We cruised into Pana Il. with a false sense of accomplishment. We were already at the second checkpoint, but we were only ninety-seven miles into our 266 mile jaunt. I parked in front of the mural, and left the car running, snapped the picture, then parked out of the way. We were on a large gravel lot with plenty of room. As with the first checkpoint, the Hot Rod staffers were there shooting pictures, and everyone was in high spirits.
I pulled out my phone, and called Dale again.
"We're still at the parts store", he laughed, "got the Belvedere all lined out, jumped in the Gremlin, backed up four feet, and it died. It's the module in the distributor. I've got another, but while we were testing it something's weird between the alternator and distributor wiring, and I keep getting a ghost spark. I've already burned up one alternator, this one's acting crazy, and now the dizzy...so I think I'm going to take the time to re-wire it now!"
"Good grief", I looked down at my phone, it's already 7:15, and you haven't put fifteen miles down yet!"
"I know, Darren's still back with Squirrel...they got someone to re-build the blower, and Darren took him to a parts store for all the extra's he might need, but he's not rolling yet either".

this picture of the gremlin with the front end off in the middle of the night sorta sums up what drag week is all about to me. Man, do I want to do this!

We formulated a plan as we stood around at the checkpoint. Boone decided he would stay behind and wait for Dale and Rachael, but his co-pilot, Dad, would ride on in with Robert, so he could get some sleep. We decided to go just across the street to the gas station, fuel up, then Boone would come back to the gravel parkng lot, and try to get some shut eye while waiting for the stragglers.

When I finally pointed the Valiant east again on IL-16, it was 8:00pm, and we had 158 miles still in front of us. John and his Valiant took up residence off my back bumper, while Robert trailed him.
We clicked off another fifty relatively stress free miles on the Illinois State Route system, then, as the Drag Week planning staff is famous for, they kicked us off for eight miles of "East County Road 500", followed by seven miles of "County Road 2120 North", or, as veteran Drag Weekers know them, "Fifteen miles of suspension and low hanging parts test, Road".

Forty miles per hour worked out to be the best speed to avoid bottoming out shocks on that stretch for the Valiant. We came out on US-40East, near the small town of Marshall, and realized they were going to dump us on I-70 for the rest of the trip into Indy. We had around ninety miles gone since we left the second checkpoint, and eighty or so left, so we figured it was a logical place to fuel before we jumped on the big road.

Earlier John and I had discussed cruising speed, and he requested that I stay around 2800. When I would kick it up to 3K, which seems to put the small block in it's happy zone, he would struggle to keep up, as his electric water pump equipped big block would start to climb in temperature.

Once we hit the I-70, though, I thought he was going to run me over, so I ended up at 3K-3200 for most of the run into Indy. Aaron realized his services weren't going to be needed for a while, so he started cat napping on the four lane. For a while, he'd jerk awake when we would hit a bump, or get passed by a semi, but after about twenty minutes it was full-on, mouth open, drop the phone in the floor, unconsciousness. I grabbed the route sheet right before it blew out the window.

Worried, that I might fall asleep myself, I called Skippy to check on them, but couldn't really get any information from him, so I gave up and then called Dale.
"Where are you guys now?"
"We just left the first checkpoint, we should make good time, no traffic out here and it's plenty cool."
"We're almost to Indy, it's midnight, and you are just now at the first checkpoint?"
"Actually we are fueling up right now, and I'm paying for gas in the Belvedere...you left me babysitting a broken car, and you didn't give Rachael any money? She's flat broke!"
"Well, yeah...I planned on giving her a credit card, but we got separated so quickly..."
"Separated? You ran off and left us!"

About ten miles out of Indy, I nudged Aaron awake, and gave him the address to my motel. He punched it into his phone, and struggled with the screen, alternating between looks of intense focus, and a blank stare.
"Just stay on seventy", he finally determined.
We were approaching the I-465 loop, and I noticed that John and Robert moved over to the right lane to take it, so I questioned Aaron again, and he still told me to stay on seventy.
Dad called, and asked if we were lost, explaining that Lucas Oil Raceway was a good bit north, and most likely our motel was also.
John and Opal took the exit, and headed to their motel, satisfied in the knowledge that I had no idea where I was going, but Robert, along with my Dad as his passenger, followed us as we rolled by the airport, and headed towards the center of Indianapolis.
"Take this exit for Holt", Aaron ordered in a bland monotone. I complied.
"Now take a left at the bridge", he continued.
I did that as well, and took a look at my surroundings, old warehouses, poor lighting, very little retail. Then the road narrowed and we were in a residential area with small houses set tightly together, and close to the road. We went under a railroad bridge and then he instructed me to take a left. This was clearly a residential street, perceptively narrower than the previous, with cars parked on both sides and even smaller houses. I was waiting for Clint Eastwood to step off his porch, walk out into the road with a shotgun, and tell us to get off his street!
I looked over at Aaron, his smart phone was his singular focus, as he squinted at the screen, both thumbs moving rapidly.
"Is my motel somewhere down here?" I asked with a good deal of trepidation, as I tried to keep the 428 at a steady rpm in the hopes of not setting off car alarms, or waking the entire neighborhood.
"No...they were right, we should've turned on 465, so we're taking a short cut back to that", he said it without even looking up.
I really wanted to take this teachable moment, and work with it, but decided I just wanted to get to a bed, so I let it go, and hoped to see a real interstate again before the car broke down!

This was the motel that I had been comped, when the rooms I purchased had been cancelled due to maintenance issues, so I had no idea what to expect. We pulled into a Clarion, set back in a corporate office style development, and once we parked, I noticed how quiet it was in this area, it was also obvious we were the only Drag Week vehicle in the parking lot!
Dad and Robert walked over, as Aaron jumped out of the Valiant and headed for Robert's truck.
"How far away is your motel, Robert?"
"About twenty-four miles back the other way", he chuckled and shook his head.
"Oh, crud! I'm sorry, you should've called, and we could've swapped these guys earlier!"
"It's OK, I have a feeling you guys won't be in the first group of cars down the track tomorrow!"
"No", I agreed, "Probably going to sleep in for a while!"
"I think we will too!" he agreed and with that, they left.
Dad, and I went in and checked into our rooms. I called Dale as soon as I sat down on the bed.
"We made the second checkpoint", he informed me, "Now we are working across the rest of Illinois Sixteen".
I warned him about the fifteen miles of county road upcoming, then asked if Boone was with them.
"No, we called ahead when we realized we were re-wiring the entire alternator circuit, and told him to go ahead. We have Darren with us though".
I took a shower, then called Boone, and gave him instructions to the motel and told him to call me when he arrived so I could open the door for him. I fell asleep in a few seconds, but didn't need the call, as the sound of the Barnyard in the quiet parking lot woke me up just fine, I'm sure it had the same effect on other patrons as well!

I think I had just rolled in at this point...that was a long night!

We got in about 2 am, only got worse every day after that lol

Yeah, Tony Sanchez was following up his first complete Drag Week in 2013 (10.70-125 5 day average), with an equally smooth attempt in 2015. He had a 10.40-130 in St. Louis, and a 10.39-129 at Indy, and it looked like the thrash to change the transmission and rear end right before the event was going to pay off. Things change very quickly at Drag Week though, and as Tony alluded, his story changed big time Tuesday afternoon...

Thats an understatement lol

I heard the Gremlin pull into the motel sometime in the morning. I opened the door to let Rachael and Skippy in the room, but that's about all I remember, as I was back in bed, and asleep before they set their bags on the floor.

Tuesday, Day 2, Lucas Oil Raceway, Indy

It was 8:30AM before I really started getting around, so I figure I was just out of the shower when our early bird Ray Meyers was putting the Black Pearl 67 Barracuda through it's paces to the tune of 10.19-132, based on the gen 3 Hemi's run on Monday, she could've used a re-jet and another pass, but Ray was running with a sealed hood, so that wasn't possible. I'm sure Ray had his time slip turned in, and his route sheet in hand, before the rest of my crew even opened their eyes!

I took my bags out to the car, and grabbed a few things off the continental breakfast, then I received a text from John, letting me know they were already calling the Street Machine Eliminator session to the lanes. I figured if that was the case, it wouldn't do any good to rush the brothers around, but I might as well get Rachael up and get her out to the track.

The second day at Drag Week always has a decidedly different feel than the first, most notably, because the drive just punched a majority of these competitors straight in the mouth. Everyone responds to that in different ways, some go on the defensive, some come out swinging, but either way, it's not all fun and games! While Rachael and Skippy were preparing to leave, I fired up his laptop to check out the day one results. The first thing that leapt off the page was the Street Race Small Block Normally Aspirated. Last year, it was a nice, easy class to talk about, with a very defined pecking order from Day 1 to Day 5. Paul Cornman, led wire to wire, with a 10.02 average, Steve Reimann, was comfortably in second at a 10.29 average, then Danny Roberts was third at 10.90 easily covering Kevin Studaker's 11.03.
With five of the top six competitors back for 2015, I felt it was reasonable to expect a similar outcome. My first look at the results of the first day, blew that completely out of the water.
Paul's Demon had thrown down a solid 2 tenth improvement from the previous year, and that left him currently in 5th! Danny Roberts' Used Antifreeze Metallic 80 Malibu was leading a pack of six 9 second cars, and seven 10 second cars, with an unreal 9.52-141, a 1.38 second improvement over his first run in 2014!

Dannys Malibu is for sale.Just saying. LOL.I kid,I kid.

This Javelin makes a statement when you open the hood! Twin Dominators on tunnel ram, the coolest AMC at Drag Week for sure!

Sorry if I missed it. What do you mean "sealed hood"?

Great story!
Thanks, Don

There was an award this year for those that would complete the week with a sealed hood.Ray was one of them as well as Jim with the Nova gasser

That Malibu is killer looking! Love the story.

I scanned the rest of the day one results. I was fourth in Pro Street NA, but was just 5 hundredths behind Glenn Bridger's 68 Camaro. Boone was also fourth in B-Gas, but rumors were flying at the second checkpoint that the Gold Falcon might not make it. Street Machine Eliminator looked pretty hopeless for the no-bar crowd. Only two cars with E.T.s higher than 11.50 were in the quick 32, but Dan Smith's (qwkmopardan, Moparts) 79 300 was equipped with a bar, and was 36th, so if he could tune the small block to sub-11.50 times, the potential was there to remove another spot.

Clark was in the third set of Street Machine Eliminator cars down the famed track, and he was within a hundredth of his St. Louis pass, so the blue barracuda was one, done, and ready to roll toward Wisconsin. John made his first run twenty minutes later, and since it was an 11.04, there was going to be second one. John made his adjustments, and the 67 Valiant returned to the lanes before Rachael and I even entered the facility.

The big Hemi in Mike Chenoweth's 70 Road Runner ran within 3 hundredths of it's St. Louis pass as well, But Rick Callahan, and Dave Dudek's effort suffered a setback, as the black 69 Hemi Road Runner fell off more than a second, and fifteen mph!

Rachael and I drove into the facility around 10:30, and we met a few Drag Weekers exiting at the same time. We backed into the first open area we could find, and began to unload the cars as quickly as possible. Skippy grabbed the jack, and started removing my exhaust from the Valiant, while I backed the timing off a couple degrees on the Belvedere, and poured in a gallon of 118. I was bent over, lowering the tire pressure on the Belvedere when I heard Lohnes announce that John had successfully tuned the Valiant to a 10.92-121.4

As the minutes ticked by, and we were nearly prepared to head to the lanes, I grabbed Rachael for a second.
"Where are my brothers? I thought they were only a little behind us?"
Rachael raised up and pointed, "They're pitted over there!"
I hadn't seen them drive in, but I was definitely breathing easier knowing they were on the property.