Last years NMCA race at Us 131. Final round in N/SS. I have had good lights all day. Car has been deadly on its 9.25 index. Its close to 11:30pm. I'm in the left lane for the first time in eliminations and its pitch black out. So I plan to be conservative. My opponent Bruce Lang is tough. He just ran dead on in the semi's at 9.75 index. Its a quick turn around. The oil is warm so it's going to pick up. I add some weight to run dead on 9.25. As many know my car is a pushbutton shift. I shift with my thumb while grasping the bottom of the bezel with my other 4 fingers. Except this weekend. I have 5 stitches in the tip of my index finger with a huge dressing from smashing it in a car door 3 days before. So that finger has to point out and I'm shifting with the side of my thumb. The tree comes down and we're of. All is good until the 1/2 shift. My thumb slips between the 1st and 2nd gear buttons missing 2nd. It hits the limiter as I fumble the shift. The 2/3 is good and I'm running up on him. I can tell no way I'm going to catch him. His car is a fastback 68 Cuda. Quickly thinking it's got to tough looking back on the left side thru the C pillar because its so long. I pull up in his blind spot and hang there. He takes the stripe by a car. My win light comes on. He's 9.73x on a 9.75. As we talk about it afterwards. Bruce says: "My car had just run dead on. I saw you coming like a bat out of hell. Then in the dark I lost you. Couldn't lift as you were hauling. So I drove it thru". How did i think to do that so quick? Who knows. Sometimes you get lucky.
Doug