Author Topic: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park  (Read 14200 times)

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jayb

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Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« on: September 20, 2015, 10:38:07 AM »
Friday the racing wasn't scheduled to start until 2:30, and the track didn't open until 11:00, so we took our time in the
 morning and didn't check out of the hotel until 11:30 or so.  It was a 10 mile drive to the track, and I really only had
to make one pass, but despite this I was nervous.  The win had practically fallen into my lap at this point, and it would
be just my luck to have the car break on the last 10 mile drive to the track, or in the staging lanes for the last pass.

Fortunately, the drive to the track went just fine, and we pulled into Gateway around 11:30.  Steve and I got the trailer
pulled off the car, and then people started showing up to look at it.  One guy came up with a 1320 video shirt on and a big,
expensive camera around his neck and introduced himself as a freelance photographer who had been contracted by Car Craft to
do a photo shoot on the car.  I had heard earlier in the week that one of the Mustangs magazines wanted to do a piece on it,
so I told him I'd be ready to do that in a few minutes.  Then Brad Dyer came over; he had come to Gateway to pick up his truck
and trailer.  He gave me a hard time about how dirty the car was, and boy was he ever right!  It really needed a good wash
and polish, but I just hadn't had the time to get that done.  Brad was saying he already had a plan for next year, so it sounds
like we might have another good race next year, if we can both keep from breaking LOL!

I told the photographer I was ready, so he had me pull the car over in front of the grandstands, dirt, water spots, bugs and all,
and took a bunch of pictures of all parts of the car.  While he was shooting we were talking and he mentioned that Rob Kinnan
was the guy who wanted pics of the car!  Well, I know Rob from the first several Drag Week events, when he was editor at Hot Rod.
He's a great guy, and I was really happy to hear that he was interested in the car.  I hope I get to talk to him about it at
some point before the article gets written.

The photo shoot got done around 12:45, so I pulled the car back over by the trailer in the pits, and started getting the car
into race trim.  While I was doing that a bunch of people came by to look at the car, including Bill Fowler, who had been
planning to be running at the tracks with his new Fox body Mustang, but just flat ran out of time getting the car ready at
the very end.  Apparently he has electrical problems with the car and couldn't get them debugged in time to make the race.  For
sure he will be back next year, and he also is planning to run Hot Rod's Drag Weekend, which is happening in several weeks. 
(Maybe Felony will make it there to race him ;D).

Joe Wagner also came up and pretty much spent the rest of the day with us.  I hadn't met Joe before, but he had purchased a couple
of my intake adapters, and he showed me some pictures of two Algon FE fuel injection units that he has.  I wish I'd known about
that before I finished my testing on my book, because it would have been cool to include a test of those units.  Joe offered
them to me for testing purposes the next time I have dyno mule up and running.  Joe stayed all the way to the awards ceremony,
and just before that he helped me and Steve load the car and trailer in the truck, so he was a really big help.

I took my time about getting the car ready to race.  I did most of the work myself, and changed plugs on the car also to ensure
a clean pass.  I was hopeful of another 8 second pass today, but the air was definitely not as good here as it was on Monday;
it was pretty hot and humid.  Just about the time that I had the car ready to go, the announcer called the class cars down to
the staging lanes.  I still had to go over to the track restrooms and change into my racing gear, so I didn't get into the
staging lanes right away, and Steve and I sat in the lanes for at least a half hour before they started moving towards the starting line.
I was still very nervous at this point; each time I turned the key I was worried that the starter would give out, or the
crank sensor wiring would go again, or something like that.  All I had to do to win the race was go faster than about 11.40,
but I was worried about the car dying after 60 feet again, or halfway down the track; if it did, I was going to push it into
neutral and coast past the finish line, in hopes of getting the winning pass.  These thoughts all seem silly now, because in
the end the pass went just fine, but I have seen guys who had their class locked up by the last race fail for some
mechanical or electrical gremlin.  And my car had not exactly been trouble free during the week.

Finally I got to the head of the line.  The track official motioned me up to the burnout box.  The car started fine, so I
breathed a sigh of relief at that, and rolled forward.  I was looking around for a track guy to guide me into the box, but
there wasn't anybody there!  Nobody was paying attention.  I stopped before the burnout box, unsure of what to do.  Steve was
behind the car and wasn't sure what to do either, but Joel's trunk monkey Jeff came forward and guided me into the box, setting
up my burnout.  We all complained later about this; the last thing you need at the track is lack of direction from the track
officials.  I sat in the burnout box for a few seconds, then finally way up by the starting line a track official started waving
at us to do our burnouts.  I did the normal 5500 RPM 1-2 shift burnout with the car, then came forward very carefully, making
sure to put the car back in first gear, set the steering wheel switch for the trans brake, and lining up in the middle of the groove.
I planned to launch the car from a very low speed, probably 2500 RPM, because that's where it had been working pretty well
(flashing the converter at the line seemed to give the best traction).  I rolled forward and lit the pre-stage lights, then the
yellows flashed and I released the brake and mashed the throttle.

The car launched straight and hard; I didn't have to steer at all to keep it going straight down the track.  I was gaining
confidence by the moment.  The shift light flashed and I went to second, and the car stayed straight.  I knew I had it and I
pumped my fist in the interior; it was the winning pass!  Four years of disappointing results were now officially behind me!
The car ran hard through the traps, and I braked for the end of the track and came back down the return road to get the slip. 
The time was 9.05 @ 149; not an 8, but at this point I didn't care.  The nervousness was gone, and I had finished Drag Week.

Back in the pits I unstrapped from the car, pulled out a lawn chair and took a break from the action.  I looked at the time slip
and was kind of surprised to see a fairly slow 1.40 60 foot; the car had felt good on the launch.  But maybe I hadn't left at
the correct engine speed, or the air had affected the car, or something.  Jeff had the launch on video on his camera, and
showed it to me in slow motion; there was no spin, so it wasn't like it hadn't hooked. 

It seemed to be getting hotter all the time, and I'd been pretty uncomfortable in the staging lanes, so I decided just to live
with that pass and not make another try.  I did a quick calculation on the times, and I was still going to be averaging in the
8s for the week, so 9.05 was the number I'd be turning in. 

I sat around in the pits with Steve, Jeff, Alan Casida, Joe, and a few other guys for a while, just soaking it all in.  Alan had
run an 11.90 on his pass, another really good run for that big Galaxie, so he was pretty happy too.  After a while I grabbed my
camera with the picture of the checkpoint from Thursday's drive, and handed in my time slip and showed the picture at the timing
tower.  As I walked back down to the track I saw Keith Turk and flagged him down.  Keith is the race director.  They had
announced earlier in the day that nine competitors had been disqualified from the race on Friday morning, for bypassing the
required route on Thursday and taking the freeway after the checkpoint to get to St. Louis instead!  Apparently somebody had been sitting
on the freeway taking pictures, and the freeway was not part of the route.  Also, some of the people who got DQ'd were class
leaders!  I told Keith that I thought he'd done the right thing to DQ those guys; there is no room for people who can't follow
the rules of the race, IMO.  Keith said it may have been the hardest thing he ever had to do at Drag Week, because he knew some
of the fellows who were disqualified.  But he did the right thing, and in my view saved the integrity of the event.  And, I have
to wonder, how many others DIDN'T get caught...

On the way back to the pits I stopped at the Hot Rod trailer and bought some Drag Week shirts for my wife and kids.  The concession
stand was right there, and I decided I'd have a congratulatory beer.  I called Steve and asked if he wanted one, and of course
he said yes, but Jeff and Alan didn't.  Steve says, "Can I have theirs?"  Classic Drunk Monkey LOL!.  I brought two beers back to the pits.
Joel and Kevin had been called to the lanes, but it was so hot that we didn't want to go sit in the stands, so we just sat in the
pits and listened to the announcer.  Kevin was working pretty hard to improve his times; he really wanted to be in the bracket
race, but he was a few cars out of the cutoff.  He removed his air cleaner on his first pass and picked up almost a tenth.  Then
he tried loosening up his exhaust, but that cost him some time.  He was giving some consideration to removing the back seat to
lighten up the car; not sure if he ended up doing that or not.  By 7:30 or so they were calling for all the daily driver time
slips, so Kevin made one last pass and handed in his best one.  He ended out of the bracket race by a few spots, which is too bad,
because I'll bet he would have done well in the bracket race.

They ran the bracket race at 8:30 and eventually a ten second Chevy II won.  While it was running we put the little trailer in
the back of the pickup, and put the car on the trailer, and got everything packed up.  We made it up to the stands to see the
finals, and then
headed for a big tent at the end of the track for the awards ceremony.  We sat there yacking it up with the other racers for a
while.  Joel had thoughtfully prepared a victory speech for me; Joel loves to put words in my mouth  ::).  He wanted me to thank all
the little people, etc. etc.  What a character.  Earlier in the evening I'd realized that I had left my truck keys at the hotel,
and had asked Joel if he would run me over there in his GTX to pick them up.  He said sure, but then he had gotten one of the
room keys from Steve instead, and gone over to get my keys himself.  As soon as I found that out, I knew he was up to something! 
When we finally got back to our hotel room at 2:30 AM, we found that Joel had turned the air conditioning on full, and it must
have been 45 degrees in there!  Joel is such a mischevious trunk monkey...

They finally started the awards ceremony and we got to hear from the sponsors, and also from the emcee, who was Hot Rod editor
David Kennedy.  He mentioned that back in 2006, he was one of us, running a diesel truck in Daily Driver, and got his ass kicked.
  Joel and I were sitting next to each other, and we looked at each other and immediately had the same thought:  When I got called
up to the front to get my award, I should tell Kennedy that I was the one who kicked his ass in Daily Driver back in 2006!

It was a great thought, and I was sitting there formulating just how I would say this, but they were running behind and had a lot
of awards to give out, and when they called up the racers none of us got a chance to say anything.  Probably for the best LOL!

Finally they came to the overall winner, who was Tom Bailey in his Pro-Mod Camaro.  He ran something like a 6.80 average all week. 
He was slower than Jeff Lutz, who ran a 6.05 on the first day, but Lutz broke, so Bailey took the win.  He got a chance to speak,
and mentioned that his car was not running the way it should, and he was looking forward to getting it dialed in and running again
next year.  Then he said, "I'll be here, and Lutz will be here, and maybe Princess will show up..."  That got a big "OOOOoooooo"
from the audience.  He was referring to Larry Larson, the five time overall winner.  Larry was at the track on the first day, but
didn't enter a car in the race this year.  Larry is not happy with the direction the event is going; he thinks the Pro-Mod style
cars shouldn't be allowed in.  Hot Rod made a new class this year, called Unlimited Steel, just for stock shell cars to compete
in, and last year Larry ran what amounted to a Pro-Mod car with his new truck, which ran a 5 in last year's shootout.  But he
doesn't think cars like that should run in Drag Week, and I think he has a good point.  I was talking with Mike Crow on Thursday
at Cordova; Mike is a multi-time winner in his Cuda and Dart, and feels the same way.  I was kind of put off by Bailey's comment;
I've known Larry Larson since Drag Week 2005, and he is a stand up guy and a great racer.  Tom Bailey has a very fast car, but
he is no Larry Larson, that's for sure.

Halfway through the awards ceremony Steve had disappeared holding his most recent beer cup, which was nearly empty.  When the
ceremony ended, I went out to the pits by my truck, but didn't see him.  I gave him a call and a very sleepy voice answered. 
"Steve, where are you?", I said.  "I'm at the truck".  I went around the other side and there was Steve sitting against one of
the truck tires; he had just crawled out from underneath the truck, and was completely hammered LOL!  Steve takes his celebrations
very seriously.

Joel, Jeff, Kevin and I decided to go out for a late dinner, so Steve and I left the track and I dropped him off at the hotel, reminding
 him what room number we had ;D ;D.  Most of the restaurants were closed, so the rest of us ended up at IHOP and had an early
breakfast, then went back to the hotel to crash.  We finally got there at 2:30 AM.  The end of a great, great day.

At the awards ceremony they'd given me the plaque in the picture below:



I also received a certificate good for a new set of MSD plug wires of my choice, an NOS lit up clock (my second), and a certificate
 from Gear Vendors worth $1000 off a new overdrive, or $500 in cash.  One thing I was slightly disappointed about was that it
appears that they are no longer giving jackets to the class winners.  I had been hoping for another jacket to add to my collection,
 but it looks like only the overall winner and Spirit of Drag Week winner get them now.  Oh well...

Saturday morning I sat down to write this blog, but my laptop died with some software problem, so I'm writing it at home on Sunday
morning instead.  The trip home was uneventful, but filled with the good feelings that come with a Drag Week win.  I really can't
wait for next year.

Also, I wanted to offer profuse thanks to everyone on this forum for offering encouragement during the week, and posting all those
videos and photos, because I sure haven't had the time this week to get that done.  Its really great to come on the forum and
see that stuff, and it helps keep me going day after day during the event.  I sure hope some of you guys can make it to Drag Week
next year, either as spectators or participants.  As a racer it is really, really hard, and really, really fun and rewarding at the same
time.  I don't know anybody who has ever regretted their participation in the event.  I'm already thinking about next year, and hope
 some of you guys are there too!



Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

machoneman

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2015, 11:00:30 AM »
Another great summary Jay! You do take the cake for perseverance, among other things! Great going!  :)
Bob Maag

cjetmech

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2015, 11:58:14 AM »
Love the new signature Jay! Congrats again on the win and for building such an incredible machine while sharing the whole thing with the forum. Really Cool. So just how fast do you think this car will run with more tinkering?
67 Fairlane GT 428
93 Mustang Coupe 331

Qikbbstang

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2015, 12:28:54 PM »
Hopefully you will have an opportunity to "proof" the magazine article or they may state your running a 390 Ford SOHC Modular motor if the on-line Hot Rod picture/article was indicative of their motor knowledge.  Jay, one thing I found confusing and mentioned it Mon on David Freiburger's Facebook  was the inability of the viewer to follow the classes of cars when they watched on-line. I noticed the next day they started giving more class info but still not much.     I managed to see the Chevy that was your key competition for four days, but sure would appreciate your providing the details on his BBC motor and car............   I was thinking a BBC could go as far as using a Dart block 730+ Cu In combo and that displacement could sure help make some heavy horsepower

            Sure hope you did not go with that $500 cash from gear venders, my bet is Kevin would hand you $500 in a heart beat after cruising on those four-fifty something gears all week
« Last Edit: September 20, 2015, 12:33:04 PM by Qikbbstang »

cjshaker

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2015, 12:40:37 PM »
Someone should have told Bailey that he better hope Larson DOESN'T show up, since he is nearly a second slower than Larry ::)  I'm not a fan of Lutz or Bailey, but Larry always seems like a really decent guy and will always be the king of Drag Week IMO. And I agree with his feelings on the subject.

It was nice to hear the last day was uneventful, even if it wasn't nearly as exciting to read...lol  I think this was the best DW ever for the FE. A first place finish in Modified NA and a second place finish in BB PA, along with 2 other forum members competing and finishing without incident. Congrats to all you guys!
Doug Smith


'69 R-code Mach 1, 427 MR, 2x4, Jerico, 4.30 Locker
'70 F-350 390
'55 Ford Customline 2dr
'37 Ford Coupe

TimeWarpF100

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2015, 01:04:11 PM »
Congrats again for the Win!

Was for sure rootin' for ya!

I could not count how many times after Friday I was online looking for a report from you.

The Turbo SOHC sounds good for next year . . . LOL!

I have a nice '66 F100 body to put that combo in. Then you can push a total brick into the . . .

JERICOGTX

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2015, 01:23:47 PM »
Thank you to Joel, Jay, Kevin, and the "Drunk Monkey" Steve for a fun first time on Drag Week.

Jeff

Tommy-T

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2015, 01:39:10 PM »
Congratulations, Jay, on the big win!

I'm sure you know that you take us on this huge journey with the preparations, building, frustrations, and finally the Drag Week saga. I'm sure the blogs can become tiresome for you, but thank you for connecting with all of us.

From the time I was a 9 year old "fence rat" at Irwindale, Orange County, and Lions watching the famed blue Mustang of Mickey Thompson obliterate the competition, I was hooked on the cammer. Thank you for making it an actual competitive force once again. It's been a long time coming.

One thing deserves mentioning. You have integrity to a fault. Admitting that you put: a glass fuse
                                                                                                                                      in a 2 cent holder
                                                                                                                                      in a place where it can't be serviced while the engine is at operating temperature
                                                                                                                                      on a component that could potentially destroy your motor
wasn't the brightest move. I'm sure my own hot rods have similar faults...but I'm not sure I'd admit it. You did. Here's a hearty internet handshake! :o

If you want me to wire your next years effort...just send me a plane ticket...I'll leave the motor stuff to you since your junk is faster than my junk! :)

jayb

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2015, 02:41:55 PM »
Thank you to Joel, Jay, Kevin, and the "Drunk Monkey" Steve for a fun first time on Drag Week.

Jeff

Jeff, it was great having you along and I hope you can make it back next year.  I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't directed me to the burnout box at Gateway...
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

jgkurz

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2015, 03:59:45 PM »
Congratulations Jay. I think I can speak for most of us when I say that your posts made following the event much more enjoyable. I don't know how you found the time. We were all rooting for you to win your class. Our hearts sunk a couple times but you persevered. Thank you for taking us on the trip with you. You have inspired many....
« Last Edit: September 20, 2015, 04:02:38 PM by jgkurz »

My427stang

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2015, 04:23:57 PM »
Nice work!

---------------------------------
Ross
Bullock's Power Service, LLC
- 70 Fastback Mustang, 489 cid FE, Victor, SEFI, Erson SFT cam, TKO-600 5 speed, 4.11 9 inch.
- 71 F100 shortbed 4x4, 461 cid FE, headers, Victor Pro-flo EFI, Comp Custom HFT cam, 3.50 9 inch

TomP

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #11 on: September 21, 2015, 04:23:29 PM »
Huge congrats on the win. I think even if the Chivverlay finished you still could have won.

Larson did disappoint, he could have quite easily won this year ProMods or not. Everyone wants the rules to favor their car but when the rules are very open taking advantage of that is quite normal.

 I am still planning my twin engine funny car for Dragweek.  One 900 cubic inch blown nitro engine and an Ecoboost four banger. Guess which one is part of the cylinder deactivation strategy.

JoeW

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2015, 06:07:07 PM »
Jay

Congratulations again on a fine performance and winning BBNA at drag week.

You sir are a class act.

Thank you for letting me to hang out with you guys on Friday.It was fun to say the least.

You guys were a laugh a minute.

Joel,Jeff and Steve you guys are alright regardless of what Jay says.

Joe Wagner



JERICOGTX

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2015, 06:50:05 PM »
Good to meet you Joe. Can't forget about Mr.Patience Kevin Rolph. If you can't have fun doing this, your in the wrong hobby.

Jeff

drdano

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Re: Drag Week 2015 Day 5, Gateway Motorsports Park
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2015, 10:07:06 AM »
Jay, do you do a post-mortem on the motors you run at Drag Week?  If so, what questions in your mind are you wanting to investigate on the motor?