WHAT A WEEKEND

[jed5161]

This last weekend totally sucked!! Started off good. We were scheduled to match race Dave Lowe (top alochol dragster) in the eddyville labor day show saturday night. Figuring he was way faster than us we though our "outlaw" combination in the car (big supercharger, large fuel pump, etc.) and headed down to test friday night. Our goal was jus to get a launch in and if it hooked and held the track carry to second gear just for a plug reading. First pass, the car sounded great. extremely fat and safe tune but wow, could definetly tell it had the large supercharger on it. Anywho....burnout went fine, backed up, rolled up to stage, on the stage rpm controller, nailed the tires, pulled the front wheels, up....up...and up....then soon as it stabled out (around 2-3 ft in air) started to shake the tires so i backed out of it. While in shake, being in the left lane, it drove the car to the centerline. I coasted down and waited for the guys.

We got back and checked the plugs. with time running out for another hit, we pulled the plugs and refuels and we back up. As we made the burnout, i came to a stop and noticed the car sounding kinda funny. Almost like all blower motors sound when they're fat and blubbery (is that really a word??) i backed and kicked it in neutral and sound went away. As i staged the car the sound came back, figuring it was jus fuel i launched the car and instantly up in smoke, blowing the tires off 15 ft from the line. As we got back to the trailer, we pulled the valve covers to find #7 exhaust rocker LOOSE (like quarter of an inch). the lash cap fell off and it kicked the push rod off. Study'n that closely, found the rocker shaft stand broke in half, intake pushrod bent, intake rocker locked up on the shaft, exhaust valve tip damanged, exhaust pushrod bent, lifter roller ate up, and lobe ground off the camshaft. Of course when the lifter went all the needle bearings went EVERYWHERE. so that was end of the weekend for that car.

Saturday rolled around and we had loaded up our Yellow 250 inch bracket dragster into a buddy's trailer because i needed to chase a few points to qualify for et finals. We've been fighting fuel problems with it since we had it out. Jus never could get it to run like it should. After a warm up and a pass or two we changed the oil because it was milky. Of course it had that nasty loaded with alky smell so didnt think anything of it. On the last time run it fell way way way off going from a 5.33 to a 5.68 for no reason at all. Under further investigation we found the oil extremely milked again. Suspecting we had water leaking into the oil as well we pressurized the cooling system and of course...as we apply'd air to system water ran out of the oil pan drain plug. That was it for the weekend for me. Didn't even make it to first round. I guess thats better than completely ruining a motor so im ok with it.

With the yellow car being broke before first round, i didnt' get my points for et finals, so i'll jus have to wait til next year. Oh well its part of racing. As long as i get em fixed and back on the track, i dont care what race it is.

[Bob Kraemer]

Sorry to hear that Jared sounds like my Saturday night when we kicked 2 rods out on the burnout

[Mr. Jean]

Thanks for the report. That's racing alright.

[Big Erik]

sorry to hear that guys!!......I guess my carnage at the world series was nothing.....when we finally got to run the first round of the "b: show in the frantic 14 I launched the car and when i pulled second nothing there!!......what happened was a shift roller broke on the burnout and stuck the shift fork down.not enough to fully engage 2nd but enough that when i launched it it smoked the clutch pack out of 2nd gear.......I had the stuff to fix it but it still sucked.......ERIK

[Rapid Randy Baker]

Man,

It sounds like a rough weekend on the cars. Glad everyone is ok, and things weren't worse.

Wheelie AND tire shake,,,you practicing for your Fuel ALtered license??

Rapid

[Lippy]

Sorry guys. Sounds like one of my weekends. I stayed home and watched the one lane racetrack yesterday. Wonder who's gonna win?...gimme a break.

[Big Erik]

Just like NHRA.........thier biggest event........and one of the worst tracks.......BTW if Del had tried a little harder to run fast at cordova he might have went fast in the bad lane LOL!! ERIK

[jim sanders]

reading here and around it seems like a lot of trouble over the weekend.. just glad eveyone is ok..

[Eric David Bru]

Sorry to hear about your broken Hot Rods...

Hope you get it fixed up soon.

EDB