Arizona Nationals

left to right  Dave  Jason  Kenny  

It's Friday morning at Firebird International Raceway  time for Q1 ( first round of qualifying ). Now the good news is we do have some data from just a few weeks ago when we tested here . That will make a lot easier to get close on the first qualifying pass unlike Pomona where we started from scratch . Jason and I look at the current weather conditions , compare it to our practice runs ,do a little calculating and head up for Q1. First pass of the, weekend not bad 8.872 . Remember we're looking to run 8.90 so we're only 3 hundredths to fast . We get one more qualifying run this afternoon ,then it's first round Saturday morning . I was lucky enough a few years ago to get introduced to Don Schumacher a few years ago and even played golf with him in Denver .For those of you who may not know the name ,Don is the owner of three top fuel dragsters and four funny cars . Now the good thing about that is they have a hospitality area were they feed all of the guest from the companies that sponsor them . I can text Don and he will give me hospitality area passes . So free lunch for Dave , Jason and I in the fuel pits . Nice . A pork chop ,rice and beans , salad and a brownie for lunch hits the spot . Time to get back and set the car up for Q2 . Now the temperature has gone up so we need to take some time out of the timer so we can make up for warmer temperature which slows the car down  . We head up for Q2 . Dave makes his run and the car slowed way down 8.972. A quick look at the Et slip  ( A paper slip thar gives you reaction time, 60', 330', 660', 1,000', 1,320' elapsed time, 1/8 mile and 1/4 mile  m.p.h. Your time slip also gives you the same information about your competitor as well as records which racer was the winner during eliminations ) and I see the 60ft time for the car fell way off thus the reason for the off pace 8.972 . This is a problem that happened at Pomona a few times , and now here .  We need to figure it out before tomorrow . We have some video that I've been taking of the tires since we started having this problem so I'm heading home to look it over and see what I can come up with . Here's a picture my good friend and photographer Dee Myers took of Dave , Jason  and  I . Don't forget to click on and check out some of the ads on the side of the blogs it helps pay the bills . Thanks for following    Kenny Speed