altoona
10-26-2008, 01:48 PM
I sitting here reading all these posts from people who got new best times in the cool fall air and figured I'd add mine. Way back in the old days I used to go racing every chance I got, but when the local track closed (Peterson) at the end of the '78 season I got out of it.
So 30 years later I started back into it. Can you say rusty driver? I made a total of 140 passes at BSD this season and it didn't start out too pretty. The first pass on the first day back at it netted me a blistering 16.05 @ 85 mph. I was on street tires and got pretty much sideways in each of the first three gears then thought the 1000' mark was the finish line and hit the brakes too early. After getting that out of the way I settled down for a best that day of 13.6 @ 111. When I came home that day I said that I intended to get into the 11's by the end of the season.
Next trip down I had some drag radials on the car and dropped my best time to a 12.7 @ 112 mph. I didn't change much on the car as the year wore on, I think most of my improvement after that was the nut behind the wheel learning to drive better. The times slowly but surely fell. I went to 10 T&T sessions and established a new best every time. On October 5 I ran a 12.09 @ 116 so I could just about smell the 11's from there.
Last Saturday the 18th we headed down to the Beaver for what would be the last time this year. First pass was 12.2, second pass 12.1, and then finally on the third pass 11.957 @ 117.09. I was able to back it up with another 11.9 and several 12.0's. I was so happy! Even I was starting to wonder if I'd be able to hit my goal this year.
I know the car has a lot more in it and the biggest hold up right now is that the suspension is all stone stock, so it doesn't hook very good. I intend to address that issue over the winter so I can set a new goal for myself next year. If I can run consistent mid 11's I'll be happy with that since I really want to concentrate my efforts on bracket racing next year. I figure this year was just practice.
So 30 years later I started back into it. Can you say rusty driver? I made a total of 140 passes at BSD this season and it didn't start out too pretty. The first pass on the first day back at it netted me a blistering 16.05 @ 85 mph. I was on street tires and got pretty much sideways in each of the first three gears then thought the 1000' mark was the finish line and hit the brakes too early. After getting that out of the way I settled down for a best that day of 13.6 @ 111. When I came home that day I said that I intended to get into the 11's by the end of the season.
Next trip down I had some drag radials on the car and dropped my best time to a 12.7 @ 112 mph. I didn't change much on the car as the year wore on, I think most of my improvement after that was the nut behind the wheel learning to drive better. The times slowly but surely fell. I went to 10 T&T sessions and established a new best every time. On October 5 I ran a 12.09 @ 116 so I could just about smell the 11's from there.
Last Saturday the 18th we headed down to the Beaver for what would be the last time this year. First pass was 12.2, second pass 12.1, and then finally on the third pass 11.957 @ 117.09. I was able to back it up with another 11.9 and several 12.0's. I was so happy! Even I was starting to wonder if I'd be able to hit my goal this year.
I know the car has a lot more in it and the biggest hold up right now is that the suspension is all stone stock, so it doesn't hook very good. I intend to address that issue over the winter so I can set a new goal for myself next year. If I can run consistent mid 11's I'll be happy with that since I really want to concentrate my efforts on bracket racing next year. I figure this year was just practice.