I guess we'll have to get them in Vegas

My 1973 Vega from 1986 It ran mid 9's at 140Mph

Today is the last day of our four races in three weeks start to the season . I guess I should start by telling you how today went , Not so good is the answer . The weather was a tad better today so I dialed 7.410 and since I was so close to going red yesterday I added .005 to my delay box ("Delay Box" is a common slang term used in drag racing to describe an on-board timer which is a Transmission Brake Delay Timer. A transbrake forces the race car to remain stationary at the starting line, in gear, regardless of how much engine power is applied. When the yellow bulb on the tree comes on you let go of the button that operates the transbrake to start the race.The delay box then keeps the transbrake engaged and won't let the car move until the green light comes on .The box is adjustable to thousands of a second . If your wandering why the detailed explanation of the delay box it's because the .005 I put in box was not quite enough . I needed double that because that's how much I went red by .Had I put .010 in it would have been a perfect light . Instead it was red ( and that sucks ) . You know that's what makes drag racing so hard . In other forms of racing if you mess up there's another lap or hundred to make up for it . Drag racing it's mano a mano  you lose you go home . You win you move on . Most races take 5 to 7 rounds to win depending how many car are in your class , I thinks that's it for tonight  I'm going to take a few days off from the blog so I can get caught up with my real jobs . I think the next blog I'll grade us on how we did so far and what we're going to change to make us better in Vegas ,which by the way is going to be our next race the last two weeks of MARCH .We may do some testing before that if things work out right . Again don't forget to check out the ads that run along side the blog . It's free to click on them so check them out . Also don;t be afraid to join the blog it's also free  . I leave you with picture of my first real race car from 1986 It's my 1973 Vega Super Gas car  Thanks Kenny Speed                                                                                                                     The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand

Firebird day 2 & 3 with video of the Mustang

It"s Saturday night so I'm a day behind . I'm going to try and catch up in tonight's  blog . Friday is first round of eliminations for race one this weekend and after a good day qualifying Thursday , Friday didn't go so well . Dave  had his first round in the morning and left the starting line a little early and got the big red light by 8 thousands of  second . But that's the kind of racing we do . Most of the time it's hundreds or thousands of a second that decide if you win or put it in the trailer . My first round came at about noon and having run 7.44 twice in qualifying the day before in vary similar weather conditions I felt we couldn't go faster than 7.43 so that's what I dialed in at ( "Dial-In

Car "A" has been timed at 17.78, 17.74 and 17.76 seconds for the quarter-mile, and the driver feels that a "dial-in" (or guessed time during a race) of 17.75 is appropriate. Meanwhile, the driver of car "B" has recorded elapsed times of 15.27, 15.22 and 15.26 on the same track and he has opted for a "dial-in" of 15.25. Accordingly, car "A" will get a 2.5 second headstart over car "B" when the "Christmas Tree" counts down to each car's starting green lights. ) So  I leave the starting line with a .015 reaction time to my opponents .035 light which gives me a .20 advantage ,( huge in the racing we do ) get to the top end , don't see the other car so I lean on the brakes to keep from  going under my 7.43 dial in . I think I won , then I get the bad news . I ran 7.403 and my dial in  was  7.430  so that's .027 under my  dail  in so I lose because I broke out (When a  driver go quicker than his/her predetermined "dial-in" it is a "break-out"  In the case of both vehicles making their runs under their dial-ins, the win goes to the driver who breaks out the least.) So not such a good start to my come but that's racing . Sometimes you do  everything right and still lose . That's why they call it Drag Racing  . Sometimes it's racing and sometimes its a Drag . Now we're done with race one and it's Saturday and on with race two . We both get two qualifying today and eliminations start Sunday morning . Now Dave's dragster has still been all over the place in 60 feet and yesterday before Q2 we added 30 pounds to the weight box in the front of the car in an effort to keep the front from popping up on a good tracks because you want the car to move forward not upward . Upward is wasted motion and if it goes up on one run and drives straight out on the next it will change the 60ft times . We also installed a MSD 2 step to control the starting line rpm . The problem here is we only get a few runs to figure it out . It's 10am as we head up for Q1 and we take our best guess .  Not so good 8.979  we're way to slow . We only  have one more pass to get this thing figured out .  We head back to prep my car for Q1 . IT's just past noon everything is ready so we head on up . We should run pretty close to yesterdays time the weather is unchanged the the track conditions are still good . I do my burn out back up and stage the car , Sweet .004 on the reaction timer and a 7.438 on the score board not bad for an old guy . Now time to get work on Dave's only as usual NHRA has screwed us again and instead of Q for Dave's car it's round one , not good . We have a run in our log book from yesterday that the weather is pretty much the same as it is now and we ran 8.899 so we're going to use that setting and hope we're close . Well that went like crap 8.989 way to slow and a not so great .065 light and we're fist round runner up two days in a row. That sucks .With the new setup in the car we're going need a few laps  to figure this thing out . Not getting that second run today really messed us up . I decided to skip Q2 since I don't think we can learn anything . It's hotter out and we're going to slow down so sense in beating on my car . So I'm out guys . Thanks again Kenny Speed 

A good day at the track

Now That's A Burnout  

Well today made up for yesterdays debacle . I'm worn out so tonight's blog won't be long . We made two qualifying  runs with both cars today . First Dave's car , pass number one goes 8.954 a little to slow after another poor 60ft time . Q2 8.899 almost perfect and the 60ft time back to where it should be . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  Told ya I was tired , fell asleep while writing . We did come up with a idea of whats going on and maybe how to fix . We added 25lbs to the weight box in the front of his car . I'll let you know tomorrow if that helps and why it helped . Next , my car Q1 a little after noon ,right lane , 025 reaction time ( pretty darn good ) after a year long layoff  . Car goes right down Broadway 7.445  at 185.24 mph . Q2  goes off about 4:30 about an hour behind schedule  . I decided to try the left lane to see if I could see the tree over the hood scoop . Good news I can see just fine . What did I see ? I saw I got drilled on the tree (loss of concentration ) but we did run 7.446 again so that's real good . Two pair after my run we had a crash ( drivers ok ) but the crash along with the fact that they are already running late  cancelled Q3 for the both of us. Eliminations start at 8am with Dave's car going up at about 8:45 and my first round at about 11am . I'm done Good night all . Once again thanks for the great photos from my buddy Dee Myers . Kenny Speed

Sweet Lanuch

I guess that's why they call it test day

It was a test day alright . Mostly of what was my patience . Originally I wasn't going to test today but I'm sure glade I did. Not much went right with my car today To start with we lost the bolts for the wheelie bars and spent thirty minutes looking before we found them . Then it was time to half way tear the car apart so we could get though tech inspection , and he barely looked at it .It's one of those you don't tear it apart before go to tech,and they make you do it when you get there and that's a pain in the ass . Or there's what we did . When we get back to the pits from tech Dave's  car ready so we make a run and we're way to fast 8.82  on a 8.90 index . I'll let Jason take responsibility for that since he made the call on the Throttle Stop . The good new is as long as the car goes  A  to B with no problems  it"s never a waste because we have that information to use . Mean while on my car the front end doesn't want to fit properly since the doors were worked on so we have to fix that and then we have to all the new safety equipment to adjusted so it fits me once I'm in the car. After taking the seat in and out several times and me crawling in and out several times we got everything to fit . It's now almost 3pm . We head up to the lanes and with not much of wait its our turn . I fire it up and head to the water box to do my burn out . Every thing goes good untill I stage the car and bring up the rpms . For some reason the starter decides to make me wait for another car to run they other lane against me . Only problem , he's standing where I can't see him so he can't  get my attention  .  I've got my car staged gas pedal on the floor and he's not starting the tree . About the time  I let off the gas he starts the tree . So I hammer the throttle and run it on down at 7.60ET 185mph . I run a way off pace 1.36  60ft  time ( should be 1.12 or better ) so basically a wasted run . Now for the so good news , we still don't have brakes that work properly . Thank God for the parachute cause I wasn't stopping without it. In fact I ran off the end of the track on that run so back to the pitts to fix them .As we arrive back to our pit  we here they're closing the lanes in 10 minutes so we're going to take Dave's car  up . I take a look at the numbers and set the stop and Dave heads up and  runs 8.874 so at least were getting close and we get a couple of runs tomorrow to get it on the number . We'll be here early tomorrow and try to find some brakes so my car will stop . Thanks for checking in Kenny Speed 

Time to go racing

Well , It's my turn . Wednesday is open test day before this weeks NHRA  Division 7 and Regional race at Firebird Int Raceway . The Division 7 race is Thur-Fri and the Regional Sat-Sun . Dave will be racing Super Comp and I'll be in Top Sportsman . Bryan was unable to repair his motor in time . If you want to see some good racing at a reasonable price this weekend is a great time to come out and watch . You can find information at    http://www.firebirdraceway.com/     . So hopefully this is where the blog comes in handy . Everyone always wants to know when and where I'm racing so they can come and watch . Here's your chance . Tickets are $30 a day  Gates open at 8am all four days.                      See Ya At The Races      Kenny Speed

Good morning to all . Last night I spent some time on the computer looking at video and talking to Darryl from Darryl Smith Race Cars and Dee Myers called  Don from Don Ness Race Cars so we could get some ideas of what is causing the inconsistent  60ft times in Dave's dragster . We all came up with a possible cause and solution . I won't bore with all the details but basically we're  going to drop the air pressure in the rear slicks another 1/2 pound and see what happens . So I head to the track with first round of competition  looming and not sure where we're at with the race car . We warm  the car up and do our usual pre-race routine . About 10Am  we get the call first round  Super Comp to the lanes . I decide to sit back and wait so we can run near the end of the pack . What I'm waiting for is to try and allow the air temp and humidity to get close to where it was yesterday when we ran . The only problem with that is I wasn't the only one with that idea . All the heavy hitters from K&N and Lucas oil products were also waiting . To give you some back round , since last year at Vegas we have taken out three K & N cars and two Lucas Cars . Who do we draw first round ? Last years division seven ( our division by the way ) champ in one of the K & N cars . They line up and Dave goes .000 on the reaction time ( perfect light ) and with a big head start is able to hit the brakes to keep from breaking out . (Should a driver go quicker than his/her predetermined "dial-in" it is a "break-out ) He takes a 021close win light by .0022 or about 8 inches , almost to much brake pedal . A look at the ET slip 1.202 in 60 ft so that's new before it was either 1.18  or 1.24 . changing the air pressure changed the 60 ft times now lets see it stays consistent . Now it's hurry up and wait cause we don't run until the end of the day , Or not as Jason and I get back to the trailer I notice the front tires on the dragster are turned in different directions , I guess just as Dave was slowing down from making the run the front steering  inner tie rod ripped out  the steering rack  . Thank God it didn't happen going down the track it could have been nasty . Now we have a real problem . We have maybe three hours to find parts and get this thing fixed  . First thing is to get the front wing and body panels off the car so we can get to the broken part . It's only been about thirty minuets and we have broken parts in hand and head up to manufactures midway hoping someone has what we need  ,but no such luck . Next stop Tom Yancer Race Cars  in Chandler  . Dave and I jump in his car and run over to Tom's shop . Lucky thing Tom is working on his car getting  it ready for next weekend so he's there . Tom doesn't have a new rack but has a used one . Only problem is our tie rods  won't work on his rack so Tom was nice enough to take time away from his car to fabricate some new ones for us .It's now about two thirty when we arrive back at the track . It takes us about forty five minutes to get the parts back on the car and reset the wheel alignment . Just in time for the call for second round . First round is random pairing , so basically everyone pulls into the lanes and you run who ever is along side of you . All rounds after that are done on a ladder where you have pre-determined opponents . Whats the chances, we are lined up with one of the Lucas cars . They line them up and once again Dave has the starting line advantage with a very nice .015 lite and wins on the brakes again .60 foot time slowed a bit to 1.21 so maybe we still have a bit of a problem but we got the win. Now only 20 minutes and we're heading back up for round three and unfortunately Dave leaves a little early and sees the the big red light ad  to add insult to injury 60 foot time 1.23 so we stall have that problem to deal with before next weekend .The picture is of my car . It's late and I'm done Good night everyone  . Don't forget click on the ads along side or under the blogs . Thanks Kenny Speed

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