LOL.Pretty sure there is more

I'll bet he's away from the computer this weekend for the SCSN in Las Vegas. He was talking about going.

FAIL Gebhart. LOL. Wish I was in Vegas.

huh...I drove up to Phx to go racing this weekend. I guess I missed the boat.

But yeah, there is definitely more to the story!

I think he is in Oklahoma for Thanksgiving with his family.

pretty sure he was in Vegas this weekend....

I can vouch that he was in Vegas. Nice to meet you this weekend Billy!

Sorry guys, just spent three days in Vegas, and got falling down drunk on five second passes, they were handing them out like Halloween candy at SCSN X!
Great meeting Dustin, Andrew, and the whole NW crew, as well as Curtis for the first time, and enjoyed touching base with many old friends. Awesome watching Go Green and Dean sorting out the new BAE Hemi, I believe the 6.58 was a new best for the Barracuda on 10.5s!

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, Friday night time run session for the Daily Driver class. Rachael and the Belvedere managed an 11.967-111.64. We decided that was good enough to put a bow on her second completed Drag Week. When she came back from the tower with her final slips, she threw her hands up and said, "Yeah, we did it! Now let's get back to Dale's house!"
"Don't think so", I shook my head, "we have friends in the quick 32 bracket race, and we have to stay here to cheer and support them."
"You're kidding...it's cold out here!"
"Then bundle up and get us some hot chocolate from the concession stand!"

Our own Clark Lamb put his Blue Barracuda into the quick 32 bracket race with a 24th qualifying effort, as the small block cranked out an 11.701-115.83, giving him a mandatory dial-in of 11.67.

Defending Daily Driver Champ Scott Abbott finished up his Drag Week with a stout 11.528-120.06 to massage his dial in to 11.56, and lock his familiar 70 Road Runner into the 19th qualifying spot. As happy as I was to see Scott, Kim, and the Road Runner, I was hoping to see the big Hemi in his 67 Plymouth.
"We were probably about 6 to 10 hours short of having it here", he had told me wistfully on Sunday at registration.

There were three things that played heavily on the outcome, and the running of the Quick 32 Daily Driver bracket race for 2014. First, it was on a .4 pro tree for the first time, that's pretty tough for a seasoned racer used to a sportsman tree, but for a novice, it's even worse. Second, the tenth is subtracted from your average to come up with your mandatory dial-in to prevent sandbagging, brake lights at the stripe, and double breakouts, but the killer night air at Tulsa negated that attempt and then some, so everyone was holding, even if they didn't know it! Third, night bracket racing on a track with less than stellar lighting, is a completely different experience, and perception at the stripe is definitely compromised.

The first pair out was Scott and his 70 Road Runner, up against the third qualifier in a 10.92 dialed LS powered Corvair. Scott won on a double breakout, with a far better light. He went .16 under to his opponents .29 under attempt to run him down.
When you consider all 32 Cars are dialed between 10.83-11.98, it's really a good show!

John scrubbed off about eight mph to cover the 69 GTO of Chris Mosely with an 11.192 on the Valiant's 11.12 dial.
Ross took his Road Runner to the second round when the number 32 qualifier turned on the red bulb with his 72 Chevelle.
Clark treed his opponent by over two tenths in the first round, then worked the brakes to an 11.73 win.

John was in the first pair for the second round, matched against Jason Pipkin's V-8 powered Mazda RX-7. Jason cut an other worldly .016 tree that welded John and the Valiant to the starting line. The Mazda had bus lengths by the eighth mile, and John just cut him loose at 1100ft, braking to a safe 11.325-100 on his 11.12. Jason had won the first round by backing into his opponent and taking the stripe by a scant .0015, so I guess that left him a little gun shy of the brake pedal in round two, as he screamed across the stripe to a full tenth breakout, 11.39 on an 11.49 dial handing John the win!

The elation of watching John get by the second round was quickly tempered when Ross broke out by .02 against Chad Addison's 70 Chevelle, and then Clark used a little too much brake pedal, and gave back the stripe in his match with a 2012 Mustang.
Then the Corvair rounded the corner for second round, and I looked at Rachael, "Didn't Scott beat him?"
"Yeah...I thought so", she answered.
I happened to look over and see Scott in the bleachers at that very moment, so I had to go over for an explanation.
"What happened?" I threw up my hands as I approached him.
"I went an 11.40, and I'm only legal to 11.50 without a bar", Scott explained.
"But you got the win light...and he went under 10.80, which is supposed to be the bottom of the class!"
"Yeah, but mine is a safety issue, and I wouldn't feel right about that, so I went up and told them to give him the round", he shrugged.
I admire Scott's sportsmanship...he's a better man than I am, I'll just leave it at that!

It was nice to meet you as well this weekend, Billy! I will be checking DW off my bucket list.

As in the second round, John and the Valiant were once again the first back to the lanes, and ended up paired on the ladder with the Mustang that took out Clark. This time it was John's turn to figure out what to do with a huge lead at half track, and he scrubbed .25 and 17 mph for the win. Geoff Dugopolski is a two-time winner of the Daily Driver class, and he was working his 66 Malibu through the field on what appeared to be a destined semi-final battle with John, but his car died when he stomped the loud pedal in the third round, sending Steve Lyon and his primered 70 Olds 442 into that position. They would be joined in the semi's by Chad Addison's 70 Chevelle, and Waco Davis' crazy blown 65 Bel Air, the number one qualifier.

John's talent was clearly on display in the semi-final round, as he eased 4mph off at the top end, to run a safe 11.142 while easily pushing the Olds out the back door a full seven hundredths under his dial.
He wheeled the Valiant back into the lanes just in time to watch all the drama unfold in the Chevy side of that round. The 65 had the trunk open, and a generator hooked to the battery, while the Chevelle was jacked up in a mad scramble to re-connect a wire to the starter. The pair didn't make their run for a full thirteen minutes after John had dispatched the Olds!

Waco is from my hometown.Steve and his dad stayed in the same hotels that we did.Him and his dad reminded me of the Gebhart clan.

Personally, I was rooting for the 65, and Waco Davis, because Chad Addison has been killing the tree in his pretty black Chevelle all night, and I figured he would be the bigger threat to John in the final. Unfortunately, the quickest car in the class couldn't quite get the grip of the cold track he needed, and the big red beast could only muster an 11.01 on it's 10.83 dial.
"At least the Valiant is faster than the Chevelle", Rachael offered.
"Yeah, but is John faster on the tree than Chad? That's what I'm worried about!"

As we waited in the bleachers for the final, Brian Lohnes, NHRA Announcer, Official DW Announcer, and BangShift.com co-owner was explaining over the speakers, how John was driving the car previously owned by Steve Bowyer, who had passed last year during the event. His voice cracked several times, and it was clear that the emotion of the moment was pushing his considerable professionalism to the limit. It occurred to me at that time that I was wrong in thinking Steve's siblings were the only ones who were drawing healing and closure from John bringing the Valiant on Drag Week 2014. It was, in fact, providing the same for the entire Drag Week family, and all the participants who had seen Steve at Checkpoint #1 in 2013, sitting in the Valiant, and had never seen him again. It also occurred to me that it was a fact not lost on John at all this week, and that has to carry a little pressure all it's own. The aplomb with which he handled every facet of Drag Week, and the panache he has raced with for some time, gave me comfort that the situation was not beyond his reach.

It's quite easy to spot who has the best light in a pro tree heads-up race. It's more difficult to determine when the tree is staggered, and one competitor is in deep, but it appeared from my vantage point that John gave up a little at the hit. When they drove by us at half track he appeared to be in a good position to make up the two tenths head start he had given with the dial-ins. It looked for all the world like both guys just decided to let their big blocks do the talking in the last 320 feet, as both cars ran within a couple tenths of their best MPH for the whole event. John and the Valiant carded a .002 over 11.122 on an 11.12 dial to take the measure of Chad and the Chevelle's 11.37 on an 11.35 for the win!

It was well after midnight as we celebrated in the TRP winner's circle, and my cheap camera struggled with the multiple light sources, so this is the closest to a focused picture I took. I called Boone to give him the good news, and only got a "Huh? Oh...good...I'll see you in the morning", then a click of the phone shutting off, so I decided not to inform the rest of our guys, and let sleeping dogs lie!

I don't really remember the drive back to Dale's, or where I slept Friday night, or what we did the next morning before we headed back out to the track. All I remember was when we arrived, everyone was clamoring about the great air, the low DA, and how some killer numbers were getting ready to be thrown down!