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Rapid Randy at the 2009 World Series
By Randy Baker
The original plan was to run the Norwalk Good Guys event. However we had some piston damage at a match race in Havana, IL. We just couldn’t get all the parts ready in time for the long tow trip out there. We discussed it, and I called Scott Gardner, the track owner at Cordova Raceway Park, and received his OK to miss the Friday night session. We knew we could make it by Saturday, but not in time to run on Friday. Greg Green and the “Little Ride Stealer” picked me up, and we drove over early on Friday morning. My wife Laura had to work as originally it was just me flying out to Norwalk. So she drove over later on her own. We spent the day watching the races and hanging out with everyone. Sean Belt's family put on a big dinner that they invited us to try. So we got to sit around and tell tall tales over a great dinner. Car owner Danny Miller and the crew came in late Friday night and met us at the hotel.
Early Saturday morning we headed off to the track. The car was all together except for the fuel pump. We had been talking to Jerry Newman and Doc Halladay who agreed to loan us their spare fuel pump. Troy Martin also called and offered his when he heard we were waiting on ours to come back from being checked in California. That was a classy move by both teams, I thought.
Danny and I had been making changes to the car in order to stop the piston damage we had been having. We knew we had a very fast hot rod, but it was just hurting itself too early in the run to post the good numbers it was capable of. I sent him my camshaft that Steve Tanzi at Erson designed. It was a new design cam that we wanted to try out. We changed the compression ratio as well. We then changed our blower overdrive to match Jerry’s pump. With the car put together we warmed it up, and made sure everything was ready as we only had one time trial to make the field.
Since this was a Drag Racing Online series race, I asked DRO Editor Jeff Burk to come down to our trailer. Danny, Jeff, and I had a little meeting about the tune up on our car. The pump we were borrowing was a little bigger than VRA rules, so we bumped the blower overdrive to match the pump. Danny and I didn’t want any questions about our car as it has always been VRA legal, but would not be for this race. We agreed on a compromise where we could qualify, and win rounds and money, but would forfeit any points accumulated at this event. Since we were not going to be able to make the KCIR points race anyway, this seemed like an OK solution with all of us. We like being a legal VRA car, and didn’t want any questions about the car’s legality floating around. The best way to keep that from happening was to address it before we ran the car. We also verified that we would be in the field even though we planned a short test pass to see where the car was tune-up wise.
We towed up to the line in the back of the field. Danny and Jerry discussed it and said to launch, pull high gear, and then shut it down after the shift somewhere around 400-450 feet out. That way we could look it all over and see what we had to work with for first round. I was hoping to have a single, since we were only going to make a short test pass anyway. It turned out that Kevin in the Shake and Bake funny car would be running us. I sent one of the guys over to tell them our plans so they would know what to expect.
Finally, it was time to go for a ride. Up through the water box, roll ahead and let some smoke out of the back tires. It felt pretty good. I rolled to a stop and backed up with Kevin. Behind the line: back into low, double check that, yep back in low. Is the fuel lever full on? Yes, it is. Add a little air for me to breathe. GOOD TO GO. I saw Kevin moving forward, so I rolled on into the pre-stage beams, and then it was time to pull it on the high side. Kevin is pre-staged, so I go on in. I see a flash of yellow and stand on the go pedal. The car makes a nice smooth move, I see the 330 cone slide by, and pull into high.
Now, right here is where your brain says, “Hey Rapid. It is time to step off. Remember the crew chief/car owner said to.”
You heart says, “Well, I know, but let’s just hang it out a bit more. The leave was real good; the car is in the groove. Just take advantage of this nice run.”
You brain: “Danny owns it, so he gets the final say on this.”
Heart: “Hey, it feels so good, and remember, you will be a quarter mile away and are leaving his area at 200 plus mph... what’s to worry? Besides, if it makes a great run, everything will be fine.”
But the brain won. I was out of it around 450 feet and coasting. Let me tell you, it was an epic battle to lift my right foot, though.
We ran a 1.04 second 60-foot time. It was 2.73 seconds at the 330. Those numbers were pretty decent considering how much we had changed and how far it was backed down.
Back in the pits, we leaked it down and checked everything over. It was perfect. No damage and a happy crew, owner, and driver. It is time to get it serviced for first round. Now is the time where my heart chimes in, “See we should have run it on out. It is safe and happy. Told ya so!”
Not to mention, because of where we qualified with that run, we now have Paul and Mike Cavalieri with the Man O War funny car. They qualified #1 with a 5.95 or something like that. I knew we didn’t have a 5-second tune-up yet with only one shut off run on our combo. But hey, Paul was going to have to whip me to win, so bring it on, guys.
We rolled into the water together and lit em up! I did a little shorter than normal burnout just to keep the stress on our eight little piston guys happy. I knew I would have to be on my game for Paul. At the flash of yellow, I hammered it. But I immediately could tell it wasn’t to be. I saw Paul’s car pull ahead, and ours just getting softer and softer as the fuel volume continued to climb. The good news is, it was clean and dry on the top end. The bad news is, we got whipped in the first round at the World Series.
After looking it over in the pits, we really had to feel pretty good. The engine was perfect – no damage -- and we assumed it was just too much fuel and got way too rich. Like I always say, “It is easier to tune up a rich engine than to fix the pieces of a lean one!” Well, actually, my famous alky funny car crewchief and friend, David Sheelk, told me that line 6-8 years ago. But, since I am writing the story, I get to claim it if I want to.
I really want to thank Jerry Newman and Doc Halladay for the parts and encouragement. Racing with all our friends is the best, no matter what happens on the race track.
I hope you enjoyed my “What I did Last Weekend” story.
Rapid
rapidrandy.com
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