The Photographer
The Man !
The Test Dummy
I get worried when he starts staring !
After January's dismal outing, I knew something had to change...Kaleo laid out a great game plan and golly, what a difference. I cant thank him enough for his time and brain power.
Saturday, March 12th dawned bright, clear and cool...We were running late (what else is new?) but got to the track by 10:30....and as soon as we unloaded we heard over the PA that they were running a bit behind. I was happy about that because I had time to set up our pit area and visit the tower to pay homage to the powers that be....I even got a small bike ride in.
Our pit was visited by many friends and customers from the store. Once we were unloaded, it was time to fire it up. The warm-up went well except for a backfire that was loud. It sounded great and was very angry.
Run # 1 started super easy and boy, when I whacked the throttle for the burnout, I knew it was VAST improvement over last time. I was very confident when we back up...It was wonderful to know it was running right. Kaleo and I had worked out our signals and we looked like pros on the line. When I hit the throttle, It MOVED...and went straight as an arrow. I had to lift early because it was supposed to an "easy" run. We Ran10.90 @ 84.50 mph....The incremental time were very good tho.
Run # 2 started easy again...everything went perfect again and ran it out further to a 9.87 @ 110.76...The incremental times were really good...My 60 ft time was my best (1.39). It really felt good !!
Run # 3 was a little less impressive only because we didnt charge the battery between runs. The MSD sucks up a lot of battery power. I will have to charge the battery between every run and possibly add a 2nd battery. I raised the rpm as I staged and it slowed down in the 60 ft time (1.475) and it felt a little sluggish. I shifted and it didn't get better and then just past half track, it nosed over and I got off the throttle to 9.72 @ 123.34 mph....It blubbered thru the shutoff and died as I round the corner leaving the track.
When we got back in the pits, We tried starting and it wasn't trying hard to run. Kaleo just stared at the engine.. He was very deep in thought. He then started to giggle and said "Hook up the battery charger". After 5 minutes, we tried again and it lit right off and sounded great. Problem Solved, Crisis Averted, World Saved.
I spent the next hour chasing down drivers to sign my license and got Randy, the track manager to sign it as well. He mentioned that we looked so much better than last time out and was very impressed at our turnaround. That really made my day.
As we were loading up, Kaleo says "...and that was a MILD TUNE UP...next time we turn up the wick....."
I can hardly wait !!!.. Not sure when we will get out again..Hopefully soon...
Thank You again to Kaleo whose knowledge, savvy and great sense of humor really turned it around for me. Thank You also to Dawn for her Friendship, enthusiasm, hard work, wonderful catering, monitoring my blood sugar and some fantastic photographs...amazing
Thanks also to everyone at The Strip at LVMS, who were incredibly helpful and shared my excitement.
Last but not least, Thank You to Terry Souza & Jon Phlegar for signing my paperwork and getting me halfway to my dream of hold a Division 7 competition license.
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