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.