I was hounding my trunk monkey, my Dad (welderboy) to make a pass all week. He hasn't made a pass in anything in a while, but decided to grab the keys at Indy. I have made a few changes to the car since he's last driven it, EFI, all new wiring/switches, so between the changes and the wait, I think he was a little off his game. Ended up doing a weak burnout and spun the tires off the line, then pedaled it. Not the greatest pass of the week. Front seat to the cleanup wasn't too bad, chatted with Joe Berry and a couple others.

Thursday is an interesting day strategically for Drag Weekers, and even more so when it comes around on such a fabled and well prepped track as Indy. Some guys are nursing cars that are clearly going away, and all they want is a clean pass, and enough duct tape or baling wire to hold the thing together during the last drive. Others are just figuring their stuff out, and are looking for good numbers on a track that will hold it. Then you have the Aussies, Danes, Swedes, and New Yorkers who are looking around saying "We're at Indy baby! Can you believe this? Lets make some memories."

Glenn Hunter's 56 Chevy laid down a beautiful 7.56-184.7 that took the drama out of the battle for Pro Street PA. The other three guys could all run 180, but they couldn't get in the fifties, so Glenn only needed to worry about the drive back to Columbus. Devin Yankey's grey 67 Nova left on a great pass, but fell off on the big end, running 8.16 at only 148 after carding 172 earlier in the week, but this was his first drag week, and he had second place in Ultimate Iron all to himself, so he called it good as well. Dennis Taylor and the Retro Nova were a perfect example of what makes most racers conservative on Thursday, he already had a nice 8.15-171, but he desperately wanted a seven second run, so he turned up the wick and came back for another shot. His 8.031-176.9 was clean, and looked great, but something broke on the pass and for the second year in a row, he would be a DNF! Immediately you were left to wonder, could he have made the drive and turned it up on Friday, where breaking after an 8.03 wouldn't have cost him a completed week.

I think the pictures show a level of concern. Boone had already told us there was a squeak in the engine on occasion, so after he drained the oil back into the jug and we took turns looking at the residue, a discussion took place.
"If this was a big block chevy, Boone, I'd say you need to park it!"
"It's a Mopar", he laughed, "She's just making her own clearances!"
"I agree, but I don't understand...I ordered the narrow bearings from 440 source, so your engine builder, or in this case your crankshaft, wouldn't have to chamfer them to clear the radius."
"I told you guys earlier", Dale shook his head, "I was so tired when I put that thing together, I don't have a clue which bearings they were!"
"Then my vote is that POS TCI converter is ballooning, and taking out the thrust bearing", I concluded.
"That's a diagnosis I can support one hundred percent", Dale smiled, "the engine builder is off the hook!"
"Yep, blame the tranny guy", I piled on
"You guys suck", Boone shook his head. "I'm going to run her until she blows up, then trash the engine builder on Moparts as soon as I get home!"
"1996 wants that converter back, Boone, just saying!"

Jim (Squirrel) Forbes would get his opportunity for a wheelie pic alongside the black 55 chevy the very next day after I did, as the leader of A Gas squared off against the leader of B Gas. The 62 Chevy II A/FXer would tiptoe off the line, doing everything except dangling the front tires, but it was no match for the Chisholm and Stasiak machine. Although Jim has a 9.98 ticket from Tulsa a few years ago that he couldn't turn in, the 10.16 at 133 from Indy this year will stand as his official best pass ever on Drag Week.

..... that last tidbit was the most "mopar guy" you've typed in a long time!

I even took off the hood, bumper, and pass. seat to make that run. And bumped the timing up to where it should have been all along.

When Magnus Frost rolled into Lucas Oil Raceway, I can only imagine the thoughts he and his co-pilot Dennis were sharing. A couple of Stockholm street racers preparing to lay down numbers at the home of the US Nationals. In what universe are such feats even possible? These are the gifts that Drag Week gives us on a regular basis, once you've drove your stuff seven hundred and fifty miles on American two lanes to get there.
These guys just didn't dream of showing up though, they had goals, and a seven second time slip was near the top of that list. It was hard to imagine the little Opel Ascona could make a more perfect run that it laid down on the Indy 1320, with an achingly close 8.018-169.74.

Jay,
That statement could be taken in about ten different ways, and unfortunately, I have to plead guilty to all ten! Sometimes you just have to wear it. As the audience for my Drag Week stories have grown, I've made a conscious effort to tone down the Mopar bias, but somehow I don't think that's what you are referring to. I'm a Direct Connection Performance Bible thumper from way back in 1982, so those roots go deep, I'll probably take my love of purple shafts, ductile rockers, orange boxes, long burnouts, and stock 727 parts to my grave!

The true nature of my Mopar heart was on display this year when I had to watch two very nice Mopars make excellent runs all week, and I could take no joy in it whatsoever. Just when it seems the SBC swaps into anything that rolls has finally began to stop, along comes the LS to replace it as the new engine swap darling. It's like a cruel joke has been played on us, and the gorgeous silver '10 Challenger of Jamie Hochbaum, as well as the stunning green '70 Javelin of Kenny LaFlower were shining examples of that trend. Jamie ran an 8.47-153 at Indy to make third place in Modified PA a close race going to Columbus, and despite transmission issues, Kenny's Javelin went 10.32-130 to remain just outside the top 5 in Street Machine Eliminator.

For the remaining class cars trying to get a run in just before the 11:30 Am cut off, there was a nervous moment when Tony Karamitsos broke the 12 bolt in his 69 Camaro and rolled to a stop. Luckily it only took six minutes to get him off the track and resume racing. The last two Mopars to make a hit in the final throes of the three hour first session, were Rick Trunkett's green 72 Duster and Paul Castiglione's yellow 72 Challenger.

Paul's 11.24-121.8 was his best of the week, and right in line with where he had been. Rick's ET in the single turbo R-3 Duster was 8.71 which was good, but the MPH was down almost twenty at 144, when he had been 165 earlier in the week. They didn't seem to be overly concerned in their pits, but it was clear they were ready to head for Columbus.

anybody can hit the "easy" button Billy... Part availability is making that a more obvious choice for many. I still suspect your motivation in joining the brotherhood of small block mopar had a little something to do with the rest of your family not "hijacking" your parts anymore

They took about six minutes to sweep the track, so the first pair of Street Machine Eliminator competitors to get a shot at the track went down at 11:40. In the first pair, Susan Slater managed to get her '15 Challenger Scat Pack into the twenties, carding a Drag Week best 12.27-113. Rod Munchiando's Black Dart GTS with stroker small block ran an 11.86-113 a few pairs later. The SME crowd seemed to making up for lost time, sending down twelve pair in the first ten minutes until Dale Knapke's awesome little turbo 2.3 ford powered Triumph busted the rear end when he dumped the clutch. The Indy crew used individual wheel dolly jacks to scoot the immobile car off the track in five minutes, and they were off and running again.

In three consecutive pairs, Jim Cefalo's 62 Chrysler 300 went 15.41-87, followed by Dillon Ogle in the yellow Cuda at 12.90-100 which was a complete throw away pass that would require him to return. Behind him was his Uncle Charlie, who made the most of his opportunity, running 11.26-122 and keeping his Gold Challenger in Quick 32 contention.

Those are some good lookin Mopars! thanks for putting together such a nice, well illustrated story, Billy

Jim,
I'm just a hunter/gatherer when it comes to Drag Week pictures. I'm thankful that so many top flight photographers and media outlets are so generous with their quality work.

In between all the rapid fire SME cars, they did manage to sneak in another impound Class Car. You would think after three hours waiting around, the SME guys could get an hour to themselves, but the car in question was one of the Danes, and they had a pretty large contingent with them. I just imagine poor Lonnie Grimm surrounded by 5 people in yellow shirts begging him with accents as bad as the Swedish Chef from the Muppets, and I can understand why he relented!

The beautiful Green and Gold 34 Ford Coupe went 8.47-155, and that time slip is going to look awesome on their mantle in Denmark, but they were only certed to 8.50, so Ian would have to run again if he wanted a pass he could turn in!

One thing the Danes had a handle on when they arrived in the States was their Drag Week trailers. They had solar panels, batteries, inverters; definitely high tech!

They also had trailer Security

Just to shine a little light on how much some guys spend on this trip.

The Nova below was in the 8s Naturally Aspirated. I was pitted next to him on Friday and chatted with him a bit, it is an extremely nice and clean car. He also made 100% of the drives on race gas, I don't remember the brand but he only ran one kind because he ran Sunoco on one leg and it ran poorly. He swapped carbs and Ran Q16 at the track. I think I could add up all my drag weeks and still not spend as much on fuel as he did!

Kurt Johnson in the BBNA dominating Chevstang runs race fuel the whole trip as well. He loads the trailer up with it at every track. That's what it takes​ with a 15 to 1 motor.
He changed the oil every day too.

Clark and Bill Lamb coaxed yet another consistent pass out of the Barracuda with a stout 11.13-120.6, to keep him safely in the Quick 32, and ready to make the final drive to Columbus. Randy J's Coronet ran an 11.80-113 that would put him almost even in average with Rod's GTS. Craig Douglas' HellCat Charger ran a 10.45-130.8, which left him in a tight battle with the 1980 Corvette of Brian Peterson from Denmark for fourth qualifying position in SME.

Lonnie Grimm's message that the SME session would end at 12:45, had just been relayed by Brian Lohnes over the PA system as Jesse Msdaffari's 83 John Deer themed C-10 squared off against Ernest Brown's 86 C-10 long bed named Heavy Metal Thunder. A titanic battle between a high 12 second truck and a high 13 second truck, what could possibly go wrong? Ernest got the tree, and just as Jesse pulled alongside at the 330 mark, the long bed started spewing something from the pan area. It wasn't until the eighth mile when Ernest started sliding around in his own stuff, that he lifted. He coasted through, and drove it all the way to the turn-off. Once again, we were in for a very long clean-up!

Good old Jesse.I "think"it was 13 and a check point was The Pony mens club.Jesse being a Man of The Cloth and Dragweeker got the checkpoint pic.He told me a Parishioner was following ALL of the coverage and asked him about that checkpoint.LOL.His reply was"I did not go inside". LOL

It was 12:45 before the next pair rolled into the water, and the announcement was made that they would run out the SME lanes before they began the all-run session.
"We are going to be racing until four at this rate", Dale threw his hands up in disgust.
"Would you rather they just call everyone to the lanes who hasn't ran yet, then close the lanes?" I asked him with a smile.
"No, definitely not ready for that yet!"

Scott Abbott went 11.87-110 in his 70 Road Runner, and I fully expected him to come back and try to knock some tenths off of that, but it would be the time slip he turned in for Indy.

Directly after Scott, James Reeves and his black Omni GLH began the stream of cars in the left lane from the "Mopar Turbo Mafia" crew or as I refer to them the "angry four cylinder, front scratcher team". He was paired with the bright red 34 Ford of John Pfister, a car that had really started to get my attention. It features a 6/71 style blower that's topped with a single split Dominator, arranged to mimic an old four port Hilborn type set-up, and it had been in the ten teens all week. James would keep his 11.16-121 out of the wounded 2.5, but I knew the red coupe would be back when he carded 10.28. The red 87 Daytona Shelby of Jason Trotter followed in the Omni's tracks and ran a stout 10.87-138 that would keep him well within the Quick 32 ranks, and punch his ticket to Columbus.