Time to recap the weekend spent at the Atlanta Dragway for the Super Southern Heavyweight Shootout. 
Friday night test and tune before the big event was a total disappointement. Not only was it overly crowded, it was extremely slow at the tech line and even slower in the staging lanes. By the time I got through tech and put the Hoosiers on, it was 2 hours past opening. Once in the staging lanes, a huge mess needed to be cleaned off the track taking 45 minutes or more.
First run of the night, a 14.105 at 97.74. Definitely not what I was hoping for.
After a quick stop in the pits, I returned to the lanes. Once again, the track crew had to clean another spill. Then before I could move to the front, another shutdown of the track. This one had to be almost an hour. By now the track announced they were extending their closing time by a half-hour. Finally I got a second run - 14.093 @ 96.99.
It didn't make any sense, the air was cool and even without the front skinnies, I had expected at least 13s. Regardless, that was all the action for the night and I packed everything in the trunk and made the short trek to the motel.
The following morning found the track open at 8 AM in the cold fog. Again a slow tech line and the usual tire change found me past 10 AM before I could get to the lanes.
The time trials...
13.829 @ 98.34
I stopped by the scales and weighed 4045 pounds. 45 pounds to spare for the 4000 pound minimum.
13.832 @ 99.14
13.903 @ 98.54
Again I stopped at the scales and they bounced from 4035 to 4040.
Oh, I might mention my last 2 reaction times were both red-lights, -0.006 and -0.009.
After lunch it was a time for eliminations to start. Since the car had a good cooldown, I wrote a 13.8 dial on the car and found myself lined up against an Impala. I knew the car should be running better by more than 2 tenths of a second - but the fact was it was not and I had to dial accordingly.
LEFT(Impala) / RIGHT(Mark VIII)
DIAL - 13.99 / 13.8
R/T - 0.154 / 0.128
60' - 2.124 / 1.979
330' - 5.828 / 5.713
1/8 - 8.886 / 8.848
MPH - 80.04 / 78.50
1000' - 11.636 / 11.576
1/4 - 14.038 / 13.875
MPH - 94.62 / 97.95
Left First 0.0011
I was stunned. Eleven ten-thousandths of a second!
I couldn't resist the first round chance to buy-back into the competition. So I paid the man in the tower the buy-back fee and went back to the pits awaiting the call to the lanes.
About 30 minutes later, the call came. I had already decided to dial a bit harder and hoped for a better reaction time without risking a red light. Round 2 found me against another Impala.
LEFT(Mark VIII) / RIGHT(Impala)
DIAL - 13.85 / 13.75
R/T - 0.252 / -0.007
60' - 1.974 / 1.895
330' - 5.753 / 5.673
1/8 - 8.897 / 8.843
MPH - 78.21 / 77.87
1000' - 11.618 / 11.593
1/4 - 13.907 / 13.931
MPH - 98.75 / 96.25
The red light by the Impala saved me from the results of the embarrassing reaction time. I had dialed it as close as I could dare but I was slow in my launch. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
The next round found me pitted against a faster car, I forget exactly but I think it was another Impala. The runs were closer now with only about 30 minutes between - so I opted to bump the dial-in up a smidge.
LEFT(Mark VIII) / RIGHT(Impala)
DIAL - 13.88 / 13.21
R/T - 0.051 / 0.260
60' - 1.997 / 1.852
330' - 5.743 / 5.441
1/8 - 8.887 / 8.469
MPH - 78.04 / 81.20
1000' - 11.622 / 11.105
1/4 - 13.931 / 13.338
MPH - 97.02 / 100.85
Left First 0.2860
He never recovered from the tree and a quick check of the mirror assured me I could tap the brakes just before the line. I was feeling better when I picked up the time slip and noted the reaction time.
In the next round, I opted for another dial-in adjustment since the car was not getting the cooling time of before. I rubbed out the 13.88 and put down a flat 13.9. While in the lanes, I was informed my previous reaction time had earned me a bye run for the next round!
BYE RUN
DIAL - 13.9
R/T - 0.229
60' - 1.985
330' - 5.713
1/8 - 8.850
MPH - 78.26
1000' - 11.574
1/4 - 13.871
MPH - 98.34
Thanks to the bye - the breakout did not kill me.
Onto the next round, quickly this time. There was some confusion in the lane assignments and by the time it was sorted out I asked the B-body driver besides me if this was the finals for the class and he informed me it was! Deja Vu - we both recognized each other from the previous year where we were matched in the 13 second class finals and he had won the final race and I took runner-up. We exchanged good wishes and proceeded to mentally prepare for the upcoming battle. I reluctantly decided to leave the 13.9 on the car, despite the freak run of 13.871 previously.
The final round...
LEFT(Impala) / RIGHT(Mark VIII)
DIAL - 13.70 / 13.9
R/T - 0.096 / 0.269
60' - 2.105 / 2.005
330' - 5.774 / 5.744
1/8 - 8.854 / 8.858
MPH - 79.80 / 79.37
1000' - 11.505 / 11.570
1/4 - 13.844 / 13.873
MPH - 93.16 / 97.72
Left First 0.0021
It was a neck to neck race but I believe he braked at the very end. The car had repeated the previous run, and I actually broke out - but I still blame my rusty reaction time that had returned to haunt me and kept me from the top rung and a chance to compete in the 'King of the Hill' challenge.
Regardless, it was a good day despite the uphill battles. For my effort, I received the SSHS7 Class "B" Runner-Up trophy.
Hopefully they'll be a next year.
Friday night test and tune before the big event was a total disappointement. Not only was it overly crowded, it was extremely slow at the tech line and even slower in the staging lanes. By the time I got through tech and put the Hoosiers on, it was 2 hours past opening. Once in the staging lanes, a huge mess needed to be cleaned off the track taking 45 minutes or more.
First run of the night, a 14.105 at 97.74. Definitely not what I was hoping for.
After a quick stop in the pits, I returned to the lanes. Once again, the track crew had to clean another spill. Then before I could move to the front, another shutdown of the track. This one had to be almost an hour. By now the track announced they were extending their closing time by a half-hour. Finally I got a second run - 14.093 @ 96.99.
It didn't make any sense, the air was cool and even without the front skinnies, I had expected at least 13s. Regardless, that was all the action for the night and I packed everything in the trunk and made the short trek to the motel.
The following morning found the track open at 8 AM in the cold fog. Again a slow tech line and the usual tire change found me past 10 AM before I could get to the lanes.
The time trials...
13.829 @ 98.34
I stopped by the scales and weighed 4045 pounds. 45 pounds to spare for the 4000 pound minimum.
13.832 @ 99.14
13.903 @ 98.54
Again I stopped at the scales and they bounced from 4035 to 4040.
Oh, I might mention my last 2 reaction times were both red-lights, -0.006 and -0.009.
After lunch it was a time for eliminations to start. Since the car had a good cooldown, I wrote a 13.8 dial on the car and found myself lined up against an Impala. I knew the car should be running better by more than 2 tenths of a second - but the fact was it was not and I had to dial accordingly.
LEFT(Impala) / RIGHT(Mark VIII)
DIAL - 13.99 / 13.8
R/T - 0.154 / 0.128
60' - 2.124 / 1.979
330' - 5.828 / 5.713
1/8 - 8.886 / 8.848
MPH - 80.04 / 78.50
1000' - 11.636 / 11.576
1/4 - 14.038 / 13.875
MPH - 94.62 / 97.95
Left First 0.0011
I was stunned. Eleven ten-thousandths of a second!
I couldn't resist the first round chance to buy-back into the competition. So I paid the man in the tower the buy-back fee and went back to the pits awaiting the call to the lanes.
About 30 minutes later, the call came. I had already decided to dial a bit harder and hoped for a better reaction time without risking a red light. Round 2 found me against another Impala.
LEFT(Mark VIII) / RIGHT(Impala)
DIAL - 13.85 / 13.75
R/T - 0.252 / -0.007
60' - 1.974 / 1.895
330' - 5.753 / 5.673
1/8 - 8.897 / 8.843
MPH - 78.21 / 77.87
1000' - 11.618 / 11.593
1/4 - 13.907 / 13.931
MPH - 98.75 / 96.25
The red light by the Impala saved me from the results of the embarrassing reaction time. I had dialed it as close as I could dare but I was slow in my launch. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
The next round found me pitted against a faster car, I forget exactly but I think it was another Impala. The runs were closer now with only about 30 minutes between - so I opted to bump the dial-in up a smidge.
LEFT(Mark VIII) / RIGHT(Impala)
DIAL - 13.88 / 13.21
R/T - 0.051 / 0.260
60' - 1.997 / 1.852
330' - 5.743 / 5.441
1/8 - 8.887 / 8.469
MPH - 78.04 / 81.20
1000' - 11.622 / 11.105
1/4 - 13.931 / 13.338
MPH - 97.02 / 100.85
Left First 0.2860
He never recovered from the tree and a quick check of the mirror assured me I could tap the brakes just before the line. I was feeling better when I picked up the time slip and noted the reaction time.
In the next round, I opted for another dial-in adjustment since the car was not getting the cooling time of before. I rubbed out the 13.88 and put down a flat 13.9. While in the lanes, I was informed my previous reaction time had earned me a bye run for the next round!
BYE RUN
DIAL - 13.9
R/T - 0.229
60' - 1.985
330' - 5.713
1/8 - 8.850
MPH - 78.26
1000' - 11.574
1/4 - 13.871
MPH - 98.34
Thanks to the bye - the breakout did not kill me.
Onto the next round, quickly this time. There was some confusion in the lane assignments and by the time it was sorted out I asked the B-body driver besides me if this was the finals for the class and he informed me it was! Deja Vu - we both recognized each other from the previous year where we were matched in the 13 second class finals and he had won the final race and I took runner-up. We exchanged good wishes and proceeded to mentally prepare for the upcoming battle. I reluctantly decided to leave the 13.9 on the car, despite the freak run of 13.871 previously.
The final round...
LEFT(Impala) / RIGHT(Mark VIII)
DIAL - 13.70 / 13.9
R/T - 0.096 / 0.269
60' - 2.105 / 2.005
330' - 5.774 / 5.744
1/8 - 8.854 / 8.858
MPH - 79.80 / 79.37
1000' - 11.505 / 11.570
1/4 - 13.844 / 13.873
MPH - 93.16 / 97.72
Left First 0.0021
It was a neck to neck race but I believe he braked at the very end. The car had repeated the previous run, and I actually broke out - but I still blame my rusty reaction time that had returned to haunt me and kept me from the top rung and a chance to compete in the 'King of the Hill' challenge.
Regardless, it was a good day despite the uphill battles. For my effort, I received the SSHS7 Class "B" Runner-Up trophy.
Hopefully they'll be a next year.
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