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Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2598531
12/29/18 08:45 PM
12/29/18 08:45 PM
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Tuesday morning we were ready to check out of the hotel and head to the track at about 7:30. The Trunk Monkey was all chipper and ready for another pleasant day of relaxing. whistling


A quick check of the internet Tuesday morning told me the day 1 results for the Hot Rod class. I was in 4th place out of 9 cars with my 10.22 @134.7 .
Leading the field after day one was Mark Fisher with his 1932 Ford Truck, who ran a best of 10.024 at 131.99. The old Ford runs a big block chev.


In 2nd place, by .004 seconds at 10.028 @ 130.49 was Timothy Hall with a 1947 International KB-1 pickup. The corn binder six has been replaced with a dual quad, tunnel rammed SBC.


Capturing 3rd place was the 10.14 @ 129 mph of Richard Abbot in his 1930 Dodge coupe. Richard runs a W2 mopar small block.


I was hoping that today I could advance to top 3 by attaining my goal of 9.99. I had been leaning out the main jets a little at a time, and as I did, the mph was picking up, but a bog had developed right after the launch, hurting the ET. I had a much better MPH than my competitors, but I had to get the first half of the track dialed in a lot better.

Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2599030
12/31/18 01:02 AM
12/31/18 01:02 AM
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The pits at Darlington Dragway were pretty crowded, but we found a spot.



Switching over to race mode includes unloading all the luggage, tools, and gear from the car; removing the 8 air filters from the scoops; adjusting the springs on the rear coil overs; adjusting the shocks; adjusting the clutch pressure; dropping the pressure in the slicks; and removing the exhaust system. Adjusting the clutch was the hardest, most time consuming task. While we were working on that, Frieberger told us all over the p,a, that at 10:00, he would make an announcement regarding the status of the event in consideration of Hurricane Florence.

The staging lanes were packed, but I got into the tail end of the last row. By 9:30, I was really beginning to feel the heat, and the black roof of the coupe with no headliner didn’t help the situation. But I had a gallon jug of water that helped keep me hydrated, and I waited as long as possible before putting my driving suit on. (which I began referring to as my snowmobile suit. Might as well at least get a chuckle out of sitting in a 120 degree car in it.)



At 9:45, I pulled into the burnout box. My burnout was kind of short, because the rear of the car started going sideways. Right after the launch, the engine bogged bad and the car fell on its face, then picked up again and ran strong for the rest of the ¼ mile. 10.43 at 136 mph was the result.

In car video

Outside video

I wasn’t happy with the idea of turning in that ET, and decided to stick around for another pass, even though it meant we would get a late start on the journey to Charlotte. If you watch the in car video to the end, you will see the long line of cars on my right that I drove past on my way to the pit. Those are all cars just waiting to get into the staging lane queue. So it was going to be a very long wait. (Sheila had phoned earlier to tell me that she got her flight home changed to 6:30 am tomorrow morning, so she wasn’t going to be able to come to Charlotte and see the race. So getting to the hotel early tonight wasn’t essential.)
I messed with the carbs, hoping to get rid of the bog, and I turned up the fuel pressure a little bit, then got in line.

At 10:00, Frieberger made the announcement that we would still race at Charlotte tomorrow, and Bristol on thurseday. But the official route they had planned would take us too far east, into the hurricane, so we were to drive the shortest path to Z-Max, or any way we wanted, and there would be no checkpoints. He urged everyone to get to Z-Max early and get a pass in, because heavy rain was predicted for the afternoon. Well that was good news!
My biggest job after working on the car, was trying not to die from heat stroke. I found a utility sink in the garage under the tower, and used it to replenish my gallon jug about 3 times. I also stuck my head under a faucet a few times, just to cool off. And I put a big piece of cardboard on top of the car, that hung over the back window and blocked the sun.
There was plenty of action on the track while I was waiting, and I watched as much as I could while staying reasonably close to the car when the line moved.

The Dirty 30 pulled a big wheelie:
Dirty 30 wheelie

So did Frank Ramano



Tom Baily. the leader in unlimited made it!




Finally, 4 hours and 15 minutes after my first pass, I pulled into the burnout box for my 2nd pass of the day.


drive

Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2599968
01/01/19 04:36 PM
01/01/19 04:36 PM
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Jeff did get the video of Hemi Squirrel:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dZcxpUJv00A


[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2745555
02/22/20 06:24 PM
02/22/20 06:24 PM
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USA
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Cool car. Old style adapted to the present. It is very interesting to watch designers who show their vision and personality in their creations. If you are interested in creating quality content or conducting quality research for this, there is a good resource https://grademiners.com/ that can help with this.

Last edited by DanR7; 02/22/20 06:25 PM.
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: DanR7] #2745965
02/24/20 02:06 AM
02/24/20 02:06 AM
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I never did get around to finishing the story. Kinda late now...


[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2746004
02/24/20 09:34 AM
02/24/20 09:34 AM
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MN
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Originally Posted by Hemi_Joel
I never did get around to finishing the story. Kinda late now...


Slacker... get to typing. Not too late...


69 GTX 68 Road Runner
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: JERICOGTX] #2746149
02/24/20 04:29 PM
02/24/20 04:29 PM
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Rogue River, OR
Jeremiah Offline
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Yeah, what's up with that Joel? : D

Nothing to see here, just a stick shift hemi coupe running drag week with two die hard manual trans racers as the heros.

Yup, better get typing you all probably have about 3 months of cold weather to use up.



Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Jeremiah] #2746224
02/24/20 09:08 PM
02/24/20 09:08 PM
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My 4 hour wait in the 100 degree heat and relentless sun in the staging lanes at darlington was rewarded with: disappointment. Based on my analysis of the last pass, I had leaned out the carbs another step, and tightened the clutch a turn. But the changes were not enuff to overcome the higher temps that had filtered in between mid morning and mid afternoon. 10.54 @ 135.3. second pass video

Jeff and I got got busy changing the car over to street trim. My hind end was dragging from the heat, and Jeff was beat too. But the motivation to get to the air conditioned hotel room that was waiting for us at Charlotte drove me forward. My Shumacker cordless air compressor/jumper pack was not happy in the heat either. It kept cutting out as we tried to air up the MIckey Thompsons DOT tires. I said screw it, lets go. Hopefully there will be an air compressor at the gas station across the street.

I dumped a quart of water over my head and shirt, got behind the wheel, and we headed across the street for gas and air. The air compressor required a credit card, I had to pay a few bucks just to air up the tires. shout Since we didn't have to follow a route, or stop at checkpoints, I looked at the map to find the shortest route. It was only 100 miles, so I didn't completely fill the tank. I wanted to pull into Charlotte with the main gas tank as low as possible to save weight going down the dragstrip. Since there was no checkpoints, and no stops for gas, I didn't take any pictures on the way to Charlotte.
We checked into our hotel there, got cooled off in the room for a little while, then I went down and started working on the car. Jeff found that his new friends Paul and Joe Castiglione were staying at the same hotel. Jeff got to know them because they had purchased a road runner from the estate of a friend of Jeff's who had passed away recently. I checked the lash, and changed the plugs. Castiglione's had brought some kind of moonshine or something like that that they offered to Jeff and I. I passed on that stuff, but Jeff partook. And partook some more. At first I thought what kind of a trunk monkey goes out and gets drunk when there's work to do. mad But then I thought oh well, it's been a hard day, he needs to have a little fun and blow off some steam. beer

charlette parking lot.JPG

[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2746241
02/24/20 09:38 PM
02/24/20 09:38 PM
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drinking

Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Dart451] #2746254
02/24/20 10:06 PM
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Rogue River, OR
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Some jobs require extra lubricants to be competed.



Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Jeremiah] #2746280
02/24/20 11:19 PM
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Nothing like the high 5s,beers'Shine when you get to that last Hotel on Thursday night.

Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: ksj] #2746288
02/24/20 11:38 PM
02/24/20 11:38 PM
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I'm only on day 2 of racing so far, this was Tuesday. Wednesday was Charlotte, Thursday was Bristol, then Friday back to Atlanta.

Trying to refresh my memory, I looked up Billy's 2018 drag week story. He got started on it, but sadly, he didn't even make it to the first day of racing before he left us. frowwn


[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2847784
11/17/20 07:13 PM
11/17/20 07:13 PM
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Wednesday morning, I got up early because I wanted to get in on the hotel’s hot breakfast before we hit the road for the track. Jeff was just barely dragging himself out of bed when I headed down to the lobby, he didn’t feel like having breakfast. But a quick check outside revealed foggy and misty conditions, so my rush was over. Our hotel was literally minutes from the track, and this heavy weather was going to take time to burn off.
These wonderful southern ladies were serving the breakfast, I just love their accents! There was a pot of this curious looking white mush that I asked them about. “That’s gree-its. Haven’t y'all ever had gree-its?” “Well, no I’m from Minnesota and I’ve never had grits but I did see them in the movie My Cousin Vinny.” I’m not usually particularly adventurous when it comes to strange new foods, but I figured on drag week, with a hurricane bearing down on us, and the talking heads telling us that we were going to be swept out to sea, or blown into the air like Dorothy’s house, or stranded on a small island of land with no food, no water, and no fuel, if I was ever going to try grits, now is the time. And you know what? They were really good! Especially with a lot of butter slathered over them.
20 minutes later we were on our way to the world-famous Z-Max Dragway, arriving at 7:30 sharp. We quickly switched the car over from street mode to track mode.

entering zmax.JPGZmax sign.jpg
Last edited by Hemi_Joel; 11/18/20 04:45 PM.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2847800
11/17/20 07:33 PM
11/17/20 07:33 PM
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birdtracker Offline
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Hemi Joel do you live in California now? Birdtracker

Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: birdtracker] #2847803
11/17/20 07:45 PM
11/17/20 07:45 PM
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nope, still in Minnesota.


[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2847812
11/17/20 08:02 PM
11/17/20 08:02 PM
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By the time we were ready to get the car into the staging lanes, the lines were already very long, although they had not yet got the track dried out enough to even start running cars.
ZMax has four lanes, but for drag week we were only running one pair. It would’ve been cool to open up the other two and get all four lanes going, plus it would’ve sped up the action once we started. I don’t know why they didn’t, I heard it was something to do with the NHRA.

After the first pair of cars went down the ZMax 1320, the action was immediately halted.
Apparently the track was still too wet. We waited another 1/2 hour or more for them to dry it more.

When they finally started running cars, the line I was in never moved. It seems like the other lanes were moving. I was still a good six or 700 feet from the starting line when somebody announced that they closed off the class cars and were running street machine eliminator. That would take at least 2 or 3 hours. The way the schedule is supposed to work they run all of the class cars (like mine), then the street machine eliminator cars. I admit I was a little bit irritated, but there was nothing I could do about it.
The linkage between my clutch pedal and clutch master cylinder needed a bit of adjustment so I went walking back to the pit area to get a half inch wrench. Normally, I would have sent the trunk monkey, but I figured there was plenty of time. Along the way I stopped and talked to Mike Finnigan, who had his blasphemy 55 Chevy gasser right behind mine, and Mopar Billy a couple more cars back, and a few other people.


When I was on my way back to the car, all of a sudden things looked different? Oh-oh, I discovered when I got closer to my hot rod that they had started running our lane and all the cars from behind me had gone around my car. There was about a 200 foot gap in front of my car. The trunk monkey said where you been? I tried calling you to let you know the lane had moved. It was then I realized I had left my cell phone in the car. Now I was in a panic to get into my fire suit to and Hans device and helmet and shoes and all of that stuff, get belted into the car and get up there. By the time I got to the spot where the guy in charge of the lanes was, they were sending cars from another lane to line up behind the cars from my lane. He came to my window and said I was too late I'd have to wait until the other line was completely done. That was disappointing news to say the least, but I just said OK. I was kicking myself for wondering so far from the car, and for leaving my cell phone behind. Okay, I said to myself, you gotta shake that off and start thinking about what you’re doing.
So what I thought about was the starting line bog and how to drive around it. When I first started testing the car about three weeks earlier, it was running pig rich. I did not want to risk damaging the engine by taking a huge step in leaning it out. I was leaning it out a little bit at a time, and each time the mile-per-hour picked up. But so did a nasty bog right off of the starting line. Here’s where I realized that the eight Holly 94 carburetors did not like being backwards on the intake manifold. This Edelbrock X3, eight carb intake was built by Vic Edelbrock senior for SK boat racing. In that venue, the engines are mounted backwards with a V drive down to the prop shaft. But I didn’t know that when I got the linkage and everything set up, but figured it out when I went to install it on the car. I had decided that I should test and see how it worked out before I contemplated turning the carbs around and redoing all of the linkage and everything. But I ran short of time for testing, and did not identify the problem before leaving for the event. Well that mistake had come back to bite me. At launch, the fuel in the float bowls was sloshing away from the main jets causing the bog.


So I devised a plan. What I had been doing was matting the gas pedal against the two-step rev limiter, then dumping the clutch. The new plan would be take my time at the starting line (reaction time doesn’t matter on drag week) bring the RPM up to 5000 with as little throttle opening as possible, then dump the clutch and roll into the throttle.. My thinking was that the fuel from the eight accelerator pumps would be timed to counteract the lean blog when the fuel sloshed away from the main jets.

zmax-dragway.jpegcharlet staging lane.jpgbackwards carbs.jpg
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2847817
11/17/20 08:10 PM
11/17/20 08:10 PM
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Minnesota
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it was obvious that Mike Finnigan was enjoying all of the attention he got by having his car parked right behind mine. biggrin

fin and hemijoel charlet.jpg

[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2847910
11/17/20 11:42 PM
11/17/20 11:42 PM
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Minnesota
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I'm a little out of sequence here: some shots from the hotel parking lot tuesday night.

hotel lot.jpgroad runner at hotel.jpgjoel w coupe at hotel.jpg

[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2847915
11/17/20 11:54 PM
11/17/20 11:54 PM
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Posts: 7,471
Minnesota
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another out of sequence shot. Getting the Hemicoupe ready to race. We tarped our stuff because it was drizzling a bit.

getting coupe ready to race.jpg

[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: 2018 Drag Week story, Hemi Joel version [Re: Hemi_Joel] #2847922
11/18/20 12:28 AM
11/18/20 12:28 AM
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Minnesota
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OK, back to the story in the staging lanes. The lane directer guy must have had a change of heart, maybe because I was calm and respectful in the face of his bad news for me. But for whatever reason, he came back to my coupe after several cars from the other lane had been sent up towards the front, and he directed me to pull ahead past the other cars, and I got in line right behind Joe Castiglione and Mopar Billy! Yippie, I wasn't going to have to wait for the whole other line of cars!

So when I got staged, and the tree flashed its green, I sat there getting the RPM just right, then dumped the clutch and rolled into the gas. the car launched a bit soft, but the bog was almost gone, and I was rewarded with a 10.17 at 137. Best mph ever, and the best ET since Atlanta testing before I started leaning it out. After I picked up the time slip, I was anxious to hit the road. Heavy rains were predicted for this afternoon. Remembering the terror of driving in the rain on these slicks back on monday, I wanted to get ahead of it.

Video of the pass and Mopar Billy too

10.17 timeslip Charlotte.jpg
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