My day at the Jim Harrington $10k Footbrake race

[kazman]

Upgrades to the firebird weren't completed so the last minute I decided to run the ('07 Mustang GT auto) backup car. Packed the racing stuff in the trunk and pointed the pony south early Saturday morning. Cecil County's Jim Harrington $10K Footbrake race. Entering a street car in one of the meanest bracket races on the east coast isn't one of my best ideas but times you just have to suck it up and run what you have available.

Car settings: 20lbs front tires, 20lbs in the rear tires, off idle, shallow stage, launch in 2nd gear, go off 2nd amber, staging to the left of the grove in the right lane, trans temp 150, oil temp 150, water temp 200. Mods are cold air, MT drag radials, 3.73 gears, and a Dialbo 91 octane tune.

First time shot .039 RT 2.229 60' 11.988 1000' 14.239 ET 100 MPH

Second time shot changed front air pressure to 40lbs, rear to 30lbs. All else the same. -.053 RT, 2.259 60', 12.050 1000' 14.298 ET 100.61 MPH. Not happy with red and felt that I relly jumped the tree. I felt that the additonal .030 in 60" would put me good on the tree if I relax and just hit my spot. No more time shots so I decided to leave the car setup as is and just go for it.

Eliminations round 1:
Going against a 9.30 'cuda. I decided to dial hard, hit my spot on the tree, and run it out. I put a 14.31 on the car due to the worst weather. Me .007 RT, 2.237 60', 12.070 1000', 14.326 ET, 100.31 MPH. That fokes is a .023 package and guess what....not good enought. Cuda done ate up the pony. Evil cuda was .000 on the tree and 9.641 at 129.60 with a 9.63 dial. Holy smelly fish batmat that was a .011 package. Cuda's stripe and MOV were both .0126. UHAHAHAHHAHAH.

Decisions decisions, buy back or go home. After talking to my bracket coach I scrape up the $85 buy back and went back to the lanes. I was pulled out with my .007 reaction and set to the side for the bye run. Chatting in the lanes I got the anouncement that I had the best loseing package in round 1 and got a $100 bonus in cash. Right after that I was told someone with a .004 RT had the bye and I had to go back against who I originally had. Oh well no big deal for me but it must of rattled my opponent. He went a wopping -.061 red giving me the win. I was .025 on the tree, 2.243 60', 12.013 1000', 14.270 ET, 98.21 MPH. I did play the stripe on my opponents 10.96 dial and gave him some stripe scurbbing .01 off my dial. Car picked up a ton but that sometimes happens and doesn't follow a patern. I guessed that the car would return to normal on hte next run.

Elimination round 2:
Opponent is an old corvette with the original fuel injection. His dial is 12.21 so I leave the soft 14.31 on the car and will play the finish line. I'm out first with a .019 reaction, 2.265 60', 12.048 at 1000', 14.305 on the brakes giving my opponent more stripe. He was .037 on the green, 12.169 ET at 112.71. I fed him .0183 stripe and got the win by a .0363 MOV.

Elimination round 3:
Green S10 truck dialed 10.31. I'm decided to do the same thing as round 2, left the 14.31 dial and drove the strip. The young man must of though that I deep stageing the street car and promplty went in a lit both bulbs. Dirty tactict to quick tree an opponent. Ok, I can play nasty too. I sit on the line and don't put on any lights, leaving him fully staged on the line. I then get ready and go in shallow. My poor .039 light was better than his .053 and my lift off the gas at the finish line put me just ahead of the truck. Pony took .0057 of stripe and MOV by running dead on with an 8. Truck didn't take stripe and broke out with a 10.309.

Elimination round 4: Down to 25 cars. I've been racing in the right lane all day and pull in to the right. A pair of killers are directly in the right in front of me. Everyone behind me sees those guys and everyone pulls to the right. Left lane is empty. This means I have to run the guy in front of me. We flip and he wins the coin toss. He decides to move to the left lane. Nice of him to give me lane choice. Yea right. Opponent is Big Bucks Bob Malaney. Over the years I am like 0-8 againist this guy. I feel good and my mind set is that after sooooo many losses to him I should get a win. Bob is usually .020 on the tree and holds a ton which enables him to drive the finish. And I can tell ya the this guy is a killer on the finish line. I decided to leave the 14.31 on the car and just run it out. My skills on the top end are not even close to my opponents abilities. Bob dialed the red nova 9.76. Here we go folks and we do an nice frendly stage. I'm out first and it feels late. I don't even look over and run it out. I hear the Nove doing major peddleing and my heart sinks as we cross. As history states Bob was .025 tree wise and took me by .0244. Sadly I was .097 on the tree and wasn't able to make dial by running a 14.346 at 100.11. Sucks that I gave him an easy victory.

This ended my big money day. Overall I was please on my driving and the pony. I got a $100 bonus, $100 for the 4th round lost, a subscription for 1 year at 1320go.com, and some hand cleaner. Most drives had a double entries (with buy backs for both). Not a shabby day for a single entry with a street car.

[sweetbmxrider]

that was an awesome story. i never realized how exciting and how much goes into bracket racing! maybe one day i'll give it a go....

great racing btw!

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Good read, bracket racing actually makes drag racing fun.

FYI Elimination Round 1, second paragraph it says you have a 12 second et

[kazman]

Originally Posted by Anti_Rice_Guy

Good read, bracket racing actually makes drag racing fun.

FYI Elimination Round 1, second paragraph it says you have a 12 second et

Sorry fat fingers. Fixed post. I went 14.27 .....car didn't pick up 2 seconds. lol

[Tru2Chevy]

Nice racing kaz. Sounds like you made a decent day out of it. Expect to have the 'bird ready to go for the Nats in a month?

- Justin

[kazman]

Originally Posted by Tru2Chevy

Nice racing kaz. Sounds like you made a decent day out of it. Expect to have the 'bird ready to go for the Nats in a month?

- Justin

Hopefully lol. I should have it back very soon and hope to be able to do some testing this weekend. Plans are for me to set firebird up durning the friday night Nats event and then be ready on Saturday to run brackets and 12.0 index.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Originally Posted by kazman

Hopefully lol. I should have it back very soon and hope to be able to do some testing this weekend. Plans are for me to set firebird up durning the friday night Nats event and then be ready on Saturday to run brackets and 12.0 index.

I didn't think we had a friday event this year?

[kazman]

Originally Posted by Anti_Rice_Guy

I didn't think we had a friday event this year?

I was under the impression something was in the works for Friday nite. If not I'll show up anyway to get the car dialed to run 12's.

[Pampered-Z]

Nice job bud!

you coming up my way this weekend by chance?

We had a good crowd for the 5k race, lots of racers from Canada came down for the weekend by the PA guys put them on the trailer pretty quickly!

[kazman]

John, I'll be seeing ya on Saturday. I need to test the new gadget in the firebird.

[Pampered-Z]

Originally Posted by kazman

John, I'll be seeing ya on Saturday. I need to test the new gadget in the firebird.

Jim, not sure if you seen on the site that the time has changed.

Saturday - Gates Open at 10:00 AM - Time Shots at - 11:30 AM - Eliminations at 2:00 PM

With the car counts and adding the $1,000 street race we are going to start a bit earlier. 11:30 street will be in, then foot brake, then electronics.

[kazman]

Thanks John. I didn't know they were having the street class too. Gives me a double entry. I really need the seat time in the firebird. T&T for the $10k at Maple the following weekend.

[Pampered-Z]

Good job this weekend bud just missing the money round! Dang Tom is tuff! shows up at the gate for 1st round, pays and pulls directly into the lanes, slaps a time on the car then runs the fields for the big check! He is unreal at driving the big end!

(PS - time to put the bird as the avatar)

[79CamaroDiva]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

that was an awesome story. i never realized how exciting and how much goes into bracket racing! maybe one day i'll give it a go....

great racing btw!

Theres a lot of theory and thought that goes into bracket racing.. its something you need to try a lot, or do every weekend to really get an appreciation for it. Stuff like time of day for how the sun glares off the tree, to how much you roll into the stage beams, to figuring out when to give your opponent the finish line to "push him under" so he breaks out are things that matter.

[sweetbmxrider]

yup, seems like a ton of thought in it. maybe one day i'll give it a go.

[kazman]

Originally Posted by 79CamaroDiva

Theres a lot of theory and thought that goes into bracket racing.. its something you need to try a lot, or do every weekend to really get an appreciation for it. Stuff like time of day for how the sun glares off the tree, to how much you roll into the stage beams, to figuring out when to give your opponent the finish line to "push him under" so he breaks out are things that matter.

How about a .008 durning the day is a -.017 in the semi's at night. Mistake cost me $400 and a possible $1K. Lesson learned bring the launch rmps down 200 at night.

Thanks John, still working things out in the bird. I lost to Tom first round the the maple 10 grander on Saturday. We "split" the buyback. I have his $30 in my pocket as a good luck charm. Funniest thing of the night is when I congratulated the kid that I went red to. He was impressed on how the bird left the line and the top end mph. I was holding about a tenth all day and let it run out with the red to a low 11.8x at 115 mph. Not too shabby in the mountains of Numidia.

Here's something interisting. 3 out of the last 5 were buybacks. Me, Tom, and John in the Torino.

I will work on scanning a picture of the bird. I have a nice one from the 2005 Divison 1 finals.

[Pampered-Z]

Why it pays to buy back. ( I think every street buy back handed me more money then it cost! it was funny seeing everyones look when I handed them money back!)

Saturdays 2,500 winner was a buy back, the 5K winner was double entered, lost one and BB'd. And along with everyone in street 2 of the footbrakes semi's and one of the semi's in the 5K were BBs as well.

sweetbmxrider, all you need to do is hit the track, make some friends in the lanes and you'll learn allot. Kazman, 97TransAm and a bunch of us use to be at the track almost every weekend, we actually became friends in the lanes and started sharing information and advice with each other and those that wanted to learn. To be a good racer takes allot of practice, but I think knowledge is the key! From knowing how your car runs, tire pressures, weather, track surface all need to be taken into account before you even hit the water box. Of course once the tree drops, the chest match begins! Be warned drag racing is very addicting!

[sweetbmxrider]

yup, soon as i can get out there i will be going as often as possible.