Here are the Odds

  Interesting coincidence that the odds were posted today for the CHRR championship.  From the Tricky Tipster:
Horan 2-1
Rupert 2-1
Krabill 2-1
Not surprising; considering all three of us are contending.  We tested yesterday and there were 10 funny cars that showed up along with a handful of oil spreaders.  Beautiful weather-wise; low 80's and a decent breeze.

We made three hits and were very pleased with the results:

Lap one - 5.83 @ 233 mph

Lap two - 5.76 @ 250 mph -  in the heat of the day

Lap three - 5.75 @ 252 mph - at 4:00 pm, clicked it EARLY.

No smoke, consistent, bracket-like nitro funny car!
Personally, it was a very challenging day because I only had 2 hours of sleep and then drove 4 hours before any work was done.  The chutes were a mess and took forever to straighten out.  Ronnie had purchased new chutes and two, new sets of pilot chutes.  I decided to use the old chutes, but went with one set of the new pilots.  Bad idea.  The first pass one of the chutes didn't deploy; it looked like the cable didn't completely clear the loop and I can't help but think the pilot had something to do with that.   The second pass - the pilot chute shot straight down into the wheelie bar and tangled up.  That did it....the last thing I need is my driver not having confidence in my work and my ability to keep him safe. I pulled the new pilots and put back on the ones I know will do the job - and they did.

Today we serviced the car and still have more to do tomorrow; plenty tired and ready for bed.  Tomorrow the Cleveland Boys come into town and I won't be surprised if the car is in the pit when we get there.  They'll be pitted next to us (like the March Meet), but this time I'm on the other side of the hauler.  It'll be great to see them and catch up.  Hopefully, both teams will qualify for the show on Sunday!

Odd Timing - Six Seconds

   I'm pretty sure I couldn't have taken on one more task today.  Primarily because I'm lazy, but also because I only have one more day until we test in Bakersfield.  Since it's an 8 hour round trip, I'm staying through the CHRR and have tons of things to take care of before then.  I won't bore you with any details, but planning and handing over the execution of a 200-person event to someone else was down below laundry and a trip to the "Kitten and Puppy Expo" with my 11 year-old daughter today.

  The best part of going to any big race is the actual anticipation of it.  No, that's bullshit...it's being there.... that's the best.  Anyway, we're finally at the end of the season and everyone is getting pumped up and ready to rock it this coming weekend.  First is testing this Tuesday ---but before I forget; I need to go back and correct an early blog post regarding the points.  Since I'm too damn lazy to go back and edit the actual post; I'll just do it here for those of you smart enough to have read ahead.

  In a nutshell, I miscalculated the points race between us and the Rupert boys.  I thought we were tied, but in actuality, there are 4 points separating us right now.  After the one race out of six is thrown out, we are then 27 whole points back behind them and 1 point behind Buckey's team in the Northwest Hitter.  4 points is a helluva lot more than 23; because it means we have to go at least two additional rounds of racing; which is no mean feat against these guys.  Rupert is the 2 time, nostalgia funny car champ in the Heritage Series and those boys know how to make horsepower and speed.  They qualified no less than 2nd at four of the five races this year; having DNQ'd in Boise/April.

   However, drag racing is the great equalizer.  It's a sport, much like gymnastics at the Olympics.  You can be the best there is, but one slip on the beam and you're going home with the silver or less.  One actual drag race takes less than 6 seconds to complete; here I need to be careful, so as to not discourage everyone including myself.  All of the work that is performed on the car, traveling to the location, money, hotel, food, work, work, work, sweat and work....comes down to less than six seconds.  That span of time is endless when you're on the starting line, eyes fixated on the scoreboards at the end of the quarter mile.  Focused on that win light, ET and MPH readings.  In eliminations; no win light...you're on the trailer.  Six seconds -- that's it.

   Where the hell was I?  Oh yeah, equalizer.....so my point is; statistics can point to a higher likelihood of an outcome based upon a sizable sample of data.  Case in point, Rupert's team.  Solid performers; consistently high MPH and low ET's.  They know the car and how to get the most out of it.  The data suggests that they will outperform our team and car at the CHRR.  There's not a lot of margin for error within six seconds; miss your set up, miss your light (happened to us in Salt Lake - friggin' .400 light) and you miss your opportunity to be a champion.

  I wish I hated those guys, but I don't and my team doesn't either.  They're fun, witty and love drag racing as much as we do.  Their pit resembles part rock concert; part family reunion, with people, lawn chairs, food, kids, dogs and an old-school trailer.  Sometimes they have more people in their pit than are in the stands because they have a lot of friends and anyone can come and hang out.  However, looks can be misleading; behind the Jerry Garcia-esque facade of their pit is a deadly, track-eating funny car that more times than not, wins.

  Time to salvage this post and my position on the team.  We aren't playing this race.  We have dotted our "i's" and crossed (as Huggy would say), our motherf'ing "t's".  We are burning to win - all of us - right now- we want to win; badly.  I guess it's all going to come down to who has that burning desire more - them or us?  No one else figures into this race at all - the hell with the statistics - and forget any other teams, including Bucky's.  This race comes down to two teams - them and us.  I've already decided I'm not going home without standing in that winner's circle on Sunday evening.  We will win and fuck anyone that gets in the way.

Odd Bits

   Another Saturday with lots of choices as far as racing goes.  There's the Nostalgia Finals down at the Patch and they're running the NE1 and NE2 groups this weekend. There's a couple of Nostalgia funnies doing some testing today and I believe one of the Oakdale boys is testing his big show car out there too.
I thought about going down, but an eight hour round trip drive just doesn't sound appealing.

  Closer to home, but still a couple of hours' drive, are the Fuel Altereds running at Eagle Field in Firebaugh - also in the SJ Valley.  I thought about heading out for this too, but couldn't get a confirmed car count and certainly wouldn't go if there were less than four - which may very well be the case.  Also, going to a show and not being able to do anything in the pits...sounds pretty boring to me.  Maybe if I'd planned ahead and found someone to go with me, but alas, I didn't.  I'll look for posts on it later to see how it turned out.

   I did watch the NASCAR Nationwide race today and I'm so glad that I love drag racing instead.  No disrespect, but I'm usually at a loss for the appeal.  I understand the strategy involved and appreciate how that factors into the whole race, but it reminds me somewhat of a pro-basketball game.  There's usually a lot of activity that means nothing until the end of the game - same thing in roundy - round racing.  I'm sure there's people that totally disagree with me and I don't care.  It's just that I'm not interesting in learning all the nuances surrounding it.  There's much more to study in drag racing that will serve me better.  Anyway, my purpose in scribing today wasn't to beat up NASCAR; because if it was down to watching NASCAR or some sit com on TV, you better bet I'm watching the race. 

  So we're down to less than 2 weeks before the end of the series and things are definitely heating up amongst the competition and in our own camp as well.  I talked to Huggy yesterday and Shawn today.  Both gave me an update status on the car.  The blower has been refreshed and is ready to start huffing again.  We had the cylinder heads re-bored and racks built.  Over the next week the clutch packs are going to be built and we're hoping to get at least 3 or 4 runs on test day.  Also found out that besides Krabill, Rupert is supposed to be testing too.  There was one other car that was mentioned, but I can't recall who it was right now.  I contacted my buddy, Les, who produces the most wicked-sick racing videos, to tell him about the test session too.  Hopefully he can make it and will film the precursor to the championship for everyone.