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Wow!! Am I behind the eight ball or what? I have been busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs the last few weeks. So let me catch you up-The weekend after the Spokane division event we went to Pacific Raceways in Kent for the next Lucas Oil Darg Racing Series Division event. There were 12 cars for and 8 car field. The weather wasn't particularly cooperative all weekend. Rain on and off with fairly cool temperatures inbetween showers. The first pass resulted in a ok 5.94 time at 241 mph, leaving us in the number nine spot. The next and last qualifying shot resulted in a hard shaking run that didn't help our cause a bit leaving us in the 10th spot for an 8 car show. We hadn't hurt anything but didn't really get a chance to sort anything out with the weather restrictions.
Our next weekend found Kim and I back in Spokane as crew members for Lee Crosselin's car. it is a nice little altered body with a blown Keith Black Hemi motor. Long long ago I sold the block that is powering that car to Lee so it's nice to see it out at the track as Lee works towards getting his competition license.
The following weekend brought us back to Woodburn for another Lucas Oil Division event. This time there were 13 cars for an 8 car field. Our tuning efforts were finally rewarded with a 5.80 at 248 mph. That got us into the 8th spot facing Jay Payne in the first round. Once again the dreaded first round against the number one qualifier. We ran a 5.82 to his 5.71 but again our mph was over 248. So all in all- I would consider it a definite improvement in performance. I set career personal bests in elasped time and speed. I was very happy to have gotten into that tough field although going a little further in competition would have been great.
The following weekend was the Seattle Northwest Nationals. Nineteen cars were on hand for a 16 car field. I had the car loaded for bear on the first run. As soon as I dumped the clutch the engine RPM went right for the moon. Once the car settled back to earth I legged it on through to a 8.88 et at 232 mph making us the worlds fastest super comp car. The next qualifier went into the dumper when the transmission broke on the burn out. The last qualifier was again in the dreaded left lane and although the car left the starting line this time it still spun the tires about 20 feet out. I again pedaled it and it ran 6.32 at 242 launching the burst panels 300 feet into the air when they let go. Thankfully no truly terrible damage happened to the motor so we will be able to regroup and fix it soon. Kind of a dissappointing end to a too long weekend. But nevertheless I learned a ton about tuning the car and maybe our next outing will benefit from these hard taught lessons. So for now- "I'll be back" is all I can say. Or maybe-"I need a weekend off" Dave

Well good news- We went to Spokane last weekend for the Lucas Oil Division event. * cars showed up for an 8 car field so we were in just by passing tech. That took the pressure off somewhat. But I still wanted to run well to avoid the dreaded bump spot because the number 8 qualifier gets the number one qualifier in the first round of eliminations. Right out of the box we ran a 6.03 at Spokane's adjusted density altitude of 5000 feet. The car ran well although the motor was way too rich to make optimum power. So I started leaning it out on successive runs which resulted in a 6.11 then a 6.07- whoops- not getting quicker. Then for first round of eliminations I tossed the book at it. I changed gear ratios in the transmission, leaned it a ton, changed compression ratios, added timing. Way too many changes at once but the car liked it- it ran a 5.96 at 239 mph. I treed the opponent (the #1 qualifier) but just didn't have to power to hold him off at the other end of the track. I am not dissappointed though, we had a great weekend. Didn't really hurt anything, the car started coming around peformance-wise. I made four straight passes down the fantastic Spokane dragstrip. All in all a very nice weekend. This weekend we go to Seattle, not quite as good of a race track but lots of air so the power will be there. I am hoping for a good showing but there are 12 cars preentered so it will be a tough show to get into. Like the guy who invented the frisbee said "lets give it a fling and see if it flies". Dave

Well another season has started. We went to Woodburn Dragstrip last weekend for the season opener there. I would love to tell a fairy tale with a happy ending but unfortunately it wouldn't be true. The weekend started on Friday when myself, Robbie and Trina (new crew guys) got to the track. We were setting up our pit space when I couldn't get the generator to start. We absolutely depend on having electricity to run our computers, lights, and air compressor. Two years ago I bought a Cummins/Onan diesel generator specifically with the idea that it was the best on the market and they would provide 7 days a week/356 days a year anywhere service. Well........that service promise is a fairy tale. No matter how much money I offered they wouldn't send a service guy out to fix our generator. My exact words to the Cummins NW office service manager was "I need that generator more than I need the money". They made every excuse possible to not come out and fix it. No wonder some companies are going under when they refuse customers money.
Ok, we borrowed another generator from one of the other racers so despite the rocky start we got past the generator and lack of service from Cummins. Our first run was a planned half pass. The car was all over the track forcing an even earlier shut down. The next two runs weren't much better including one run that resulted in hitting the wall, this time on the left side. So now I have matching crinkled headers and another side of the car to fix. Witnesses said that 100 feet before the wall strike they could see I was turned away from it but the car just drove into it. Apparently I got out of the groove and the tire with traction overpowered the one without traction. Wahoooooooo. So between the generator going T/U, the racepak not working for most of the weekend, the car running badly, the crash, and finally the AC on the Freightliner taking a dive I was awfully glad to get home alive. Due to the overwhelming amount of frustration I decided to take next weekend off so we are skipping the Mission BC division event. I believe they call this a "safety standown". We need to figure things out before I really hurt the car badly or it hurts me. But in the words of my hero -the terminator- "I'll be back" Dave

April 1, 2009

Hey it's April 1st. One year ago today I had a career ending back surgery after my fourth and fifth blown discs. The surgery went fairly well but the left over deficit and disability prevented me from going back to work as a Firefighter/Paramedic Supervisor for the Tacoma Fire Dept. This has caused some significant changes in my life, not to mention a deep dark bout of depression. But like all human problems this too will pass. The team has been working hard to get ready for the 2009 season. I have had crew guys down for the last two weekends working on the body and paint work for the car. I had done sort of a slap dash job to get us back on the track last year after the altercation with the concrete wall at Woodburn Dragstrip. The new crew guys have some training and experience in body and paint work- good thing too. Andy Buchanan and Trina Eplett are redoing my not-so-good body work and repainting. It looks wonderful so far. The easy way would have to just redo the entire right side of the car but I was hoping to not add too much weight with paint and body work. So it has become the world's largest spot repair. Speaking of weight- I am down 29 pounds as of this morning with a goal of losing another 17 pounds. I want to try to run the car as close to the minimum weight as possible. The theory is that ten pounds equals a hundredth of a second. Although a hundredth of a second sounds really quick, at the dragstrip it is an eternity.
The winter while cold and rainy wasn't without a lot of effort towards the upcoming season. During the winter I whittled off all three axles from the trailer and replaced them with new ones. As it turns out the trailer had three torsion-flex axles which caused all sorts of tire and wheel bearing issues. Whoever originally installed the axles didn't do it as was suggested by the axle manufacturers. They were welded solidly to the frame which made for a major league hassle to replace. But it is done and the trailer now has three brand new leaf sprung axles now. Well its time to take a break and spend some quiet time with Kim- See yah all soon- Dave
PS. Check out the new t-shirts- they look great- D