Two weeks prior to the 2008 NMRA Super bowl Debbie and I tested at Joliet. We made several passes trying to get some good information and learn what the track wanted on the starting line. The starting line (60ft) is crucial for me. Thanks to Centerforce Clutches we tried some new pressure plates and clutch discs in search of the best combination for the Joliet track surface. After a couple of passes we found the best match.
Tuesday night I loaded up the trailer and dropped it off in line at Route 66 Raceway at about 2am. On Wednesday at 8am I connected the trailer back up and waited in line for them to let everyone into the track. Once into the track I got our pit set up. I prepared all the spark plugs and nitrous bottles in order for qualifying and eliminations. I then changed the oil, cleaned the filter an inspected all chassis points. Then I proceeded to get through tech inspection. Following tech inspection I finished the rest of my jobs to do for the day and loaded the car up for the day.
Thursday Debbie and I arrived at the track at 9 am. On this day we prepared for a test session. First pass down the track gave us the data we needed to prepare for qualifying.
We showed up to the track on Friday ready to go. Everything was finished the night before so that we would be ready for qualifying. First round we ran 9.81 @ 119 mph shut down pass. The run showed it would have been a 9.67 pass. I have always learned to creep up on your tune ups, and keep an eye on plugs and your data in order to keep the engine together. Now with current information I was ready to make a full pass. Second round I ran
1.291 (60ft), 3.928 (330ft), 6.130 @ 111.46 mph(1/8th), 8.027 (1000ft), 9.634 @ 140.08mph. This was good for the #1 qualifying spot. Unfortunately was not enough for the 9.62 class ET record. So time to go back to the drawing board and try to get the ET record. After the run the tech department P&G inspected cubic inch and inspected my nitrous jet with go-no go pin gauges. Both inspections passed.
Saturday was a rainy wet day. Because of the rain 3rd round of qualifying was cancelled. I was not planning to make a third round pass because I had to work that morning. I live 15 minutes from Route 66 raceway and work about 30 minutes from there. Later in the afternoon once the rain stopped I left work and proceeded to the track. Once there Debbie, Dennis, and I prepared the car for first round of eliminations. Since I was #1 qualifier on a 9 car ladder, it gave me a bye first round. On my run I viewed the A/F ratio getting to areas that I do not like at about 1100-1200 ft. so I shut if down. My data showed that my adjustments on the front half made improvements of 1.321 60ft (back tires), 3.921 (660ft), 6.123 @111.51 mph (1/8th), 8.021 (1000ft), and 9.653 @ 133.59 mph. My improvements showed a .006 improvement until I had to abort. If I had not aborted, melted pistons would have been my fate.
Sunday we worked our way through eliminations with a 9.68 pass in the 2nd round. Next were the semi finals. We were paired against the points leader and defending champ Tim Matherly. We both did our burnouts and pre-staged, staged, and then on the 2-steps we went. The tree came down and Tim red lighted. I let the clutch go and the engine fell on its face and died out!!!!!!!! Yes I did not move a total of 12 inches across the starting line. I then fired it back up and proceeded to scale and fuel check. I thought that I over rev'd it in the burnout and that was the issue. We prepared for the finals against Jim Breese. We both did our burnouts, pre-staged, staged, up on the two steps we went. Jim's car rolled through the beams and the red light came on. The tree came down, I let the clutch go and it died again. WOW!!!! I did not move 10 feet in the last 2 rounds and I won the race. The good Lord was looking out for me. I can not take the credit. The credit is given to God. Now I had to get ready for the NMRA vs NMCA race. Debbie, Dennis, Rich Groh, Mark Magnuson and I inspected every possible cause to the problem. We changed plugs, checked sensors, nitrous solinoid, wiring etc to find a dirty Mass Air Flow sensor. We cleaned it and reinstalled it, and she fired right up, went up on the 2-step clean and was not loading up. In the shoot out my dial in was a 9.63 and my opponent Tim Hendricks dial in was 9.02. I left the starting line first and once Tim left I had a .072 reaction time advantage (.076 to .148). I proceeded to run a 9.637 on a 9.63 dial in and Tim ran a 8.923 on a 9.02 dial. Since there are no breakouts, Tim beat me by a margin of .0327.
Great race and a great weekend!!!!
Thanks to all that have made this possible-
Justin and Melanie Burcham of JPC Racing
Bassani Exhaust
C & L Performance
Centerforce Clutches
Edelbrock
High Speed Performance
Mickey Thompson Tires
Rich Groh of RGR Engines
Swarr Auro
Tremec Transmissions
Voss Performance Inductions
UPR Products
White's Pit Stop
and my team of Debbie Pifer, Dennis Tarne and Mark Magnuson
Bruce Hemminger
R/S 2
Linear Mode
