Due to my work schedule the GN has been parked for nearly 2 years. I'll have it there this year if I have to push it all the way from Texas. That said the story below is from 2 years ago. Usually I have the most success when I just go to have fun and this story may demonstrate why planning to win sometimes helps. Hope you enjoy it.
It was a strange night at the track. I had to force myself to go. Temp in the low 80's. Hadn't raced since the nats and had no intentions of putting the tires on. If you don't run tires you can't run hard so why bother. But I did want to blow the carbon out and needed to see what the O2's were doing. It leaned out real bad at the nats on top end, O2's in the 650's. Then I read that article in the Xtra about race gas causing a top end lean out. So I hoped to find out if that was the problem. It wasn't. So I washed and vacuumed the car after work. I probably really went to the track to force me to wash the car. Put on my Texas Raceway T-shirt for good luck and headed out. Everything went wrong. The computers at the gas station wouldn't work so after 4 tries I went elsewhere and paid 8 cents a gallon more. I had to give my food order 3 times before the gal at McD's got it right. 1 double cheese burger and a large order of fries must be hard to comprehend. All the roads were full of people driving 10 mph under the speed limit, rare for Texas. So I'm eating fries as I drive and when I get to Kennedale a cop starts following me. I'm doing the posted 30 because they love to ticket hot rodders and damn he follows me into the track. Fortunately, he just wanted to see the car and find out if it's for sale. There's a big race set for Friday and several of the big trailers are already there. The locals are few. While I'm finishing my gourmet dinner several come by to look at the car. Why they're impressed I don't know. I guess they just don't see many. I talk to several at length. Finally they call us up and I get a number and pull in for my first run. The cars are so few we could have run laps all night. I didn't check the fuel pressure or translater settings. I do have the computer hooked up though. Traction is not very good on my test hops and usually gets worse as the night goes on. I can get to about 0 or 1 pound of boost and then have to ease into it. Left lane first run, no spin, 9.217. Forgot to trigger the DS. I can give it some more so I pull around to the right line and hit it harder, good launch, 8.997. 60' went from 2.221 to 2.091 on the skinny 235 radials. This time I get DS data and check it. Minimal KR at top end. O2's are still tanking. I check the translator settings and fuel pressure. They're set to lean and 40psi. So I correct that and jack the boost from 15 to 17. Of course none of that made a difference. I watch some cars race while the GN is doing a 30 minute cool down. One of those Hemi Super Bee trucks running a second slower than me, a C5 running 8.80's, the usual. I make a right lane run, 9.036 with a .061reaction time. Left lane 9.098, .063. Not bad for not having raced in 5 months. Qualifying in the right lane for quick 8, spins a tad and I run 9.125 with a -.002 red light start. There are only 8 cars so I'm in. I decide to test my Karma and dial in at 9 flat. I usually have good luck with that dial-in. First round I'm racing a Mustang dialed in at 7.63 so I leave first with an .074 light to his .132 so he has to push it. He passes me and slows because I'm off with 9.171. But I get the win light because he runs 7.623 breaking out by .007. Life sucks but it's happened to me before. At some point I realize I've won every race so far. Nothing but white time slips instead of those loser yellow slips. How cool would it be if I could finish the night with nothing but white. So I'm thinking I need a three piece white to win quick 8. First round losers can also run the other eliminator but they're light on cars so the track guy comes over and says the second run losers can run also. The kid with the Dodge pickup that I'm running in the second round gets all excited. So I ask him if he's planning on losing and tell him he should be thinking about winning. He leaves first and sure enough he redlights with a -.009. He throws me off and I redlight with a -.016 but first redlight loses so I make it to the final round. My time is 9.245 so I'm too far off and dial up to 9.2. As time passes and the car cools down I take a look at my time slips and rethink the dial-in. Should I go for 9.15 or 9.10. I don't usually go for odd dial-ins like the good racers do. I think it's kind of goofy. But for some reason 9.12 sounds good so I dial in with that. The gal I'm racing has a '73 Z28 that's dialed in at 7.80. She runs every Thursday and probably other days as well and usually wins so I'm wondering what you get for second place. Then I realize I'm doing what the kid in the pickup was doing, planning on losing. So I rethink what I need to do to win, good reaction time but no red light, run the number, no spin off the line, stay in it. I'm leaving first so I figure I'll stage last and bring it up quickly so I'll be ready. I'm off with a good leave. She pulls up fast and goes on by, slowing. I get the win light. I roll down the window and give her a thumbs up on a good race. Time slip reads my reaction time .101 to her .135 so I'm up by .034. I run a 9.128 on the 9.12 so I'm only off by .008, still leaving a difference of .026, so she had no chance to win. She runs a breakout 7.74 on the 7.8. I take home my first quick 8 win, the trophy, a hat, winner's sticker, and nothing but white time slips. How cool is that?
It was a strange night at the track. I had to force myself to go. Temp in the low 80's. Hadn't raced since the nats and had no intentions of putting the tires on. If you don't run tires you can't run hard so why bother. But I did want to blow the carbon out and needed to see what the O2's were doing. It leaned out real bad at the nats on top end, O2's in the 650's. Then I read that article in the Xtra about race gas causing a top end lean out. So I hoped to find out if that was the problem. It wasn't. So I washed and vacuumed the car after work. I probably really went to the track to force me to wash the car. Put on my Texas Raceway T-shirt for good luck and headed out. Everything went wrong. The computers at the gas station wouldn't work so after 4 tries I went elsewhere and paid 8 cents a gallon more. I had to give my food order 3 times before the gal at McD's got it right. 1 double cheese burger and a large order of fries must be hard to comprehend. All the roads were full of people driving 10 mph under the speed limit, rare for Texas. So I'm eating fries as I drive and when I get to Kennedale a cop starts following me. I'm doing the posted 30 because they love to ticket hot rodders and damn he follows me into the track. Fortunately, he just wanted to see the car and find out if it's for sale. There's a big race set for Friday and several of the big trailers are already there. The locals are few. While I'm finishing my gourmet dinner several come by to look at the car. Why they're impressed I don't know. I guess they just don't see many. I talk to several at length. Finally they call us up and I get a number and pull in for my first run. The cars are so few we could have run laps all night. I didn't check the fuel pressure or translater settings. I do have the computer hooked up though. Traction is not very good on my test hops and usually gets worse as the night goes on. I can get to about 0 or 1 pound of boost and then have to ease into it. Left lane first run, no spin, 9.217. Forgot to trigger the DS. I can give it some more so I pull around to the right line and hit it harder, good launch, 8.997. 60' went from 2.221 to 2.091 on the skinny 235 radials. This time I get DS data and check it. Minimal KR at top end. O2's are still tanking. I check the translator settings and fuel pressure. They're set to lean and 40psi. So I correct that and jack the boost from 15 to 17. Of course none of that made a difference. I watch some cars race while the GN is doing a 30 minute cool down. One of those Hemi Super Bee trucks running a second slower than me, a C5 running 8.80's, the usual. I make a right lane run, 9.036 with a .061reaction time. Left lane 9.098, .063. Not bad for not having raced in 5 months. Qualifying in the right lane for quick 8, spins a tad and I run 9.125 with a -.002 red light start. There are only 8 cars so I'm in. I decide to test my Karma and dial in at 9 flat. I usually have good luck with that dial-in. First round I'm racing a Mustang dialed in at 7.63 so I leave first with an .074 light to his .132 so he has to push it. He passes me and slows because I'm off with 9.171. But I get the win light because he runs 7.623 breaking out by .007. Life sucks but it's happened to me before. At some point I realize I've won every race so far. Nothing but white time slips instead of those loser yellow slips. How cool would it be if I could finish the night with nothing but white. So I'm thinking I need a three piece white to win quick 8. First round losers can also run the other eliminator but they're light on cars so the track guy comes over and says the second run losers can run also. The kid with the Dodge pickup that I'm running in the second round gets all excited. So I ask him if he's planning on losing and tell him he should be thinking about winning. He leaves first and sure enough he redlights with a -.009. He throws me off and I redlight with a -.016 but first redlight loses so I make it to the final round. My time is 9.245 so I'm too far off and dial up to 9.2. As time passes and the car cools down I take a look at my time slips and rethink the dial-in. Should I go for 9.15 or 9.10. I don't usually go for odd dial-ins like the good racers do. I think it's kind of goofy. But for some reason 9.12 sounds good so I dial in with that. The gal I'm racing has a '73 Z28 that's dialed in at 7.80. She runs every Thursday and probably other days as well and usually wins so I'm wondering what you get for second place. Then I realize I'm doing what the kid in the pickup was doing, planning on losing. So I rethink what I need to do to win, good reaction time but no red light, run the number, no spin off the line, stay in it. I'm leaving first so I figure I'll stage last and bring it up quickly so I'll be ready. I'm off with a good leave. She pulls up fast and goes on by, slowing. I get the win light. I roll down the window and give her a thumbs up on a good race. Time slip reads my reaction time .101 to her .135 so I'm up by .034. I run a 9.128 on the 9.12 so I'm only off by .008, still leaving a difference of .026, so she had no chance to win. She runs a breakout 7.74 on the 7.8. I take home my first quick 8 win, the trophy, a hat, winner's sticker, and nothing but white time slips. How cool is that?
