Super Hot Trailer Sale
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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.
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. 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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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
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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.
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.