Tuesday, July 5, 2011

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!!

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