RAPID
Nitro Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,136
- Age
- 65
- Location
- Waukee, Iowa
CORDOVA WORLD SERIES OF DRAG RACING
There were 4-fuel Altereds invited to race in the 53rd annual World Series as part of the feature show, Drastic Plastic, Chicago Fire, Metal Mafia and Nitro Madness. We had 1-run on Friday night and 2-runs on Saturday night. If you have never been to this race you are missing out on one of the best events in the drag racing world. In fact it started before the US Nationals began.
We drove over Friday afternoon and set up the pit space. We were parked close to Virgil Hartman’s operation as I had indicated to him if he needed any assistance our team would be glad to help out. He wasn’t sure exactly who was coming on his crew and was bringing the top fuel car along with 2-Nostalgia funny cars. It turns out he ended up with quite a few people to help the regular crew. How about having Paul Smith, John Smith, Rhonda Hartman-Smith, and Megan all there to help run the cars. Some might chuckle when I added Megan’s name to that list, but I am here to tell you. I worked with her at Joliet last year and she is an asset to have around. It turns out they needed all the help, the Top Fuel car wasn’t behaving itself. We have our hands full with 1-car, I have no idea how Virgil gets everyone on the same page to service all these cars. My hat is off to him!
After we were set up, I walked right across the pit road and introduced myself to Jeff Gaynor, the owner of the Hard Times nostalgia Funny Car. I have talked to Jeff on the web, but never met him. I took Laura along to cover me and when I got into the pit space I asked if this was one of those fiberglass caves I have been hearing so much about. Right away he shook my hand and said, “That comment would make you Rapid.” I was glad to meet him and had fun with him around all weekend. My buddy Dan Brown was helping him along with a number of friends of mine from the Classic Funny Car site. Dennis Young drove the rig out from California for Jeff. They worked hard all weekend and were rewarded with a win in the final. Good job guys.
The Nitro Madness was to race the Metal Mafia in the Friday night session. We had made some changes to the car and were ready to see how they worked on a good racetrack like Cordova. Sean and his crew had the Metal Mafia tuned up and ready to rock. You should see his Big Block Chevy on Nitro, it puts out flames at idle like no other! When we got the signal to fire them up, I put the car in high gear rolled thru the water and eased into the throttle. The car jumped up on the tires and I ended up somewhere around the 700 foot mark on the track. There must be a ton of people reading these stories. Every track we run on I no longer get the shocked looks when I wave to them as I back up. The crowds have recently been waving at me almost before I start waving to them. It seems to be a big hit with the fans.
I have the fuel system fattened up and the barrel valve set so it is really wetting the pipes. Pappy guided me back into the spot that Scott, Virgil, and I had decided on earlier. What, did I fail to mention Virgil Hartman came out to the track to hang out with us and see how the car would run during the Friday session? He had come straight from his race shop, parked the rig, went to the motel and showered, then came back to the track. Just try to tell me he isn’t a drag addict! Not only Virgil, Ray Murphy {from Virgil’s crew}, and Tony Smith {TJ Zizzo’s fuel car} were up there watching. Those were just the ones I knew about. I felt like the insect being studied by the master scholars at the University of “Don’t Screw this up kid.” As a driver I always try my best for Scott {car owner} and our crew. I want them to be proud of how we do. Having all these other guys I admire looking on did add to the self-imposed pressure. The only time I thought of them was when I was backing up into the starting area. I was hoping I didn’t run any of them over.
Now where was I, oh yes, Sean and I rolled into the staged beams at the same time. It sure is nice match racing against a great competitor who is as professional about running the car as Sean. Both motors go up on the last stage beam and I guess Sean was trying to redlight,,,I mean he had to be to leave on me right??? He strapped a .04 light on me! When my car left, it jumped up on the tires, the front end was up; I knew it was going places. I could still hear Sean’s car dang that thing is loud. I hit the air shifter; right after the car shifted it pulled the front end up again. I yelled, “OH YEAH”, although probably nobody heard me. The only time it has pulled a wheelie in 2nd was on a record run at the Draglist Nationals back in July. It was dancing around a bit when the front end came down. I hit third and felt the car not really do anything big wrong, but more like it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t pulling as hard as I was expecting it to so I stepped off it. I coasted across the finish line just a head of Sean. It was around 1200 feet or so when I lifted and seemed to take forever to go the last part of the track. The chutes came out; I eased on the brake and swung around on the return road. I made sure Sean was ok, and un-strapped all my gear waiting on my crew. When they got there Laura told me I went a 6.67 I couldn’t believe it ran that as early as I was out of it. As we towed back to the pits I got the time slip. We ran a new team record of 4.12 in the 1/8-mile at 175 mph! The car went 5.31 to the 1000-foot cones. That would have made this run somewhere in the 6.30-6.40 range. It was hauling the mail.
When we got back to the pits our good news was tempered with the bad news next door. The Metal Mafia had wounded the engine and didn’t have enough spares to fix it. It was a big disappointment as this was their first trip to race in the World Series.
We serviced the car and headed for the motel. Saturday we were met with a major rainstorm. Looking at the radar it didn’t look like there was any way it would ever be dry enough to race. We hung around the motel and went out to the track close to noon. The place was packed. It would rain for a while, then get lighter like it was going to stop, then it would rain again. It finally stopped for good mid afternoon and they announced they were drying the track and we would race after all.
The place was jam packed with fans, racers, and children. It was a great crowd and it was still trying to rain. The weather didn’t clear until close to 5:00PM.
The show was originally to begin at 7:00PM the rain delay kept our portion of the event from getting underway until around 10:00PM. I don’t thing a soul on the place cared. There was action in the pits, racing going on the track, people were moving thru the midway looking at parts and tools. When it was our turn we were making a single. We choose the left lane. The burnout lasted until around the 1000-foot cone with the car moving around pretty good. I staged and cut a .02 light and the car was moving, about the 60-foot cone it started to come lose, I gave a quick pedal and the car leaped forward. It was spinning again, the car moved around and got to moving over to the left guardrail. I lifted and then back in it. Around the 900-foot cone the engine popped and as I looked to see if I was about to get oiled the blower belt parted company with the engine. I coasted thru the lights, threw out the chutes and coasted to the return road wondering how bad we hurt it. It coasted to a 6.77 at 184 mph.
Back in the pits we discovered the blown burst panel, {the loud pop I heard} and the belt gone appeared to be the only damages. Nothing was torn up. I worked on checking the fuel system while the guys went over the car. We checked the fuel tank before filling it and it was very low for our normal deal. As we found no damages to the engine it turns out the with the long burnout, rich barrel valve, the car had run low on fuel and blew out the burst panel, which sent the blower belt off on it’s merry way, without the rest of the car. The rest of the service work was completed and we were ready for the finals.
I did a shorter burnout, well short for us, somewhere around the 4-500 feet range. It sounded good, so most of the “is the engine ok” worries disappeared. It was late; the dew was pretty thick on everything. I had heard a few cars pedal in each lane so we knew the track was a bit tricky. Back to the line, staged and launched. The car launched and went to the right. It had the wheels in the air, so there isn’t a whole lot to do but watch the wall and keep telling yourself it’s going to make it, it will settle down here in a second. I stayed with it as long as I could, but it wasn’t having any part of settling and making a run. I lifted before we took out the right side guardrail. I tried another time or two to give it some throttle but nothing worked.
We had a blast! I think this was one of the best World Series I have attended so far.
I hope you liked my “What I did Last Weekend” story,
Rapid
There were 4-fuel Altereds invited to race in the 53rd annual World Series as part of the feature show, Drastic Plastic, Chicago Fire, Metal Mafia and Nitro Madness. We had 1-run on Friday night and 2-runs on Saturday night. If you have never been to this race you are missing out on one of the best events in the drag racing world. In fact it started before the US Nationals began.
We drove over Friday afternoon and set up the pit space. We were parked close to Virgil Hartman’s operation as I had indicated to him if he needed any assistance our team would be glad to help out. He wasn’t sure exactly who was coming on his crew and was bringing the top fuel car along with 2-Nostalgia funny cars. It turns out he ended up with quite a few people to help the regular crew. How about having Paul Smith, John Smith, Rhonda Hartman-Smith, and Megan all there to help run the cars. Some might chuckle when I added Megan’s name to that list, but I am here to tell you. I worked with her at Joliet last year and she is an asset to have around. It turns out they needed all the help, the Top Fuel car wasn’t behaving itself. We have our hands full with 1-car, I have no idea how Virgil gets everyone on the same page to service all these cars. My hat is off to him!
After we were set up, I walked right across the pit road and introduced myself to Jeff Gaynor, the owner of the Hard Times nostalgia Funny Car. I have talked to Jeff on the web, but never met him. I took Laura along to cover me and when I got into the pit space I asked if this was one of those fiberglass caves I have been hearing so much about. Right away he shook my hand and said, “That comment would make you Rapid.” I was glad to meet him and had fun with him around all weekend. My buddy Dan Brown was helping him along with a number of friends of mine from the Classic Funny Car site. Dennis Young drove the rig out from California for Jeff. They worked hard all weekend and were rewarded with a win in the final. Good job guys.
The Nitro Madness was to race the Metal Mafia in the Friday night session. We had made some changes to the car and were ready to see how they worked on a good racetrack like Cordova. Sean and his crew had the Metal Mafia tuned up and ready to rock. You should see his Big Block Chevy on Nitro, it puts out flames at idle like no other! When we got the signal to fire them up, I put the car in high gear rolled thru the water and eased into the throttle. The car jumped up on the tires and I ended up somewhere around the 700 foot mark on the track. There must be a ton of people reading these stories. Every track we run on I no longer get the shocked looks when I wave to them as I back up. The crowds have recently been waving at me almost before I start waving to them. It seems to be a big hit with the fans.
I have the fuel system fattened up and the barrel valve set so it is really wetting the pipes. Pappy guided me back into the spot that Scott, Virgil, and I had decided on earlier. What, did I fail to mention Virgil Hartman came out to the track to hang out with us and see how the car would run during the Friday session? He had come straight from his race shop, parked the rig, went to the motel and showered, then came back to the track. Just try to tell me he isn’t a drag addict! Not only Virgil, Ray Murphy {from Virgil’s crew}, and Tony Smith {TJ Zizzo’s fuel car} were up there watching. Those were just the ones I knew about. I felt like the insect being studied by the master scholars at the University of “Don’t Screw this up kid.” As a driver I always try my best for Scott {car owner} and our crew. I want them to be proud of how we do. Having all these other guys I admire looking on did add to the self-imposed pressure. The only time I thought of them was when I was backing up into the starting area. I was hoping I didn’t run any of them over.
Now where was I, oh yes, Sean and I rolled into the staged beams at the same time. It sure is nice match racing against a great competitor who is as professional about running the car as Sean. Both motors go up on the last stage beam and I guess Sean was trying to redlight,,,I mean he had to be to leave on me right??? He strapped a .04 light on me! When my car left, it jumped up on the tires, the front end was up; I knew it was going places. I could still hear Sean’s car dang that thing is loud. I hit the air shifter; right after the car shifted it pulled the front end up again. I yelled, “OH YEAH”, although probably nobody heard me. The only time it has pulled a wheelie in 2nd was on a record run at the Draglist Nationals back in July. It was dancing around a bit when the front end came down. I hit third and felt the car not really do anything big wrong, but more like it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t pulling as hard as I was expecting it to so I stepped off it. I coasted across the finish line just a head of Sean. It was around 1200 feet or so when I lifted and seemed to take forever to go the last part of the track. The chutes came out; I eased on the brake and swung around on the return road. I made sure Sean was ok, and un-strapped all my gear waiting on my crew. When they got there Laura told me I went a 6.67 I couldn’t believe it ran that as early as I was out of it. As we towed back to the pits I got the time slip. We ran a new team record of 4.12 in the 1/8-mile at 175 mph! The car went 5.31 to the 1000-foot cones. That would have made this run somewhere in the 6.30-6.40 range. It was hauling the mail.
When we got back to the pits our good news was tempered with the bad news next door. The Metal Mafia had wounded the engine and didn’t have enough spares to fix it. It was a big disappointment as this was their first trip to race in the World Series.
We serviced the car and headed for the motel. Saturday we were met with a major rainstorm. Looking at the radar it didn’t look like there was any way it would ever be dry enough to race. We hung around the motel and went out to the track close to noon. The place was packed. It would rain for a while, then get lighter like it was going to stop, then it would rain again. It finally stopped for good mid afternoon and they announced they were drying the track and we would race after all.
The place was jam packed with fans, racers, and children. It was a great crowd and it was still trying to rain. The weather didn’t clear until close to 5:00PM.
The show was originally to begin at 7:00PM the rain delay kept our portion of the event from getting underway until around 10:00PM. I don’t thing a soul on the place cared. There was action in the pits, racing going on the track, people were moving thru the midway looking at parts and tools. When it was our turn we were making a single. We choose the left lane. The burnout lasted until around the 1000-foot cone with the car moving around pretty good. I staged and cut a .02 light and the car was moving, about the 60-foot cone it started to come lose, I gave a quick pedal and the car leaped forward. It was spinning again, the car moved around and got to moving over to the left guardrail. I lifted and then back in it. Around the 900-foot cone the engine popped and as I looked to see if I was about to get oiled the blower belt parted company with the engine. I coasted thru the lights, threw out the chutes and coasted to the return road wondering how bad we hurt it. It coasted to a 6.77 at 184 mph.
Back in the pits we discovered the blown burst panel, {the loud pop I heard} and the belt gone appeared to be the only damages. Nothing was torn up. I worked on checking the fuel system while the guys went over the car. We checked the fuel tank before filling it and it was very low for our normal deal. As we found no damages to the engine it turns out the with the long burnout, rich barrel valve, the car had run low on fuel and blew out the burst panel, which sent the blower belt off on it’s merry way, without the rest of the car. The rest of the service work was completed and we were ready for the finals.
I did a shorter burnout, well short for us, somewhere around the 4-500 feet range. It sounded good, so most of the “is the engine ok” worries disappeared. It was late; the dew was pretty thick on everything. I had heard a few cars pedal in each lane so we knew the track was a bit tricky. Back to the line, staged and launched. The car launched and went to the right. It had the wheels in the air, so there isn’t a whole lot to do but watch the wall and keep telling yourself it’s going to make it, it will settle down here in a second. I stayed with it as long as I could, but it wasn’t having any part of settling and making a run. I lifted before we took out the right side guardrail. I tried another time or two to give it some throttle but nothing worked.
We had a blast! I think this was one of the best World Series I have attended so far.
I hope you liked my “What I did Last Weekend” story,
Rapid
