Breaking on the Burnout

By Jay Mageau

Boy! Nothing is worse then breaking on the burnout. I consider that one of the most embarrassing things that can happen. We had it happen to us three times last year, at three different tracks. Each time, we had done a big glorious burnout, then were unable to back up (blush).

The first time, in Calgary, the car shook a bit, and the shifter lost a pin -- no reverse. I was WAY down the track, say about 1,000 feet. It took so long for my poor crew guys to get down there and the thing was starting to heat up, I just drove off through the lights.

The second time, in Mission, B.C., the baffles in the fuel tank broke off, and as soon as I hit the brake, no more fuel (blush).

The Third time, at home in Edmonton, with all our local sponsors on hand (double blush). The barrel valve shook loose. As soon as I lifted, again WAY down there, she just shut off and coasted down the shut down area (BLUSH, BLUSH, BLUSH!)

Now, our team has been around for a long time, and we pride ourselves on the six Ps (proper planning and preparation prevent poor performance), but we definitely suffered the new car blues. My crew chief/father is old school and performance minded, and doesn't like the big burnouts.

Our ASSOCIATION -- and the tracks that book us -- love them.

Needless to say, this made for some big time tension when we got back to the pits after each of these runs...

Things got better by the midpoint of the season, but whenever I did the long burnouts after that, I just PRAYED the bitch would back up!