Sean D, shondoo
Nitro Member
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2006
- Messages
- 2,036
- Age
- 54
- Location
- Royal Center, IN
Hey Gang,
Well, our group got our feet wet for the first time this season last night at Rick Krafft's Match Race Mania in Joliet. Things went extremely well for the team, and other than some liquid sunshine shortening the night, a good time was had by all.
We arrived at the track around 10:00am to a plethora of sunshine and tons of racing fans. We weren't able to go the night before and get set-up because the car had been getting a facelift at Olson Paint & Body and we didn't get the panels back until Wednesday night. Then, after a mad thrash by one of my partners and Crew Chief/Engine Builder Kerry Grams, the car was fired for the first time Friday night, and before we threw it in the trailer, Brian and Drew Olson came out to apply the vinyl lettering around 10:00pm. The entire crew at Olson's done an outstanding job and the new look is absolutely sick! It was a huge step up from the plain black that has been on the car for 5-years and everyone on the team was extremely happy!
After getting unloaded and set-up, I went on the hunt for my 'Mater buddy, Sean Belt. I missed him the first three times I stopped by, but was able to meet the rest of his crew, as well as talk to his car owner, Scott for quite awhile. As you probably know, Sean, you're very fortunate to have the crew and car owner you have. All of those guys seemed really great and Scott really is a super guy!
We then went through our normal warm-up procedure, and it was on to the staging lanes for the first round of the Chicago-style format, and who do we get paired up with? The Nitro Madness team and Sean B! We normally run the Pro Comp 1 class in the NPCA, which runs on a 7.00 index, so we knew we had our work cut out for us running these cats. Nonetheless, we lit-em-up and done pretty awesome side-by-side burnouts! Sean and I talked before the round, and to remove any confusion for the sake of the show, we agreed he would go in first. He did so, and after I dove in there, the lights flashed and I go -.017 red! Then, to add insult to injury, that Nitro Madness Fiat comes around me at half-track like I put the car in park! I later found out that we had actually run our best Mph @ 198.50, but let me tell you, when you're getting freight trained by the 6.35 that Belt and the boys put on us, I found myself looking around at the guages to see if my stuff was even running! But in all seriousness, our car ran 6.808, at the aforementioned 198.50Mph, and for the parts and combination we have, that's just awesome and many props go to our Crew Chief, Kerry Grams. Not only did he thrash for an ungodly amount of hours leading up to the event, he still managed to tune the car to a very good number without hurting anything.
After the first round, though, KG is sitting in the chair going over the numbers, and this smirk comes across his face. The next thing I know, the wrenches start coming out, he grabs a pulley that has never been on the car, along with all the fuel system parts and I knew I was about to be in for some fun on the next pass! He said "We're going to run 200Mph......" Iron block, conventional heads, itty-bitty pump, alternator, powerglide, an 8-71 truck blower that is old enough to vote.......... Hell, we even still run water in the block! But if anyone could make it happen, it's KG, and I couldn't wait to drop the hammer in the second round, win or lose. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get over the 200Mph hump, as that wonderful liquid sunshine came-a-callin' and the show was over.
But I'll tell you what, it was still a great night at the races. With everything being overhauled in the car, and the fact that we were working out of a new trialer (well, new to us), the car ran very well and we've started the year out with a pretty good baseline. We were also able to make a bunch of new friends that I can't wait to mix it up with down the road. Also, during the wait in the staging lanes before the first round, I was once again able to meet up with the infamous "T" Tony Smith. We had a great conversation/bull-session that made the long wait in the staging lanes worth it. He's a very classy guy that flat knows his stuff. Thanks, T for stopping by. Kudos to the personnel responsible for the track-prep that night as well. The surface was in awesome shape all the way down. I also want to give props once again to everyone at Olson Paint & Body. The car more than exceeded our expectations, and as soon as I can figure out how to do it, I'll post some pictures on here for everyone to see.
'Till next time, over and out!
Sean D
P.S. Eric, I'm pi$$ed at you for not stopping by, as well as Dave Timmons.
This is tow years in a row I looked forward to meeting you cats!!! Belt, I hold you responsible for hogging up all of Eric's time!!! LMAO!!!
Well, our group got our feet wet for the first time this season last night at Rick Krafft's Match Race Mania in Joliet. Things went extremely well for the team, and other than some liquid sunshine shortening the night, a good time was had by all.
We arrived at the track around 10:00am to a plethora of sunshine and tons of racing fans. We weren't able to go the night before and get set-up because the car had been getting a facelift at Olson Paint & Body and we didn't get the panels back until Wednesday night. Then, after a mad thrash by one of my partners and Crew Chief/Engine Builder Kerry Grams, the car was fired for the first time Friday night, and before we threw it in the trailer, Brian and Drew Olson came out to apply the vinyl lettering around 10:00pm. The entire crew at Olson's done an outstanding job and the new look is absolutely sick! It was a huge step up from the plain black that has been on the car for 5-years and everyone on the team was extremely happy!
After getting unloaded and set-up, I went on the hunt for my 'Mater buddy, Sean Belt. I missed him the first three times I stopped by, but was able to meet the rest of his crew, as well as talk to his car owner, Scott for quite awhile. As you probably know, Sean, you're very fortunate to have the crew and car owner you have. All of those guys seemed really great and Scott really is a super guy!
We then went through our normal warm-up procedure, and it was on to the staging lanes for the first round of the Chicago-style format, and who do we get paired up with? The Nitro Madness team and Sean B! We normally run the Pro Comp 1 class in the NPCA, which runs on a 7.00 index, so we knew we had our work cut out for us running these cats. Nonetheless, we lit-em-up and done pretty awesome side-by-side burnouts! Sean and I talked before the round, and to remove any confusion for the sake of the show, we agreed he would go in first. He did so, and after I dove in there, the lights flashed and I go -.017 red! Then, to add insult to injury, that Nitro Madness Fiat comes around me at half-track like I put the car in park! I later found out that we had actually run our best Mph @ 198.50, but let me tell you, when you're getting freight trained by the 6.35 that Belt and the boys put on us, I found myself looking around at the guages to see if my stuff was even running! But in all seriousness, our car ran 6.808, at the aforementioned 198.50Mph, and for the parts and combination we have, that's just awesome and many props go to our Crew Chief, Kerry Grams. Not only did he thrash for an ungodly amount of hours leading up to the event, he still managed to tune the car to a very good number without hurting anything.
After the first round, though, KG is sitting in the chair going over the numbers, and this smirk comes across his face. The next thing I know, the wrenches start coming out, he grabs a pulley that has never been on the car, along with all the fuel system parts and I knew I was about to be in for some fun on the next pass! He said "We're going to run 200Mph......" Iron block, conventional heads, itty-bitty pump, alternator, powerglide, an 8-71 truck blower that is old enough to vote.......... Hell, we even still run water in the block! But if anyone could make it happen, it's KG, and I couldn't wait to drop the hammer in the second round, win or lose. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get over the 200Mph hump, as that wonderful liquid sunshine came-a-callin' and the show was over.
But I'll tell you what, it was still a great night at the races. With everything being overhauled in the car, and the fact that we were working out of a new trialer (well, new to us), the car ran very well and we've started the year out with a pretty good baseline. We were also able to make a bunch of new friends that I can't wait to mix it up with down the road. Also, during the wait in the staging lanes before the first round, I was once again able to meet up with the infamous "T" Tony Smith. We had a great conversation/bull-session that made the long wait in the staging lanes worth it. He's a very classy guy that flat knows his stuff. Thanks, T for stopping by. Kudos to the personnel responsible for the track-prep that night as well. The surface was in awesome shape all the way down. I also want to give props once again to everyone at Olson Paint & Body. The car more than exceeded our expectations, and as soon as I can figure out how to do it, I'll post some pictures on here for everyone to see.
'Till next time, over and out!
Sean D
P.S. Eric, I'm pi$$ed at you for not stopping by, as well as Dave Timmons.
This is tow years in a row I looked forward to meeting you cats!!! Belt, I hold you responsible for hogging up all of Eric's time!!! LMAO!!!
