Lippy, Leon & Larry's KS Twister & Cherokee Warrior

[Barb]

Poor Lippy .. everyones pickin on him for the story.

Once upon a time .... there was a tired farmer from Kansas

[pro70z28]

.....and he drove happily ever after.

[Lippy]

Wow, you guys are brutal!, I feel like a little known reporter for a not so great metropolitan newspaper! Ok, friday night the gates opened at 6pm for test and tune, we unloaded the car in our new pit space, #13, I told Larry, I'm not superstitious, so forget it. It's still daylight so we drag the cord over for the trailer to plug in....It takes a R/V cord, which of course, we don't have. So, Larry goes to town to get an adapter cord. He gets back and we pug in the trailer,....dead. We check the fuses on the pole...good. So the track electrical dude comes by and says,....Hmmmm, looks like the transformer is blown! It's getting dark, when a buddy comes by and says, I'm not racing tonight, use my space! So we pack up and move everything. Now we got a compressor and lights and batt charger! The temp was HOT OUT. The air was bad, we figured 4800ft at one point, not good to mess with a new engine and fuel system, but, you gotta run on what the GOOD LORD gives ya right? Anyway first pass we run it out to 200ft or so and all seems well, no leaks, drives like a caddy with the extra lenghth. Pull it back and pull the plugs, all is good, put some new ones in, Leon does his fuel system tinkering, and we pull back up to staging. I've got about a toe height under the wheelie bar, cause I've got no weight in the nose, (brought forty pounds with us), we do the usual wait, till cramps set in, and so hot I'm ready to pass out, then they say, OK, so I fire it and pull in the water, hammer it short. Stop and the Idle goes high, uh, oh, looks like my fuel tank baffle did'nt work so hot! Fuel running away from pick up. I give it a couple shots on the electric primer pump and catch it before it dies, finally it grabs some fuel and settles down to about 1800rpm, I back up, it's dark now, pre-stage, bring it to about 3500, flip my visor down, stage, bring it up to 4000, down come the lights, on the last yellow, I release the button,... It leaves with the wheels a foot in the air and goes left, I am already on the shifter getting ready for high. It carries the wheels about 80ft, I've got the butterfly full lock to the right with my right hand ,I short shift it at about 6000to bring the front end back to earth and get a handle on it. It sets the front end down and starts to put fuel on my visor like a rainstorm and no wipers We tow it back and Leon says, well, ...I said, I believe it's a tad rich! I clicked it at about 900ft and coasted to a 9.60.@ 110mph. Leon says,..hmmmmm, then disappears into the trailer mumbling something about the air is really bad and shaking his head. He's sitting at the computer while I try to figure out why it left a stream of alky out of the tank vent!! Leon and Our own Rapid are on the phone discussing the fuel system when Randy has an Idea to put scotchbrite in the vent! Smashing Idea! It works. Thanks, buddy!! My fuel tank design evidently works fine on a funnycar, but leaves a lot to be desired on a dragster!! Continued report is tomorrow!

[Billy Mac]

LOL..yer 'spose to DRINK alky.....NOT use it as aftershave!!!......(Great report!!)....Cain't wait for ...the Rest of the story

[Mike-Casella]

Congratulations on the trip!! Fun, ain't it?

[Gator]

Congratulations on the trip!! Fun, ain't it?

[pro70z28]

Great Story.

[jim sanders]

[Doug]

MORE PLEASE!!!

[WildcatOne]

Great story, Lippy! I might not know a lot about this stuff, but an 80-foot wheelie at corrected 4800' altitude on first track day tells me that y'all have some serious power there. The lengthened chassis is definitely the ticket and good luck on future passes...I'm sure there were more this weekend, can't wait to hear about 'em! Great call on the Scotchbrite, Rapid! Congratulations to the team! WC1