Beach Bum

Well, I had a full weekend of drag racing in front of me I was looking forward too.... 1st was the Corvette challenge on Satuday at Fontana raceway and on Sunday I was off to the Outlaw bracket series at Carlsbad to defend my 1st place position.

Get out to desolete Fontana (Who in their right mind would possibly live out their ??) Its hot even at 9 am in the morning, we get our 1st time trial at somewhere around 9:30-10 am.... Fontana has a strict sound rule, so I leave the mufflers corked up.

1st pass I'm racing my buddy Randy (previous owner of Corvette Performance Shop) He has a new 2002 Z06 with all of the bolt-on stuff.

.....................me..............Z06
rt................542..............923
60ft...........1.608...........2.296
1/4et.........11.827.........13.761
1/4 mph.....114.26.........108.51

Randy wasn't real happy, but I think he improved on the et later in the day, however I think that was his top mph. I wasn't very happy, I expected another mph and tenth out of it .... but it was hot and the exhaust was corked up, hook was pretty good, nothing great but okay.

Got back to the pits and heard that right after I raced, a C5 vert hit the wall several hundred feet out.... how I don't know, he was all stock. But the Driver was okay, vette was not, so all is good.... The car of course can be repaired. :)

2nd trial I raced a C5, don't remember who though.

..................C5.................me
rt.............642................645
60ft.......2.199.............1.859
1/4 et....13.746...........12.252
1/4 mph...102.52.........113.38

Wow.... tons of spin, couldn't get out of the hole, had to feather 3 times to get it to move out of the rollout.... this is a very bad 60 ft for me on slicks. Mph was horrible too... I had taken 2 degrees of timing out of it after the 1st pass because I thought maybe I was getting a bit of detonation from the heat.... maybe that was a mistake.

1st elimination pass.... now I have a decision.... 11.82 and a 12.25 in time trials.... well staying with my own personal rule, don't write it if you can't run it.... so I decide to dial a spin pass....I put a 12.22 on my windshield.

I'm racing a beautiful black ZR-1 dialed at 14.20.

.........................ZR-1...................me
dial..................14.20............. ....12.22
rt.....................1.044............ ........724
60ft..................2.392............. ...1.702
1/4 et.............14.641................12. 735
1/4 mph..........94.38..................86.9 9

I was watching his light and I saw it turn green and he was basically still sitting there, so I turned to my light and told myself whatever you do don't redlight.... I waited too long and had my worst competition light in a few years, but was okay with it, his was very bad as I thought, I had caught him well before 1/2 track and peddled down.

2nd elimiination I'm racing I think a blue C5, sorry I don't know who this was. He's dialed at a 13.50, I stay with my 12.22 considering I have no clue what I will run on this slippery track.

......................me................ ........blue C5
dial.............12.22.................. ........13.50
rt...............602.................... ..........536
60ft...........1.743.................... .......2.230
1/4 et.......12.184......................... .13.589
mph..........111.49..................... ....104.41
left 1st .0591...right mov.1251

Ouch.... I had a late light and was treed pretty hard, I spun again, which hurt my rt a bit, but it was still late. I caught him though due to the soft dial, and got on the brakes.... but didn't take enough out and was pushed over by 4 hundredths for the losing breakout. :(

I made one more pass in a 4 car heads-up shootout for the fastest car of the shootout, and ran a a slipping and sliding 12.34 vs AlfromSD nitrous assisted C5's 12.51, who also was slipping and sliding all the way down the track...... the track was completely gone at this point. I was going to race forummember Bruce for the heads-up champsionship, but the track closed right before we made it to the lanes.... would have been futile for me anyway, he had run a best of 10.9x in trials and was typically running low 11's in his chemically assisted C5.

Pretty sloppy day for me racing.... but I had a blast !! :) Was nice to meet a few people face to face. And was happy for Steven for his win... I've raced with him for many, many years and believe me, this was his happiest moment EVER racing.

btw, for anybody reading this that raced at the challenge yesterday and was disappointed in your et's and mph(I know many, many of you were)... don't worry about it !!! It wasn't your car.... the Fontana track elevation is at 1135 feet, the avg air temp yesterday was 90ish and the avg barometer was 29.88 with an avg dewpt of about 70...... What does all of this translate too ? A Density Altitude near 4000 feet !!! This translates to at least 3 tenths and 3 mph vs a sea level track..... it wasn't your car.... it was bad air. :)

Well today was the Outlaw brackets....... I wasn't really in the mood to race, but I'm currently tied for 1st in points, so I've gotta get out their and try to defend my position. I arrive late and barely have time for one time trial

rt........520
60ft.....1.626
1/4et....11.785
1/4mph...114.74

I was pretty unhappy with this, the air was better at Carlsbad at its 800 feet lower track elevation than Fontana which I had run 11.82 the day before, plus I had my exhaust un-corked now. :(...... something wrong, then I remembered I had taken out 2 degrees of timing the day before, so I put those 2 degrees back in.

1st elimination I'm racing a truck dialed in at 15.99, I back up to a 11.94 to protect against a partial spin.

...................me..................t ruck
rt................564................521
60ft............1.572..............2.405
et..............11.945............16.113
mph..........97.64...............85.45
mov left .075

I got lucky, I was treed hard (Seems to be happening a lot lately) I hooked up hard and caught him, but I knew I had a bunch of et to get rid off and just barely did.... he couldn't run his # and just barely left me enough to get the win.:) Further good news was the et based upon my 7.40 & 92 1/8th mile et and mph... I re-found my power through the timing advance... this would have been a solid 11.6 @ 116 mph pass if I ran it out. :)

2nd round...I recongnize the guy racing, but not his car, he's in a new racecar... a early 70ish Nova, dialed in a 13.80.... I stick with my 11.94 to guard against spin, which always happens to me sooner or later at Carlsbad.

.......................Nova............. ...........me
dial.................13.80.............. .........11.94
60ft...............2.525................ ........1.612
1/4 et...........13.912..................... ..12.182
1/4mph.......115.44....................... .104.90
mov left lane .062

Ouch !!!! I had easily caught him at 330 feet out and simply peddled my way to a 1000 feet, and wow his Nova came alive and jumped on me, so I got right back into it as hard as I could and he pulled me easily !! Where did that come from ??? 115 mph from a 13.80 dial, I thought he was a 100 mph car based upon his 13.80 dial.... I had easily given up enough et to not break out, but I got too cute trying to back into him and he whipped around me. I talked to him in the pits and found out its the same motor he used to run low 11's in his camaro that he just put into his Nova, but didn't have any slicks or gears for it, so he spins the 1st 1/2 of the track and comes alive the 2nd half..... I was suprised and mad at myself, the guy I was tied with in points was in the race before me and he lost.... so it looks like I stay tied for 1st place. :(.....

Days not over though... they have a 2nd chance Jackpot race, so I jump into that.

I decide to dial a bit harder and put a 11.76 on my windshield, this is still a soft dial, but not so much et to rub off. I'm racing an old 60 something Ford wagon dialed at 12.80

.............................me......... .............ford wagon
rt.......................624............ .............551
60ft.................1.591.............. ..........1.870
1/4 et.............11.759................... ......12.907
mph...............110.41................ .........104.49

I had yet another late light !!! I don't know why, I felt it was better when I gassed it :crazy: ..... I caught him and dumped and then got right back on the gas to take the stripe, but came short 1 freakn thousandths on the breakout !!!! Not my weekend, late lights, sloppy dials and poor top end tactics !!!! Should've stayed in bed. ...... but this isn't the worst of it, even if I had managed to scrub that last thousandths I was done for the day.... my freakn gas pedal broke at the big end when I got back into it !!!! There is a plastic base that holds are freakn gas pedal that snapped.... Plastic !!! Top of the line sportscar and they bracket that holds our freakn gas pedal to the floor is made out of plastic !!!! :mad

And my bad day still isn't over.....I now have to drive home with a gas pedal that I have to balance with my left foot while I gas with my right peddle for a 75 mile trip home... but when I'm pulling out of the pits, every right had turn my rear end makes a thump sound.... I think my posi or a few gears on the spiders have been ripped up !!!! :(:(:(

Oh well..... racing, losing and breaking I guess is still better than staying home and doing Honey-Do's..... I think.

My bracket competition record this year took a serious hit this weekend, I've gone from 18-4 to 20-7..... ouch again.

Oh well.....there's always next time.

Sorry so long, didn't intend it to be when I started typing.

cheers,
Beach Bum

RUDY S

:cheers: :( :cheers:

ralph

Now that's a tough weekend!!!! At least you've started strong, so you can get away with a couple of off days. Hope the rear is OK, but it sure sounds like the spiders are gone....spinning hard is murder on parts, and that gas pedal has me worried. Mine feels like its about to fall out.

Mr Mojo

I feel for you Todd, while my weekend wasn't as dramatic(I only lost my line loc), my weekend(as you already read) could've and should've been much better.

mackeyred96

Todd, do you take notes?????

It must be my age, I could never remember all that detail. Great job.

The Dude

Your average reaction time for the month of June--based on your posted reports--is .576.

You had a .549 average r/t before these outings. :yesnod:

Pretty impressive.

CFI-EFI

Beach,

Great reporting. I anticipate these reports every week. I hope you haven't caught "treeitis", like I have. At least you don't seem to have the "full blown" version, I do.

My gas pedal broke, just the same as yours at the track last year. With mine, I was able to get it proped up with my left foot and it would stay until I released the pressure of my right foot. I won a couple of rounds that way. When I DID lose, it wasn't a mechanical failure. "OH wait! I would have beat you if I didn't have a broken gas pedal!" NOT!!!

I have a new dilemma facing me this weekend. My transmission is sliding into third, very slowly. I have Summit ET Bracket Series races both Friday night and Saturday. Do I "go for it" and risk blowing the trans (likely), or do I leave it in second and risk blowing my very tired engine? I've got replacements lined up for both, but piticularly the engine would sideline me for the rest of the season. I have a trans that should be ready next week. I can't afford, points wise to sit out two races.

Race on!

Beach Bum

You know more than I do. I haven't been keeping track. If those #'s above are correct, its actually not all that great.... I think some of the top footbrakers are more in the area of a .515 average... I have a long ways to go.

Also my recent slide is typical... I started strong last year and then didn't win an event the whole 2nd 1/2 of the year...:(

Oh well... back to the practice tree. btw... on the practice tree I'm more of a .520-.530.... the problem with the practice tree vs reality, it doesn't account for spinning, which slows your rt greatly, or the converter jumping on you at the lights or bonehead mistakes or fatigue or ??? you get the idea.

cheers,
Beach Bum

Beach Bum

Hi CFI,

Yeah, this is the 2nd time my gas pedal took the dump.... I'm blaming it on my racing shoes which are typical gym Nike's.... I think I need a shoe with more feel for the pedal.... I'm jamming the gas pedal with my Nike and don't even feel it. btw, if I hadn't been eliminated with a freakn 1 thousandths breakout on that pass.... I think I would have done what you did with the two foot pedal dance in the next round.

I think with my lights this past weekend, I was just not concentrating and was taking things for granted a bit..... in the corvette challenge I was intentionally trying to lay back from the red a bit.... but not that much. :(

At Carlsbad I don't have any excuses... I was trying to hit a light every pass and just didn't except for my only trial pass.

The only solution I can think of with your dilema is borrow a taller tire from somebody.... if you can get it to fit, that should take enough gear away where maybe you don't have to go into 3rd in the 1/4 ?? but dunno, I assume you have 3.07's ?? My tranny has been better than good that last 3 years.... I've changed the fluid about 4 times and thats it. I did have the valve body apart once, but that was due to a failed shift kit install. However, as of late it seems to be a bit mushy on the shifts.... used to be crisp and clean. Oh well.... doing this crap is part of racing isn't it.

Good luck in the Summit series !!!

cheers,
Beach

wheelsup

Beach, great race by race reporting. Think we all look forward to reading "THE BEACH RACING REPORT". :lol:
Sounds like the pedal could take no more of those big Nikies. Hope nothings seriously wrong with the rear. Maybe a drain and refill with new lube and some extra posi fluid is what the Dr. orders.
Phil

Beach Bum

Thanks Wheelsup.... I enjoy sharing my trials and errors of racing... a few others are starting to post their experiences as well...

btw, yeah thats what I'm doing with the rear end... I didn't hear anything funny on the way home, just in the pits... so with any luck its okay, but dunno yet. The brake pedal I can deal with.... the rear end would be a big disappointment.

How about you... any racing lately ?
What shoes do you wear racing ?

Beach


[Modified by Beach Bum, 8:10 PM 7/1/2002]

wheelsup

Beach,hopefully ,just the clutch packs are going South. Could have chipped a spider. Maybe it will stay on the bottom of the case.
Shoes? Just New Balance tennies. I don't have that big of a foot (12),but its not hard to get all croosed up under the dash. :lol:
The racing shoes make a lot of sense,but I just can not see myself wearing them out in public. :lol:
I have not raced in 3 weeks now. Been getting a house for rent and has taken up my time.
My bro invited me to his house and race with him this weekend at a 1/8 mile track in VA. Paying $1000 to win footbrake class. :eek: Should be interesting to have to shift around or about the finish line.

Phil C

Drewdog

:cheers: