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With the first half of the 2006 eMax IHRA season coming to a close at this weekend’s Canadian Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park (TMP), Alan Pittman is determined to troubleshoot and hopefully eliminate the problems that have seen his team’s early Pro Modified triumphs slip away, only to be replaced by two consecutive DNQs.
Pittman, team owner Mel Bush, and crew expected to have some teething troubles when they introduced their unique ’62 Chevrolet Bel Air “bubble top” earlier this year, but a string of successful outings, culminating in a victory in just their third race, may have led the team to overlook a number of seemingly minor problems which resulted in failed qualifying efforts in Edmonton, Alberta, and Milan, Michigan.
“I really think we’re having some trouble now because we started off the season so well,” the chassis builder from Greenville, South Carolina said. “We qualified in San Antonio, we qualified in Rockingham and then we went to Grand Bend and won the race. We camouflaged a lot of small problems early on and that has come around to bite us now. We sure haven’t been just standing around, and we and our engine builder Carl Spiering have fixed a lot of small things, but it seems like something else always crops up.”
Fortunately, Spiering is based in Jordan Station, Ontario, close to the Cayuga, Ontario, home of TMP, so Pittman is going to take advantage of the situation by spending several days in the dyno room at Spiering’s shop prior to the third Canadian race on this year’s schedule.
“I’m planning to go to Ontario early and spend some time at Carl’s shop running both of our engines and see if we can find something,” Pittman said. “We’re going to put a different set of heads on one of them and see if we can pick up some performance. Whichever engine dynos the best is the one we’ll run in Cayuga.”
Including this weekend’s Canadian Nationals, there are still six events left on the 2006 IHRA schedule, and Pittman, who is currently ranked ninth in championship points, is going to do what he can to get his season back on track. This includes buying a third powerplant from Spiering, one that will incorporate a number of updates and refinements.
”We’ve got a new engine on the way, one that will use the B6 heads that most of the other teams are running,” Pittman said. “This should be the best one yet because we’re going to make some changes based on what we’ve learned so far this season.
”We’re going to get this thing to run, but like I said we just did too good too fast, and it kind of bit us. We’re struggling but we’re not going to quit. We’ll get it figured out, because we have good people in the pits and good equipment out on the track. It can’t go any other way.”
Pittman Hopes Third Trip to Canada Will Be the Charm
With the first half of the 2006 eMax IHRA season coming to a close at this weekend’s Canadian Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park (TMP), Alan Pittman is determined to troubleshoot and hopefully eliminate the problems that have seen his team’s early Pro Modified triumphs slip away, only to be replaced by two consecutive DNQs.
Pittman, team owner Mel Bush, and crew expected to have some teething troubles when they introduced their unique ’62 Chevrolet Bel Air “bubble top” earlier this year, but a string of successful outings, culminating in a victory in just their third race, may have led the team to overlook a number of seemingly minor problems which resulted in failed qualifying efforts in Edmonton, Alberta, and Milan, Michigan.
“I really think we’re having some trouble now because we started off the season so well,” the chassis builder from Greenville, South Carolina said. “We qualified in San Antonio, we qualified in Rockingham and then we went to Grand Bend and won the race. We camouflaged a lot of small problems early on and that has come around to bite us now. We sure haven’t been just standing around, and we and our engine builder Carl Spiering have fixed a lot of small things, but it seems like something else always crops up.”
Fortunately, Spiering is based in Jordan Station, Ontario, close to the Cayuga, Ontario, home of TMP, so Pittman is going to take advantage of the situation by spending several days in the dyno room at Spiering’s shop prior to the third Canadian race on this year’s schedule.
“I’m planning to go to Ontario early and spend some time at Carl’s shop running both of our engines and see if we can find something,” Pittman said. “We’re going to put a different set of heads on one of them and see if we can pick up some performance. Whichever engine dynos the best is the one we’ll run in Cayuga.”
Including this weekend’s Canadian Nationals, there are still six events left on the 2006 IHRA schedule, and Pittman, who is currently ranked ninth in championship points, is going to do what he can to get his season back on track. This includes buying a third powerplant from Spiering, one that will incorporate a number of updates and refinements.
”We’ve got a new engine on the way, one that will use the B6 heads that most of the other teams are running,” Pittman said. “This should be the best one yet because we’re going to make some changes based on what we’ve learned so far this season.
”We’re going to get this thing to run, but like I said we just did too good too fast, and it kind of bit us. We’re struggling but we’re not going to quit. We’ll get it figured out, because we have good people in the pits and good equipment out on the track. It can’t go any other way.”
