09/16/2026
First off sorry for not posting Day1 and Day 2 earlier. We have had a few self-induced issues and mother nature is winning the battle today.
So far we sit second in our class (Ultimate Iron)!!!!!
Day 0 was a one hit try with the rain ending our day (most people didn't even get a single pass).
Day 1 was our first hit on the new converter rear gear (3,25 to a 3.70) and completely new wiring job with a PDM. Well the converter and gear made her a little happy down low and the car went hard into a wheelie with the Holley EFI system pulling timing to set the car back down (just about the spot where the track didn't have enough grip for the power!! so wheelie to spin then the car didn't shift (yes wiring and programing were not on the same page) but David Armentrout wheeled it on down the tarck to a 7.436 @ 194.35. back in the pits we go the car ready for a second all run session. We delt with a battery charger issue, a power window issue, a Pro-Jack pump issue, and probably 10 other little things that we needed to address. By the way we spent about 2 hours on the window and the dang thing busted again on Day 2!!!! Well, we waited for the all run session to try again and get this car back to its normal 6.70's or faster. We went to back out of the pits and there was no reverse????? Well previously we had an issue where we had the tune selector switch with a zip tie so it couldn't fall out, well the key had turned itself back and the street tune that I had in the car was now replaced with a race tune!!! the issue is I had been a very bad tuner and not saved the final copy of my street tune for use with the PDM. So when I reloaded the street tune it had the output for reverse on the wrong Holley Pin and so no reverse. Well as it would be that took 10-15 minutes to figure out and correct, this put us way back in the second run order. As the track temperature dropped and more cars went down the surface got less and less radial friendly. The Hot Rod Magazine crew did drag the track right before we ran, but about 60ft out there wasn't enough track for the tune I had in the car. it spun the Mickey Thompson Tires & Wheels 315's a little hard and Davd aborted the run. So that placed us second in our class on to Day 2.
The Day 1 drive wasn't terrible. The Wicked Performance & Auto Repair TH400 Lockup transmission ran down the road never seeing any temperature about 160!!! That new converter drove great and so far has performed great (need more passes to show its potential). The engine never exceeded 190 and the oil temp never over 195!!! The list of issues on the road was long. First off we lost our Car play screen that links to David’s phone so I can know where to turn!!!! And our head set will allow David to talk to me but I cannot talk to him (bad mic we think) (and yes David had to say, it has got to be kill me not being able to talk LOL). The new PDM required a few tweaks on a few “fuse” parameters to get things to work correctly at temperature and voltage on long drives. Had NO head lights for a while untill we stopped and found I had pulled a few wires out looking for the issue with the trans brake!!!!!! (opps) We had one rear taillight that refused to stay grounded in its home (cool aftermarket components that don’t always fit real good)!!! The Illinois DOT decided they didn’t like our front spoiler and gave us a 8 in drop off from a nice, paved surface to a grounded up asphalt surface that had the surface texture of a cheese grater, the landing, although gracefully executed by myself at about 55mph was a little rough on the front chin spoiler (by the way a nice sign showing there was a small cliff we were about to encounter would have been nice, you know a warning that in a 60 mph zone you were about to encounter a small cliff). The next issue was someone (Me) may have left a spark plug wire a little too close to one of the 900 plus degree header tubes. Well the header did not play well with the spark plug wire. One down but she still made the trip spitting and popping a little. Just for everyone’s information an MSD 600 is hot enough to “glitch” any kind of camera system when it is discharging where it is not supposed to. So with a brunt wire our side and rear video system (yes that is our rearview and side mirrors) would randomly switch from all view to one camera. Well we made it safe and sound in the hotel to end Day 1.
Day 2 after a very restful 6 hours of sleep (this is a very long sleep on Dragweek) we performed normal valve lash and replaced the burnt wire and spark plugs, pulling an axle for rain driving all while watching the rain fall and fall and fall. Well about the time we are getting things completed David finds out some low life POS has broken into his work van back in WV and stollen his equipment for finishing floors!!!!!!! If you don’t know from this dissertation Drag Week is already stressful enough and knowing everything you need to make a living was just stollen can make your day a little worse. (may the cops find this person and recover the equipment!!!!, in the meantime David had to purchase all new equipment so when he returns he can work, since he has a job to do MONDAY!!) Finally after about 2 inches of rain Hot Rod Called the day and we went to the track to take the required pictures and get directions for the drive today. From the Hotel to the track we ran out of gas (yes I was driving and we do have a gauge, but we try to roll in to the track on fumes to reduce weight, and yes today that was not needed, so shame on me). We got fuel out of the trailer and filled the tank up, only one small problem, somewhere along the way our fuel had become about 50% water. For those who don’t know engines don’t run well on water even when mixed with gasoline. Well, we limped the car to the track and spent the next 1 ½ hours draining, cleaning, and replacing fuel. On the road again we had to tweak the street tune as the water had messed with the learn tables something bad, and since we had the regulator apart to clean it out it was off a little bit. But over all that was minor and we ran again a flawless drive through the check points and to the hotel.
I hope you enjoy the recap and let us know if you do.
Day 3 may bring rain or racing only God knows at this time.
Wish us luck and pray for safety for all competitors.
