, and the clerk really started feeling the pressure. She finally asked if we knew Jesse Madafari, of all things.
"Of course we do, he's one of the guys doing drag week with us", I offered.
"Well, the last time he called, asking about his reservation, he was still an hour out", she looked at us dourly, "so I'm going to put you in that room, and we'll have to find him something on the other side."
I wasn't surprised that Jesse and his grandson were still out on the road, because he refuses to leave anyone behind, exactly the kind of guy who revels in helping out during a roadside thrash! I wasn't about to argue with her though, so we accepted the keys, and started loading in our gear into the two rooms. James pulled me aside on one of our trips, to explain something to me.
"You know...Rachael didn't shut the Belvedere off at the checkpoint, even though I asked her to..."
"What do you mean", I cut him off, "I heard the car quit running, then she handed you the keys!"
The anger was gone, I wasn't arguing with him, but I knew exactly what I saw and heard that set me off back there.
He put his hands up, fingers splayed, palms towards me, as if to hold me back, "Seriously, it just died...and then after you left, we jumped it, and it wouldn't start! Finally we figured out that it was out of gas, and we had to push it across the street to the station!"
"Out of gas", I stared at him, hands on hips, "We had only driven seventy-five miles, how the heck was it out of gas?"
"Remember when you scolded her for buying the expensive gas at our first stop? She stopped pumping as soon as you said something about it, and shut off the pump!" He shook his head, "She's all out of sorts, you really had her upset!"
"James...she's twenty-six, not seventeen! I expect to pay attention to her surroundings!"
"Well" he blushed, shaking his head, "My girls haven't hit puberty yet, so I haven't got the experience you do...but I think having her boyfriend on this trip was a bad idea!"
"That's something we can agree on for sure", I smiled, "did the Gremlin quit drinking water?"
"I think the bars-leak did the trick", he surmised,"guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow when she's under a strain!"

When I entered the room, Rachael and Skippy were showering, and Boone looked as though he was waiting his turn. I changed to my shorts, and crawled in bed without any further discussion. I was unconscious in a matter of seconds.

BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP bump
The unknown sounds in the night while waiting patiently on the "REST of the Story" as the late great Paul Harvey would say.
Sorry Billy Could not resist.
Jerry

Breakfast is just the not the same without a update!!

Think Billy is in Bakersfield attending the March Meet, believe drag racing is holding up the story telling, guess he has his priorities, lol

California is the place ya oughta be......

I wonder how the Barnyard Viper did in Gasser Class?
Jerry

I was in Bakersfield for Thursday & Fridays sessions at the March Meet and can confirm that yes, Billy has been busy racing and traveling. It was great to get to chat with Billy and Boone for a while. As good as he is at writing this stuff down for us, he's just as fun to bench-race with in person. I enjoyed meeting them and getting a first hand look at the Valiant and Barnyard Viper.

Billy had a bit of a mishap with the Valiant on Thursday that I'll let him explain. Not a huge issue, but something I'm sure he will be able to spin yarn about for years to come.

Did it involve his hood?

sharp eyes! That guy's head was hiding it...

secret drag week testing exposed!!!

I apologize guys.

Playing with cars, writing stories, interacting with our friends on the net...all provide a respite from the everyday grind of life. But sometimes life grabs you by the nape of the neck and demands all of your attention. Whether it's health, marriage, kids, financial, legal, or other wise, you have to be the patriarch on occasion, and handle what's thrown your way.

It's been a particularly trying week, but, much like we've learned from DW, you deal with the problems as they arise, and move forward to the next obstacle!

We've officially passed the halfway mark between DW-15, and DW-16, and with registration already completed, car swaps, and new plans...I should be working on The Preparation 16 story, and yet here I sit, only 75% through this story! Frankly, by expanding the scope of the story, and trying to provide a larger window into the happenings of drag week, I've probably bitten off more than I can chew...Then again, if you've read most of these stories, you've come to understand that perhaps, that is situation normal for the Gebhart bunch.

The March Meet at Famoso was a bucket list type item for me, and it was a memorable trip. The Thursday run for the Valiant was initiated by a nice wheelstand and the second best 60ft. the car has ever produced, a 1.413, and a great photo op., but the re-entry was a little rough, and I was on the rev limiter before I gathered myself, and bumped it into second. Apparently the rough landing had also jarred loose the 50+ year old, stock hood latch, and at the 1000' mark, the hood flew up, and ripped itself loose from the stock hood hinges. The only damage to the rest of the body was a small scuff above the windshield where the abs plastic aero scoop hit the top on it's way over the car. At the 1/8 mile it was 6.582-102.27, versus a 6.596-103.87 on my best ever 10.39-128, so despite needing more jet, it was on a heck of a pass! I lifted when the hood disappeared, and slowed to a 10.52-114 on the D-Gas 10.60 index. Since I was now hoodless, I was required to install my small, restrictive air cleaner on the 950 carb. I know from experience that the air cleaner usually costs me 2 mph in the quarter with the hood scoop in place, but since I was already too fast, I decided to go with it. D-Gas runs on a .400 Pro Tree, which is a tall order for a back halved bracket car with a tied down front suspension and 24" front runners. A small tire ladder bar street car with 261/2 tall street tires on the front, and full A-body travel...pretty much impossible! Even so, my .226 way absolutely horrible! So I had Boone crawl under the dash, and crank the two step from 3700 to 4200, in an attempt to improve it.
At no time before I staged the car Friday morning did the thought enter my mind that the removal of the stock steel hood and hinges, combined with 500 more rpm at the hit, might result in a larger, higher wheelie; proving once again that I am neither intelligent nor intuitive! The resulting 1.400 60ft is the Valiant's best ever, and then I felt the rear tires drive under me, and frankly it scared me. Once again, it was popping against the rev limiter before I managed the shift, and it seemed to pull hard all the way to the stripe. 10.62-122.8, ouch, I should've been happy to run only 2 hundredths over the index, and qualifying tenth...but 122? The small diameter air cleaner, and no hood scoop, just killed the car five mph...that's pretty ugly.

Your Grandson wants to know when it will be race car with 3 pedals.LOL. Me bad.You went to the March Meet. Color me jealous.

All in all, Boone and I, along with Mom and Dad, had a great time at the March Meet despite both of us being first round runner-ups Saturday morning. I'd recommend visiting the event at least once, if only for the pure spectacle of it all.

Drag Week 2015 Day four, Cordova Ill.
I'm reluctant to write much tonight, because either this website or my PC keeps locking up, and I'd hate to lay down 4 or 5 paragraphs and have them disappear. Much like Wednesday, Thursday pretty much started with a text from Opal, telling us that her and John were already at the track, and in what area they were pitted. The message came through at 9:00 AM, and we were just beginning to attack the continental breakfast, at our hotel 15 miles away, so there was no way we were going to threaten for a chance to be the first few cars down the track! We finished up our plates and walked outside to threatening skies overhead, and Joe Barry's 6 second, all steel 56 Chevy still in the parking lot. Typically we are always the last remaining Drag Week cars at any motel parking lot in the morning, but I wasn't really surprised. The new Drag Week rules stipulate that any car faster than 8.50 has to report to impound when they show up at a track. Once in impound, only the driver and passenger may work on the vehicle, with only the tools and parts brought by that vehicle. Naturally, the big cars have already adapted to this rule, by doing the serous pre-race prep at the motel before arriving, or limping to the nearest Wal-Mart parking lot for post race repairs, where they won't be hampered by the impound restrictions! We left about 9:30 for the track, and ran across the mighty Mississippi to get back into Illinois and arrive at Cordova Dragway.

Billy, if you compose/edit your installments in MS Word first, you can save them as you type them. That way short of a total hard drive meltdown, if something crashes, the most you might lose is the last few words you typed.

When it's time to post you just copy and paste it.

Also when it's time to write your book, you'll have it all in one place.

Kevin

If Drag Week was a game of Texas Holdem the first three days represent the flop, and everyone still in competition could see those cards just by looking at the results. Now the game was getting serious, and on the fourth, it was time to see who was just limping for the finish line, and who was ready to put in the work to better their position. We rolled into the pits fashionably late as always, but Cordova had a different feel. Everyone had their roles defined, and the tasks required ahead of them. Guys were wearily working on their hotrods with one eye on the competition, and the other studiously watching the clouds overhead.

The Hot Rod/ Drag Week staff have learned a great deal about how to get a day in when inclement weather is threatening. The massive failure of the final day at Heartland Park Topeka in 2011 has shaped many of their decisions since, and for the better. As such, they were stepping up the program at Cordova, only allowing about an hour for each of the first two sessions. By the time we rolled through the gate, the last of the class cars first session was finishing up, and the SME cars were already in the lanes, so our focus was to get Rachael and the Belvedere in the lanes before we prepped our cars.

Ray had already ran his Barracuda, and left, recording his slowest time of the week. The humidity was definitely to blame, considering he had chosen to run closed hood, and couldn't chase the jetting. One of the strategies on display was to take the first hit, and try to get out before the weather hit. It didn't surprise me that Clark and Bill were quickly rolling considering they had a pretty good cushion in the SME quick 32 qualifying, but Dan Smith didn't throw many attempts at the track either, and he was barely hanging onto position number 32! Like Ray, both of them accepted their slowest run of the week.

It didn't take long for the news to spread through the pits about Matt Blasco and the EFI Dart's transmission woes. Many times on Drag Week, it's not about the parts failures, as much as it is about the timing of those failures. Breaking on his first attempt, on a day destined for a rain shortened finish was exceedingly bad luck! I'm sure as painful as turning in that 16.98 slip had to be, they were happy that the Dart was able to leave Cordova Dragway under it's own power!

I was packed and ready to go when Matt came looking for parts, we tore into my trailer of killed transmission parts, found the input housing and looked for what he needed, it was there but was a stock unit. I told him he could have it but it would not hold up. Guess he found one from the Glen or the Bryant.

By the time we arrived, John and Opal had us a nice pit spot picked out, Robert and Aaron were there, 451 Dart and his Wife were there, as well as Jeremy and his Dad, all looking far more rested and lively than we were! The Odd Couple were on hand as well, and I knew Daryl Yost hadn't slept any more than we had, so I was surprised at how happy he looked. He probably just felt that the worst was behind them, and that's usually when Drag Week throws even more at you. Earlier in the week, I think he would have made extra passes for a nine second slip, but the Chevelle would have to settle for a 10.04.

Not only did I meet you, I got mentioned in the story. Nice meeting your crew!!

John made the opening shot for our group, towards the end of the Street Machine Eliminator session, and went 11.02-120. He had made a proclamation that he wanted to go tens every day, so as soon as the number lit up the boards we knew he would make another run. Rachael's first run, as the last pair down in the session, wasn't going to work either. Even though she was becoming very adept at slowing up and hitting the finish line around a hundred mph, the 11.44 e.t. was still too quick to turn in.

It was an enjoyable visit as with you and your Wife as well, even if we were a little haggard, and preoccupied! Of course, it only added fuel to John's fire, as he had been teasing us about being celebrities, and Drag Week insiders all week! I particularly like the pic of me removing the exhaust from the Valiant because it has the Valiant, the Barnyard, the Gremlin, and a beautiful young lady in it! Of course, the pictures also got a smile out of Boone, which, on a Drag Week Thursday, can be a difficult thing to do!

This was my third visit to Cordova Dragway, but my first chance to actually make a pass down the track. My first visit was in the mid nineties as an OTR trucker, when I stopped by Sunday morning of the World Series of Drag Racing. Everyone laughed and explained that I had missed the big show which took place on Saturday night. I ended up having breakfast with the Fuel racing husband and wife team, Brent and Vicki Fanning though, and that casual conversation will be something I'll remember for a long time. The second was Drag Week 2006, with Boone and his 78 D-100, so I was really excited this time to add the place to my list of "Tracks I've Raced At"!

My battle with Glenn Bridger's Camaro for 2nd/third in Pro Street NA had taken a decided turn in my favor at Indy when the Valiant's best NA pass ever, that 10.396, had trounced his 10.504. He turned the tables back to his advantage at Union Grove, laying down his best number of Drag Week, a 10.431 to my 10.532.
I don't like to look at the averages during the event, I prefer totals, so I know how much ground has to be made up, and roughly he had five hundredths on me over the three days, so I needed to run 5-6 hun better than he did at Cordova. The one caveat to that equation was...I kinda need to know what he was running, and I hadn't seen the him make a pass all week, as he tended to be rolling out the gate as I arrived each day! I had ran to the fence several times thinking I had a chance to see him run, only to realize it was one of the other 10 Red first gen Camaros on Drag Week!

My first pass wasn't pretty, as the hesitation on the hit had returned with a vengeance, and led to a horrible 1.58 60ft., and an off the pace 10.681-126.02

Good ole' Red Light Ross was working his Road Runner hard at Cordova, trying to run that perfect 11.50 to stay in contention for the quick 32 in SME. After a pair of .51s the last two days, he and his crew really struggled with the limited track time we had due to the threatening weather. He had to settle for an 11.71-118, that effectively doomed his chances of making the shootout on Friday.

Dale was in the lanes with the Gremlin, so I made my way over to the fence to watch. I peered towards the Christmas tree just in time to see Charlie and Jason Ogle staging up their stick shifted big block E-bodies. I've been drag racing for nearly thirty years, and I can tell you in great detail, about every run I've made with one of my brothers or my dad in the opposing lane, so I'm sure that this run at Cordova is one that Charlie will cherish for a very long time. Charlie's Gold Challenger, with the slipping clutch, managed an 11.72-119, while Jason's Yellow Cuda went a Drag Week best of 12.19-111.

The pair directly in front of Dale was Teenager Alex Taylor in her "BadMaro" twin turbo first gen, and Doc McEntire in his "SeeRed" Camaro. While Glenn Bridger and I were clawing for every hundredth for the two remaining podium spots in Pro Street NA, Doc had us thoroughly outclassed with his 673 inch Goodwin billet Hemi. His three previous mid eight second blasts meant he had a six second cushion on us with only two days remaining. When he launched, it appeared he might need all of his cushion, as the powerglide turned into a mushbox in low, luckily it managed to hold on when he shifted to drive, and he motored to a high nine second run at 160 mph. Later in the afternoon we would hear that the 'glide would have to come out.
"What if he can't make it?" Dad would ask me later, "wouldn't it be cool if you are battling for a class win?"
"No Dad...I hope he makes it to St. Louis!" I smiled and shook my head, "because I really don't care that much whether I get the second place plaque or the third place one...but if I lose the class win by a few hundredths...I'm going to be second guessing everything I did all week!"

Doc and Jeff. 2 polar opposites that are best friends.LOL.

Dale pulled up into the right lane to do his burnout, under the watchful eyes of both James and John; each clearly concerned as to whether their handy work from the night before was about to be undone. To add to the drama Bryant Goldstone and his twin turbo BBC powered, tube chassis, all steel 73 Javelin was in the left lane beside him. Dale had to double step the throttle about 80ft. out but it looked like a fairly strong run, while the Javelin was spooling up for a few seconds before giving chase. Dale can forever brag about getting to the stripe first, while carding his best Drag Week pass ever.

Once he returned to the pits, I questioned whether or not he felt the need to chase an eight second slip at this juncture.
"Oh no", he shook his head and chuckled, "I'm not leaning on the old girl again until she is back in St. Louis, within walking distance of the trailer!"

Billy
At Cordova we could not run our number as you know. We were having an ignition problem and it was breaking up part way down track but not at launch. Every run was getting worse but not until we were down track a fair bit. On the last run I had an elctrical meltdown. I was the only car on the track so I let off and was coasting . I was also taking off my helmet when the car filled with smoke and that sickening burnt plastic smell. Well panic set in and all I could think about was getting the underhood battery switch turned off. I crammed the brakes on and finished pulling my helmet off but when I did so I sent my glasses on flying trip over to the passenger floor. I am blind without them. Any how I got my belts off and found the hood pins and switch by braile. Long story short ( no pun intended ) I had a short and my alt was out. I did not realize I had been working only on the battery and it had got low enough that the car ran alright until my nitrous solenoids kicked in and took to much voltage from the ignition. Got a little wet doing a quick fix under the hood to get us out of there.

You made her day by mentioning her.

Boone was in the lanes for his first attempt with the Barnyard, also both Rachael with the Belvedere, and John in his Valiant had returned for their second passes.
I explained to Dale my problem with the hesitation, and since he was calling it a day, he decided to look over my situation. After some tweaks to the carb, he instructed me to back onto the return road in front of our pit spot and give him a quick dry hop.
I gave him a blank stare, "That's the kind of stunt that gets you tossed out of a facility", I argued.
"Listen...we don't have time for you to make a pass after each adjustment, I just need you to back out there and whack it, then tell me if the hesitation is worse, or better", he insisted.
"I've seen guys get tossed out of NHRA divisionals for trans brake checks in the pits..."
"This aint no friggin divisional", he raised his voice, "this is Drag Week! Now back out and give me a five foot launch so I can see what it is doing!"
I complied, and reported to him that it wasn't any better than my last pass.
"OK, I need to make a big change to see if we are at least moving in the right direction", he decided. He was in the process of changing the squirters again when Boone pulled the Barnyard to the line.
Boone's pass was indicative of what most were experiencing at Cordova as the storm loomed nearer, his 11.396-116.8 was the slowest time slip he turned in on Drag Week 2015, but like Dale, he had no intention of running again.

Rachael was so leery of running under 11.50 on her second pass, that she backed completely off in the back half and ran 11.85-91. She was actually at 97 mph when the Belvedere hit the 1/8th mile. The smile was back though, and the argument on the road was a distant memory, so she was once again enjoying herself in the company of her Dad and Uncles.
John's M.O. of the last three days was an 11.0, followed by a quick tweak in the pits, then a high ten. Cordova was a struggle to find the number, as it seemed the weather was running away from his tune-up, and each adjustment kept giving him another 11.02 to 11.04. He was undeterred though, and kept diving under the hood after each pass.

That was one blurry morning.

too much ATF in your eyes!

Lol yup

I will cherish the whole 2015 Drag Week, and remind my self that I am very fortunate to have these memories with my brother. Thanks for the story, Billy , I look forward to every installment. I plan to do Drag Week every year that I am able, but as I said 2015 will always be special to me.

John Faraone's Valiant Charger, had failed to show up at Union Grove, but he had the twin turbo wedge on hand at Cordova making exhibition passes, to the tune of 7.43-192! In this picture he was squared off with Steve Fagan's big tire 94 Pro-Charged S-10 Blazer. Steve has brought the Blazer a number of times, but was thoroughly outclassed this year in Pro Street PA by the trio of seven second machines, along with Tina's Colorado solidly in the eights. He's a gamer though, and in the second picture you can see him slogging through the deluge that brought our day at Cordova to an abrupt end.

The Frost Green Demon of Paul Cornman had won Street Race Small Block NA in 2014 with a 10.02 average, then 2015 found the class stacked with 6 cars that ran 9s every single day. The proverbial punch in the mouth left Paul in 5th place after the first two days, but he just leaned on the Demon harder, and began clawing back ET on days three and four. His 9.81-136.8 moved him back to third.

After the third or fourth dry hop on the return road, Dale had determined that the 50cc pump Darryl had added to the front bowl of the HP 950 when he ran it on his Dart was just too much fuel for a clean launch on my car. Finally, he simply tightened the arm down to limit pump travel in an attempt to lessen the problem since we didn't have enough parts to convert it back to a 30cc pump.
My second pass resulted in a much better leave, but it seemed to flatten out on the big end, and the time slip read 10.57-125.8. Dale demanded a few more dry hops, much to my chagrin, as we contemplated what we needed to be satisfied with our attempt at Cordova.
I knew Aaron and Robert, as well as Jeremy and his Dad, had been at the track much sooner than we arrived, so I quizzed them as to what Bridger in the Camaro had ran earlier in the day. No one could quite recall, but Jeremy's Dad felt it may have been somewhere in the high ten forties. That assessment wasn't exactly filling me with confidence.

My third pass, I pulled up in the left lane, and looked over to see John pull his 67 up in the right. I smiled as I thought about how he drove away from me on the 428's maiden voyage last year...time for some redemption! He slapped a .110 light on the four tenths pro tree to my lazy .467 for a healthy three and half tenths head start, but the small block was reeling in his 440 by half track to the tune of .26 and 4mph. The little 62 had a bumper out front by .005 at the 1000ft mark, then stretched the advantage to 16 feet, nearly a full car length, by the finish line. 10.591-125.32, to 11.039-119.70. It didn't help either of us in the grand scheme of things, but it sure was fun!

John shrugged at me when he got out of his car, "What were you doing up there...spooling your imaginary turbo?"
"I was giving you the tree, just to make it interesting...then I still drove around you like that thing was tied to a post", I shot back.
"Yeah, sure", He shook his head and laughed, "I kept waiting for that all-powerful small block to make a move, and it just barely gained on me all the way down...finally I realized you don't have a bit more motor than this tired old 440, just a car that's 350 pounds lighter!
The verbal jousting was fun, but both of us realized we were running out of time, The Drag Week staff had already announced that the day was officially counted as complete at 12:15, but they would continue to run until Two PM, weather permitting. From the looks of the black clouds arriving, and the sudden change in the wind...the weather was not going to permit any such thing!

Rachael's third run was an 11.71-100, and she started packing up the Belvedere, as well as organizing my stuff for a quick getaway as the impending rain loomed ever closer. John made his last attempt a keeper as his well worn drag radials finally managed to grip the Cordova starting line, rewarding his perseverance with a stout 10.92-120.

I looked at the small block, elbows on the flat expanse of the driver's front fender, and contemplated my next, and possibly last attempt of the day. I was discussing it with Boone and Dale, but something John had mentioned about my car's weight was still bouncing around between my ears.

"Boone, why don't you take a pass in it...couldn't hurt to drop a hundred pounds out of the car!"
"More like a buck, twenty!" Boone was shaking his head, "I've never ran this thing through, and I doubt I could improve on your times in one hit!"
"It's worth a try", Dale agreed, "what do you weigh right now, Boone?"
"Around 180..."
"...and I'm about 280!" I interjected.
"You're a hamburger short of 305!" Dale started laughing, "grab your helmet and jacket Boone, it's worth a shot!"

I had Aaron crawl under the dash again, to adjust the rpm for the shift light. Previously I had it at 6K, and I would hang on the light a bit before I shifted, but I wanted Boone to just grab the next gear as soon as he saw color. Boone drove straight to the water box, as the lanes were completely empty, so I grabbed a spot on the fence to watch. He was far too conservative on the burnout, and the Valiant predictably spun. I could also hear the rev limiter get tickled before each gear change. The 10.61-127.7 was nearly two mph better than my best of the day, but 4 hundredths slow.
"He needs another run! It'll give us the number!" Dale exclaimed as he ran up to me breathlessly. We could see lightning strikes a few miles away as Boone seemed to be taking his sweet time on the return road. He was taking forever crossing the scales, and both Dale and I were waving demonstrably for him to head back to the lanes.

"Guys...nothing scares a track owner worse than the threat of lightning striking his timing system, so we are going to pull the plug right now", we heard Brian Lohnes announce over the loud speaker, and just like that our chance for another pass was over.

That was a fun 30min or however long it was as you guys were trying to get the car to run the number. And luckily we got back to our cars before we got soaked!

Very true Jeremy, it seems that's the way Drag Week is at times, just a flurry of activity and urgency.

When Boone brought the Valiant back into our spot, Skippy and I immediately jumped on the exhaust, figuring we needed to get that done before the rain hit. I asked him where Rachael was, and he explained that she had went to the tower to have Brian Lohnes wish Opal Hindley a happy Birthday over the loud speaker, and then turn in her time slip. Rachael and Opal both have Birthdays during Drag Week, so that has been fun to share with them. I figured I had time to turn my slip after the rain arrived, so I just kept working on the car.
Suddenly I noticed the Hot Rod staffer who had been manning the scales standing near me. When I acknowledged him, he bent down and asked, "Did you switch drivers on that last run?"
"Uhh, yeah!" I confirmed. Boone was a registered driver in the event, so I couldn't think of any rules violations that we had commited, so I didn't feel compelled to shade the truth.
"OK", he smiled and straightened up, "That explains it! I've been weighing this Valiant all week at 3140-3160 depending on the scale, and when it came across at 3020 on that last run it freaked me out! You guys were pushing that 3K limit for all it was worth!"
He spun around and headed for the toter home before I could compose a witty response. It was just as well because moments later we were getting pelted with quarter sized rain drops.

Billy, that's funny! I'm glad you are back to telling the story, I was having withdrawals.

I needed my drag week fix too.
lol
Jerry

I pulled the four crumpled time slips from my wallet, fanned then out like playing cards, and plucked out the one with the lowest elapsed time. I reached past Rachael, who was stuffing all my gear in the back seat area of the Valiant, and grabbed my camera case.
"I'm going to get my time slip turned in, and pick up my route sheet...you got this?"
"Yeah", she replied quickly, "We're just trying to get everything loaded as quick as possible, so some things may end up in different cars this time around."
"That's fine, just as long as this rain is short lived, and we don't have a bunch of interstate driving ahead of us!"

Great story line as always. Thanks for taking your time to share the experience with us wanna be's.
Jerry

I walked into the toter-home with my camera and time slip just in time to catch the tail-end of a discussion about the weight of my car between the scale operator and Sean Fling.
Sean looked my way with a smirk, and raised his voice, "Well, we all know Billy kinda likes to skirt the rules..."
I met his eyes and raised my voice beyond what was needed in such a small area, "What do you mean...", I paused for effect, the other 5 or 6 people in the room stopped breathing, "KINDA!"
I laughed, "You know I like to bend them right to the limit!"
Sean laughed as well, and everyone else relaxed. I first met Sean and Tara Fling at Drag Week 2006, which was, for all intents, their Honeymoon. Watching them grow into a family, has been one of the joys I associate with this event. The conversation that ensued as the weather raged outside took me off my game, and I forgot to take a picture of the time slip I handed over, so those incrementals will never make it into the log book!

Aaron was already in the passenger's seat of the Valiant and grabbed the route sheet as soon as I shoved it in the car.
"Two hundred and sixty miles, but this will be the earliest you guys have left a track in...?" He let it hang as if it was a question.
"For-ev-er!" I gave it in my best Sandlot impression.
"This is going to get interesting", I warned as we pulled out onto Il-84 alongside the Mississippi, and watched the water on the asphalt mimic the big river to our right. Darren and Rachael pulled out ahead of us, with the Gremlin, John's Valiant, the Barnyard, and finally Robert all following us.
"You might want to hang onto your seat", I grimaced.
Aaron glanced at me with an arched eyebrow, as if trying to discern if I was dramatizing the moment of not. After the first mile or two, Darren and Rachael were steadily pulling away from us. I would've guessed my speed to be about thirty, maybe thirty-five, and if I tried to squeeze another hundred rpm out of the 428, I could feel the back tires slightly moving right and left through my clinched buttocks. No part of my back was touching the tweed cover on the fiberglass bucket, and my shoulder muscles were bunched up like I was carrying concrete blocks. We went around a slight left hand curve as we fell off a hill and the rear kicked out slightly towards the ditch as I counter steered gingerly away from the center stripe.
"Whoah!" Aaron gasped and nearly dropped his cell phone.
"Yeah...I warned ya..it gets a little sketchy on water. How long are they going to have us on I-80?" I nodded toward the route sheet that he had completely forgot about momentarily.
"Only looks like about 4 miles", he confirmed, but never took his eyes off the road ahead.
I hazarded a glance in the rear view for the Gremlin, he had faded back at least a half-mile behind me, and in my quick glance I saw both doors. I decided not to take a second look until we covered the ten miles to the junction for I-80. There were two gas stations at the foot of the hill, and both parking lots were absolutely covered with Drag Week cars, most apparently electing to try and wait the rain out. When I pulled up to the gas pump and crawled out of the Valiant, I felt as cramped up as I would've if we had just drove 120 miles!

As crowded as the station was, It took a while to cycle everyone through the pumps. We weren't in any great hurry to jump out on I-80 in the rain anyway, so we had a strategy session while we waited it out a bit.
Darren walked up with a wry grin on his face and said, "Guess what just happened to me?"
"Not a clue", Boone shrugged.
"I just had a guy ask to look in my truck bed to make sure I wasn't hauling parts or tools for any of the family cars", he shook his head, and chuckled.
"No way", Boone exclaimed.
"So they do have someone out on the road this year checking stuff out...that's a good thing, I think, especially after all the rumors and accusations last year", I added.
"That's pretty wild", Dad laughed. "Did you explain to him that we didn't have time to load all the heavy stuff in your truck because the rain showed up?"
"Dad's always wanting to stir the pot!" Dale jumped in, "are we ready to give it a go? The rain doesn't seem to be letting up, and the longer we wait, the more water there is to deal with on the roads".

He was right, of course. Unless the rain is torrential, the lack of wipers isn't a problem, it's the amount of standing water already on the roads which cause the traction woes that greatly quicken one's pulse rate.
"Rachael, you stay behind all of us with ET Streets, and run your 4-ways while we are on the interstate", I instructed.
As I started up the on ramp, I began looking over my shoulder to look for a suitable break in the traffic to insert the slow moving Valiant into. The first semi that passed was displacing huge amounts of water to either side, so I could tell the road was covered. There was easily a quarter-mile gap between the second semi, and the next set of cars behind him, so I pulled the Valiant out behind that one, and immediately set my sights on following the tracks his duals were leaving in the standing water. We were able to get to about 45 mph before Aaron was grabbing the roll bar. I backed it down gingerly and held on to around 40 while constantly monitoring the rear view mirror to make sure we were not in danger of the next cars running us over before they realized how slow we were driving.
"One and a half more miles to the exit", Aaron informed me.
My cell phone rang, and I leaned over to fish it out of my front jeans pocket. Aaron didn't actually say anything, but the look he gave me told me he was questioning the sanity of answering my phone in the current situation.
It was Rachael. "Boone can't get up to speed in the Barnyard, without the trailer tossing him all over the road, so we are on the shoulder", she reported.
"OK", I paused to think about it, "just drive it down the shoulder as slow as he has to, it's only four miles. When we get off on the state road, we can run slow, and hopefully this will let up!"
"Sure, I'll just follow him with my hazzards on."
We took the exit with a sigh of relief. The fifteen or so near misses as cars charged at us only to pull into the left lane at the last instant was far rougher on our nerves that the Hoosiers dancing on the water.
Five or six miles into our jaunt down Il-92 the rain was already nearly gone, and the standing water on the asphalt was dissipating quickly.

We cruised into Moline Illinois, and I noticed a sign for the Deere and Co. World Headquarters, and immediately thought of Jesse and his John Deere themed Chevy truck. He had been up all night just trying to get people to Cordova, so I doubted if he was going to be in any shape to stop by for some sight seeing! That seems to be a common situation on every Drag Week. They carefully plan out these routes to take us by all kinds of cool places, and we rarely have the time or conditions that allow us the opportunity to take advantage of it.

With the cessation of the rain, I noticed that the small block's temp was climbing a bit faster than normal, then suddenly I remembered that I had pulled the t-stat before we started racing today...another of my attempts at gaining ground on the Camaro. It's been quite frustrating to have that much heat in the engine before each pass, so I thought that maybe if I could keep the heat out of it, it might pick up some.
"How much further to the first checkpoint?" I asked Aaron.
"About five miles", he checked the sheet, "and it will be the only checkpoint on this route."
"Hmmm", I wondered aloud, "with only one checkpoint this early into the route, you have to think some guys will just chuck the sheet, and punch in the fastest route to their motels."
"Probably", Aaron agreed, "That would make Robert and Darren happy."
"Yeah, well they have that option, I guess, but we will stick with it. We're going to have to re-install the t-stat when we hit the checkpoint though, because once this cloud cover burns off, she's going to overheat!"

We turned into a damp, rocky, gravel parking lot, and I scraped one of the stainless mufflers on the entrance, but luckily we weren't going to need to crawl under the car, so it would suffice!

50's or 60's govt tract homes in the background it appears....

The crowd at that checkpoint "sketchy" when we went through there.

Well, as you can see in the photo, we were hanging out there with the Aussies in the clapped out Chevelle...and it doesn't get any more sketchy than that group!

By the time we got the t-stat re-installed and headed back out to US-67 South, the weather had taken a change for the better, and the sun was shining down on us for the first time on Thursday. We crossed over the Rock River, under the I-280 bypass, and after a few stoplights through Milan, we were on a divided four-lane road headed out into the beautiful Illinois country side. We rode along, enjoying the view for ten miles or so, until we realized it was starting to get very warm in the car.
"We've had the window wings closed all day", I noted.
"Yeah", Aaron agreed, "lets open them up and get some airflow in here".
We drove along for a few miles, and I started hearing a faint whine, that I began to imagine might be a front wheel bearing. Finally Aaron looked over at me and asked, "Are you hearing that?"
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it's coming from your side", I affirmed.
"No", he argued, "It's definitely coming from your side!"
We both hung our heads out the side windows to better pinpoint where the sound was coming from to no avail.
"I swear it's louder in the car..."
"It certainly is", he interjected, "but that doesn't really make sense".
After a few more miles, I asked him start closing his window wing slowly. When he had moved it only a few inches, the sound stopped.
"Wow...that's weird, it's never done that before, but we are running into a bit of a cross wind so I think that's contributing", I suggested. With our minds at ease we just let it howl and adjusted our psyches to accept it as another of the sounds the Valiant makes that are "normal".

Pic#1. This is real navigation! No GPS needed for Scott!
Pic #2. Rolling through the Illinois countryside!

Ah, noises, sometimes you hear the valve train as normal and sometime its coming apart. THen your ear pops and it goes away but your still sketchy, so you start thinking whats wrong, planning where to pull over and whats needed so you start really listening and make yourself crazy. Then you glance at the temp gage and start worrying about that instead...

...and then, you can't really tell if it's coming from the top of the motor, or the bottom, or this side, or that side...right, Tony?

Yup

Being deaf has some advantages. I just turn my hearing aids off.

The run from Milan IL. to Jacksonville IL. down US67 South was a fairly nice stretch of road, and other than being a little warm for cruising comfort, the 145 miles or so was pretty uneventful for the two of us in the Valiant, John and Opal in their Valiant, and Rachael and Skippy in the Belvedere. The rest of our group, and many of our Drag Week companions, you ask? No...uneventful is not a word that they will use to describe that portion of Hot Rod Drag Week 2015...

The first defection from our group was, of course, Boone and Dad, as they stopped to see if Steve Reimann needed assistance with his Australian 70 Ford Capri. Steve is basically the one that started the Aussie invasion of Drag Week by bringing a bunch of his mates over and terrorizing the countryside in his 11 second four door 63 Dodge 440.
The Capri runs a wicked, high rpm Cleveland that has pushed it to a best of 10.04-135 NA, but the electric fuel pump gave up on the trip back to St. Louis. Like most grizzled veterans of Drag Week, they carried a spare; and like most of us without a trailer, reaching said spare meant unloading everything from the trunk onto the side of the road!

In the 2nd pic, you can see Boone at the front of the car, and Dad at the extreme right, assessing the situation.

Dale peeled off the back of our procession a few miles later, with Darren following him, and they headed up a side road. I assumed it was just time to dump in one of the fuel jugs he uses to extend his range on the road, and they would be along shortly. Opal sent me a text to ask if I wanted to stop, and I sent back a simple "No" in response. Even that attempt awarded me with a sidelong, unapproving glance from Aaron. Texting while driving is inherently dangerous; but me, with my ancient flip phone, while driving the Valiant, that takes it to a whole new level!
One of the enjoyable parts to this leg of the trip was, that since we got on the road at a decent hour, and were making good progress, we were actually traveling with, and crossing paths with, a much larger group of our fellow competitors than our nocturnal treks usually allow. As such, our first gas stop was fairly busy and crowded with fellow Drag Weekers, and we took the time to chat with quite a few of them as we shuffled cars around the available pumps. I made it through the bathroom line, topped off the Valiant with fuel, then made myself comfortable in the passenger's side seat.
Aaron came out of the convenience store with an armload of drinks and snacks heading directly for the right door, then stopped mid-stride and gave me a weird look.
"I've had enough", I motioned towards the other seat, "You can take us the rest of the way!"
He climbed in, and we arranged all our stuff accordingly. "You need my smart phone", he asked as he handed me the route sheet.
"No, no...this route looks pretty easy...I think I can handle the navigation duties!"
We went over the switches, gauges, and shifter one more time. He had been paying attention the whole trip, but I wanted to make sure he was comfortable before we pulled out on the road.
"What if one of us bumps the trans-brake button while we are driving down the road", Aaron asked.
"I...don't...know, honestly", I shrugged, "let's agree not to do that, I'm not sure we want to find out!"
He fired up the small block, and we led our small contingent back out onto US67.
Aaron looked over at me a couple miles later and commented, "the car pulls a little towards the center line all the time, even on these crowned two lane roads."
"Yeah, the rear suspension isn't square..it's on the list", I replied.
"The same list as the passenger seat belts?"
"That's the one, along with fixing the trunk rods and key, and twenty other nagging problems."
"What about this throttle pedal? Is it on the list as well? The feel is so light on it, it makes it difficult to hold it at a steady speed!"
"Not on this list! Boone complained about it, Dad complained about it...and now you. I had a solid rod throttle installed in 2008, and the leverage point is wrong, so even with two return springs on the carb it feels really light. I've thought about adding another spring on the opposite side of the bell crank, but I'm so used to it after all these years, I just go with it."
Once Aaron settled in, I settled in, it was nice to just sit back and enjoy the scenery for once...then the phone started going off again.

Aaron has said to me on more than one occasion that he wants to go to your house and work on it again and also tweak your diesel truck. You should take advantage of the offer before it gets too hot.

He's a rare individual, a true gear head, that likes ALL things motorsports. He had loads of fun riding with you and helping out. He sure made my recent run in Drag Weekend a success. I don't think I could have done it without him.

As usual, great writing. I'm still amazed at how you remember all the details. Heck, I was there and it was all a blur to me. It great to re-live the experience through your stories. Thank you and carry on please...

I think Billy is enjoying the Barnyard Viper while he has it and not posting his story............

That could be, something else has his attention for sure, lol

I've haven't neglected this story nearly as much as Dale has neglected the Gremlin! He decided to start working on it again after a long winter in hibernation and found this...

high winds and a wayward tumbleweed.........

Might want to clean the carb before this years Drag Week.

There may have been a gremlin living in there

Maybe a rodent Hopefully he will cover the carb. from now on when it will sit for more than a day or two

Id have to agree with you Billy, that's pretty bad

10 bucks he dusts the carb off and runs it "as is"

It was actually a bird's nest...

eggs for breakfast !

I answered Boone's phone call and he quickly explained that he had caught up with Darren and Dale at a wide spot in the road-gas station in the middle of nowhere Illinois, and they were trying to find someone with a welder.
"I saw them pull off and head down a side road...what was that all about", I questioned.
"They were bottoming out the Gremlin on every little bump in the road, so they pulled off the beaten path to transfer all the stuff from Dale's rack into Darren's truck."
"So, they were cheating!"
"It's only cheating if you get caught, which is why they drove up a side road to do it. Besides, once I caught up to them, we stuck everything in the trailer behind the Barnyard, so we're legal again!"
"I told him that rack was a bad idea, but why are you completely stopped if he unloaded all the excess weight?"
"I had the floor jack in the trailer, so he really couldn't check out the problem until I caught up to them. Once we got it in the air, Dale realized that one pair of the lower adjustable shock mounts had been beat up so bad that the bolt had ripped free and they were essentially trying to drive across US-67 with one 130 pound coil spring holding up the back of the car!"

As soon as Dale had finished building his custom trailer hitch rack and set those two totes, and two five gallon jugs on it, it was clear to me that he had created another problem, but he refused to change course. The first couple of days, he had crawled under the Gremlin and screwed the bottom spring mounts a couple inches up the shocks in order to allow for more play while driving down the road, but since we had left Cordova in a rain storm, he tried to get by without diving under the car.

Boone and I compared the math on our route sheets, and decided we were a good twenty miles up the road from them, and he assured me there was no need for any of our group to turn back.

More please! At the risk of sounding demanding, I/we are sitting on pins and needles.
Thanks Billy, in advance!
Don

Less then 100 days until Drag Week 2016...

The only way for this to work now is going to be a true netflix binge fest! We've got several episodes to go on 2015 and the first 10 episodes of 2016 have already been shot!

It was the warmest afternoon of traveling we had experienced on Drag Week 2015, and the water temp gauge that Aaron had payed little grief to over the last fifty miles, now held his rapt attention. He tried 2600 rpm, then 2800, and finally 3K.
"It doesn't seem to matter! It just won't drop below 220 no matter what", he breathed in nervous exasperation.
"Do I need to throw a rag over it?" I teased, "here's what I can tell you, when you try three grand, John and Rachael disappear off our back bumper and we start pulling away. He's got an electric water pump on that big block and his temp gauge doubles as his speedometer, so let's back off and try to keep the gang all together."

Our nice little countryside two lane jaunt turned into stop light, and city street driving as we traversed the town of Macomb Il., population 21,000. We cleared the town on US136, then we were required to make a right to get back onto US67 again. Aaron had clicked the 904 into low, and eased onto the narrower, shoulderless two lane, which was empty in front of us. He applied no more throttle than it took to move the tach needle, and immediately shifted into second as soon as the 428 gained 500 rpm.
"Show this thing some love, she ain't no show poodle!" I had turned my head to face him, both for affect as well as to gauge his reaction.
He shot me a sidelong glance, "What?"
"Show her some love", I repeated.
He rolled the power on, with the torque coming on faster than the rpm.
"This throttle pedal goes on forever!" He exclaimed, grabbing drive as the needle swung past 6.
As a point of fact the throttle has a very short throw from idle to wide open, but as I mentioned earlier the light action requires keen attention, and therefore provides more feel than one is accustomed to...much like the trigger pull on a double barrel 12 gauge.
He lifted shortly after the shift, but didn't look over or address me until after we had settled back into cruising speed.
"I'm thinking you are going to cause me to spend a bunch of money when I get home", he laughed, "this is too much fun!"

An hour later, I called Boone for an update.
"Well...the good news is that we managed to get Dale's shocks adjusted, and the brackets welded up, so we were back on the road", he explained.
"Were? That sounds ominous, what's the bad news?"
"We are on the shoulder right now with the Aussies, the 1320 Video guys, some of the Hot Rod camera crew and probably 10 other Drag Week cars!"
"What is going on? I didn't see any shoulders on this road that would support a crowd like that!"
"You know Mike in the old Firebird, that has been traveling with Daryl in the Chevelle?" He questioned, then paused.
"Yeah, yeah...I've been calling them the 'Drag Week Odd Couple'. What happened?"
"Well...some gal in a lifted truck ran him off the road! He went into the ditch on the right side, fought it back onto the asphalt, shot across the two lane and ended up in the ditch on the opposite side."
"Oh boy, did it tear the car up very bad?"
"Don't have a clue. You see, the left ditch is really more of a ravine, with a marsh at the bottom...the Firebird is ten feet below us in high grass and mud to the door handles!"
"So...all of you stopped?"
"No, just Dad and I. Dale and Darren kept going, and I think Robert is ahead of them."

Thanks Billy. I enjoy your tale.

Always enjoy your writing.

Wow, I had not heard about the Firebird going in the ditch. Scary!

Thank you Billy for taking time out of your busy life to entertain your faithful followers!
One of these years I would like to join you on this adventure called Drag Week.

Don

We rolled into the town of Jacksonville IL. just as the evening shadows were growing long and the effective range of our fuel tanks were reaching their limit. I motioned towards a fairly new gas station in front of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and Aaron pulled the Valiant up to the nearest pump with John following us in, and the Belvedere only a bit behind with Skippy at the wheel.
We had just began to fuel when a mini-van pulled to the edge of the lot, and Elana Scherr and Wes Allison jumped out with cameras at the ready. They took a few shots while we conferred at the station, then proposed that they follow us across town and shoot the cars as we traversed the city.
"The lighting is perfect, with dusk coming on!" Wes enthused.
We had really planned on stopping somewhere in Jacksonville to have Opal's birthday dinner, but now we had this conundrum. I've been a car magazine geek for forty years, and when a renowned cover photographer says he wants to shoot your cars cruising through town...well...stopping to eat doesn't seem quite as pressing!

It was roughly seven miles across the town of 19,000 which had been home to EMI/Capitol's vinyl record pressing plant from 1965 to 1995. We cruised in the right lane while the Hot Rod staff van took up a position in the left lane about two car lengths ahead of us. Mr. Allison propped himself up in the shotgun seat of the van, on his knees, facing backwards with the entire top half of his body hanging out the open window. He would give Aaron exaggerated hand signals to adjust the distance between the vehicles, take a few shots, then more hand signals, all the time looking angry and frustrated.
"What do I do?" Aaron asked me, feeling the pressure.
"Stay between the lines, and don't hit any of the other cars", I teased. I wasn't like we were the only two cars driving through the heart of town at 6:30 on a Thursday evening.
Wes motioned for the park lights to be turned on, took a few shots, then asked for the headlights.
"Heck of a game face he has!" I commented.
"Yeah, you'd think he hated his job from the look of him", Aaron added, then he breathed noticeably easier when the van faded back to Rachael and Skippy to repeat the process with the Belvedere.

It's not the first time Wes Allison has shot the Valiant or the Belvedere, it's just that I've never seen the pictures...they are probably buried in the Hot Rod archives by now, never to be seen again. Luckily Elana used these in one of her Hot Rod Drag Week updates on Hotrod.com, so I had the opportunity to get them, and they are easily among my favorite photos ever of both cars.

Finally the Hot Rod van moved back to take pics of John and Opal in the 67 Valiant and a few minutes later I received a text from Opal that read "We need to pull over, our headlights aren't working".
We were just reaching the edge of town, about to cross under I-72, so we pulled off into an area with a gas station, two motels, and a fifties themed diner that had apparently closed about six months prior judging from the overgrown shrubs in the parking lot.
John fiddled with the light switch a few times, and the headlights appeared to be working just fine.
"That photographer was a pain in the tail!" John complained, "He kept asking for lights, but I had already pulled the switch, so I don't know what the problem was!"
Aaron had been on his phone as soon as we shut the Valiant off, and he walked over to John and I to relay that Robert was only a few miles away and asked for us to wait up. I looked at our clump of cars and the abandoned diner and decided to fetch my camera for a few shots myself. Robert showed up shortly along with the second Hot Rod camera crew, the ones that were documenting the Firebird in the ditch, they grabbed a few quick shots of us as well, and jumped back out on the road.

Top photo by the Amateur
Bottom photo by the Pro

Yeah, I suck!

On a good note Dale said the mother and baby birds are doing well.

At that point, all the cool picture taking opportunities were over, the daylight was fading fast, and we were roughly 80 miles from our motel. We huddled around and discussed whether to drive back into Jacksonville and find a nice restaurant, or continue on the route and hopefully get to the motel before the cluster of eateries in that area closed.
In typical Drag Week fashion it was unanimous to continue forward, everyone was loathe to backtrack, even for food! We continued south on US-67, and the next 50 miles was pure automotive nirvana as the temp dropped, and the smells of rural USA wafted through the window to the strum of the 428 happily hammering away at 2800 rpm.
I sat in the passenger's seat of the Valiant dreaming of a nice meal, a hot shower, and a bed-time that didn't end with the letters AM! But alas, this is Drag Week, and the road portion of this trip still had a few throat punches left up it's proverbial sleeve!

We had finished up our 2 lane US67 part of the trip and I let Aaron know that we had to turn left after the underpass to jump on I-255, which would allow us to skirt around the east side of St.Louis. Just as we drove below the underpass I heard a loud whap, whap, whap, sound that led me to believe the header collector bolts had come loose on my side, but when the front end dropped and I saw Aaron struggling with the wheel I knew what it was.
"We just lost a front tire", I groaned.
"Am I clear over there", he asked quickly
I spun my head around to look, "Yeah, take it all the way to the shoulder, it looks pretty wide", I instructed.
Rachael parked behind us, while John and Robert pulled in front. I don't carry a spare for the Valiant. John only carries his 275/60 drag radials, and I have a pair of 235/70/15s on police wheels that we bring in the Belvedere. I asked Skippy to bring me the jack and one of the police wheels while John started loosening the lug nuts. That request meant Rachael and Skippy had to empty nearly all the contents of the hastily loaded trunk. It was almost comical when we tried to slide one of the 235/70s under the 62 Valiant's front fender. These cars left the factory on 13 inch rims, and any 15 inch tire is pushing the limits. I run tiny VW style 165/80s on my 15X4 wheels, and my body guy trimmed front of the wheel opening to allow those a little more room!

We were in the process of trying one of the 215/70's off the front of the Belvedere when a young local named Dylan stopped by with his mom to see if they could help. Once I showed him the situation he grinned and offered, "I got a fox body Mustang at home with Weld skinnies on the front, the tires are pretty shot but I bet they'd fit, would you like me to bring one back? We are only about five miles up the road."
"Fox bodies usually run a short tire on the front", John agreed, "I bet they would fit."
Dylan jumped back in the car with his mom and left, while we continued to search for an alternative. Drag Week teaches you to never rely on one possible solution, or wait for it to show up, you have to try any and all methods available to get back on the road!

I'm really enjoying this story Billy>

Never a dull moment with you guys

Our next visitor was Jason Tabscott in his mid-nine second N/A small block 75 Camaro. He had been changing all four tires and wheels at each track, so he offered up one of his lightweight M/T Pro-5 and front runners to allow me to get to the motel. I was actually relieved when the tire was a little too tall and rubbed the leading edge of the fender as I really didn't want to be responsible for scratching up a four hundred dollar wheel! We even attempted to use his 13" trailer spare, but it wouldn't clear the Wilwood disc brakes!
We were in the process of helping Jason get his trailer back in order so he could leave, when Dylan returned with the Weld wheel from his mustang, this time accompanied by his dad.
Sure enough, it bolted right up, and cleared everything, but the tire was dry rotted to the point of cracks in what little tread was left.
"How are we going to get this back from you?", Dylan's dad asked the question the kid was too shy to broach.
"You guys coming out to the track tomorrow", John asked.
"Well...I'd like to", Dylan's voice trailed off as he looked at the ground and kicked a rock off the curb, "Mike Myers with the Corvairs is a friend, and he invited us to hang with him...but-"
"I'm sure Billy will throw you some cash to get through the gate", John volunteered, "Then you can get his cell number, and call him once you arrive".
I numbly reached for my wallet, fished out a twenty, and handed it to Dylan. "Yeah", his Dad laughed, "That should work, we'll see you tomorrow!"
We exchanged cell numbers while John torqued the lugs, and Skippy started putting the Belvedere's trunk back in order.

"I'm going to steal Aaron, and head to our motel." Robert informed me, as they were staying in a different location than the rest of us.
So I was once again on my own as we resumed the last twenty five miles of our journey. I held the Valiant to 2500 RPM, probably a good ten mph under the speed limit, the whole time we were on I-255, because the rock hard front tire seemed to chase every nuance and undulation in the road. We rolled into the motel complex in Collinsville, where 90 percent of the Drag Weekers were staying, at around ten pm, and the desire to chase down a sit down meal was pretty much gone by then.
Rachael and Skippy grabbed us some below average White Castle, while I showered, then fired up the laptop to check Thursday's results leading into the final day.

Boone, Dad, Darren, James and Dale showed up about two hours later, just as I was falling to sleep.
"What took you guys so long?"
"We stopped and had Opal's Birthday supper in Jacksonville!" Boone informed me.
"Yeah, we thought about that", I agreed, "but we were too busy getting pictures taken".
"Huh?" He looked at me quizzically.
"Never mind, I'll explain it in the morning!"

"below average white castle"......... that's a good one !

Friday, Day 5, Return to Gateway Motorsports Park

Hot Rod Drag Week doesn't happen without the cooperation and efforts of four drag strips willing to take on the event, most notably the host track, which is going to have four days wrapped into the week, as well as supplying an impound area for all the rigs. As such, concessions have to be made, and one of those is to start Friday's action later in the afternoon to allow for (hopefully) a larger spectator count/gate for the track. While the gate receipts might prove this to be a sound business decision, it has been a disaster year after year for the timely conclusion of the actual race/event!

2011 Heartland Park Topeka. Started Friday afternoon, and didn't get a run for everybody before the late evening rains hit, and all the runs of the day were considered null and void, so essentially it was called and results tallied as a four day event.

2012 Tulsa. Fought rain all day, after late start, had to finish on Saturday.

2013 Bowling Green. By the time the race was finished, and the results ceremony was complete, it was 9pm.

2014 Tulsa. Rained out the afternoon, finished the quick 32 race at midnight, moved the remainder to Saturday, which caused issues with Tulsa's Saturday afternoon team bracket race.

Friday is the final day, so all your class cars who have a shot at moving up are going to be taking multiple runs. The Street Machine Eliminator racers with any chance of making the quick 32 are going to be making multiple runs. Then, all the Street Machine Eliminator competitors have to turn in their final time slips so a ladder can be built for eliminations. Follow that up with a five round race while they tabulate the class winners and have an awards ceremony after that and you have a very full day.

So it was decided in negotiations with the host track I'm sure, to start Friday five hours later than Mon-Thurs, then allow the host track to piggyback the final day of Drag Week by having their own drift and drag style street car event starting at 6pm.

Yeah, this is setting yourself up for failure! Come to think of it, not much different than my family's plan for Drag Week every single year.

Note: I'm not denigrating the Hot Rod staff, volunteers, race directors or the track workers in any way. All these people work extremely hard and genuinely care about putting on the best event possible. Just trying to provide context to the fact that they had one hand tied behind their proverbial backs before the day even started!

I can be critical of the late start on Friday all I want in retrospect, but in real time as I dragged my body out of the motel bed at 7:30 am, I was thankful for it because I still had to run into town to the tire store Darren had used earlier in the week in order to get new front runners for the Valiant.
"Front pocket...jeans on the chair", Rachael mumbled when I asked her for the keys to the Belvedere, then she rolled over and pulled the covers up under her chin, clearly not interested in getting up yet.
I made my way to the parking lot and popped the trunk on the Belvedere. The jack and all the tools I needed were right on top, since they were the last thing Skippy had loaded the night before. I removed the remaining good tire, and loaded it in the front floorboard with the blown one and headed out with the map Skippy had drawn up for me from Rachael's lap top, thankful to be in the big roomy b-body for a change!

As soon as I walked in the front door of Dobbs Tire and Auto, I was greeted by a stack of four Pirelli P4 185/65-15s with a "Clearance/Special" sign on them. My first thought was that they were a very strange size, followed immediately by the thought that they were short enough to fit the Valiant wheel well, if they didn't have any VW tires in stock.
Sure enough, after running through all the possible choices with the salesman, we came back to the ones on the floor.
"Ya know...we had so many Drag Week cars in here last Friday, and Saturday wanting oil changes, front end alignments and such, that we finally had to tell them we could only do tire work for them, because we couldn't get our regular clientele taken care of", the salesman explained as we conversed. It hadn't occurred to me that guys would show up early with that much still in question on the car, but I guess nothing from this crowd should surprise me. I looked across the parking lot as I waited on my tires to get mounted and noticed that quite a few Drag Weekers had decided to use the late start to skip the motel breakfast and congregate at Waffle House.

The motel complex at Collinsville features about 6 different Motels clumped in the same area with an equal number of fast food joints and eateries. When I returned with my tires for the Valiant, the entire area was a hotbed of Drag Week activity. It was probably the same routine as every other Drag Week morning, but I am usually sleeping in when everyone else is headed to the track.

good to see you back at it, Billy!

btw the first pic in the post above, is Cordova....I was staying at that hotel, my car was parked to the left. The second pic is indeed Colinsville, I swapped gears in my car right about where the silver truck is parked.

Squirrel,
I usually try to use the pictures accurately within the time frame of the story. The problem this year is that I collected so many cool pictures from all over the internet, and I'm running out of chances to use them as the story winds down!

heh...yeah, there was a lot of neat stuff to get pictures of, if you remembered to take the pictures! Filling mine with water with the hood sealed

I had the Valiant all buttoned up and the rest of the family was ready to head towards Gateway, when I received a text from John that read "Guess I melted something, car is dead!"
Opal and John's Valiant was parked across a field from where we were, so I just walked over, while Darren and Rachael drove around the block to pull up to their location. The multi-meter showed the battery at full power so the problem was definitely in the wiring.
John and Darren made fairly quick work of the diagnosis. It was discovered that the main power through the bulkhead connector had been burned out, and someone had just jammed the biggest wire they could find into the hollowed out socket. It was actually a miracle that it had nearly completed two Drag Weeks in that condition!
John ran a completely new wire, separate of the bulkhead connector, then with a shake of his head and a wry smile, asked to borrow a butt connector from me. The inside joke was that he had been badgering me all week about the excessive use of butt connectors throughout my car's wiring.

Opal jumped in the Belvedere with Rachael, and they headed off to Wal-Mart to re-stock the coolers, while the rest of us headed to a car wash to clean some of the week's road grime off our rides. We arrived at the the track just in time to hear Freiburger and Lohnes drop the bombshell that nine Drag Weekers had been eliminated from competition because they had been caught miles off the route, cruising down a major interstate Thursday afternoon!

"All of those competitors that were eliminated will still be allowed to run today, this is not a 'vote 'em off the island kinda deal", Freiburger explained, and with that they moved on to the next announcement. Which kinda left many of us in limbo.
"What if you're in a class, battling for fourth or fifth, and the top two guys just went out", Boone questioned. "You won't know you were in a battle for a top three spot until the awards ceremony!"
"Could happen", I agreed "but I'm glad they didn't out of them over the loud speaker, they've been kinda heavy handed over the years with some of that stuff."
Dale laughed, "So you're telling me I have a chance!"
"Maybe...if all nine were Modified Power Adder cars", I joked.
"Hey! I was fifth after yesterday, so I only need a couple of them out!"
"You know, when I saw only one checkpoint, that close to the start of the route yesterday, I suspected quite a few would jump off route, but I sure didn't expect nine to get caught!"

Twenty minutes later, word spread through the pits that Romano and Hunter were included in the nine.
"The 55 and the 56? Geez, those guys have been on the cover of the magazine, they are like Drag Week royalty!" I exclaimed.
"Remember that conversation we had about the rules only taken seriously when they have teeth", Boone reminded me, "Everyone knows that a guy got black-balled from Drag Week in '06 for loading his car in a trailer, and that became like touching the third rail. If they enforced the route deviation rule on those two guys, that sends the message to everyone else that they are serious!"

When you hop on the Interstate because its raining rather than drive down a 2 lane Hwy and the Hot Rod magazine passes you then yes you are busted.

Dale had been fighting with traction all week in the Gremlin, and he blamed most of it on the new front end, so with a little down time to start Friday off that meant he had time to think about changes. Next thing I knew he had the front clip off, and the car jacked up in the front.
"I'm going to swap out the 450lb. front springs for some 350lb ones", he explained.
"Great! You brought a spring compressor..."
"No", he smiled, "but I've got plenty of help, and a bag full of stout zip ties!"

Kevin

In 2013 I believe that was an early start day that was plagued by timing system problems from the rain the night before. I know I squeaked in a 200mph pass during those troubles lol.

Bowling green seemed to be full of electrical demons from the timing system to the intercom.

Yeah I remember that morning... took them a FEW
hours to get it working half a$$

Wow Billy you caught me in one of your pictures. I wonder if something caught my attention or I just had to turn away from the damaged valve again.

It was enjoyable visiting with Mike ( second 70) and John (moparpollack) most of the day. More pics of the "fat boy" spring compressor at work.

While most of the guys were using the time before the lanes opened to band-aid their cars together for one last pass or tune them up for a personal best, I was doing my usual sweep through the pits socializing and gathering info for the story! I just had to check in with the Drag Week Odd Couple to see how they survived the Firebird's off road adventure through the muck.
"There was mud in every crevice, nook, and cranny...even the interior because I had the windows down!" Mike explained, shaking his head.
"The radiator was so packed, that it started overheating in a matter of minutes", Daryl interjected, "We had to remove it from the car, and pressure wash it in order to get it functioning again!"
"I realized this morning when I finally woke up, that they were not going to let me go down the drag strip with as much mud as was still caked on it, so we spent more time at a car wash, going over every inch of it."
Daryl laughed, "looked like someone had done a clean-out on a cattle trailer when we pulled out of there!"

Mike Grandinetti's 71 Firebird finished Drag Week 2015 in 89th place among Street Machine Eliminator competitors with a 16.99-83 mph average. While not impressive numbers, consider that he drug his old high school car out of years of neglect and took it on the adventure of a lifetime, that is a major win in my book!

Daryl Yost turned the wick up on his Pro-Charged 540 for the final day, and carded an incredible 9.47-151. That pass helped him over come the bent-drive-shaft-10.62 he had to settle for in Union Grove, and he finished Drag Week 2015 with his goal of a nine second average intact, 9.97-148 for 7th place in Street Race Big Block Power Adder (tough class!)

As he did all week, Ray and his Barracuda opened the festivities with a fine 10.26-131, and he could have been the first guy to officially complete Drag Week 2015, instead he piled back into the lanes for another hit, since there wasn't another route sheet to collect. He finished the day with a nice 10.22-132. The third set down the track included the guy who had been chasing Ray in his class all week, the stunning 67 427 4 speed 'Vette of Terry Converse, but his pass would go for nought, because we would find out later that he was indeed another member of the "Off-Route Nine"!

It was a great day hanging out with the crew. They just don't make zip ties like they used to.

The Curious Case of the 2015 Pro Street Power Adder class finale!

I've been talking about it often, but it bears repeating just how interesting the PS/PA class was in 2015. Let's face it, as soon as news spread that Lutz wasn't going to make the second day, all the drama went right out of Unlimited. The new Ultimate Iron class only had two entries, but PS/PA had 12, including guys with multiple class wins, including guys with multiple 7 second averages before, so it figured to be a barn burner right from the start, and for the first four days, that group didn't disappoint despite several of the heavies fading out early.

Steve Fagan's Pro-Charged BBC 94 Blazer has averaged 9.18 for the five days as far back as 2010, and ran as quick as 9.04 on Drag week. 2015 was the ole' workhorse Blazer's 9th Drag Week, so when Steve had to settle for an off the pace 10.24 on the 4th day, you can understand how he might feel he had nothing left to prove at St. Louis, after all he had been in fifth place most of the week, behind three seven second machines, and another solidly in the eights. Forty-five minutes into Friday's the first session, on a hot and greasy surface, the Blazer spun pretty hard at the hit, black tracked and wiggled for the first hundred feet or so, and carded a 9.86-148. Could he have came back and shaved a couple tenths off? Sure he could've, the thing went 9.29 at the same mph on Monday, but, as I mentioned, he and the Blazer had nothing left to prove, and he turned the slip in, one , done, DW15 in the books.

The same scenario played out for our resident hitter, Matt Blasco, and his awesome '72 Dart. His Friday blast proved once again that the Predator headed monster was the class of the field as he carded yet another 7.71-178. Perhaps the only clue that he may have left a little on the table was that he was down a few mph from his previous 7.7 romps, but really did he need to squeeze into the 7.6's to impress us? Certainly not, and with the untimely 16.9 from Thursday it wasn't like he was going to sweeten the average any.

Tom McGilton's Mega-buck '13 ZL-1 Camaro ran a 7.88-186 to clinch his first class win in five attempts, despite the fact that he wasn't the quickest car in the class on any of the five days. Meanwhile Tina and David Pierce finished up with an 8.88 which was a couple tenths off the consistent 8.50's from earlier. The Colorado is a true street Truck, and nearly eight hundred pounds heavier than her old pro-stock style S-10, so finishing the week only a couple tenths slower than last years average had to be rewarding for them.

Tinas husband will get that truck on track,Im sure a carbon fiber diet is coming.For Street Outlaw alumni they are great people.LOL.Guess Daddy Dave is entered for this year.Good to see.Also saw where Larry Dixon of Top Fuel fame is coming this year with his 66-67 Nova that was his first car will be attending this year.Reminds me I need to book rooms for DW 16.

When you consider that cast of characters and outrageous machinery, no one could be blamed for completely overlooking Jeff Schulze and his old school back-halved 67 Camaro with a nitrous injesting BBC. Weld wheels, 8.50 cage, cowl hood, blah, blah, blah. His first shot on Monday only confirmed what we all knew from the beginning, 9.60-142, placing him 9th of the ten cars in the class that got past day 1. Everybody reading this has seen a similar car at their local hang out, cruize, or local track. Friday, he managed another 9.60-144.

I know, I know, what makes this curious, or interesting? The real drama is in the final tally of the five day averages! With Glenn Hunter's DQ, Tom McGilton won handily with a 7.85 average, and Tina was bumped to 2nd with an 8.72. So who collected the 3rd place plaque and the chance to enter early for 2016 you ask?

Aha! In the closest three way battle for a position in Drag Week History
Jeff and the Camaro's 9.60 gave him a five day average of 9.5902-142.47
Steve and the Blazer's 9.86 slowed his five day average to 9.5916-144.65
Matt and the Dart's 7.71 moved the five day average to 9.5966-153.33

I'm quite sure none of them had any idea it would be so close in the moment, and it probably wouldn't have mattered much if they had, but it's interesting to ponder if any of them would have took another shot!

I bet those 3 guys had no idea how close it was. Or they'ed have been duking it out all day friday.

"If you're adding race gas, why aren't you adding timing?" John was looking at me over the top of his glasses, "It runs fine on pump gas when you hammer it on the street, so you should try more timing here."

Boone, John and I had been discussing what was needed to give the Valiant a chance to make up the ground I needed on Glenn Bridger and his 68 Camaro. I had checked the results from Cordova, and our runs were separated by a thou, so I still needed six hundredths to catch him. Glenn had already made a pass, probably about the seventh set down, but Lohnes and Freiburger were bragging so much on five time class winner Curt Johnson and his N/A Fox Body in the other lane, that they never announced Bridger's ET.
Our pits were at a spot close to the entrance, with easy access from the return road, but it was impossible to see the score boards from there, so I still had no idea what I was up against, or if he was going to make another pass.

"It didn't really respond to timing on Brian's dyno at IMM", I protested, even though I already had the light hooked up.
"Sure, but what fuel did he have in it", John wasn't taking no for an answer, "Listen, it's hot, it's sticky...you're adding 118 to the mix, bump it up!"
I added three degrees, and we had just shut the 428 off when we heard a car rumble through the gate with horn blaring.
We looked up to see the Trapnell Brothers driving in with four people in the purple Holden Monaro, all waving Australian flags and foam fingers with "Oi!" printed on them.
I stepped back from the Valiant, cupped my hands to my mouth and yelled "Aussie, aussie, aussie" at the top of my lungs. They responded with a chorus of "Oi, oi, oi", as they drove by, followed with more horn blaring and waving as they made their grand entrance, clearly excited to have arrived at the final track.
"We didn't see them at Cordova did we?"
"No", Boone agreed, "last time we saw them was when we left Union Grove at 10:30pm."
"They promised they would make Cordova by 2:00pm and we left before then, so I suppose they could have made it", I shrugged.
Their emotional entrance had thrown me off my thoughts at the moment and I promptly laid my arm across the fender-well header while reaching to tighten the distributor down. I walked over to the cooler to put some ice on it, but Opal took over and made me up a baggie of ice water to hold on it.
"I'll find you some burn creme for that somewhere", she shook her head, "or it's going to get much worse before the day is over".

Boone closed the hood on the Valiant, and asked if I was ready to head for the lanes.
"Yeah, I'm ready to go, how about you?"
"I'll be right behind you" he assured me, but he walked over to the Gremlin to check on Dale's progress.

Cars had been pounding the track for forty-five minutes, but the lanes were still packed when I rounded the corner. Sean Fling waved me into lane six, as he coned off the back of lane five. Apparently they were filling, and pulling the lanes in pairs, rather than taking four or five cars from each lane as they had most of the week.

Parking in lane six meant I had a front row seat to lane 7 which I heard Freiburger announce earlier as the "impound and exhibition" lane. The "and exhibition" part of that statement didn't sink in immediately, but it became very frustrating once I saw all the guys who were disqualified or hadn't completed each leg using that provision to get fast tracked to the head of the lanes, and making runs before guys that were actually still in competition. As I mentioned earlier, Sunday through Thursday this Drag Week was among the best; smooth, well organized, great facilities, but Friday was like a bad ending to a really great movie. I walked back to where Boone was parked, about ten cars behind me, and noticed that Sean had coned the lane off behind him.
"How close is Dale to being ready?"
"He should be up here in fifteen minutes or so", he shrugged, "who are they running right now?"
"They just cleared out 1 and 2, so now they will be pulling out 3 and 4." I decided against telling him about what I'd witnessed in lane 7, because I knew he'd be making a scene at the head of the lanes, and we really didn't need that.
He looked at the lanes, and pulled his phone out of his pocket "It's going to be a while. Rachael was cooking, and I'll see if her and Skippy can fix us a plate and bring it down."
"Something to drink too", I added before he dialed.
"I have drinks already", he pointed towards the passenger's seat of the Barnyard.

It took about an hour to work through the staging lanes, but it was made a little more bearable by a couple of bratwursts and good company. It was nearly 4pm when I nosed the Valiant under the tower, and I could hear the announcement that they were closing off the back of the class car lanes to begin bringing up the Street Machine Eliminator entries.
"Well, this may be your only shot...better make it count", I told myself.
I decided the best way avoid the nasty hesitation that had plagued me all week was to leave off the trans-brake and the two step. I didn't have confidence that the 904 would handle it all week, but now I didn't have anything to lose.

The Valiant left with the wheels up off the brake, but it pulled hard out of the groove to the right and spun when it landed. I had to wrestle it back to the groove as I grabbed second, she felt...OK...the rest of the way down. While it was enough to outrun Robert Smokowski's SS/SB/NA 72 Nova, I was pretty sure the time slip wasn't going to thrill me.

I was on the scale at 3140 when Boone made his final official run of Drag Week 2015, finishing up with an 11.39-118 while Calvin Hayward's Pink Fox Body caught him in the lights with a 7.87-181 after spooling the turbos for five seconds to give Boone a head start. The picture below should show the Barnyard and the Mustang, but the photographer seemed to be preoccupied with Calvin's girlfriend instead of the race.

Trapnell's Monaro also finished up a successful Drag Week 2015, as Lohnes relayed the story that they actually did arrive in Cordova before the 2pm deadline, but after it was called for rain, so they were allowed to take a 20.00/50 and continue.

The time slip read 10.59-125, not what I was hoping for. The 5 hundredths I picked up in 60ft., was given back by the 330 because I was out of the groove and spinning. I parked in the pits just in time to ride back to the lanes with Rachael and Skippy. My hope was to watch Dale's run from the starting line to figure out what the Gremlin was doing to knock the tires off so violently.
The first car up after I walked to the lanes was Doc McEntire and his 68 Camaro. He was leading our class by so much that he only needed a 17 second run to seal the class win and he clearly didn't trust whatever repair they had done to the powerglide on the park bench at Cordova, because he walked it out gingerly before rolling on the power for an 11.90-147.
"Think he'll come back for another one?" Skippy asked me as we stood in the shade of the tower.
"Yeah, he's not really competing against Bridger and I, he's attempting to obliterate the times Eddie and his Duster have ran in this class."

Dale rolled under the tower beside Paul Cornman's Demon.
"Not again", I groaned.
"Why not?" Skippy quipped back as he sprinted behind the cars to stand beside James as he brought Dale into the water.
This would be probably the 4th or 5th pass Dale has made in the Gremlin beside Paul's Demon in the last two Drag Weeks, and while the short wheel-base, violent little Gremlin with a nitroused 440 is pretty impressive in it's own right, it's not quite as awesome when a small tire, stock suspension, full interior, NA small block A body is running within 6 or 7 tenths of it time after time!

Great recap, I never get to hear these stories

Dale stopped just through the water, then stomped the throttle to begin his burnout. The 440 promptly burbled and died...then the carb caught on fire. I was still next to the tower, behind Paul's Demon, so I could see the fire through the passenger's side of the Gremlin's windshield blazing away in the cowl scoop. I motioned to James, still standing in front of the Gremlin, and he quickly gave me a brush off sign while acting as nonchalant as possible. Apparently this is a regular occurrence with the Gremlin when the timing is backed off far enough to run both kits. Dale doesn't have any retard capabilities with his ignition system, so he has to pull it all out in the pits which results in a very lazy 440 in the burn-out box. Paul finished his burnout, and was preparing to stage while Dale was still cranking his over. It finally lit, sucked the flames down, then he promptly grabbed the bottle and throttle, sans line lock, and completed a hasty burnout to within a few feet of the beams.
The Gremlin left with the front tires about a foot up, nice and smooth, but even when he grabbed the second stage, I could tell it wasn't as violent as it has been, and I suspected that he had pulled out even more timing than he has in the past. Shortly after the gear change, I heard that sickening sound of it dropping a cylinder, Dale lifted for a split second then stabbed back into it and labored through to a 9.20-139 while the green Demon went 9.76-138.

Rather than walk directly back to our pit spot, I decided to make a concerted effort to look up Mr. Bridger and his Camaro. I'd been battling with him all week, but he was usually gone by the time we rolled in every day, so I hadn't spoke with him or even looked the car over. By the time I located it (there were about 10 red or orange first gen Camaros, so it's a bit of a shell game) I was surprised to see the trailer hooked to the back of the Camaro, and an open beer in the cup-holder, obviously his Drag Week 2015 was in the books. I was admiring the interior when I noticed a guy, late thirties, fairly close to the car, so I looked up.
"This yours?"
"No, it's my Dad's, he went to turn in his time slip."
"Did you ride with him all week?"
"Yeah, we had a great time...definitely worth it!"
"So it ran okay today?"
"Yeah", he gave me a big smile, "about the same as all week"!
Apparently my cover was blown, because he was not going to divulge any information whatsoever! His Dad, Glenn showed up a few minutes later, and I tried once again.
"How'd it run today?"
He glanced at his Son, and I caught a slight shake of his head.
"'Bout the same, you're not gonna run much better than fifties in this air, so we decided that was good enough."
"Well dang", I smiled a both of them, "I've got the Valiant and I was hoping for a side by side race in the second session!"
"The elder Bridger smiled and stuck out his hand, "I would've enjoyed that, but we decided to pack it in, and get our stuff loaded up for the trip home."
"Have a safe one", I told them as I shook both of their hands, "just not going to tell me the exact number I need to shoot for are you?"
"Nope", they were chuckling as I turned to head for our pits.
I checked my phone as I walked away and realized I had a text: "Scored you some burn creme", from Opal.

By the time I walked back to our pits, Dale already had the front clip off the Gremlin, and was working to remove the valve covers.
"Did you hurt it again?" I asked as he bent over the 440.
"Yeah...sounded exactly like it did in Union Grove...", he pulled the cover from the repaired passenger's side head, "...all good on this side."
"It's over here", Aaron confirmed as James pulled back the cover from the driver's side.
"Looks identical to the last time", James shook his head, "valve half way down and stuck in the guide."
"Well, go turn in your time slip, then you can go get your truck and trailer so we can load it," I offered.
"There ain't no way!" Dale shot me a dirty look, "I'm running in the shootout tomorrow!"
"You want to spend another night wrenching on this thing, go right ahead, but I'm not having any of it!" I turned toward the Valiant to prepare for one last pass in the final session.
Dale didn't even bother to answer me, and it seemed as though Darren, James, and Aaron were up for another session of track side engine repair as they were gathered around the Gremlin with him.
Boone just shook his head, "at least we're much closer to the motel this time."

Jason and Charlie Ogle had parked their E-Bodies at the back of the closed off lanes even before the call for Street Machine Eliminator went out, so they were the first pair of those cars to enter the water box at 4:45 pm. Jason nearly matched his best ET with a 12.20, and recorded his best mph, 116.6 in outrunning his brother's 12.52-115 in the Challenger, who, as he reported earlier, was struggling with a clutch issue.

Oh " brother". LOL

<quote>
"More pics of the "fat boy" spring compressor at work."

So...did he reach coil bind??? <grin>

The next three sets down the track featured the trio of Shelby Club front scratchers, all finishing Drag Week in style, although Patrick Culkin's 90 Shadow was puffing a great deal of white smoke after his last official pass.

Friday had been overcast all day, and they were worried bout rain hitting us later in the evening pretty much from the get go, but about twenty minutes into the Street Machine Eliminator session it became clear that they were worried about something else even more. Gateway had scheduled a piggy back event onto ours, sort of a street drags, and drift style event, that was set to kick off as soon as we were done. It seemed that the Gateway staff, and the Drag Week staff suddenly realized they weren't going to be finished with Drag Week 2015 by the time the locals expected to have the run of the place.

At 5:07pm, just twenty-two minutes after the Street Machine Eliminator class got their first shot at the track, Brian Lohnes suddenly announced over the PA system, "I've been informed by Race Director Lonnie Grimm that we are shutting off the back of the SME lanes at 5:15!"
A scant 7 minutes later, he announced: "We are opening up the lanes for the all-run, final session."
Two minutes later he called out once again, "The lanes are filling up fast with class cars, so all you spectators better get back to your seats!"
You can imagine the frustration if you were an SME racer who wasn't fortunate enough to have made your first pass in the first 31 minutes. They had waited two and half hours through the class car first session for their opportunity, and now thirty minutes into the SME session, the back of the lanes were cutoff and the class cars were given a head start to back fill all the other lanes, The chance of getting another run to turn in before the bracket race was pretty much null and void at that point.

In the interest of fair reporting, I must weigh in with the fact that Friday didn't go our way, and I wonder how much that tainted my feelings about how the event was handled at Gateway.

John nosed the 67 Valiant into the water at 5:25 PM, pretty much aware that this might be his only pass before the Quick 32 bracket race. He had the 440 tuned up perfectly for the weather conditions, but the well worn drag radials slipped just enough to card an 11.004-120.92. He drove straight back to the lanes intent upon getting a ten second pass all five days, but pulled up behind pretty much every car still running at Drag Week...it was going to be a long wait!

Three minutes later Rachael pulled the Belvedere into the water, next to Hemi_Joel and his GTX for a battle of 67 b-bodies. Joel asked her to allow him the opportunity to deep stage before she turned on the final stage bulb. She complied, but she was so focused on her staging that she never dropped the shifter back into low after her burn-out. The strain of applying the nitrous 10 feet out while in second gear was more than the 7260 front u-joint could stand!

That was fun, getting a chance to visit with Rachel in the staging lanes, and lining up side by side with the 2 67 Plymouths. Sorry I messed up her game by asking her to let me deep stage. At least I got a .038 light out of it. (on a .400 pro tree) And I got to the finish line first.

"Rachael just broke down in the staging lanes" was the text I received from Opal, just as I was preparing to drive to the lanes in the Valiant. That scared me because I was worried that she hadn't took the beams to officially finish Drag Week yet. I parked in the back and made my way under the tower to see the Belvedere pushed back from the water box and on the right side, out of the way with Rachael and Skippy both flat on the ground looking under the car.
"Did you break in the water, or did you stage the car?" I asked her as soon as I walked up.
"No...I staged, then it broke when I hit the nitrous", she explained.
"Driveshaft?"
"Yeah, I could hear it clanging into the exhaust when they pushed me back off the track, but the back u-joint is intact so it's in the front."
I turned to Skippy, "We're going to need a floor jack..."
"Already called Boone, he's bringing one", he interrupted.

While we wrestled with getting the Belvedere off the ground, on jack stands, and the driveshaft removed, they were steadily working through the remaining SME cars, including those who were fortunate to make it back to the lanes for a second hit, like the Ogles, Clark Lamb, and about twenty others. Still, when they finished up, and took a break to prep the track for the all-run session, the track time break down looked like this: The "Class cars (148 still running)", were on the track for two and a half hours in their first session, the SME cars (92 still in) were on the track for an hour and two minutes! In that time however, Clark Strong would manage to run an 11.501-116.6 in his yellow 69 Road Runner to hold down the final spot in the Street Machine Eliminator class Quick 32.

Has to be one of Bob Brehms pics. LOL.Trying to talk him into a neat $800 lense for this year.

Did a quick count, KSJ:
I've used 50 Bob Brehm pictures in the story so far! His facebook page is a treasure trove of great Drag Week pics. I can't believe his trigger finger wasn't ready to fall off by the end of the trip.


Five sets into the all-run session, they had a car broken at half track, so we used the down time to push the Belvedere across the front of the tower, and back into the pits. The traffic was more difficult to navigate than before because all the ricers had moved in and were preparing for their opportunity to drift into a concrete barrier at high speed. From the looks of the cars most of them had brought out, it was more a matter of when, than if.

Bob has ridden with me the last four years.I think last years total photo count was close to 2200 pics.

We are nearing the time in each year's story when I start counting down the Mopars at Drag Week based on their finishing 5-day average, and one of the disappointing things about Friday at St. Louis was the fact that our Hemi B-body count went from 3 down to 1.
16 cars that turned in time slips at Cordova, didn't at St' Louis, and we know that includes the "Off Route 9" who got disqualified. 4 of the 9 were running "exhibition" on Friday, so we know who they were, but that leaves 5 disqualified cars along with 7 that were simply broke and couldn't make it. I don't know which group Mike Chenoweth's 70 Hemi Road Runner or Rick Callahan's 69 Hemi Road Runner fell into, but both of their cars had slowed considerably from the pace they set int the first two days, so they seemed to be suffering mechanical woes.

We will concentrate on Chenoweth's Limelight '70 first, which was attempting a 5th Drag Week. Unforunately, this year makes Mike and Road Runner's 4th DNF. Hey, let's face it, she's a big brutal car that makes a bunch of Horsepower...so stuff gets torn up!

The Hemi's best year was 2010, when a 10.71-129.3 Average was good enough for 4th in Street Race BB Normally Aspirated.

This year:
Day 1: 10.91-129.5
Day 2: 10.94-129.0
Day 3: 11.65-124.7
Day 4: 11.21-121.3

Somebody out there knows what befell the beautiful bird, but I haven't heard the story yet.

Rick Callahan and Dave Dudek's times in the world famous black 69 'Runner were falling off even more precipitously than Mike's. A thundering opening shot on Monday, which showed promise for a podium finish in SSBBNA quickly turned into just limping in for a finish that never materialized back at Gateway.

Day 1: 10.26-132.2
Day 2: 11.67-117.4
Day 3: 12.12-116.0
Day 4: 13.22-106.4

Not trying to beat a dead horse, just still attempting to bring you the real, unedited experience that was Drag Week 2015. Friday didn't start out as a bad day, it was a crescendo of bad decisions made over the last eight hours of the event that left many of us very frustrated. The best way to describe this building discontent is to continue to show how it unfolded in real time.
While I was in our pit area with the Belvedere, John sent a text to Opal to go ahead and take his 11.00 time slip to the tower. This was in direct response to two announcements by Brian Lohnes about the need to make the Quick 32 ladder as quick as possible. The first announcement was made at 5:41 pm right after the final all-run session started, the second announcement was only eight minutes later.
I walked back to my Valiant in the lanes, just in time to watch 4 of the cheaters, and 4 cars who hadn't been able to make the drive use "The Exhibition lane" again to fast track under the tower for their third hit of the day, while we were hanging out, barely moving forward. I walked over to talk with John, and his feelings, and those of the drivers around him pretty much mirrored mine.
"So you decided to just turn in the eleven flat?"
John pointed to the second story balcony of the tower, "You see that mess? It'll take her who knows how long to get through that, and they've been calling for the quick 32 SME time slips for ten minutes now!"
I looked up and realized that there were probably thirty racers lined up at the door, attempting to turn in their final runs.
"I just got the call that today is official at 6:20pm", We heard Lohnes boom over the loud speaker, "not that we are going to stop running, just that it will go in the books as the final day."
Others were mumbling around us about the lack of passes. "I bet they are going to cut the lanes off fairly quick", John suggested.
We had only moved up a few more car lengths when Lohnes once again took to the mic: "The lanes will close in ten minutes! Ten minutes until we cut off the back of the lanes!
At that point the discontent became more of a fervor, as those around us began looking at their cell phones, and slamming hoods shut, as we began to realize that this was going to be the shortest all-run session in the history of Drag Week!
"It's 6:05... they are closing the final session lanes just an hour after they closed the SME lanes!"
"Yep", John agreed, with a grim look on his face, "and look over there".
I turned to watch the cheaters and broken cars returning up lane seven for their fourth run of the day, while those of us trying to move up in our class were still waiting in line for our second.

Around 6:30pm, Lohnes was still harping about the Quick 32 ladder, and Freiburger who had rejoined him in the booth after an extended absence chimed in, "We have a long line of racers trying to turn in slips, perhaps we need Lonnie Grimm to get up there and fast track any SME racers to the front of the line so we can finish the ladder!"
"How hard can it be?" I looked at John, "I used to build a ladder for ADRA eliminations in fifteen minutes!"
"I just don't understand why they haven't gathered up all they need yet, they've been calling for those time slips for a solid hour now!" John shook his head.
"We are going to run through the bracket race pretty quick tonight", Lohnes assured the locals over the loud speakers, "after all, these are street cars that just drove a thousand miles...so they don't need twenty minutes to cool down between rounds!"
"Good grief", I looked a John, "That's NHRA announcer code for: we are gonna hot lap the crap outa you guys"!

Doc McEntire pulled his SeeRed Camaro into the beams for his final pass, and an attempt to not only win the Pro Street NA class, but to beat Eddie Miller's five day average from the year before. It wasn;t to be as the Powerglide let go again just before the 60ft clocks, and he coasted to a 30 second ET.
John was in the next pair, and it was clear from the last ten sets or so that the track was greasy, beat up, and nearly impossible to get grip in the first twenty feet, but they were in such a hurry to finish us up, they had no plans to touch it.
As if a cruel joke to end the torture of sitting in the lanes, John went red, then the board didn't light up with an ET or Mph. I was already in my car buckled up, so I was left to ponder if the timing had malfunctioned, or if he had actually left before the tree activated. They held the next pair a considerable amount of time afterward, so I was left to question it even more.
My final pass in the Valiant was nearly as anti-climatic, as I struck the tires at 6:57pm, three hours after my first pass, lost .11 in the 60ft and ran 10.700-125 to round out my DW-15.

I parked beside the Belvedere, and walked over to where Aaron and Boone were cleaning the gasket surfaces and injured piston on Dale's 440.
"Where is Dale?"
"He went with Darren to a Machine shop to get the head fixed", Boone informed me.
"Where did he find a machine shop that's going to help him after hours on a Friday night", I asked, somewhat incredulous.
"Some elderly guy had been talking to him for the last hour or so, and even volunteered to help. Then when they checked the head out once it was off, he told them to follow him to his shop so he could fix it", Aaron shrugged.
"Sounds like Dale's luck", I shook my head, "I didn't figure there was any chance he'd find anyone tonight!"
I looked at Boone, "Have you turned in your slip yet?"
"No. You ready to head up?"
"Yeah, grab your camera and we'll head to the tower."

I looked over at John's Valiant. He had it jacked up and was removing the side pipe exhaust for the first time in two Drag Weeks. He needed to find a way to cover the tenth he was going to be forced to dial down from his average, and unlike many of the hitters in the SME class he hadn't sandbagged to allow a cushion.

There is no way that the cheaters should have been allowed to continue making passes. And there is ESPECIALLY NO WAY that the cheaters should have been given a preferred lane.

Here is the thing: these guys got caught cheating. If they hadn't been caught, how many legitimate racers would have unfairly lost to them? Who would have spent all the money, worked thru the whole thrash to get ready, then suffered through the whole grueling week, making the whole drive, then lost to someone who didn't make the drive? If they can't make the drive, it's not a true Drag Week street car.

Billy, do you have a list of cheaters to share? Or is that a secret to protect the guilty?

We walked up the back stairs of the tower to the second story balcony, and walked past a long line of people waiting to turn in their slips. The line was so long that we ended up in the stair well leading up to the third floor, and we sat down on a stair with a group of ten or more stragglers also at the back of the line. None of us were moving at the time because the Drag Week staff was busy trying to put the ladder together, instead of filling out our final slips. So we sat in the stairwell and talked about our Drag Weeks, just moments after it was over for most of us, and emotions were still raw.
"I'm not happy, Boone. It's frustrating that I couldn't get it back in the 30's after Indy!"
"Yeah, well you improved your average by almost three tenths over last year, and your best run by nearly a tenth, so I think that's plenty to be happy about! You could be me, I came here hoping that converter change would net me a ten, and I slowed down!"
"Well the Barnyard Viper is a fan favorite and you've finished three years in a row!"
"Not good enough...I want a ten." Boone lamented, shaking his head.
I pointed at the base of the stairs just below us, and we listened in as Joe Barry (Third overall), Tom Bailey (Winner) and Dennis Taylor(brought three cars he built himself, his daughter ran eights) were having a similar conversation.
"I'm just really discouraged", Joe let out a heavy sigh, "I sunk a bunch of time, effort and money into improving the '56, and to leave here with nothing to show for it. At least last year I had one six!"
"Yeah", Dennis agreed, "Last year we won Gasser with the Ranchero, so this year we put a blower on and break the thing. Then all the problems with the Nova...not what I expected for sure!"
"Look at me", Tom Bailey chimed in, "I build a whole new car...stretched, narrowed, lighter, and work my tail off all week to run times the old car was capable of!"
I looked back at Boone, "We hot rodders are a sick bunch."
"Yeah", he laughed, "Never satisfied, never truly happy, always looking for better, faster, more!!!"

The track (and us) sat idle for an hour before they finally announced the cars in the Quick 32 SME bracket race. With the advantage of hindsight I looked back at the live feed from 2013 and 2014, and found it took them an hour on both occasions to accomplish the same thing. Seriously, this is an issue that needs to be addressed! Once they called the competitors to the lanes, those of us in line to turn in our slips started moving in the direction of the tower suite once again.

The solution could be as simple as opening a little earlier, letting the SME cars go FIRST on Friday, for maybe two hours, and have the Quick 32 determined as a result of only that session, then open the track for the class cars for the rest of the night, they could even run class cars between the opening rounds of the bracket race....and maybe just a little common sense on who gets the "fast lane" during class car runs.

Scott!!!
You're alive! How's Kim. The Grandkids? The Belvedere?

I agree with your suggestions, I agree that it should be a simple fix. I just hope they recognize it as a problem. I spent ten years helping with Arizona Drag Racing Associaton, and Arizona Super Street Association races. The ladder shouldn't be that difficult, especially when you have the first four days as a general guideline already.

Joel.
Four or five of the "Off Route Nine" are known, and very publicly apologized. I hold no ill will towards them, they made a poor choice and were disqualified. The guys who broke, and simply wanted to make a pass on the final day, I have no issue with that either, I just think that access should be limited to one hit like it has been on previous Fridays.

Its not about us. Its about drama and magazine sales.My first year 145 started and I think 80 finished in 07.
.The routes have gotten easier to cater to the unlimited class etc.Now its 400 cars probably.The rule infractions by alot of people the last few years is ridiculous.I still go but dont enter because my stuff is slow.LOL But I still go because Ive made many great friends.I will say I had a great time at RMRW the 2 days I watched at Bandimere and GB.No jackets,guitars but there was money to be won and it felt like DW 07 when I first went.Rant off. I feel better. lOL

Boone and I had moved out of the stairwell as the line of racers began to make their way in and out of the tower suite, showing their pictures of the last checkpoint and turning in Friday's best time in order to receive the fifth, and sixth Official Drag Week Time Slip that represent a successfully finished week.
We found ourselves peering though the back door window of another suite so we could watch the first round action. In the first pair Steve Eden bailed out Drag Week, and bracket racing newcomer Micheal Peevey and his nitrous assisted BBF 73 Ranchero by taking a car and a half to break out by two hundredths.
The second pair was Clark Lamb's Barracuda up against Scott Brown's LS powered 53 Chevy.
Clark's light was significantly better to which Freiburger commented, "The left lane was .167, but the right lane had to get an eviction notice! What?...no?"
I elbowed Boone and laughed, "NHRA announcer Lohnes is explaining to automotive journalist Freiburger off mic that you aren't supposed to give reaction time info over the speakers during eliminations!"
Lohnes announced Clark's deft use of the brake pedal to an 11.50 on his 11.33 for the win, while Freiburger was still mystified as to why he was being corrected, "What? I missed it, what happened there?"
Lohnes glossed it over like the pro that he is, but for me it was comedy gold, and I was laughing out loud...standing on the back balcony of the tower...while 30 or so other drag weekers looked at me like I lost my mind.
I turned my attention back to the third set. The black third gen Camaro with the red hood left nearly at the same time as the patina 63 Chevy II wagon. That was a problem for the wagon because it was dialed 7 tenths slower, but at least there wasn't a comment about it from the announcers.
Ken Passerby made quick work of a 4th gen Camaro with his trusty 70 Nova, the same car that had carried him to a Division 7 NHRA Stock Championship a decade earlier along with a pair of National event wins.
"If this were on a sportsman tree, I'd have money on Ken", I looked at Boone, "but I don't know about a pro tree."
"Passerby just laid down an .082 light on the four tenths pro tree, best of the round so far", Lohnes announced over the loud speakers.
"Well...OK then", Boone shook his head.

Lohnes is the next Dave McCelland,The guys a racing dictionary,

Easy, Don.
He's a great announcer, NHRA is lucky to have him. His enthusiasm for the sport, and desire to improve will take him a very long way. I'll have to see how he develops over the next five years or so before I put him on par with McClelland or Bob Frey, especially in the knowledge department, as that takes time. Those guys were enyclopedias!

Brian did the "Top Ten Mopars of Drag Week" article this year for Mopar Muscle, and it was full of mistakes, inaccuracies, and omissions. I brought it to his attention as soon as it came out on HotRod.com, but it was not corrected when the magazine hit the news stands.

I'm not picking on him, he's great for Drag Week, and I hope he continues to do it.
Heck, John Hindley told me in a text the other day that my story is "running about 80% accuracy" (which I took as a complement), but I'm not publishing it in a national magazine!


The engine described in the article for the Gremlin, is the engine in the Charger, with the exception of the claim of a roller cam. Every Gebhart Mopar on Drag Week runs a flat tappet. So I come on Moparts and tell everyone the truth, that Dale has a stock, unfilled 440 block with stock caps, and a stock 3.75 crank, and Brian puts an article in a magazine that says it has a 512 low-deck!

Suuurrrreeee Billy.... and my car is packing a 340. Says so right on the rear quarter

There's an interesting balance, between telling a good story, and getting all the facts right. The older I get, the more I appreciate a good story.

Carry on....

So Jim, how much of this is just a good story and how many of the facts are right? :-)

See you in Columbus,

Bill

http://www.hotrod.com/features/1605-9-second-altered-wheelbase-chevy-ii/

It's about 90% facts, and a good story. I like it!

Years ago, I thought that tech stuff in the magazines was gospel, and that everything in the car features was true.
Then about 10- 15 years ago when stuff we were doing in F.A.S.T. was getting a lot of press, I learned that this magazine content ranges anywhere from 50% - 95% accurate, depending on the writer. Not a knock on the writers or the magazines, they have to knock this stuff out in a hurry. And nobody knows and understands everything. Their job is to fill up and sell a monthly magazine, not write a manual on rocket surgery.

I like it too, I like Brian also, he tries to get the grassroot racers coverage and thats great in my book.

Ok, If I must come clean, Darren may not be quite as bad as I usually make him in the stories...but like I tell him, "Somebody has to be the antagonist, the villain". It's not my fault that he plays the part so well!

Dale's Gremlin was indeed the top Mopar this year, although the "Quickest Mopar" award went to Matt Blasco (EFIDart), and deservedly so. Technically, for Drag Week, the Gremlin is defined as an AMC with a Mopar engine.

Drag Week 2014 numbers
Day 1: 9.54-141.5
Day 2: 9.28-141.0
Day 3: 9.30-141.7
Day 4: 9.41-141.1
Day 5: 9.21-142.0
Final Average: 9.351-141.49

To recap the changes year to year: In 2014 He had 4.56 gears in the Dana 60, which caused it to be gear limited on the Nitrous, so for 2015 he went to 4.10. The 2014 440 featured Venolia flat tops with 64cc Indy SRs for 10.75 compression and the 272/639 Howards flat tappet was in at 100 degrees.
After melting two of the Venolias, he bought Probe dish pistons but also switched to 75cc Indy -1s, so compression dropped to 9.0. Then he backed the cam up to 104 installed. Then the changes to the front suspension.

#1 Dale Gebhart White 76 Amc Gremlin
Day 1: 9.59-150.2
Day 2: 9.08-147.7
Day 3: 9.26-141.7 (dropped valve)
Day 4: 9.04-151.3
Day 5: 9.20-139.5 (dropped valve)
Final Average 9.239-146.09

The result was a car easily capable of trapping 10mph more, but he only picked up twelve hundredths in Average ET. He showed up expecting to run 8's, and left, like most Drag Weekers on Friday night, a little disappointed.

But he finished!!

WOW 9.0 CR I would've never guessed that!
I would think that's why he didn't get his 8's!

Great story as usual.
Thanks, Don

He didn't end up there on purpose Don! After being surprised by how far in the hole both sets of pistons were, he discovered that this particular 440 block has a 10.732 deck height.
The sixty foot times were the struggle for DW2015, the new front suspension combined with more wheel speed from the gear change had him behind the curve from the start.

Also, all the 8 second time slips he had collected between Drag Weeks were on 33X10.5 M/T slicks, he hasn't ran one on the ET Streets that he uses during the event.

The Gremlin has finished 4th and 5th in Modified Power Adder the last two years, finishing just behind Greg Mayton's crazy 87 Mercury Cougar.

#2 Matt Blasco Black 72 Dodge Dart
Day 1: 7.87-184.9
Day 2: 7.70-184.3
Day 3: 7.70-185.3
Day 4: 16.98-33.0
Day 5: 7.71-178.9
Final Average 9.596-153.33

"Quickest(fastest) Mopar" Winner
7.70-185.3 was the the Quickest and Fastest single run in the history of Drag Week by a Mopar that finished the event, placing the Dart 19th on the all time list.

In case you were wondering, that's 19th out of 825 different cars that have completed Drag Week in eleven events...


https://www.facebook.com/The-dirty-drag-week-Dart-436745953183711/

It sure looks like on Matts Dart that the slick is
trying to come off the rim