First Round Racing

Just two races left in the season, and amazingly I find myself in possession of third in the points chase. The last regular 2009 points race in Vegas turned out to be an interesting one - #2 qualifier, made it to the semifinals for the first time, and got to hang out with some old friends from Bothwell Motorsports.

(more…)

Please excuse the shitly formatting…

The third PSCA race of the season was a mixed bag - my best qualifying performance so far (sixth out of 25) and two round wins, but both were thanks to broke byes rather than any particular skill or effort on my part. Third round was the end of the road, up against #3 Kirk Bouchard.

(more…)

This is what it looks like when you put a bullet in your own brain at the dragstrip…

The good news is that I didn’t take myself out until the third round at the second PSCA event of the ‘09 season, and that I seem to have my reaction times figured out. After trying to intentionally redlight in the third qualifying session by going deep, bumping a little farther in, then giving it one more nudge for good measure, I pulled a -.030. In eliminations, going deep plus a single bump resulted in a .073, a .089, and a .032, which seems like about as much as I can expect considering I’m using both the foot brake and the parking brake to hold the car against the converter.

I also discovered that just bringing in the nitrous 400 or so RPM earlier is more than enough to give me three or so tenths cushion, so I won’t be on the brakes through the traps in qualifying any more. Going from a best of 15.825 in quals (resulting in a 15.72 index), I got a no-show single in the first round and ran it out to a 15.379 - almost a half-second quicker. Against Carl Gagnon’s much-quicker 3.8 in round 2, it worked out OK - On the brakes hard through the traps, I ran a 15.824 and still crossed first by .338.

Third round, it bit me in the ass. Taking nothing away from Dan Hale as a driver, I had him covered. I was a hundredth quicker at the tree, and by the 1000-foot mark I was wondering why he wasn’t catching me. I was hard on the brakes again in the traps, but I misjudged it and broke out with a 15.702-on-15.72, while still three and a half tenths ahead of him. Live by the sandbag, die by the sandbag, I suppose…

Well, lesson learned. I got three rounds worth of points, made it to the quarter finals, and worked out a bunch of stuff that I’ve been messing around with since the end of last year, so hopefully I’ll be able to do a little better next month in Fontana.

Got a little love from KJ at 5.0 in his blog…

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.

(more…)