Racin', Events, Etc.

F-body sighting:

^^^I noticed this in one of my pictures I took after touring Germany in July 2003. See those tell-tale Ram-Air scoops on that side street to the right? ;)

07-18-02
- Spectator Drags

Yes, I think I'm officially nutz.

I went down to Spanaway Speedway and signed up for the spectator drags. Surprisingly there were 12 cars on the list. I had butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it, but oh well, life is short; I signed my name on the sheet.

After a few uneventful races (rather boring actually) they call us to the pits. Just when you think old Seattle International Raceway was unorganized, you gotta see this to believe it. I asked the lady at the front gate before signing up about the Release Form and she says as far as she knows there ISN'T one. I can't believe that. But when I get over to the pits they have the same release form that Pacific Raceways uses and I sign my life away there. There are NO briefings or instructions of any sort, just get in line and wait.

They have 4 guys standing at the entrance to the track pointing at 4 different cars to come up to the front and go. I sit there and wait 'till someone physically comes up and says for me to go. Meanwhile out on the track I can just see through the entrance and two old pickup trucks fly by duking it out around the last turn. One of the trucks starts to lose it, and the idiot never lets out of the gas, does a couple wild fishtails and nails the outside wall head-on in front of the stands. The crowd goes wild. What did I get myself into here? My stomach's up in my throat as they point me to the track.

They pitted me up against a Conv. '92 Vette. Wonderful. I'm thinking that they at least flip a coin or something to see who gets the outside. Nope. They had already waved the vette dude in before me and he whips around to the inside lane. I'm thinking I'm doomed at this point. The track is very small, and not much of a run before the first turn. Crap. So we both stage at the start/finish line and wait for the flagger. He points to me, "you ready?" and I nod my head. Points to the other guy, then holds the flag up in the air, then starts waving it. Well, after watching all this street racing on the internet I figure that he would DROP the flag signaling GO, but apparently not as the Vette dude takes off and I'm sitting there like an idiot. Now I'm really doomed. I quickly learn that traction sucks on this track, as I only apply 1/2 throttle and drop the clutch and get lots of wheelspin. Here I am, spinning, spinning, spinning some more, letting off the gas more and more as it seems like an eternity before my tires finally hook. I barely make it through 1st and into 2nd and am into the first turn. I figured I was screwed taking on a Vette around turns since they have much wider tires, and this guy is 4 carlengths ahead of me into the first turn. I was only going 45mph or so, but was rapidly pulling this guy in around it (on the OUTSIDE even), and get within 1 carlength. Woohoo! Maybe there's hope after all.

We exit turn 2 and I easily reel him in the rest of the way and get a car-and-a-half on him on the back straight. At this point I'm hittin' about 75 or so, start my turn and make a HUGE mistake. I jammed on the brakes AFTER turning and throw the weight of the car to the right and the ass-end starts to slide. I got in front of the vette before the turn and was on the inside of the track. Everything is slowing down rapidly; I take a quick look over to the right. OK, I've got plenty of pavement before the dirt. But I keep sliding towards the end of the track but somehow the car sticks just before she slides on around and I get back into the gas. Too early too much, all that did was swing the car around the other way and I'm sliding again. I let out of the gas but rolled over the small curb on the inside of the track. Meanwhile through all my chaos the vette dude streaks on by me and takes the win.

Bummer. I talked to some kid in a late-model Neon (he went on to win it all, been doing this for quite a while) and he told me before I went out there that the turns LOOK like you can run them faster than you really can, and that was well proven for me. If I had hit the brakes sooner I know from reeling that guy in on the back straight that I could have beat him by a carlength or so at the finish. Oh well, maybe next time? ;)

08-09-02
- Car Club Challenge #7

- I won my first round by the skin of my teeth winning by .02, and forced a breakout run on my second round. There weren't many competitors left in round 3, and I ended up running against one of our own, Mike Hillyard. Mike sandbagged his time a little I noticed, probably hoping for a slip-up by me, in which case panned out for him. This is where my stock clutch starting showing it's fatigue, and I had a horrible 2.47 60' time that killed my dial in (13.84 on a 13.72 dial-in). Mike easily fender-raced me for the win.

Check here for the team and individual standings in the Car Club Challenge.

08-30-02
- Car Club Challenge #8

I didn't think I'd do well at all on this one since I still have the slipping stock clutch. Honestly it still works well in all other gears but 1st. It just doesn't wanna launch anymore, and my 2.3x and 2.4x 60' times show it. But as long as I could be CONSISTENT at those 60' times I stood 1/2 a chance at winning a couple rounds. I won one round anyway. hehe Somehow I got stuck with the fricken 11.00 cars. Boy lemme tell you it's pretty intimidating when you look in your rear-view and see them barreling down on you, trapping 20+ mph faster across the finish line. It felt SO good to beat one of them. When they're coming in at you so quickly you really can't tell if you're running your time, so on my runs I just gave 'er hell and waited for the win light. Amazingly enough the second car was dialing 10.99 to my 14.0 and I still only lost by .007 seconds! Oh well, we'll shoot for that 13.30 next spring after the clutch and LCA bracket install.

8-30-03

First time at the track w/ new Stage 3 Clutch

It was nice to just GET back to the track. Being deployed most of this year put a damper on the mod sessions and track time. Here's my take on the new clutch: This thing is grabby as hell! On my first run, since I was learning the characteristics of the clutch, I launched fairly easy, but gave it hell on the 1-2 shift. It jerked the car so hard that it actually yanked the exhaust apart! At first I was thinking I broke something, 'cause she went from "waaaaahhhhhhh!!" to "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!". So I briefly let off the gas then hit it again. Managed to pull off a 13.71@103.xx. That was my best run of the day. Oh well, once I get this clutch figured out I know I can do better..

03-27-04

First time at a track in Albuquerque, NM

The altitude is killer here. Compared to my best E.T. at Seattle, I've lost a full second off my E.T. We're sitting at ~5,300 ft. here, compared to Pacific Raceway being near sea-level. The Density Altitude usually sits around 7-8,000 ft.!