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(deep breath....release slowly.......try to organize thoughts).......

The car I was piloting is an '87 Hatchback Mustang....all steel, (cept for the hood)....that utilizes an aluminum headed 421 inch small block Ford on alky (and 2 kits of giggle juice.....150hp on the first and 180 on the second......well....that's what we started with anyway ...not a CLUE what we ended up with ).......With my narrow fanny in the seat, it would probably tip the scales in the neighborhood of 2700 lbs......

After my time trial beside Tim......things were looked over and the decision to turn on the first kit was made. I was "quietly" eager to turn the button loose on it with the spray, but "tried" not to show it "too" much (LOL)..........I rolled around to the staging lanes and never got out of the seat....I went ahead and got all strapped in, cinched down and buttoned up.....trying really hard to clear the "overthinking" mechanism in my mind......because I KNEW I was about to embark on a never before achieved performance level.
There was a pair of cars staging when I was motioned to pull into the water box (along with another car) but the car in the left lane scattered a motor (or tranny or "something") and oiled the entire left lane......take a guess what lane I was in......Yup.......the track manager made the decision to shut the left lane down for the remainder of the night and just run single passes out of the right. Ok...No Problem.....Ii had to wait for a couple of cars to make their runs, then I negotiated the little pony into position in the right lane water box.........I honestly don't remember too much from that point until the time I inched into the prestage beams......I armed the first nos system (the bottle had been turned on back in the staging lanes) and did a couple of purges......FFFFFTTT!! FFFFTTTTTTTT!!!!
For some reason.....that is FUN to do (Gator knows ).....I re-cinched down on my shoulder harnesses.....took a deep breath and released it, Oh so slowly, as I looked at the steering wheel and made double sure my thumb was positioned directly over the trans brake button...then my eyes never left the tree.......
I eased forward, just bumping the brake pedal until the stage light lit.....I stabbed the brakes hard.....mashed the trans brake button.....released the brake pedal and matted the loud pedal.....the rpm's came up against the 5000 chip and then the tree flashed, I released the button, but felt a slight hesitation before the car actually moved.....(a friend told me just a little while ago that the back tires rotated a couple of times before the car moved forward).....a .536 light....(grrrr!!!).....I KNOW I was on the tree better than THAT......the tires just didn't want to cooperate with me.....well....ummm.....at least as reaction times were concerned, anyway .........The front end jumped up and seemed to stay there for a LONG way out there.....(how's about a 1.22 sixty foot time with the BACK tires!!!!....can you say adrenalin rush???.....Sure...I knew ya could ).......
An absolute FABULOUS feeling!!!!.......When the front end DID finally come down....I "must" have had the steering wheel cocked to the left just a smidgen, because the little pony kinda relocated itself towards the centerline a small amount....about half in and half out of the groove......everything felt fine, seemed under control and motoring on, so I kept my foot in it.........resulting in a 5.64 @ 121 mph!!!!.....A personal best for me AND the car!!..........On a sad sidenote.....on that pass the little motor hurt 4 pistons...but we did not find that out until after Saturday's runs......Oh yeah....did I fail to mention that the owner of the car decided we were going to enter into the 5.30 class eliminations???...oooops....sorry bout that .......more in a minute....

Ok...so its been a FEW minutes.....(deal with it...LOL)

For Saturday...it was announced that they were going to give all 6 classes a "shake down" pass if they wanted one...then we would go into 1st round of qualifying........I asked Big Mark (the car owner) if we were gonna take advantage of the shakedown or just wait for qualifying...he said, Hell YES we are gonna make the shakedown....AND we were going to turn on BOTH kits, to try to get down to the 5.30!!........
"Cool" says I and we commenced to making the preparations for our run..........
5.30 cars were called to the lanes and I suited up. strapped in and made sure my skid lid (helmet) and neck collar were within easy reach.......
I pulled into the left lane and rolled a little forward of the "wet" spot...and waited for the signal to make some smoke......did a good ol' smokey (but short...bracket style) tire fryer and then armed both systems.....when I hit BOTH purge buttons....a friend of mine's eyes just lit up in front of me....and he was cheezin like some kinda idiot. (LOL).....
I eased into the prestage beam and repeated the sequence of deep breath, locate tranz brake button, etc that I had gone through last night...(It seems to happen pretty much the same each time I go the line...regardless of how many years it is between passes )......
After bumping into the stage beam and seeing the three-amber flash I was off like a herd of turtles......Yes the front tires came up....but only briefly....then...a second into the deal...I felt the second stage kick in.....okie-dokie,,,here we go!!.......a 5.66 @ 125 mph.....with a 1.32 sixty foot time (with the front tires)......Big Mark acused me of not having the loud pedal all the way to the floor when I left......I argued with him (but not too hard....cause I couldn't be 100% sure he wasn' t right)........so we did routine check of things...(obviously not throughly enough though) and filled up the alky tank and got ready for first round of qualifying.
(Big Mark was running the 7.0 index class with his 68 Nova...and ran a 7.006 on his shakedown run.....He was a pretty happy guy )

I once again pulled into the left lane and went through the whole speil...and once again...the car left like a turd.....and didn't get too much better.....a 5.79 @ 116....with a 1.37 60...........

Back in the pits...we found the culprit......the first stage bottle was empty....so only the fuel for the first stage was functioning...OOOOPS!!....Big Mark and his Brother were handling all the tuning decisions and so forth......and big brother had said we could get 4 or 5 passes out of a set of bottles....(I personally didn't agree...but its their car )............We put two fresh bottles in for the secound round and headed that way when 5.30 was called to the lanes......

How about a 5.540 @ 128.56....and a 1.26, 60ft on the back tires!!and a 4.70 light...(so far the best r/t on the spray..gonna have to work on that )...THAT's much better we all thought....but concluded that that was about all we could expect with the small kits they were utilizing....so......the nos jets were "rearranged"......I was not privey to just how "much" they were changed.....but WAS informed to hang on...cause I was fixin to go for a RIDE!!!!

I was back in the left lane for the third and final qualifying pass (after going left lane, then right lane in the previous rounds).....and was once again mentally preparing myself for the upcoming lap......knowing full well that there was nealy 600 hp worth of spray on the two kits combined...(still don't know exactly how much ).....I did my routine....staged....and (quite accidently) went in deep, turning out the top bulb....which threw off my concentration pretty bad....(only had a .665 light )........but the car launched like there was no tomorrow!!!....I bet it toted the front tires out to the 330 clocks...(1.25 with the rear tires after spinning at least twice before going forward).......when the little pony finally put the front tires back down on the tarmac...they were just a suggestion as far as direction was concerned...and the rear tires were pushing me towards the guardrail on the left of me.....I tried and tried to steer it back into the groove...but the more I tried...the farther left it went.....and seeing as how Big Mark had told me that if I wrecked his car he would shoot me between the eyes.....all I could picture in my mind was a muzzle flash...I lifted at about 500 feet......coasting through with a 5.71 @ 102 mph....Trust me.....I was cussing up a blue streak inside that car.....because I did NOT want to lift......I also didn't want to scuff the shiney ........I ended up in the 2oth spot out of 21 cars with my earlier 5.540 (Tim qualified 17th with a 5.372).......

It was all to no avail, however,......Sunday's Eliminations were rained out....and the race cancelled......
Oh well....we had fun (you can bet your sweet bippy "I" had fun!!!)...and Big Mark and his brother learned some things about what the little motor wants and doesn't want....so they "should" be ready when Big Mark's son recovers from shoulder surgery (the only reason I got to drive in the first place).............
To top off the weekend......TIm informed me that we are going to get back on working on MY car.....Good Ol' Peggy!!!!.....SO "hopefully" I'll get to see if I can improve on my new personal best e.t and speed in my OWN car!!!
Oh btw......I'm going to turn Peggy into a Drunken Nag....(alky)......and "try" to run the 5.30 class "on the motor"........TIme slips will tell!!!

Billy, great stories. I felt like I was hanging around watching the car run! Congrats again on the runs and your new personal bests!!

It is fun to purge the systems.

Sounds like a fun time @ the track.......

Iwas waiting for part 2 and it was worth the wait !!!!

I guess I'd better get Part 2 of the Saga of the Iron Pegasus done...time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'...into the fu-tuuuuure....

I kept leanin' right in my chair and darn near fell on the floor.

I did, I got up .......... I'm allright.... I'm allright....

Congratulations,Billy.Great writing.I was in the car too,only when you were out of the grove,I was reaching for the handbrake in my altered.

Thanks for the ride Billy!! That was neat.