BRAINERD, Minn. - Cody Perkins and the 801 Racing Team’s first trip to Minnesota was an education. The valuable lesson they learned at the Lucas Oil Nationals is that they like racing in Minnesota, but next time they want to go a few more rounds.
The learning process started out during Friday’s opening qualifying session. Cody and his 801 Racing sponsored Top Alcohol Dragster powered down the drag strip to a 5.41 elapsed time at 263.41 mph. This run ended up putting Perkins in the eighth qualifying position going into round one Saturday night.
Perkins’ first round opponent, Scott Palmer, was the recipient of the knowledge Perkins’s team garnered from a late night complete teardown of the motor. A 5.332 at 263.00 was strapped on Palmer, and it was an A+ run for Perkins. After the run, the team treated it as “business as usual.”
“There was no horn honking when the crew came to pick me up,” stated Perkins. “I asked what it ran and when they told me a 5.33, I was so pumped!”
That emotion followed Perkins into the second round where he faced Chase Copeland. Perkins got off the line first, and was on an expected 5.30 run. Around 300 feet the motor put a hole out, and Perkins had to travel the rest of the way on seven cylinders. He was leading the race to the 1300 foot mark when Copeland moved ahead for the win. Perkins’ seven cylinder run still produced a 5.36, but class was over for the day.
“We run such high valve spring pressures that it’s tough to keep them together sometimes,” quoted Perkins. “Finding the tune-up to keep the parts happy for five seconds is not an easy thing.’
The team is returning to Utah to begin research and development to find a way to keep those parts “happy.” It’s this educational experience that will move drag racing and Cody Perkins to the head of the class.
The learning process started out during Friday’s opening qualifying session. Cody and his 801 Racing sponsored Top Alcohol Dragster powered down the drag strip to a 5.41 elapsed time at 263.41 mph. This run ended up putting Perkins in the eighth qualifying position going into round one Saturday night.
Perkins’ first round opponent, Scott Palmer, was the recipient of the knowledge Perkins’s team garnered from a late night complete teardown of the motor. A 5.332 at 263.00 was strapped on Palmer, and it was an A+ run for Perkins. After the run, the team treated it as “business as usual.”
“There was no horn honking when the crew came to pick me up,” stated Perkins. “I asked what it ran and when they told me a 5.33, I was so pumped!”
That emotion followed Perkins into the second round where he faced Chase Copeland. Perkins got off the line first, and was on an expected 5.30 run. Around 300 feet the motor put a hole out, and Perkins had to travel the rest of the way on seven cylinders. He was leading the race to the 1300 foot mark when Copeland moved ahead for the win. Perkins’ seven cylinder run still produced a 5.36, but class was over for the day.
“We run such high valve spring pressures that it’s tough to keep them together sometimes,” quoted Perkins. “Finding the tune-up to keep the parts happy for five seconds is not an easy thing.’
The team is returning to Utah to begin research and development to find a way to keep those parts “happy.” It’s this educational experience that will move drag racing and Cody Perkins to the head of the class.
