The first round of Mustang Maddness qualifying on Saturday was a total mess - when I got to the ready line, Duane Cress, Scott Dool, and Dan Marciano all had their cars parked off to the side. It seemed like half the class broke before taking the beams. When I picked up my timeslip with an .063 reaction, it was the class-leader. At least until Dan got his re-run and smoked me with a .010, that is…

While Duane’s problem was an easily-remedied minor oil leak from a blown-out dipstick, Scott had sheared most of the teeth off of his distributor. Fortunately, Dan had a brand-new spare in his trailer and the swap was quickly accomplished, getting Scott back into action for Round 2 of quals.

After getting pushed down the ranks a bit in Q2, I decided to swing for the fences on my last hit and went in extra deep, pulling off a .002 in the process and earning second, behind Dan’s perfect light in Q2. Eliminations on Sunday went better than they should have. First round I drew Brett Nicholl again, and this time I just about lost on a bonehead move. At half track, watching him come up in my side mirror, I let off the gas unintentionally and the car upshifted into third, then took two agonizing seconds to drop back down when I mashed the pedal again. Fortunately for me, Brett broke out, but I won a round I really didn’t deserve and got to stay in it.

Round 2 against Steven Buck was much better for me; as close to a ‘correct’ pass as I feel like I’ve done all year. The car was starting to show signs of falling off a bit in the heat, though.

Third round was the semis, and I got paired with Paul Wolfe to see who would get to run against Dan, who had a bye into the finals. My luck had run out, though, and the car wouldn’t run the number so my day was over.

Meanwhile, back in the pits, the desert winds had come up and made a mess of the motorcycle guys’ popups…

Besides the #2 in quals and the good showing in eliminations (netting $25 in cash, my first PSCA payout!), I also got to hang out with my friends from Bothwell Motorsports, who were getting their new driver Rick Snavely some seat time in their Outlaw 10.5 car, working up for SCSN next month:

Just one race left…

A highlight of the weekend was getting to know everybody in the class better, and experiencing the wonder of Scott Dool’s magnificent meat…

He even trusted me to handle it myself!

As I mentioned, once again I was the beneficiary of a first-round broke bye - Haven’t actually had to race anyone so far this year to get into round 2. This time I got another freebie in the second round when the four-eyed ‘vert I was supposed to race got all the way to the front of staging, then wouldn’t fire. True to form, I took myself out of competition with a double-breakout loss in the quarter-finals. The lesson here is that when I’m up against a much faster car, I should be on the brakes earlier and harder, and make the other guy overshoot.

Now, let’s go to the instant replay from the “oh shit it’s Kirk!”cam:

And people ask me why I wear a helmet in a 15-second car…

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.

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…