I figured there would some tales from the road posted by now

It'll be nothing like Billy's tales but I'll give it a shot. A small accomplishment in the scheme of things over all, but I managed to place 3rd in SSBBNA with my Cuda this weekend rowing a Hurst V-gate. I had a 10.80 @ 131 average with a 10.61 @ 131 best on Sunday. I still need more seat time, suspension, and clutch adjustments to get the 60 ft down. Best so far is 1.55.

It was great to finally get to do a event like this after 2 miss starts because Indy head problems. (More on this later). I'm a n00b at this as this is the 1st drag car I've had since being a teenager.

I'll post more about the trip later.

Nice looking car. And congrats on your finish.

QUOTE: rowing a Hurst V-gate.

AWESOME!

Way to go Robert!

Well, I am pretty lucky I guess as I get to drive a lot of different cars, and not all of them mine.....

Late last year we went to a TNT session to sort out my engine builders 69 Hemi Barracuda as my Duster wounded the 512 in it and I had two more points races to go so I need a little seat time in it....

Friday comes around and we hit the road with the car in the trailer, and I had a feeling I should have checked the schedule before we took the hour ride out there, but I didn't and realized the error of my laziness when we hit the gate and saw the place swamped with Mustangs...

Now for anyone who is not familiar with Empire, once a month, they have a MOM's race, or Mustang on Mustang race...And the night we picked was it.

So they run their deal, and the other cars can either run TNT or some enterprising individuals tend to go for some gamblers racing...

We went for TNT and that is our deal on a Friday. So the place is mobbed, its getting dark out, its the end of the season almost, and guys have figured their combos out and most are hitting new bests in the cool air or braking stuff.

I made the first pass on the skinny tires and leaned on it pretty good on the launch, and it netted a 10.52 at around 128...A new best for that car! So I get it cooled down, we swap to the bigger carb, re-check the air pressure on the tires, and decide to get back in line as the amount of people now is just crazy up at the line.

Make our second pass, launch it hard on the convertor again, and it rewards me with almost a 3ft wheel stand and a 10.50 at almost 129....Another new best, and man are we having fun, except the camera guy missed it.

Last pass, we get up in line as quick as we can as there are just too many people to really enjoy a TNT at this point. So we are in line for well over an hour while other cars run and someone finally brakes and a track cleanup is needed. By hour two stuck in line we are ready to just pack up and leave, but we can't as we are surrounded by cars and people.

The only good thing about waiting so long was I got to talk with the starting line guy while they did the cleanup and he was ex-static about the wheelie the car did...He loved the darn thing and that was awesome.

I finally get to the line again at almost two hours from the last pass to this one, bring the car into the burnout box, zip the tires and wait for my cue...When I was motioned to start my burn out I hit the throttle and somthing let go and the whole car fell back towards the right rear as I watched the horrified faces up at the line react. I instantly knew I sheared the wheel off the car and that sickening feeling of dread fell over me as to how bad the quarter panel looked.

I shut the car off to the dismay of the starting line guy who is now flipping out as he apparently did not see the mishap, and notice how oddly the car was now sitting. He kept asking if it was broke as I slowly un buckled and dreaded what I would find.

I get out of the car and he is still yipping in my ear, and I take off my helmet and wander around back of the car to see how bad it was. I delighted to see the tire and wheel stuck up in the wheel well still holding the car up, but it was not attached to the axle.

The track crew then realized, I was not getting out of the way on my own, and brought over a floor jack. By now we had about 5-10 of our own personal spectators, and me using the jack to get the weight off the tire which I wanted to do before it deflated as the body cutting into the slick.

We get the weight off the wheel & tire and it rolls away while we push the car back and out of the way. By now the owner/my engine builder has made his way up there on my 700xx quad. I go get the tire that rolled away while he looks at it and on my way to walking back I survey how in the hell am I going to get a truck and trailer up here and load this thing.....There was 200+ people up at the starting line area and cars everywhere...No way was I going to get the truck, trailer in here and be able to winch the car up in there.

While Ron was looking at it, I moved the quad closer and turned on the headlights so we could see the damage better. When I did, Ron came up with a brilliant plan....Told me to go fetch some tools.

I left on the quad for the 1000ft drive back to the trailer and fetched everything I could think of in about a minute. I returned and again aimed the headlights at the damaged car so we could work. The rear axle studs were threaded into the axle hub, we removed the short broken pieces from the axle hub, then retrieved the longer broken pieces from the wheel and threaded them back into the axle hub. We bolted the wheel back on, and stood back astounded at what we had just done, and Ron hopped on the quad, and I drove the car back to the trailer....Much to the amazement of the track staff and some of the onlookers!

Not our first time over coming disaster, as we have many stories like this, but it is one of the best next to the story of me getting a ride in the police K9 unit at the track!

Congrats man.............

And a huge thanks to you! Your carb work was spot on. Plugs looks great and the driveability was perfect. I jetted it down two sizes for Tucson's elevation and still ran 131 mph.
Thumper Carbs FTW!

Well thankxx man really appreciated..........

We had 2" of snow last weekend. Didn't matter as I'm still battling the parade of parts that don't fit. Guess I'll be pushing it into the trailer to get the chassis recerted next weekend.
Doug

My car was pretty consistent, I drop the exhaust and change tires for the track so it takes a bit of time. Test pass on Thursday revealed no trans brake, so glad I did that. Turned out I forgot to plug it in. Spent most of the trip helying my buddy's with their cars, turbo ls mustang was having some tune issues, ended up blowing intake lid off in tucson. We scrambled to get another so we could make a pass before the lanes closed at 2. Drive back to Phoenix was kind da hot and car was feeling it as I was heading to my house it was rattling so in the morning I ran the valves, few tight a few loose nothing major. Headed to final day and noticed it smoking pretty bad, th Houghton damn hurt a piston, got to track and proceded to remove exhaust and my son says there is a lot of oil on the header, I look and I ha x left the valve cover loose, fixed that and no more issues. Ended up winning my class, modified big block naturally asperated.

Congrats on your win!

Had my best pass ever in the car at test n tune on Thursday with a 10.76. Friday had a nitrous issue as it didnt activate and went an 11.10 and hit the road with a great and effortless drive. First pass in tuscon i grenaded the ring and pinion, yoke and u-joint. Owell better luck next time.

Registration Day:

Sorry for not chiming in sooner. Life has been a little crazy since I got home. I'll probably have to make a couple separate posts as time allows so I can keep up with life in the mean time.

That being said, I think Drag Weekend itself was probably easier than the weeks leading up to the event. As I mentioned in the other Drag Weekend post we had been pretty busy over the last several months trying to get my mother-in-laws 68 Olds 442 put together in time. We were finally able to fire the Olds up on the 27th, just 4 days before Drag Weekend.

My car had been sitting apart since last Drag Weekend when it broke several rocker arms. I replaced a couple rod bearings, had the lifters reground, did some mild porting and advanced my cam while playing search and rescue for the rocker arm pieces. I finally ended up firing my motor up for the cam break in on Thursday morning @ 9:00. After the break in was complete we loaded up and headed off to Phoenix with both cars.

When we arrived in Phoenix we still had a small intake gasket leak on the 442 to deal with. The decision was made to complete tech and registration and then address the intake. So after a fairly painless registration process it was back to the pits to the deal with the leak.

Several hours and a tube of silicone later the intake leak was behind us but so was our opportunity to make a couple passes. We loaded up our mess and headed off to Cracker Barrel for dinner before going to the hotel. <---- This was probably the first legitimate meal I'd had in weeks. Pop Tarts, Mac and Cheese and Little Ceasers seemed to be to fast food of choice during the thrash that had ensued prior to Drag Weekend. As I recall, this may also have been the first night I was in bed before midnight since I can't remember.

How'd your rocker arm get so busted up?

Just giving it a bump.
Congrats to the two who posted with the win and the 3rd.

Nice job rowin the gears in that Cuda!!
Running through the gears with a stick and a v-gate is always a good time!!
I'd love to hear about the combo in that car.

Day one:

We arrived at the track fairly early Friday morning. Our fist task was swapping carbs between the two cars. My in laws were using my Barry Grant 750 Silver Claw and I was using my buddy Georges Proform 850. The 750 has always been an awesome carburetor and had been on the 442 since the cam break in was completed just 4 days prior to registration. The only problem with leaving it on the 442 was the lack of vacuum ports for the power brakes which were currently inoperable with no convenient point of connection. So off with the carbs and onward with the swap.

Once we swapped carbs and got power brakes on the 442 we headed off to make our first runs. Couple of things to keep in mind though.

1.) My car had less than 5 miles and/or an hour of run time since reassembly at this point.

2.) The first time time my mother in law had driven the 442 "EVER" was Thursday night from the track to the hotel. Furthermore, she has never been down a race track.

3.) Just to complicate things a bit more, the 442 is a 4 speed car.

That being said, I think my mother in law's first pass was an 18 something as she began to get a feel for what she was up against. Little did I know what that would be, but I'll come back to that...

As for me, my first pass of the day was a 12.3X @ not fast enough to make me happy. I made my way back to the pits and noticed the car was not in the mood to idle. By the time I got back to my pit spot it was clear the rear needle and seat was stuck. I can only assume in the great carb swap something broke free. I pulled the carb apart blew through it, reassembled it and started the car once more. Same deal, a fountain of fuel from the rear bowl. After messing with the needle and seat several more times I finally disassembled the entire rear float assembly, hosed it down and put it back together for what came to be the last time. While I never saw the obstruction, it was finally gone.

Now with less time and warmer air, my mother in law and I went back for our 2nd passes. The 442 picked up as she began to row the gears with more aggression, this resulted in a 15.82 @ 100.9 MPH.

My car did slightly better as well this time around, 12.13 @ 109.9. Still not the 11.9X I was hoping for but a step in the right direction. It seemed like maybe it could happen this Drag Weekend...

When I returned to the pits, the 442 began to announce some of the gremlins associated with a freshly assembled car. The Clutch required adjustment, the brake light switch required adjustment so as not to drain the battery which in no time at all revealed our next problem, the alternator was no longer charging.

Needless to say, we now had a new set of problems and rather than make passes we aimed our focus at getting the cars roadworthy for the drive to Tucson...