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AmericanDRAGCAR Race Report
John
Nahodil in the near lane Tucson, Arizona's Southwestern
International Raceway gave a warm welcome to AmericanDRAGCAR
and the USDRAGCAR.com
Full Power Challenge
Series on Friday night, May 10th as the clouds and the wind threatened to
end the evening before it even started. But
as I familiarized myself with the track staff and layout, the weather subsided
and it began to look good for racing. Ron Shelly came in with
the most to win as he was holding the number 2 points position and entered for
the $500 guaranteed purse. Ron
needed only one round to leave as the new points leader but fell short by only 2
thousandths of a second in the closest race of the night.
Even leaving from the night in 3rd place, Ron remains only a
round away from taking over the lead. The number 1 points position
holder, Dustin Passerby did not make the trip this weekend but still
managed to keep his number 1 spot by only one point as the winner of this
weekend�s race winner took over the number 2 position. Trial member, Mike Gardner
holds a provisional 8th place standing in the points series with his Runner-Up
finish, first time AmericanDRAGCAR
showing at this Friday�s race. This night again proved the
AmericanDRAGCAR
venue to be the most competitive all out drag racing program available to all
racing budgets. As 1st round opened, Ron
Shelly went to the line with a 9.75 adjusted index in his tube chassis Top
Comp Vega against John Nahodil who was index adjusted at 14.40 in his,
truly stock, Modified Stock Mustang in a real David vs. Goliath pairing. John
took his tree over 4 and a half seconds ahead of Ron and rolled out of the beams
.043 seconds after the green lit. Ron
kept it close even after the long wait by getting out of the beams with a .052
reaction time and proceeded to make chase. As
Ron caught the Mustang, the finish line flashed under both cars at precisely the
same time in a spectacularly close finish. When
the dust settled, the win light was on in John�s lane as he managed to hold
off Ron�s charge by a mere 2 thousandths of a second running 14.424 against
Chevy�s 9.767. That�s what AmericanDRAGCAR
is all about right there, All Out Foot Through The Floor Drag Racing! Another notable pairing in first
round was between Mike Gardner and Jeff Sefranek with their
Experimental Production Ford�s. What�s
notable is the difference in strategy which may be utilized in DRAGCAR
versus dial -in breakout competitions. After
qualifying, Jeff was still unsatisfied with the tune of his Mustang even after
posting a better than expected 11.25 in round three. Mike
on the other hand was certain that things were not going his way as his Falcon
showed to be on a slowing trend by running a 10.98 in round three after posting
a 10.96 in round one which had already earned him a 10.95 adjusted index. In
bracket competitions most of us have become trained to make no changes to the
car after time trials are over and just dial the car slower for first round, but
in the beauty of the AmericanDRAGCAR
venue, experimenting between rounds during eliminations is often not such a bad
idea, especially when as in the case of Mike since he was showing to be at a 3
hundredths disadvantage to Jeff. Interestingly,
both racers made the decision to re-jet their carburetors before pairing up
against each other for first round. In
Jeff�s case, it proved to be detrimental as though he red-lighted against
Mike, he posted an 11.12 ET. This
likely would have won the round if he had gone green but the DragSport
re-indexing penalty for such a run-under would have had him re-indexed at 10.95
for the next round, which he was truly incapable of running. Mike
on the other hand fared well with the between round engine tuning change as he
ran it out the traps to bring up another 10.960 performance which was much
closer to his adjusted index. Then Mike went up against the
quickest car of the field in second round when he met Joe Dominguez in
his Competition Experimental Corvette running on a 9.15 adjusted index. How
many of us have run a faster car in this manner only to lose by lifting in fear
of a breakout or by breaking out in fear of lifting? In
AmericanDRAGCAR,
that does not happen! Mike hammered
out an incredible triple zero reaction time to lead Joe in the chase who himself
managed an awesome .011 reaction time in his own right. But
as the Chevy closed the gap at a 30 mph rate, Mike needed not think of lifting
and went across the finish line first in true racing fashion, at full
throttle and full speed with a 10.930 on his 10.95 adjusted index. This
earned Mike a trip into the next round but by running under index, he awarded
Joe with the round points. The final round saw yet another
true racing style finish as Mike Gardner and John Nahodil would
both be flat out across the stripe after the tree sent them down the
track. Mike brought his Falcon to
the line with a 10.90 re-adjusted index from his prior round run under against
John�s extremely consistent 14.40 index adjusted Mustang. John
took a 9 thousandths advantage at the tree with his .036 to Mike�s .045 and he
managed to stretch that out to a 4 hundredths lead at the finish line by running
a 14.392 to Mike�s 10.928. That was a race! I seem to be saying the same
thing after every race, but each time it seems to be true. This
race seemed to be the most exciting yet with such close, all out, no lifting,
drag racing action. With
outcomes having such excitement as these, it is astonishing that so few are
ready to bring their cars to the line in the AmericanDRAGCAR
Full Power Challenge
Series. John Nahodil
entered this race for $20 and after besting the 5 car field, he took home the
first ever AmericanDRAGCAR
issued Winner�s check numbered 13001 for a guaranteed payout of $200
along with the DragSport
Annihilator
trophy. As it was put to me by a racer
later in the night who asked me how the guaranteed payouts work after hearing of
John�s lucrative winnings, �That�s a money losing proposition,� he
repeatedly stated. Yes, he is right. It�s
a money losing proposition for me but the racing is damn good, to watch as well
as to compete in, and I will continue to put up the guaranteed purses for
as long as I can afford to do so because those racers who do love these all out
formats and support AmericanDRAGCAR
by continuing to endure the expenses of making the trip to the track only to
meet a 5 car field in the staging lanes deserve to race for payouts which still
reward them for their efforts. This is the only real drag
racing venue going in the country where a stock production street car with
little more than a high stall torque converter can compete in an all out drag
race against a purpose built drag car having everything from a $10,000 engine to
a delay box triggered trans-brake, and still be within 4 hundredths of one
another at the finish line. AmericanDRAGCAR is Drag Racing! Thanks to SIR Dragway and the fine crew for an excellent racing facility! |
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DRAGCAR
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