RAPID
Nitro Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,136
- Age
- 65
- Location
- Waukee, Iowa
2007 NPCA FINALS AT KCIR
Well it was the last race of the year for the Nitro Madness AA/FA. We traveled to Kansas City, Mo to take part in the finals of the Nostalgia Pro Comp association series. Troy Coker with help from Sarah and the gang put on a great series for the nostalgia cars to all get together and race at some of the finest tracks in the country.
Saturday qualifying was at 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM with open time trials all day long. Scott and Peggy took the trailer down on Friday to get a pit spot. It turned out to be a good idea. When Laura and I arrived Saturday morning the place was packed with more racers arriving all the time. The stands were full all day long and people standing at the fences on both sides of the track. That had to be a great feeling for the track management. It was by far the largest crowd I had seen all year long except at the World Series. We unloaded the car and set up the pit spot waiting for the guys to arrive later in the day. There were a lot of the cars going up and making hits all day. We decided since we had run here before that we would just wait until our designated time slot. We had discussed our plans to slow the car down to fit into the fastest class offered that has a 6.50 index. I made the necessary fuel system changes and Scott pulled the timing out.
Finally it is time to get into lane. We were the last of the cars in the line and were racing Gary Wheeler and crew with there new A-fuel dragster. I would have loved to being going heads up, flat out against him. We have raced Gary numerous times when he was driving his altered. Time to fire it up. They run their car quite a while on Alky to build heat, so we let them fire off first, then we started ours. I sat and waited for him to switch to Nitro, and at the tone change I rolled to the water and lit them up. Everything was normal until I lifted and the car got a weird vibration. I immediately move to the wall with the engine idling. Since it was coasting so fast I was tempted to let it idle down the track. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened so I just as quickly shelved that idea. I killed the engine and was still coasting down the track but right over by the wall in case it was leaking any fluids. When the engine shut down, I could still hear Gary’s car idling back at the line. I made the decision to stop right where it was, around ½ track or so. I unbuckled and stood up on the left slick as I got out of the car. I stood there a second or two so the starting line crew would be sure to see me. I then jumped over the wall. My thoughts were, if I was out of the way, they could send Gary. Those A-fuel cars are tough enough to run. Let alone shut off, back it down, to run again. I was confident in his ability that if his car did anything silly he would lift. Sure enough, as soon as I cleared the wall I saw him being motioned into the beams. As soon as he went by, my crew got the signal to head down to get me. We hooked up and hauled it as fast as possible to the first turn off to let the race keep flowing.
When we got back to the pits we started leaking it down. We discovered #5 was leaking 90%. Time to drop the diaper and pull the pan. We have new rods, pistons, and bearings. So if it isn’t catastrophic we can put it back together and make the next session. When the diaper came down, it was full of oil. Humm, not good. I saw holes in the oil pan, and windows in the block. Our day is done. We have a spare block, but left it at the race shop never guessing we might need it at this event. Scott and I discussed it and elected to call it a season.
Greg arrived with the BBQ, and it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. He had invited a ton of teams to come down for dinner and man can he cook! I went to get Roger Stanke and his crew, and then ended up talking with another friend Robin from the Whiz Kids racing team. I know you will find it hard to believe but him and I starting talking about clutches and tune-ups and a short trip to visit Roger turns into an hour talking tech. We are standing there with a Robin’s dad and a couple of crew guys when Laura came up. Summarizing here,,,“There you are, I have been waiting on you to come back for over an hour,,,honey!” Well right away, we {all us married guys anyway} knew she meant that in the “good” sort of way. Ha! She said, “We need to leave now.” I knew something was up when she said that. After we walked away, I said, “What’s up, you were pretty crabby there?” That is when she told me she was sick and needed to go to the motel. She didn’t want to say she was sick in front of all those guys, but knew I was liable to keep talking longer if she didn’t say we had to go. I was relieved,,,heck I thought for minute she really was mad at me. That being so unusual in itself of course.
The quality of the cars at this event was simply incredible. I saw Altereds, funnycars, dragsters all putting on a great show for the fans. The whole team went up to watch the 2nd qualifying session. The stands were still packed and judging by what I overheard they were having a blast. I will tell you again, it didn’t matter to the crowd what the number was that was on the board. They just loved the racing. Since it was all heads up, everybody watching could “GET IT”.
Big Daddy was there. He push started the car, did a few burnouts and launches. The place was rocking! He drove it to half-track, turned around on the track. Then he came back to the starting line, another U-turn and more burnouts and launches. It was so COOL to see Big driving his dragster again.
We went back to the track Sunday morning. It was raining off and on, but I was pleased to see a good crowd had come back for the 2nd day. Since we weren’t racing I had time to visit with a ton of friends who were at the event. No way to name them all, but I enjoyed talking with each of them. One of the other teams I was helping out with some tune-up items came over to talk, and I said, “Hey, why ask me? Look at our engine.” I was joking,,well kind of.
When I got there the track owner came over and thanked me for moving the car over and getting out. He said, “You helped me teach the track crew what to do in that circumstance.” They were ready to roll the medics and rigs to come to my aid if I needed anything. He was watching from the tower, and told them to hold off. He said, “I knew you were a professional and I had a feeling you were going to get out so the other car could run.” It was nice of him to come over and pass that along. Right after he left I managed to lock the keys in the Enterprise rental SUV. How do you like that, hero to zero just that quick. Enterprise is a sponsor for our team and they give us a truck or SUV to tow the race-car to the line. Lucky for me, the team pitted beside us had some connections and in about ½ an hour it was unlocked, and I was out of trouble again. Thanks John! Hey, it is better to be lucky than good any day.
Laura still wasn’t feeling well so we left at 11:30AM. I don’t know if they got the races all in or not. If you have a chance to go to one of these events next year I would highly recommend it.
I hope you liked my “What I did Last Weekend” story.
Rapid
Well it was the last race of the year for the Nitro Madness AA/FA. We traveled to Kansas City, Mo to take part in the finals of the Nostalgia Pro Comp association series. Troy Coker with help from Sarah and the gang put on a great series for the nostalgia cars to all get together and race at some of the finest tracks in the country.
Saturday qualifying was at 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM with open time trials all day long. Scott and Peggy took the trailer down on Friday to get a pit spot. It turned out to be a good idea. When Laura and I arrived Saturday morning the place was packed with more racers arriving all the time. The stands were full all day long and people standing at the fences on both sides of the track. That had to be a great feeling for the track management. It was by far the largest crowd I had seen all year long except at the World Series. We unloaded the car and set up the pit spot waiting for the guys to arrive later in the day. There were a lot of the cars going up and making hits all day. We decided since we had run here before that we would just wait until our designated time slot. We had discussed our plans to slow the car down to fit into the fastest class offered that has a 6.50 index. I made the necessary fuel system changes and Scott pulled the timing out.
Finally it is time to get into lane. We were the last of the cars in the line and were racing Gary Wheeler and crew with there new A-fuel dragster. I would have loved to being going heads up, flat out against him. We have raced Gary numerous times when he was driving his altered. Time to fire it up. They run their car quite a while on Alky to build heat, so we let them fire off first, then we started ours. I sat and waited for him to switch to Nitro, and at the tone change I rolled to the water and lit them up. Everything was normal until I lifted and the car got a weird vibration. I immediately move to the wall with the engine idling. Since it was coasting so fast I was tempted to let it idle down the track. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened so I just as quickly shelved that idea. I killed the engine and was still coasting down the track but right over by the wall in case it was leaking any fluids. When the engine shut down, I could still hear Gary’s car idling back at the line. I made the decision to stop right where it was, around ½ track or so. I unbuckled and stood up on the left slick as I got out of the car. I stood there a second or two so the starting line crew would be sure to see me. I then jumped over the wall. My thoughts were, if I was out of the way, they could send Gary. Those A-fuel cars are tough enough to run. Let alone shut off, back it down, to run again. I was confident in his ability that if his car did anything silly he would lift. Sure enough, as soon as I cleared the wall I saw him being motioned into the beams. As soon as he went by, my crew got the signal to head down to get me. We hooked up and hauled it as fast as possible to the first turn off to let the race keep flowing.
When we got back to the pits we started leaking it down. We discovered #5 was leaking 90%. Time to drop the diaper and pull the pan. We have new rods, pistons, and bearings. So if it isn’t catastrophic we can put it back together and make the next session. When the diaper came down, it was full of oil. Humm, not good. I saw holes in the oil pan, and windows in the block. Our day is done. We have a spare block, but left it at the race shop never guessing we might need it at this event. Scott and I discussed it and elected to call it a season.
Greg arrived with the BBQ, and it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. He had invited a ton of teams to come down for dinner and man can he cook! I went to get Roger Stanke and his crew, and then ended up talking with another friend Robin from the Whiz Kids racing team. I know you will find it hard to believe but him and I starting talking about clutches and tune-ups and a short trip to visit Roger turns into an hour talking tech. We are standing there with a Robin’s dad and a couple of crew guys when Laura came up. Summarizing here,,,“There you are, I have been waiting on you to come back for over an hour,,,honey!” Well right away, we {all us married guys anyway} knew she meant that in the “good” sort of way. Ha! She said, “We need to leave now.” I knew something was up when she said that. After we walked away, I said, “What’s up, you were pretty crabby there?” That is when she told me she was sick and needed to go to the motel. She didn’t want to say she was sick in front of all those guys, but knew I was liable to keep talking longer if she didn’t say we had to go. I was relieved,,,heck I thought for minute she really was mad at me. That being so unusual in itself of course.
The quality of the cars at this event was simply incredible. I saw Altereds, funnycars, dragsters all putting on a great show for the fans. The whole team went up to watch the 2nd qualifying session. The stands were still packed and judging by what I overheard they were having a blast. I will tell you again, it didn’t matter to the crowd what the number was that was on the board. They just loved the racing. Since it was all heads up, everybody watching could “GET IT”.
Big Daddy was there. He push started the car, did a few burnouts and launches. The place was rocking! He drove it to half-track, turned around on the track. Then he came back to the starting line, another U-turn and more burnouts and launches. It was so COOL to see Big driving his dragster again.
We went back to the track Sunday morning. It was raining off and on, but I was pleased to see a good crowd had come back for the 2nd day. Since we weren’t racing I had time to visit with a ton of friends who were at the event. No way to name them all, but I enjoyed talking with each of them. One of the other teams I was helping out with some tune-up items came over to talk, and I said, “Hey, why ask me? Look at our engine.” I was joking,,well kind of.
When I got there the track owner came over and thanked me for moving the car over and getting out. He said, “You helped me teach the track crew what to do in that circumstance.” They were ready to roll the medics and rigs to come to my aid if I needed anything. He was watching from the tower, and told them to hold off. He said, “I knew you were a professional and I had a feeling you were going to get out so the other car could run.” It was nice of him to come over and pass that along. Right after he left I managed to lock the keys in the Enterprise rental SUV. How do you like that, hero to zero just that quick. Enterprise is a sponsor for our team and they give us a truck or SUV to tow the race-car to the line. Lucky for me, the team pitted beside us had some connections and in about ½ an hour it was unlocked, and I was out of trouble again. Thanks John! Hey, it is better to be lucky than good any day.
Laura still wasn’t feeling well so we left at 11:30AM. I don’t know if they got the races all in or not. If you have a chance to go to one of these events next year I would highly recommend it.
I hope you liked my “What I did Last Weekend” story.
Rapid
