Two and out…
The first event of the PSCA’s 2009 season found First Round Racing in the house, looking for some precious round-wins in the hunt for a top ten finish this year in Ford Racing Mustang Maddness. A lofty goal, when you’re devoted to getting home before the sun goes down on race day, but I think we can achieve it.
In qualifying, I managed 11th out of 31, with a miserable .159 light on the 4/10ths pro tree. If I’d been as quick on the tree as I was at the 2008 finals (.075) I’d have been number 9 instead, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I was laddered against MM8, Brandon Giesler, and he’d broken an axle on his first hit on Saturday. That gave me a freebie in the first round, and a chance to try out the 75-shot jetting. In quals, I’d been running the 50-shot jets and activating at 2600, and ran a best of 15.043 at 92.82 mph. To get some breathing room against my 14.94 dial in eliminations, I debated whether or not to just hit the 50-shot sooner, or swap in the 75’s and leave it at 2600. Crew Chief Donut argued that I’d be better off with all the ET I could get, the better to fender race. He also suggested increasing bottle pressure…
In the end, I went with the 75’s, but had nothing but guesses based on split times (ranging from 14-flat to 14.71) as to what it would run. That first round broke bye didn’t clear up things too much, because a little bit of wheelspin killed my 60-foot and I ended up running 14.889 at 94.45 - good enough to have a tenth in the bag versus my dial, but no clue as to what it would do on a good run.
Second round, I was paired against Dan Marciano, defending class champ and #3 qualifier. Dialed in at 10.24, he’d be chasing me down at the stripe.
I did my part at the top end, running 14.64 at just 89.89, and hard on the brakes through the beams. I crossed just .0928 ahead of Dan, but it was a double breakout, and he absolutely smoked me on the tree, cutting a .055 light to my .210. The lesson here, I suppose, is that I have the fender racing part down OK, but I really need to work on my lights. Not a first-round exit, but there’s certainly room for improvement…