Pretty wet day at the FE Race and Reunion...

[JERICOGTX]

Something was wrong in the 58's chassis. Car was squirrelly on the previous passes.

[BattlestarGalactic]

Yes, Randy was having issues all day with the car.  Sad what happened, but glad he walked away.

I stopped and talked quickly with the owner of the wagon that won the Bird race.   Pretty cool piece.  I asked him if the pedals were in it, he said no.  I told him I was lucky mine were!

Since NO ONE has mentioned we have a real CELEBRITY in our midst.    Our own Doug Smith!!
Doug won COOL FE!!  I heard the final race announcement and his name came up in the winning lane.  That's awesome!!  With all the work he's done to the car and to show up and take the money home....is great to see!  Make sure to give him a pat on the back!


I did okay.  It took a few passes during TnT to get the clutch seated and adjusted up.  Made it through first round of eliminations with .032 light and dumped off for a 7.15 on my 7.09 dial.  Next round was .014 light and with my opponent red lighting I took the chance to run it out.  Went 7.092.   Guess I picked a pretty close number.  The car was all over due to traction and bad head winds.  That .014 light got me the bye in third round.  I swapped to the right lane and took a hit.   Stood it right up, which it hadn't all day.  Went 7.058.  I dialed 7.06 for 4th round and gave it away.  Went -.021 RED.  Ugh.  I ran it out and went 7.060.............dead on with a zero!!  Oh man.  It was the black 422 motorsport Fairlane.  The driver came over to congratulate me on a great run.  I told him I "missed it by THAT much".  That was down to the final 5 cars.  Two more rounds to win it!  So close.

Had a good weekend overall.  Yes, the wind was BRUTAL!!!!  Like every year for the most part.  It was rainy Friday, but no wind and just on the edge of pleasant to walk around(when not raining).

Red's Brats were awesome(as always). 

Glad to meet you Lenz, along with seeing all the other FE regulars.  I'm not sure if I'm more tired of talking or walking?  Both?

Thanks again to Doug and Jody for an awesome event(along with all the sponsors).
The whole "make it later" deal.  I'm torn.  Rain can hit any time, but it's the brutal wind/cold that needs to moved to another day!!

[6667fan]

Here is a pic of the Cool FE Champ. I was looking for Doug throughout the day to say hello. I thought I knew his car and would wait for Bob to announce the drivers to confirm it and  without fail Bob would start talking about something else and not say Doug’s name. Finally I figured that blue 69 that was pitting close to the staging lanes must be Doug so I went and introduced myself and wished him well in the final.
I have a video of an elimination run but don’t know how to post videos with Postimage.
http://i.postimg.cc/tJYhztXm/F92-EBA80-0-FC6-4-A55-8225-0-E3-FD3-D39-D4-D.jpg

Congrats Doug!
JB

[turbohunter]

That’s great Doug, Congratulations.
All that work was worth it.

[Stangman]

I guess Doug got  used to that shifter ASAP. Congrat Doug. Just a walk in the park.

[TomP]

Congrats to Doug.  Sorry to hear about the 58 crashing. That was a cool car.

We had brutal wind out west here yesterday too. Lots of downed trees.

Mind you it was not raining Friday and warmer that PA so I propose keeping it 4-27 and 4-28 weekend and moving it to .... Mission Raceway. Pretty handy for most of us.... OK a few of us!

[cjshaker]

Celebrity...lol  Just a guy who got lucky at the right times. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally. 

I made it to the semi-finals in Cobra Jet class, but got pretty lucky in Cool FE. It paid for my gas back home and was enough left over to cover a dinner for everyone at Texas Roadhouse. And yes Joe, I got used to that Jerico and Long shifter the first time I drove it. I absolutely love the set-up, and I had a blast all day Saturday!

To start the weekend, I was surprised by my Son and 3 year old Grandson (who loves race cars, by the way), who came up from North Carolina just to see us old guys run our old junk. That just made my whole weekend! I made a total of 12 runs Saturday and the car ran good the whole time, even hot-lapping several times between the Cobra Jet class and Cool FE....straight from the return road and back to the staging lanes. Man, I barely had a few minutes to chat with anyone the whole day, let alone walk around to look at cars!

It was good experience for me, finally getting a chance at some real seat time to start working on cutting a decent light, which I managed to whittle down to a .027, which is great for me. Still working on the timing of that last amber. The car seemed to be hooking better and not bogging, which I mostly attribute to the 3.19 first in the Jerico. It shifted great, so I was happy with everything about the car. It sure earned a rest at the end of the day!

I was really glad about the talk about moving the date. I know rain can hit any time, but they don't say "April showers bring May flowers" for nothing. Coupled with the cold and wind every year, it just gets brutal at times.

And yes, Thank You to Doug and Jody and all the sponsors for their work in putting on the event every year!

[427Fastback]

Well done Doug......

[WerbyFord]

The wagon’s owner was Dennis Towle.  The engine that was in it was the 540 hp Trick Flow headed 390 that I built last year.

The Thunderbolt clone that it was destined for wasn’t ready so he dropped it in the wagon in front of a close ratio Toploader and a 3.91 gear and brought it to drag race.  Dennis had a ball with it and got lots of attention because of the unique combo.  He made it to the last round and lost by .001.

Brent,
Do you remember what times that big 67 wagon of Dennis T with your 395cid was running?
It looks like a street car, guessing as such I'm gonkulating:
No wind:
1.95
5.29
8.13 at 86.4
12.63 at 109.8

20mph headwind:
1.96
5.36
8.26 at 83.5
12.96 at 104.2

The wind hits that big brick pretty hard.

[2ndgear]

Hey Doug

It was great as always to see you and Trish again and meet your son and grand son. What a day it was. Great job you did with the 69 Mustang. Hope ever thing went as smooth going home as it did at the track.
Later Bud

Dan

[Barry_R]

Celebrity...lol  Just a guy who got lucky at the right times. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally. 

I made it to the semi-finals in Cobra Jet class, but got pretty lucky in Cool FE. It paid for my gas back home and was enough left over to cover a dinner for everyone at Texas Roadhouse. And yes Joe, I got used to that Jerico and Long shifter the first time I drove it. I absolutely love the set-up, and I had a blast all day Saturday!

To start the weekend, I was surprised by my Son and 3 year old Grandson (who loves race cars, by the way), who came up from North Carolina just to see us old guys run our old junk. That just made my whole weekend! I made a total of 12 runs Saturday and the car ran good the whole time, even hot-lapping several times between the Cobra Jet class and Cool FE....straight from the return road and back to the staging lanes. Man, I barely had a few minutes to chat with anyone the whole day, let alone walk around to look at cars!

It was good experience for me, finally getting a chance at some real seat time to start working on cutting a decent light, which I managed to whittle down to a .027, which is great for me. Still working on the timing of that last amber. The car seemed to be hooking better and not bogging, which I mostly attribute to the 3.19 first in the Jerico. It shifted great, so I was happy with everything about the car. It sure earned a rest at the end of the day!

I was really glad about the talk about moving the date. I know rain can hit any time, but they don't say "April showers bring May flowers" for nothing. Coupled with the cold and wind every year, it just gets brutal at times.

And yes, Thank You to Doug and Jody and all the sponsors for their work in putting on the event every year!

Big congrats to Doug indeed.  Nice win and great to see that the drag race bug that caught ya is also rewarding you for the efforts!

[BattlestarGalactic]

  and was enough left over to cover a dinner for everyone at Texas Roadhouse.

Dang gone, I knew I shoulda hung around and followed ya home!!   
I was glad to get home about 11:30 Sat night and I pushed it pretty hard with no stops other then fuel before I got on 322.

Werby, wish I could remember what was written on that wagon?  I know it was not real fast, it had tiny tires on it and don't think he was pushing it very hard on the launch.

[fekbmax]

I had a decent time again this year although I was pretty rushed with getting off work Friday evening and driving all night to get there. I hung around as long as I could but had to leave by 5 and made it home around 2am. I'd much rather be there both days but was lucky to make it there for Saturday.  It's always a great time. My biggest complaint was there were no FE Reunion hats for sale this year and I couldnt get a FE Reunion sticker anywhere. Normaly they gave those out at the gate. My 5th year going and I have a hat and sticker from every other year cept this one. Bummer.

[thatdarncat]

I had a decent time again this year although I was pretty rushed with getting off work Friday evening and driving all night to get there. I hung around as long as I could but had to leave by 5 and made it home around 2am. I'd much rather be there both days but was lucky to make it there for Saturday.  It's always a great time. My biggest complaint was there were no FE Reunion hats for sale this year and I couldnt get a FE Reunion sticker anywhere. Normaly they gave those out at the gate. My 5th year going and I have a hat and sticker from every other year cept this one. Bummer.

Keith, I don’t know if you’re on Facebook, but Mike McCracken posted today he still has stickers left, maybe try calling him.

[Heo]

Congratulations to the win Doug