NW Drag Tour

starts tomorrow! And its going to be HOT here in the PNW. Weather reports are calling for mid 90's all weekend. I'll be posting pictures and commentary here on what we find on our journey.

NW Drag tour is a 3-day "drag week" type of event, starting at Woodburn, OR, then moving a short drive to Portland Raceway, then a decent drive to Bremerton Raceway in Gorst, WA. I believe there's about 50 cars registered, and we'll try to caravan as much as possible. Since its a straight line, not a loop; I'll be driving the satellite all the way there (180 miles) before starting the tour and making my way toward home. I think the Satellite is ready for this journey, and my goal will be to complete the tour with an 11-second average. I anticipate its going to be tough to post good times with the heat and humidity we are expecting.

Here we go......

I think it is cool that you are going to do this. Grass roots drag racing is where any future growth in our hobby will be and the idea of starting at Woodburn, going to PIR and then to Bremerton over a 3 day period makes a lot of sense. Now if only the operators of "The Ridge" in Shelton would get off their Porches and finish the drag strip, this could be a four day deal

There's a lot of options we could look at up here. Yakima is closer than most think, and the drive through Mt. Rainier National Park over HWY 410 is epic. I hope we continue to grow this thing. We'll see if I still feel this way after this weekend.

Too bad you couldn't figure a way to race your way back, if that makes sense. For you, the race starts away from you and comes back your way. If you live near WB, the race starts with you and races away from you. Either way, you have to drive somewhere to start. I would bet temps of 10102 at WB, probably 100 at PIR. Bremerton may be a little cooler.

It's all freakin' HOT HOT HOT.

HOT day! And while I planned to update this thread throughout the day, I quickly found out why Billy does it all after he's done. This day flat wore us out, and I'll expand on some details when we're done. For now, I'll just say that the Satellite performed like an absolute champ today! time for some sleep!

I know you have earned your rest. I will be very patient in waiting for the results...actually I was planning on being at Bremerton to see the "Road Warriors" when you guys get there. I have been talking up the NW Drag Tour to anyone that is willing to listen.

Years ago I drove my '64 Polara to Reno for "Hot August Nights" and had a great time on the road and at the final destination, but the trip itself was probably the best part. A whole lot of cool rides ran with us down and back.

Well I'm sitting at home with nothing too do, so I think I will cruze on down and watch the show.

Heck on Drag week 2012 the first day was 385 miles from track to track that's if you do not get lost, so it was over 400 miles for me. I ended up stopping and talking to a police officer that was sitting on the side of a two lane road. This was after midnight mind you.( Come to think of it I did the same thing on DW 2013).
When you find yourself on a dark road that you have never been on before at 1 o clock in the morning the car starts making all kinds of new and strange sounds and the solid roller lifters become twice as load as they where when you rolled away from the last fuel stop.
Good luck on your trip, hope you have a great time.

yup its hot up here, have fun and keep us posted!!

I was up at the Bremerton track, left about 4pm. I saw a few Mopars running hard, got a nice sunburn on the back of my neck.

Anxious to hear about this. Mike Eagy (Yellow F100) is a friend of mine via BBF sites. Fantastic (and fast) truck!

Well???

First off: I know this will likely get flamed as a cheap ripoff of MoparBilly's drag week experience..... Well, I'll own that. Sorry Billy, But with the gas bill coming in the mail next month, I got no cash for royalty fees; you're gonna have to write me a pass on this one. This was a pretty cool event that I hope can make it to year two with better car count and perhaps eventually grow and spawn other events around the nation. Since NW Drag Tour is a mini version of HRM drag week, you'll receive a mini-version of the experience.... here we go.

Intro:

NW Drag Tour was a mini drag-week(end) style of event put on by some local Hot-Rod guys here in the Northwest. A big thanks to Darren Hall, and his lovely significant other Mandy for all of their efforts with this deal. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun! 3 days of driving and racing was enough to give me a new respect for ANYONE that has even attempted HRM Drag Week. To all the guys that bailed with a lame excuse at the last minute….. You suck! To all those that trailered at this deal….. Come on, man!!, grow a pair! To those that DROVE IT and finished….. Great job, you rock!

Getting There is half the fun:
NW Drag Tour Friday AM arrived and I had the car already packed. A quick shower & some coffee, and I was out the door by about 6:30 AM. First task: pick up my Buddy Ken Clements (Chevy guy, every enlightened Mopar guy needs one) at his house. After packing his stuff into the trunk, we were off to meet Brian Henderson and his Gorgeous Plum-Crazy ’70 Swinger with fellow Hot Rodder Scott Overby playing role of navigator in the A-body. We met at the 76 Station right off the highway and as I’m filling up, I get the evil eye and a stare at the wrist from Brian. Message received…… apparently I’m already running a few minutes late, and we haven’t even hit the road yet. It’s notable however, that this would be the only time on the trip the A-Body team would be waiting on Team Satellite, as Brian’s car proved to be the slowest vehicle on the freeway for the rest of the trip. Not just between the two of us, but on the ENTIRE FREEWAY!!! Good lord, Brian…. Can we let the small block sing a little!?

Brian’s car sports a 408” LA Small Block with with a modest juice cam, Eddy heads, a 727, and 4.10’s packed into the 8-3/4”. It’s a solid 12.30’s car that he’s owned for 32 years! He’s a member here at Moparts, but rarely checks in. What Brian’s car also has is an electric water pump. One that we found did not keep up with sustained freeway RPM’s. It was Hot on Friday, I’m thinking we saw 100 degrees, and the 180 mile trip was 100% interstate. Brian was pushing 230 before stopping multiple times. Kudo’s to him for continuing when mere mortals would have thought better of continuing the abuse.

The Satellite was not without its own issues on this leg. Back at the 76 station, I filled it until the tank leaked out of the top, which it will do. No big deal, it’ll stop real soon I said as we pulled out. Well, twenty five miles into run when it was still spewing, I feared I may have an issue. I’ve never checked fuel mileage on the Satellite, but I had a feeling by watching the guage that I was dumping more than I was burning. By the time we got to Centraila, we pulled in for more gas and I had Ken watch real close as we filled. Immediately upon triggering the pump, it started spewing. Looking more closely, we found that the filler grommet was completely loose laying at the outside of the tank, with the inside portion ripped and apparently floating inside. Knowing this wasn’t a part we were going to find at the local O’Reilly’s, I feared we were looking at a real problem. Enter Chevy guy….. Gotta hand it to Ken Clements, his shade-tree knife work with the spare radiator hose Brian had packed didn’t stop the leak completely, but it got us back on the road. As long as I stayed out of the throttle, we could keep the leak to a slow dribble. I got on the phone and called Laysons Restorations in Tacoma. They had the part and next day’d it to our Motel in Woodburn, OR. At this point, we thought we had a plan that would work, and the repair only cost us about 45 minutes laying on the pavement of a Shell station in 100 degree heat. This deal was ON! Albeit, we left a trail of premium petrol from Puyallup to Woodburn that certainly threw my gas budget out the window. Screw it…. We’re going racing!

While the Dart was struggling in the heat, especially through mid-day Portland I-5 traffic, the Satellite was shining! I don’t think I ever saw the temp guage pass 190, which just gets the stock guage into the normal range. I was tickled with the way the big-block purred on this leg, especially in the heat. And there was more good news on the way.

This is WAY cool to read about and sounds like fun for sure. Looking forward to reading about your journey and the end results.........

[img:left]http://s117.photobucket.com/user/gnensrud/media/NWDTKG_zpskwnljc4q.jpg.html]

Mike's truck was a man among boys this weekend! That thing is awesome, and hauls the mail..... Like, literally!

AWESOME!!! I would love a Div 7 similar event. Well nor cal anyway. Race Sonoma, Sac and Famoso maybe?

Maybe schedule it around the Eagle Field or Kingdon events to really make it fun!

Woodburn passes.

As we pulled into woodburn, it was flat-out cooking! We had navigated our gas situation pretty well, so that the Satellite’s guage was at about 1/8, below the leak line. None the less, were nervous about getting through tech with a section of zip-tied radiator hose stuffed into the fuel tank. We needed a trusting tech inspector! We found a pit spot and unloaded the cars. Man, they used to make cars with TRUNK SPACE! Between the Dart’s generous rear space, and the Satellites cavern, we had (2) pop-ups, multiple bins of tools and “car stuff”, a jack & stands, two big coolers,… the list went on. By the time we had set up camp, we marveled at how much stuff we had drug down here.

While Ken uncorked the exhaust and tended to the tires on the Satellite, I took a rag and some zip-ties and tried as best I could to put a diaper on the fuel situation. I knew that even if I got through tech, when I launched the jig would be up! I did the best I could and headed off for the tech line. This is where I got my first real look at some of the other cars that had showed up. The first thing that struck me…. Where are all the Chevy’s? There were at least as many Fords as bow-ties it seemed. Plenty of Mopars, and a couple of Pontiac’s. All told, it seemed as though things were about dead even (Mopars – Fords – Chevys). It seemed clear right away that the class of the field would be Greg Rachel’s powder blue 65 Mustang. Packed with a modular 4.6 and a huge turbo, this car was up from California, and looked the part of a drag-week contender! After a quick walk through, I was also surprised at the lack of Nitrous Oxide bottles. By my count, only one car was packing a plate system…. That’s it!?? As usual, the Satellite blended into the crowd like a tree in a forest. The interior of this car gets more attention than anything else, and that’s just fine with me. Under-hood of my 67 is clean, but even a trained eye will most likely see a stock-ish looking 383. It does a great job of portraying the part of a 13-second street car.

I had almost forgotten about my fuel tank issue when the tech guy walked up, but we got our wish in spades. Tech Guy: “you have a favorite number?” Me: “Uhh, why’s that?” Tech Guy: “We’ve got to put a number on your car” Me: “oh…. How about 98, that’s the year my youngest was born”. Tech Guy: “98 it is…” And with a swipe of his shoe polish bottle, we were through tech with the most lax inspection I’ve ever witnessed. I don’t even think he knew what kind of car it was??!! Perfect!

Into the staging lanes I roll trying to keep the car as cool as possible. I think I entered the burnout box for the first time on our trip with the outside temp in the triple digits, but the 452” B underhood was at a comfortable 185. Through my routine and into the beams. The car dead-hooked and made what felt like a solid pass. With the NWDT format, you have to turn in your 1st three passes each day, so the shakedown run counts! The timeslip confirmed my smile, as it read 11.89 @ 110 with a 1.64 60-ft. The MPH was down from normal, but considering the heat, and what the car had already done today on the highway, I was happy! The next call came and we made no changes. Same routine, slightly better result: 11.86 @ 112, but with a slightly slower 60 @ 1.65. The car was definitely “doing what it does”.

After two passes, another thing began to come clear….. There weren’t too many cars here that were too much faster than the Satellite. And after a couple of solid 11 second pulls, I had a few people drop by and stare under the open hood and ask things like: “is it really a 383?” and “How much does this thing weigh?” The blue Mustang was as advertised. On the return road, I got a front row seat to the top end charge this thing was capable of. Mid 9’s at 143 were what I saw. One other thing became clear…. Mike Eagy’s Yellow Ford F100 hauls ass!

We decided to try some jetting changes to see if we could find the weather. Considering the car was real close to where it normally is, I realized that I must be really lean in normal weather (??). So, contrary to what you would normally do in 100 degree heat, I did the opposite: I jetted UP. My hunch paid off, and the 3rd run amazingly yielded an all-time best for the Yellow Satellite: 11.78 @ 113! (previous was 11.81 @ the same MPH). Considering the heat and the workload the big car had seen on the day, was pretty happy!, and had my 3 passes to turn in with an 11.84 average, good for 9th overall on the day. We then went a little further in the same direction with the jetting, but it slowed slightly, so we decided we’d seen the best we were going to get from the yellow car. Not to mention that on my last pass, after seeing it 3 times the starter finally approached me as I moved toward the staging beams. He asked about my gas cap, and informed me that I had been dumping gas on the track every hit so far. I gave him a shrug, and told him I’d look into it, but clearly the jig was up. We’d have to get this fixed, and I knew my fate for the weekend rested in the hands of a FedEx driver with an overnight package.

Unfortunately, Brian’s issues from the highway had followed him into the drag strip. Although he was able to seemingly cool the car down just fine between hits, it was struggling at the top with vapor lock issues. We tried icing the carb, icing the pump, removing the air cleaner and everything else that was suggested. All to no avail. Brian turned in an average of 15.25, which put him dead last in the 24 car field. Being of the bracket racer ilk…. I tried to cheer him up by assuring him that this would work out to his advantage on Sunday. (Boy, howdy! Would that end up being correct!)

Always always always keep a pack of regular old baby diapers and some zip ties on hand. You never know when they will come in handy!

I used them in 2012 to control a small trans leak and in 2014 to help a buddy make it through Day 5 that had a drippy fuel pump!

Gary,

You have my full attention and I would like to run your story in the MUTC newsletter July issue. As NL Editor the club has (so far) given me full reign over what I put at the end of the NL. I have been sending you the NL for a while and my number is on it. I wish I had been able to go to Bremerton to see you guys roll in, but I am a little "mobility challenged" at the moment.

I'm writing in sections, Pete. But you are welcome to use it however you like. Once done, I can send you a full version in word if you like. It may be a few days, though.

Unloading at Woodburn:

That would be great and I might be able to insert a picture. Thank you.

As we loaded up and headed toward our motel, we started thinking about food and beer. Well, maybe it was just me that was craving a cold beer(??). For some reason, the concession stand at Woodburn shut down midway through the evening, and although the other guys had gotten taco's, I was starving! Ken mentioned that when he used to race at Woodburn a lot, he loved a place called Abby’s Pizza. As fate would have it, Abby’s happened to be one block down from the Woodburn Inn, home for the night. We checked in, dropped the cars and grabbed a shower, then all took a walk down the block for some Pizza and cold beverages. This meal turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip, as we all sat and talked and laughed for a good long while, mostly NOT about car stuff, but stuff that really matters like family, friends, and faith. This was good times!

The next morning arrived and we had some (drag week guys are gonna scoff at this….) down time!. Woodburn and Portland Raceway are only about 45 minutes apart, and the gates at Portland didn’t open until 5 pm. Had I organized this event, I probably would have put a mandatory drive together to fill this timeframe. But I didn’t organize it, and I was thankful for the timing of the break, as we still had to deal with the fuel tank issue with the Satellite, and figure out how to fix the vapor lock issues with the Dart.

As we sat and waited for the FedEx AM next day delivery in parking lot, Brian worked the phone looking for a local parts store that would have a high-volume pump for an LA Chrysler. He found one in Baxter Auto Parts in Portland, and had the pump set aside for him. Things were falling into place. Until around 9:30 AM….. As I’m watching the tracking page for my delivery on my phone, and see it go from “out for delivery” to “unable to deliver” status. Panic set in and I immediately called FedEx. I was told that “the business was not open when the driver arrived”. After verifying that they had the correct address, I very politely and professionally assessed the situation and helped them rectify their error. (read: I read the the poor FedEx gal on the phone the riot act for a solid 15 minutes!) They finally agreed to make another attempt, which I pointed out to them would actually be their 1st attempt, within the hour. When the guy finally arrived a little before noon, Scott could apparently feel my blood boiling and he did a good job of keeping me calm as I signed for the package. I had paid $85 to overnight a $20 part, and I admit I was a little stressed. Part in hand, Let’s get to work.

Again, Ken took the bull by the horns and jumped under the Satellite with no regard for the gas down his arm or the pavement under his back. Yeah, I brought the right guy!

Once the Satellite was up and going, we made a beeline for Baxter Auto Parts in Portland OR. They had a pretty impressive stock of speed parts for a simple auto parts store. Holley Pump, braided line, fittings, and a few extras…. Check! We were now onto our 2nd fuel system fix in a parking lot in the past 30 minutes. Brian handled this chore for the most part, with the rest of us offering a hand when needed, along with plenty of un-needed advice and ample witty commentary. Roughly an hour after arriving, the hood on the Dart was closed, and we were again hungry! Fred Meyer was right around the corner, and we took the opportunity to set up our own make-shift picnic in the Grocery Store parking lot. Again, the conversation would prove to be one of the days’ highlights. As we chatted and laughed our way through a lunch in the middle of a downtown city parking lot. I'm glad we had fun there, because what lied ahead at P.I.R. was nothing of the sort.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o70/gnensrud/NWDTSatFix_zpspzn5vyi6.jpg

Nice! I see you have been paying attention, as that is a classic final sentence to leave us all hanging on for the next installment...
I think you guys definitely got a first hand feel for what drag week is like. I think you are probably getting a first hand feel for why it takes me so long to write the stories as well!

Great read Gary! Just the experience of all the time spent working on the cars and wondering what unknown circumstance that lay in front of us made for a great unforgettable trip. There was never a lack of constructive comments from any of the guys, but with the heat and lack of sleep it was sometimes hard (for me) to figure out they were bustin my chops.....

We arrived at P.I.R. pretty early, and found a parking lot full of NWDT guys. We got the opportunity to chat with a few guys, and get a good look at the two clear leaders of this deal, Greg Rachels mustang, and Mike Eagy’s F100. The two rocket ships couldn’t be more diverse. The Mustang was chalk full of modern technology. A modern Mod-motor with turbo boost and a water to air intercooler setup. Although I’m not really a mustang guy, I could appreciate the work and enginuity that went into this car. Mikes F100 on the other hand was a brute with a simple recipe: A hairy big block and as little of anything else as possible! They were both really nice rides, and it was a pleasure to watch both of them blast the competition all three days.

Portland International Raceway is a road-course that runs a grudge drag type of deal on Friday and Saturday nights on the road-course straightaway. I really don’t want to rip on any business that promotes grass-roots drag racing, but with that said, I doubt I’ll ever be back to PIR. The prep was next to non-existent. The track itself felt dangerous if you ask me. You couldn’t spot the finish line until you were almost there, and sometimes even then the only way you knew was by the feel of your car. The shut down area was short and the turn-off was sharp! Basically, its not really a drag strip. They seem to have the interest to make it work and I like the fact that they are willing to try, but it just falls woefully short of real drag strips like Bremerton or Woodburn. If anyone from PIR is reading this: PREP! Enough of that…..

The Satellite, like just about every other car on Saturday night, could not hook up on the raw PIR pavement. Also, the PIR noise restriction meant that you had to run muffled up. The Satellite is set up to cork and uncork, with 3” dumps leading to a full exhaust. When corked up, its running through 2-1/4” tailpipes. This is my issue, but it spelled about a 3 MPH handicap for the big yellow car. Guys that were running a short 3” pipe and muffs dumping ahead of the axle were at an advantage here, and obviously bigger tires were the hot ticket with a slick surface. None the less, we made our three mandatory passes and turned in a dissapointing 12.21 average, which actually kept me inside the top ten, due to multiple cars apparently not making the short trip up I5 (car count now 17). I was just happy that I didn’t pile the thing up while standing on the drum binders trying to stay out of the cones and make the short and sharp return road turn. I was probably showing too much frustration, and the fact that so many guys said they would not be making the trek north to the finish line wasn’t helping my mood. Three runs in the books, lets pack it up and get out of here!

Brian and the Bright Plum Swinger had better luck than he did on Friday, but there were still issues with feeding the stroked LA a sufficient amount of petrol, and I’m sure he was frustrated. In typical Henderson style however, you’d never know it. Brian kept a smile on his face and focused on the fun he was having with the very car he drove in high school nearly 35 years ago. He made a handful of runs, trying to sort out the issues. Some were solid passes, but the vapor lock bug still seemed to be in there somewhere. Brian ended up turning in an average of 12.98, a big step forward from the day prior, but still nearly a half second off what this car is typically capable of. The evening went quick, as we knew we had an early morning and good drive ahead of us. At this point, Sunday was in sight, and would bring us a track we were familiar with. So we headed to our motel with a short stop at Burgerville and a fuel-up along the way, and tried to get as much shuteye as possible.

I wish I would have known about this tour. I would have opened the doors to the shop for you guys to use for your repairs.
My place is just about dead center between Woodburn and PIR.
Maybe next year I will help the car count x2.
Great read BTW.

Digger73 (Mike)

Too bad they didn't add Walla Walla, Renegade in Yakima and Spokane to make it a true NW event.

Was this put on by a promoter?

This pic has me surfing Craigslist for a new project.....

The alarm went off at 4:45 AM on Sunday AM, and we were the door by 5:00. Throw our gear in the trunk and turn the key………. Again, turn the key…….. Nothing. The good news was I knew exactly what the issue was and it wasn’t a dead battery. The bad news was that it needed to be fixed prior to arrival at Bremerton, and we weren’t sure that we would be able to find an auto parts store that would be along the way, open early on a Sunday AM, and would have a starter relay for a 1967 Plymouth sitting on the shelf. We DID know we had to get on the road, so we popped the hood and crossed the relay with a screwdriver. The big Plymouth jumped to life and we would be northbound as soon as we found some java. A few minutes later with a large cup of joe in hand and the windows down, we were enjoying the morning air and the steady hum of an American V8 rolling along I-5.

Team Dart and Team Satellite would be separated on this leg, as Scott wanted to stop along the way and look at a Nova race car he was considering buying. I would have loved to have taken a look at it, but I also didn’t want to risk missing a pass, and we had the spectre of finding a starter relay looming over us. So Ken and I hustled along and we hoped neither car would have issue. After all, the AM air was considerably cooler that what the cars endured the first two days, what could go wrong?......

Ken started looking up auto parts store along the route, and seeing what time they would open. Its amazing how effective you can be with smart phone these days, as it took Ken less than 15 minutes to find that O’Riellys opens an hour ahead of just about everyone else on Sunday AM, at 8:00, and then only a few minutes more to plot our course and figure out exactly where we would be at about that time. Now we just had to hope that we’d be lucky enough for them to have our part in stock.

This drive was pretty comfortable, in fact it was probably too comfortable. And the silence that came with Ken working away on his phone had me hearing every little noise that the Satellite emitted. Before long, I had myself convinced that I was hearing ill sounds from the solid lifter valvetrain. Next I thought I heard a wheel bearing. And finally I found myself obsessively listening for ring-gear noise. Clearly, I was in my own head, and needed a diversion. Finally I pulled in for some gas and as I pulled up to the pump and listened to the 452 idle down, I realized that it sounded great and I had obviously had too much coffee. Again we started the Plymouth with a screwdriver, and pointed ourselves towards O’Rielly’s Auto Parts in Gig Harbor with our fingers crossed.

We arrived at O’Rielly’s right on time and after some initial confusion, the kid came walking back to the counter with exactly what we needed. 10 minutes later, we we’re back on our way to Bremerton Raceway! All was well
Then came the call from Brian and Scott. Yep, as we feared, they were calling from a stationary position along side I-5. Apparently the Dart was rolling along like a champ when suddenly they heard a pop, and everything went dead. Brian rolled the car up an offramp that happened to be right there, which turned out to be a big mistake. Moments after he got out of his car and opened the hood, he could hear the unmistakable sound of a high horsepower caravan passing along I-5 just out of sight. Any one of these guys would have stopped and helped out however possible without a second thought, but nobody knew the purple Dart was just out of view, and dead. Brian explained that he had come to the conclusion that the battery went bad, but I think we all knew there had to be more to the issue than that. The good news was they were only about 30 minutes from home. Brian called his son who is home from college, and had him drive a new battery out to them. While they were waiting, they found the other half of the equation. Remember the fuel pump R&R? Well during that task, the output pole on the alternator was apparently damaged, and now was broken off and swinging by the wire, just waiting to short itself on anything it touched. As soon as Brians son arrived with the battery, they sent him back out for an alternator. This whole ordeal looked like it had the potential to put an end to the Dart’s weekend, as they were now hours behind the show. Luckily for Brian, as he was waiting on parts, we were all waiting on rain. We had a couple of hours of rain delay, and while everyone at Bremerton Raceway was frustrated, and eager to get rolling; it couldn’t have played out better for Brian and his Dart’s hopes to finish the weekend. Before long, they were back up and calling to ask how late they were. “Get here as soon as possible, you haven’t missed anything yet!" The Dart was the last NWDT car to roll through the gates, and managed to get through Tech and find a pit spot near us just minutes before the rain cleared and we were called to the lanes. We should have seen it right then: the stars were beginning to align for the Plum Crazy A-body boys.

The day at Bremerton shaped up to be a good one. The field was now down to (I believe) 14 cars. We certainly had hoped for more, but the upside was that we seemed to become a more tightly knit group. Having been around these cars for a few days, you could just feel the comradery really adding up. We all pitted together, and guys that didn’t even really know each other were helping out with tools, carb tuning chores, plenty of encouragement, and sharing of pictures and stories. More cars would have been great, but there was plenty of good karma being shared here, and that’s what this deal was all about.

We had 3 passes left to make, and everyone wanted to finish strong. The first run for the Satellite was right on time @ 11.82, I figured It was time for me to look at the standings and see where I stood, and what I could accomplish. I found that I started the day just outside of the N/A runner up slot, in 5th overall. Of the four cars ahead of me, there were two power adder cars (Gregs Mustang and Dustin Edwards’ Nitrous Fed Chevy Nova), but I wasn’t worried about them. The fastest N/A car was also a foregone conclusion, as Mike Eagy was out of reach. However, just one hundredth ahead of me lied Donny Peterson and his small block 69 Elco. He had posted better times of in Portland, but based on what both cars did in Woodburn, it looked like a few good passes in the Satellite could move me back around him, and grab me the N/A runner up spot! I had something to shoot for. As fate would have it, our 2nd pass would have us running head to head. Donny’s Elco is the absolute opposite of the Satellite. It looks the part of an street/strip bad boy. Wearing black primer, a cowl hood and sporting a fuel cell in the bed, Its mission is clear. The innocent looking yellow B-Body goes about things in a much different manner, but it was again on its game and put nearly a tenth on the Elco on this run. We still had 1 run to go however, and I knew things were close enough to go either way. I felt pretty good about how the car was running, so I made no changes. This was apparently the right call as my last time run yielded a new best for the 2nd time on the weekend, again at 11.78, this time with a 1. When the ladder for the elimination runs was announced, I was indeed in the number 4 spot overall.

Meanwhile, Brians car was finally putting down the runs it was capable of. It was cooler on Sunday, and apparently the Dart felt more comfortable. He ran off a string of 12.40’s , which considering he was running full exhaust, was right there where it should be. As I had suspected for the last couple of days, his problem runs were about to pay off.

Originally, NWDT was to feature four catagories, Stock suspension and modified, with a power adder and N/A split in each. Had all the guys that registered for this deal shown up and made the full tour, this would have worked great. The field had shrunk however, through attrition and just plain lack of testosterone on the part of way too many. So Darren (the organizer) was forced to put all the cars together in one field for eliminations. He also decided to run the ladder straight down the list with 1 vs. 2; 3 vs 4 and so on in the first round. Its not the way I would have done it, but Darrens hands were tied, and he was doing the best he could with what he had to work with. From the #4 spot, I drew Dustin Edwards and his nitrous fed Nova. On paper he had me covered by nearly a full second. Frankly, I was fine with it, as I had already accomplished what I came to do. I staged and left with a 3 tenths jump on the Nova, but as expected it came around me pretty quickly. And with that, my NWDT was done. Brian however, was now a mid 12 second car working with a low 13 second average, and was listed on the ladder at 2nd from the bottom. He was able to let the fast cars take care of themselves on the top half of the ladder, and he mopped up the bottom half. After struggling all weekend, and almost not making it to the track on Sunday, There was Brian and his swinger in the final round, lining up against the Turbo Mustang. He did a great job in the beams as he rushed up and prestaged quickly to put the Turbo car on the clock, then once Greg bumped all the way in, Brian made him wait a few more seconds before lighting his 2nd bulb. It was gamesmanship at its finest, but it wasn’t going to erase a nearly 3 second performance defecit. As we had suspected all weekend, Greg Rachel’s Mustang was crowned champion of the inaugural 2015 NW Drag Tour. The runner up was one almost nobody would have picked however, and Brian was grinning ear to ear when we saw him on the return road.

All in all, NW Drag Tour was a great time and I’ll call it a huge success even though the car count was lacking. Bottom line, Darren and DHR Motorsports pulled this thing off. There’s a ton of guys around the nation that are hoping something like this would happen in their region, and Darren made it happen in ours. I can’t thank him and Mandy enough for what had to be an insane amount of time and effort put into this thing. We are hopeful that we can expand it next year to a include a new track, possibly more drive time, and more cars. Greg Rachel came all the way from the Sacramento area to run his mustang here in the Northwest! That alone is really cool, and thanks so much to him and his pals. I accomplished my goal of finishing the tour with an 11 second average, at 11.95, Which was good enough to land me the N/A Runner up title, and a nice check for my efforts. We also bumped the Satellite’s best time twice! Most of all, I had a great weekend with some really good friends. Thanks and god bless to Ken Clements, Brian Henderson, and Scott Overby! Lastly, I met some new friends that I’m already looking forward to seeing again next year. If you live on the West Coast, please consider making the trip next year to run the Northwest Drag Tour. I guarantee you won’t regret it!

If you want to keep tabs on DHR Motorsports and NW Drag Tour, here's the facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/northwestdragtour?fref=ts

Nicely done, Gary!
On both counts, with the event and the story!
The first time I went on Drag Week, there were only forty-some cars, so I'm certain the NW Drag Tour will grow, if they stick with it!