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12-22-05

It has been way to long since I have updated any thing.

There has been no VW action around my place lately. I have been working on quite a few other things in life like my kitchen. My wife and I are doing most of it. The only thing that has been farmed out has been the actual building of the cabinates. (similar to the stuff you might find at Home Depot or Lowes. but custom ordered through some place in Arizona.) and the granite countertops. Ignasio at Nisi Marble set us up on that and did and excelent job. If you are in the South Bay area, this is the man to call. Excelent work done in a timely fashion.

Adam is thinking, "Matt, what are you going to do with that?"  Matt's reply, "Dont worry brother, I will not spray you......" Yea right.... Fortunately, at that time, the plumbing is not hooked up yet. And it is still not hooked up, but these are some of the things left to do. Plubing, electrical, the tile backsplash, some molding around every thing. There is still a cabinate on order that was messed up from the factory and should be in next  month. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In the next week or so, I have to bite the bullet and stop working on the kitchen long enough to pull the car out of the trailer and yank motor and trans and start the annual service. Also, Troxell's car will be over soon enough to get a JCL Verta-gate shifter installed. (can you say Bling Bling?)  Speaking of John Troxell, he took his motor over to JayCee and put his motor on the dyno in hopes of setting up some methanol. Believe it or not, his motor put out 247hp on gas. WOW!!!!  

I have also got some what of a new hobby. Real BBQing. Slow and low smoking of ribs. Now I want a real smoker so I can BBQ while working in the garage. So stay tuned. Next mothing, things will be flowing around here again.

I just got these pictures, so I wanted to share with every one. This is right after the final round in Vegas. I have a big smile on my face. From left to right, Our new friends from Indiana,Rich and Gary, Dom "The Burn Out King", Me, my son's Matthew and Adam, and my wife Amanda.

Thanks to Dom, Matt gets to sport those Jeg's shirts.

10-27-05

NHRA Sport Compact Finals in Pomona.

I went to this for 2 reasons. One, I wanted to try for a Wally. 2, it was ¼ mile instead of 1/8mile.

I also decided to try out a smaller A/R exhaust housing on my turbo. What a huge difference. The old one was a .84 A/R and getting old. The new one was a .58 A/R. about the only problem with this switch was the old one was a tangential configuration Garret and the new one was made by Turbonetics. (Via Marty Staggs) So the actual sizing was slightly off. It was shorter over all and pushed my carb right on top of the alternator. But I got around that. In preparation for this race, I went ahead and changed valve springs and found the end of my rocker shaft coming loose. Plus I found a crack in my header. This was all Thursday night before leaving Friday. Thank god I have enough tools to take care of stuff like this.

Saturday rolls around and its time for first round of Quick 16 qualifying. From Vegas not building any boost, and making a change to how the boost controller works, I had not good base for any thing. So I guessed at it and turned the knob down to what I thought was very conservative. And sure enough, first pass was 13 lbs. of boost and 11.60 ET. But wow, the first gear pulled out big time with no wheelie bars and big wheelie. But I felt that the 11.60 qualifying run was not good enough and I want a little more to be safely in the field. So I decided on round 2 of qualifying, I will give the knob a bit of a turn and see how things work. I also decided, its time for the sissy sticks to go back on. (wheelie bars) this cranked it up to 15 lbs. of boost and a 11.07 Et. Now that feels more comfortable. Also, first gear really felt good. This new turbo exhaust housing is coming around REALLY WELL. My car is now about as efficient as a good working naturally aspirated car. It is on boost and then some in first. In the past, I have set up a pressure switch and solenoid valve to try and hold the waste gate shut for x amount of boost and then let it control for first gear only. Apparently, my pressure switch had a malfunction and never released the solenoid and that only turned off when I pulled it out of first. Needless to say, that second run saw 26 lbs. of boost at the top of first gear. WOW, this exhaust housing really works well. And I really have a short first gear too. With the 4.11 first and 24" tall tires. Doesn't take much load to get it to spool up.

Well I was hoping to get in one more pass and set up for eliminations. In quick 16, we have a ½ second allowable brake out rule. In other words, from my 11.07 qualifying time, I am allowed to run a 10.57 and not brake out. BUT if you do go under your qualifying time, this is your new dial in. So what I wanted to do is run to the 1/8 mile and shut it off and base my future ET off of that. Well the program ran late and we did not get any thing.

Sunday morning and its time for eliminations. I am number 9 qualifier and I am paired to run the number 1 qualifier with an 8.80@160mph Toyota Supra. Knowing he has a little more left and will run 8.50's at 170+. This really means I must be on my game. I turned the regulator knob x amount based on how much I think I need vs. how much I have changed it the day before. Get my pairing, car launches excellent, this time, it hits 28 lbs. of boost at the top of first. I put up a .516 light and get it into 4th gear. At that point, I start looking for this guy. I don't see him, is he in my blind spot? Damn this neck collar, I can't turn around. By the time I conclude there is no way he can catch me, I get on the brakes and run a 10.60. He was broke at the line, but I was so wound up looking for him, I never thought to look that far back. BUT the damage is done. My new dial in for next round is going to be a 10.60 and my brake out is 10.57. I have very little left in the bank.

Next round I am up against Rob Meyer of http://figmeyerracing.com/ I figure he has probably played it smart, knows the game and should have left him self some room. His first round was easy, and he still had his entire half-second cushion left. Well even if he is off, he should be able to take me.

So the new plan for round 2 are: take the wheelie bars off and go show boat in front of the import crowd. Then if he is out front at half-track, I will go ahead and shut it off and let him save the rest of his time for the later round. Sort of taking one for the team. BUT I was not going to tell Rob this and just give it to him. He has to earn some of it. If he red lights or is not running good, then I will try and move on, but if he is good, I will step back at half track.

Needless to say, I took care of it all for him. I went up in a HUGE first gear wheelie, came down while shifting and then it took a right turn into a second gear wheelie. "OH NO!!!! I hope I don't take out both of us at the same time" was my thoughts. I had to lift and feather the throttle and I ended up coming right down on the centerline and collected it up. But that right there disqualified me. So my day ended right there. But I went out in style. Apparently, the crowd went wild.

Rob on the other hand, ended up making it to the finals and only came up short by .007. Way to go Rob.

So that is the end of my season. I will update again soon with some sort of season review.

Happy Halloween!

10-4-05

Las Vegas Bug-in

First off, Happy Birthday Matthew. My oldest son turned 4 yesterday.

Going into Las Vegas, I had pretty much accepted that Jeff Lovell was going to win the Super Comp Championship, even if he has an off day. As long as he keeps doing what he was doing, it was his.

Mathematically, I still had a chance. BUT it was a long shot in my eyes. To actually get it accomplished, I would have to out qualify Jeff by 2 positions and he must loose first round and I must win the event. TALL ORDER indeed. Jeff's worse qualifying position all year has been number 2. And he had yet to loose a round.

And this is how it went down.

I went out to test Saturday to get a new base line on my boost since having to modify the regulator to make sure things work properly. What I found was I really had to turn the boost up to make a number. Not to mention, the track was SUPER STICKY! At least for my car. By the third pass of Saturday, I had 26 pounds of tire pressure and 26 pounds of boost on the top end and couldn't muster up any thing better then an 11.41. And the index is 11.10. The clutch started to slip on gearshifts too. The thinner air, the old turbo just wasn't boosting very well on the low end. Bogging made it worse. So that afternoon, I stepped up on the clutch and put in a stage 2 and then BBQ'd dinner for the evening.

Sunday morning and its time to "get er done"

Round 1 of qualifying.

I put a few more pounds of air in the tires to 28 lbs. Go around the water box. (no burn out) Spin the tires off the line, but unknown to me at the time, this help make some extra low end boost and this produces a 11.14 on the 11.10 index. Good enough for the number 2 spot on the first pass and a fairly comfortable ET that should keep me in the field. WOW, what a relief. I thought I was a sitting duck for qualifying and Jeff would easily take the command at this. I did run against Jeff during first qualifying and he ended up bogging down pretty bad and only ran a 12.50someod. He is way off the pace. But this is only first round. Sure, we have 12 cars trying for only 8 positions, so some one will get bumped, but it was not likely me.

Round 2 of qualifying.

I decide that since I feel comfortable with my first qualifying spot, I need to experiment a little. Since the first pass didn't even come close to holding the tires and that slows my reaction time down, its time to drop the tire pressure 4 pounds. Again, around the water box. This produced a bogging, tire chattering 11.40someod. Ok, now I know, I can't do that. I need to give up some reaction time for better ET's again. Jeff steps up and puts up an 11.55. He is now getting in the ballpark but in the 8th or outside 9th position. But I still have way more then 2 spots on him.

Round 3 of qualifying.

If it worked once, let's do it again. Back to 28 lbs. of tire pressure and around the water box and see if we can run the number. What I did not realize is the track got prepped again. A bog and wheelie and a mid 11.40's. I am now thinking, what can I do? I don't want to shoot my self in the foot, but have to make some changes. I can't or do not want to turn the boost up any more, as it wouldn't help much on et, since it still comes up at the same rate and I was only seeing full boost in the last 3-4 seconds.

BUT a change of events just happened. Jeff boggs even worse and only runs a 13.something. OH MY ___! I think I have just got my first wish and I can see the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn lining up. I have just out qualified Jeff by more then two positions. But with an 11.55 qualifying time, he is either 8th place or completely out with a DNQ. (Did not qualify. Been there, done that, it is not a good feeling)

YOU COULD CUT THE TENSION IN THE AIR WITH A KNIFE.

We all stood by the Bugformance motorhome waiting for the PRA to post the qualifying order and ladder for the elimination rounds. Inside, I wanted him out, from a points standing issue, but at the same time, I want him in as a fellow competitor and what I think I can say, friend.

Jeff is out with a DNQ. OMG comes to mind. I know his pain. But this is racing. But it is still not over yet. By him not qualifying, that takes a small amount of pressure off me. Since he will not get first round points, I don't have to win the event any more. But still have to make it to the final round. And this is no easy task by any means.

Round 1 of Eliminations.

I am the number 2 qualifier behind Bob Hemphill's 11.13. This pairs me up with Mike Meyer. You may have heard this name a few times here. I have bogged and lost to him 3 times in a row in Super Gas. And he is the number 3 man in points looking to capitalize and try to take over the number 2 spot. I was busy looking ahead, and not behind. If I go out first round, Mike could easily leap frog me into 2nd. The pressure is now on. I need to find ET again. Let's try some more rpm. So the usual 6000-6400 rpm chips got replaced with a 7000 rpm chip. 400 over my shift light. The new problem there is I really need to not get thrown off by the big bright yellow shift light coming on and concentrate on the tree's big yellow lights. An extra pound of tire pressure and we are off. Around the water box I go to get up to the pre stage light and wait for Mike to pull up. I did hear him wing his motor as we were coming out, thinking is he trying to get my attention? (Mind games are part of it too) So as I wait for him to get close to the line so we can both go in about the same time, the starter comes up to my window and gives me the single index finger sign that I am now on a single pass. My Jaw JUST DROPS. As luck would have it, Mike lost oil pressure and had to kill the motor. OK, a free pass for me. Let's see if my change worked. I get it up on the limiter and I must have just not quite have my foot down all the way to hit a limit switch on the floor that activates my 2 step limiter. I mash the gas, hear the motor come up to a real song. OH OH!!! It goes right to the high limit of 7800 but I went ahead with it and cut a .038 light, a mild wheelie and click off an 11.13. OK, we are launching like that for now on today. We have passed round 1. We are not the first looser of the day, and I have put a real competitive package together.

Round 2.

I am now paired up with the beautiful Notch Back of Tim Haugen. He was the number 3 qualifier with an 11.15. So I know he can run the number. I can now feel the REAL PRESSURE. This is the do or die for the championship hopes for me. Pass this round and I am into the finals and Champion. Loose and I loose it all. Around the water box as usual, stage along with Tim and rpms are again at 7800 and screaming. Valve springs are probably yelling out, stop it! I put up a .054 light, but Tim blows the tires off and has a real slow reaction time as a result. I have no idea how good either of us were. But as I left, I had some real bad wheel chatter. This caught my attention. But yet, I am still way out in the lead. Something is not right. I wait and wait for him to come by me, but he was never to get too close. I start letting off the gas, but not too much as I don't want my car to fall on its face and Tim go blowing by me. (This has happen to me before too) Cross the line probably a good car or 2 in front with an 11.17 ET, and my WIN LIGHT COMES ON!!!!!!!!!!!! I am now screaming at the top of my lungs forgetting to apply the brakes.

I HAVE JUST TAKEN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. And I am going to the finals. I might as well have said, "I'm going to Disneyland"

What a relief. Finally I get to ware the number 1 again. And for a moment, my heart sank for Jeff. I know he was in the stands watching to see what would happen. Win 4 races in a row and loose the championship. That is the only down side to this double points race. It can come and go so fast. But again, that is racing.

Final Round.

After much jumping up and down, it is time to get back to business. The pressure is off and now I can go have fun again. But in the other lane is Bob Hemphill in his 10-second streetcar. You have probably heard this name here as well. He is one of those thorns in my side from years past. Every time I race him, he is always on the top of his game and never ever just gives em away. His only down side was that he had problems with 4th gear. We do the usual talk, good lucks, shake hands and then become enemies for 11 seconds. Since my last pass chattered so bad that it felt like the gearbox would fall out, I decided to drop tire pressure a little and get just a touch of bite back and hope I can duplicate the first round. We both go around the water box and go right into staging. I put up a decent .046 reaction time, but the front end went in the air a little too much. I guess I made a bad call on tire pressure thinking the track could get no better then the last pass. But I was wrong. Then to top it off. Bob in his usual fashion, steps up to the plate and launches his 2000+ pound car with a .029 reaction time. He now has .017 on me. It sounds small, but that is what made the difference on the top end. I do the big chase down as my car had just lost some ET on the starting line. I click 4th gear, but Bob is still moving. He got it into 4th and is not falling off like I hoped.  (he literally was holding on to the shifter to make sure it didn't come out) We cross the line with him just taking the stripe. His ET was an 11.246 to my faster 11.235. Bob wins on a hole shot and the math says .0067 difference. WOW, that was a good race. Right down to the wire. Probably a foot or so. I saw his win light come on, but my smile never left. I knew I got beat by some one good and I did my job the way I should have. An easy loss to take.

A big Congrats to Bob Hemphill for a job very well done. He took that win and man handled it away from me. Good thing he did not run all year. Things might be different.

Once again, a bride's maid for the 4th time this year. I lost the battle, but WON THE WAR.

Yes, I am still smiling while I write this too.

A big thanks to my wife for telling me to go test on Saturday as well. I was not planning on it. But with out it, I would not have had any sort of handle on the track.

A big thanks to my sponsors who help make it happen. Thanks also has to go out to my fellow racers and friends that always make it a fun time to go, no matter how the day turns out.

Next up, I need to do something about this turbo lag. And will most likely change the exhaust housing to something a little smaller. Its ok at sea level, but at altitude, it is just not doing the job like it use to.

Then I need to make a decision weather I will go to Pomona and try for a Wally again, or go to Drag Day at Irwindale the same weekend. But before then, it is the PRA Awards picnic in two weeks. It is going to be a good feeling to actually go there for something again instead of just supporting the other winners.

2005 PRA Super Comp Champion.

I like the sound of that.

9-19-05

Fontana. NHRA Lucas Oil Racing Division 7.

I finally made it out to a real divisional type race. I was a little late getting there because of a job interview I had on Thursday afternoon, but still manage to get there before the gates closed that evening.

I figured if I get 2 passes on Friday, that's all I really need. Well I got just what I wanted.

9:30ish am and I get to make a pass. Since I normally race on a 4 tenths pro tree, I had to do some mods to the car to slow it down, knowing I can easily go red on their 5 tenths pro tree. So I pulled out the old front street tires to get a bigger diameter, unstrapped the front end for more travel. Soften up the shocks in the rear, and put in a lot of tire pressure. First pass and I put up a .004 reaction time, and this gets posted right on the boards at the end. OHHH!!!! Not bad. I can live with that. A little close but that's ok. The down side. 11.09 ET. I need to be at the 10.90 mark. No problem. I turn the boost up a little and ill be there.

The second pass and apparently, the track got better and better. I opted to not touch any thing except that 2 tenths worth of boost knob. Car bogs, wheels way up, and the big Red EYE is turned on. But only by -.005.

OK, I really know where I need to be on the tree now. The down side again. No et. The bog made it worse and I only went 11.30ish or so. Went back on my data logger and sure enough, there was no boost change even though I turned the knob on the regulator. So it was off to home depot that evening to find some fittings and relocate the regulator to the waste gate directly. Thinking that maybe I have a leak in the line coming back since it is normally mounted right in front of me inside the car.

Saturday morning and I get one more practice before eliminations. The mornings pass and I put up a .008 reaction time. DAMN! I am mowing that tree down. But et is still off. As I was going down track, I looked up at the boost gauge and sure enough, still no increase in boost, so during that run, I hit the O-Sh-t button and it popped right up to 25 lbs of boost. So now I know that the turbo still works, the waist gate still works, but the regulator does not deliver any more pressure to the top of the waste gate. Not much else I can do now. I took the regulator apart to see what I could find. Turned it a little more and hoped for the best. But it was no cigar. Car still of the pace and the other guy drove right around me. First round looser at my first attempt at Super Street. So my ultimate goal of getting past first round was gone. The good news about the weekend. Right after my third practice pass and that .008 light, one guy from Speed Scene came by for a little interview. AND I got some of the other racers attention with the lights. After loosing, I got to talk to the guy I raced and the President of the So cal Super Street association. They informed me that they had people up in the stands watching and wondering where this guy came from that is putting up double O lights. They also said, I need to come out and play with them when I can. So I might just do that next year. Unfortunately, the So Cal SS association has their last race on the same weekend as Vegas. So I just have to wait a little longer.

Next up. Las Vegas on Oct. 2nd.

9-6-05

Sacramento Bug O Rama 56

Well I can say this. I had a good weekend. Not great, but good.

Since the last race, I have dug up my old VW 1.25 rockers out of the rafters in the garage. Pulled out the old push rods that went with them, and bolted them up and it was good to go. (along with a change in valve springs)

Did the typical Friday afternoon departure out of L.A. area. Traffic was reasonable. Even at 4:15 pm when we left. I did notice a lack of RV's on the road this time. Guess the gas prices were just a bit much for some.

Rolled into the pits on Saturday afternoon, pulled the car out and tech'd it in asap. Then waited till practice started. Practice started at about 4:30, but my official qualifying time was 7pm. So I decided to wait just a few and watch John Troxell's launch for his first pass of the day. Shortly there after, I brought my stuff up around 5pm or so. Right off the trailer, I put up a 10.96 (index is 10.90). Yea baby! Don't touch a thing and wait for qualifying. 7pm and here we go for that number one spot. Guessing that the air will get better, I figured it may drop about a half tenth. BUT I guess the air was better then that. First round of qualifying and I am looking at a 10.88 and the last on the ladder.

Sunday and it is time to go to round 2 of qualifying. With the though that the mornings are typically no better then the night before, I decide just to take a very small amount out and run it. My car then up and runs a 10.80. DAMN! I need a weather station now. I am still in last place and Jeff Lovell, is sitting in first AGAIN! So I take a big chunk out of the boost knob and cross my fingers. Round 3 of qualifying, and I put up an 11.008. Just enough to squeak into the number 1 spot ahead of Jeff. WHEEWWWW!!!!!! Qualfiying is nerve racking. The cool thing was, the original 8 car field dropped to 7 because of one competitor dropping out to another class. So the number 1 guy that would normally run number 8 gets a bye. Hay that's me!!!!!!!!! So I do a little more tuning and get a free ride out of it. Round 1 of eliminations, I am all alone on the track, and run it out the back door. 10.890. Perfect. I couldn't ask for much more. Round 2, and I am up against Michael Meyer. In the past, when I raced him in Super Gas, he has got the best of me when I would bog and just couldn't catch him. This time around, my car is working good, no bogging issues, didn't make any drastic changes. Even though he was slightly off the pace, any thing could happen. And it almost did. He did bog off the line so I was out in front by quite a bit. So I tried to real him in a little so I know I wouldn't brake out. I let off the gas and let him get closer, but I have learned from past experience, that when my motor falls off boost, people will come right around me. So I don't let off so much. And even though I did leave my self room, he almost caught me. So I need to know to take a lot more to be safe. But this time, it was my turn for a win. I was pumped, I just cut my best light of the day and was going to the finals again.

FINAL ROUND! And to no surprise, it is Jeff Lovell again in the other lane. This is our third finals together this year. I am 0-2 so far against him. But I have the good feeling. My car is running good, I am driving good (as good as I can at least) and this is my day to make up some ground on the points.

I get him on the tree, and I know it. My car is not typically the one that is leading through first and second gear. I know my car should run the number with out question. There was no slipping and sliding and I am out ahead. I watch in 4th gear as he slowly creaps up on me. (im doing well over 100 mph and I am looking at Jeff's car instead of where im going) I then see he will most likely pass me at the finish line. I have the tune up to really run a number and maybe a slight touch more. My thought process at that time. I tree'd him and I am on a run, if he takes the stripe, he WILL brake out by more then I. BUT my win light does not come on. ??????????????????? WHAT HAPPEN! As I turn on the return road, there is this TIC-TIC-TIC sound. NO WAY!!!!!!!!!! Not two races in a row? As it turned out, I had a rocker adjuster come loose and back off, drop a lash cap, pretty much killing a cylinder on the top end and loosing almost 2 tenths and opening the window for Jeff to come around me. In the end, I run an 11.08 to Jeff's 11.05. but I did not get a big enough advantage on the tree. He crosses the line .003 seconds in front of me. Yes, 3/1000th of a second. A nats fart. A Link to the final round launch.

Jeff takes win number 4 in a row and pretty much has the championship locked up.

Congrats to Jeff……AGAIN! The cool thing is Jeff is a real cool guy. We have fun at the track together shooting the bull, having a few refreshments, etc. its just that 11 seconds or so, when I don't like him. LOL. And if I have to loose to some one, its so much easier to loose to him.

The down side to what happen was this rocker assembly, I have not run in 5 years or so. After 2 good passes on Saturday, I thought I would check every thing Sunday morning when it was all cool. I checked the valve adjustment and made sure the jam nuts were tight. BUT not too tight since I did not want to rip them off. I guess it is possible that the adjuster cracked and loosened the nut just enough and vibration took over. Needless to say, I have a set of real 911 adjusters waiting for me at EMS that I can crank down on to hopefully eliminate that problem once and for all.

Next up for me is the NHRA division 7 race at Fontana in about a week and a half. Once again, I will try for my first Super street race. As long as nothing gets in my way like, job, money, illness, etc.

8-16-05

It's been way too long since I have done any updating.

So here it is.

Since our last episode, I have been involved in a kitchen remodel (not done yet) and some serious hours at work that have really limited me on what I have done recently.

Fortunately, I was able to take the family out to the Denver race just a little over a week ago. Started out on a Wednesday evening after work.

Loaded the family up and we were going down the road. This is Adam's maiden voyage and the longest road trip of the year too. Brake him in right. Matt on the other hand, is probably going to have a sore neck LOL. Although the start time was a little late, we still made it to Las Vegas the first night, where we walked down the strip in the middle of the night to see if the M&M store was still open. We then got a late start on Thursday and thought, just go until we don't want to. But, by the time we got to Green River, I had called Eric Madson around 8pm, and his words to me were, "your just down the road, so get your butt here and hang out" Down the road was still 2 hours away at my pace. But we went for it any ways and had a comfortable place to stay.

Upon arriving at Eric's house, there in his small residential street was the rather LARGE hauler from VW Paradise squeezed in the area. Shortly after I arrived, the Schuerger's pulled up. We have our selves a regular Grand Junction RV park.

The next morning, the Lauffer's (VW Paradise) and Eric pull out at 6am to get to the track early for a photo shoot with Hot VW's. The Schuerger's and us just stayed in bed. After waking up, we all took a quick jaunt over to the local Wal-Mart to stock up on some extra supplies and got out of town around 2pm to make the hop over the BIG hill into Denver.

Pulled into the track about 7:30pm on Friday while the track was holding some sort of ET series and test and tune event. From there, we planted our selves until Sunday evening and had a very nice weekend hanging out with the Paradise crew, the Schuerger's and Madson's. Life doesn't get much better then this.

Adam has the best seat in the house on Saturday. And yes, his walker is tied off so he doesnt go down the ramp on his own.

Sunday and its time to get to racing.

Unfortunately, the turn out was really down from years past. Probably the brutal gas prices kept some from making the big trip out there. Some were just not in a position to do it, and some had previous engagements.

For me, I wouldn't miss this trip for any thing.

The racing part for me wasn't perfect, but good enough. I managed to take that number 1 qualifier spot away from Jeff Lovell. But only by .001. With that thought in mind, I thought this might be my day. But all day, I was really struggling to get my car to run the number. Just wasn't coming on boost like it should.

Since there were only 3 cars in our class, and I got the number 1 spot, I got the bye in the first round. So this is one more practice pass for me and I wanted to see if my car would react to change. NOPE, no change. Actually went .01 slower the previous pass/number 1 qual pass. (if I was bracket racing, I'd be golden)

Final round and there is the man to beat, Jeff Lovell. If you have been keeping up, you already know he has taken the number 1 spot and won the event the last two times out. How are we going to stop him? I was a little more then a tenth off the pace to begin with. Jeff was just all over the map trying to figure out how to slow his car down. So my thought was where can I pick up a tenth of a second? Cut the fan belt!!!!!!!

So at the top of the staging lanes, that's what I did. I put up the better reaction time against Jeff, I could see that I was closer then I have been all day against him, and I can feel the smile coming on. I put the car into 4th gear thinking this is it. I have him now. But as I started to catch him, it felt like some one turned the switch off and I was about to eat the steering wheel. NNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I broke a rocker arm on the number 1 exhaust. Jeff walks away with another WIN!

Upon further inspection in the pits, I find that the number 1 intake push rod is bent and off as well. Well, that's racing. So I went to collect enough money to get the bottom of my gas tank in the van damp and loaded up for the trip home. I had taken the following week off incase we wanted to go camping somewhere on the return side. After a nice dinner with every one after the race, we headed south to see what we could get into. But the longer I drove, the worse my thoughts got about what had happen to the motor. Not to mention the kitchen remodel looming and new cabinets taking up all my space in the garage. Needless to say, we ended up not really playing on the way home and pulled in Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning, I don't have to go to work, so I pulled the car out of the trailer, drop the motor. Put car back in trailer. Cleared a small corner of the garage out. And started doing a tare down. By lunch, I found that NOTHING went through the motor, no other parts were broken. No valves were bent. So I grab my valve springs and head over to EMS and put them on their spring tester. Sure enough, springs are DEAD. Basically, I was floating valves and didn't really hear it. This in turn, beat the rockers and push rods until it all just popped. This would probably explain the lack of boost build too. (beating my head against the wall) that was only the 30th pass for the year and I figured I have a few more before my normal change out. The difference this year was, it has been all 10.90ish passes instead of a mix of 11.90 and a little play. Motor acceleration is just killing the springs too fast. Well now it looks like I need to keep an even closer eye on them and maybe upgrade to a larger spring for next year.

Now its time to put stuff back together and get ready for Sacramento again.

I have just recently put up some pictures of my car for a gentleman that may have been interested in purcahsing my car. So here they are for all to see.

http://photobucket.com/albums/a378/MufflerMike/

6-9-05

The Classic Weekend is here!

Not sure if I can even make the DKP cruise night tonight, but I should be able to make the VW Classic.

On to the other things.

I have been having problems getting my data logger to work for quite a while. Actually ever since i put it in. Well it was all in ignition noise. After I got some new Super Mag Plus plug wires from Aircooled.net, (I got the type 3 style for the 90 degree ends. makes it very nice and clean looking) suddenly I was able to record data past the first few seconds. In the end, a new coil, cap and rotor cleared up all the problems. With the wires, I was able to pick up about half a run. but once I did the package, I can actually see the shut down after 4th gear too.

One of those pictures I have been meaning to show. I found my exahust pipe falling off going into the final round of the Top Eliminator at Drag Day a few months back. Looking Ugly.

one of the things that got me on the kick of making a few of the scatter shields, was a fellow racer out in Texas asked if I could whip one up for him. So he sent me his existing mount that already had the wheelie bar attachments on, and I had to do some cutting and grinding to get around the wheelie bar mount.

The real unfortunate part was when I got sick last month, it really put a hamper in getting this one done and getting it out. Fortunately, the Texas racer has a lot of patience and I am very grateful. I thought i was finished with it Tuesday night, but forgot one necessary notch, so last night after changing a fuel pump in the wifes car, I did some quick thrashing and got it complete and packed up. Now its off to UPS right after work.

5.-31-05

GET WELL SOON Dan Spickert!

Dan  is one of the Super Gas guys and was involved in a mishap over the weekend as his speedster lost its footing on the top end of the track in round 1 of competition against John Schuerger. Fortunately he is resting in the hospital with only a few broken bones and will be leaving soon.

This weekend for me was full of mistakes on my part.

First mistake may have been actually going to this race. I have felt like crap for the last 3 weeks. Went to the doctor and they told me it might be bronchitis. In the end, it just seems to be phlegm dripping into my lungs and having to cough it back out all the time. So I have been taking a lot of cold medicine to help dry my self out and control the problem.

Felt bad enough that I ended up skipping out on the NHRA division 7 race the weekend before at Bakersfield where I was going to try my hand at the Super Street class.

But then again, I would have had to been put on bed rest for me not to go to the Bug O Rama.

Saturday came quick and it was time for a practice pass before actual qualifying. I had installed a new Turbo Smart wastegate and really had no idea how it may react or where I would be on boost.

So I take my first practice pass. It ran a lot more boost then normal and got the clutch to start slipping every time I banged a gear. And that produced a too fast ET of 10.73. So I brought it back in the pits, switch out the clutch combo, turn the boost knob down a pinch and put a fatter jet in to cool down the exhaust temps. In hind sight, the reason the clutch slipped was too much power. Any ways, round one of qualifying is here. I cross my fingers that I'm close to the needed et, since I have no base line on how the new wastegate reacts. OH NO! Car puts up a little better then normal 60 ft, I think the jet helped out a little as well and I'm way to fast. 10.58 is now my first round qualifying number. I am now on the outside looking in on the 10.90 index trying to get into an 8 car field with 10 cars signed up.

Round two the next morning and I start making my guesses on tune up. And this is where the next mistake is made. I HAD A COMPLETE BRAIN FART. I go to stage the car and I rolled in too deep into the lights. We are not allowed to deep stage in our class. So the red eye comes on, the light drops in my opponent's lane and he is off. On my side, what I am suppose to do is just go ahead and run it out and get an ET, because that still works even though there is a red light displayed from the no deep allowed condition. BUT NOOOOOOOO, I decide to back out of the lights. WHAT WAS I THIKING. I have been in the situation before, and took the run, so I know exactly how it works. As soon as I broke the beam by backing out, that was my qualifying attempt. So I got no new base line to work from.

Well now I am sweating it. One more chance and I have no idea where I will be. Going into round three and I am still the number 10 guy looking in.

So I take my third and final qualifying try and looked up at the boost gauge during third gear and see about 17 lbs. of boost where I think I should have been. I hold my breath and cross the line. Pick up my time slip and I run an 11.05. Good enough for the number 3 spot and the third time in a row I go into that spot. WHAT A RELIEF, I'm in the field.

First round of eliminations and its go time. I am paired up with Chris Brown. My reaction time sucked. I couldn't cut a light to save my life all weekend. Maybe all those cold medicine I took just put me in a Fog all weekend. But I was still out ahead of him at half track. So at that point, I think, maybe I'm going to fast and I need to back off. And this is the next MISTAKE, So I start pedaling and watching him, and I think I just lifted too much and fell off boost completely, and suddenly his car surges forward and I'm back on the gas, but its too late, he drives right around me.

I am now a first round looser. We were not even close to the index. I had a big window to work with. I should have trusted my car to run the number and then lift at the last second if I was ahead.

Now I am just plane ole bummed and in a bad mood and still feeling miserable from this little illness I have. Since I went ahead and stayed to watch the rest of the racing and it was getting too late to make the trek back to Dominic the burn out kings house, I thought I would just stay in town and hang at the host hotel and partake in festivities. Then I make an un-characteristic move. Probably with the mood of Dan crashing and having to go to the hospital, and me loosing early and not feeling well, I just wanted to be alone and get home to the wife and kids. So I started driving home and stop when I got tired and hop in the trailer for a few z's. The nice thing about that is I beat the traffic and got home before noon the next day.

In the end, Jeff Lovell takes the win again in our class. He is starting to run away with the points.

With some down time till the next race, I need to just concentrate on getting well again and regroup and get all my ducks in a row and attack as hard as I can come Denver.

5-3-05

what am I up to.

I am whipping up a Flywhee/scatter shield for a fellow racer and thought, why go to the touble to make it another one off item. So I spent some money on tools and will try and make a few shields in the process. this way, I can have the tools for those other XX projects and produce a product that some might want.

Shields will look similar to the picture below. Currently working on some refinements. I have an ad on The Samba as well. Click here.

If this is something that interest you, please email me to give me an idea of demand. Mufflermike@earthlink.net

4-18-05

Phoenix Bug-O-Rama

It was a quick turn around from the weekend before at Bug In. 4 days later and the car is on the trailer again ready to make the run out to Phoenix. What I did notice was at the Bug In, the performance was a touch off. Not quite what it should have run with the boost settings. Well, on Thursday, as I fired the car up to make sure the new cap, rotor and coil are working, I happen to put my hand in front of the waste gate and sure enough a BIG leak. This could explain the lack of performance at Bug-in. But it is now the evening before departure. Made the phone calls and emails and my buddy Dom the Burn out king, steps up the plate and tells me, "My waste gate is on its way to Phoenix for you"

Saturday morning and waiting in line to get into the race and Rich Dickson shows up with a waste gate. Put that thing on right there in line and I am good to go.

With all the same settings as Bug in, except for the different gate, off the trailer for round 1 of qualifying for the Super Comp 10.90 index, produced a 2nd and 3 gear skating around 10.75 at 128mph. WAY too fast. Amazing what a good working waist gate can do. Round 2 of qualifying produced a 10.88. Ok, that is much better and much closer. After looking at the ladder so far at that point, I was going to go for the squeaker qualifying time, but noticed there was still a big window left to get in over the time. So instead of trying too hard and maybe going to fast again and taking that remote chance that I cant no make the field, because there were either 9 or 10 cars trying for 8 spots. I played it safe and backed off and produced an 11.06 for my number 3 spot on the qualifying ladder.

Round 1 of elimnations and I face up with Paul Sarnecki. I went ahead and put my 10.88 tune up back in thinking this is good enough and might even fall off with the weather changes a touch. Fortunately, Paul leaves one hangin and turns on that big red eye. I immediately see my win light and think this is the perfect time to see what she will do in the heat of the day. 10.93 was the number. PERFECT! Next up was Alan Wiess. I knew he was not quite running the pace, so I figure I can get away and leave the same tune up on it. The down side, Alan had already turned on the red light early in the morning. This tells me he has every capability to cut a killer light. So that is potentially a tenth of a second right there if I end up cutting a mediocre light. But that was not to happen and it was a fairly easy but almost scary win. As I backpedaled and reeled him in closer, it seemed like his car suddenly burst forward and almost caught me. I went into panic mode and had to floor it and only squeaked by with a foot or two.

FINAL ROUND!!! And I am up against Jeff Lovell. He was our number 1 qualifier and running the number all day. In the previous round, it looked like I was going to not run as close to the number as I liked and decided to add in a little more tune up for the finals. Off the line, I got very little advantage at the tree, did my routine and felt 3 gear wiggle around a bit. Ran it out the back door and Jeff just kept a fender on me at the end. I only run an 11.07 to his 10.95 and he crossed the line first. I thought to my self, how did I loose, I should have ran the number and won. Well on the way home, I started thinking about it again and realized that the car was moving around in third gear. This means I might have been loosing traction. Could this have been my tenth of a second or so I needed to do the job right????? Had I ran the number, Jeff's fender race might have made him brake out.????????????

Either way, I made it to the finals and starting out this year quite well. Congrats to Jeff. He did a killer job all day. Next time, I will try and return the favor.

Next up for me will be the NHRA Division 7 race at Bakersfield on May 20-22nd where I will attempt my first Super Street catagory.

After that, Sacramento Bug O Rama, the following Memorial Weekend.

4-12-05

"Bug-In #32"

What a sucessful event this turned out to be. The number of people was staggering.

As for me? Not so good. If you compare it to Drag Day just a few weeks back.

Becuse of the large number of cars, and a little New Event Blue's, we were only allowed 2 practice/qualfiying runs.

Car ran decent. about where it should have been. Round one was against Dave Mason. I cut a decent light, but Dave left one hanging. (red light)

Round 2 and I am up against Brian Hyerstay in his 9 second NHRA Comp Eliminator G/D dragster. This is where I was just not on the mark. Brian put up a .077 rection. So So in my book, but I puke out a .110 reaction. He left the door open and I pushed it open wider. He drove around me on the top end and put me on the trailer.  Plane and simple, I lost. So that ended the run for the $2500 win.

A big Congrats to Troy and John Palmer for putting the dragster on the trailer in the final round and collecting the big pay day.

Video of one of my qualifying passes that Pfer10 took.

On a side note. I got one of these videos, and it was very cool. A little of every thing on it. something to add to the collection. Click on the picture to go directly to the web site for a sample clip and if so desired, a purchase.

Now its time for Phoenix this weekend.

3-25-05

The Top E trophy. Cool looking BRM type rim made from a nice big chunk of aluminum. Thanks to the Berg's for putting up the purse for the class.

3-24-05

DRAG DAY ! ! ! !

At first, I wasn't sure or even thought I could be ready for this a month ago. I was not pushing to get my act together for this race either. BUT I am sure glad I did.

The weekend of the 12th, I had already fired up the motor after the freshen up and new piston change.

And thought to my self, I still have some wiring issues I want to work out, still need a transmission and updated window net. I never told my Trans guy when I wanted my stuff back, and didn't really push any issue. But found out that it was done Monday the 14th. After I heard that, I though "hmmm Maybe I can make it" But life went on during the week. Still had to go down and collect the gear box, some good motor oil, and all the little things you always forget until the last second. Needless to say, I was working on my car half the day Saturday before I threw it in the trailer. Car was still a big dirt ball from racing in palmdale last year, trailer was just plane ole ugly from all the rain's we have had. But that didn't stop me. It's not a car show and I am here to race.

Time for practice. Put my money in for the Quick 16 class. Off the trailer was a 7.03 at 98mph. Not bad, very close to where I expected it to be. Second pass and it's a 6.95. Ok, new rings are coming around and I am right where I left it from last year. Then an ugly 7.10 with a little bog off the line. Ok, I know where I can be with the tire pressures.

Elimination time. I dialed in a 7.01 with that little worry about the bog and still want to leave my self some room if I have a problem. I go up against our new PRA President. A.J. Simms. Fortunate for me, he gets the BIG RED EYE. I pulled off a good light, pull a nice smooth, semi big wheelie, and feeling good. Saw that shift light come on while still up, grabbed that gear and the car starts to drop and bounce up like normal in second, but this time it didn't come back to earth in second. It continued to climb and slightly turn to the right, and at that time, I lost sight of the track in front of me. This really got my attention and because of the first drift feeling, I blipped the gas, but then felt I was going strait enough to be safe, but it just felt like it wanted to keep going up and I blipped the gas 2-3 more times after that. It sounds slow and to me it was, but I'm sure it was just a mater of a full second that I did all this. Id say that was a good 5 or 6 on the Butt Pucker Factor scale.. Never did a BIG second gear wheelie before. But that produced a 7.13 et.

Ok, new train of thought. If this happens again, I will be lifting again and slowing down like I did on that last pass. Time to turn up the dial in some more to cover my self. So it went to a 7.11 and remained there the rest of the day.

Round 2 and I am up against Clyde Berg. I have raced him one other time in competition that I can remember. And the last time, he took the win. But this time was a different story. He was just plane ole late off the line. I had him by 2nd gear and just paced him from there.

Round 3 and I have to flip for the bye round with Mike Lawless. And as luck would have it, I won the toss. So it is a free ride to the finals where I meet Mike Lawless. One of the toughest guys out there. I have met him 2 times in competition in the past. Once at a drag day, where I took the win and once in Denver where he was on top. So we were joking around about our 1 and 1 record against each other and I told him something like this " well I won the first time, you won the second time, that means its my turn again"

Well my wish came true. Lawless took the shot at the tree and JUST BEARLY turned the red on. Personally, If I had to loose, I would want it to be just like that then being late. That means you were trying hard. It is a good thing he turned the red on too. I got out of the groove on that pass and had all kinds of problems trying to get it straitened out and actually gave up and shut off. I wanted to get a clean all out pass so I could see if I need to reset my dial in.

Well now, I am the Quick 16 winner. I am on a high now.

It is time for Top Eliminator competition.

This is where all the winners from all the classes, battle it out. First round and I am up against good friend Hobi Oseguera, winner of Jack Pot class. Both of our lights are good, but I managed to just inch him out at the top end.

Then it was Steve Dalton in his street bug. According to Ron, race director, Steve always wanted to race me. So I'm thinking, I am going to get my a__ handed to me right here. Steve Rips off a .519 light. So he was gunning for me, no doubt about that. I was only a tic better then him at the lights, but not enough to be of any real advantage. Good thing was he did not quite run his dial in, and that gave me the cushion that I needed to take the win there.

FINAL ROUND OF TOP E. It is the all might daily driven aircooled.net powered camper BUS of Mike Viskey. He is dialed in at a 11.80 and I still have my 7.11 dial in. That basically meant I had to wait an eternity at the line as he disappeared in the distance.

Bus puts up a very respectable light. During my launch and chase down, I was thinking, I was late off the lights. Fortunately, it was a .501 reaction. I don't think I pulled any kind of big wheelie and the car went strait as an arrow down the middle of the groove. I think I passed him in the last foot of the track going 48mph faster then he was. Come to find out, we both broke out BIG TIME TOO. His dial of an 11.80 turned into an 11.61 and my 7.11 turned into a 6.93. I not only nipped him at the line, I was the lesser of the offenders.

CHA,CHING. It is a $1450 pay day.

Over all, I am extremely happy with my driving performance. I didn't have any bad reaction times unless you count the .497 red light in practice. And that was just seeing where the edge was.

Next up. BUG-In 32 on April 10th and then Bug-O-Rama in Phoenix on April 17th.

3-14-05

almost ready for the new season. New AA pistons are in and ready to go. Actually fired it up over the weekend. clicked right over. Now I need to find some time to get the rest of my car ready for drag day this weekend.

My odball oil filter location. its bolted  to the universal  bracket hole and the bottom stud. I can get away with this since most of my turbo header goes up and not across this area. whats nice is, its part of the motor and i dont have to disconnect it from the car.

John Troxell is over doing his own freshen up of his motor. Here he is massaging his rear split bearing to get the end play right for the flanged crank.

Case is ready

 I hear his 48's calling "JOHN, Hurry up and get me running again, Its boring sitting here in the corner"

Dom, the burn out  king stuff. I had found my old scatter shield top section from when i changed things around a bit. I had to make up a new bottom piece.

Its all 1/4"x3" flat bar. If i had an ox/accet torche, I would have made the bottom piece as one. instead, i had to make it out of three pieces and weld them together. what a pain.

 bottom section is just bolted to the trans mount, and the top section will be bolted to the sides of the bottom unit.

2-24-05

Had the boys over a few weekends ago for some bench racing. And my son is getting to the point of wanting to hang with the boys. So out comes the donor holley 500ish with vacuum secondaries that I got from John Redding's junk pile a while ago. Give Matt some tools and he is having a ball.

And me with the 80's vintage Earls Performance Products jacket. If I had some leather driving gloves, i'd be ready to drive a Porsche. LOL.

2-14-05

Happy Valantines Day.

Well since my house has grown by 2 feet, I am finally getting back into the goove again.

I stopped by EMS last week to pick up my stuff and drop off some more stuff for a friend.

Had the camera with me and found Hobi's motor on the building block being worked on.

Because of the LONG 94mm stroke of the crank, the Porshe cylinders needed to be extended. This time, they will try this aluminum pressed on sleve that in the end will be hard anodized and only the skirt of the piston will see.

there is a second block bolted to the case to accept the new 102mm cylinder stud pattern and extend the width as well.

Can you say Cha-ching? in the end,  the aluminum will be shaped to match the outside shape of the cylinder.

You can see the extension in the case. this all gets a final hone, and hard anodized and reassembled.

Hobi's new heads in raw form.

Eventually they will be  similar to Paul Woodhead's and Chihiro's heads

And now my stuff.

After 10 years of service, I will finally retire this set of Cima pistons. The buttons are over 15 years old. Shows how much of a cheap skate I am. LOL.

In place will be the AA Forged pistons.

Then the part I am beginning to hate the most about doing a freshen up on my motor. The rear split main bearing. making sure its round when crushed, setting end play and finding the small high spots, etc. But if I want to play, I have to pay the price.

1-30-05

Well the time has finally come. our second bundle of Joy has arrived about a week and a half ago. so you know what i have been up to.

Adam now gives me a full pit crew :)