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11-13-06

Fontana-PRA Season Finals.

OH YEA!!!!!!

Unbelievable. Going into this race, I was only 10 points in front of Pat Downs and 53 in front of Bob Hemphill. Jeff Lovell was also in the hunt, but was unable to make the long trip.

The day started off crappy with very windy conditions. For a while, the track officials made a call to run 1/8 mile only. But by 9:30 or so, the wind started to calm down and they opened it up back to ¼ mile and decided on an open test session to see how the cars handled the wind and the minor dusting that was kicked up once in a while from the lot next to the track. As the morning progressed, I came to my own conclusion that qualifying might get cut short and I better get in a practice pass while I can. Right out of the hole, the car turned right, went close to the wall, clicked second and wanted to turn right even more, so I shut it off.

First round of real qualifying didn't come until at least 11:30. The program is defiantly running late. So I have softened up the rear shocks, did a minor tire pressure stagger just incase my car is starting to get a little out of balance, put in the settings that I ran the weekend before and see what happens. It should run a mid 10.90's if the weekend before holds true. Car left the line exceptionally well and strait as an arrow. 10.856 at 119 mph. Ok, a touch fast. No problem, easy compensation. I take a pinch of boost out of the system, and go up for round 2 at about 1pm and sure enough, the final round of qualifying. And the only thing I can figure, the wind died down and I ran a 10.849 at 120.

Time for eliminations and we are pulled up about 2:30pm. The info on the track computer was entered wrong and our qualifying ladder was all messed up. So the track was running every one around us while they got it straitened out. Well it got messed up again. No one could make a decision. So matters were taken in the racers hands. Allen Wiess steps up, grabs every ones best qualifying time, writes the car number in the ladder we had, and we thought we had it right, but why is it that the number one qualifier doesn't have a bye round with the odd number of cars? Then Allen figures that mistake out and they had given us a sportsman ladder. So we finally get it all straitened out and get to racing first round about 3:30pm. The problem is it gets dark at 4:45pm. So we have 4 rounds in a little over an hour, plus all the other cars. My guess is we don't get this done on time.

I am paired up with Lance Gregory first round. He went in and double bulbed by accident, but I didn't care even though there is suppose to be courtesy staging. But what I saw was he just was rolling to fast and both came on almost together, that told me, he had an oops. Lets go for it any ways. Tree comes down, I am off and running and Lance's car bogs and the race is pretty much over and good thing since I missed third.

Round 2. I am now up against Rob Meyer. I have been pretty fortunate in the past against Rob, but for some reason, I though, this is probably his turn now. And as I am suited up and look in my rear view mirror and see Bob and Pat are paired for round 2, the situations start to run through my head. If this, then that…….. If I get past round 2 and Bob wins, I am champ. If I loose, and Bob wins, I am at least guaranteed 2nd in points if Bob goes on and wins the event. If I loose and Pat wins, I am for sure 2nd. Too much to think about. Any ways, Rob and I stage up and I think Rob takes a shot at the tree and turns on the red eye. I think yea as I leave the line and suddenly, NOOOOO!!! Motor goes dead. I floated another valve and moved a lash cap holding an intake valve open. I get towed off the track and left at the end of the pits. Fortunately, one of the guys from Rob's team helps me push the car back to the pits. During this push, they run Bob and Pat and Bob take the win. YEA!!!!! I think I am champ. But wait, I at least have to stage to get the semi points and eliminate Bob mathematically. Crud. Got to the pits, the Boys brake out the jack and stands, we get to work to find the problem. Pull off the 1-2 side thinking it is probably there and it wasn't. Get the cover half way back on and the boys tell me go to the other side and we will finish this side up. Sure enough, the number 3 intake has the lash cap stuck between the rocker and the retainer holding the valve open. I run over, grab a big screw driver and large crescent wrench to act as a hammer and pop that cap right back into place. All the while Bob is pitted next to me and holds tight in the pits to sort of stall the next round of eliminations. True sportsmanship right there. I start to get the cover back on and the boys tell me get in and suit up and we will finish and tell Bob to go ahead and go up, we will be right behind you. I get my jacket on, buckle in, roll the window up, put the net up, get my helmet and neck collar on, felt the car drop onto the ground and literally speed up to the staging lanes. Just like NASCAR. LOL. My thought was also just make sure I can stage under power to get the points. But the boys say, go big or go home. So the game plan is just race as usual.

Round 3. I'm up against Rich Dickson. All I can think of is keep the rpm's down, and short shift into second. Sure enough it works, I clinch the championship by the stage and I am going to the finals.

I bypass the ticket tower knowing there isn't much time and return by my pits on the main road leading to the staging lanes. As I get close to my pits, I see 3 or 4 silhouettes of people waving their hands and a gas jug. I pull up, pop the hood, they put in a splash of gas and I am back off to the staging lanes. Some one has been watching too much NASCAR lately. LOL Pit stop!!!

Final round. None other the Bob Hemphill is the man in the other lane. Last time we met in the finals earlier this year, he took a very close win. Seems like every time we race, it gets decided by thousand of a second. I can't believe they let us run. It is dark out. But they said go for it. Turn the tail lights on and we are off. I end up leaving on him and click 4th gear and wonder where he is. I look up to make sure his win light wasn't on if I red lit. All is clear up front, so I watch him in my mirror and start lifting a bit so I don't brake out and sure enough, my win light comes on. WHOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!

He was unusually slow on the tree and performance was down as our motors were getting HOT. Also a first for me, as I cross the finish line and dump the clutch, the car fills with smoke. I look out the back and sure enough, a cloud is following me. I haven't fully investigated but i'm sure the valve cover gasket wasn't set quite right and finally let go at the end. Fortunately, it was the end and I was the last car down the track. I started racing back in 85ish with my brothers car and this is the first time I have oiled down.

I have to thank the sponsors that have given me all the support over the years. There is no way I could have done this with out any of them. And recent new additions this year with CB Performance stepping up for me and Trans West catering to my insecurities and freshening up the gear box with a super quick turn over time so I am racing again.

And behind every married racer, there must be a great woman. Thanks to my wife Amanda for being my biggest fan, encourages me and supports me in this wild ride of life.

And lets not forget the boys, the Red Cup Brigade., Brian, Jim, Dom, and Scott.

10-26-06

NHRA Sport Compact race at Pomona.

Definitely not the ideal weekend.

It started for me on Friday, pulling into the gates at noon, thinking, by 2, I will be out of here. But we ran into a case of the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. I was waiting for tech to open and when it did, I ran over, got it done, but they had no one to take in the tech cards after the fact. So I go back to my pits and wait. Only to find out a little later, the guys running Quick 16 needed to be tech'd by some one else and in your pits. So I got tech'd again. But once again, no one to give the tech card too. It wasn't till almost 3:30 before they started accepting the cards.

Saturday, I arrive with my buddy Brian to have an easy set up since my trailer and car stayed overnight. Have a little breakfast and mingle. There was even a good number of VW's showing up, so that was a big plus.

First round of qualifying stared at 10:45 with the pro cars and Quick 16 runs at the end of their session. I don't think I actually got on track until 1:45. I didn't even get out of my car and they started calling second session of the pro cars. On top of that, my car did not perform. At vegas, when I popped the cap, It messed up the distributor advance. So there was almost no advance working and had to run it with a lot of timing down low. Makes it hard to start. At Irwindale, I kept it that way and tried using my 20 degree retard start feature. That caused all kinds of backfire issues when I fired it back up when warm.

So this time, I tried to firm up the lock out of the distributor and make the timing computer work and develop a curve with it. (Had the timing computer in the car for a long time, but have only used the retard feature in it) Apparently my motor did not like that and popped and sputtered all the way down track to an 11.61. Not really fast enough to make the field. So I turned off the timing box and put it back to a fixed timing, but I only put in 22 degrees full advance thinking, lets try something a little different. Can't make that much difference. So on the second qualifying pass, it only runs an 11.39 and felt like it just laid over in third and fourth gear. I was briefly in the field but got bumped back out before the end of the session. For the third qualifying pass, I go back to my original setup and put in 25 degrees full advance and set the boost know where I normally do for a 10.90 pass knowing this will get me in the show with no problems, even though the current bump was an 11.09. Time passed, more oil downs happened and by the time I get to the opening of the track, there were 3 more oil downs one right after another and curfew hit and was not allowed my third and final pass. So now I am not in the show.

Since I will not be able to run Quick 16, I might as well run ET 1 bracket and have a good time Saturday night with the pot luck dinner and some refreshments.

Sunday is here and I get in a quick pass in the morning but my anti shocker is a bit on the cold side and didn't return all the way before I hit second and I get too much clutch slip. I run some 11.29ish or so. Now its time for eliminations and with the heat of the day coming, I take guess at the dial in time and put on an 11.00 thinking, I might be a tick faster, but I can fender race.

It wasn't till 1:30 before we got our first round in. I race a 13 second Honda and take a fairly easy win.

Round 2 and its closing in on 3pm. Great, 5 more rounds and 2 and a half hours to complete. I race another 13 second car and I proceeded to turn on the red light, and I'm a little upset and run it out the back door and click off an 11.03. damn, could have been a good run. (My lights sucked all weekend too, couldn't get a hold on that, guess I was just off.) But in some ways, it was good. I just hopped out of my car from that pass, and they were calling up the winners already so they could hot lap the field and get them in, so they could have all the finals start at 4:30. If I could have gone that far, my heads probably would have melted off.

One more race for the year left. Fontana's Pra Finals on Nov. 12th.

10-9-06

Drag Day at Irwindale.

It was a good day. I entered the usual Quick 16 class and had a little luck on my side.

First practice pass of the morning and I figure I will try to put on a show and leave the wheelie bars off. Well that turned out to be not much of a show as the car made an immediate right off the line and then I clicked second and it turned right again. So just clicked it off and coasted. I scratch my head on the situation and come to the conclusion that the track is not all that good and if it gets out of shape in a second gear wheelie, things could go bad. So the sissy sticks go right back on. Second practice pass and things felt slooowww, but when I get the time slip, there is a 7.01 on it. Cool! go out for my third pass and clean up a shift point and there is a slow feeling 6.97 on the last practice.

Round 1 of Eliminations. After the clean up of the cars in the field to the 16 fastest, I find my self up against fellow PRA racer and Super Gas competitor "Buster" John. If I remember right, he is right in the 7.30 range on the dial in and I have my 6.97 for a dial. First gift is given to me in the form of a red light from John.

Round 2. I pull up behind Corry Sacchette (Brother of Jack) and we do our usual banter trying to get in the brain of each other. He shows me his time slip and this perfect .500 light he just did in the previous round.  Right there I knew he was going red. And sure enough, another gift with a big red eye.

Round 3. Now I am paired up with Kevin Nakamura in his manx. He is dialed in at a 7.00, so this is nearly a heads up race. We were both pretty close on the lights, me with a .530somthing and him with a .550somthing. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him launch right with me, and I am thinking this is going to be a race. But to my suprise, he suddenly disapears, he must have missed a shift. So i was allowed to lift and take it easy.

Round 4. Final round of Q16. I am now up against Sue Cerney. One of the nicest people you will find out there and we could only smile thinking, we both made it and lets  go out and have a good time. I cut my 4th good light of the day, might have even been the .525 light. I zoom right by here seeing she is having problems. Only to find out a little later, she ate up the ring and pinion. So it was an easy win. Dinner was on me tonight.

BUT, it wasnt over yet. There is also Top Eliminator to run.  

First round of TE, and it is John Schurger. He was the winner of the Jack Pot class that he hopped into after loosing first round in Q16. Hearing some of his reaction times over the PA, I figure I wouldnt have to push it too hard on the lights. Get up there, John leaves first, I watch my lights come down, leave what almost felt a little late but decent, click off second gear and look up and think to my self, why is his win light on down track? I didnt red light, did I? I'm thinking no way, that was a conservitave light. but in the end, .493 is what the time slip said. guess I started to push the issue. So the $1450 pay day will have to wait until next time.

10-2-06

Las Vegas.

I flinched.

What an up and down weekend. Lots of traffic and accidents going to Vegas on a Friday evening. Took us a good 8 hours to actually get into town when it typically takes between 5-6 hours. And by the time we went to some stores, to pick up extra supplies we forgot, and get some gas, try and find the back way to the track, we finally pulled up to the track parking lot about 1am. But that's ok, my wife and kids climbed into the trailer, and relaxed until morning.

Saturday morning and there is some Supra Shoot out type of race and a VW test and tune.

My troubles actually started from the weekend before where I made my first mistake. I went though and checked my valve adjustment, (something I don't normally do, but with all new valve train, I wanted to see) pulled the distributor cap up just enough so I can see the rotor and witch cylinder it was pointing too, bla bla bla. Friends came by, my kid was bouncing off the walls and thought I covered all my basis and fired it up and ran perfect and loaded the car up. Back to Saturday, and first pass and the car dies off the line. OOPPS, I forgot to clip the distributor cap down so on launch, it popped up. I am towed back to the pits. Second practice pass and I do all the inspection, etc. I am also playing with some retard in the timing and launch the car and it makes a nice big forward move and then starts to sputter and bang. I barely get it off the track. DANG!!!!, go through and check and double check every thing again. Only to find that a lash cap tried to relocate it self. OH NO!!!! Am I killing these k800 springs already??????? Since I don't have spare springs, and no spring compressor, etc. I put every thing in soft mode and take all kinds of rpm out of the launch and shift light and go try again. Then it runs slow. Just felt like it wanted to lay over and do nothing. Go through again and look for something wrong. Looked at my EGT's and they are way high for not running fast. Put that timing light on it and sure enough, 10 degrees full advance. I guess through all the checking, etc I must have changed something. I did pull up the magnetic ring off the distributor shaft and when I put it back on, maybe the indexing is off. So I put timing back in, and go out again. This time it's an 11.17 run and I am shooting for 11.10. At that point, I beat on it enough for that day and said good enough. Let's cook dinner.

Sunday and my confidence is feeling pretty high. Thinking that with yesterday's run in the heat, the morning pass should be a little faster. Sure enough, I called it right and first round of qualifying and I put up a strong 11.12 on the 11.10 index. And for round 1, I am number 1 qualifier. Round 2 and 3, I was actually slowing down a bit each pass. BUT some how held on to the qualifying spot and picked up 2 extra points on Pat's number 3 qualifying spot. With the odd number of cars, I get the bye run. I bring the car up to the staging lanes and noticed things didn't sound right at all. I stage the car, roll down the track and coast strait to the pits. Pop a valve cover and discover what I forgot to do. During the lash cap incidence, I put every thing back in place, snugged up the rockers and got distracted by ??? Came back and threw the cover back on. Never torqued the nuts. OH crud, dodged a bullet there. Fire back up and it sounds like a new motor.

Round 2 and I am paired up with Jeff Lovell. Its game time now. We were both pretty close on reaction time with me getting a very slight advantage. Both going for it and not wanting to give up any thing and it sure enough showed on the top end. Index was 11.10 but Jeff runs a 10.91 and I run a 10.95. Neither was going to give up any thing.

Round 3 and now its Pat Downs' turn. This can be a big round for me. It will either give me a nice cushion going into Fontana or make it a big battle in the end. Needless to say, I'm ready and wound up. Both go up to stage, I go into the final stage first, he goes in second, I am on the limiter and focused on the tree. Then it happens, what I register as what could only be a camera flash to the lower left of the tree, I flinched and my left foot briefly lifted a half inch and the car jumped and rolled into a deep stage condition. This is a no no. No deep staging allowed in our class. This is a foul start. Come to find out what I probably registered no where near where it was, turned out to be as Pat went in against the brake, he clutched it and rolled back out, and got back in before the tree was activated, and that light coming back on, must have triggered something in my brain and wanted to go for it. So my day ends in the semi's and I get to watch the finals from the sidelines. And what a race that was. Pat Downs against Bob Hemphill. And in usual Bob fashion, he puts up the big numbers with a .010 reaction time and .01 off the index leaving Pat thinking, "there was nothing I could do with that" I would have said and been in the same position. If you are going to loose, this is a good way to loose.

Congrats to Bob on an excellent day. He was truly on fire.

So the points battle is even tighter then before. I still walked out with the points lead, but only by 10 and that is not really a lead. It will most likely come down to Pat and I and who ever goes the most rounds in Fontana. Ideally, it would be cool to see us both in the finals and who ever wins the race, wins the championship as well. Short of some real funny qualifying or DNQ or both of us completely not in the show and Jeff and Bob capitalize.

In other news out there, Eric Madson truly rotated the earth this weekend and clicked off not just one but TWO 8.67's at 161mph. Only to destroy a turbo in eliminations. Eric Calibrese is righ there beind him. I think he went 8.8x out there too. it is just a matter of time until we see a side by side 8 second pass.

9-26-06

What have I been up to?

I went and recharged my batteries and took the family up to Big Bear for a small vacation. Actually used the trailer for something other then racing. We did a whole lot of nothing and just relaxed. Camp fire, smores, fresh air, ect.

On the Sacramento front. Dan at Oceanstreetvideo.com whipped up some preview videos from the last race on line and broke the classes down. VERY COOL STUFF. here is the link to the Super Comp class I run in.

Then over the weekend I helped Scott Hall and installed an Innovate Motorsports wide band O2 sensor with rpm converter.

Nice simple, clean car.

We mounted it right behind the seat using some industrial strenth hook and loop connections. (vel-crow) makes for a nice removable connections and give a little bit of bounce so its not so ridged mounted. I also left the 9 volt plug dangling so it can be powered up with out the ignition and data downloaded.

This is the strait back pipe that I put the bung in just so we can test things. In the following weeks, we will be installing a stainless down pipe that will drop under the car. But for this week, he can now actually see what the motor is doing. Last year, Scott commissioned Marty Staggs for a turbo set up and bolted it on his 1915cc motor and has gone 115mph already at fontana. Thats well into the 11 second range. Time for a roll bar.

Next up..VEGAS!!! This weekend. Then the following weekend, we are at Irwindale's Hot VW's Drag Day.

9-12-06

Now for something completly different.

Earlier this year, I helped my friend put on a turbo kit on his Scion XB. He has been waiting on an intercooler kit for ever and it just never materialized, so he went shopping and found a universal air to air intercooler, a bunch of aluminum bends and he came by my place over the weekend and we played with his car.

  Mostly black on black.

mounting up the intercooler

Welding up thin aluminum tubing was a new experience for me.

My buddy Mike, finshing up and it looks quite awesome.

But no worries, if you look close enough at this picture, there is a VW motor in the back ground.

Click on the above pictures for larger versions

More pictures here http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/MufflerMike/Scion/

9-7-06

Sacramento Bug-O-Rama #58

Put your head in a bag and yell at the top of your lungs. This is what the inside of my helmet sounded like at the end of the day.

Yea it was a good weekend. It all started on Friday for some extra test and tune where I was trying a few things with reaction time. Not really finding much in what I was doing except beating up on the car. First pass was slow, second pass was a right turn, and third pass was 11.0something. So I was not too far out in the ball park.

Saturday. It's first round of qualifying day. But there is a practice pass before qualifying and I blip up an 10.84. That is not bad, and I can make an adjustment and slow it down. But as we waited in the staging lanes for round 1 of qualifying, it really felt like it was cooling down fast. But I stuck with my settings and went way to fast for some reason. 10.82 is my first qualifying number. So it was retire to dinner for the evening and wait for the morning round 2 and 3.

Sunday morning. I'm thinking, lets be conservative and get on the other side of the 10.90 index and bettering my chances of make sure I get in the show. (Originally seeing 17 cars try out for a 16 car field) Round 2 of qualifying and I click off a 10.99. Now I am feeling better. Round 3 and I just don't chase the conditions nearly fast enough and a slower 11.02 pops up. But that's ok, the 99 pass is good enough for number 5 qualifier. My car was really working exceptional this weekend out of the hole. Even got a 1.46 60ft Friday night.

Eliminations.

Round 1. First pairing is with Rob Meyer. I have raced him a few times now and I hear his car is running good. So I put on the game face for the day and go out there and do it. Cut a decent light against him, pull away and see him in my rear view mirror. I then brake my own rule and lift before 1/8th mile because he is way off pace. But I still kept an eye on him. Sure enough, I see his front end lift again in my rear view mirror and he is charging hard. OH NO!!!!! I am on it as hard as I can, and luckily take the stripe only .008 ahead. That was tooooo close for comfort.

Round 2. Next up is Chris Brown. I know he is a good driver and has cut some good lights in the past. I don't know where this came from but I was extremely wound up and click off a .017 light and I am out on him good. Chris had some minor difficulties and I got to lift a bit, but there was no nail biting like the first round.

Round 3. I am now up against the current points leader, number 1 qualifier, and winner of the last 2 events, Pat Downs. He has mowed the tree down and has run the number all day. This is the do or die moment for me. But with a little luck, Pat doesn't cut his exceptional light and I get him on the tree. And in the end, I take a win with a 10.93 to his 10.91. WOW! Huge win and I am going to the finals. Also with this round win against Pat, there was a bounty on his head put up by Michael Meyer with a bottle of tequila and another from Lance Gregory for a case of micro brew beer.

Round 4 finals. And guess who is in the other lane AGAIN. Jeff Lovell. I think this is the 4th time we have met in the finals now. In final round competition, I am 0-3 against him. My ears are tuned in to every little tic, and clatter my car is making. I am kissing my car and asking it to please stay together for one more pass. But still confident since the entire valve train is new. Jeff had found something and is now cutting good lights too. We purposely were showing our time slips to each other during the day to sike each other out. He has also just run some low 90 passes during eliminations, so he is also on his game. So it is time to go up and play the game we came for. Since Jeff is the higher qualifier, he got lane choice and chose the left lane I was in all day. I figured no biggie. I am in the photogenic lane this time. As we both go in the beams, I am just on pins and needles wondering what could go wrong this time. As I bring up the motor on the limiter, I could have sworn I started to roll forward and was going to for sure turn on the red light. I even took my eyes off the main part of the tree and looked at the stage beams again and figured, noting I can do now. Look back down and the tree is dropped. I am fortunate to get another .040's light and I am out of the hole ahead of Jeff, but with a little wiggle and some steering input to keep it in the groove. Top end of the track and I am watching his front fender catching me. I can not push the throttle pedal any harder and I watch him move ahead and take the stripe. Fortunate for me, his lights fell off a bit from earlier. And my win light comes on for the first time in a final since the 04 season. In the end, a 10.94 for me against Jeff's 10.88. With these last two round wins, I squeak out into the points lead again. But this is not a comfortable lead with 2 races to go. It will most likely go down to the last round at Fontana before we know who is number 1.

Monday's drive home was quite easy except for the nail I picked up in a trailer tire and luckily found it during a gas stop before it could become a self destructing tire.

Next up: Las Vegas on October 1st.

8-11-06

different back ground is in honor of our #1 qualifier in Denver. (inside joke)

8-10-06

Denver Bug-In.

As usual, its always fun to go to Denver, even though I am coming out of the Los Angeles area. This year, my family decided to stay home, so I packed up my small flat bed trailer instead of the toy hauler to save on gas and time. $300 savings in gas alone.

I left Thursday around 3pm and with no family and a mind set on getting there. I only stopped once for gas and a relief brake and had made it to Ceder City, Utah by 11:30 that night. Hopped in the back of the van for a nap and it was on again by 7am the next morning. By 12:45, I pulled into Grand Junction where the Madson's, Schuerger's, Lauffer's, and Berg's were just pulling out to fill up for the run over the hill. Perfect timing. So over the hill with them I went and arrived at the track around 5:30pm for some Friday test and tune. Set up camp and didn't move until Sunday at 5pm.

Since I had to pay for a tech card to get in the pits Friday, I decided to take advantage of the time. So the car is unloaded and set to run. First practice pass and it pops and sputters all the way down the track. I backpedaled and did every thing I could to see what it might be. Fortunatly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the tach bouncing all over the place. This told me, ignition related. So after having a Steak at the Schuerger's pits, I was looking all around what it could be and found my mistake. During the rebuild, in my haste, I threw in the distributor and threw a nut on it just to keep it from falling out while I set the crank in place. Yup, you guessed it, I never did tighten the distributor down.

A quick snug of that nut and go out and put up an 11.41 pass. Perfect, now I know where I was and can make an adjustment for the 11.60 index.

I relaxed all day Saturday and just watch the racing happen and then watch the rain come down. On late Saturday night, Sunday morning, there was even a freakish wind/rain storm blow through and woke every one up. That was fun.

Sunday morning and its time to qualify. First pass and I pop up with an 11.64 to take the provisional #1 qualifier. That makes me happy. The next two passes were an 11.66 and 11.67. I felt like I was back in my old bracket days. Although, I was making minor changes to keep on top of the weather and track conditions.

Photo above by John Redding. yea the same John that drives the Pro Mod car. You can also see his Photograpy page here.

I end up #2 qualifier behind Cory Rider. He squeezed in an 11.62. Now its time to pair up for eliminations. My first pairing is with Rob Meyer. Lights come down, and I'm off. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch in my rear view mirror that I am pulling way too fast from Rob and he must be having trouble. So I do my usual and make sure and run it out to at least the 1/8 mile and get that et established. The pull back on the gas to a little less then half throttle and also apply brakes to slow down. Throttle is still half on incase he pulls some major charging so I can bring the motor back up easy. I also see that Bob Hemphill in a very uncharacteristic move, brake out and is gone first round. My thought is I really need to capitalize on this. Next round (semi finals. Only 8 cars) I am going up against Pat Downs. To me, I think I have his number. I make an adjustment vs. the 1/8 mile time I ran in the previous round and go do it. What I didn't know was Pat had cut an almost identical light to me and my car woke up a little more then the previous pass. Needless to say, I flew by Pat at a good 23mph faster into a double brake out, but I was the worst offender. BUMMER! So I only gain an extra 20 points on Bob. Pat on the other hand, is now in the finals with last years nemesis Jeff Lovell. So what I need is Jeff to win and we will be standing on each other in points. Unfortunatly, Pat goes 2 in a row and takes the win and the points lead. (if I did the math right) Congrats to Pat. I think I am now 8 points behind. So I am in no way out of it. Jeff is now third and Bob falls to fourth.

Time to get back to reality and get my butt home to the family. Right after the race, I headed out with John Redding to crash at his place in Grand Junction. And sure enough, not 15 minutes or so up the hill and it started to rain. So the rain god's held up for us to get our race in. ALTHOUGH, during the little storm the night before, all kinds of stuff was floating around. In the morning, some one found an old partially warn out and torn picture of Gene and Dee Berg. I forgot who actually found it, but it was in the Berg/Schuerger camp and they hand it to Dee. (ghostly music is now playing) So maybe old man Gene was watching out for us up there and just letting us know he was still around.

Next up, Sacramento on Labor day weekend. See yea there.

8-1-06

Only a few days left!!!!!!

There is an auction on Ebay for some large autographed photos that will benefit the Ronald McDonals charities that you should bid on and help out a good cause. Yours truely have signed one of thes picture. Like the picture above. Check it out.

http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmacQ2dQ2ddaddy

7-25-06

Sorry for the technical dificulties. Last update was done right before a server maintenance. I had loaded the pictures with the wrong extension and then the server no longer reconized my password. Then through some miss-comunication, it took this long to figure out what we were doing wrong. But this moring, we are good to go again. Thanks for pointing this out earlier too.

7-10-06

Since getting back from Bakersfield, I pulled the motor completly down, not wanting to chance any thing. Sure enough, broken parts.

at first, the turn of the century Berg shaft broke.(cant really complain about that) In the finals, the rocker block broke apart and cracked the second shaft. So the question was WHY? Did I really float valves? I did take a spring pressure reading and sure enough, I killed 20 lbs out of the springs in just a few races. That tells me, the rpm acceleration is getting to things. Both brakages happend right at the top of first gear when thing are rapidly changing and rpms are at their highest.  So not wanting to take any chances, the ENTIRE valve train needs to be freshened up.

UPS brought a big box to me on Friday. To start off, we need to ditch the old VW rockers I was using and put on some quality 1.4 rockers.  So the switch is on to the CB Performance rockers with their tool steel adjusters.

 Well the old Engle w-125 is no longer going to work, so we needed a new cam. Now we are putting in an Eagle/CB 2288, very similar to an Engle fk-8 and even retiring my 13-14 year old Magnum cam gear and putting on a CB gear.

 Because I am not 100% sure what happened.  It is time for more spring. Notice the pink stripe on the springs. K-motion ,k-800 springs. Sent the heads into CB so they could reset the install height for the new springs and replace one of the valves that as the lash cap relocated, the rocker came up and smaked the corner and hurt it. It is really hard to believe that as mild a cam as I had could loose control of the valve train, but when the rpm acceleration is increased multi fold, harmonics come into play as well and can probably do some really funny things to spirngs. Not to long ago, I watched a slo-mo video of a valve spirng in action, and at rpms, the spring had waves going through it and actually touching coil to coil at the peak of the waves.

 And upon inspection, I found that one of my Scat rods had a wrist pin bushing that spun a good 20 degrees. Only reason I caught it was the oiling holes did not line up in the bushings to rod. Now I could just get them rebushed and move on, but by the time one spends the money to do that, they could almost get another set of rods. So it was order time and I now have a set of CB 5.7 rods with arp2000 bolts.

 Going through all this trouble pretty much means going through a build process all over again. Fortunatly, with the new rods not being as big as the Scat rods, All I had to do was just lightly kiss the cam to make the clearance issue. Actually had I massaged the rods, I could have gotten away with out touching the cam. But since it is the weekend, and I didn-t have access to equipment to massaged the rods, this will be the direction I go.

And just more of the time consuming stuff. Here we are again making sure the cam is dialed in. Simple enough stuff. mag based dial indicator on the end of a push rod. (my adjustable one) and rotate the motor and see when the open and close events come around. And not just one lobe. All 4. This cam was pretty much spot on.

6-26-06

Bake-o-field California weather forecast: HOT!!!!!!

Drag-in After Dark. A new event that went off very well. Spectator attendance seemed a little low and I think that was a weather related thing. But most of the hard core racers were there.

In the big picture, my weekend went very well.

I took off after work Friday to get some test and tune in and see how the newly paved track was going to hold up. Up to this point, we were the first event on the track since the repave and only had a Thursday night and the Friday night test and tune on it before us on Saturday. Well I must say, the track was awesome.

Friday night test and tune worked out pretty good. With the Sacramento settings in, off the trailer I only ran an 11.27. There really is no air out there when its 105 degree's out. Few adjustments later and sun going down, I ran an 11.11 and one last adjustment, went one more time to a 10.94. 4 hundredths off the index and i'm pretty happy.

Saturday and it is getting just as hot as the day before. I decide to wait for first round of qualifying instead of getting in any more practice passes.

My first round only netted an 11.16. Ok, it's hotter then when I ran the 94 last night. No big deal, just make some adjustments and I should be ok.

Round 2 of qualifying and it felt really good off the line but just as i'm about to shift second the number 4 exhaust end of the rocker shaft brakes. I am towed off the track and fortunate for all of us racers, we are pretty close. I ran against Allen Weiss on that pass. He gets his normal tow off to the pits and sends his wife Sue to go get me too. How cool is that.

Thinking the worst and hoping for the best, the car goes up on jack stands and I get the gloves on and start doing the search and sure enough, as I popped the first valve cover off, out falls a rocker. Thanks to Rick and the gang at CB Performance, they happen to make a rocker shaft for VW rockers. They gave me a set of shafts and stole shims out of another kit to keep me in the game. I thrash with the hot parts, doing a half baked shimming, give the lash a guess adjustment since every thing was till hot and fired up with no noise. Then Dominic says, "LOOK! They are pulling up your class. You can make it to third round of qualifying." So I take a swig of Gatorade and suit up and buckle up right there in the pits, drive up in sort of a hurry to the staging lanes and just barely squeeze in at the end of the line and they let me run. I'm thinking "OK, lets see if thing really works." It bogs a bit off the line, but gets through the gears and as I'm about to cross the line, I'm crossing my fingers hoping to not hear any thing else let go. Whewww! 11.10 ET and its still running. OK, that monkey is off my back and I can go back to concentrating on eliminations.

I managed to qualify number 6 again and that pairs me up with E-Girl. I knew they were off the pace, so as long as I don't screw up on the line, this can be a free test and tune pass. Made my adjustments and ran it hard to the 1/8 mile to get some sort of idea of what it will do now. Got to lift and take it somewhat easy on the top end and I'm going to round 2.

Round 2.

Here we go again. I am up against Bob Hemphill. In our last two meetings, he has had my ticket. So this is the race that will make or brake my weekend. I drop the clutch and I think I am way late. I wasn't but it sure did feel that way. But still not a great light when I am racing Bob. I gave up .03 on the line. THEN my car proceeded to turn right in first gear. The wall is getting close and I start to feather the gas and try to get it down on the ground with out loosing too much time. Click off second and try to manhandle the car back into the groove. At that point, I am thinking, I lost this one right there. But as I click third, I do not see Bob out front yet. I click fourth and now I am looking for him. He is about at my rear bumper. I did go ahead and feather the gas a little and real him in till his front tire was at my door and put it to the mat again. We probably ran 100-200 feet at that pace and then it looked like his car started to catch me. Needless to say, I crossed the line .003 seconds in front of him. My win light comes on and I am yelling and screaming like I had just won the event. That was what I needed.

Round 3.

I am now paired with Rob Meyer. I my reaction times gets a little better and Rob has a problem down low and allows me to back off considerably at the top end. But the only problem I did not like was I could not find him any where. I started to lift and just slow my pace down and start to think, I still don't know where he is. I then make the decision to stand on it again since I should have burned off enough et not to brake out. And sure enough, right after I cross the line, this orange blur comes flying by. WOW that was a little close for comfort. But still my win. I am going to the finals again.

Round 4 finals.

This time it is Pat Downs. I heard he had run the number in the previous round, but wasn't really worried. I felt confident that I should be able to handle this. I go out, have a problem getting the car to do a burn out. So I decided to just stage any ways and see what happens. I my lights were actually getting better as the night went on and I drill Pat on the tree, the car is moving strait out and on the wheelie bars. BUT just like in round 2 of qualifying, it noses over and practically shuts down. I watch Pat disappear in the distance and I am a brides maid AGAIN! That part blows, but the big picture is the points. I walk out of the second race with the points lead and I haven't done that since my Pro Eliminator days. So if I have to be a brides maid all year in exchange for the points championship, so be it.

I really don't know what broke this time. But it sure does feel like another valve train failure. Probably the other 20 year old Berg shaft. Can't really complain. I should not have used that old a part to begin with. After that final round, the car just got pushed around to where we needed and loaded up the next morning. This week, I will get under there and find out what happened.

Now I have a solid month to just go over every thing with a fine tooth comb and make sure every thing is right again. Next race on the schedule will be the Nu Vintage Bug-in in Denver Colorado on Aug. 6th. The LONG trip on our scheule

Pictures above and other pictures here are taken by Dominic "The Burn Out King."

6-1-06

In my best Get Smart voice. "Missed it by THAT much"

What a weekend. Not perfect, but close enough for me to be extremely happy. For some that don't know. The Super Comp class has turned it up a notch. There was a $200 bonus for number 1 qualifier (put up by John Mead, akaBuzz and FigMeyer Racing) and a $100 dollar bonus for best reaction time during eliminations. (put up by Matt Davis Racing) Oh yea, and a bottle of tequila bounty on my head going to who ever took me out. (put up by Michael Meyer Racing)

We started out our weekend on Friday morning and made the 400 mile trek from So Cal to Sacramento and arriving around 5pm. John Troxell squeaked every thing together at the last minute and was able to follow me up. Our primary goal was to finish up some last minute things on John's car like suspension settings and timing and see how the car goes down the track. I had ever intention to sit out Friday and concentrate on JT's car. But after watching him and others go down the track, I got the itch and had to take my car out for at least one pass and see if I was in the ball park for the index. Sure enough, I clicked off a 10.80 off the trailer and was feeling pretty good. Then we (Brian and I) were paying close attention to JT and trying to real him in and slow his car down to run the 11.90 index the rest of Friday evening. We even went as far as taking the cover off of his shift light as it got dark so we can see when it comes on from the stands. (Blinding John in the process LOL)

Saturday morning and it was an easy day. Gates don't open until 2pm, but we were inside the track since the night before and really had nothing to do except have a leisurely lunch and wait until the crowd came in. Then it was time for some practice passes before our 7pm qualifying. I held off for a while, but finally went out around 6pm to make that last pass before qualifying. A bit of a change and a 10.87 pops up on the board. I am right there for that 10.90 index. But as 6:50 rolled up, I decide at the last second that my exhaust temps were a bit on the high side and I put in more jet and that was the wrong thing to do. With a bit of boost taken out and the fatter setting, my car slowed to an 11.002 for first round of qualifying. Not that this is a bad number, but I would have liked to have been closer on the first shot. The good news is the class is now opened up to a 16 car field. With this in mind, I figure I am safely in the show and can go out and experiment on my last two qualifying passes on Sunday.

Sunday morning and its time for round 2 of qualifying. The only change I make is to the rear shock settings. (its experiment time) Well this puts me into a good amount of wheel spin and kills my 60ft. This only nets an 11.15 if I remember right. Go for round 3 of qualifying and I make a tire pressure adjustment. Car leaves a little better and then I second guess my self thinking I'm running too fast. So on the top end of the track, I play the hold rpm game. Look up at my tack, as it reaches 6000 rpm and hold it. Well that was the wrong thing to do. Another 11.15. And after I looked at my 1/8 mile time, I was on a 10.95 pass. Right were I really wanted to be. But all is good. I am still the number 6 qualifier. I will take it.

Elimination time. My first round was paired up with James. (Cant remember his last name at the moment) I had a feeling he was off the pace a touch, but that did not stop him from cutting a good light. Fortunately, it was not all that hard to get around him this time.

Round 2 is Allen Weiss. He has already recorded 10.92 and 10.94 in qualifying. He is already mowing down the tree. This is where I figure it is going to get really tough. Unfortunately he only produces an 11.00 pass and leaves a big window. I think he was having some linkage issues right before that round.

Round 3. Jeff Lovell. Oh yea, you have heard that name before. Well, Jeff shows up to Sacramento on Friday with a new car. Having new car blues, missing and popping. We all do what we can to help figure it out. Come qualifying time, suddenly his car is working and working well. At this point, I am 0-3 against Jeff in final rounds last year. This definitely plays a part in my mind. Fortunately that loosing streak ends now. I get a considerably better light then him and move on to the final round. So right there, getting around Allen and Jeff were two big feathers in my cap.

Final round. I am now up against Bob Hemphill. Yes the same Hemphill that I use to race against in Pro Elimination and Super Gas. Neither of us are strangers to each others driving. We both know that we can get the job done on any given day. Bob is on fire today. Already running a 10.90 in the previous round against Rob Meyer. Bob is also literally mowing down the tree getting this super tanker of a car to move. I have my work cut out for me. But this is what it's all about. At the end of last year, we raced in the finals at Vegas and Bob wins on a hole shot. So we joke before while I say, now it's my turn. We all have a good laugh and wish each other luck and go to get this done.

After reflecting on things on the drive home, I might have made a mistake in the staging lanes right before we are pulled out. I add in more shock. My previous 2 passes according to my 1/8 mile times were going to be a 10.87 and 10.88. A blip of the gas and i'm right there on the 90 mark. We both do our thing and get staged up. Bob cuts a .068 light to my .072 light. He has .004 on me at the tree, but that is fairly insignificant at the moment. Unknown to me, my 60ft has fallen off. Mid way through 4th gear and Bob has a fender on me. My mind said, no way, I'm on a perfect or brake out pass and I have to believe I cut a better light. In the end, I decide I have to take the stripe at the last second and push my high boost button, but it was a little too late to catch him. His win light comes on and all I could do is smile. I wasn't down at all. I knew if he won, he did every thing right and I know I did my job. The end result was Bob with a 10.906 and me with a 10.925. and when the dust settled, the math said I was .023 short. Basically I would have had to run a 10.901 or a 10.900 to beat him. That made for some good close racing either way. Afterwards, Michael Meyer drives by on his golf cart with the bottle of tequila. So in good sportsmanship, I wanted to be there when Bob got the bottle. We then get pictures of me crying passing the bottle to him. And that is what it is really all about. Having a good time with good friends. Enemy's for 10 seconds. Friends for life.

I think this year is going to be extremely tough. Too many of us really stepping up and on our game. Not to mention, it should be a 16 car field (instead of 8) the rest of the year.

Next up. Drag-in after dark at Bakersfield on June 24th and the Classic in just a week or so from now.

5-24-06

Over the last week and a half or so, John Troxell has been working on his motor at my place. Not to much change going on in the motor. Dick at EMS reworked the combustion chambers a touch. John is also trying out JayCee's new fangled thrust bearing on the crank. But the rest remains the same.

But for this year, John wanted to change things up on the oil control. Last years bearings looked almost questionable. Like he had ran out of oil somewhere along the lines. Nothing bad, but enough to say Hmmmm.

So I got the plumbing duties. We added one of Jack's external pressure control setups on.

that damn 2" header doesnt help much. So I just went around it. I could do a strait shot, but then the hoses start to get short and is hard to make fit. So I cheated and went around with large sweaping loops. not the prettiest thing, but it does work.

a better look from the bottom of the new oil fiter mount and the brass oil control unit. (high speed bypass) Instead of using the piston by the flywheel, this unit will now control the pressure and dump back into the sump instead of the push rod tube where that oil can be pushed up into the head.

We also decided to try what I did on my motor and relieve the 3-4 side of the case.

Notice the big -10 lines sweaping around the sump.

out of the case to the sump. Bottom fitting is the oil pressure return. Does this all work?????? I dont know for sure. the concept is there. at minimum it should help some. And if it doesnt, I dont think it will hurt. but until I can get that clear valve cover on and see how much or how much less oil build up there is, only time will tell.

It is now Wednesday and JT will fire up his motor tonight and load up for Sacramento. As for me, I just have to dust things off, reorginize the trailer for the new season, and I along with John will be up at Sacramento on Friday afternoon. John needs to shake a few things down and get use to the new shifter.

I was back at palmdale over the weekend again to complete the eliminations portion of the Super Street race I attended the weekend before. Unfortunatly, it did not go as plan. They gave us one practice pass and I had left in the setup from the weekend before. But the weather was a lot warmer, and I did a little longer burn out then I usually do because I was a little gun shy after making that left turn last weekend. Well I ended up bogging a little and then the air density was slightly down and didnt make as much boost as I thought it would. This produced an 11.39 ET when I need to be a lot closer to the 11.17 index and I click off a -.049 red light reaction time. WOW! I am way off in left field. But now it was time for Eliminations. I am paired up with Doug Spencer and his Super Comp  class (8.90 index) Corvett roadster. (he has 2 stage throttle stop on this car to get it to slow down that much) I took a guess at the set up again, put more rpm in on launch, a touch more boost, make an adjustment to vehicle reaction, and went for it. For the race, I was not up to par on reaction time, at least in the world of electronics, but amazingly better then my opponent with a delay box. I get down track and I am way out on this guy, but knew that this guy would come flying by and it would be incredibly hard to judge. So, what ever I did, I was not going to lift for any thing. As I crossed the line by a foot or two infront of the other guy, I was up to 121 mph, but this Vett came by me at 150mph. WOW that thing was flying by me. In the end, I put up an 11.147 against the Vett's 11.156. A double brake out, but I was the worst offender. So I was on the trailer and got home by 1:30pm, with time to unload, relax, and watch some NHRA on tv.

4-26-06

Two things to share today.

First is just something that I always wanted to try and see if it would help or not. I tried to relieve the drivers side sump part (two black hoses)of the case to allow the oil that is pushed up against the 3-4 side to go somewhere else instead of up the push rod tubes. When I first fired up the motor, I could feel these hoses warming up just as fast as the case was. This told me that there was flow actually happening at this point. So I might actually be on to something. The problem now lies into how to prove this helps. Ideally, I wanted to put on the window'd valve cover and watch the oil elevation come up to see if i have helped the situation. But with the current VW rockers on these heads, they will be too tall for the see through valve covers. So i will have to wait until I change to a different rocker. But now that I have an idea that this might help some, I will eventually need to step up and turn the cheap rubber hose into braided line for long term durabulity.

The second thing.

I went out to Palmdale's LACR over the weekend. I wanted to try and race with the So Cal Super Street Association These guys have a points series that bounces between Palmdale and Fontana and run a 10.90 index. (11.17 adjusted index at Palmdale for the altitude) These guys also run on a 5/10th pro light instead of the 4/10th tree we play on in PRA. Last year, I went to Fontana for an NHRA divisional race and was clicking off some double O lights. (good reaction times) with a soft set up under the car. So I figure if i can do this again, maybe I can play with the big boys. So my buddy Jim and I were off to Palmdale on Saturday morning for the race against all these V8 powered, fully electronicly controlled cars. I was truely the only car out there with no delay box or throttle stop in my class. Every one else had these NASA space control looking panels, solinoid shifted shifters, co2 bottles, and a boat load of other stuff. My car looks empty in comparison. Its been a while since I raced at Palmdale and really had no clue how much boost I should try to run to compensate for altitude. Jim recomended 5 pounds right off the bat, I should have listen to him a little more. I ended up adding 4 pounds and went out for first round of qualifying. This produced an 11.37 and a huge -.04somthing red light. Woops. a little slow and too fast on the tree. So for round 2, as the partial head wind was getting harder, I was not agressive enough on the changes, and even tried a soft spring in my vacuum secondary side of the carb. Also made an adjustment to slow the car down on vehicle reaction as well. This put up an 11.31 and a -.030 red light. But  I was going in the right direction. Just not fast enough. For the third and final qualifying pass, I put the old vacuum secondary spring back in, turn some more boost into it, but was much more aggressive on my change this time. Made a large change to vehicle reaction as well. Get to the line and right out of the gates, the car turns left pretty hard. Ok, that blows the ET on that pass, but I can still use a mph and boost level reading to make a final adjustment. But as I get it pointed in the right direction and stab the throttle, the rear end starts whiping again and I am sliding toward the center line. At that point, im glad I didnt hit any thing. I start thinking to my self, did I brake something? And I still dont have a good boost reading. So as I was coasting past half track, I decide to roll into the throttle again and get a reading. As it started to feel good again, the back end of my car starts to drift out left again, so I just had to give up. This run is a complete waste except for the reaction time. Although it was red, it was much closer and really where i needed to be to start with at a -.003. Just shy of perfect. I just need to loose the negetive. Now it is time to get ready for eliminations. I think I am  qualified number 49 of 64 cars. Wow, others were worse then me. LOL. I make my slight adjustment for vehicle reaction time, will ride with the last boost setting thinking it is probably a touch fast, but its easier to slow down then speed up. Then the big typical cross wind changed direction and was now a direct head wind, coming right down the track. The problem with this was there is a big mound of dirt at the very end of the track  (probably 50 ft tall) from the next door quary people. This sent dirt down the track and at that point in time, the race was called for the day. The track officials knew they could not keep the track clean enough for us to race on. So, the eliminations of the race has been rescheduled for this Sunday. Man, that menas more gas money. OUCH.

Now that is two times in a row that Mother Nature has messed with my racing. Some one needs to have a talk with her.

3-20-06

I MADE IT TO DRAG DAY!!!!!!

A big thanks goes out to CB Performance, Engine Machine Service and JCL Race cars. With out these establishments, I don't think I could have made it.

Unfortunatly, I did not get a chance to take pictures of this build due to time constraints. It started by CB suppling some awesome parts. But since I use a flanged crank and long cylinder and like to use a sand seal, it was off to EMS to get the case cut for seals and redecked to match my old case and where I come to find out they were swamped. I dropped off my case on Wednesday the 8th and Bruce Fordyce stepped up to the plate and some how squeezed in my stuff between all his other things and had my case done on friday night. When I got a call from EMS that your case should be done in a bit, I was down there asap. But the time I arrived, it is typically brake time for them, but Bruce was still busting ass on my stuff to get it done.Thanks Bruce. From there, I spent that weekend doing major mock up, but come monday afternoon, I was looking at my VW rockers (Yes, I am weird, I am running VW rockers on Comp E heads), and I am noticing how high the adjusters stick out on top of that valve. So I dropped the stock valve cover on it an it did not even come close to fitting. A quick call to CB, and their tall bolt on valve covers are on the way. Then it was off to go to a B-day dinner for my wife. In the end, I still had to do a little welding and clearancing on the new valve covers, but at least it was something I could work with. the stock covers would have never worked. I am not a fan of bolt on covers, but to my suprise, these did not leak. :) One of the other problems I ran into was making the VW rockers fit with the big springs. Nothing a grinder couldn't fix. Also had to shim them up pretty high. Had I used a real ratio rocker like what CB sells, I probably could have threw those on and be done with it and use the stock cover. It seemed like every corner I turned, something else was fighting me. I had to cut my turbo header apart to make it wider because my old heads were fly cut and probably a slightly different port design. I went as far as taking Thursday and Friday off from work, starting out at 6:20 am on Thursday and not coming in the house until 11pm that night. Friday was the same way. It was a relief when I fired the motor up on Friday afternoon about 2:30 ish only after I had done the typical crank for oil pressure before rockers and plugs were on, only to find that in my haste, I had forgot to put the rear galley  plug in behind the flywheel. (thank god those flange flywheels are easy to take apart) But after a few run sessions, friday evening was spent putting back on the inner valve springs and making sure my valve train was still intact. Saturday morning and it is time to get some rear shocks on the car. I felt there might have been a problem with one of my shocks from the last race, so they were sent in for a check out and maybe rebuild if needed. But they were not back in time. So it was off to Jimmy's at JCL to see what I can use. He hands me some of the new Varishock's he has been playing with. These things are awesome. 16 way valving, so there is a wider range to play with then my previous. Jimmy tells me, start out at 6 clicks in and see what happens. DAMN! he is good. Suspension worked perfect. So I got back home with the new shocks, bolt them up. Then it is time to work on the new seat belt mounting. Previously, I used a Y harness, but those are no longer legal in NHRA, so I had to switch to an individual  shoulder harness configuration. But my cross bar feels a little high to just do a wrap around, so I was welding up some new mouning points to bolt the harness on. After that, it was another motor fire up, adjust oil pressure and put in the good Torco oil for the race. A quick clean up of the car and by 5pm on saturday, it was finally time to load up. A quick dinner with the family and by 9pm, I was completly spent.

DRAG DAY IS HERE!

Get there a bit early, but gates were already open. Go through the usual routine, unload the car, go strait to tech line, and relax. Practice/qualifying started a little late. But nothing out of the ordinary. On my first pass, im crossing my fingers that I dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's and with the little showboating need of mine, I left the sissy sticks off for the first pass and wanted to see how things went.  Click off a .525 reaction time and sure enough, wheels up and strait out in first gear and a shift into second mid flight. And thats when things got a little touchy. It had a tendency to turn right a bit and I backpedled 3 times trying to keep the speed and nose down a touch. That pass netted a 7.33 and I think the crowd loved it. But enough of this playing around and wrecking my nerves. The sissy sticks go on and I go out for my second pass. .536 reaction time and I am feeling confident. An ET of 6.96 and I am exactly where I wanted to be. That is real close to the equvalant of a 10.90 pass and the index I normally run on. First gear is working great. No boggings. Riding the wheelie bars out as seen in this picture.  Wheelie bar wheels leaving the white marks showing the ride is long and strait out on the bars.

With the late start and oil downs, I only managed to squeeze in 2 passes before eleminations. But to me, that was just fine. I had a good run under my belt and can dial in acordingly. And as the officials started to pull the first set of cars out, THE RAIN STARTED TO FALL. We could all see the brake in the clouds where the sun was coming through and figured it would be a quick shower, and not enough to really soak every thing. But for some reason that big black cloud just stopped in its tracks and continued to dump on us until every thing was good a soaked. So the race was called at that point. We all go back to the pits, pull the awning out and watch the rain fall for a while longer and tell stories until it stopped so we could load up again.

What a week. Another huge thanks goes out to my wife Amanda. She helped push me to get things done. Took care of the kids and every thing else so I could spend the entire week in the garage and not worry about any thing else. And no, she doesnt have a sister. LOL.

I think my next race out with be at Palmdale on April 22nd for the So Cal Super Street Association race and see if I can play with the V8 guys on their 10.90 index. (11.17 at palmdale)

3-8-06

 During my motor tare down for the year, I found a crack around the number 1 head stud. NO, that is not the actual crack size. I took a sharpie pen and traced the crack since it does not show up in pictures.

Fortunately, UPS showed up yesterday with a new CB Performacne  raised roof aluminim case. The new case is defintly more refined then my old one.

In my old case, behind the stud hole area, there is a lot of webbing and blank areas. I was told this is the next week link even in the mag cases. This is where a case would crack next, as mine did. I even have a stocker  with mag case with the same crack in it on the bench.

BUT, CB's new case has all these areas filled in. So maybe this extra material will help this problem out.

Now all I have to do is get this case cut for the flange seal and get it all mocked up with new heads and push rods, etc in a week and a half to make Drag Day. Guess I need to go get my transmission this week too.

The good news is all the main journals in the old case are still spot on. This tells me that using an aluminum case to hold a crank from moving around is the right move so far.

2-13-06

AAAHHHH!!!!! NEW HEADS. These are the CB Performance Comp Eliminator heads. I needed to step up on the spring configuration, so the CB dual tapered push rods were in order as well. We will also be puttin in some of their latest generation 2 piece lifters.

Cool stuff. Light weight coated titanium valves and retainers from CB. Mike Lawless has been beating the crap out of his set and they are holding up well. So it is time I give em a try as well.

These are the CNC versions. I went with a 46x38 because I knew I would leave the chambers deep, and if i got too big on the valves, the valve would have to leave the chamber to flow good. And with maybe .530" lift when I was running real 1.25 rockers, it would be a sour note. If I was making another big rpm, big lift, naturally aspirated motor, oh yea, 48x40 would be the choice.

Even though these started out as CNC heads, the difference was Anthony De La Torre, one of the guys behind the scenes at CB gave these heads that little extra touch for me. The CNC head is an exceptional deal out of the box, but to make them a touch better, Anthony cleaned up the lines and blended in the seats a touch more. These things are BEAUTIFUL. But even as an out of the box, un-massaged item, Troxell's motor recently made 247hp on Jaycee's dyno and we did not even touch em except for the fly cut to raise compression. So do they really need the clean up? (Dont worry Anthony, I will do my best to not brake your heads. LOL)

As an example of spring size update. On the right is my old VW od dual Engle springs. The left is CB's spring. No it is not a K-Motion spring. I opted not to go that route. I do not have a cam that necessitates the need for k-800's. And with the addition of titanium parts it really doesnt need them. At least in my opionion. For my application, I only need longevity and not more pressure.

Other projects I have been working on. Rob's stocker. This is really the first time I have assembled something with less then 160 hp. It is sooo ugly, but the header looks good. (for the future motor)

After recently going back to school  for a bit and finally finishing up this week, taking care of John Troxell's shifter, Rob's motor, and almost completing our kitchen remodel, I FINALLY got to take my motor apart over the weekend and it shows the battle scars when I miss on the suspension set up. It really is a skid plate. LOL. Those 24" tall tires do not leave much room for error.

2-3-06

Suplimental update for the day.

New updated web page for TBK (still under construction)

2-3-06

Can you say

 This is it. A new JCL V-gate shifter in John Troxell's car. This thing is a work of art.

 Nice big rods to keep things from flexing when banging gears.

 You can almost feel it from this angle. I have now just gently stroke through the gears. Its like a hot knife in butter.

Gets pretty dang tight in the back, but it all fit.

Now that this project is pretty much complete except for complete weld up of all the mounts and joints, I can now finish off Rob's motor that is 3/4 done already, and finally tare my motor down.

Stay tuned for pictures of CB's New Titanium Valves.

1-30-06

OK, we are starting to get back into the more technical stuff again.

I was using the 3-2-1 method to smoke up the 6 racks of baby backs....... OOPPS Wrong technical stuff here. But they were very good.

Ok, the real stuff now.

Troxell's car is over for the shfiter install. Fortunately, his car comes apart fairly easy so he took the body off. This will make my life much easier for the install of the JCL Verta-gate shifter.

I did not get very far on this project yet, but it has started.  One of the obsticals to get around when dealing with a V-gate shifter is the reverse lever. with the aproximaly 1.25"ish raised mounts, there was minimal notching to the torsion housing but a decent notch in the raise plate that kicks up the frame horns 3". I did do a primary mount of the shifter last night, but wife had the camera and was out shopping. So those will come soon.

At the same time, I am juggling a minor motor build. Rob Lambert's little stocker. We had intended to look into this motor to see if it was worth building on, but it had some issues. So he wanted this thing to be put back together just so his car can move under its own power and this summer the bigger, more powerful motor will be built.

Like any motor I work on, presision measurement is key. Example: this journal needs a .020" under can cooler.

Don't want them can bearings out of wack. LOL. as usual, seems like we tend to initiate all motors in this fashion. Sort of a running tradition come the weekend when the boys are over.

Next update should include some of the shifter mock up and maybe even the NEW Heads I have waiting for my motor.

1-19-06

Muffler Mike Racing is pleased to announce a new associate sponsor on board for 06.

Please help me wecome them and support the people who support me.

1-5-06

Was chatting with Eric Ellis at Speedshots and said to go ahead and use that new image above on my web page if I want.

That is one of the best shots I have seen of my car in a long time. Check his web page out. he has lots of cool photos of cars in action. Defintly one of the more talented photographers out there.

1-03-2006

Happy new year!!!

Where has the time gone?

Not much to report here. I have been sick half a dozen times in the last few months. I think my oldest son brings it home from school or something. I did finally get my car out of the trailer and pulled the motor and trans out for the annual service last night. Boy am I late in doing this. I did have a small problem with my car making a move to the right on launch when I was in Pomona and found the problem last night. Looks like I have a bad shock absorber.

But during all my other stuff, I have picked up the BBQ slow and low type of cooking hobby. Well I have been trying to cook/smoke ribs on my gas grill over the summer and was getting pretty good at it. But I couldn't justify buying a real smoker while the kitchen remodel was going on. But my very cool in-laws stepped up to the plate at Christmas and got me a real one that I had been eyeing for a while. (Dom and wife were the info source for the in-laws.) pictured below is the new Q getting ready to smoke up a pork butt for 10 hours. Yea I know it is not vw stuff, life doesnt completly revolve around the racing stuff. (did i say that?) If you are into that kind of stuff, I have a few more pictures of it here. http://photobucket.com/albums/a378/MufflerMike/  Funny thing. almost looks like my turbo exhaust. LOL

More to come soon. As soon as I can get my car back in the trailer next week and start taring down my motor, I should have Troxell's car over for a new Verta-gate shifter install. Now we are talking VW racing....ARG! ARG! ARG!