Sean D, shondoo
Nitro Member
Hey Gang,
After a successful tune-up session a couple of weeks ago at Match Race Madness in Joliet, the Black Reign team made it's competition debut this past weekend at the Musclecar Reunion and Nostalgia Drags at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, IL. The team managed to score the win in the 6.50 indexed Top Eliminator class, but it was by far the most bizarre, up and down weekend I have ever been involved in in over 20-years of racing. We went up and down from the Outhouse to the Penthouse so many times over in a span of just 2-days that I wouldn't have ever believed it if I didn't actually experience it.
First of all, we knew before we ever left for the race that we were likely to be overmatched in the performance department. After all, the quickest we've ever gone at this point is 6.72. However, at this particular race, there was no 7.00 class (which is what we typically run), just 6.50 or 7.50, and when you considered the price of tow fuel these days, the round money for 6.50 was much better if we were able to qualify....................Remember that statement.
Round 1 of qualifying started out great. Nice crisp burnout, everything seemed in order when I was pulling into the beams. The lights flashed and I got away with a satisfactory .017 light, but right after the gear-change, the car just quits. What?! I guess I'm just spoiled rotton, because even though our car isn't always the fastest, the Black Reign altered always seems to repeat with very minimal breakage. That being said, I grabbed the chute, moved it to the wall and immediately starting looking for fluid as I exited the car. I saw nothing, which was a relief, so they towed me off and we headed back. Upon the further review, my Crew Chief, Kerry Grams enlightened us to the rotor that had come completely off inside the cap, probably due to some fairly brisk tire-shake at the end of the burnout. So, he slams a new one on, makes some minor adjustments to the tune-up and we eventually head up for the second round of qualifying.
Once again, everything seems perfect. After another nice burnout, I roll into the lights......................and in the blink of an eye, the entire landscape of the weekend changes. I left before the tree was activated, which as most of you know, results in no time being given. To make matters worse, the car feels very nice until about 800 - 900 feet, and it quits again!!!
Now, remember the statement that I said to remember; if we were able to qualify? Well, come to find out, the qualifying criteria for Top Eliminator was that you had to run quicker than 7.49 to qualify. Well, after the aborted first run resulted in a 10-second e.t., this bonehead maneuver that I just pulled resulting in no-time puts us out of the show. Yeah, the car quit early again, but even so, it would've been quicker than 7.49, so needless to say, I was pi$$ed! In over 20-years of driving, I had never done that, and the one time I have that particular brain fart (I say "particular", because I've had millions of brain farts, just not that one! LMAO!!!), it puts us out of a show that we should've easily qualified for. A fact that didn't sit well with me at all after spending over $600 in tow fuel alone. When I looked back on it, I guess I did remember reading that little footnote, but because there were only 8 cars to start with, all of us that didn't run quick enough (which, by the way, was half the field) thought it was going to be a non-issue anyway. After talking to The Boogie Man, Doug Dunphy (who was also one of the non-qualified) on his way out for the evening, he said that someone in the tower told him that we were all going to be running tomorrow regardless of the rule and to not go anywhere.
That's all my Crew Chief needed to hear. With rain falling and water standing everywhere, he gives the order to get the car off the ground because we're going to change the rear gear and try to get after it a little for the first round the next day. But after dragging everything out and having the bolts loose on the pig, I get a phone call from a fellow 'Mater that I got the dubious honor of meeting earlier in the day, John "Johnny Mopar" Caran. John was MC-ing the event and was "partners" with Chris, the race coordinator. I had left him a message prior to talking with The Boogie Man about the qualifying situation, but apparently, someone had told Boogie wrong. John said that we weren't going to be able to run, and that the rules for the field were going to be upheld, regardless of the fact that the advertised 8-car show was now only going to be 4. I was obviously disappointed, but as Johnny will tell you, I understood, accepted it and went out to tell our guys to pull the plug on the gear change because it now looked like we were going to have to back it way off to run 7.50 the next day in an effort to salvage some tow money.
When we got up the next morning and started getting ready, our pit neighbor, Garry Wheeler (who drives a gorgeous A/fuel dragster for Jon Brook out of Tulsa, OK, and also one of the non-qualifiers) comes over and says he has something working. He had went to the tower and "talked" with the race coordinator, and the coordinator agreed to put the final decision to a vote among the 4 qualified cars. If they unanimously agreed to let us run, then he would allow it and honor the purse. About an hour later, we got the word that the vote was unanimous and we were going to have a race! After going around to each of the 4 drivers/owners that voted us in and personally thanking them, we got ready.
We start the car for our normal warm-up procedure, and the car won't stay running! Dude, are you kiddin' me?! We thought we had used up all of our bad luck the day before, so we were actually feelin' pretty good, then this! After some investigation, Kerry diagnosed the problem back to a broken clamp on the fuel pump, which was allowing the pump to work it's way out of the pump drive-shaft. With no spare, my emotion spiraled right back down to the ground as we searched for a clamp or pump to borrow. Luckily, our friends Ron and Shawn Evans of Excalibur Thundersports had the exact same pump we had and loaned it to us for as long as we would need it. We bolted it on, went through our procedure, and finally, everything appeared to be ready to go.
The rest of the race was simply a story of being in the right place at the right time. Our first round opponent, Dave Damrom, qualified @ 7.17, so we knew if we could just get the car to make a full pass, we should be somewhere in the 6.80's and should be in good shape. The lights flashed, I got away clean, and the car won't shift!!! I'm hammering the button and it just won't go. At that point it's on the chip for what seemed like forever, so I throw the towel in only to see my win light on. Dave runs a career best 7.14................but goes -.003 red! When we get back, it appeared that my crotch belt got wrapped around the shiftnoid, causing it to not shift. So, we make the necessary changes to the starting line procedure, Kerry makes some subtle changes to the tune-up, and we head for the semi's to run the #1 qualifier, who had just busted out a 6.57.
Knowing we were overmatched, we decided to stick to our original plan of trying to run 6.70 - 6.80 every time, stay sharp on the starting line and let the chips fall where they may, because at the end of the day, we simply can't run 6.50. When the lights flashed this time, I knew I got away good, so I just done everything in my power to keep the car dead in the middle. After the gear-change, I planted the car in the groove and waited for Charlie to thunder on by............and I waited...............and I waited. Then I go through the lights and my win light comes on again! 6.808 @ 197 Mph and Charlie is nowhere to be found. I absolutely couldn't believe it! I got out in the shut-down area and had a look at his car. He ran 6.96 but spit out a spark plug at around 900 feet. So, again, right place at the right time, and before we knew it, we were headed to the final!
We were now facing the guy that orchestrated the vote to get all of us in to start with, our pit neighbor, Garry Wheeler in Jon Brook's A-fuel dragster. After they had fixed their broken mag issue, they had their car running well all day, running easily in the 6.50 range, but backing off in typical bracket racing fashion on all of his previous opponents. Once again, we knew we couldn't run with him, so we just decided to try to repeat our 6.80, hit the tree hard, and hope they made a mistake. The plan worked to a "T", as we had 4-hundreths out of the gate and spun our way to a 6.83 @ 193, closing in on the center line as I was going through the lights, and once again, our win light comes on! When I didn't see Garry after the chutes hit, I assumed he must have had some issues, which I later found out was a pitched puke tank around 300 feet, resulting in some oil on his tires, but nonetheless, I was elated! I have literally not been involved in such a struggling effort as we had early in the weekend, yet resulted in a win! The weather was hot, we couldn't get down the track, which is very uncommon for our group, but we managed to hang in there, stay consistent and outlasted them for the win!
Sorry for running on so long, but there was quite a bit of interesting things we encountered and overcome for the win. Props goes out to our Crew Chief, Kerry Grams for once again answering the call and making everything happen for us. The guy is the most relentless guy I've ever met and just never gives up, and we're damn glad to have him! We also want to thank our great sponsors for a job well-done as well. Grams Racing Engines, Olson Paint & Body, Dishon Transmission Service, The Gettin' Place, Drew Olson Graphics, Family Practice Dentistry and Kendall Motor Oil help make it all possible and we're grateful.
Talk to y'all next week after the Goodguys in Indy!
Sean D
P.S. Sorry, Belt, for not texting you over the weekend. My phone worked about half the time, and besides, I really suck at it!!! LMAO!!!
After a successful tune-up session a couple of weeks ago at Match Race Madness in Joliet, the Black Reign team made it's competition debut this past weekend at the Musclecar Reunion and Nostalgia Drags at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, IL. The team managed to score the win in the 6.50 indexed Top Eliminator class, but it was by far the most bizarre, up and down weekend I have ever been involved in in over 20-years of racing. We went up and down from the Outhouse to the Penthouse so many times over in a span of just 2-days that I wouldn't have ever believed it if I didn't actually experience it.
First of all, we knew before we ever left for the race that we were likely to be overmatched in the performance department. After all, the quickest we've ever gone at this point is 6.72. However, at this particular race, there was no 7.00 class (which is what we typically run), just 6.50 or 7.50, and when you considered the price of tow fuel these days, the round money for 6.50 was much better if we were able to qualify....................Remember that statement.
Round 1 of qualifying started out great. Nice crisp burnout, everything seemed in order when I was pulling into the beams. The lights flashed and I got away with a satisfactory .017 light, but right after the gear-change, the car just quits. What?! I guess I'm just spoiled rotton, because even though our car isn't always the fastest, the Black Reign altered always seems to repeat with very minimal breakage. That being said, I grabbed the chute, moved it to the wall and immediately starting looking for fluid as I exited the car. I saw nothing, which was a relief, so they towed me off and we headed back. Upon the further review, my Crew Chief, Kerry Grams enlightened us to the rotor that had come completely off inside the cap, probably due to some fairly brisk tire-shake at the end of the burnout. So, he slams a new one on, makes some minor adjustments to the tune-up and we eventually head up for the second round of qualifying.
Once again, everything seems perfect. After another nice burnout, I roll into the lights......................and in the blink of an eye, the entire landscape of the weekend changes. I left before the tree was activated, which as most of you know, results in no time being given. To make matters worse, the car feels very nice until about 800 - 900 feet, and it quits again!!!
Now, remember the statement that I said to remember; if we were able to qualify? Well, come to find out, the qualifying criteria for Top Eliminator was that you had to run quicker than 7.49 to qualify. Well, after the aborted first run resulted in a 10-second e.t., this bonehead maneuver that I just pulled resulting in no-time puts us out of the show. Yeah, the car quit early again, but even so, it would've been quicker than 7.49, so needless to say, I was pi$$ed! In over 20-years of driving, I had never done that, and the one time I have that particular brain fart (I say "particular", because I've had millions of brain farts, just not that one! LMAO!!!), it puts us out of a show that we should've easily qualified for. A fact that didn't sit well with me at all after spending over $600 in tow fuel alone. When I looked back on it, I guess I did remember reading that little footnote, but because there were only 8 cars to start with, all of us that didn't run quick enough (which, by the way, was half the field) thought it was going to be a non-issue anyway. After talking to The Boogie Man, Doug Dunphy (who was also one of the non-qualified) on his way out for the evening, he said that someone in the tower told him that we were all going to be running tomorrow regardless of the rule and to not go anywhere.
That's all my Crew Chief needed to hear. With rain falling and water standing everywhere, he gives the order to get the car off the ground because we're going to change the rear gear and try to get after it a little for the first round the next day. But after dragging everything out and having the bolts loose on the pig, I get a phone call from a fellow 'Mater that I got the dubious honor of meeting earlier in the day, John "Johnny Mopar" Caran. John was MC-ing the event and was "partners" with Chris, the race coordinator. I had left him a message prior to talking with The Boogie Man about the qualifying situation, but apparently, someone had told Boogie wrong. John said that we weren't going to be able to run, and that the rules for the field were going to be upheld, regardless of the fact that the advertised 8-car show was now only going to be 4. I was obviously disappointed, but as Johnny will tell you, I understood, accepted it and went out to tell our guys to pull the plug on the gear change because it now looked like we were going to have to back it way off to run 7.50 the next day in an effort to salvage some tow money.
When we got up the next morning and started getting ready, our pit neighbor, Garry Wheeler (who drives a gorgeous A/fuel dragster for Jon Brook out of Tulsa, OK, and also one of the non-qualifiers) comes over and says he has something working. He had went to the tower and "talked" with the race coordinator, and the coordinator agreed to put the final decision to a vote among the 4 qualified cars. If they unanimously agreed to let us run, then he would allow it and honor the purse. About an hour later, we got the word that the vote was unanimous and we were going to have a race! After going around to each of the 4 drivers/owners that voted us in and personally thanking them, we got ready.
We start the car for our normal warm-up procedure, and the car won't stay running! Dude, are you kiddin' me?! We thought we had used up all of our bad luck the day before, so we were actually feelin' pretty good, then this! After some investigation, Kerry diagnosed the problem back to a broken clamp on the fuel pump, which was allowing the pump to work it's way out of the pump drive-shaft. With no spare, my emotion spiraled right back down to the ground as we searched for a clamp or pump to borrow. Luckily, our friends Ron and Shawn Evans of Excalibur Thundersports had the exact same pump we had and loaned it to us for as long as we would need it. We bolted it on, went through our procedure, and finally, everything appeared to be ready to go.
The rest of the race was simply a story of being in the right place at the right time. Our first round opponent, Dave Damrom, qualified @ 7.17, so we knew if we could just get the car to make a full pass, we should be somewhere in the 6.80's and should be in good shape. The lights flashed, I got away clean, and the car won't shift!!! I'm hammering the button and it just won't go. At that point it's on the chip for what seemed like forever, so I throw the towel in only to see my win light on. Dave runs a career best 7.14................but goes -.003 red! When we get back, it appeared that my crotch belt got wrapped around the shiftnoid, causing it to not shift. So, we make the necessary changes to the starting line procedure, Kerry makes some subtle changes to the tune-up, and we head for the semi's to run the #1 qualifier, who had just busted out a 6.57.
Knowing we were overmatched, we decided to stick to our original plan of trying to run 6.70 - 6.80 every time, stay sharp on the starting line and let the chips fall where they may, because at the end of the day, we simply can't run 6.50. When the lights flashed this time, I knew I got away good, so I just done everything in my power to keep the car dead in the middle. After the gear-change, I planted the car in the groove and waited for Charlie to thunder on by............and I waited...............and I waited. Then I go through the lights and my win light comes on again! 6.808 @ 197 Mph and Charlie is nowhere to be found. I absolutely couldn't believe it! I got out in the shut-down area and had a look at his car. He ran 6.96 but spit out a spark plug at around 900 feet. So, again, right place at the right time, and before we knew it, we were headed to the final!
We were now facing the guy that orchestrated the vote to get all of us in to start with, our pit neighbor, Garry Wheeler in Jon Brook's A-fuel dragster. After they had fixed their broken mag issue, they had their car running well all day, running easily in the 6.50 range, but backing off in typical bracket racing fashion on all of his previous opponents. Once again, we knew we couldn't run with him, so we just decided to try to repeat our 6.80, hit the tree hard, and hope they made a mistake. The plan worked to a "T", as we had 4-hundreths out of the gate and spun our way to a 6.83 @ 193, closing in on the center line as I was going through the lights, and once again, our win light comes on! When I didn't see Garry after the chutes hit, I assumed he must have had some issues, which I later found out was a pitched puke tank around 300 feet, resulting in some oil on his tires, but nonetheless, I was elated! I have literally not been involved in such a struggling effort as we had early in the weekend, yet resulted in a win! The weather was hot, we couldn't get down the track, which is very uncommon for our group, but we managed to hang in there, stay consistent and outlasted them for the win!
Sorry for running on so long, but there was quite a bit of interesting things we encountered and overcome for the win. Props goes out to our Crew Chief, Kerry Grams for once again answering the call and making everything happen for us. The guy is the most relentless guy I've ever met and just never gives up, and we're damn glad to have him! We also want to thank our great sponsors for a job well-done as well. Grams Racing Engines, Olson Paint & Body, Dishon Transmission Service, The Gettin' Place, Drew Olson Graphics, Family Practice Dentistry and Kendall Motor Oil help make it all possible and we're grateful.
Talk to y'all next week after the Goodguys in Indy!
Sean D
P.S. Sorry, Belt, for not texting you over the weekend. My phone worked about half the time, and besides, I really suck at it!!! LMAO!!!
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