Yes, we are out. Here is the story:
I was so confident that I would have the Coupe ready, I never tested the GTX since we finished the changes to it last fall. Everything I did on the coupe took longer than I planned. This was a complete build from a frame and body shell, so there was a ton of small things to fabricate, and the last 2 months was a major thrash. Jerico GTX helped a lot, and I’m very thankful for that. The last few days I did almost nothing but wiring. Finally saturday evening, 18 hours before we had to be in the tech line at Cordova, I drove the car for the 1st time. The fuel pressure gauge (with an isolator) was not working right, and upon an attempted restart it hydro-locked the engine. Too much pressure had blew fuel past the 8 needles and seats and filled the engine with gas. Then we pulled the plugs, cleared it, and one of the plugs wouldn't go back in the head right. I had to run a tap into the head, then got the plug back in. Got it started, and then it started spraying gas out of one of the fittings that connects to a carb. When I tried to tighten it, I could feel the threads pulling out. It has those stupid hard nylon washers under the fittings, and they just don’t seal well without a lot of torque. But you can only put so much torque onto threads in an old pot metal carb body. How could I safely race this car? There are so many unknowns to sort out. The test drive made it clear that this car still needed a lot of work. And there was no time to do it. I sat down and contemplated everything I had sacrificed to get to this point, and I didn't want to give up. I didn't mow my lawn, go to church, hang with friends or family for 2 months, or go to our car club events all summer, or back to the 50's, and I missed the eclipse. I was numb from fatigue and every fiber of my body hurt from the wiring thrash, especially my chest from laying across the door bar of the cage while working inside the car. The realization that this wasn't going to work out for 2017 slowly started sinking in, and it was hard to accept.
With 100% of the car unproven and untested, and no time to find parts or fix it, and not knowing what the next issue would be, it would be best to just stay home. I felt a small bit of relief that it was over, and I could rest. (haha)
Then I wandered over to the corner of the shop, where the GTX sat. I hadn't really even looked at it in a year. It hadn't been on the track since 2010 when I blew up the motor at a FAST race. The new combination with the slicks, caltacks, quicktime bell, fuel system, etc was untested. But I should take a closer look, I figured. So I started moving junk out of the way, and Jeff joined me. 15 minutes later it was out in the middle of the shop and an hour later it was running! OK, we are going to Drag Week 2017 after all!
Packing tools and supplies, my brain was in a fog from lack of sleep in the last few days. I couldn't even think of what I should bring. But we were on the road for Cordova about 12:30 am. After 2 hours of driving I had to stop and sleep for a few hours, then we continued on. A 20 mph headwind slowed the progress of the old 1st gen Cummins hauling the big camper and the trailer, and put it in fuel guzzle mode. We finally got to the track at about 12:25 on Sunday, unloaded the car, and made it into the tech line at 12:45, 15 minutes before the cut-off. By the time I got thru tech about 6 hours later, the staging lanes were closed for the day, so no test passes for me. I spend most of the time in line fixing blinkers, figuring out the fuel pump switch, and sitting in the car resting. Jeff installed the seat belts that we had robbed from the coupe before we left. I didn't get out into the lanes and meet and greet and ogle the cars like I usually do. But I did talk to a bunch of Drag Week friends who came by the car. It was great to see them all, and helped wake me out of my stupor.
After tech, we found a water hose behind the mens room and used it to wash the GTX. It was filthy from a year of storage without its cover. (my bad). Then out for dinner in town, (chauffeured in a Lincoln by my friend Kevin) and then back to the camper for the night. I slept like a log.

Monday morning, Jeffs alarm didn't go off because his battery was dead. He had plugged the charger into an inactive outlet. So we got up late. I was thinking the drivers meeting was at 9, but it was at 8. So a last minute rush happened to pack the car and get out of the camper and trailer.
My first pass, the car laid down right after launch, then picked up, then died, then restarted. I aborted the pass and motored easy down the track. Also, the GTX pushed to the right, I had to correct a lot.
Back in the pits, we checked the fuel pressure and it was fine. Maybe a needle and seat is sticking from a year of dormancy? So I pulled the carb tops and all 4 bowls of the dual Carter AFB's were well stocked with 112 octane. If the fuel is OK, then it must be ignition. How shall I diagnose this? (At this point I was discovering how poorly I had selected my tools and supplies when packing) But after another hour of messing around, And Jeff adding some preload to the right caltrack to try and make the car go straight, we were ready for another try. I got into the staging lanes 10 minutes before they closed for the day. I dumped the clutch at 4000 RPM, and it felt strong! The tire spun a bit, then grabbed. With the force of the launch pushing my head back, the tach (with integral shift light, which is mounted too low) disappeared from my field of view. By the time I was able to glance down, the shift light was on, for I don’t know how long, so I grabbed second. The car lurched forward at the shift, and the 2-3 shift went well except the shift light never went off, but I was too busy correcting to the left to pay attention to it. The car was going right, towards the wall. It was definitely out of the groove as I passed the 1/8 mile, so I aborted the run. The time slip showed a 1.59 60’, and a 7.004 1/8th. I was happy with that for an initial test pass, it showed a lot of potential. The pit stop gas cap was open when I got back to the pit. Later I learned that it dumped fuel on the track like the Exon Valdez into Prince William sound. Reviewing the in-car video, we saw that the rpm never dropped on the 3-4 shift. The clutch was on an initial, break in setting with maximum spring pressure and no counter weight. The cure for the 4th gear slippage is counterweight on the levers. Due to the rush last year, I didn’t have time to order a bellhousing with a window, I had to use an off the shelf unit. Adding weight to the clutch meant pulling the trans, and I didn’t have nearly enuff tools. I was talking about quitting, but Scott Abbot came by and gave me a pep talk and offered to help with tools and stuff. That got me motivated to find a way. When I looked in thru the clutch fork hole of the Quicktime scattershield, I figured there was a slight possibility I could add a bolt and nut to each lever without pulling the trans by working thru the fork hole, but unfortunately I could also see the levers had been hitting the inside of the bellhousing. The ends were scuffed and bent. Adding weight would only make it worse. (lesson: Quicktime bellhousings do not have sufficient clearance for an adjustable clutch) The only solution I could think of would be swap in a Lakewood bellhousing. To find one and install it could be 5 or 10 hours. It just wasn’t going to happen on DW17, when we still had a 6+ hour drive to St. Louis. So reluctantly, I threw in the towel, and we loaded up and slunk home.
Good luck to all my fellow drag weekers who are still in. I will definitely be back for 2018, much more prepared!