REDGAR
06-10-2008, 09:59 PM
Race report NMCA Late Model Shootout LSX Showdown
Grab a drink and half hour.....this is my biggest race ....ever
When the NMCA announced it was coming back to Atco and Kooks Custom Headers would title a mixed index like at Memphis last year...I was driven. The huge disappointing loss I suffered in Memphis last year when gave up the stripe in the first round left me disgusted. I was determined that this race for me would be different.
So we start with a three day race wrap up.
Day 1 June 6 Happy Birthday
I took the day off from work. Went out to pick up my car from the Vette Doctors. They freshened my 4L60E on short notice. I even surprised them when I asked for them to wait for the new RevXtreme converter and billet pulleys. I asked them to put in an ATI super damper too. I then topped that off with a request for custom 3 inch exhaust I bought from red98c5 with Spintech mufflers. All that and still I am ready in time to run the full weekend. I hustle the car down to Atco and make two all out, shallow staged test passes in the heat. Spun the tires first one and ran 10.74 at 128.7. DA had to be about 2000. Next pass hooked better and was 10.65 with very small spin. I then parked it and ran to the Stone Pony where my daughter took to see The Spill Canvas. Got home at 1 AM.
Day 2 June 7
So the plan is to slow the car to 11.0. Deep staging, fuel and 95 degree heat with high humidity should get me the rest of the way. I make a test pass and decide to implement a shift change I talked over with Carmen the night before. I then run in the true street competition. True Street is a class where all the cars prove street worthiness by going on a 30 mile cruise then come back and make three hot lap passes and your average ET determines the winner. They have an overall winner and a winner for each full second interval so I was honing in on 11.00. I place the car three different places on the starting line to work the average. 11.04, 11.14 and 10.88 for an 11.02 average. All three runs had some spin as the track was 130 degrees and greasy. Came in second....someone went 11.01. The gave us this class for FREE entry. Thank you very much.
We then have our one and only qualifier in for the LSX Showdown to place us on a ladder. 23 entries in the LSX class. Nice variety of Vettes, Fbody, GTO’s, and a G8. I place the car on the line and let it rip trying to run the number. I was having trouble hooking so I dropped a click on the front shocks. As Emeril says, BAM!. Car hooks like mad. I knew I had to lift to stay positive and here on the radio..11.01. If this were an NA Shootout race, I would be lucky to be qualified 5th with that so I was hoping for a #1 spot here. Get back home and look at the qualifying and I was 2nd as number 1 went dead-on. I was disappointed at the time but turned that frown upside down later.
Day 3 June 8
Race day and the excitement is flowing. I made sure I stayed hydrated and fed as I almost passed out Saturday in the heat. I put some vinyl on the roof which is transparent to try and hold back the sun. I think I need one of them solid roofs. First round I get Jay McCardle. I went in deep and was able to take the win when Jay was off his index and moved on to round 2. Last night, I brought my partner and nemesis Steve Wells home with me. Fed him his first rice and beans and let shower and sleep at my house so he is fresh for today. We would face each other in round two if we each got past round 1. Well Steve did get past round 1 and we were paired for round 2. A little trash took and then we decided to take it in a different direction. We decided to partner up on the cash winnings that either driver that advances wins. The guy took a day off from work and weekend day off from his family to keep me in the points hunt in the NA Shootout series so I thought it would be a good gesture. It was the least I could do before I put him on the trailer. He is a tough competitor and we were both holding and we both new it. Double breakout would be the only way this would go. We both wanted to go deep. They were not holding the tree. This would be hard to do with a quick tree and it was proven by both having late lights. He led me by a tenth at the tree. Top end; it's a whole different ball game. The Sled had too much power for the Bullet and we both went under. He went 11.9-3 and I went 10.944. at 115. I took the stripe .015 and but he broke to by more. So I went back to his trailer and took all his gas to help add weight to the car…thanks bud. Round three, we thought I had a bye but we did the math wrong and I had to face the G8 raced by a Super Chevy Magazine writer. I went deep and got a tree advantage and carried that to the win with an 11.10 at 126.44 all out with a decent spin where my 60’ was off by over a tenth. Now we were down to three cars and this is where the frown came upside down and the number 2 qualifier helped me out. I got the bye into the final…woohoo! I seemed to have lost the time slip in a sea of slips but thing the single was 11.04. Now to the final against John Mondrous with a 402 Camaro which happens to also be tuned by Carmen at the Vette Doctors. It was a pretty nice deal for the docs to have two cars in the final. He was on the trans brake and I deep staged. He had just gone .002 on the tree. I went deep and cut a .119 John was off his 10.50 index running 10.705. I went 11.038 @ 118.66.
I have to say, this is the biggest win I have ever had since I started racing some seven years ago. National stage, big prize money and making up for going out first round in Memphis last year. Won the big cash prize, split with my partner and won an LSX Block and Jacket and plaque. Most of all, some coverage for the Corvette and Corvette Challenge.
I went on to the king of the hill with the Mopar and the Ford. The Ford got the bye and I race the Hemi. The dials were set right on the boards and he was to leave with 1.5 ahead of me with a 12.50 dial. We both went deep then I watched for him to leave. My yellows flashed and he was not gone. I was puzzled and figure I better go. I go and as soon as I go I see red. There is no way that can be right. Turns out my time slip says I was .604 on the tree but lost going red. George from Kooks was on it immediately and Steve went up see what happened. Turns out crosstalk was not on the yellows did not account for the indexes. Rerun I got my lucky break of he day. I was late but closer on the index and took the win by .04 with an 11.061 with a little tap. I then go for the supercharger against the nicest Mod motor guy. I noticed a large amount of win stickers on the back of the glass so I knew this was no rook. He was better on the tree, I was exhausted by then and my bad tree kept getting worse. I went .130 to his .068. We get to the finish side by side in another close race and I see his light go one. On the radio I hear he went under by .020 and I go under by .023. Great race. Great Day. I am happy.
Big thanks to Carmen and Dennis, The Vette Doctors.
Thanks go to all that have contributed to this project.
RevXtreme, Blue and Green, American Racing Headers, Corvette Major, Boweryboy, East Coast Supercharging, Rolling Thunderz, Insanity Racing, Mr. Silver Bullet and there are more but I am running out of battery here
.......
Grab a drink and half hour.....this is my biggest race ....ever
When the NMCA announced it was coming back to Atco and Kooks Custom Headers would title a mixed index like at Memphis last year...I was driven. The huge disappointing loss I suffered in Memphis last year when gave up the stripe in the first round left me disgusted. I was determined that this race for me would be different.
So we start with a three day race wrap up.
Day 1 June 6 Happy Birthday
I took the day off from work. Went out to pick up my car from the Vette Doctors. They freshened my 4L60E on short notice. I even surprised them when I asked for them to wait for the new RevXtreme converter and billet pulleys. I asked them to put in an ATI super damper too. I then topped that off with a request for custom 3 inch exhaust I bought from red98c5 with Spintech mufflers. All that and still I am ready in time to run the full weekend. I hustle the car down to Atco and make two all out, shallow staged test passes in the heat. Spun the tires first one and ran 10.74 at 128.7. DA had to be about 2000. Next pass hooked better and was 10.65 with very small spin. I then parked it and ran to the Stone Pony where my daughter took to see The Spill Canvas. Got home at 1 AM.
Day 2 June 7
So the plan is to slow the car to 11.0. Deep staging, fuel and 95 degree heat with high humidity should get me the rest of the way. I make a test pass and decide to implement a shift change I talked over with Carmen the night before. I then run in the true street competition. True Street is a class where all the cars prove street worthiness by going on a 30 mile cruise then come back and make three hot lap passes and your average ET determines the winner. They have an overall winner and a winner for each full second interval so I was honing in on 11.00. I place the car three different places on the starting line to work the average. 11.04, 11.14 and 10.88 for an 11.02 average. All three runs had some spin as the track was 130 degrees and greasy. Came in second....someone went 11.01. The gave us this class for FREE entry. Thank you very much.
We then have our one and only qualifier in for the LSX Showdown to place us on a ladder. 23 entries in the LSX class. Nice variety of Vettes, Fbody, GTO’s, and a G8. I place the car on the line and let it rip trying to run the number. I was having trouble hooking so I dropped a click on the front shocks. As Emeril says, BAM!. Car hooks like mad. I knew I had to lift to stay positive and here on the radio..11.01. If this were an NA Shootout race, I would be lucky to be qualified 5th with that so I was hoping for a #1 spot here. Get back home and look at the qualifying and I was 2nd as number 1 went dead-on. I was disappointed at the time but turned that frown upside down later.
Day 3 June 8
Race day and the excitement is flowing. I made sure I stayed hydrated and fed as I almost passed out Saturday in the heat. I put some vinyl on the roof which is transparent to try and hold back the sun. I think I need one of them solid roofs. First round I get Jay McCardle. I went in deep and was able to take the win when Jay was off his index and moved on to round 2. Last night, I brought my partner and nemesis Steve Wells home with me. Fed him his first rice and beans and let shower and sleep at my house so he is fresh for today. We would face each other in round two if we each got past round 1. Well Steve did get past round 1 and we were paired for round 2. A little trash took and then we decided to take it in a different direction. We decided to partner up on the cash winnings that either driver that advances wins. The guy took a day off from work and weekend day off from his family to keep me in the points hunt in the NA Shootout series so I thought it would be a good gesture. It was the least I could do before I put him on the trailer. He is a tough competitor and we were both holding and we both new it. Double breakout would be the only way this would go. We both wanted to go deep. They were not holding the tree. This would be hard to do with a quick tree and it was proven by both having late lights. He led me by a tenth at the tree. Top end; it's a whole different ball game. The Sled had too much power for the Bullet and we both went under. He went 11.9-3 and I went 10.944. at 115. I took the stripe .015 and but he broke to by more. So I went back to his trailer and took all his gas to help add weight to the car…thanks bud. Round three, we thought I had a bye but we did the math wrong and I had to face the G8 raced by a Super Chevy Magazine writer. I went deep and got a tree advantage and carried that to the win with an 11.10 at 126.44 all out with a decent spin where my 60’ was off by over a tenth. Now we were down to three cars and this is where the frown came upside down and the number 2 qualifier helped me out. I got the bye into the final…woohoo! I seemed to have lost the time slip in a sea of slips but thing the single was 11.04. Now to the final against John Mondrous with a 402 Camaro which happens to also be tuned by Carmen at the Vette Doctors. It was a pretty nice deal for the docs to have two cars in the final. He was on the trans brake and I deep staged. He had just gone .002 on the tree. I went deep and cut a .119 John was off his 10.50 index running 10.705. I went 11.038 @ 118.66.
I have to say, this is the biggest win I have ever had since I started racing some seven years ago. National stage, big prize money and making up for going out first round in Memphis last year. Won the big cash prize, split with my partner and won an LSX Block and Jacket and plaque. Most of all, some coverage for the Corvette and Corvette Challenge.
I went on to the king of the hill with the Mopar and the Ford. The Ford got the bye and I race the Hemi. The dials were set right on the boards and he was to leave with 1.5 ahead of me with a 12.50 dial. We both went deep then I watched for him to leave. My yellows flashed and he was not gone. I was puzzled and figure I better go. I go and as soon as I go I see red. There is no way that can be right. Turns out my time slip says I was .604 on the tree but lost going red. George from Kooks was on it immediately and Steve went up see what happened. Turns out crosstalk was not on the yellows did not account for the indexes. Rerun I got my lucky break of he day. I was late but closer on the index and took the win by .04 with an 11.061 with a little tap. I then go for the supercharger against the nicest Mod motor guy. I noticed a large amount of win stickers on the back of the glass so I knew this was no rook. He was better on the tree, I was exhausted by then and my bad tree kept getting worse. I went .130 to his .068. We get to the finish side by side in another close race and I see his light go one. On the radio I hear he went under by .020 and I go under by .023. Great race. Great Day. I am happy.
Big thanks to Carmen and Dennis, The Vette Doctors.
Thanks go to all that have contributed to this project.
RevXtreme, Blue and Green, American Racing Headers, Corvette Major, Boweryboy, East Coast Supercharging, Rolling Thunderz, Insanity Racing, Mr. Silver Bullet and there are more but I am running out of battery here
.......