Nitro Madness Passes the Test at KCIR
By Rapid Randy Baker
Nitro Madness went down to Kansas City International Raceway this past Saturday, October 7, for a few test runs. We had some things to try along with wanting to get the “Special Fuel” license required by the NHRA. The weather was perfect for this time of year. It was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. It ended up getting into the mid 80’s with only 28% humidity.
Adam and his crew came out with the Final Call Altered to work on the tune-up for Abilene, Texas, later this month. We were able to pit together so it made for a lot of fun hanging out together. If you get a chance to see these guys, do it. They are great people and have a good time running their car.
The “OFFICIAL” reason to go was to try some different things and tire pressures to help our car get through the transition where we have been struggling as of late. The car feels pretty strong and “IF” it would stay stuck to the track, I am sure it would post a very good number. Like any team who is lucky enough to run the same combo for a while, we have a few different tune-ups for various conditions. Some you just stumble onto, some you truly develop, and a few seem to work about anywhere. They have various names, “Match Race,” “In the show,” “Baseline,” “Don’t tell the car owner,” “Driver Test,” and my personal favorite, “What happens if we try this?!”
We discussed our game plan and decided to put our baseline in it with the “Draglist Nationals” fuel curve in it. We felt this was a good place to start and the track looked like it was going to be pretty good. The corrected air was down to 1867 feet, with low humidity. It should be fun.
We needed to make one moderate pass and two full runs to upgrade to the new fuel license. They had to be singles also. So the decision was made to see if it would go to the 1000 foot cone, then lift and drop the chutes to satisfy the moderate run requirement and get it out of the way.
The track personnel were fantastic to work with. We discussed with them what we needed to accomplish, and they made it go like clockwork. They assigned a lane for Adam and me to make the runs in. The told us to come up, and they would get us the necessary track time. There was also a gorgeous Pro Mod Vette there making some test runs. Scott and I watched the lanes and tried to run only when they weren’t packed with the regular program so we didn’t interrupt it too much. As a result, there weren’t any delays when we towed up. The starting line crew allowed us the time required to make sure everything was perfect for our runs.
We are aware of the truly minimal chances you get to swing for the fence during the course of a season. Some tracks are only eighth mile. Sometimes the weather is just too hot. Sometimes you are faced with abbreviated qualifying due to rain. Sometimes you are trying to accomplish something else altogether, rather than a blistering all out run. Whatever the circumstances, to make a team record run at an eighth mile track, and then to make one at a quarter mile track during a season requires a bunch of things to go correctly.
With the fuel system changes we have made in the car this year, we learned that it was very low on fuel at the big end. So with that in mind I made a shorter burnout, to about the 330 foot mark. The groove looked to be pretty wide; however, it appeared that slightly to the inside of the left lane was the sweet spot to go for. Everything was set. I staged and blasted off. What a ride -- the car pulled the front wheels and was really trucking. I was in high gear and looking at the 1000 foot cone. Right before I got to it, I lifted and dropped the chutes. I then coasted on down to the last return road and waited for the guys. It was nice to have the extra time down there. I got out, checked the blower belt tension, and inspected the slicks. We also took the engine temp after the run. Just a few extra things we normally don’t have time to check right after the run.
Nobody said anything about the time, so I figured it either wasn’t as good as I thought or they didn’t see what it was. As we were towing back, it dawned on me that Laura is the one who tells me what I ran. Since she didn’t come racing today, nobody else thought to let me know. We stopped at the time slip booth and it was better than I would have ever believed! The car ran 4.07 to the eighth mile at 176 mph. Those were new team records! It coasted through the quarter mile clocks at 6.67. What would it have run if I had not had to lift for the moderate licensing run? I can tell you it took all my will power to let off the throttle and drop the chutes early when it felt so good to that point.
Back in the pits, we elected to hop it up for the next run. Scott put some timing in it, I made a fuel system change, and RC, Kelly (no nickname yet), and Pappy serviced the car. We had visions of really rotating the earth on this next run.
At the launch, I jerked the front up and right then BAM!!! What the...? Who let George Foreman sit on my roll cage and why is he pounding my helmet like a punching bag? Another thing, who was the wise guy who lined me up on these rail road tracks? The car went into major tire shake like I have never felt. I surrendered right away and lifted, but it took a bit for it to calm down. I idled down the track, marveling at how smooth it had become compared to what it was like a second ago. It would be safe to say, we had it hopped up, and it didn’t like it even a little bit.
After discussing things and inspecting all the damage from the tire shake, we took the timing back out, but left the fuel tune-up in it. The air had gone to 2700 feet of corrected air. We added some air pressure in the rear tires to allow them to spin a bit, hoping to make it through the shake zone. We knew that we probably added too much air, but it needed something and that was our choice.
It left pretty good, spinning them with a minor shake a little further down track and then it was pretty loose from too much tire spin down track. It was moving around pretty good. I managed to stay with it, but it was moving around a lot and I had to pedal it about three times to make it to the end. The car did another one of its “slide through the finish line sideways” deals. Exciting for the people watching, but not very helpful in making a record run. It ran a 6.60 @ 196 mph.
We removed one pound of air and left the rest alone. It made a decent run with minor spin through the first half of the track, going 4.16 to the eighth at 176 mph again. It was spinning a little less, so I was on the throttle until just about 1200 feet, but then it blew the burst panel and threw the supercharger belt off. It coasted through the time cones at 6.55 @ 192 mph. We just plain ran out of fuel again and went lean.
Well, that was our last time out for this year I believe. It ends without a new quarter mile team record, but we did set a new eighth mile record ET and MPH and managed to make the necessary runs for the Special Fuel license. We found out some things on the rear tire pressure and now we have all winter to check everything over and be ready to run next spring.
I hope you have enjoyed my “What I did Last Weekend” stories from this season.
Rapid
