Empire 9/25/11 Test

And

2011 Season Recap
 

Saturday 9/24/11 the car went back together. Sunday we went to Empire Dragway to test before heading to our last race in Indy the following weekend. We set up our pit area, put the car up on the stands and started it up to warm it up. Steve noticed a small fuel leak and told me to shut it down. He determined that the fuel leak was coming from the intake gasket area. So to fix it we needed to take off the supercharger and the manifold. Lucky for me we were able to find a couple of volunteers to help. Bill and Bill – Thanks guys you saved me a lot of work. We got the fuel leak fixed, put everything back together, and started it up. The warm up went well so we went to the lanes to make a run.

The run did not go well – 9.135 and 90.71 mph – Steve got out of it early because he was getting that dreaded oil bath. The RTV that Steve used to seal the intake manifold did not fully set up, so under pressure it leaked. Then when we got back to the pits we found that #1 and #3 had a problem. Once Steve got the valve cover off he found that the bolts that hold the rocker arm stands broke off inside the head. There is no way we can get that fixed in time to go to Indy. We are done for the year.

That brings me to the season recap. This was a so – so season. We had good and bad.

The good: We won two races (although the first one there was only two cars in the class) we were runner up at the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion. We were the fastest car at the NPCA race in Lyons, IN but because of rain delays they called the race and split the purse. I think that would have been another win for the SS3 race team.

The bad: We lost first round at three races. We broke or had problems at 4 races. One was torque converter problems the other three were burnt pistons.

We had two races called one due to rain delays the other due to low car count.

The low car count was something we saw at every event this year. There was not one event this year that we had a full field, not even the NHRA Reunion at Bowling Green. I’m sure the economy has much to do with this.

What makes me feel good about this season is that the two events that had close to full class – NHRA Reunion and NDRL at Edgewater – we did great. We were runner up at the first, and won the second.

So if it wasn’t for all the damage we did throughout the year, it really was a good season. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Our new rig was a big plus for the year. What a super unit this is, I LOVE it. And it doesn’t stop with the race season. I have made reservations at an RV park in Ft Myers, FL for January 15 thru March 15. We will attend the NDRL banquet in Indy in November. After the banquet we will head to Florida. The rig will be stored until January 15^th then it will be put in an RV site. Then Steve and I will fly down and stay in the Florida sunshine for two weeks. We will stay for a couple weeks in February and a week in March, then head north – with a stop in Gainesville for the Gatornationals – then home. That gets us out of upstate NY during the winter for 5 weeks. That’s equates to 35 days of 3 to 6 inches per day of snow. I will not miss that.

August 20, 2011 Quick 16

Empire Dragway

Leicester, NY

After leaving the Dunn Tire Quick 8 late Friday night we drove to Leicester, NY and pulled into Empire Dragway late Friday, or should I say early Saturday. We parked the Motorhome/trailer in our favorite spot – looking down the strip, and went to bed.

The next day our qualifying runs were at 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm. so we had all morning to relax and get ready for qualifying.

Our first qualifying run we ran 4.50 and 156 MPH, which is perfect for our 7.0 index racing, but not so good for a Quick 16 event. We need to step it up. Steve made a pulley and fuel changes.

The second run we ran 4.47 and 158 MPH, which was better, except for we blew the blower belt off, and damaged the #4 piston. We were done for the day.

As is ended up, we needed to replace the #4 piston, sleeve # 4 cylinder, and possibly make a head gasket change and change the cam timing.

At this time we are going through everything trying to find out just what is wrong. Why are we doing this constant damage?

August 19, 2011 Quick 8

Dunn Tire Raceway Park

Lancaster, NY

On our schedule for this weekend was the NPCA Ohio Nostalgia Nationals II at Kil-Kare Dragway in Xenia, OH, but because of all our damage problems we decided last minute to go to two “Quick” events at local tracks. The first was at Dunn Tire Raceway Park in Lancaster, NY on Friday 8/19/11. This was a big one. They were paying $3,000.00 to win. With that kind of money, you know that every high dollar, extremely fast car was going to be there. We would be lucking just to qualify. This would be an eighth mile race.

It was hot and humid, but because it was an evening race it did cool down a bit before we ran. The first qualifying run we were in the left lane, which is Steve’s lane of choice. The car made an immediate right and took out the 60’ cone. This is very, very unusual for our car. So we only ran a 6.47.

The second run we were in the right lane. We ran a 4.51 and 154 mph which put us at the #5 qualifier. We made it in the show.

The first round of eliminations we were up against Grainy Brothers – a very tough team, but we have beaten them in the past. They had lane choice, and chose the left lane. They ran 4.17 and 169 mph to our 4.55 and 135 mph – Steve had to shut things down after he took out the MPH and ET cones at the top end of the drag strip. Again the car was way out of control. This is very unusual. Steve checked things out and determined that the “puke tank” was putting some oil down under the slicks, which is why the car would not go A to B like it normally does. So, this is another thing we need to fix.

Even with the first round loss, we got more in winnings than we had to pay for entry fee, so it was not a total loss, and it looks like we didn’t damage anything.

Edgewater Sports Park

NDRL Race

August 12-13, 2011

This was the final NDRL race of the season, and it was super with a capital S. The car count was not stealer, but it was good – much better than any other event we had attended. The track was in great shape and the weather was better that the forecast. Now that does not mean that it was perfect – it wasn’t – it was hot and humid – with bad air. But we didn’t have the rain that was called for. We pulled out of the track at 11:00pm on Saturday and it was just starting to rain – great timing.

There were 6  Pro 7.0 cars there – we qualified #3 with a 7.33 and 180 mph.

Round 1 of Eliminations – we ran 7.30 to a 7.51 for the 1^st round win.

Round 2 of Eliminations – we ran 7.14 to a 7.25 against Mike Sexton for the 2^nd round win.

Round 3 & final we ran 7.21 to a 7.16 red light against Ron Robinson for the final round win.

WE WON!!!

Finally, we won an event with a decent car count and cars that are hard to beat!

This was the first year for the NDRL (Nostalgia Drag Racing League). This group is very well organized, although they did experience some “new group” issues. They are already planning the races for 2012, and it looks like they will have 5 races next year instead of 3. Their goal is to grow slowly so they don’t have those “get too big to fast” issues.

Dunn Raceway Park

Sunday Niagara Weekend

August 7, 2011

After the Q16 race at Empire we had to wait for the new pistons to arrive so we didn’t make the July 30^th NDRL race at Bowling Green, KY. So here we are at the Niagara Reunion.

Mother Nature was not kind to us at this event. We had lots of rain delays.

This was an eight mile event. We were the #3 qualifier @ 4.56. We had to run the #2 qualifier-Head Knocker @ 4.57. So we were really, really close.

Empire Dragway

Leicester, NY

July 16, 2011

Quick 16

Our schedule shows that we were going to the NQSA event at Lyons Raceway Park on this date. But because of the damage we did at the last event we decided to go to a local Quick 16 event at Empire Dragway in Leicester, NY, which is only about one hour from our house. This was an eight mile event. The weather was hot – 90+ degrees with a corrected altitude of 3400’.

We made 2 test runs – 4.66 & 155 mph and 4.54 and 158 mph. Then we made 2 qualifying runs – 4.52 & 156 mph. The second run Steve went before the tree activated , so we didn’t get a time slip.

But that didn’t matter because we burnt 4 more pistons. We were done!!!

Pacemakers Dragway Park

Mt Vernon, OH

July 9, 2011

NPCA

This event was an NPCA race combined with the Ohio Mustang club and the Pacemakers Dragway Park regular Saturday race. As it turned out, the car count for all three was down – way down. There were only 4 NPCA cars there. And they were all in different classes – so the track cancelled the race. We were refunded our entry fee, and allowed to make as many time trials as we wanted.

This was a GREAT track. We need to have races at tracks like this.

The weather was great, 87 and sunny. Corrected altitude was 3600 ft – not good air.

We made 1 test run. We ran 4.55 and 151 mph (1/8 mile).

We didn’t know it at the time, but we burnt 2 pistons on that run.

This is an NPCA (Nostalgia Pro Comp Assn) race. We have been at this track twice before – both times were rained out. But this time the forecast is great – temps in the high 70’s and no rain. We had company this race. Our daughter Valerie and her two daughters Maris and McKenna went with us. June 24th is Valerie’s and McKenna’s birthday so we packed an ice cream cake in the freezer and set out for the track. We arrived at the track about 4:00 pm on Friday the 24th. We set up our pit area, made dinner put the candles on the ice cream cake, sang “Happy Birthday” and ate cake. Other than that we watched race teams pull in. And pull in they did. The pits were packed. But not with cars in our class. There were only two of us. SS3 Race Team and the Mechanical Bull Team of Ronnie Robinson.

We went for a test run at noon on Saturday. We ran 7.017 and 192.43 mph, Ronnie ran 7.115 and 187.81 mph. We were in the left lane, Ronnie was in the right.

At 4:37 we had our qualifying run. This time we were in the right lane and Ronnie was in the left. We ran a 7.100 and 190.67 mph, Ronnie ran 7.021 and 189.91 mph. Almost a complete switch from the previous run. So this looks like the left lane is the better lane. Ronnie is the #1 qualifier – so he puts us in the right lane.
We went up for the First round of eliminations – which is the only round of eliminations – at 9:12 pm. We were told by Ronnie’s crew told us that he would be doing a short burnout as he had some problems with his air system. We ran 7.091 and 172.18 mph, Ronnie ran 7.275 and 184.53. We got the Win. Valerie, Maris and McKenna were very excited. When there are only two cars in the field it is kinda hard to get excited about the win, but it was good for the girls. I felt bad for Ronnie and his crew – it sucks to have mechanical problems.

The car count has been down at every event we have been to so far. I’m sure that the cost of gas and diesel has a lot to do with this. I can only hope that this gets better in the future.

After our two and a half day stay in the Motorhome at Beech Bend Campground we packed up Wednesday morning and made the approximately 2 tenths of a mile move over to the Pits at Beech Bend Raceway Park. We set up our pit area and towed the car down to the end of the track for tech. This was about a quarter of a mile away. When we left our trailer it was sunny. As soon as we approached the line for tech it started to rain – great big raindrops! We quickly covered the car and ducked under the roof that covers the scale and time slip pickup booth. It rained for about five minutes then quit. We finished with tech and went back to our pit spot. We were not scheduled to make any runs on Wednesday, so we relaxed, walked around and visited. Then we went into town with several other races for dinner at Applebee’s. While we were in Applebee’s it poured but was pretty much done by the time we left.

On Thursday we had one qualifying run scheduled. We went up for that run right around 4 pm. It was hot and sunny. The corrected altitude was a little over 3500 feet. Steve adjusted the tune up to adjust for the bad air. We ran 7.12 and 185 mph. There were five other cars in our class. Four of them ran in the 7.40’s and the other one went too fast, so we were the #1 qualifier after round 1.
Friday we had two qualifying runs, one at 1:30 and one at 5 pm. It was again hot and sunny with the same bad air. Qualifying run #2 we ran 7.107 and 189 mph and remained the #1 qualifier. Qualifying run #3 we ran 7.105 and 190 mph. Unfortunately a funny car from Oregon went 7.02 and took the #1 spot away from us, so we ended up the #2 qualifier.

Saturday we woke up to very cloudy, mean looking skies. It didn’t take long to start raining, and it continued for hours, sometimes very hard. It finally quit around 3 pm and the track crew started drying the track. While we waited we were visited by Dani Leigh aka “Squirt” and her Dad. If you look back at my June of 2007 write up for the Indy Goodguys event, you will see a picture of Dani sitting in our car, and you can read about how much of a “Gear Head” she was, even at the age of four. Well now she is eight and still a huge “Gear Head” and race fan. She told me about all the Top Fuel and Funny car runs she had watched so far this weekend, she asked a lot of questions – good questions, about the car and the data recorder. This girl needs to be in a junior dragster!

We finally got to go up for our first round of eliminations at 7:10 pm. The temps were cooler, and it was partly cloudy, so the air was somewhat better than it was Thursday and Friday. We ran 7.139 and 189 mph for the win. The second round was at 9:29 pm. We ran a 7:171 and 161 mph for the win. You can tell that Steve let off before the finish on both runs. This first run because the other driver went red. Steve saw that and knew he had won the round. The second run he felt the car was on a “too fast” run. He was way ahead and didn’t want to break out. The time slip showed that he ran 4.49 at the eighth mile, so he was indeed too fast, and letting off early was the wise thing to do. The final round was at 10:51 pm, against the #1 qualifier – that funny car from Oregon. We ran 7.20 and 152 mph to his 7.07 and 197 mph for the loss. Again Steve felt the car was too fast, and again he was right. The eight mile time was 4.46 – he was going to break out, so again letting off early was the right thing to do, but he just did it a little too early.
So we were “runner Up’ for the second year in a row at this event. Oh well it is better than going out first round, and there is always next year.

Steve went over to congratulate the winning team. They talked to him about October NHRA Reunion that is held in Bakersfield CA. They will be there and were trying to talk Steve into going. It’s a long haul, but maybe. We will think about it.

We arrived at Lyons Raceway Park at 4:30 pm on Friday June 10^th. The track was open for testing until 9:30 pm. We set up our pit area then watched a couple of the faster cars make a run so we could see what the track was like. It didn’t look to terribly bad, so we decided to make a run.

This is an eighth mile track so our index if 4.50. We made a run at 8:43 pm. The tires spun and then started to shake. Steve pedaled it then short shifted and got it to settle down. It ended up running a 4.661 and 155.74. The top end of the run was okay, but our 60’ time was 1.18 – it should be about 1.03.

Saturday we were scheduled to have two qualifying runs, starting at 3:00 pm. But the Saturday morning rain caused some delays, so our first run was at 5:39 pm. The temps were in the mid 80’s and it was humid so the corrected altitude was 3191 – not good air, but Steve thought he had the correct tune up. We ran 4.549 and 155.44. This put us in the #1 qualifying spot. Our second run was at 6:57 pm. The air was starting to get a little better, but not much so Steve left the tune up alone. We ran 4.487 and 155.15 – so we were a little too fast, but we held on to that #1 spot. There were 5 cars in our class so that #1 gives us a bye run first round.

Then it started to rain! It finally quit raining about 10 pm and they started drying the track.

We made our 1^st round of eliminations at 12:21 am. At that time the temp was 75 and the corrected altitude was 2445 – much better air, but the dew was starting to cover everything. Steve had changed the pulley and adjusted the fuel. We had that bye run so it didn’t matter if he went too fast or way too slow. We ran 4.481 and 154.21 – Okay we need to slow it down a little more. Of the five cars in our class we were the only one that went straight down the track. The dew was starting to cause some problems.

Because of the safety issue the track personnel decided to not run the faster cars (us) and instead they split the purse between the three remaining cars. This was okay with all of us. If they had us continue we would have been racing until 3:00 am, and someone might have damaged their car and gotten hurt. We packed up and went to bed.

The next morning we headed to Bowling Green, KY.

Finally Mother Nature gave us and track owner Bob Metcalf a break! On Wednesday 5/25/11 we took the bantam to our local track for test ‘n tune. We need to know if our torque converter problems are over. The temps are in the low 70’s with high humidity and a corrected altitude of 2500+. Not great air, but all we need is some data.

We went up for our first test at 7:08 pm. We ran a 7.23 and 184.08 mph with a 1.07 60’ time. Steve had backed down the tune up to pre INDY race because he knew that all the INDY race data didn’t mean anything due to the torque converter issues, so this run was right where we thought it would be. Okay, now we are making progress. The only problem with this run was the data we got. Our data recorder stopped recording at 4+ seconds, which means we only got data for a little only half the run – not good but not terrible either. I really didn’t know what was going on with the data recorder, so I enlisted a little help from a local “geek” Paul. He helped me reset some settings and we were good to go for the second test run. The next run Steve had a bye run. He staged the car, but then it went thru the lights. They backed him up and waited for the lights to reset, then re-staged him. He ran a 7.09 and 186.57 mph with a 1.04 60’ time. This is right where we need to be. The only problem with the run was the data. When they backed him up, it started the data recorder. By the time the lights reset and the run started, the data recorder timed out – so we didn’t get any data for that run. The data would have been a huge plus, but just seeing that 60’ time of 1.04 told us that the torque converter issue was no longer an issue.

On Friday June 3^rd we again had a decent weather day in upstate NY, so we headed to our local track – Empire Dragway.

We made two test runs. The first run was at 6:57 pm. The corrected altitude was 2300. We ran a 6.98 and 191.04 mph with a 1.05 60’ time. All looks good. When I download the data I see that the EGT’s are on the low side, which means the tune up is on the “fat” side. This shows us that we can go even faster without doing damage. Keep in mind that for our nostalgia racing we need to run 7.0. So we don’t have to go faster than this run – we need to slow it down.

Nostalgia Drag Racing League

Lucas Oil Raceway, Indianapolis, IN

May 7 & 8, 2011

A whole lot of “firsts” here. This was the first race for the Nostalgia Drag Racing League. This was the first race with the 477 Arias engine in the Bantam. This was the first race with the new Rig. The only “first” that didn’t happen was we didn’t come in first.

Because of the incredibly wet spring our local track did not open, so we headed to Indy with an untested car. Friday the 6^th the track was open for test ‘n tune so we made three runs. The car was terribly SLOW. First run we went 9.26 and 105.41 mph. Steve made some changes and we tried again. This time we ran 8.08 and 172.14 mph. Steve made more changes. The last run we ran 8.06 and 172.94 mph. We were getting nowhere – fast. Steve said the car felt just like when we had the bad sprag in the torque converter a few years ago. So, the car went into the trailer and we started taking it apart to get the torque converter out. We only worked on it for an hour or so, then quit for the night. Early next morning we were back at it. It started to rain and the track called it a day. Qualifying and Eliminations would both be done on Sunday. The rain worked in our favor. We needed the time to work on the car. Steve got the torque converter apart and it was apparent that there was a problem. The new stator that Steve had put in over the winter was chewed up all around the edge. He put the old stator back in and closed up the converter and reassembled the car. We started it up and drove around the pit area. Steve said that it felt like it had a lot more power.

Sunday morning we woke up to fog and a fine misty rain. By 10:00 am it was over, and at 1:00 we made our first qualifying run. We ran 7.84 and 177.28 mph. Still a long way from our 7.00 index. Every run so far, our 60’ times were way off. We usually do about 1.04 but the best we good do now was 1.23. Steve made some changes to the engine tune up and also to the launch control – trying to improve that 60’ time and we went up for our second attempt. We ran 7.59 and 183.05 mph – better but not good. Again the 60’ time was 1.23. The car just could not get going. Even with the slow, slow runs we ended up the #4 qualifier, only because a few cars went too fast and broke out. Steve made some more changes and we went for the first round of Eliminations, which was also our last round of eliminations. We ran a 7.55 and 185.41 mph with another 1.23 60’ time.

Of course Steve thought about this all the way home. By the time we got home he was convinced that the torque converter was still the problem. He started thinking that the sprag must be in wrong. The car went into the shop and the converter came back out. Sure enough, he had the sprag in backwards. So we had a torque absorber instead of a torque multiplier. No wonder the car couldn’t get out of its own way!