The pits at Darlington Dragway were pretty crowded, but we found a spot.
Switching over to race mode includes unloading all the luggage, tools, and gear from the car; removing the 8 air filters from the scoops; adjusting the springs on the rear coil overs; adjusting the shocks; adjusting the clutch pressure; dropping the pressure in the slicks; and removing the exhaust system. Adjusting the clutch was the hardest, most time consuming task. While we were working on that, Frieberger told us all over the p,a, that at 10:00, he would make an announcement regarding the status of the event in consideration of Hurricane Florence.
The staging lanes were packed, but I got into the tail end of the last row. By 9:30, I was really beginning to feel the heat, and the black roof of the coupe with no headliner didn’t help the situation. But I had a gallon jug of water that helped keep me hydrated, and I waited as long as possible before putting my driving suit on. (which I began referring to as my snowmobile suit. Might as well at least get a chuckle out of sitting in a 120 degree car in it.)
At 9:45, I pulled into the burnout box. My burnout was kind of short, because the rear of the car started going sideways. Right after the launch, the engine bogged bad and the car fell on its face, then picked up again and ran strong for the rest of the ¼ mile. 10.43 at 136 mph was the result.
In car video Outside video I wasn’t happy with the idea of turning in that ET, and decided to stick around for another pass, even though it meant we would get a late start on the journey to Charlotte. If you watch the in car video to the end, you will see the long line of cars on my right that I drove past on my way to the pit. Those are all cars just waiting to get into the staging lane queue. So it was going to be a very long wait. (Sheila had phoned earlier to tell me that she got her flight home changed to 6:30 am tomorrow morning, so she wasn’t going to be able to come to Charlotte and see the race. So getting to the hotel early tonight wasn’t essential.)
I messed with the carbs, hoping to get rid of the bog, and I turned up the fuel pressure a little bit, then got in line.
At 10:00, Frieberger made the announcement that we would still race at Charlotte tomorrow, and Bristol on thurseday. But the official route they had planned would take us too far east, into the hurricane, so we were to drive the shortest path to Z-Max, or any way we wanted, and there would be no checkpoints. He urged everyone to get to Z-Max early and get a pass in, because heavy rain was predicted for the afternoon. Well that was good news!
My biggest job after working on the car, was trying not to die from heat stroke. I found a utility sink in the garage under the tower, and used it to replenish my gallon jug about 3 times. I also stuck my head under a faucet a few times, just to cool off. And I put a big piece of cardboard on top of the car, that hung over the back window and blocked the sun.
There was plenty of action on the track while I was waiting, and I watched as much as I could while staying reasonably close to the car when the line moved.
The Dirty 30 pulled a big wheelie:
Dirty 30 wheelie So did Frank Ramano
Tom Baily. the leader in unlimited made it!
Finally, 4 hours and 15 minutes after my first pass, I pulled into the burnout box for my 2nd pass of the day.
