Kenny Delco Turns Turtle (1 Viewer)

[Pete]

I haven't seen those complaints for this race. Everybody I know was blaming it on a cold track and a stiff head/cross wind, neither of which is in anybody's control. PS and PM would need nitro-level downforce or a shortened racetrack (1/8 mile) to deal with the day's conditions, and those aren't going to happen. Even with rule amendments to try and stabilize them, these circumstances were unfavorable for high-HP, short wheelbase cars (except for FC, but they're different).

Mispoke on that one...I meant in the past it has been the compalints

 

[Randy]

I finally got to make some test runs in my Top Sportsman / Pro Stock Camaro built by Rick Jones after putting a Sonny's Hemi in it a few weeks ago at the big bracket race they just had in Sonoma. Sunday afternoon it got a little windy but we finally got our act together and attempted to make a full pass. Keep in mind back in the good old days I ran upwards of 250 miles per hour in my top alcohol funny car before I let everybody else drive it and that thing could get completely sideways at the finish line and you could still gather it back up and save it. Anyway, I ran the Camaro down the Sonoma track in the right lane and at about 1,100 feet or so all of the sudden the car felt like it was doing the slip and slide with a lazy fishtail so I pulled my foot off the throttle. I ran a 6.79 at a coasting 192 miles an hour on that run, but I felt like for a split second I was a just a passenger in the car. I was mad at myself for taking my foot off the throttle, but my guys told me I have enough laps in fast cars to know when I should keep going and when I shouldn't. I have to admit when I watched Kenny Delco's crash and then heard him say in the interview afterwards that he had no idea why it happened I guess I would have said the same thing if mine happened to swap ends and ended up shiny side down. Kenny has a lot of runs in that car. Compared to other stuff I've driven faster than my Camaro I have to admit it concerns me because toward the Finish Line it feels pretty light on the loafers. I'm thinking the next time I go out I may not dump the shocks. I'm wondering if keeping the rear end up might help it stay in the air better. Running top sportsman in this thing means running on division tracks a lot worse than what the pro stockers are running on. After that experience at Sonoma I'm not going to click my tongue at any of the Pro Stock drivers anymore if they happen to do a Kenny Delco at the finish line.

 

[Nunz]

That car is badass Randy!

 

[Cliff]

Randy, what are your thoughts on a bigger "wing" for your car? I hear that Pro/S folks say a bigger spill plate would reduce MPH & they don't like the idea, but I thought wouldn't it make the cars more stable? Same w/ Pro Mod, especially at the speeds they run. When Gordie Rivera crashed at Phoenix a few years back, I saw that crash. The car literally sailed thru the air, much like Kenny did. I know zip about down force on that type of car, but maybe a bigger spill plate could have helped the cars at St Louis. Stay safe, Randy. We're all rooting for you.

 

[Randy]

Thanks Cliff. The thing about the alcohol car was once the thing settles down and you are headed for the Finish Line you put one hand on the chute levers and you never gave a thought to the thing swapping ends and going upside down or doing something stupid at the finish line without some sort of notice. My car is a template legal Pro Stock car including the spill plates and I have the taller wicker bill on it. Having watched some of the crashes over the years in Pro Stock I just assumed that the drivers just let it get away from them. But now I get it, like when everybody was upset including Greg Anderson and the rest of them when they started wadding cars up toward the finish line at Phoenix several years ago. This was when none of the rest of the classes were having a problem. I remember looking at some of the GXP Pro Stock cars 10 years ago thinking they look like a potato cut in half set on the track. They looked like they could go as fast backwards as they could forwards. My race car perspective was funny car bodies, where they look like a doorstop wedge. I'm not complaining, though. I really like driving this car. It's just that I need to learn and adapt and realize that I need to use my head and not my ego. If it feels like it's getting a little stupid I'll need to act accordingly forgetting the mindset that I had driving the alcohol car where you just manhandle the thing.

Stevie fast Jackson drove Annie Whitely's Top alcohol funny car and he had plenty to say about the difference between going from a Pro Mod door car to a Top alcohol funny car in a video he did. He said he learned he can manhandle the top alcohol funny car, but you have to be real delicate when trying to manipulate the Pro Mod car or you'll get in big trouble real quick. Mine is not a Pro Mod car , but having made a few laps in this thing I would say that's a very true statement.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my perspective as a newbie in one of these fast door cars compared to driving something else. I'm sure the good Pro Stock drivers with a lot of laps in these kind of cars have a real good feel for when things are going right and when things are going wrong compared to me right now, where all I'm doing is just having fun.