The pass was good, no mistakes, no issues. The time slip said 10.22 @134.7. That was about .08 off my best pass from the day before, but certainly good enuff to turn in and hit the road. I parked in our pit area, and walked to the tower to turn in the slip and get the route info to the next track. The esteemed trunk monkey Jeff got busy on converting the car back to street trim.

When I got back from the tower, I started adjusting the rear coils-overs to handle the extra weight of all the gear in the trunk. Then it started raining. Not too hard at first. We kicked our work into high gear, and headed out as soon as we were ready.

With no wipers or defroster, but a layer of Rain-x on the windshield, I could kind of see where I was going. I was really concerned about getting to the very closest gas station, as I knew there wasn't much gas in the tank. We made it to a station just a couple miles from the track, and by then the rain had stopped. We filled the tank with 93 octane, and 2 cups of Klotz octane booster. That Klotz seemed like some wicked stuff, so I stuffed a paper towel in the plastic measuring cup to prevent any vestige of it from spilling onto our stuff in the trunk.


That is when Brian Kohlman pulled into the station, and parked nose to nose with my car. I was so preoccupied with the weather situation, I didn't even realize the Kodak moment that this scene created. But Kevin from Speed Obsessed saw it and jumped on the opportunity. Thankfully, he put his pictures on the web, where I could steal them!



I moved the coupe out from under the canopy to make room for more cars to come in, then went inside and got a snack. Then it started pouring again. I looked out at the hoodless coupe, and was concerned that too much water could get in the engine. So I went out and covered it with a tarp. Better for me to get too wet than the engine!

I was watching the radar on my phone while I ate my snack, and it looked like we would be clear of the rain in 25 minutes, so I decided to wait right there for it to quit. Brian Kohlman and Squirrel said they were going across the street to Perkins and eat a meal while they were waiting, and invited me and Jeff to join them. They also asked if we wanted to convoy with them to the track. Knowing that neither of them had overdrive, and my coupe has 2 overdrive gears, I declined on the convoy. I figured that we would be stopped by rain alot, so when the roads were dry, I was putting the hammer down! I also declined on lunch at Perkins because I figured it would take much longer than 25 minutes, and I wanted to leave as soon as the rain stopped.

Speaking of Mr. Kohlman, I heard him make his pass while I was in the staging lanes. When this nitro burning monster fires up, there is no mistaking it for any other car on Drag Week!



But this car is still in the testing/sorting phase, and when he got to about half track, I could hear the nitro roar go flat, like it was way too retarded or running out of fuel or something. The announcer told us he had ran 8.61 at 142, way off of what the car is capable of. I was hoping he hadn't hurt the Hemi, so I was glad to see him show up at the gas station.

Who is Brian Kohlman? He's the only insane, Mopar loving, nitro junkie in Drag Week. How many of you remember this famous shot? Same guy!