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Welcome To Our Site We are NHRA Division 2 Super Comp and ET Bracket drag racers based in Tampa, Florida. This site is dedicated to our team and the people who very graciously support us in many ways including but not limited to financially, morally and spiritually.
Race-Mart is an online high performance store offering tens of thousand of parts from respected manufacturers such as CSR, K&N, Moroso, MSD, ARP etc. Race-Mart also has the largest selection of stainless steel fasteners on the Internet.
The Driver
Paul Fink first gained his Super Comp competition license at Seattle International Raceway in the summer of 1981. His finest accomplishment was being tied for fourth place in the NHRA Division 2 points standings in 1987 and advancing to two IHRA National event semi finals. After taking a 14 year hiatus from the sport and recently learning he didn't have prostate cancer, he returned in 2007 with a newly acquired pre-owned car, rejuvenated spirit, determination to win and started right back where he left off in 1993. After spending much of the spring debugging and freshening up the car, Paul's ready to launch an all out effort in the 2007 fall season. A full time employee of G.E. Aviation in Clearwater, FL as a Sr. Subcontract Administrator, working on major military and commercial aircraft platforms, Paul has assembled the necessary support structure of friends, family and sponsors, as well as gained the experience and expertise to take his program to the next level of success and excellence. The Crew Chief
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RightTrailers in Lakeland, FL is a distributor of Vintage race car and utility trailers, United Specialties motorhomes and toterhomes as well as Kawasaki, Kohler, Daihatsu and Husqvarna lawn equipment. RightTrailers is dedicated to providing the motorsports market with the finest quality products and service.
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March 8, 2009
 The
NHRA Division 2 schedule just keeps on coming as this weekend it's Orlando
Speed World. The weather was really cold last week but on Thursday things
warmed up and it was a Chamber of Commerce weekend. The highs were in the
mid 80°s and the lows in the mid 50°s with very few clouds.
I left for Orlando very early Friday morning and somewhere around Lakeland the brake light on the motor home came on. I thought it was maybe a loose wire for the emergency brake....not !!! I had no brakes except trailer brakes. Talk about a very nervous drive to the track. I was a wreck by the time I got there. The brake fluid reservoir was empty but there were no visible leaks anywhere. I filled up the reservoir and bled all of the calipers three times. I had a good firm pedal so I felt comfortable about driving home. It's in situations like this when you find out why you love the sport, it's the people. Speed World is an interesting racing surface. The right hand lane has bumps and a bad one between the 60 and 330 clocks. I thought I would try to get a handle on this lane first because I knew if I was going rounds I would get stuck in it so I might as well get to know it. I set the car up a little slow for the first pass and it ran a 8.96 and I had a decent light. The car hated that lane though as it jumped and hopped as I really had to drive the car down the track. This is a drag strip not a road course. It was awful. On the second pass I stayed in the right and set the car up to see if I could repeat the 8.96 disaster and it did within .002. As you can see from the photo, the car was really getting the front wheels up then when the throttle stop came on it bought them down then hit the bump really upsetting the whole car. Saturday it was the left lane's turn. That lane was nice and smooth as the car reacted very well to it. I left the 8.96 set up in the car to see if I could run the same in the left as I did in the right. The car didn't disappoint me running an 8.964 and I hit the tree with an .018. On the last time run it was time to speed the car up some and I ran an 8.913 with an .016 light. I'm ready.... We ran first round Saturday afternoon so the data was good as there was a minimal change in the weather. I set the car up to run a little fast as I have to run the 180 mph cars and I want to be able to kill some at the stripe. Needless to say it was Gainesville all over again. The red light nightmare continues, this time I was -.012 red. I did scream but inside my helmet. I was so pissed at myself for giving it away. Seeing the red bulb I ran it through at the top at 8.864. To add insult to injury, on the way home around Lakeland the brake light on the motor home came on again. Yeah, you guessed it, no brakes again. I pulled into Lazy Days and left everything there for them to fix in the morning seeing that I have an extended warranty on the motor home. The master cylinder must be bad and it's sucking fluid into the motor through the vacuum assist. In the long run I guess this all makes us stronger people....how do you like that for a rationalization? February 27, 2009 It was mid Friday afternoon and all of a sudden I got a wild hair to go racing. I hadn't planned on it but it was like getting a hot flash for drag racing. So I took off to get the car and off to Sunshine I go. The weather was great, cool but not cold, just comfortable. I got to the track late and missed the first time run. About 7:00pm I get a time run. I stage the car and come up on the converter but the car doesn't release so I just wasted my only time shot. Switching between Super Comp mode and bracket racing mode I must have hit the wrong button on the delay box mode setting. I'm in trouble. As it turned out, there was an accident on the Sunshine Skyway bridge so all of the racers that come up from the south were late. As such, the track gave every racer who had none or only had one time run a shot for a first or second. I'm saved. Then on my second I run 5.33 at 128mph with a good light. Whew, that was close. First round was a loss as I had a -.005 red light. Here we go with the red lights again. At least I was able to by back into the second round. In the second round I was able to take out southeast standout Stanley Albritton in a close .01 difference race. The third round was spectacular. I had a .030 light and my opponent had a .029. I dialed a 5.33 and he dialed a 5.69. I ran 5.335 and he ran 5.699 so I was able to take a .003 margin of victory win. That was a squeaker. Between the third and fourth rounds my software showed that I should run another 5.33 so I left my dial in alone at 5.33. I had my opponent by .07 off the line but for some unknown reason, the car really picked up. It picked up .02 in 60 feet with a 1.18 and picked up .03 more to the stripe. I ran a 5.27 ET which is the quickest I have ever run..ever. I just wish I knew why. Needless to say I broke out and lost as my opponent dumped me on the top end. Sigh....I know I'm a win just waiting to happen...some day.
February 23, 2009
Brian Epps took this photo and at this race and he decided to get a little artsy with the background. It is pretty cool. I was still hiking the front wheels even with 20 additional pounds in the nose of the car. I guess there was only one way to start and that was to test and test we did. On the 12th in Bradenton ahead of the first Division 2 points race I made six test runs and tried to get the throttle stop and myself dialed in for the new year of Super Comp racing. I started out with a pass of 8.52 at 157 mph and applied throttle stop from there. On the third pass I had a .010 reaction time with an 8.901 ET. Why couldn't that have been first round? Anyway, I just played with the stop and software from there. In the first round I was loaded for bear. I hit the tree with an .018 light and my opponent had a .061 light. Seeing that he was running 179 mph I new I had to be careful so on the top end I was turned around almost backwards trying to find him and couldn't so I hit the brakes hard just before the stripe killing 3 mph only to run an 8.86 breakout to his 8.895 breakout. I kept thinking he was going to run around me but he didn't. Life in the big city...well there's next weekend in Gainesville. So on the following weekend we make the trek to Gainesville for the second Div. 2 points race. The air was killer. The density altitude was 700 feet below sea level, 52° and 18% relative humidity. I used the setup I had from Bradenton, threw a whole bunch of numbers in the throttle stop and the first pass I went 8.76 at 157mph. Wow !! Everyone was really, really flying in that good air. In Gainesville I found my sweet spot on tree early with two .023 lights then I took .008 out of the delay box and had a .016 light. I rolled the dice again taking .005 more out of the box and had a .011 light in my final time run. All of my ETs were within .04 over and under the 8.90 index. I was ready as ever for first round Sunday morning. Sunday's weather was just a tad warmer but still excellent. I had to race Brandon Christie in the first round. Unfortunately the round was over at the start as I left a -.013 red light shining against his .184 green light. Seeing my red light I ran it out at the top end and ran an 8.882 ET. I was carrying just a little so I could tap the brake at the stripe. The thing is if my light had been green as bad as his was I probably could have walked the quarter mile and won....OK, I'm being a facetious here. So close yet light years away. The really disappointing thing is that Brandon went on to win the event. Ahhhhhhh !!!! Sometimes you just want to scream.
February 6, 2009 Well here we are in the first week of February already. Santa Claus is back at the North Pole, there isn't a hint of turkey left-overs anywhere to be found and the temperatures are finally back up into the seventies during the day. It sure sounds like it's time to go racing again. Yes !!!!!!! After the Turkey Bash at Sunshine (below) I sent the converter up to Alan Pope to have it loosened up. It now stalls at 6100 so the car should pick up some. Paul Doorn was standing behind the car at Sunshine and picked up on the fact that it was bringing the motor down just after the launch. The car is all back together and ready to race. Next weekend is our first race of the year, the NHRA Division 2 race in Bradenton. We're going down Thursday for the test and tune session just to get some addition throttle stop runs in. This week we're having new Race-Mart graphics applied to the trailer and we're making all of the final preparations to go racing again. We sure hope this will be our year.
November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving was absolutely great. I'm sure all of us ate a little too much but then I had to race the next day so I didn't stuff myself. The Turkey Bash at Sunshine every year is a wonderful 2 day event that brings everyone out. This year was no exception. We had almost 100 Super Pro cars running for the 8 round $2500 prize. We had about the same number of footbrake cars and about 30 Jr. Dragsters. After the 5 day race in Bradenton I felt pretty confident with the consistency of the car. As you can see from the photo below, I was carrying the front wheels out of the lights in Bradenton and I felt this was making my reaction time more inconsistent then they needed to be. To rectify the situation, I bolted 20 pounds of weight in the nose of the car and sure enough that did the trick. What is wild is that the car still ran 5.35, 5.35, 5.35, 5.35, 5.35, 5.34. All within .009 of each other. Wow, this was getting to really be fun. As it turned out in the Friday race I went to the 4th round where I red lit it away. And my competitor had a .050 light so he was there for the taking. Ahhhhhhh!!!!! Anyway, because of the crowded field and the late start, round 4 was finished at 12:55am and the final was at 2:15am. For the fourth round the temperature was 47 degrees and the relative humidity was 95%. There was dew everywhere. I was afraid the track would be slick but the car hooked up and ran like a champ. I had to carry a wad of paper towels under my belts so that I could wipe the dew off of my visor right before I staged. I did run my quickest and fastest pass ever with this car at 5.346 130.80 mph. It's getting there. The converter is way too tight in the car so I have to send it back up to Alan Pope to have it loosened up. Then it will probably run to it's real potential somewhere in the 5 teens to twenties. Saturday wasn't quite as good to me as Friday. I lost a real squeaker by a couple thousandths in the first round, bought back in, then did the same thing in the second round. I can't complain though as I really had a great time and the daytime weather was just spectacular while all of my northern friends were shoveling some kind of white stuff....what's it called....oh yeah Snow !!! November 9, 2008
There were a few things I wanted to accomplish this weekend and I did them all. First, I wanted to announce our new sponsorship with Race-Mart, a new on-line performance store. I also wanted to get together with old friends and just have a relaxing weekend to unwind and enjoy myself as this was my long needed vacation. As with any major race there are always a few little gremlins that you need to overcome and this event wasn't any different. On Wednesday, day one of the event my first pass was a 9.05 ET at 147.68 mph. Needless to say this was way off of what I was looking for. As it turned out I had a problem with my throttle opening all the way so that was a result of 1/4 throttle. During these large events we were really limited on time runs so I was pretty much stuck with staying with what I had for day one. I dialed and 8.98 in the first round, had a .001 light and ran 3 over as my opponent had a .007 light and ran dead on with a 3. My day was done. Thursday I fixed the throttle problem and the car responded with a 5.426 second 129.36 mph 1/8th mile and a 8.497 second 157.92 mph 1/4 mile time slip. I round one of the `1/4 mile race I had a .020 light and ran a 8.497 on an 8.49 dial for the win. In round two I had Gary Williams who messed around staging and I let him get to me on the tree. He plastered me with an .014 light and beat me solidly even though I ran an 8.492 on an 8.49 dial in. That really hurt as did the first round of the 1/8th mile race when I was -.023 red and ran 4 over the 5.41 dial in. In Friday's 1/4 mile race I had a radiator hose collapse so the motor gained 10° in the staging lanes. I had been coming out of staging at 160° and now it was at 170°. Well, and alcohol motor likes temperature so the car picked up from running 5.41-5.42 in the 1/8 to 5.36 and from 8.49 in the 1/4 mile to 8.44. Knowing this I dialed a 5.39 for the 1/8th mile race and sure enough, I beat Nichole Markwart in the first round with a 5.394 on the 5.39 dial in. That race was a .0063 margin of victory. Needless to say that was the confidence booster I needed. This was my race to win...Not !!!! In the second round I was -.004 red and ran 5.386 on a 5.39 dial-in. I was toast. For Saturday's 1/4 mile race I pulled Luke Bogaki in the first round. Why me? Why do I get all of the super heavy hitters in round one? Anyway, he had me with a .018 light against my .029 and I ran .007 under my 8.45 dial-in to lose that one. For the 1/8th mile race I looked at what the car had done every other day in the first round. It would slow up .03 from a 5.36 to a 5.39. The weather was consistent for the last three days so I dialed a 5.39 even though the car ran a 5.36 1/8th mile in the first round of the first race. Well, as it turned out, the car ran a 5.360 on my 5.39 dial so the S-10 pickup from Georgetown, Delaware put me on the trailer. Other than a tiny leak from the seal of my transmission dipstick and my converter being on the tight side I have to say that the weekend of racing was pretty good. Realistically, I hadn't been out since April and the combination was all new so the outcome wasn't a complete surprise yet you always have high hopes.
I have to say that by far the best part of this race is the ability to get together with old friends, meet new people who hopefully will become good friends and of course bench race like crazy. This year's race was no different.
Until this year I knew who Tom Dauber was, but
we had never really met or talked. He
The one thing that the northern racers really enjoy about racing in Florida this time of year is the weather, as evidenced by Gary Koebbe who was pitted directly beside me. With as much sun as we had all week you really did need the sun screen. October 25, 2008
After putting the motor in the car I tried to start it for the first time. It was real hard to start and when it finally did start it would pop through the exhaust as if it was too far retarded. After triple checking the position of the magnetic pickup, phasing the rotor etc. I came to the conclusion that the start retard function of the MSD box was working backwards. To cure the problem I disconnected the jumper from the IGN to the Start Retard terminals on the box. The car started immediately, ran well and timed exactly where it was supposed to be. I also had a short list of little things that needed attention but nothing major. It's now race ready for the 5 day bracket race in Bradenton Nov. 5-9th. I can't wait. I guess all of us learn quite a bit from screwing up and keep a log or diary of these things for future reference so as not to do them again. My latest entry into my log is Lesson # 57,385. Do not remove the injector hoses with the valve covers off. You can accidentally touch one of the brass collars that slip over the injector nozzles and they can find their way down the pushrod passage into the lifter valley requiring the removal of the intake to get it out. I'm not going to elaborate any more than that and just leave it alone.October 7, 2008
So at this point it's just a matter of bolting everything together and she's done. I'll probably tackle it this weekend and then figure out when to test and tune before the 5 day bracket race in Bradenton during the first week of November. Drag racing has it's few bad guys, a bunch of average guys and then there are a very few really, really great guys. I want to tell you about one of these great guys.
People are always so quick to criticize and say negative things about other people that I really felt compelled to say something positive about such a deserving person. Just be prepared however if you get him in a bracket race because he will most definitely wear you out.
Sept. 19, 2008
I was supposed to get my motor back today but
the horizontal bars on the offset lifters were touching the lifter valley
vents, requiring a little extra massaging. I'll have it either Monday or
Tuesday evening. Then the question becomes whether I can finish up the car
by Thursday night in time to go up to
South Georgia Motorsports Park for their big race next weekend.
That would give me Friday to test and tune all day then run Top Dragster or
Super Comp on Saturday and they are having a $5000 to win bracket race on
Sunday. This week I'm also having new graphics put on the car to promote our new major sponsor. More on that latter in the week. It's nice that things are finally starting to happen. While I'm at it, let's squelch a nasty rumor. The Wood family has not sold South Georgia Motorsports Park. According to Jason Wood, the rumor is ludicrous. This past week, Paul Doorn and I were in a conversation about adjusting valve lash as there are two different methods. Of course, being the inquisitive person that I am, I had to do extensive research on the subject and publish it in Tech Talk. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. August 18, 2008
I decided that the only way that I could use the starter was to install a momentary contact bumper switch on the deflector plate, wired into the starter switch circuit so that it would only work when the car is in park. Now I can easily bumper the motor over a see everything that's going on.
Tomorrow hurricane Fay is scheduled to come right over my house. Schools are already closed for tomorrow and very few are going to work. Around here, we're all just crossing our fingers.
August 8, 2008
Of course, having the inquisitive mind that I do, I was wondering.....now that I know exactly what is going into the car, what will it run. Well, if like most of you, $400 to $1000 for dyno time is a tad on the rich side, at least for me anyway. So how do you accurately predict what your car is going to do? The answer is software and the little box your viewing this site on. If you have the right software, it's bad to the bone and deadly accurate. I found out just how much you can learn. My previous engine builder told me to run my car at 40° timing. What I found out is that I should have been at 34°. I guessed at my launch RPM and I guessed at my shift RPM. Both were wrong. My best previous run was a 5.37 in the 1/8th and 8.49 in the 1/4. For the dyno runs I used the same air as that day and now my car should run 5.08 in the 1/8th and 8.04 in the 1/4. Pretty cool huh? I'm so thrilled with this software that I'm writting a Tech Talk article about it and letting you see all of the dyno sheets. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. July 27, 2008 There is a new Tech Talk article. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. July 27, 2008
Anyway, moving on, I decided to go with a new set of heads to get me in the middle of the pack ET wise at Sunshine. I bought a set of AFR 227cc intake runner heads that have 65cc chambers and 2.10" intake valves. These things flow 309 cfm at full lift. Seeing that a motor is nothing more than an air pump, with these heads it will get a tremendous amount of air. The only drawback is they require offset lifters and shaft rocker mounting rails. I'm hoping that with these changes the car will go in the low 5 teens in the eighth mile. If things keep progressing as they are I'm only about three weeks away from completion. July 5, 2008 There is a new Tech Talk article. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. There is a new Commentary article. Click here or the Commentary tab above. July 5, 2008
I guess it's a good thing as my motor isn't done yet so I'm relegated to minor things like installing new roll bar padding and checking the parachute. If things go right I should have everything back together to be back out in mid August or September when the racing season continues. June 7, 2008
June 2, 2008
May 28, 2008
One of the very obvious changes I'm making is doing away with the wrap around roll bar padding. I painted the cage with a silver hammer tone finish and I'm going to use the Simpson roll bar padding that attaches only on the inside of the roll cage. I think it will give the car a much cleaner look where the padding doesn't show on the exterior. I'm also going to add a large transmission cooler and a remote starter button on the back of the deflector shield that I can use to bump the motor over to adjust the valves. I spent a lot of time polishing over the last few weeks. I had relatively new aluminum front motor mounts and a new aluminum mid-plate that needed something. Raw unfinished aluminum just doesn't look good. My choices were to either polish them or have them powder coated. Seeing that I run ground wires to both I decided to polish because it's very difficult to get a good ground on a powder coated part. Once you polish an aluminum part right it's very easy to maintain the finish with a little Flitz polish once in awhile. A lot of racers know how to polish aluminum but many people don't so I decided this would make a very good tech article. I hope you find it interesting. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. May 8, 2008 After what I've just been through, I wanted to learn as much about thrust bearings as possible and as such want to share with you. There is a new Tech Talk article, "Understanding Thrust Bearings". If you're a racer, I hope you find it interesting. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. May 5, 2008
The only bright side is my shares of Berry Petroleum and Southwestern Petroleum have skyrocketed however, even that is driven by those playing the futures market and not by the oil companies themselves. Conversely, the methanol price is driven by supply and demand as the demand is high and production capabilities are limited. I'm done venting. May 2, 2008 There is a new Tech Talk article, "Taking the Mystery Out of Drag Racing With Alcohol". If you're a racer, I hope you find it interesting. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. April 29, 2008
My new Callies DragonSlayer crank needs to have the thrust journal welded and ground back to specifications. It's just a good thing that I had an oil accumulator on the car and that I caught the drop in oil pressure in time to shut the motor off before this became a catastrophe. Well, it sort of is now but it could have been ten times worse.
It appears that what has a strong potential for being a contributor was not enough transmission fluid cooler capacity. According to Alan Pope at Alan Pope Performance Products, this is possible and can cause a hydraulic effect that forces the converter forward because the pressure increases. According to Alan, the transmission fluid cooler line pressure should never exceed 60 lbs either on the top end of when you're on the transbrake. I use a Meziere Enterprises WTP-100 transmission pan that circulates water from the cooling system to the pan which is supposed to stabilize the transmission fluid temperature and engine coolant temperature. Apparently this isn't enough by itself to cool the fluid enough to keep the pressure in check. What an expense lesson!! The good news is, I should have my motor back in about two weeks so that we can go out and try again... and again ..and again... and again. Just a touch of sarcasm if you didn't pick up on that. I do feel like I'm just on the verge of doing some serious winning though. I'll keep you updated. April 27, 2008 There is a new Commentary article, "What are we doing wrong?". Click here or the Commentary tab above. April 26, 2008 There is a new Tech Talk article, "Cheap Insurance". If you're a racer, I hope you find it interesting. Click here or the Tech Talk tab above. April 25, 2008
I guess by Monday or Tuesday at the latest I should have the news on exactly what happened and what it will take to get going again. In the mean time, I sent my other converter up to Alan Pope at Alan Pope Performance Products in Hilliard to have it checked out and for Alan to add his special magic touch. He's been building racing transmissions and converters for over 25 years so I have a lot of faith in him. The weather is so good today that quite frankly, I'd rather be racing at Sunshine. I hope I can get everything done before the really hot weather kicks in. April 20, 2008 New Commentary article. Is it time for us to be re-started? Food for thought. Click Commentary above. April 19, 2008
April 19, 2008 It just never ceases to amaze me that no matter how long you do this, there is always new stuff to learn. Because of my recent situation I did some research on bearings and bearing clearances. In this week's Tech Talk I have a re-print of an excellent Clevite article about bearings. I hope you enjoy it and learn something new. I did. April 15, 2008 There's a new Tech Talk article for your reading enjoyment. The subject matter is racing engines, components, timing, nitrous oxide and other related important issues. April 12, 2008
My first round opponent dialed a 6.90 then proceeded to run a 6.900 and strapped a .001 light on me. Like, I'm going to beat that...Not! I was toast. I paid the $25 and bought back into the second round and got drilled silly a second time, almost as if I'm a glutton for punishment. Go ahead... whip me, beat me, I thrive on the pain....you believe that don't you? This just wasn't my week. I think I mentioned it before that this is probably the toughest bracket racing crowd in the country and they will definitely wear you out. They sure wore me out last night. You just have to keep it all in perspective I guess, that a bad day at the track is always better than a good day at work.
April 5, 2008
Last week I was able to go four rounds yet I was disappointed that I didn't go all the way and win the race. In Gainesville last month, I had an .086 pill in the fuel system and the car ran a 5.375 1/8 mile at 127.63 mph. Last week I tried an .090 pill in order to lean it just a little and the car slowed down to a 5.42 best at 125.59 mph. This week I had some discussions with James Monroe, who is the field tech rep for Ron's Fuel Systems, and it was decided that the car needs to be richened up as even the .086 pill produced times that James considers a little slow for the car's potential. This coming week I'll have a .080 pill in the car and I expect the 60 foot numbers to respond well resulting in better incrementals all the way down the track. With an alcohol car, it's good to have it a little on the rich side, as it will be more consistent and less subject to ET fluctuations because of either temperature or humidity. Each track has it's own personality and Sunshine has plenty of personality for sure. Temperature and humidity naturally play a big part in how you will run on any particular day but there is more to it than that. What is so difficult is trying to figure out how the rubber on the track will react to your attempt to put horsepower to it. How the track was prepared, wind that blows sand, seepage and other things can all affect traction. It's almost enough to drive you crazy. These were the things I was trying to really pay attention to. Why is all of this so important you wonder? Well, the crowd that races here, is probably the best overall group of bracket drag racers in the country. They are wicked to say the least. Friday night in the second round, Paul Rebis lost the round by 2/10,000 ths of a second, that's .0002. What it really all boils down to is, the winner is the person who makes the least mistakes. Hopefully, the more you know, the fewer mistakes you'll make. It's good in theory anyway. We'll see Friday night. April 2, 2008
The one thing it did do however, was get me to think about how I can improve this site. I'm not the quiet type and always have something to say about the sport so I created a Commentary page. The link is above. I promise to try and make it interesting reading and provoke your thought process. Don't hesitate to give me some feedback. At the same time, I'm always asking people about different tech issues and I would like to share some of this information, as I do have site visitors who are new to the sport and do ask questions. I hope I'm able to help other people with the sport and not make some of the same mistakes I've made and learned from, the hard way. This new page is called Tech Talk and the link is also above. Let me know what you think. March 29, 2008
I have to say that even
though large races are great, running Friday nights at Sunshine is the best
as there aren't any work or school restraints for the family. I love going
racing with my wife and daughter and of course Paul Witting. We go right
after work then cook out at the track for dinner. Glen Launey, the local RFC
Chaplain, stopped by and had dinner with us so maybe I had a little
spiritual assistance tonight. Quite frankly, I'm open to any help I can get.
My daughter Katie loves to go racing and is starting to get into the racing
math and a few other details as evidence by this video.
Click here for video. I have to
thank her for taking the pictures you see here. March 16, 2008
This event for me began on Tuesday afternoon, the 11th right after work. I made the dash home with the motorhome and trailer, loaded everything up then hit the road for Gainesville. This was to be my first NHRA national event in thirteen or fourteen years so needless to say I was pumped. The car was running well, I felt great and everything just seemed to be in place for a great weekend.
I was basing my runs on the previous trip a few weeks ago to Gainesville so I decided I would just pick up where I left off regarding the throttle stop setting and back into the 8.90 index. As it turned out I had three good time runs and I felt confident in my set up for first round eliminations. I was also hitting the tree very consistently with .017, .020 and .022 reaction times. I thought they were consistent enough to do some winning with. My sixty foot times were also within .02 seconds of each other which was an excellent indication that the car was consistent and the track was well prepped. The sixty foot times were also right on where they had been 3 weeks ago for the points race at this track. My confidence was really high.
Great to see ya Keith !! He was Rowland Wood's crew chief throughout the eighties when all of us old guys were all running Super Comp together. Old Super Comp racers don't die, we just get recycled.
March 6, 2008
I don't know about you, but that is not the makings of a fun weekend for me. It was raining on the way home from work so I decided to spend the weekend painting inside the house and doing yard work on Sunday. Hopefully NHRA will reschedule the event and then I'll take a crack at it. Tuesday night I'll pack up and leave for the Gatornationals in Gainesville. The long term weather forecast for next week is great until Friday and Saturday when rain is predicted. Of course last year when I didn't run these events it was dry as a bone all spring. {Sigh !!!! } March 2, 2008
Some people have asked me, "Why don't you run a vacuum pump on the car?" Well, I did consider it, however, I read an article that was published a couple years ago by David Rehr (of Rehr-Morrison Racing fame) in which he states, "I am not a fan of crankcase vacuum pumps on wet-sump engines." Click the hyperlink to read the whole article, it's excellent and offers a lot of insight into oiling systems. If anyone knows, he does. David is without a doubt, a top expert in the industry. This week, I did two things to help the situation. First, I had baffles installed inside the valve covers so that any oil that is in the top of the motor can't be directly sucked up into the breathers. The second change I made was adding an air-oil separator so that the crankcase gases pass through it before going to the headers. When you think about it, this is a great safety device as well and is just extra insurance to keep things dry from any oil mist. Next weekend is the next NHRA Division 2 points race in Orlando with the Gatornationals in Gainesville right behind it on the following weekend. The car is ready and so am I. Let's go racing. February 23, 2008
The good news is, the rain is now gone and the track is dry. We're going racing. After so much waiting, my first pass is an 8.492 ET at 155.63 mph. Everything worked, and the pass was as good as I could have expected. If I was bracket racing, the rest would be simple, but this is Super Comp. Heads up 8.90, and now I'm lost for a throttle stop setting because I have to slow down from an 8.49 to an 8.90.
We had first round of eliminations at 8:30pm with only two time runs. Seeing that my only shot is to rely on my computer software that doesn't have enough run data, I throw .967 seconds of throttle stop delay in the box and I'm hoping the other guy red lights so that I can get the data to dial it tight for round two. No such luck. I hit the tree hard with an .017 light and my opponent hits it hard also with an .012 light. He whacks me hard on the top end running a 9.04 against my all out 9.09. Well, at least I have enough run data so that I should be in much better shape for the next race.
As it turned out, as I was waiting there, this door was photographed no fewer than four times.
February 22, 2008
About noon we get hit with a short shower and that postpones everything for a few hours. The track crew was able to dry the track and time trials started about 3:00pm. As it turns out, I'm able to get one shot today. The burnout was great, the launch was great with a 1.20 sixty foot time and a .030 light but the car doesn't shift into high gear and I abort the run. The transmission linkage was off by a couple turns. To top it off I discovered a fuel fitting that came loose which produced a nice fan type alcohol spray. Fortunately neither problem was severe and were simple fixes. There's always tomorrow.
Being from Florida, I never
go to a track without a 5 gallon bucket of insect killer and a whirly bird
lawn spreader just to take care of these guys. It's also a necessity to keep
them out of the motorhome and trailer because they will get in by crawling
up the tires into the vehicles.. February 21, 2008 Before I can leave for Gainesville, I needed to find a 2-5/8" diameter water temperature gauge. Of course seeing that I needed one, none were to be found in Tampa, only at Automotive Engineering in Clearwater. So it's off to Clearwater to puick up the gauge then on to Gainesville.
The good thing is, I have plenty of time to install my new water temperature gauge and run over some other details for tomorrow.
February 20, 2008
During all of this, I need to give a lot of credit and a ton of thanks to Will Bodley and his trusty assitant Ed, who in my humble opinion is the world's best drag race car fabricator. He never ceases to amaze me with his abilities.
February 17, 2008
I think the photo says it all. No I didn't get my motor back on the 12th like promised. Nor did I get it on the 13th, 14th or 15th like promised. At 2:00 pm on Friday, the 15th, Kris Nelson calls and pronounces, "come pick it up in 45 minutes". Needless to say, when we arrived at his shop exactly at 2:45 pm it wasn't finished yet either. If the Pinocchio story was true, his nose would be five feet long. It gets worse. When we delivered the motor to Kris in the beginning of December we just yanked it out of the car along with the mid plate and flexplate then delivered it. During the disassembly process, he discovered that the mid plate was cracked. Did he tell me? NO! So now, I have another major issue to deal with at the last minute. Ahhhh!!!!! I just never realized that incompetence was running so rampant. On the way back to Will Bodley's shop, we stopped at Alro Metals to buy a piece of 6061-T6 1/4" aluminum plate for making a new mid plate. We finally made it back to Will's shop by 4:30pm. But wait, the nightmare isn't over. Immediately after getting back to the shop, Will starts to fabricate a new mid plate. During the process Will needs to cut a 6" hole in the middle of the new plate for the crankshaft to go through it. Using a brand new 6" hole saw, the hole gets cut about half way through when problems develop with the drill press. Ahhhh!!!! We give up for the evening and have a few beers then crash. That was the easy part because I had my motorhome and trailer parked at Will's shop. So, what else could go wrong? Oh just wait... The next morning (Saturday), Will takes the mid plate down the street to a friend who has a Bridgeport mill and completes the cut. After a little touch up, we install the motor and transmission. Finally! I then try to slip the coupler from the transmission into the rear end and it won't go in. It's off by less than 1/16". Ahhhhh!!! How did this happen? After a few hours, we came to the conclusion that it was in the front motor mounts so the process of correcting the front motor mounts begins. By 4:00pm the coupler slides in and out the way it's supposed to and we're on to the next problem. My new Ron's fuel injection system is supplied with a bolt on mechanical fuel pump that needs to be mounted on the front of the motor. The kit comes with cog pulleys and a 1/2" wide 60 tooth belt. Of course.... the belt is too short. The only place that we can find that has the 66 tooth belt that we need is Grainger and they are closed on Saturdays. It's now 5:00 pm so we just throw up our hands and give up. The drag racing gods have not blessed us with their good graces this weekend. At this point, all you can do is laugh because if you don't, it will probably have a detrimental affect on your health. We are going back at it Monday night after work and hopefully get the car completely finished and fired by Tuesday night. I'll load up and head to Gainesville for the NHRA Division 2 points race on Thursday night. I sure hope this weekend goes much better than the last as it's my birthday. I'll be 39 (again). The good news is that there is an article about us in this week's issue of National Dragster in the What's New column. Check it out. February 11, 2008
When you take your dragster to your chassis builder and the engine builder drags his feet completing your motor, this is what happens. Your car gets hung from the ceiling. It's really not funny, ...well...if it's your car it's not funny. This weekend everything in the trailer and motorhome was loaded and the final cleaning took place. All I need for this weekend's NHRA Division 2 points race is my race car and good weather. The forecast from Thursday on is pretty good with highs in the 70s. Today, Kris Nelson told me that I would have my motor by mid day tomorrow. (Where have I heard that before?) If that happens, (I'll believe it when I can put my hands on the motor and actually touch it) it leaves tomorrow and Wednesday after work to complete everything and get it loaded. It will be a couple very late nights. Ok...it could happen. It'll probably take Will Bodley that long to get it out of the rafters. This is the kind of stress that causes massive coronaries.
February 2, 2008
Paul Witting was the
fortunate recipient of a new Craftsman tool box from his wife for Christmas
so he delivered his old one to me while I was waiting for the motor to
arrive. We had been discussing this for some time as my trailer was rather
short of storage space. We bolted the bottom section to the floor and then
today I finished the job and bolted the top section to the bottom so that it
wouldn't move as we go down the road. I had also picked up another small
bottom section tool box off of Craig's List so I mounted it also and had a
polished aluminum diamond plate
January 27, 2008 Actually, there is more to it than that. When I bought my race car trailer, the previous owner didn't take care of the paint finish or trim what so ever. There were some lessons I had to learn the hard way also regarding the proper care and feeding of a modern race car trailer. One is that you don't wash it with dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent or Simple Green as they destroy the paint finish. You must use an automotive car wash product. The next thing that it seems you have to learn the hard way is that most trailer manufacturers use unfinished bare aluminum as roofing material. When bare aluminum is exposed to the elements, it oxides, producing a powdery black substance. This black substance then finds it's way down the sides of your beatiful white race car trailer every time it rains leaving black streaks that are very difficult to remove. I spent all weekend painting the roof of the trailer with Rustoleum gloss white, polishing the aluminum trim, restoring the paint finish by applying and buffing in Flitz, then waxing it and buffing with a carnauba and bees wax formula. After two whole days, I have half of the trailer done and needless to say, I'm sore. The end result was the back door and the one side look great and almost like new. Take a guess what I'm doing next weekend. January 21, 2008 This evening, Paul Fink Motorsports signed a sponsorship contract with Right Trailers, Inc. of Lakeland, FL for the 2008 racing season. The deal includes select NHRA Division 2 races beginning with the season opening points race February 15-17 at Bradenton Motorsports Park and the Right Trailers Summit Racing Series races at Sunshine Dragstrip in St. Petersburg, FL and Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, FL. The team’s full schedule will be posted shortly on the website. Paul Fink Motorsports will continue to assist Right Trailers with all of their drag racing marketing efforts within Division 2 including car shows and other special events. The team will also continue to work on special fund raising projects for the Pinellas County Foster Children’s Home and their Angels Without Wings program. Right Trailers along with Bradenton Motorsports Park and Sunshine Dragstrip will give away a 24' enclosed trailer at the 2008 Right Trailers Summit Racing Series banquet to be held in January 2009. All 2008 top 10 points earners at Bradenton and Sunshine will be eligible to win! January 19, 2008
The engine builder has all of the parts. The chassis builder needs the motor from the engine builder to do his thing. I have everything else in hand. The drag racing season here is already 2 races old and here we wait for the phone to ring. I guess it's time to go watch some football. Anyone have a Sam Adams? Ahhhhhhh !!!
January 12, 2008
our major sponsor, just published two press releases regarding their expanded participation at both Sunshine Dragstrip in St. Petersburg and Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton. Click on each hyperlink to read the press releases. Sunshine Press Release or Bradenton Press Release. January 8, 2008 Can you believe it, we're just into 2008 and the drag racing season starts here on Friday with the first bracket race of the year at Sunshine Dragstrip? We haven't even had the 2007 banquet yet. More on that in a later installment.
If you've been following our progress, you know
that the motor and transmission are still out of the car but things are
looking up. Paul Doorn just finished going through the transmission and now
all I need is a set of
Mahle pistons. They are due here tomorrow so needless
to say, I'm ecstatic.
Anyway, Kris Nelson will now be able to finish my motor by the 17th right on schedule and Will Bodley has scheduled me in to finish the brackets and minor changes on the car. If everything goes according to plan, I should be ready to race Friday night January 25th at Sunshine. I can't wait!!! I think this will be an exciting year for our race team and we have high expectations.
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As
a day job, Paul Witting works with Paul Fink at G.E. Aviation in
Clearwater, FL as the Customer Services Quality Manager. Paul worked
for six years in the Navy repairing jet engines and is an FAA
certified aircraft mechanic. A graduate of Milwaukee University,
with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Paul brings many years of
racing and overall mechanical expertise to the team. If you meet us
at the track, you will find that Paul is one of the most genuine,
down to earth, friendly guys you will ever meet. He also contributes
to the team with a great sense of humor that always make you laugh.
Being
here in Florida where the weather this time of year is great, gives NHRA the
opportunity to cram 4 races in five weekends. I've been a little behind in
posting just because we have been so busy. It all started on Thursday Feb.
12th. We had a fresh motor, a fresh loosened converter from Alan Pope and we
hadn't a clue where to start for Super Comp. 
The
last four days have been just great as I was racing in Bradenton at the
annual 5 Day Bracket Championship. It was also the first time I've had the
car out with the fresh Paul Doorn motor and the first time I've been able to
race since April.
I
think maybe I needed some of the expert help like what Tom Dauber had at the
race. He had the assistance from his trusty travel companions Wingnut and
Lugnut. They were two of the greatest puppies I'd ever met and I think they
had to have some positive influence on him so that he was able to get a
fifth round win Friday night by .0007 (that's 7/10,000 of a second). Wow !!!
Thursday
night I had the opportunity to go out for dinner with my good friend for
many years, Danny (Delaware Destroyer) Bastianelli (left), Tom Dauber and
George Rupert. With all of us being in the same age range (39, wink...wink),
it was a bench racing session like I had never been a part of as the stories
kept coming and coming with the best being the story of Jeg Coughlin Sr.
pouring coffee under the front tires of a front wheel drive rental car so
Jeggie could do a burnout. That in itself was worth the price of admission.
has been a racer for 30 years or so and I had the pleasure of spending some
time with him this weekend as Danny was traveling with Tom for the two race
series and camping out in Tom's motor home. You probably won't meet a more
hospitable guy who has a great personality and a great sense of humor.
Between the two of them they kept me laughing all weekend long. I think
that's one of the things I like most about the sport is that even though
it's so highly competitive, it's also so very social and that the vast
majority of the people you meet are really great folks.
I
also had the chance to get reacquainted with a bunch of racers I met last
year from New Jersey and New York that are regulars at Atco Raceway in New
Jersey. We all were pitted in the exact same spot the last two years so it
was like old home week with Charlie Mulè, Mike Cappaso and Gary Carbone
(Gary won one of the 1/8th mile races). We were all trading information and
watching out for each other all weekend. Charlie makes the world's best
hamburgers. 
Today
I finally finished up the car. It wasn't without it's own set of trials and
tribulations though. However, being a drag racer, I guess you get used to
it.
Tonight
after a variety of calamities and rain, I finally got the motor back and
it's now in the car. It's been sooooooo long but I guess whatever is worth
having is worth waiting for. Patience is a virtue, right?
Paul
Doorn is a former Division 2 bracket champ, he owns Lip Automotive in Safety
Harbor and is one of the most die hard racers I've ever met. I've also never
met anyone who is so willing to help so many others. He helped me with my
motor and a bunch of other things over the last few years and I've seen him
help countless other racers with transmissions, rear ends, motors..you name
it. I just wish I could get him to smile for a picture. On top of everything
else, he's probably one of the most personable guys you'll ever want to
meet.
As
I'm getting very close to having my motor delivered, there were a few small
details that I needed to attend to. The first one was to solve a problem.
For those of you who own a dragster, we all know that we could use six foot
long arms while trying to adjust valves. In my case, the area between the
deflector shield and the front of the motor is pretty busy. Considering I
have a belt driven fuel pump, alternator, water pump, overflow can, primer
gas can, electronics tray, hoses, wiring and a Computech recorder. Turning
the motor over manually is very slow and snuggly so say the least. Trying to
reach the starter button inside the cockpit while watching the timing marks
on the balancer is almost impossible. Actually there's no almost about it.
It's down right impossible.
The second thing I had to do was index a new set of spark plugs. Then it hit
me that this would be a great subject for a Tech Talk article so I wrote
one. I decided....why stop at indexing? So the article includes a little
more.
Click
Believe
it or not, things are moving along pretty well now. I'm between two and
three weeks away from having the car all back together again and ready to
race. While I have the car apart, I sent my seatbelts up to
The
jury is in regarding my engine problem. I didn't want to discuss it too much
until I was sure but it was the engine builders fault not the converter or
transmission. As it turns out, Kris Nelson, the previous engine builder,
didn't put oil restrictors in the back of the back so the bottom end was
starved. Additionally, the clearance between the top end of the rods and the
pistons at the wrist pins was too tight galling the pistons and the dowel
pin was missing in the rear main cap. All of these things contributed
towards the thrust bearing failure. It's hard to believe that a guy who
builds many 700+ cubic inch motors for the heads up guys can't build a small
block that will go more that 35 passes.
Around
here, this is what is referred to as the "Dog Days of Summer". It's
hot!! Very hot, humid. and quite frankly, just too hot to race. Here
all of the tracks shut down for the month of July as we seem to get a
thunderstorm just about every day, normally around 5:00 pm.
There is a new Commentary article, "Isn't
it about time that we stand up and shout, "No More" ?. Click 
I
have to tell this little story. This evening I was talking to a friend of
mine who had just made a trip to Canada this past weekend to inspect a Pro
Mod '63 Vette he was considering buying. He described the car as pretty
rough and used a few choice descriptive terms such as booger to give me an
idea of what it was like. He then proceeded to give me the following quote,
"You can paint lipstick on a pig but that doesn't make her a Victoria Secret
model." I laughed so hard I almost choked trying to catch my breath and
needless to say, felt obligated to share that precious quote with the world.
Having
been down and out of competition for a short while, it has allowed me plenty
of time to paint, clean and polish everything on the car. The motor is in
process and the new torque converter will be shipped tomorrow, so at
least I'm making progress.
Gas
at the local Shell station with 10% Ethanol is $3.63 and racing Methanol is
$6.50 a gallon. Last January Methanol was $3.25 a gallon. This picture just
says it all doesn't it? 
Tonight
I had an opportunity to see the carnage first hand. It's ugly... very, very
ugly. You can click on the images to see them full size. This is what you
don't want to do, cook your bearings. The thrust bearing is literally cooked
and the number 2 rod bearing was on it's way. The rod bearing probably
picked up trash from the thrust bearing being disintegrated 
There
are several things that could have caused this so I'm in the process of
elimination. The very first thought was a lack of oil restrictors in the
back of the block. This was definitely confirmed as a contributor but
probably not the only detrimental factor. It could have been partially
caused by improper bearing clearances, however, the bearings are too trashed
to confirm that. It was thought that the torque converter could have caused
it if the converter ballooned but it didn't and there was plenty of play and
clearance for the converter no to put pressure on the crank. 
Tonight,
with the help of my friend and neighbor, Mike Morse, we pulled the motor out
to take to United Speed World in the morning. I had to buy a new foldable
engine crane and it's spectacular. I love this tool. I had to have one
sooner or later anyway.
Well....here
we go again. Last Friday night on my last pass, the car slowed up a little
and as I was loading it into the trailer I noticed that the oil pressure was
low. Saturday morning with cold, thick oil, the pressure was only 40 lbs.
This just didn't look good. I decided that it would be a good idea to drain
the oil right away and check for..stuff. Sure enough, I found ...stiuff.
Bearing material to be exact in the bottom of my reusable oil filter and on
the distributor gear. Uh-oh!!! This is not good!!! 
Friday night the weather was great for racing. We started out at 85.9° at
6:30 pm at
I unloaded the car this morning and I'll set it back up with the .086 pill
and just take it from there. I have to thank my buddy Glen Launey, the
Division 2 RFC Chaplain, for taking the photos for me tonight as I was
racing by myself. He did a superb job. Thanks Glen !!! I love the above
night shot.
Friday night I decided not to race at
A
few days ago, a very good old friend of mine, the Delaware Destroyer,
suggested that I convert this website into a drag racing portal similar to
what I had back in 2000. That is something that I absolutely don't want to
do, as I explained to him, because I just couldn't put up with NHRA and
their politics. You see, in order to have a portal and a real news site, you
must have NHRA press credentials in order to get proper access to people and
photo credentials. At the same time, like the Gestapo, they monitor every
word you write and if you say something they don't agree with, they force
you to fall in line or threaten you with withdrawing your credentials and
access. No thanks Anthony Vestal, I've been there and done that.
Tonight we ran our first bracket race of the year at
The
weather was a little unusual as the humidity level started out at 26% and
gained 10% per round. We ran the fourth round just a little after 11 pm and
the moisture was starting to set in on the track. I was really pleased with
how the car worked as during four rounds and two time runs my ET didn't vary
more than .018. Except for the fourth round I was in the reaction time zone
of .011, .012 and .018 on the tree which really isn't too
shabby.
After arriving at the track at 1:00am on Wednesday morning, we weren't
allowed to pit until 10:00am as Gainesville had received a deluge of rain
the previous weekend and the NHRA was giving the pit area every opportunity
to dry out. I was 45th in line to pit so I was fortunate enough to get a
good high and dry pit space in the sportsman triangle. The day was reserved
for getting through tech inspection only which I was able to get
accomplished by 1:30. The rest of the day was spent socializing and meeting
new people like Kevin Craddock and his crew who were parked beside me. As it
turned out, Kevin went five rounds on Sunday in his Nitro Plate AA/SA Camaro.
Thursday was a perfect day for racing. The temperature was in the mid
seventies all day and the skies were slightly cloudy. There were three Super
Comp time trials schduled for the day at 10:30am, 12:30pm and 2:30pm. NHRA
did a good job of keeping everything pretty close to the schedule. 
We were scheduled for first round of eliminations on Friday morning at
9:00am. As you can see, it didn't happen. As a matter of fact nothing
happened at all on Friday as the whole day was rained out. It was a downpour
or anything like that just drizzle all day.
took the opportunity to visit other racers like my neighbors Robbie
MacDonald and his family from Lake City who drive for Advanced Auto Parts in
Super Comp and the whole crew from Right Trailers who were attending the
event representing Vintage Trailers on the manufacturer's midway. I also
took the opportunity to talk in depth with some manufacturers to pick up
some product knowledge and technical product information. That in itself was
worth the price of admission.
Super
Comp round one was now scheduled for 9:00am Saturday morning right after
Stock Eliminator. Well....the plan was good however the track didn't
cooperate. NHRA was having a difficult time drying the top end of the track
as the relative humidity was up around 92%. It was around 10:00am when the
track was finally ready to go but Super Comp was pushed back to the evening
after the last Pro session. As it turned out, I ran first round at 9:21 that
evening. After all of that waiting I was wired for sound and ready to just
knock the tree down to beat my competitor (who I have no idea who it was).
Unfortunately I was too wired and red lit and left before the starter hit
the button. I blew it and the Gatornationals were over for me. Crap !!!!!!
The good news is, my Right Trailers teammate, Steve Cohen, went on to runner
up in Super Comp, losing a close final to Ron Erks. I have to be happy for
both Right Trailers and Steve as he did an excellent job. I look forward to
when both of us can get to a final.
Drag
racing as a sport is fun but the best aspect has to be the people. The sport
in my opinion is filled with the greatest people on earth. I just can't tell
you how cool it is when a guy appears out of nowhere and you get a big bear
hug from the guy you haven't seen for twenty years. A guy who you used to
hang around with all of the time with and then seemed to have fallen off of
the face of the earth, just to find out that he, his wife and kids picked up
and moved to North Carolina. 
Tonight,
after work, I was supposed to load up and head over to Orlando Speed World
Dragway for the NHRA Division 2 Lucas Oil Series points race. However, there
is a 50% chance of rain Friday, 60% Saturday with high winds on Saturday and
a prediction for the temperature to drop to 43° Saturday night. 
Late
Friday night the rain returns and with a vengeance. It really poured and
turned part of the pit area, including mine, into a swamp. The racer pitted
next to me had to be towed out of the mud. I was much more fortunate and
just moved to higher ground.
For
the second pass, I referred back to my notes from the previous motor setup
and guessed by putting .1843 seconds delay in the delay box just to see what
would happen. It ran an 8.50 ET at, get this, 156.28 mph. Not only is the
track coming in but the piston rings are also seating. Wow! I'm impressed
but lost for a set up. If you click the image and look at it full size, you
can see I'm carrying the front wheels an inch or two on the launch. Great
weight transfer.
On
Sunday, on the way home, I stopped at the Flying J truck stop in Bushnell
for gas. It was filled with racers on their way home and I happened to see
this on the door of one of the racer's trailers. I think it says it all.
It's
Friday and we're off to a great start. No rain...yet... and things are
starting to dry up. I'm able to get through tech inspection and I'm ready
for the first pass. I'm a little pumped as my expectations are a little
lofty with the new combination. 
If
you have ever been to Florida, you know that one thing we have here in great
abundance is fire ants. I think my pit space had at least fifteen of these
mounds. These little creatures, if left unchecked, will tear you up if you
happen to step on one of these mounds. 
I
arrived at the track around 1:00pm and this wet stuff keeps falling out of
the sky. It's a four letter word that should never be used in the presence
of a drag racer. Yes, it's rain. Lots and lots of rain. So much for a
testing and tuning day and it completely wiped out tech inspections also.
Wednesday
night, 10:00pm and it's finally done. After many trials and tribulations,
everything is complete. I started the motor and everything seemed to check
out except the electrical water temperature gauge which had the needle
buried on 250°. Needless to say you can't run a motor without one. But
that's a problem for tomorrow morning. In the morning I'm headed for
Gainesville and the Division 2 points race.
Yesterday the car went back to Will Bodley's shop as the motor was due from
Kris Nelson sometime during the day. As it turned out, the motor has been
delayed until Monday or Tuesday so it's just a few odds and ends that can be
done until it arrives. So close yet so far away.
top made to provide an additional work
surface. After that, I picked up where I left off last weekend by polishing
the aluminum inside the trailer, washed the floor, polished the stainless
steel counter tops and started working again on the second half of the
outside. I need to get all of this finished tomorrow as we'll be working on
the race car all week in anticipation of the NHRA Division 2 points race
that begins on the 14th. The clock is ticking.
You
just wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a set of Mahle 14.0:1, 4.040"
pistons on the shelf. I think I talked to everyone in the country to find
these bad boys. I does pay off to be persistent and not give up. The
crankshaft is due here by Friday also so I'll be all set.