RAPID
Nitro Member
CORDOVA THUNDERFEST 2007
The Nitro Madness team went to Cordova, IL and went 2-rounds against Rick Wilson’s altered that is based in St. Louis. Rick’s team consists of his wife, Linda, and 2-crewman Mike Green and Dave Fleshman. As usual, Scott and Laura Gardner put together a fantastic event for the crowd of fans who flocked to the track to see. Nostalgia T/F, A-Fuel, Jr. Fuel, Nostalgia Funnycars, Fuel Altereds, Jet cars, and even Benny the Bomb!!! Add in some Nostalgia Eliminators, and The Ozark Mountain Super Shifters, if you couldn’t find something that you like to watch you must hate drag racing! Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the rain gods we had a major drag race scheduled for the weekend. Saturday was a rainout. They announced to the large crowd that their ticket stubs would get them back in on Sunday, and we all went back to the motel.
Sunday dawned overcast, but dry and the race was on. It appeared the most of the crowd did return and it looked like the tee-shirt sales were going well for all the teams selling them. Ok, that is as close to a race report as you can get out of me.
The original plan was to make nice baseline pass and then hop it up a bit for the 2nd run. As we have talked before, you only get so many chances a season to make a really great run, and the Cordova track is usually stellar. With all the rain, and having the rubber washed off, we felt it was time for a new plan. We softened up the car and planned on just making a nice easy run, if Rick outran us so be it.
Time for the 1st run of the day, we were in the left lane. Scott and I went up and watched a few cars run. It appeared that the right lane was the preferred lane. I talked with Shaggy and Shane who were taping the event and had watched every pass. They concurred, the right lane was better. Rick had already mentioned he liked the right lane best for his comfort level. I had agreed to take the left lane for the 1st pass back on Saturday. 2700 feet of Corrected Air, and 73% humidity, you could say the air was less than wonderful for making big horsepower. Rick told me he likes to do “BIG” burnouts, him and I both lit-em-up to ½ track! I rolled into stage, pumped the brake and the car rolled into both beams. The idle was a bit higher than normal, and that allowed it to pull itself into both beams. I sat waiting at an idle for Rick to come in. I hoped it didn’t mess his routine up. I have only rolled in like that one other time in my whole career. It was at Cordova a few years ago against Dom Paris with his 2-engine Hemi dragster. Rick proved up to the task and came in shortly behind me. Our car left, shortly went into tire shake. Having been to this movie already this year, I gave it a quick pedal, stuck it right into 2nd, and back on the gas. Rick was quite a ways out by this time, but our new car has been MPH’ing really well. She wanted to drive to the centerline as it had washed out of the groove in the tire shake. I had the wheel cranked left and tried to push my foot clear thru the floorboard. I told her I wasn’t lifting and she “WAS” going to make it down thru there without any more tricks. I also reminded her that lane markers were more of a suggestion, rather than a firm boundary line. We made it. I reeled in Rick between 1100-1200 feet and took the stripe first. It only ran 7.00 flat but went 204 mph.
When it shook, it broke a body mounting brace. Lucky for us, the Orange Crate team carries a welder with them in the trailer. Scott had it fixed in no time. I moved some nozzles around, took a little out of the hi-speed, and pulled some fuel out of the main for the 2nd run. I wanted to perk it up, but we all felt that swinging for the fence wasn’t the thing to do this round.
Rick is serious about his burnouts. I went a little further than him, but he was right there smoking his tires like he hated them. When I rolled into to stage, humm, now where did they put that darn tree,,,I couldn’t see it. By the time I looked over the top of the car it was GREEN! The left windshield roofline must be just a touch lower. The next time we do a windshield, I am going to raise it a tad. At the hit the car left perfect. It carried the front end to around 80-feet, but was right in the center of the groove and hauling. I could tell the car was on a good one. I waited for the shift-light, stuck it in high and headed for the stripe. All to soon the thrill ride was over. Right at the stripe, hit the chutes, when I felt them tug, time to lift and go for the brake. When it had run for a bit to cool the trans and converter fluid, as it was slowing down, I pulled the fuel shutoff and let it die. I thanked the safety guys for their work while waiting for my guys. Before the racing started a few of them had come thru the Pro-Pits checking with each team to see if the driver wanted anything done after the run on the top end. They took time to make sure they knew how to open the bodies, and went over the signals we might see from them on the turn out. I was pretty impressed they did that, and made sure they knew how much it meant to us racers.
I thought the run felt pretty good. I knew we hadn’t rotated the earth, but I hoped for some decent news from the team. My call, before the run, was it would run a 6.42 at 215. We were all pleased to see it set another team ET record! It went 6.40 flat @ 213 MPH. I think the air quality keep the MPH down. It was a great way to end a long weekend. I guess Mini-Me, Justin’s driver of the Stardust funnycar gets to keep the moniker, MR. 6.39 for now. We won’t run on the ¼ mile again until late in August.
The funnycars all put on a great show. Kyle has the Nitro Pony hauling every pass. I got to meet Randy Walls. He was a great guy to talk to. I didn’t even have a chance to kid him about his cave because we were laughing too much over other stuff. The rain out on Saturday gave me time to Thank Tom Motry for his help with Danny Miller’s car at Indy. There were tons of friends from the Internet who came up and visited both Saturday and Sunday. Rob and the Zombie car were pitted next to us. Debby made sure the crew guys came over and introduced themselves. I hadn’t met Rob before. His car runs one of those Scott fuel pumps that Brent Fanning likes to use. I didn’t get time to talk to him about it though. I always thought we had a huge team, until I have raced with Justin Grant and his army of crewmembers a few times now. He wins the biggest team award hands down. He has more girls selling tee shirts than most teams have members.
I hope you enjoyed my “What I did Last Weekend” story.
Rapid
The Nitro Madness team went to Cordova, IL and went 2-rounds against Rick Wilson’s altered that is based in St. Louis. Rick’s team consists of his wife, Linda, and 2-crewman Mike Green and Dave Fleshman. As usual, Scott and Laura Gardner put together a fantastic event for the crowd of fans who flocked to the track to see. Nostalgia T/F, A-Fuel, Jr. Fuel, Nostalgia Funnycars, Fuel Altereds, Jet cars, and even Benny the Bomb!!! Add in some Nostalgia Eliminators, and The Ozark Mountain Super Shifters, if you couldn’t find something that you like to watch you must hate drag racing! Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the rain gods we had a major drag race scheduled for the weekend. Saturday was a rainout. They announced to the large crowd that their ticket stubs would get them back in on Sunday, and we all went back to the motel.
Sunday dawned overcast, but dry and the race was on. It appeared the most of the crowd did return and it looked like the tee-shirt sales were going well for all the teams selling them. Ok, that is as close to a race report as you can get out of me.
The original plan was to make nice baseline pass and then hop it up a bit for the 2nd run. As we have talked before, you only get so many chances a season to make a really great run, and the Cordova track is usually stellar. With all the rain, and having the rubber washed off, we felt it was time for a new plan. We softened up the car and planned on just making a nice easy run, if Rick outran us so be it.
Time for the 1st run of the day, we were in the left lane. Scott and I went up and watched a few cars run. It appeared that the right lane was the preferred lane. I talked with Shaggy and Shane who were taping the event and had watched every pass. They concurred, the right lane was better. Rick had already mentioned he liked the right lane best for his comfort level. I had agreed to take the left lane for the 1st pass back on Saturday. 2700 feet of Corrected Air, and 73% humidity, you could say the air was less than wonderful for making big horsepower. Rick told me he likes to do “BIG” burnouts, him and I both lit-em-up to ½ track! I rolled into stage, pumped the brake and the car rolled into both beams. The idle was a bit higher than normal, and that allowed it to pull itself into both beams. I sat waiting at an idle for Rick to come in. I hoped it didn’t mess his routine up. I have only rolled in like that one other time in my whole career. It was at Cordova a few years ago against Dom Paris with his 2-engine Hemi dragster. Rick proved up to the task and came in shortly behind me. Our car left, shortly went into tire shake. Having been to this movie already this year, I gave it a quick pedal, stuck it right into 2nd, and back on the gas. Rick was quite a ways out by this time, but our new car has been MPH’ing really well. She wanted to drive to the centerline as it had washed out of the groove in the tire shake. I had the wheel cranked left and tried to push my foot clear thru the floorboard. I told her I wasn’t lifting and she “WAS” going to make it down thru there without any more tricks. I also reminded her that lane markers were more of a suggestion, rather than a firm boundary line. We made it. I reeled in Rick between 1100-1200 feet and took the stripe first. It only ran 7.00 flat but went 204 mph.
When it shook, it broke a body mounting brace. Lucky for us, the Orange Crate team carries a welder with them in the trailer. Scott had it fixed in no time. I moved some nozzles around, took a little out of the hi-speed, and pulled some fuel out of the main for the 2nd run. I wanted to perk it up, but we all felt that swinging for the fence wasn’t the thing to do this round.
Rick is serious about his burnouts. I went a little further than him, but he was right there smoking his tires like he hated them. When I rolled into to stage, humm, now where did they put that darn tree,,,I couldn’t see it. By the time I looked over the top of the car it was GREEN! The left windshield roofline must be just a touch lower. The next time we do a windshield, I am going to raise it a tad. At the hit the car left perfect. It carried the front end to around 80-feet, but was right in the center of the groove and hauling. I could tell the car was on a good one. I waited for the shift-light, stuck it in high and headed for the stripe. All to soon the thrill ride was over. Right at the stripe, hit the chutes, when I felt them tug, time to lift and go for the brake. When it had run for a bit to cool the trans and converter fluid, as it was slowing down, I pulled the fuel shutoff and let it die. I thanked the safety guys for their work while waiting for my guys. Before the racing started a few of them had come thru the Pro-Pits checking with each team to see if the driver wanted anything done after the run on the top end. They took time to make sure they knew how to open the bodies, and went over the signals we might see from them on the turn out. I was pretty impressed they did that, and made sure they knew how much it meant to us racers.
I thought the run felt pretty good. I knew we hadn’t rotated the earth, but I hoped for some decent news from the team. My call, before the run, was it would run a 6.42 at 215. We were all pleased to see it set another team ET record! It went 6.40 flat @ 213 MPH. I think the air quality keep the MPH down. It was a great way to end a long weekend. I guess Mini-Me, Justin’s driver of the Stardust funnycar gets to keep the moniker, MR. 6.39 for now. We won’t run on the ¼ mile again until late in August.
The funnycars all put on a great show. Kyle has the Nitro Pony hauling every pass. I got to meet Randy Walls. He was a great guy to talk to. I didn’t even have a chance to kid him about his cave because we were laughing too much over other stuff. The rain out on Saturday gave me time to Thank Tom Motry for his help with Danny Miller’s car at Indy. There were tons of friends from the Internet who came up and visited both Saturday and Sunday. Rob and the Zombie car were pitted next to us. Debby made sure the crew guys came over and introduced themselves. I hadn’t met Rob before. His car runs one of those Scott fuel pumps that Brent Fanning likes to use. I didn’t get time to talk to him about it though. I always thought we had a huge team, until I have raced with Justin Grant and his army of crewmembers a few times now. He wins the biggest team award hands down. He has more girls selling tee shirts than most teams have members.
I hope you enjoyed my “What I did Last Weekend” story.
Rapid
