Struggling Team
- Thread starter rocketman
- Start date
90-percent
Nitro Member
You would think a benevolent CC or team out there would at least point him in the right direction?
Hey, the guy is out there while so many are not. I like the privateers the best.
-90% Jimmy
Hey, the guy is out there while so many are not. I like the privateers the best.
-90% Jimmy
rocketman
Nitro Member
- Thread starter
- #3
Perhaps they like doing it there way but thats a lot of years to be struggling. I had a few years where I struggled with an injected dragster and then a friend of mine helped me out with a blown combination. It was the best thing that ever happened. So I hope someone can help them. Cole Coonce has wrote a couple of interesting stories on these guys.
I have helped them at the last few races except this weekend and one thing that I have learned is they are going to do it their way. Worsham has given them advice but they don't always do 100% of what he suggest. Which they should. Arley is the one who gets abused about how the car runs but Jay Roach is the tuner and it's all on him when things don't work out.
I could go on for a long period of time on what I think they should do and what I feel they are doing wrong but that won't change anything so I won't.
Jay and Arley are two of the neatest people you will ever meet but that doesn't get a car down the track.
I could go on for a long period of time on what I think they should do and what I feel they are doing wrong but that won't change anything so I won't.
Jay and Arley are two of the neatest people you will ever meet but that doesn't get a car down the track.
It's called PRIDE, Tony.
Dale Armstrong many years ago tried. It sounded great when it started. Dale wasn't 100 yards away when "it got fixed".
Meeks
Nitro Member
I thought this was another EE thread.......my bad
LOL I knew somebody would say it!
Struggling Team? or EGO?
If they are ignoring advice from a number of successful crew chiefs, To the point of undoing what those crew chiefs fix out of willful ignorance or ego. Then there comes a time that NHRA should prevent the car from entering an event. Safety is an issue not only for Arley but those on the starting line or in the other lane. NHRA has no place for daredevil drivers or pyrotechnic displays.
If they are ignoring advice from a number of successful crew chiefs, To the point of undoing what those crew chiefs fix out of willful ignorance or ego. Then there comes a time that NHRA should prevent the car from entering an event. Safety is an issue not only for Arley but those on the starting line or in the other lane. NHRA has no place for daredevil drivers or pyrotechnic displays.
Bob
Nitro Member
Uh, Terry, this thread (at least so far) has been about free help offered by others who have achieved success.
Uh, Terry, this thread (at least so far) has been about free help offered by others who have achieved success.
Uh, Terry, this thread (at least so far) has been about free help offered by others who have achieved success.
Uh, Terry, this thread (at least so far) has been about free help offered by others who have achieved success. Fun is good. I know what fun is, and fun is my favorite thing to have. When my fun turns me into a joke, it ain't fun anymore.
Can you even do that in a fueler? I dont personally know but if that were true then I can think of a few teams who should be kicking butt with that mindset .
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Good luck to them. I'm sure there are many that will call it foolish, stupid, dangerous or ignorant for them wanting to do their own thing, but maybe they are trying to find their own way and develop their own methods. NOTHING beats the satisfaction of having an idea and figuring out how to make it work on your own, especially when all you hear is "that will never work".
I like seeing these guys out there, and this is a good year for the part-timers to participate. But, these cars are too damn expensive, IMO, to not try and at least have a baseline to run the car without being a grenade (not that the best of them don't become grenades!). I was thinking also about Steve Chrisman. He's making the effort to attend races, he obviously sells stuff to many of the fuel teams, it would be cool to see him get a little help to jump up a notch in performance.
Randy
Nitro Member
Some people have their own reasons for spending their children's inheritance to do something. And it may not including asking for or receiving any help from anyone.
Like Arley, I like to do it my own way with our stuff even though there are those out there that offer competitive tune-ups in our class. My reason for being there is to learn, go fast and win based on what we've learned over the years and to try the things we dream up to try on the car just to see what happens. That's what floats my boat. When it runs well, we did it as a team. When we suck, we did it as a team. And we've done both. But for sure no one will ever be able to say "If it wasn't for so-and-so they would do any good at all."
The guy in the pits next to us at any given race may chose to pay someone $3,000, $5,000 or more for the weekend to fly in and tune up their race car. If that's what it takes for us to win then I have no reason to race my car or be in the pits. I'm there to see how well we can do against everyone else, not hire someone to see how good we are. No fun, to me.
Like I said, sometimes we suck and sometimes we don't. I'm a little hard headed, I guess. Given the choice of running good because someone else stepped in my pit and did it verses learning and growing and finally running decent because we did it I'll take option 2. If you talked to Arley I bet he would say the same thing.
RG
Like Arley, I like to do it my own way with our stuff even though there are those out there that offer competitive tune-ups in our class. My reason for being there is to learn, go fast and win based on what we've learned over the years and to try the things we dream up to try on the car just to see what happens. That's what floats my boat. When it runs well, we did it as a team. When we suck, we did it as a team. And we've done both. But for sure no one will ever be able to say "If it wasn't for so-and-so they would do any good at all."
The guy in the pits next to us at any given race may chose to pay someone $3,000, $5,000 or more for the weekend to fly in and tune up their race car. If that's what it takes for us to win then I have no reason to race my car or be in the pits. I'm there to see how well we can do against everyone else, not hire someone to see how good we are. No fun, to me.
Like I said, sometimes we suck and sometimes we don't. I'm a little hard headed, I guess. Given the choice of running good because someone else stepped in my pit and did it verses learning and growing and finally running decent because we did it I'll take option 2. If you talked to Arley I bet he would say the same thing.
RG
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Randy I agree to a point. Back when I was young I helped a guy with a C dragster. He started out with a front engine car then spent every cent he had on a new S&W rear engine car but could only afford a shorty body, It ran pretty good in its day almost matching the C dragster record on a run that the motor broke in the lights.
Eventually he put a blower on it and alky in the tank. The car would scream off the line and then fall on its face 300 feet out. We were frustrated that we couldn't even get it into the sixes. Did get a six second first round win at Connecticut International raceway. Saw the writing on the wall and he decided to build a hemi with a new chassis built by his new employer. Starting with a standard deck welded up windows KB water block from Jerry Camanito and a single pair of dart heads. And a 12 71 mooneyham. Took a few years.
There were good times. there were bad times. I can remember pulling into sanair with junk pistons with welded up sunken piston domes. I can remember at Cayuga mallory being loose in the crank when a local machine shop put a slug too close to the edge of a counterweight with a strap welded over it. and we had to pry it back in place between qualifying rounds. Eventually throwing the slug through the oil pan off the starting line. Wrecked the entire motor in the process even peeling back the valley head stud bosses.
Replaced that block Won his first race at Epping. One day His employer got a sudden illness and passed away. A few years struggling to make a profit for the guys widow he bought the business from her. We did some research and watched a video tape of the old car at epping. determined it was nose heavy. Built A new chassis that I played hooky from my own business assisting him during the afternoons and evenings, He bought a decent used KB short deck solid block from Galen Roggie back when KB had manufacturing problems and the supply was cut off. A mert 14 71 to replace the moonyham and a year later during the blower wars a mert hi helix. Crewchief Terry flowed , machined & repaired the old welded up dart heads and did some porting. Some time on a fuel flow bench belonging to a local US national champion crew chief pointing him in the right direction. Things started to come together. He started to go more rounds, The car which was now tail heavy (we over corrected to the point of cutting the B&J output shaft) would make some spectacular runs carrying the front end to almost 900 feet. But then All the struggles. All the nights working till sun up the next day in the shop. 300 hours helping build the car The bad food. The cold pizza the warm drinks. The miles in a cramped crewcab. the years of qualifying number nine or ten or twelve. in an eight car field. the carnage and the patching it all back up again. All the bad luck. It all came together in the last possible race outside of division where he needed two rounds. Won that race And with that he won his only divisional championship. It was a quiet ride home just me and him. It was like after all the struggles I couldn't quite process what had just occurred.
I am sure in Arleys mind he is hoping for that one turn around. For everything to come around. Believe me when I say this that I have been there. in his mind the round win is just around the corner. That qualifying run is just the next race weekend. For years its what keeps you trying when others less obsessed will walk away. Its almost like the definition of insanity. repeatedly doing the same thing but expecting different results. Arleys been doing this since the days of Ontario motor speedway. And that is a long long time to struggle. I hope for him someone sneaks into his pit and "fixes" something without him noticing. Just out of pity. Then he can go to his grave after all these years a happy man.
Eventually he put a blower on it and alky in the tank. The car would scream off the line and then fall on its face 300 feet out. We were frustrated that we couldn't even get it into the sixes. Did get a six second first round win at Connecticut International raceway. Saw the writing on the wall and he decided to build a hemi with a new chassis built by his new employer. Starting with a standard deck welded up windows KB water block from Jerry Camanito and a single pair of dart heads. And a 12 71 mooneyham. Took a few years.
There were good times. there were bad times. I can remember pulling into sanair with junk pistons with welded up sunken piston domes. I can remember at Cayuga mallory being loose in the crank when a local machine shop put a slug too close to the edge of a counterweight with a strap welded over it. and we had to pry it back in place between qualifying rounds. Eventually throwing the slug through the oil pan off the starting line. Wrecked the entire motor in the process even peeling back the valley head stud bosses.
Replaced that block Won his first race at Epping. One day His employer got a sudden illness and passed away. A few years struggling to make a profit for the guys widow he bought the business from her. We did some research and watched a video tape of the old car at epping. determined it was nose heavy. Built A new chassis that I played hooky from my own business assisting him during the afternoons and evenings, He bought a decent used KB short deck solid block from Galen Roggie back when KB had manufacturing problems and the supply was cut off. A mert 14 71 to replace the moonyham and a year later during the blower wars a mert hi helix. Crewchief Terry flowed , machined & repaired the old welded up dart heads and did some porting. Some time on a fuel flow bench belonging to a local US national champion crew chief pointing him in the right direction. Things started to come together. He started to go more rounds, The car which was now tail heavy (we over corrected to the point of cutting the B&J output shaft) would make some spectacular runs carrying the front end to almost 900 feet. But then All the struggles. All the nights working till sun up the next day in the shop. 300 hours helping build the car The bad food. The cold pizza the warm drinks. The miles in a cramped crewcab. the years of qualifying number nine or ten or twelve. in an eight car field. the carnage and the patching it all back up again. All the bad luck. It all came together in the last possible race outside of division where he needed two rounds. Won that race And with that he won his only divisional championship. It was a quiet ride home just me and him. It was like after all the struggles I couldn't quite process what had just occurred.
I am sure in Arleys mind he is hoping for that one turn around. For everything to come around. Believe me when I say this that I have been there. in his mind the round win is just around the corner. That qualifying run is just the next race weekend. For years its what keeps you trying when others less obsessed will walk away. Its almost like the definition of insanity. repeatedly doing the same thing but expecting different results. Arleys been doing this since the days of Ontario motor speedway. And that is a long long time to struggle. I hope for him someone sneaks into his pit and "fixes" something without him noticing. Just out of pity. Then he can go to his grave after all these years a happy man.
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I think alot of you guys got it wrong about Arley and Jay being ignorant and full of ego. Theyre both super cool and try to go out there and go as fast as they can...Sometimes they dont always do EVERYTHING thats pointed their way, but thats what makes racing great, trying your own thing and seeing if it works....so i say good for them and hopefully they figure it out.
