Post by creative1 on Aug 2, 2004 4:07:22 GMT -5
story... or maybe you will... its true, anyhow.
yesterday (sat) i went to the "street car shootout" at the local track. after reviewing the class rules (there were 3 classes, true street, wild street, and heavy street), i discovered that i could indeed run in one of them... heavy street. my 31" street tires wouldnt let me run in the other 2 classes, and are too wide for one of them, too. go figure... whodathunk a P275/70R16 wasnt a street tire?
after lurking about for a couple of hours, i heard the track announcer begging for entries in heavy street, there were only 3 at the time. so... i figured 'what the hell...'
so i went to the now well dieted 4300 pound brick (it weighed 4700 lbs at the public CERTIFIED scale last year), climbed in, and drove to the racer's entrance. gave them another $13 (the difference between spectator admission and the entry fee of $25) and headed off to tech. they weighed the front wheels (that end met the minimum weight requirements), then the back end (that end was about 1000 lbs light), put a weight sticker and a number and the class i was running in on my windshield. a 4300 lb truck in a 2800 minimum class. (i later discovered that the next heaviest vehicle was 1000 lbs lighter than mine). that was tech... lol. i made a mad dash for the pits because they had given last call for the first round of heavy street qualifications about 15 mins before... as i drove up (trying to roll up my windows, fasten my seat belt, and get a look at a .4 pro tree for the first time as a participant (trying to do these all at once), the announcer said "oh, here comes another one"...
i got the windows up and the belts fastened by the time i lit the presrtage light, and pulled into the staged light, thinking 'yellow yell.... wait... this is a PRO tree, and there aint gonna be a second yellow!!! $hit... what am i gonna do now?'
well... the yellow light came on, so i went. had a .648 RT... which aint too bad for me, since i cant get better than .8XX on a full .5 tree... well... i did have a .0000 :-[once, but that was just about .500 too fast ...lol. (this was a 1/8 mi race... something else i had never done) time and speed was 9.839 sec at 72.96 mph. pretty fair considering the vehicle.
then i came back to the pits... and got to see what else i had to deal with... the other cars. now i need to say at this point that what I consider a street car and what others consider a street car seems to be quite removed. two 1000 cfm (i think) holley dominators (im sure) and 3 stages of nitrous all sitting on some custom built 600 + cid bowtie motor are NOT my idea of a "street car"!
i mean, this car had more money invested in -an hoses and fittings than i have in my entire truck!!!... well... almost. my idea of a street car is something you get in and go to the store to get a gallon of milk. and these cars were TAME compared to the "wild street" and the well misnamed "true street" classes.
anyhow, i sat and fumed about being led astray ... hell, what had i gotten myself into? well, i shouldnt have taken a popsicle stick to a gunfight... lol... but i thought i could get my entry fee back... they were paying $50 for 3rd and 4th place. so... when the 2nd (and final) qualifying run came about, i lined up with the other FIVE cars ... dammit, they lied again!... and took my run. well... it wasnt so good. i kept waiting for the other car to show up, but due to the track rules that say you have to run both lanes in qualification, somehow everyone ended up in the same lane, so while i was looking for the other car, the tree woke up... i did manage a .818 reaction time, even though i didnt get my foot on the gas until about the 30 foot mark... lol.
so... now we get to eliminations... the way the ladder was set up with 6 cars, by some strange chance, all i had to do was beat this guy with the chebby with the dominators and the huge big block, then i had 2 byes to the finals... well... or he could beat me and then HE would have 2 byes into the finals. as luck would have it, we were called first. i saw that one coming . (by this time, i KNEW i had made a serious miscalculation... the slowest of the other 5 vehicles was a full TWO SECONDS FASTER than me... but i was hoping... i remember thinking "i got to cut a REALLY.REALLY good light"... lol
we staged... courteously... the tree said things seemed fair (not to ME they werent!)... the yellow came on and i went. so did the other guy. our reaction times were pretty close... mine was .04 slower than his at .699. 1.456 seconds later, the monster crossed the 60 foot line... some .85 seconds later, so did i. about 4.120 seconds into the race, he passed the 330 foot mark... i was only about 2.1 seconds behind. the final talley was: my pass was 9.768 sec @ 73.05 mph. his pass was 6.654 sec at ... wait... whats this? only 86.92 mph? what happened here?
well, upon investigation, i discovered that he hurt his high dollar car bad... something about planetary gears moving to florida or somewhere... all to crush a primer gray, white, and blue, 20 year old, one legged, lockup 727, rubber (well, neoprene, actually) gaslined, street tired, 3/4 ton pickup. (i really hope he enjoys his $150 prize money... lol... i think that would just about cover the 'crying beer').
well... the best part is over... but there is a little more to this... he made his bye runs... took the light and idled down the track... while the other competetors did their races. finally it came down to 2 cars... him and some ugly orange chevy luv pickup with a blown injected alcohol mountain motor... and whats this? they are BOTH crippled! the luv had broken an axle in his last run! is there no justice in this world ? they made their crippled passes... neither one went faster than my slowest run... damn the luck! and the luv lost. i think the $100 2nd place money ought to just about cover the cost of his 'strange' axle... less shipping, of course (he has some kind of deal with his supplier).
the upshot here is that I went with a STREET CAR... i drive it to work, the grocery store, and walmart. i DROVE it to the track. i lost a race, but i found out that my new FBO ignition works pretty well... and i DROVE it home. their "street cars" went on a trailer and were towed home. i will drive MY street car to work tomorrow... they will drag theirs off the trailer, and spend a day or so working on them (and how much money?) before they can drive them back on the trailer...
oh... remember when i said that these were the TAMEST of the 3 "street classes"?... 'true street' and 'wild street' both had cars that were so wild that they couldnt even be kept in their own lanes. there was a 'true street' mustang that crossed the centerline at the 60' mark... just missing the lights... and a 'wild street' pontiac of some sort that did the same thing (but from the other lane) at about the 100' mark... or maybe i have the classes mixed up here... doesnt matter, really. i took my dodge truck that USED to weigh 4700 lbs prior to this weekend... dunno what the hell happened to the other 400 lbs (did i have that many empty cigarette cartons in it?)... and i lost... but i really won cause i didnt break anything, and the old dodge looked pretty damned good performance wise for being what it is.
and they want me to believe these are STREET CARS?
anyhow... im happy ;D
yesterday (sat) i went to the "street car shootout" at the local track. after reviewing the class rules (there were 3 classes, true street, wild street, and heavy street), i discovered that i could indeed run in one of them... heavy street. my 31" street tires wouldnt let me run in the other 2 classes, and are too wide for one of them, too. go figure... whodathunk a P275/70R16 wasnt a street tire?
after lurking about for a couple of hours, i heard the track announcer begging for entries in heavy street, there were only 3 at the time. so... i figured 'what the hell...'
so i went to the now well dieted 4300 pound brick (it weighed 4700 lbs at the public CERTIFIED scale last year), climbed in, and drove to the racer's entrance. gave them another $13 (the difference between spectator admission and the entry fee of $25) and headed off to tech. they weighed the front wheels (that end met the minimum weight requirements), then the back end (that end was about 1000 lbs light), put a weight sticker and a number and the class i was running in on my windshield. a 4300 lb truck in a 2800 minimum class. (i later discovered that the next heaviest vehicle was 1000 lbs lighter than mine). that was tech... lol. i made a mad dash for the pits because they had given last call for the first round of heavy street qualifications about 15 mins before... as i drove up (trying to roll up my windows, fasten my seat belt, and get a look at a .4 pro tree for the first time as a participant (trying to do these all at once), the announcer said "oh, here comes another one"...
i got the windows up and the belts fastened by the time i lit the presrtage light, and pulled into the staged light, thinking 'yellow yell.... wait... this is a PRO tree, and there aint gonna be a second yellow!!! $hit... what am i gonna do now?'
well... the yellow light came on, so i went. had a .648 RT... which aint too bad for me, since i cant get better than .8XX on a full .5 tree... well... i did have a .0000 :-[once, but that was just about .500 too fast ...lol. (this was a 1/8 mi race... something else i had never done) time and speed was 9.839 sec at 72.96 mph. pretty fair considering the vehicle.
then i came back to the pits... and got to see what else i had to deal with... the other cars. now i need to say at this point that what I consider a street car and what others consider a street car seems to be quite removed. two 1000 cfm (i think) holley dominators (im sure) and 3 stages of nitrous all sitting on some custom built 600 + cid bowtie motor are NOT my idea of a "street car"!
i mean, this car had more money invested in -an hoses and fittings than i have in my entire truck!!!... well... almost. my idea of a street car is something you get in and go to the store to get a gallon of milk. and these cars were TAME compared to the "wild street" and the well misnamed "true street" classes.anyhow, i sat and fumed about being led astray ... hell, what had i gotten myself into
? well, i shouldnt have taken a popsicle stick to a gunfight... lol... but i thought i could get my entry fee back... they were paying $50 for 3rd and 4th place. so... when the 2nd (and final) qualifying run came about, i lined up with the other FIVE cars ... dammit, they lied again!... and took my run. well... it wasnt so good. i kept waiting for the other car to show up, but due to the track rules that say you have to run both lanes in qualification, somehow everyone ended up in the same lane, so while i was looking for the other car, the tree woke up... i did manage a .818 reaction time, even though i didnt get my foot on the gas until about the 30 foot mark... lol.so... now we get to eliminations... the way the ladder was set up with 6 cars, by some strange chance, all i had to do was beat this guy with the chebby with the dominators and the huge big block, then i had 2 byes to the finals... well... or he could beat me and then HE would have 2 byes into the finals. as luck would have it, we were called first. i saw that one coming . (by this time, i KNEW i had made a serious miscalculation... the slowest of the other 5 vehicles was a full TWO SECONDS FASTER than me... but i was hoping... i remember thinking "i got to cut a REALLY.REALLY good light"... lol
we staged... courteously... the tree said things seemed fair (not to ME they werent!)... the yellow came on and i went. so did the other guy. our reaction times were pretty close... mine was .04 slower than his at .699. 1.456 seconds later, the monster crossed the 60 foot line... some .85 seconds later, so did i. about 4.120 seconds into the race, he passed the 330 foot mark... i was only about 2.1 seconds behind. the final talley was: my pass was 9.768 sec @ 73.05 mph. his pass was 6.654 sec at ... wait... whats this? only 86.92 mph?
what happened here? well, upon investigation, i discovered that he hurt his high dollar car bad... something about planetary gears moving to florida or somewhere... all to crush a primer gray, white, and blue, 20 year old, one legged, lockup 727, rubber (well, neoprene, actually) gaslined, street tired, 3/4 ton pickup. (i really hope he enjoys his $150 prize money... lol... i think that would just about cover the 'crying beer').
well... the best part is over... but there is a little more to this... he made his bye runs... took the light and idled down the track... while the other competetors did their races. finally it came down to 2 cars... him and some ugly orange chevy luv pickup with a blown injected alcohol mountain motor... and whats this? they are BOTH crippled! the luv had broken an axle in his last run! is there no justice in this world ? they made their crippled passes... neither one went faster than my slowest run... damn the luck! and the luv lost. i think the $100 2nd place money ought to just about cover the cost of his 'strange' axle... less shipping, of course (he has some kind of deal with his supplier).
the upshot here is that I went with a STREET CAR... i drive it to work, the grocery store, and walmart. i DROVE it to the track. i lost a race, but i found out that my new FBO ignition works pretty well... and i DROVE it home. their "street cars" went on a trailer and were towed home. i will drive MY street car to work tomorrow... they will drag theirs off the trailer, and spend a day or so working on them (and how much money?) before they can drive them back on the trailer...
oh... remember when i said that these were the TAMEST of the 3 "street classes"?... 'true street' and 'wild street' both had cars that were so wild that they couldnt even be kept in their own lanes. there was a 'true street' mustang that crossed the centerline at the 60' mark... just missing the lights... and a 'wild street' pontiac of some sort that did the same thing (but from the other lane) at about the 100' mark... or maybe i have the classes mixed up here... doesnt matter, really. i took my dodge truck that USED to weigh 4700 lbs prior to this weekend... dunno what the hell happened to the other 400 lbs (did i have that many empty cigarette cartons in it?)... and i lost... but i really won cause i didnt break anything, and the old dodge looked pretty damned good performance wise for being what it is.
and they want me to believe these are STREET CARS?
anyhow... im happy ;D