It felt like my head had just hit the pillow when Jeff’s alarm went off at 4:30 Thursday morning. We hurried to get ready and out the door because we had a plan: it was going to be a long, hot drive back to Atlanta this afternoon. We had been instructed that today we would be following a prescribed route and stopping at 2 checkpoints. Although they weren’t supposed to open the gates at thunder Valley Raceway until 7:30 AM today, our plan was to be among the first in line at the gate. Then we could start switching the car over to race mode while we were waiting outside and be one of the first cars in the staging lanes. Hopefully a very early “one and done” pass, then hit the road for Atlanta.
There wasn’t much traffic between the hotel and the track and we got there before 6 AM. It was dark out and there were no signs instructing drag weekers where to enter. I found an entrance that was open and we went in. But it didn’t seem to go towards the pits or the staging lanes and we were kind of wandering around in the coupe when a pair of headlights approached us. The guy behind the wheel said follow me I’ll get you to the gate. https://youtu.be/95StFFj5aR0
There was already about 10 or 20 cars in line at the gate. We had over an hour until they open so, as per plans, we started switching the car over. Remove air cleaners, air down the tires, remove the exhaust, readjust the coil springs and shocks, remove the passenger seat, unload the trunk, take 6 turns out of the base pressure on the clutch. It was getting to be routine by now. The 2 most difficult tasks were cranking the adjusters on the rear coil overs and adjusting the clutch. Removing the exhaust and seat would have to wait to we were in the pit.
But within ½ an hour somebody came and unlocked the gate. I was under the car adjusting the coil overs when Jeff hollered “let’s go, they opened the gate early!” We hurriedly stopped our preparations and threw everything in the trunk and followed the other cars into the pits. As soon as the switch over was done, I found a spot in the staging lanes. Cars were still pouring in the entrance gate and filling up the pit spots, and there was probably 20 or 30 cars ahead of me in the staging lane.
All 3 of the leaders in the hot rod class were in the pits. Tim Hall in the international pickup was in the lead with an average of 9.948. Mark Fisher in the 32 Ford pickup was a close 2nd with a 9.989 average. Richard Abbott was in 3rd with a 10.067 average. My 10.275 average put me in 4th place. It was beginning to look like I didn’t have much of a shot at a top 3 finish unless one of my competitors were to drop out, or drastically slow down for the last 2 days. But yet with the good pass I made yesterday and the possibility that it could be improved upon, I had high hopes of improving my average today.
Exactly 30 minutes from the time the first car went down the track, I pulled the coupe into the burnout box. After the burnout, I took my time staging the car. I waited until the Christmas tree was green (remember, reaction times are meaningless at drag week), brought the Hemi up on to the two-step rev limiter at 5000 rpm, then dumped the clutch as I released my thumb from the horn ring/line lock switch and rolled the gas pedal down onto the floor board. The anti-bog strategy worked, but still the launch was a bit soft. When I shifted into 3rd, the RPM did not drop as one would expect so I lifted and got back into it and then when I hit forth it was obvious the clutch was slipping. So I aborted the pass and rolled through with a 10.62 at 111. https://youtu.be/1-UUPBWnIBI?t=49m23s