RAPID
Nitro Member
COWTOWN HOT ROD REUNION
KCIR 2007
Wow 2-days of racing sure leaves a ton of stuff to write about. We were at Kansas City International Raceway last weekend to be a part of the action for this annual event. The weather was perfect, the track super, and the crowd came out to see all the cars run. They had a number of different classes and combos running. You know how much I love the American Graffiti hot rods. There were a number of them there running, some injected, some blown. On Saturday before our rounds I watched two T-buckets, street legal versions, race each other. Our team was standing there on the line; we all agreed it was just like watching a street race as we were growing up. Pretty neat stuff.
For those of you who don’t have time to make it though the whole story, here is the short version. It was a blast and our car made 2-new team record runs on Sunday to close out the show. There the suspense is over, carry on. Just joking.
We had a great game plan for running this weekend. We were going to run it with the same soft set up from Eddyville, where we had tested the prior weekend. Then hop it up for the 2nd run on Saturday night. We then would try something new on Sunday for the 1st run. If it worked we were going to try to lay one down Sunday night for the last pass. We were down there match racing with 5-other Altereds. The Nitro Madness team was paired up against the Ted “Tickle Me Elmo” Elrod and his band of warriors for the weekend. Ted and his crew are a great bunch of guys who really made some fantastic strides this weekend and ended up whipping us, 2 of the 4-runs. I use the whipping us term pretty lightly. Both of those runs Ted and I crossed the finish line so close together we didn’t know who won. Nitro Madness won the other rounds so it set up a perfect repeat of this friendly rivalry later this summer somewhere. Just for the record, I was asked to include the “Tickle me Elmo” portion of Ted’s new moniker. I will revel the Hooligan who put me up to that for the right cash payment Ted. I wish I was better with names. Every guy on Ted’s team was pretty sharp and fun to hang out with. I heard that one of them over there was Dave, from the Barklege Pro Mod team. Ted and his team were able to set a new personal best and team record of 6.35 at 221! I am not sure who was more pleased, they, or our team for them. That was a stout pass and had to be exciting for the fans as were neck and neck all down the track.
I want to thank Greg Reed and his son Jordan who came out to spend the weekend. Gregg and his older son are going to get a Nostalgia funny car and came to hang out with us as we sorted out our new car. He provided a great BBQ spread for dinner on Saturday night. His wife even baked a CAKE for me. The cake is part of the joke that gets hung on me because of all the birthday wishes I get every couple of weeks or so from my on-line buddys. Now when I to go back to Virgil Hartman’s in July to drive Sasquatch, his Nostalgia Funnycar, I will have to compare BBQ and see which is better. It might take a few trips thru the line to decide though!
We had some minor service work to perform and were ready for the 2:00PM call to come to the lanes. Instead of calling for the cars, they called for Ted and I to come to the staring line with our teams, and specifically our youngest crewmembers. I thought great, we have to hold a wrestle off to get lane choice just to get this deal started. I was glad I am a wrestling coach, and my boy Mike went to the State Championships during those years. I found out it was much easier than that and nobody got hurt. They flipped a coin, I won the toss and elected to go first for whatever game they had planned. I got nervous when the started said to Ted, “You have the advantage, Rapid chose to go first.” Drat, now what? Well the contest was an ET event in a roadster. Perfect, I drove a roadster the last 4-5 years I should ace this. One small draw back, the youngest guy has to push, as it doesn’t really run! Well that means Mike has to push Ol’ Rapid around, probably the first time I have gotten that much work out of him at one time in my life. To make it even, I loaned Ted, Mike’s buddy Jordan, who came to the races with us. Ok so into the roadster I go, as they are talking to the crowd I act like a typical driver and fiddle with every thing in the car, and turn the steering wheel. Hey, what the heck, turning the wheel, right is left and left is right! I am not sure I was supposed to notice this so I didn’t say anything. Now it sounds easy to remember, but even knowing it, makes for some “Altered like” straight line moves. Mike pushes me down and back and we didn’t hit anything or take out the tree so I felt it was a successful pass. Ted made a good lap also, although he was slower than my time I am sure. There was a girl from the crowd who wanted a shot at it. She found out fuel Altereds aren’t entirely user friendly and took it into the wall in about 25 feet or less. It was a great time and a good way to start things off.
Time to race! 2500 feet of corrected air, 80 degrees and sunny. I did one of the Nitro Madness patented ½ track burnouts, eased it to a stop. The hand brake is starting to feel pretty normal. This is the 4th run on the new car with it in there. I have one hand on the brake handle backing up and one on the steering wheel of course, so the waving to the crowd hasn’t been worked into the routine yet. With the coupe body, I am not sure they would see me waving anyway. The only thing worse than waving to people you don’t know, is waving at people you don’t know and having them NOT wave back. I will have to work on that part I guess. We had the car set up pretty soft thinking it would go A to B and then we could hop it up for the next run, that was the plan. About 20-feet into the run, I was quite aware we needed a NEW plan. It left the line and just starting to haul, when it went into tire shake. I lifted, let it settle down to a mild shudder, I hit the air shifter button and went into 2nd. As I stepped back into it, the slicks started spinning so I put it in 3rd and stood on the gas. I ran it out the back door at 189 mph and it was practically stopped before the 100-foot mark. That was the first big speed I had run in the car and it sure felt good. I got the win as Ted had some problem and couldn’t make the run after the burnout.
Back in the pits we discovered the wing was damaged in the tire shake. It wasn’t held on too well anymore, but I voted it would hold for one more run. The rest of the guys agreed it would hold on, but they were thinking it might hold on to the Christmas tree, not the finish line cone. We decide it shook from being down on power on a decent track so we added a little timing and took some fuel away to pep it up a little. We were still a little skittish to get too wild with it as the week before it knocked the tires off 2-runs in a row, before we got it to hook and run well.
The 2nd round on Saturday came rather quickly and we buttoned the car up to go to the lanes. I took the right lane this time and did a little shorter but still a match race style burnout. Right before we ran Ted’s crewguy came over and said, “We changed the 2-step in the car. Ted is going to go in and check it before he stages.” I rolled up and put the pre-staged bulb on, Ted put his on. I sat there giving him all the time he needed, or so I thought. We both sat there, finally I heard him rev his up, and then come back down. I rolled in, he came right in and we were off. Our car went 60-80 feet and shook again. Ted was having a bit of the same in his lane. I almost had my car parked at the 330 trying to get it to settle down and quit shaking. I pushed both buttons to stick it in high, and nailed it. It jumped up on the tires, spinning but heading for the finish line and catching up to Ted like last months unpaid credit card bills. We were side by side at the line neither of us knows who took the win light. Our car ran 210 mph! Our best ever prior run was a 211 on a full run. What will this old heap do if I get it to run from the start to the finish? Ted and I were talking on the big end waiting on our crews talking about how much fun we were having. He said, how come you didn’t stage? I said, “Your crew guy said not to as you were checking your 2-step.” Ted, “He was supposed to tell you to go ahead on in, we disconnected the 2-step.” We both had a good laugh over our unintentional burn down.
We pulled the wing off and tore it apart to discover what it would require to fix it for Sunday. It was really hurt on the inside supports. However there was a guy there that built chassis for some of the locals. He took the parts, drove to his shop, welded it, and delivered it back to us a couple of hours later. Man the racers sure know how to take care of each other.
We enjoyed the BBQ dinner Greg brought and went to the motel for swimming and the hot tub scene, after servicing the car for Sunday’s activities.
Sunday was just a perfect day weather wise. It was 85 degrees, 3200-feet of corrected air. Our team checked the track over and it looked to be a fast one today. The first run was about 2:30PM and we chose the right lane giving Ted the left lane, which was the better of the 2 on Saturday. We were trying something new, and though we should try it over there 1st. After side-by-side burnouts, both cars stage and on the 6th run in our car we set a new team record. Our car ran 6.45 @ 217 MPH. Unbelievable, to top that off Ted’s car was right there and he ran a new record for his team at a 6.35 @ 221 MPH. How close was it, he got the win by .04! The crowd loved it. Man it was so cool standing on the throttle for the whole ¼ mile. All you hear is the engine screaming, feel the car straining, everything in perfect harmony. Time is in slow motion, seeing the other car out the corner of your eyes. You are cinched down tight in the car; it and you are like one being, living for the thrill of the run. Yep, it is kind of Zen like for those few moments. You are watching for the finish line to dump the chutes, waiting to feel that first big tug when they hit. Ease the brake on, it bounces a bit, let off, to have it settle down, push the fuel shut off while you are waiting. Then back on the brake, when the engine revs up and runs out of fuel, hit the mag kill and coast around the final turn off. For just a few more seconds, you are still strapped in, the heat from the engine and trans surrounds you. Time to flip up the visor and feel the rush of cool air. Now the air is really pretty warm out at 85-degrees, but it always feels like cool spring water when you pop open your visor. Someone asked if I breathe while racing, I have no idea. I never think about it after the engine fires up. Once you open the visor, loosen the belts the quiet time is over. The other racecar sounds from the track invade your ears and the calm spell is over. This is replaced by the shouts and yells as you get the speed sensation washing over your body on what you just accomplished and how really bitchin it was to do it! One last word to the car on how fun that was, and then it is time to greet the crew to hear what the car ran. Big fun and big grins when the news is good!
It is time for the last run of the weekend. We are going into the left lane. I changed the hi-speed a little hoping to reach that magical 220-mph speed. Other than that it is set up the same. We gave the crowd a wild long burnout hoping to get a little extra heat in the engine for the run. Ted and I stage together and leave together. We are neck and neck until the 1/8 mile when I start pulling away. The car is really hauling at the 1/8 mile mark and it feels good all the way through. Across the finish line, chutes out, brake, fuel, and make the last return road turn out again. I know it was a good pass. The team brings the news, another 6.45. Now who says you can’t bracket race these things! This run was just about a hundredth quicker at the 1/8th mile and almost 5-mph. It went 177 at half-track!
We had a great weekend, great friends, great food, and got to put the car back in the box all in 1-piece. Life is Good, to quote a friend of mine.
I hope you enjoyed my “What I did Last Weekend” story.
Rapid
KCIR 2007
Wow 2-days of racing sure leaves a ton of stuff to write about. We were at Kansas City International Raceway last weekend to be a part of the action for this annual event. The weather was perfect, the track super, and the crowd came out to see all the cars run. They had a number of different classes and combos running. You know how much I love the American Graffiti hot rods. There were a number of them there running, some injected, some blown. On Saturday before our rounds I watched two T-buckets, street legal versions, race each other. Our team was standing there on the line; we all agreed it was just like watching a street race as we were growing up. Pretty neat stuff.
For those of you who don’t have time to make it though the whole story, here is the short version. It was a blast and our car made 2-new team record runs on Sunday to close out the show. There the suspense is over, carry on. Just joking.
We had a great game plan for running this weekend. We were going to run it with the same soft set up from Eddyville, where we had tested the prior weekend. Then hop it up for the 2nd run on Saturday night. We then would try something new on Sunday for the 1st run. If it worked we were going to try to lay one down Sunday night for the last pass. We were down there match racing with 5-other Altereds. The Nitro Madness team was paired up against the Ted “Tickle Me Elmo” Elrod and his band of warriors for the weekend. Ted and his crew are a great bunch of guys who really made some fantastic strides this weekend and ended up whipping us, 2 of the 4-runs. I use the whipping us term pretty lightly. Both of those runs Ted and I crossed the finish line so close together we didn’t know who won. Nitro Madness won the other rounds so it set up a perfect repeat of this friendly rivalry later this summer somewhere. Just for the record, I was asked to include the “Tickle me Elmo” portion of Ted’s new moniker. I will revel the Hooligan who put me up to that for the right cash payment Ted. I wish I was better with names. Every guy on Ted’s team was pretty sharp and fun to hang out with. I heard that one of them over there was Dave, from the Barklege Pro Mod team. Ted and his team were able to set a new personal best and team record of 6.35 at 221! I am not sure who was more pleased, they, or our team for them. That was a stout pass and had to be exciting for the fans as were neck and neck all down the track.
I want to thank Greg Reed and his son Jordan who came out to spend the weekend. Gregg and his older son are going to get a Nostalgia funny car and came to hang out with us as we sorted out our new car. He provided a great BBQ spread for dinner on Saturday night. His wife even baked a CAKE for me. The cake is part of the joke that gets hung on me because of all the birthday wishes I get every couple of weeks or so from my on-line buddys. Now when I to go back to Virgil Hartman’s in July to drive Sasquatch, his Nostalgia Funnycar, I will have to compare BBQ and see which is better. It might take a few trips thru the line to decide though!
We had some minor service work to perform and were ready for the 2:00PM call to come to the lanes. Instead of calling for the cars, they called for Ted and I to come to the staring line with our teams, and specifically our youngest crewmembers. I thought great, we have to hold a wrestle off to get lane choice just to get this deal started. I was glad I am a wrestling coach, and my boy Mike went to the State Championships during those years. I found out it was much easier than that and nobody got hurt. They flipped a coin, I won the toss and elected to go first for whatever game they had planned. I got nervous when the started said to Ted, “You have the advantage, Rapid chose to go first.” Drat, now what? Well the contest was an ET event in a roadster. Perfect, I drove a roadster the last 4-5 years I should ace this. One small draw back, the youngest guy has to push, as it doesn’t really run! Well that means Mike has to push Ol’ Rapid around, probably the first time I have gotten that much work out of him at one time in my life. To make it even, I loaned Ted, Mike’s buddy Jordan, who came to the races with us. Ok so into the roadster I go, as they are talking to the crowd I act like a typical driver and fiddle with every thing in the car, and turn the steering wheel. Hey, what the heck, turning the wheel, right is left and left is right! I am not sure I was supposed to notice this so I didn’t say anything. Now it sounds easy to remember, but even knowing it, makes for some “Altered like” straight line moves. Mike pushes me down and back and we didn’t hit anything or take out the tree so I felt it was a successful pass. Ted made a good lap also, although he was slower than my time I am sure. There was a girl from the crowd who wanted a shot at it. She found out fuel Altereds aren’t entirely user friendly and took it into the wall in about 25 feet or less. It was a great time and a good way to start things off.
Time to race! 2500 feet of corrected air, 80 degrees and sunny. I did one of the Nitro Madness patented ½ track burnouts, eased it to a stop. The hand brake is starting to feel pretty normal. This is the 4th run on the new car with it in there. I have one hand on the brake handle backing up and one on the steering wheel of course, so the waving to the crowd hasn’t been worked into the routine yet. With the coupe body, I am not sure they would see me waving anyway. The only thing worse than waving to people you don’t know, is waving at people you don’t know and having them NOT wave back. I will have to work on that part I guess. We had the car set up pretty soft thinking it would go A to B and then we could hop it up for the next run, that was the plan. About 20-feet into the run, I was quite aware we needed a NEW plan. It left the line and just starting to haul, when it went into tire shake. I lifted, let it settle down to a mild shudder, I hit the air shifter button and went into 2nd. As I stepped back into it, the slicks started spinning so I put it in 3rd and stood on the gas. I ran it out the back door at 189 mph and it was practically stopped before the 100-foot mark. That was the first big speed I had run in the car and it sure felt good. I got the win as Ted had some problem and couldn’t make the run after the burnout.
Back in the pits we discovered the wing was damaged in the tire shake. It wasn’t held on too well anymore, but I voted it would hold for one more run. The rest of the guys agreed it would hold on, but they were thinking it might hold on to the Christmas tree, not the finish line cone. We decide it shook from being down on power on a decent track so we added a little timing and took some fuel away to pep it up a little. We were still a little skittish to get too wild with it as the week before it knocked the tires off 2-runs in a row, before we got it to hook and run well.
The 2nd round on Saturday came rather quickly and we buttoned the car up to go to the lanes. I took the right lane this time and did a little shorter but still a match race style burnout. Right before we ran Ted’s crewguy came over and said, “We changed the 2-step in the car. Ted is going to go in and check it before he stages.” I rolled up and put the pre-staged bulb on, Ted put his on. I sat there giving him all the time he needed, or so I thought. We both sat there, finally I heard him rev his up, and then come back down. I rolled in, he came right in and we were off. Our car went 60-80 feet and shook again. Ted was having a bit of the same in his lane. I almost had my car parked at the 330 trying to get it to settle down and quit shaking. I pushed both buttons to stick it in high, and nailed it. It jumped up on the tires, spinning but heading for the finish line and catching up to Ted like last months unpaid credit card bills. We were side by side at the line neither of us knows who took the win light. Our car ran 210 mph! Our best ever prior run was a 211 on a full run. What will this old heap do if I get it to run from the start to the finish? Ted and I were talking on the big end waiting on our crews talking about how much fun we were having. He said, how come you didn’t stage? I said, “Your crew guy said not to as you were checking your 2-step.” Ted, “He was supposed to tell you to go ahead on in, we disconnected the 2-step.” We both had a good laugh over our unintentional burn down.
We pulled the wing off and tore it apart to discover what it would require to fix it for Sunday. It was really hurt on the inside supports. However there was a guy there that built chassis for some of the locals. He took the parts, drove to his shop, welded it, and delivered it back to us a couple of hours later. Man the racers sure know how to take care of each other.
We enjoyed the BBQ dinner Greg brought and went to the motel for swimming and the hot tub scene, after servicing the car for Sunday’s activities.
Sunday was just a perfect day weather wise. It was 85 degrees, 3200-feet of corrected air. Our team checked the track over and it looked to be a fast one today. The first run was about 2:30PM and we chose the right lane giving Ted the left lane, which was the better of the 2 on Saturday. We were trying something new, and though we should try it over there 1st. After side-by-side burnouts, both cars stage and on the 6th run in our car we set a new team record. Our car ran 6.45 @ 217 MPH. Unbelievable, to top that off Ted’s car was right there and he ran a new record for his team at a 6.35 @ 221 MPH. How close was it, he got the win by .04! The crowd loved it. Man it was so cool standing on the throttle for the whole ¼ mile. All you hear is the engine screaming, feel the car straining, everything in perfect harmony. Time is in slow motion, seeing the other car out the corner of your eyes. You are cinched down tight in the car; it and you are like one being, living for the thrill of the run. Yep, it is kind of Zen like for those few moments. You are watching for the finish line to dump the chutes, waiting to feel that first big tug when they hit. Ease the brake on, it bounces a bit, let off, to have it settle down, push the fuel shut off while you are waiting. Then back on the brake, when the engine revs up and runs out of fuel, hit the mag kill and coast around the final turn off. For just a few more seconds, you are still strapped in, the heat from the engine and trans surrounds you. Time to flip up the visor and feel the rush of cool air. Now the air is really pretty warm out at 85-degrees, but it always feels like cool spring water when you pop open your visor. Someone asked if I breathe while racing, I have no idea. I never think about it after the engine fires up. Once you open the visor, loosen the belts the quiet time is over. The other racecar sounds from the track invade your ears and the calm spell is over. This is replaced by the shouts and yells as you get the speed sensation washing over your body on what you just accomplished and how really bitchin it was to do it! One last word to the car on how fun that was, and then it is time to greet the crew to hear what the car ran. Big fun and big grins when the news is good!
It is time for the last run of the weekend. We are going into the left lane. I changed the hi-speed a little hoping to reach that magical 220-mph speed. Other than that it is set up the same. We gave the crowd a wild long burnout hoping to get a little extra heat in the engine for the run. Ted and I stage together and leave together. We are neck and neck until the 1/8 mile when I start pulling away. The car is really hauling at the 1/8 mile mark and it feels good all the way through. Across the finish line, chutes out, brake, fuel, and make the last return road turn out again. I know it was a good pass. The team brings the news, another 6.45. Now who says you can’t bracket race these things! This run was just about a hundredth quicker at the 1/8th mile and almost 5-mph. It went 177 at half-track!
We had a great weekend, great friends, great food, and got to put the car back in the box all in 1-piece. Life is Good, to quote a friend of mine.
I hope you enjoyed my “What I did Last Weekend” story.
Rapid
