Back in the pit, “are you going to take that one?” asked Jeff. “I don’t know. I don’t like it. It’s going to kill my average.” After the 10.17 at 137 mph yesterday, I was really feeling that the car had a 9 in it today. According to the Wallace calculator, 137 was enough mph to go 9.70s. So the 2nd half of the track was under control. I just needed to get the first half sorted out. Launching at part throttle and rolling into it had all but eliminated the bog. But I probably need to be more aggressive and just mat it upon launch to get the car up on the tire and get the 60 foot down. “I’m going back for another pass” I said to Jeff. I could see on his face, he knew that meant another long hard, hot day. "Your call" was his response.
I had taken the same 6 turns out of the clutch adjusters this morning that I had the prior 3 days. As the thickness of the sintered iron clutch disc wears down, it is necessary to compensate by tightening the spring adjusters. I figured that all the stop and go traffic on the street had taken its toll on the clutch. So, I decided to tighten the clutch 2 turns for the next pass. Was that enough? Who knows, it's just a guess. Also hearing from the racers who keep track of such things, the density altitude was over 3000 feet. Each time I had leaned out the main jets, the car had responded with more mile-per-hour. I reckoned at 3000' it was time to lean them out another step.
While we were in the pit making the changes on the car, Freiberger announced over the PA that Tim Hall who is leading the hot rod class with his small block Chevy powered International pickup was in need of a head gasket. I moseyed over to his pit spot which wasn’t too far from mine and took a gander. They had the heads off, and there was a blur of activity. I couldn’t help but contemplate what it would mean to my standing if he dropped out. 3rd place gets you a one week head start on the race to register for next years event. But that’s not going to happen, I figured. Couple of things about running a small block Chevy: yes, it will probably break, but you can buy all the parts you need to fix it from a vending machine in the lobby.
Once the hemi coupe was in the staging lanes, I felt like I had some time to walk around a bit catch up on all the scuttlebutt. But I wasn’t going to get too far from the car, not after yesterday’s hard learned lesson! Most importantly, I learned that Dale Gebhard and his trunk monkey were both okay after yesterday’s crash in the mountains. So that was great news! More good news was that Hemi Squirrel had decided to stay in the race and made the drive to Bristol. The bad news was that Andrew Starr was unable to continue with his stick shifted, Pro Street N/A 56 Chevy, thus forfeiting his second-place standing. I heard several more stories of the harrowing drive through the mountains yesterday. I was sure glad that we took the freeway!

Tom Bailey in his Pro-mod style Camaro was still leading the unlimited class, and the event overall, with a 6.685 average ET. In a street car, for crying out loud! David Schroeder was holding down 2nd place overall with his big inch, nitrous fed, 1966 Corvette. He had run well into the sixes on Tuesday and Wednesday, but his 7.30 pass on Monday drug his average down to a 7.039.
Mike Finnegan with his Blasphemi 55 Chevrolet was doing battle with Jared Scott in his Falcon Ranchero in the Gasser/A class. Both cars are the epitome of cool with their roots blown Hemi’s and stick shift transmissions. Scott had averaged 9.115 the first 3 days, Finnegan holding down 2nd with a 9.276. Finnegan was trying desperately to achieve his first 8 second pass, and yesterday at Charlotte, he came oh so close with a 9.007.

As I was getting closer to the tower, and thus closer to my next pass, suddenly it dawned on me. How much fuel did we have in the race tank?!! Where was Jeff, I didn’t see him anywhere around? I opened the trunk and looked for the dipstick and it wasn’t there. I was starting to feel a sense of panic as I was way too close to the burn out box to be wondering how much fuel I had. I quickly called Jeff on the cell phone and thankfully he answered. I said where’s the dipstick? Did you dip the tank today? He said “don’t worry about it there’s enough.” “Did you check it?” I asked again. ”Don’t worry about it there’s enough.” That did not give me a great deal of confidence, but I wasn’t going to leave the car and walk all the way back to the pit for the dipstick. “You better get up here, I think they’re going to be sending me down the track pretty soon.”