RAPID
Nitro Member
2007 54th ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF DRAG RACING
On Friday the 24th of August 2007 the Nitro Madness team left Waukee to head over to the biggest Nostalgia Event in the country. Not only the biggest, and baddest, it is also the longest running drag racing event in North America. It is the event that all drag racers hope to be invited to each and every year. This year was no exception to the trend. 6-fuel Altereds, 4-Nostalgia Nitro Funnycars, Pro-Mods, Nostalgia Nitro FED, Nitro Funnycars, Nitro top fuel cars, wheel standers, jets, Alky Funnycars. There was something here at the event for everybody to love! It was a fantastic event with perfect weather to match.
Most of the cars made 1-run Friday night and then 2-more runs on Saturday evening in front of a huge crowd. I have no idea how many people attended but it was a packed house for sure. I got to see a ton of friends on Friday evening and all day long on Saturday. I was given a number of great DVD’s and Chris from the Classis Funnycar board even brought me some homemade BBQ sauce to try out. I had friends from the Nitro-Mater there. It seemed like everyone into Nostalgia racing stopped by. We have hung out with the Nanook and Rat Trap guys for the last couple of weeks. What a fun group to be around. Most everyone knows the Nanook car needed some repairs after a minor wall tap at the World Fuel Altered Nationals. How many other teams could locate a chassis guy, and have the car repaired and back together in less than a week? Very few, especially when you consider they are 1800 miles from home and their own race shop. My hat is off to them for an incredible job along with Don Speer who owns the chassis shop that completed the repairs.
Friday it rained on us all morning and for 2-hours of the 3-hour trip. The last hour it turned dry and cloudy. Saturday was sunny and clear all day. Scott and the guys had left early Friday morning, while Laura, Mike and I left home around noon. When we arrived at the track, the car was still in the trailer while waiting to see what the weather had in store. After checking in with the guys and being told by Scott he wanted to pass on racing next weekend at Mo-Kan against the Outlaw Fuel Altered group from Texas, Laura and I went visiting some of our friends. I have to add Pappy, my crew guy who got hurt in a starting line accident at the WFAN’s last weekend, came to the races to do what he could on the car. It was a cool deal to have him there. The whole team seemed more at ease with his presence.
It seems like no matter how early we arrive at the track, and how ready the car is back at the shop, I find myself working right up until the last couple of minutes before a run to make sure everything is done and ready to rock. The weather was changing pretty quickly as the evening progressed. I checked the weather right before the run. It was down to 3020 feet of corrected air with 63% humidity. I picked the main pill I wanted to run for these conditions and buttoned up the fuel system. We pulled some timing out and went up to the line to see what the track would hold. At the World Series everything is bigger and wilder than any other venue we attend. I was match racing our friends, Ted Elrod and crew, who run the Killing Time altered out of Kansas City, Mo. He has all the latest pieces on the car. Earlier this year you might remember we split the races 2 and 2 at KCIR. I knew he could run hard.
Ted and I were fired up and both did nice long burnouts. I have been adding fuel to ours right at the hit lately so as a result of that the car is really putting some fuel out the pipes. I rolled thru the water in high gear and let the car move up about 10-feet further and whack the throttle. The rpm’s snap up, ease out of the throttle and catch it when it sounds right. I glance at the shift light which has a digital tach built in from Autometer; it reads 7200 and let it ride there as the car boils the tires. Off the throttle and roll to a stop. Our car has a Lencodrive so when I stop with the hand brake, I pull the air shifter button back up to put it into low, push in the trans-brake button to stop the trans from spinning, release the hand brake, and then move the reverser lever from back to forward. When I release the button, the car starts backing up and I get time to wave at the crowd and watch the fuel vapors from the headers mix with all the tire smoke. I have a ways to go before I have to worry about where it is in the groove, so this is a good time to look things over while just staying in the center of the lane. I make sure the chute levers are in the proper place, wave at the crowd and back up, who says us fuel altered guys can’t multi-task?
Since Pappy was not very mobile, and our 2nd back up man, KB, was having some back trouble I asked Gloria Hough from the Nanook team to back me up. That was pretty cool, one of the most famous of all time AA/FA family member backing the Nitro Madness car up. It was neat to be competing on the same track as those cars. I lit the pre-stage, and then Ted moves in. I always make it a point to know what the set-up in the other car is. If it is a clutch I will give them plenty of time to bring the rpm up before I roll on in. If it is an automatic I just courtesy stage with them and go down on my throttle a little ways. We have determined that our car enjoys a lower RPM launch with this converter we are running in it. Ted has a 2-step on his car. So even though he has a pedal clutch, he doesn’t rev up to stage until he has both lights on. Then he goes to the floor and the 2-step keeps the RPM down while his foot is on the floor. This is making big boost, as the blades are open, and has worked well in the past for him. We are both in and the light flashes. I release the trans-brake button, foot to the floor and congratulate myself for remembering not to be distracted by the divider board on the tree. A few years ago Ricky Ruiz and I both sat there thinking the tree malfunctioned since neither of us could see all the bulbs on due the divider board the bracket guys use. Strange what you have time to think about during a run isn’t it. Anyway, our car has been pulling the front tires 8-12 inches and carrying them out there while going straight as a string. I am being pushed back in the seat, so I can feel it is on a good pass even this early in the run. I am just reaching to shift by engine sound, and the shift light flashes right before I push the air shifter button. I guess at least my feeling on when to shift and the shift light are in agreement with each other. Now it is really trucking, and I watch the 1000-foot cones go by, the engine is screaming the car feels alive and is throwing itself down the track with me just enjoying the feeling. Heck, I might as well enjoy the feeling, as the coupe body doesn’t let you look around and enjoy the scenery along the way. I see the finish line cones, shove both chute levers, and have a few seconds more of the high speed rush before the chutes hit. The “BOTH” chute levers comment was for my buddy Steve, driver of the Nanook who only hits one sometimes. Sorry buddy, my story so everybody goes under the bus sometime. When the chutes hit, it is time to get back to work stopping the beast. Ease on the brakes to keep it from bouncing, judge the distance to the last turnout. I like to leave the engine running as long as possible as that helps cool the trans by keeping the fluid circulating. When the time looks about right, I pull the fuel shut off; the car picks up speed as the engine leans and gains rpm then dies. It makes the last turnout and coasts off to the side to make room for Ted. The safety crew comes up and looks for my A-OK signal. They hang around and help me get the R3 device off. I thank them each and every time for being there. They spend all day dressed in the heavy safety suits and gear just in case a racer needs them. It isn’t an easy job. Most often I just wait in the car for the guys to come get me. When they arrive the power gets turned off, the air bottle on the car is turned off and fire pins reinstalled for the trip back to the pits. Most times they know what I ran, and this time Pappy said, congrats you just went a 6.39! That is a new team record and I decide to wait to see the time slip for myself before I am convinced. Yep, he called it right. It was 6.39 @ 215 MPH. Big grins on the whole teams face for that lap.
Back in the pits we decide to leak it, and I want to see the plugs before we put it away for the night. It all checks out perfect, so off to the motel for a pizza dinner and hot tub soaking.
I was out voted, I wanted to head to the track around 10AM but all the girls and Mike wanted some extra swimming time. Guess who won that one? Around 12:30PM we arrive at the track and get to work. With the pit spot set up, the car serviced we have some time to go visiting again. I went down and talked with Tom Motry and Larry, Luke and the guys. We were pitted beside the Chicago Fire and spent a lot of time with them as well. It seemed like all weekend I was down talking with Brian Hope or he was up visiting with us. Dave Hough came up often. I had to go to Nanook’s pit to visit with Linda, Gloria and Rick though. Linda was watching her baby, the car; and enjoying having her family with her at the track. I could get to like this night racing stuff; once the car is done there is time to see your friends for a while. The place was already packed and the crowd just kept growing. I bet there were 50-kids who sat in our car and most all of them got their pictures taken by family members. Scott Bessey and his sister came into the pits with some photos of the car and their Nitro Gathering Containers. When we warmed the car up, they filled 3-jars with fumes. He has promised a report this winter when they open them.
Saturday night it is almost impossible to get the car to the lanes, the pits were so full of fans. It was 8PM Ted and I had swapped lanes for this run so we were in the right lane this time. A pair of long World Series style burnouts and we are staged and ready. I just know he has plans of nailing my hide this time. I launch first and practically stand on the up in the car I am on the throttle so hard. The car feels good, just as it is time to reach up to shift it, the shift light goes crazy,,,flashing and dancing around. I just chuckled and thought to myself it lasted longer than I thought it might, right out there on the supercharger. I listen to the engine tone, and shift into high. Watching for the finish line, expecting Ted to come around me as he has a great top end charge in his car. It doesn’t happen and we win round 2! The incredible news is the car just ran another career best 6.34 @ 214 MPH! Wow the day can end right now, and I wouldn’t care. The car is responding to my fuel changes and is clean and dry on the top end. It had a little fuel fire in the pipes, the safety guys handled by snuffing it out. The team arrives with the news Bret Kepner has advised the crowd that this is another new record for us, 2-runs in a row. He has the crowd going wild at all the action they are seeing tonight. As an added bonus Bob Fey is here announcing with Bret and T-Bone. Man what a line up in the tower.
As we are waiting for the finals to start I can hear Bob Frey and Bret talking. Bob said something about, “Given the choice, he wouldn’t get out of the electric chair if it meant he had to drive a fuel altered.” They talked the class up pretty well, I was glad I got a chance to listen before the run. While we were in the lanes I got a chance to talk to Del Worsham and Jeff Arend. They both have driven Fiats in their past. Jeff mentioned he read about Pappy getting hurt on-line. I thought that was pretty cool of him to come over and check on him.
We heard a number of cars ahead of us not get down the track. It was 11PM and the dew was heavy. Most of the time, if they keep cars going down the track it will stay pretty decent even if everything else is dew covered. On the final burnout everything was smoking but the door handles on our car! They weren’t smoking because we don’t have any. I had changed the fuel system a little more hoping to make it 3-record runs in a row. At the hit I felt the car wasn’t making a hard move and about 20-feet into the run I felt the rear slicks start to quiver. I knew it was going to start spinning any second so rather than lift I stuck it in high gear. I could feel it go soft and the tires stayed planted. I was just sure Ted was going to get this one. It is funny how soft this run felt compared to a normal one. It ran 217 mph out the back door, but only 6.73 ET. There isn’t a heck of a lot of difference in the numbers, but a world of difference in the feeling in the car.
With our 3-round wins we were crowned the winner in the AA/FA class. It is cool to win a prestigious event like this one. It sure made our season. Scott and Laura Gardner put together a fantastic event for the fans, and managed to make all us drivers feel like we were a part of something special by doing tower interviews and remote web interviews all weekend long. My friends the 1800 Entertainment guys were everywhere videoing and snapping photos. If you are a drag racing fan, this is a must attend event.
I hope you liked my “What I did Last Weekend” Story,
Rapid
On Friday the 24th of August 2007 the Nitro Madness team left Waukee to head over to the biggest Nostalgia Event in the country. Not only the biggest, and baddest, it is also the longest running drag racing event in North America. It is the event that all drag racers hope to be invited to each and every year. This year was no exception to the trend. 6-fuel Altereds, 4-Nostalgia Nitro Funnycars, Pro-Mods, Nostalgia Nitro FED, Nitro Funnycars, Nitro top fuel cars, wheel standers, jets, Alky Funnycars. There was something here at the event for everybody to love! It was a fantastic event with perfect weather to match.
Most of the cars made 1-run Friday night and then 2-more runs on Saturday evening in front of a huge crowd. I have no idea how many people attended but it was a packed house for sure. I got to see a ton of friends on Friday evening and all day long on Saturday. I was given a number of great DVD’s and Chris from the Classis Funnycar board even brought me some homemade BBQ sauce to try out. I had friends from the Nitro-Mater there. It seemed like everyone into Nostalgia racing stopped by. We have hung out with the Nanook and Rat Trap guys for the last couple of weeks. What a fun group to be around. Most everyone knows the Nanook car needed some repairs after a minor wall tap at the World Fuel Altered Nationals. How many other teams could locate a chassis guy, and have the car repaired and back together in less than a week? Very few, especially when you consider they are 1800 miles from home and their own race shop. My hat is off to them for an incredible job along with Don Speer who owns the chassis shop that completed the repairs.
Friday it rained on us all morning and for 2-hours of the 3-hour trip. The last hour it turned dry and cloudy. Saturday was sunny and clear all day. Scott and the guys had left early Friday morning, while Laura, Mike and I left home around noon. When we arrived at the track, the car was still in the trailer while waiting to see what the weather had in store. After checking in with the guys and being told by Scott he wanted to pass on racing next weekend at Mo-Kan against the Outlaw Fuel Altered group from Texas, Laura and I went visiting some of our friends. I have to add Pappy, my crew guy who got hurt in a starting line accident at the WFAN’s last weekend, came to the races to do what he could on the car. It was a cool deal to have him there. The whole team seemed more at ease with his presence.
It seems like no matter how early we arrive at the track, and how ready the car is back at the shop, I find myself working right up until the last couple of minutes before a run to make sure everything is done and ready to rock. The weather was changing pretty quickly as the evening progressed. I checked the weather right before the run. It was down to 3020 feet of corrected air with 63% humidity. I picked the main pill I wanted to run for these conditions and buttoned up the fuel system. We pulled some timing out and went up to the line to see what the track would hold. At the World Series everything is bigger and wilder than any other venue we attend. I was match racing our friends, Ted Elrod and crew, who run the Killing Time altered out of Kansas City, Mo. He has all the latest pieces on the car. Earlier this year you might remember we split the races 2 and 2 at KCIR. I knew he could run hard.
Ted and I were fired up and both did nice long burnouts. I have been adding fuel to ours right at the hit lately so as a result of that the car is really putting some fuel out the pipes. I rolled thru the water in high gear and let the car move up about 10-feet further and whack the throttle. The rpm’s snap up, ease out of the throttle and catch it when it sounds right. I glance at the shift light which has a digital tach built in from Autometer; it reads 7200 and let it ride there as the car boils the tires. Off the throttle and roll to a stop. Our car has a Lencodrive so when I stop with the hand brake, I pull the air shifter button back up to put it into low, push in the trans-brake button to stop the trans from spinning, release the hand brake, and then move the reverser lever from back to forward. When I release the button, the car starts backing up and I get time to wave at the crowd and watch the fuel vapors from the headers mix with all the tire smoke. I have a ways to go before I have to worry about where it is in the groove, so this is a good time to look things over while just staying in the center of the lane. I make sure the chute levers are in the proper place, wave at the crowd and back up, who says us fuel altered guys can’t multi-task?
Since Pappy was not very mobile, and our 2nd back up man, KB, was having some back trouble I asked Gloria Hough from the Nanook team to back me up. That was pretty cool, one of the most famous of all time AA/FA family member backing the Nitro Madness car up. It was neat to be competing on the same track as those cars. I lit the pre-stage, and then Ted moves in. I always make it a point to know what the set-up in the other car is. If it is a clutch I will give them plenty of time to bring the rpm up before I roll on in. If it is an automatic I just courtesy stage with them and go down on my throttle a little ways. We have determined that our car enjoys a lower RPM launch with this converter we are running in it. Ted has a 2-step on his car. So even though he has a pedal clutch, he doesn’t rev up to stage until he has both lights on. Then he goes to the floor and the 2-step keeps the RPM down while his foot is on the floor. This is making big boost, as the blades are open, and has worked well in the past for him. We are both in and the light flashes. I release the trans-brake button, foot to the floor and congratulate myself for remembering not to be distracted by the divider board on the tree. A few years ago Ricky Ruiz and I both sat there thinking the tree malfunctioned since neither of us could see all the bulbs on due the divider board the bracket guys use. Strange what you have time to think about during a run isn’t it. Anyway, our car has been pulling the front tires 8-12 inches and carrying them out there while going straight as a string. I am being pushed back in the seat, so I can feel it is on a good pass even this early in the run. I am just reaching to shift by engine sound, and the shift light flashes right before I push the air shifter button. I guess at least my feeling on when to shift and the shift light are in agreement with each other. Now it is really trucking, and I watch the 1000-foot cones go by, the engine is screaming the car feels alive and is throwing itself down the track with me just enjoying the feeling. Heck, I might as well enjoy the feeling, as the coupe body doesn’t let you look around and enjoy the scenery along the way. I see the finish line cones, shove both chute levers, and have a few seconds more of the high speed rush before the chutes hit. The “BOTH” chute levers comment was for my buddy Steve, driver of the Nanook who only hits one sometimes. Sorry buddy, my story so everybody goes under the bus sometime. When the chutes hit, it is time to get back to work stopping the beast. Ease on the brakes to keep it from bouncing, judge the distance to the last turnout. I like to leave the engine running as long as possible as that helps cool the trans by keeping the fluid circulating. When the time looks about right, I pull the fuel shut off; the car picks up speed as the engine leans and gains rpm then dies. It makes the last turnout and coasts off to the side to make room for Ted. The safety crew comes up and looks for my A-OK signal. They hang around and help me get the R3 device off. I thank them each and every time for being there. They spend all day dressed in the heavy safety suits and gear just in case a racer needs them. It isn’t an easy job. Most often I just wait in the car for the guys to come get me. When they arrive the power gets turned off, the air bottle on the car is turned off and fire pins reinstalled for the trip back to the pits. Most times they know what I ran, and this time Pappy said, congrats you just went a 6.39! That is a new team record and I decide to wait to see the time slip for myself before I am convinced. Yep, he called it right. It was 6.39 @ 215 MPH. Big grins on the whole teams face for that lap.
Back in the pits we decide to leak it, and I want to see the plugs before we put it away for the night. It all checks out perfect, so off to the motel for a pizza dinner and hot tub soaking.
I was out voted, I wanted to head to the track around 10AM but all the girls and Mike wanted some extra swimming time. Guess who won that one? Around 12:30PM we arrive at the track and get to work. With the pit spot set up, the car serviced we have some time to go visiting again. I went down and talked with Tom Motry and Larry, Luke and the guys. We were pitted beside the Chicago Fire and spent a lot of time with them as well. It seemed like all weekend I was down talking with Brian Hope or he was up visiting with us. Dave Hough came up often. I had to go to Nanook’s pit to visit with Linda, Gloria and Rick though. Linda was watching her baby, the car; and enjoying having her family with her at the track. I could get to like this night racing stuff; once the car is done there is time to see your friends for a while. The place was already packed and the crowd just kept growing. I bet there were 50-kids who sat in our car and most all of them got their pictures taken by family members. Scott Bessey and his sister came into the pits with some photos of the car and their Nitro Gathering Containers. When we warmed the car up, they filled 3-jars with fumes. He has promised a report this winter when they open them.
Saturday night it is almost impossible to get the car to the lanes, the pits were so full of fans. It was 8PM Ted and I had swapped lanes for this run so we were in the right lane this time. A pair of long World Series style burnouts and we are staged and ready. I just know he has plans of nailing my hide this time. I launch first and practically stand on the up in the car I am on the throttle so hard. The car feels good, just as it is time to reach up to shift it, the shift light goes crazy,,,flashing and dancing around. I just chuckled and thought to myself it lasted longer than I thought it might, right out there on the supercharger. I listen to the engine tone, and shift into high. Watching for the finish line, expecting Ted to come around me as he has a great top end charge in his car. It doesn’t happen and we win round 2! The incredible news is the car just ran another career best 6.34 @ 214 MPH! Wow the day can end right now, and I wouldn’t care. The car is responding to my fuel changes and is clean and dry on the top end. It had a little fuel fire in the pipes, the safety guys handled by snuffing it out. The team arrives with the news Bret Kepner has advised the crowd that this is another new record for us, 2-runs in a row. He has the crowd going wild at all the action they are seeing tonight. As an added bonus Bob Fey is here announcing with Bret and T-Bone. Man what a line up in the tower.
As we are waiting for the finals to start I can hear Bob Frey and Bret talking. Bob said something about, “Given the choice, he wouldn’t get out of the electric chair if it meant he had to drive a fuel altered.” They talked the class up pretty well, I was glad I got a chance to listen before the run. While we were in the lanes I got a chance to talk to Del Worsham and Jeff Arend. They both have driven Fiats in their past. Jeff mentioned he read about Pappy getting hurt on-line. I thought that was pretty cool of him to come over and check on him.
We heard a number of cars ahead of us not get down the track. It was 11PM and the dew was heavy. Most of the time, if they keep cars going down the track it will stay pretty decent even if everything else is dew covered. On the final burnout everything was smoking but the door handles on our car! They weren’t smoking because we don’t have any. I had changed the fuel system a little more hoping to make it 3-record runs in a row. At the hit I felt the car wasn’t making a hard move and about 20-feet into the run I felt the rear slicks start to quiver. I knew it was going to start spinning any second so rather than lift I stuck it in high gear. I could feel it go soft and the tires stayed planted. I was just sure Ted was going to get this one. It is funny how soft this run felt compared to a normal one. It ran 217 mph out the back door, but only 6.73 ET. There isn’t a heck of a lot of difference in the numbers, but a world of difference in the feeling in the car.
With our 3-round wins we were crowned the winner in the AA/FA class. It is cool to win a prestigious event like this one. It sure made our season. Scott and Laura Gardner put together a fantastic event for the fans, and managed to make all us drivers feel like we were a part of something special by doing tower interviews and remote web interviews all weekend long. My friends the 1800 Entertainment guys were everywhere videoing and snapping photos. If you are a drag racing fan, this is a must attend event.
I hope you liked my “What I did Last Weekend” Story,
Rapid
