WWCD

The band was back together this weekend as my Mom and Dad where back from vacation.  So things were back to the norm.

Friday night we headed to Kanawha Valley to do a little testing.  The week before, Kanawha Valley had to change the timing system and thus changed the lights in the tree.  So I struggled.  With those results, we made the decision during the week to head to the track on Friday so I could work on my reaction times.

The results were mixed for sure.  My reaction times for the night were, .022, .023, .036, .001, .046, and .023.  Needless to say those were less than stellar as far as consistency goes.  So after mixed results on Friday we headed home, only to hook back up and head back to KV Saturday for a weekly points race.

As Saturday rolls around, lets just say it was hot.  During the first 2 time trials my reaction times were decent, .026 and .021.  At least they were close enough to each other that I could adjust the delay box accordingly.  However during the 3rd time run I had a blistering .049 reaction time.  So after feeling good, my confidence took a big hit heading into eliminations.

Once eliminations rolled around lets just say that things got better.  In the first round I have a .009 reaction for the win.  This gave me the confidence need to win the next few rounds.

As the night continues, I find my self in the semi finals.  The semi final round was an important one for me because if I won the round I would overtake Jeff Higgins for the points lead.  In the semis I dial a 5.30 to my opponents 6.37.  I leave with a .036 light to his .051.  So even though I would not call that a great light, I had a 15 thou advantage, which I will take any day.  I catch him and pedal to run a 5.324 on my 5.30 dial to his 6.382 on his 6.37 dial.  I win.  I crossed first by .0029.  Basically I did a poor job of pedaling and almost gave back up the strip.  Off to the finals!!!!

In the finals I keep my 5.30 dial.  My opponent is dialed a 6.61.  I leave with a .0149 reaction to his .0299.  So once again I have a 15 thou advantage!! (This makes the whole winning thing a lot easier.)  We get down the track and I pedal once again.  This time I run a 5.331 on my 5.30 dial as he runs a 6.644 on his 6.61 dial.  I cross first by .018 to take the WIN!!!!  Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

This win was my 3rd win of the season is my 4th final.  Also by winning I took the Pro points lead at Kanawha Valley by 10 points (2 rounds).  There are 3 points races remaining.  I am sitting in good position, however I would like I little more breathing room.

Next week we head back to Kanawha Valley as there are 2 points raced scheduled.  So this is a big weekend in deciding my chances of winning the Track Championship.

Thanks for reading.  Remember that you can Follow me on Twitter: @ClaytorRacing

Until next time: Hit it Hard, Hit it Fast!!

How Quickly it Goes Away

Back to Points Racing!!! The weather co-operated this weekend and Kanawha Valley was open and running for some points racing.  After being rained out for a few weeks down there, the track decided to have two points races on Saturday.

Heading into the weekend I was sitting 6th in points, 25 points back.  At KV 10 points are given for showing up, 5 points per round win, 5 point bonus for winning the race, and a 2 point bonus for finishing 2nd.  So basically I was 5 rounds out of first.  Jeff Higgins was leading the points heading into the weekend.  He has been leading the points for most of the season.

As the first race got under way I was very confident.  I was driving well and the car was great.  The first round of the race rolls around and I end up running "Radar" Ray Kinder.  Radar has nice 55 Chevy that runs 5.60's.  I dial a 5.27 to Radars 6.64.  I get the win as I take a starting line advantage, .020 to .040, and drive the finish line to take .018 and run a 5.28.

2nd round I draw John Carr in his 5.90 Nova.  I dial a 5.26 to Johns 5.90.  John kills me on the tree with a .008 to my .041.  However, he runs way off of his dial, a 5.98 on his 5.90, so I get around him and Womp the gas a few times to run a 5.271 on my 5.26 and take .008 strip for the win.

3rd round I again draw Radar.  After our first round match up Radar bought back in.  This round is very similar to our first round as I get the advantage on the tree .018 to .042 and play with the brakes on the big end to take the strip by .021 and take the win.

4th round I am down to 6 cars.  I draw David Bailey and his 69 Camaro.  This was a good race right up until I left the starting line!!! I leave to a red light, -.012 and David takes the win.  I run it out the back door and run a 5.268 on my 5.26 dial.

Decent finish to the first race.  A good points race for me as pretty much everyone else that I am battling lost early.

During time trials for the 2nd race, I am struggling.  I simply can not find the tree.  I am a red lighting machine.  I keep putting time in my delay box and nothing seems to work.  Luckily in my last time shot I actually turn the bulb green!

In round 1 of Race 2, I draw John Carr again.  This time he got the better of me as I screw the pooch in every way possible.  It was almost like I had never drove the car before.  I let go of the trans-brake way before Johns Top Bulb came on, thus would have led me to Red Lighting.  So I decide that the only thing that I can do it Footbrake the car.  That did not work and to the buy back window I went.

I buyback in and head up for the second round and guess who I pull up beside.........RADAR!!!! For the third time I had to run Mr Kinder.  Radar is a very good racer and I knew that I would struggle to beat him for a 3rd time in one day.

Radar simply kills me on the tree with a .008 reaction to my blistering .046!!! (Way to cut the tree down Jason)  Needless to say I never catch him and he puts me on the trailer.

Overall a decent day points wise.  I did not move up any positions in the standings but I did get closer to the point lead.  I now sit 15 points, 3 rounds, out of the lead.  With 4 points races left I need to get my head on straight and get it done!!

Upcoming schedule is to head to Kanawha Valley on Friday for a little testing and then be there Saturday for another points race.

FINALLY!

I actually got to race Saturday!!!!!  Mother Nature allowed us the opportunity to get a full race in.

The weekend was actually a big weekend in my racing career.  For the first time ever, I went racing with out my dad being there.  I am 26 years old and I have been racing since I was 8.  So for the last 18 years my dad has been at the track every weekend that I have raced.

My mom and dad are actually in Myrtle Beach.  So on Friday night my good buddy Tyler Baisden met me at my Mom and Dads house and we loaded up my dragster in his trailer, along with his dragster.  The plan was to head to Kanawha Valley on Saturday for a regular points race.

Well Mother Nature did not totally agree with out initial plans.  A big rain storm blew through Northern West Virginia and at 1:00 Kanawha Valley cancelled.  So at 1:00 Tyler and I decide to head to Kil-Kare Dragway in Xenia, OH.  Now it must be noted that time trials at Kil-Kare started at 1 and we had at least an hour and a half drive ahead of us.

Our day must not have been hectic enough as the Lords of the Highway decided that we needed a flat tire on the trailer about 30 miles from the race track.  We decided to just slow down and make it to the track before changing the tire.

We arrive at KK as they are in the middle of the 2nd and final time trial.  Luckily we bust our butts and make it to the staging lanes just in time for both of us to get a time run.

My car runs as expected and so does Tyler's dragster.  In Round 1 we both decide that we wanted to Red light, just so we could give $25 more dollars to buy back!!!  Ok, so maybe that wasn't the plan, but we both did red-light.

Round 2 comes around and luckily this round I turn on a win light.  My opponent went red.  I went .008 on the tree and ran a 5.26 on my 5.28 dial.  Tyler did not have any luck as fuel systems issues continued to plague him.

In Round 3 I pull up against Dave Caplinger, who is a KK regular.  Lets just say Dave decided to destroy me.  He left with a .004 light to my .014.  He then proceeded to run dead on his dial with a 7 to have a .011 package.  I had to break out with a 5.253 on my 5.26 dial in order to cross the finish line first.  It honestly did not matter what I did at that point because Mr Caplinger was whooping my butt.  I made a good pass, but he was just better.

So that was my weekend.  This weekend coming up I will once again be traveling with Tyler as Mom and Dad will still be in Myrtle.  The plan is to head to Kanawha Valley as they have two points races scheduled.

Lets just hope that I can get back into the swing of things and hopefully find my way back to the winners  circle!!

Please follow me on twitter: @ClaytorRacing
Check out my Racingin.com Profile page: www.Racingin.com/ClaytorRacing

Nothing to Show

Sometimes you win, Sometimes you lose, and sometimes you don't even get the chance.  This weekend was one of those weekends where you don't get the chance.

Here is a short synopsis of the last two days.  3 States, 2 Racetracks, 7 hours of driving, 8 hours of sitting at a track, 0 passes.  Nothing to show for the weekend that was.

Friday we took the Roadster to Kanawha Valley to do some more testing.  We get there and unload like normal and prepare to make the few passes necessary to see if we had fixed the car.  15 minutes before the Test and Tune session was to begin, the PA announcer lets us all know that nothing is working!!! The track has no computers, no timers, no tree or anything!!!!!  They announce that they will let cars go down the track Arm Drop Style!!! Some cars went up and played, but we did not.  There was no point.  If we could not see any times how were we to know if we picked the car up???  So we sat around for a few hours to see if they could get everything fixed.  They couldn't.  So we loaded up and headed back home.

The original plan was to go home and load up my dragster and then on Saturday head back to Kanawha for a points race.  However, on the way home we get a phone saying that they had decided to cancel Saturdays program because there was no way that they could have the timing system up and running in time.  So we make the decision to race at Bluegrass Raceway Park in Owingsville, KY on Saturday.

Gates did not open up down there until 5 pm on Satuday, so we have plenty of time to get everything ready on Saturday morning.  The radar did not look great but we have never let the possibility of rain keep us away from a race track.  I do not know how many times the radar has lied to us and we were able to get the race in.

However, this day was one of those days that the radar was right.  We get to the race track at about 4:30.  A shower had blown through right as we got there.  It was just enough of a rain to get everything wet and that was about it.  The track personnel did a good job of drying the track and shortly after 6 the opened the lanes up for open time trials.  As the first pair of cars starts going down the track, it starts raining again.

It rains off and on until 8, when they decided to pull the plug.  Luckily we had no unloaded anything.  So we jumped in the truck and made the 2 hour drive back home.

I guess we had a lot of family bonding time, however I wanted racing time!!!!  

Next weekend is going to be an off weekend, unless I decide to take my street car down to Kanawha and run it in Super Sport.  (This is a strong possibility)

Look for another blog entry in a few days.  Considering my recent racing exploits have been few and far between I will post some of my thoughts on other goings on within the world of drag racing.

Rain Rain Go Away

If you are ever at a drag strip and you need a boat to get from your pit space to the staging lanes, you know you are in trouble.

That was the exact situation that we had at Kanawha Valley this past Saturday.

We we supposed to have two points races, however Mother Nature decided against it.  After the first time trial for the first race on Saturday, a pop up storm came through and washed out the day.  We got about 3 inches of rain in 30 to 45 minutes.  I thought we were going to need to build an Arc for a little while.  I don't know if put race cars in two by two would have worked, but it almost got to that point.

I guess the weekend was not a complete wash though, as on Friday night we did take out the new Roadster and did some testing.  The car ran a best of 6.58 at 102.  A little slower than what we anticipated.

This weekend may not treat us any better.  The forecast is calling for a 50% of rain on Saturday.  So hopefully everything holds off.

Plan for the weekend is to take the roadster down and test some more tonight.  Then load the Dragster and take it back to Kanawha Valley tomorrow.

That is the plan, lets just hope that Mother Nature can understand my need to race tomorrow!!!

On a side note, I know he will not read this but I just want to say Congrats to the Living Legend of Racing John Force on getting back into the winners circle at Denver this past weekend.  A win that was needed in a big way.

Also a big shout out to the Nitro Twitter Group (NTG).  Great group of people who love drag racing.

Wedding Break

I know it has been a while since my last post, but there is good reason.  On Saturday July 9th I got married.    We then left on that Monday and went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon.  So racing news has been little to come by recently, but I guess it was for a good cause!!!

Recap of the last week.

On Saturday I got married to the beautiful Mrs. Kelli Claytor (formerly Kelli Little).  I currently do not have any pictures of the wedding, however I do have a picture of the wedding cake Kelli got for me.

She totally surprised me with the cake.  I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  Whoever she had make the cake did a great job considering she only had a few pictures of my dragster to go off of.

Sunday, my dad went and picked up the latest addition to the Claytor Racing Stable of race cars.  We bought a roadster off of our good buddy Mike Stowers.

This is going to be a fun little toy to play with.  We can use it to Super Rod race at IHRA Pro-Ams.  We will also use it to run in some bottom bulb and foot-brake races.  I drove it once before a few years back and it was a blast.  Should be a good, fun car to drive that we can hopefully have some success with.

Then on Monday the wife and I left for our honeymoon in Las Vegas.  The trip started a little rough as our flight was delayed in Columbus for over 2 hours!!!! Nothing worse than sitting in the airport with nothing to do.

While in Vegas, we had a great time.  This was my 3rd trip to Vegas and the 2nd for Kelli.  Simply put, I love Vegas.  I wish I could say that gambling treated us well, however I would be lying if I said that.  However, there were plenty of other great moments that overshadowed the loses.

The first highlight off the trip was a chance encounter Friday afternoon with should be baseball Hall of Famer and Cincinnati Red great Pete Rose!!! We were walking through the shops at the Mandalay Bay and looked over at a memorabilia shop and Pete Rose was there signing things.  So we bought a Jersey for us, and a bat for Kelli's dad and got Pete to sign them.  We also got to talk to him a little and get pictures with him.

Being from Southern Ohio, the chance to meet Pete Rose and talk to him a little bit was priceless (the jersey and bat however were not!! LOL) Great time.

Then on Friday night we had to tickets to go see Ron White perform at the Mirage.  Ron White is a comedy genius.  He was great.

Now, back home things are back to normal.  Back to work for me tomorrow and then off to the race track on Friday to test the Roadster!!

A little skill, A lot of Luck

I want to start by saying Thank You to everyone who has served for this country so that we can have the freedoms that we have.  Thank you guys and gals.

As far as racing goes, out preparation started Wednesday when we changed fuels pumps (we put a smaller pump on).  After getting everything together we loaded up on Friday and went to Kanawha Valley Motorsports Park in West Virginia for the Friday Night Test and Tune.

The plan was to make three passes to make sure everything was good and then load up and leave.  That plan worked about as well as any of our plans normally do.  First pass the car runs a speedy 5.67 at 117.  Mind you that the car had been running 5.20 at 130.  So basically we spent $600 for a new fuel pump to slow the car down half a second, Austin Coil would be proud!!!!  We make 6 more passes, for a total of 7 (remember the plan??) in which we finally get the car to run high 5.20's.  So we load up and head home so we can get stuff ready to leave early the next morning to head to Bluegrass Raceway in Owingsville, KY.

We get to BRP and enter the Quick 16 and Top ET.  We get two time runs and get the car to run a 5.29 which is on par with what it ran Friday night.  Round 1 of the Quick 16 would be up first.  The Q16 didn't fill up entirely so there was a bye run first run.  I get the luck of the draw and get the bye run.

Next up is 1st round of Top ET.  My opponent red lights and I got .0008 on the tree.  The perfect reaction time earned me the bye run for round 2 of Top ET.  I get by 2nd and 3rd round in both q16 and Top.  Round 4 in the Quick 16 was the finals!!!

In the finals my opponent goes .004 on the tree.  I however missed it.  The sun was shining directly onto the tree and I simply could not see my top bulb come on.  Luckily I have the bump down set up, which is set to .010.  I hit the bump down 5 times before I leave and only bump it to a .064!!!! So simply put,  I am dead.  I run it out the back door and go a 5.241 on my 5.24 dial.  However in doing so I run it hard enough to not let my opponent lift, and he breaks out by .002!!!! I win!!!!  Was not the prettiest, it was entirely luck, but a win is a win.

So next up is round 4 in TOP ET, where I have to run Charlie Bellamy.  CB is dialed a 5.67 to my 5.23. He leaves with a .034 to my .004.  I get to the finish line and grab a ton of brake, he goes dead on 1, I go  a 5.25 to take the win by .008!!

Round 5 of TOP was the semi final round.  I was dialed 5.23 to my opponents 5.19.  We both miss the tree with mid .03 lights.  I get to the finish line and hit the brakes to take .005 strip.  I break out by .008 and he breaks out by .002.  I lose.

So for Saturday I won 8 straight rounds.  Got a Win and semi appearance.  A good day.

Here is a picture of me in the winners circle after winning the Quick 16.

On Sunday I lost in the first round.  I bought back in and ended up getting down to 12 cars.  A decent day at best.  Highlight of the day may have been my .0000 reaction time in dialing for dollars.

A good weekend.  A little skill, A lot of luck but a run weekend and a win.  Now off for a few weeks as I am getting married this Saturday and then heading to Vegas for our honeymoon!!

In a Funk

Simply put that is the only way that I can describe my day yesterday.  I simply could not get anything going.  I was in a Funk!!

During time trials the car was running well, however I could not find the tree.  I was all over the place.  I just simply could not figure out what I was doing.  I was lost.  However like I just stated the car was running well.  It was dialed in.  For the 3 time trials it went a 5.286, a 5.253 and a 5.253.  Back to back runs to the thousandth of a second.  We can take that.

First round comes up and I draw Jeff Johnson and his Dodge Dakota that runs 5.60's.  I decide to dial the car a 5.25.  I cut an .015 light to his .024.  I get to the finish line and tap the brakes.  I take the strip by .001 but while doing so break out by .001, this running a 5.249.  Luckily for me, He ran a 5.600 on his 5.61 dial to break out more than me, to give me the round win.

Second round, I draw Mark Smith in his dragster.  This is the same guy that I lost to in the first round last week when I gave him back the stripe.  This time I decided to a 5.24 to Marks 5.38.  Mark leaves with a .003 light to my .015.  So he has me covered on the tree.  I get down to the strip and think that I have him so I tap the brakes as I pass the finish line.  His win light comes on.  Sure enough, I did it again.  Gave him the strip by .006.  There is a pattern developing here.  I ended up running a 5.252 on the brakes, while he went a 5.392 on his 5.38 dial.  So he had a 15 thou package, which would have been hard to beat, but if my run completion numbers is correct, I should have won by .002 if I would not have tapped the brakes.

Luckily for me, KV decided that this weekend they would have first or second round buy backs.  So that meant the even though I lost in the second round I could buy back into the race.

I go back up for the buyback portion of the 3rd round only to pull up beside Jeff Higgins, the same guy that beat me in the finals last weekend.  Jeff is dialed a 6.11 and I dial a 5.24.  Jeff leaves to a red light, which was good for me as he went 6.111 on his 6.11 dial.  I missed the tree a little and have a .022 reaction and run it out the back door to run a 5.228 on my 5.24 dial.  Track got tighter and the 60 ft picked up 1 and it carried it through the entire run.

4th round I draw my good buddy Xavier Lewis.  Xavier is dialed a 6.69, which he has ran all day long.  I decide to dial the 5.22 that I had just ran.  I leave the line with a .025 to his .048.  So I have him covered by a good amount.  I get to the finish line, I know that I have him covered up so I banzai the brakes.  I go around him and his win lights comes on.  My first thought is that I had given up the stripe again.  I get the ticket and X-Man went dead-on 8, while I went a 5.215 on the 5.22 dial, thus breaking out by 5 thou.  I killed 9 mph in the process.  Looking at the ticket, I picked up 2 full numbers in 60 ft.  Run competition shows the car would have ran a high 5.19.  So the car just decided it wanted to fly that pass.  I still took too much stripe but I had thought that I killed enough.  I did not expect the race track to keep tightening up that much.

Not a great weekend, but a few round wins.  I just need to figure out what I am doing.  Still early in the season so I have plenty of time to get things straightened back out.

Season so Far

As we end the month of June, I can honestly say that my racing season has been a little bit of a roller coaster.  Some good driving and some bad.  Some good results and some bad.

So far this season we have only had one dragster running.  My 06 Diamond Dragster with a 408 SBC that runs in the 5.20's has been trucking along all season.  My dads 08 Diamond Dragster has not been out yet.  It has a 458 SBC that runs low 4.70's.

The season for us started in the same place it does almost every year, we made the 5 or so hour tow south to Beech Bend Dragway for the first Tenn-Tuck race of the year.  We decided to just race of Friday and Saturday and use Sunday as a travel day home.  As far as the results for the weekend, I was pathetic.  I entered both races each day, a Big Bucks race that paid $10,000 to win and the Little Bucks race that paid $5000 I believe.  So in two days, I was entered in 4 races, which resulted in exactly 1 round win.  Not the way that I wanted to start the year, but that is about typical for my racing adventures in BG.  I love going there as it is a beautiful facility and a great race track, but I have never had any luck down there.

After Bowling Green, Mother nature took over.  The rain kept getting the best of the drag racing world weekend after weekend.  We did not get back to a race track until March 21, when we made the short hour and a half track to our home race track, Kanawha Valley Motorsports Park.

So after a month without being in the car, I was worried about the lack of seat time.  Anyone who has every drag raced knows that there is no substitute for seat time.  This weekend however, that lack of seat time was not a problem.  During the first two time trials the car ran a 5.34 and a 5.33 and my lights were .009 and .021 respectively.

Eliminations get going and I find my self getting into a groove.  First two rounds I have .007 and .010 reaction times and drive the finish line like a champ and get the W's.  I manage to get by the next few rounds and find my self down to 3 cars.  We get to the staging lanes and I get picked for the bye run.  We watch the other semi final run and my good buddy Mark Anderson got the win so I get to run him in the finals.  I go through on my bye run and have a .008 light and run a 5.24.  So we get to the lanes for the finals and I decide to roll .002 into the box, simply because it is getting darker so I wanted to be safe. I dial the car a 5.24 to his 6.30.  He leaves with a .008, I leave with a .001 (thank goodness for those 2 thou that I rolled in while in the staging lanes.) I get to the line and have plenty of room so I dump and take .030 strip for the win!!!!!  Not bad, 3rd race day of the season and I get the W.

The next weekend Kanawha Valley held two races on one day.  I had a decent day.  During the first race I got down to 6 cars.  I lost in the first round of the second race and decided not to buyback.

We then took the first weekend of June off, and on June 11we decided to head to Clay City, KY and Mountain Parkway Motorplex.  This is my favorite race track in the country!!!  The night was a short one as I got the bye run during the first round and then broke out by .003 during round 2.

That brings us to this past weekend.  We went back to Kanawha Valley for another points race.  It was a very interesting day, as I did some good things and some bad.   The car was a little in consistent during the two time trials running a 5.36 then a 5.25 after some changes.  First round I draw Mark Smith who is driving a dragster dialed 5.29.  So I decide to dial a 5.28, essentially holding a few numbers and being what Luke Bogacki calls "The Driver".  Lights come down and I actually left before him, I had a .014 light to his .041.  I get 500 Feet out and start driving like an idiot and give him back the strip by a mile.

Back to the buy back window for me.  I then getting rolling a little after that initial lose.  At 3 cars I get the bye into the finals.  This time a run long time KV bracket racer Jeff Higgins.  Jeff dials a 6.17 and I dial a 5.24.  Jeff leaves with a .014 light, I have a .001.  I get to the finish line and think that I have the strip and tap the brakes, his win light comes on.  At this point I assume that I broke out.  I get the ticket to see that I actually gave the strip back by .0002 of a second.  How about that for driving???  So I end up finishing second.

Sorry for the long post, the rest of them will not be this long.  This catches everyone up to where my season currently stands.  Tomorrow we are heading to Kanawha Valley for another points race.  I hope you all check back for the full results.

Hello World

First off, My name is Jason Claytor.  This blog is dedicate to the racing exploits of Claytor Racing.

Claytor Racing is a sportsman drag racing operation owned by my father, Chuck Claytor.  We race mostly across the midwest.  Currently our home track is Kanawha Valley Dragway in Southside, WV. We try to race as many big money bracket races as possible.  We will also try to run some IHRA Pro-Am Races.

We currently have two Diamond Dragsters that we race.

Within the next day or so I will update the information for the season so far.