My Day At The Races! (1 Viewer)

[DrRocket]

I've been following this sport since my uncle got me hooked on it in the early sixties. I had the pleasure of watching the funny car class and pro stock class begin and evolve. But I've always watched, and never raced.

That all changed today.

I got a new job last August, and one of my new co-workers races an ET Plymouth Satellite. I decided that I'd go to the last race of the year at Rock Falls Raceway (Al Corda's strip) to see him race. I knew they'd be running a street eliminator class, and was toying with the idea of maybe trying it out. After talking with my friend, (Didn't require much arm bending.) I decided to enter.

WOW!

I will never again be content to just sit in the stands and watch! In spite of the fact I made major rookie mistakes (Rolling past the beams on my second time trial. DOH!!! Kudos to the starting crew at Rock Falls. They were very patient with this tyro.) and generally stinking up the place with my reaction times, I had an absolute GAS!!!!!!

Some things I discovered:
1. Despite what all the armchair quarterbacks on this board may say when criticizing the pro racers such as Ashley Force for their reaction times, cutting a good light isn't NEARLY as easy as they would have you believe.

2. it's interesting to have a much faster car blow by you at the finish line. You see them in the mirror, and think "I've got to stay in it a bit longer" only to break out.

3. Full face helmets suck. My glasses kept fogging over.

4. This is FUN!!!!!

I am now looking at that 1979 S10 350v8 conversion project in my garage with a whole new outlook.

My trusty steed, my 2001 Buick Regal in the staging lanes. As my nickname (DrRocket) would suggest, Oldsmobiles were my favorite car, but they don't sell those any more, so I'm a Buford boy now.

Waiting for the first time trial. (Check out that neat Vista-Cruiser in the back ground!)

Last race of the day, a first round loss in the consolation race.

I got a total of 5 runs, my best reaction time was .343

In my defense, each reaction time was better than the previous one.

The Buford did pretty good. With 173,000 miles on it, my better half was a bit concerned about the idea. But the car came through with flying colors, turning a best time of 16.699 in the left lane. It's a 2001, with a naturally aspirated 3.8 V6, and it never missed a beat, running strong all day. Not too bad for a luxo-barge.

My final reaction is "What took me so long to do this????"

 

[John D.]

Glad you decided to "check out the water." Good to have you join in on the fun. Hope you get as hooked as the tens of thousands of us are. There's always room for more in the "pool." Drag racing might be a cool thing to watch, but it really is a participant sport. Sort of like golf. I always wonder how many of the 10-20-30 thousand whatever fans sitting in the stands at a major drag race actually realize they too can join in on the fun, or have actually done so.

John DiBartolomeo
Drag Racing Action Magazine

 

[FINMAN]

I started last year running my 57 in the Nostalgia events at NED. My best time so far was 14.4 @ 98 mph. My best light was last week with a .009 . I did leave when the second yellow came on. But my quest for running high 13's wasnt to be as it just wouldnt go into second gear. The mystery of the shift arm out of alignment still bothers me. I didnt find any reason for it. Its working fine now after adjustment. Thats racing

I am building a 57 Hardtop specifically for running at the track. Powered by a 327, m21 4 speed, 12 bolt posi.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Welcome David, glad you had a blast. And your #1 point is SOO true, after trying yourself, it gives you a all new respect for those that cut great ET's week after week.

 

[topdigger]

AWESOME! Good for you!

 

[James]

Nothing like actually racing!after not racing jr. dragsters for over almost 10 yrs now i finally got an 84 mustang coupe. took it to Gainesville yesterday and ran 11.70 at 118.08 mph. Not bad for a stock block 347 =) on footbrake. Need to hook the transbrake up and spray that 100 shot now.


The link is to a pic of my car yesterday

PhotoReflect - Top Fuel Photos

 

[DrRocket]

OK, time for an update.

I've been to two more races this year at The Rock.

The first was a "Wally Fun Race" run on May 30th.

I've said to friends that I'm always learning something at these events, and boy did I learn something at this one.

In the first round in Street Eliminator, I lined up against a guy racing his girlfriend's Scion Sedan. I had written a dial of 17.05 on the windshield. I noted his dial of 16.75. So, I figured I'll get the head start, right? Well, I staged, and waited, and waited, and waited, and then was absolutely astonished to see him take off first. I thought "Wow! He must have red lit BIG TIME!" Then, I was even more astonished to see my side of the tree dropping! "WHAT!!!!" In spite of all this, I still managed a respectable (For me.) .10 light. Needless to say, I lost big time. When I picked up my time slip, I saw they had entered a 13.05 dial for me. Now, there's no way the Buford is capable of that. I took my case to the tower people, and the other racer graciously agreed to a rematch, even though he really didn't have to. (Thank you sir!! You are indeed a gentleman and a sportsman!!) I lost again in the rematch, but it was MUCH closer this time. We both broke out, be he broke out by less than I did.

Lesson learned: Check the dial in before you stage!!

Lost in the consolation race to an old gasser style '55 chevy that absolutely spanked me both on the tree and on the dial in. BUT, because I met him in the first round of the consolation race, that meant he wasn't having that great of a day either.

Fast forward to Aug 1st.

Had better luck on this day. It was another Wally Fun Race, and at Rock Falls, that means open time trials, the best thing for a rookie like me. That meant that after three full time trial runs, the next few were half passes to practice on the tree. My RT's are getting better. I can now get reliable .10's, with an occasional foray into the mid .0s After only three races, I'm pleased with that, but this time I wanted a round win really bad.

1st round in Street eliminator went to me!!

I didn't know for sure until I picked up my time slip, because I was concentrating on keeping the car in my lane and safe.

The feeling when I picked up my first winning time slip ever was indescribable!!

WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!!! YES!!!!!

Damn near got out of the car and spiked the helmet.

I rolled through the pits, handed the time slip to my blushing bride, who was keeping the log book that day, and headed right back to the staging lanes. Didn't even bother taking my helmet off until I got there, I was so cranked up.

Second round, I managed a .011 RT, and the other guy red lighted. Good thing he did, because I broke out on my 16.73 dial. (16.66 Where the hell did THAT come from????)

ANOTHER WIN!!!!!

Man!! Fat City!!

Third round, I treed a guy who was running a Chrysler 300C, and flat beat him. Not only that, I ran close to my dial in.

This meant I was in the semi-finals.

Cool.

With a bye run, there was three of us left. It was an all front-wheel-drive final. This meant a lot of fairly muscular cars were parked that day. It was my Buford, against an ought '3 Focus. A guy running a Dodge Neon (Front slicks, running consistent mid 13's) got the bye.

The Semi-Final lineup:

I raced the Focus. You can see by his dial in that this was going to be the first time I was chasing. By the time I took this photo, we'd been waiting for about 15 minutes for a massive oil cleanup. Someone scattered their motor all over the left lane finish line.

Now, I had developed what I thought was a good starting line procedure. When the starting line personell motioned us forward, I would drive around the water box, as a burnout was useless on my part. I would wait for the other racer to do their burnout, then start my roll toward the staging light. All day, I'd been trying to do the same thing everytime. And so far, it had been working. This time, the guy in the Focus did his burnout, and then rolled directly into the beams and lit both lights up. That's when I fell for the oldest trick in the drag racing world and rushed my starting line procedure that I had worked on SO carefully during the day. I rushed into the lights to try and catch up, the tree dropped, and yep. You guessed it. I red lighted. Big time. I mean -.124 worth. I remember seeing that big red bulb as I passed the tree. I got flustered and backed off almost immediatly. Mistake #2.

The semi-final race:

I'm in the left lane. (Right in the picture.) You can just make out the red bulb.

Sigh.

Like I've said, I'm learning something everytime I race. I learned this time NEVER EVER let someone rush you on the line. He lit both bulbs right away. I've since learned that was his choice, and as long as I hadn't lit any stage bulbs, I had all the time in the world to stage. (Maybe check the oil level??) Also, I learned that you should ALWAYS run out to at LEAST the 1000ft mark, no matter what, to get some race data for your records. I'm keeping a logbook of all my runs. I have all of my time slips from my first three races. What was nice was I got a trophy for placing third place in class. That was great. The guy who placed second, the yellow Neon, insisted I pick up my hardware that I wasn't aware I had coming. "You earned it!" he said.

You know what? That hardware is nice to have. My first official racing trophy and all.

But, I want more. I'm getting greedy.

I want a Street Eliminator win. I took the bait and got hooked with my first race last October. I got put on the leader with the race in May. With my taste of victory last Saturday, I'm officially in the holding tank.

As I said in my first post in this thread, I will never ever again be content with sitting in the stands and watching.

The S10 project is on hold, as I'm on the "vacation plan" at the moment. But, I still have the Buford.

The '01 Regal cut consistent 16.7 elapsed times all day,(17 runs total. I was working on the tree!) without a whisper of a complaint. We then drove home in air conditioned comfort. It's my daily driver. 197,000 miles on the odometer and all I do is hit the key and release it. It's running. Don't you ever tell me that Detroit can't build a good car.

 

[willy]

That is very cool Dr. Rocket.

Rapid Randy should be aware there is serious competition for the weekend racing updates..

 

[Reese]

Keep the updates coming.
A win is not far behind, if not, at least you had fun trying.

 

[GregM784]

Awesome job.

Remember...my motto for life.

A participant one is better than a spectator all your life.

Proud of ya!

It only gets better!

 

[DrRocket]

Bump to add pictures to the tale, and a few more details.


Thanks all!!

Greg, took a look at your web page. That's a very nice looking digger.

Bet it's fun to drive.

 

[Leon]

Awesome story .....I'm inspired !

 

[DrRocket]

Some new developments!!

Time for another update.

My record for 2010 wasn't very good. went to 5 races, and never got past second round for various reasons. Didn't race at all for 2011, and that was very frustrating. It was due to various family obligations, and the fact that the poor old Burford just isn't what she used to be. It's got over 240,00 on it. While she still runs fine, those miles are beginning to show. I didn't want to risk losing the use of it (I still need her.) by racing it.

BUT!!!

The job issues I'd been experiencing have finally worked themselves out, and I'm in a good stable position now that enables me to put more effort, both time and cash-wise into getting back to action this year.

Now, we'd (My oldest son and I.) had been working on a Chevy V8 S10 conversion.

Until about 3 weeks ago.

Then I picked this up:

A 1965 Olds F85 Cutlass 2 door post. 330 w/ a Jetaway 2 speed tranny, and 10 bolt non-posi. It doesn't look like much to most people who see it. It's a bit rusty around the rear edges behind the rear wheels, but nothing major The paint is really faded. The interior isn't pretty. But it's solid, straight, complete, and unmolested. Never been altered or hit. The glass is good and the chrome is in decent shape. It starts and runs great, and the transmission works flawlessly.

Meet our new bracket car.

I couldn't resist it. I mean, these things don't exactly come down the pike every day.

Working on it now. I want to take it out to Rockfalls by the end of June and get some baseline runs on it before we start making any changes. For now, we're just going to run the stock motor, and work on getting the suspension up to snuff. In the meantime, there's a 74 Rocket 350 and a TH350 sitting in the garage that have no idea of the plans I have for them, or they might just run off screaming in terror.

If everything works out, in a couple of years, I want to go fast enough to require a roll bar and safety harness.

Wish me luck.

 

[cdag]

Congrats David, looks like a great purchase, and a really fun project. Can't wait to see how it runs- Keep us updated, with photos of course!

 

[G'ginna]

Re: Some new developments!!

A 1965 Olds F85 Cutlass 2 door post. 330 w/ a Jetaway 2 speed tranny, and 10 bolt non-posi. It doesn't look like much to most people who see it. It's a bit rusty around the rear edges behind the rear wheels, but nothing major The paint is really faded. The interior isn't pretty. But it's solid, straight, complete, and unmolested. Never been altered or hit. The glass is good and the chrome is in decent shape. It starts and runs great, and the transmission works flawlessly.

Wish me luck.

Phheeewwwwwww!!! And here I thought you were going to be asking my husband for our '72 Monte.
Seriously, all the best to you in this!

(Like you knew about the Monte…LOL)

 

[DrRocket]

Re: Some new developments!!

Phheeewwwwwww!!! And here I thought you were going to be asking my husband for our '72 Monte.
Seriously, all the best to you in this!

(Like you knew about the Monte…LOL)

Shoot! And I was on my way with the trailer too!

Oh well, guess I'd better turn around.

 

[none]

No updates...........??
Something must be going on....unless the THRILL IS GONE !

 

[DrRocket]

Another update.

We worked on the F-85 over the course of last summer, updating the ignition, new water pump, new aluminum radiator, all new belts and hoses. We drove it around town having fun with it in general. That included a trip to the Car Craft Nationals last July.

We were getting ready to take it to Rock Falls for a test and tune last fall, and I decided I needed to inspect the brakes. That's when one of the rear wheel studs snapped as I was retorqueing the lug nuts.

Shoot! Ran outa time that weekend and never made it.

So I need to take car of that. Also, the rear seal in the tranny decided it had had enough and started to leak. Big time. Luckily I noticed it soon enough so I was able to slide a catch pan under it to contain the mess.

That was just about when ole man winter set in.

This spring, projects include making certain the rest of the wheel studs are sound. Replacing the tranny seal, and adding a Holly vacuum secondary carb-you-rettor that I've been slowly rebuilding over the winter. Also need to add an overflow catchcan for the radiator.

We should then be ready to take it for a few passes down the strip.

It'll be really nice to get back out there. It's been too long.

Can't wait!

 

[DrRocket]

More updates

Here is a photo of the Cutlass taken at last weekend's Car Craft Summer Nationals.


After over a year of work, we've finally reached a point where we can drive the car farther than 25 miles without it springing another leak of some sort, or requiring more repairs. We put about 250 trouble free miles, and didn't touch a single tool to do it!

Since the last installment, I've replaced all the tires, fixed the trainsmission leak, replaced the fuel pump, rebuilt the carb, and replaced the valve cover gaskets. I still need to put in a better catch can for the radiator overflow, and I need to come up with a better battery retainer.

This thing is a poster child for what happens to a car when you let it sit for four or five years.

There's one more major thing I want to do before racing it. The single circuit drum brake system needs upgrading. I simply don't trust what's on there now. The hoses are original, and with the single circuit system, I'd hate to cross the finish line, hit the brakes and feel the pedal go to the floor.

I purchased a disk brake upgrade system at the show that included front disk conversion, a double circuit master cylinder with proportioning valve, and a booster, all new stainless lines, and all new hoses. I got a good deal on it, and to tell the truth, I simply don't feel comfortable with the factory system, since just about all the other rubber parts have failed on me since I bought this thing.

After I install that (This weekend) it's onto a borrowed trailer, and off to Rock Falls!

 

[Jeff]

When you upgrade your radiator "catch can" plumb it so it acts like an expansion tank rather than an old catch can. The engineers learned that you could keep the radiator totally full of fluid by having the overflow feed into the bottom of the expansion tank rather than the top. By feeding into the bottom, when the radiator/engine cools back down it will suck the catch can contents back into the cooling system. Keeping the system 100% full of fluid is key to keeping things cool.

Of course you want to "vent" the top of the expansion tank to make sure "too much" excess fluid has someplace to go AND you want to make sure the expansion tank never goes dry.

My youngest son has a '66 GMC pickup that we have hot-rod'ed up ... making that conversion made a huge difference in cooling. The one thing I remember is it taking a long time to find a tank that was "the right price." I looked to see if I could post a link for you but I couldn't find it on Jeg's. Probably means I found it on Summit ... $35 to $40 for an aluminum expansion tank.

Oh, and the new ride is sweet!