It was a loooooooooooooooong day last Saturday. Angleton Raceway held their 1st annual “Index Shoot-out” race. The gates opened at 10 AM, and we rolled up around 10:30 so as to get a decent place in the pits. The temp was already in the 90’s at that time. We got the car off the trailer, set up some shade, and prepared to run a couple of time trials prior to the first qualifying round scheduled for 1PM….. 1 PM came and went, with folks still prepping the track….. 2 PM came and went, and the ‘Stang never cranked.

Finally, almost 3 PM, they opened the track for some T&T, but because of the track conditions (over 140 deg.F), they delayed the 1st qualifier until 5:30. We made a couple of passes, to try to dial the car BACK to a 7.0, but it was pointless because the conditions would drastically change by the time we would race. Nevertheless, I was comatose at the tree, and couldn’t seem to get the car dialed in. Then they delayed the 1st qualifier AGAIN…6:30PM.

The 1st qualifier finally happened around 7PM, and afterwards I found myself at the bottom of the ladder bracket, with a terrible reaction time to boot. The second qualifier came and went, & after breaking out miserably both times, I was next to dead last in the field of 8 racers in the 7.0 class.
The ladder works like this: The best time races the worst time, the next best time races the next to worst time, etc.etc….So with that I found my “too fast of a car & too slow of a reaction time” paired up against Mike Denton, who’s been running 7.02’s & 7.03’s all nite…. Just great….. I figured I’d be home in the pool by 8:30, right??? WRONG! I cut a terrific light in the first round, and Denton broke out trying to catch my 7.07 run! As I patted the gas a little, I think that I figured out what I needed to do to win this thing! Next round, I pulled the same trick on Wally Scott & his 7.02 Chevelle. After that came Mike Kenemore and his flamin’ pony, only he was playing the same game that I was. He expected me to run it out the back door, but I lifted 50’ before the lights and surprised him. We were in the finals! How the Hell did we get here? And what time is it? Its now 12:30AM.....very, very, very long day, folks.

Chris Hurta & I were matched up pretty even in the final round, with both of us having our own bag of tricks, but he tree’ed me on the launch, & I couldn’t make it up without breaking out.

Oh well, I runner’d up. The neat thing is Chris & I agreed to split the $600 pot prior to the final round, so the last pass was just for braggin’ rights anyway. Chris is a good guy. Hell, they’re all good guys. Veronica & I got our picture taken, broke camp, loaded the car, and headed for home about 1AM. That 1st beer was a good one. It had been a
long, looooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnng day.


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Last Friday nite we ran the car at Angleton Raceway. Actually, we were trying to “slow it down” a little in preparation of running an index race on June 10th. The car’s a little too quick for a 7.0, but a little too slow for a 6.20, so we were doing a little bit of shift lite and timing adjustments to get to the 7.0. Everything we did seemed to make the car go quicker instead of slower! Later in the evening , I was asked to get in a bracket jackpot race, so we “donated” the $10 entry fee. I actually won the first round, and when they called us to the lanes for round 2, we checked the air in the tires and got in line. I did a decent burnout, and prepared to stage. As I lit the 1st stage bulb, Terry Coldwater came running up and waved me off, saying “You’ve got a flat tire!”. I replied, “You gotta be sh************ting me!” We’ve battled cracked blocks, broken axles, blown up transmissions, and now this: A %#$@(*&!^@# FLAT TIRE!!! WHY ME??!!??

I sent off for some new MT drag tubes, and B’port Tire is installing them this morning .
But even bigger news is that our lil’ pony is now loaded for bear…. That’s right, Memorial Day was spent completing the plumbing on the nitrous system, and we’re now ready to pull the trigger on it. Veronica leaves for Canada in the morning, so I’ll probably spend the evening w/her tonite. If the weather holds, I’ll make a couple of “giggle gas” runs tomorrow in Angleton. Who knows, we might have to “slow it down” to get to a 6.20!


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A friend of mine called me while I was in NY last week and left a message wishing me a happy birthday. Joe Paul Bullard grew up with me. We went to sunday school together as kids, went to high school together, and as grown-ups, we worked together at Dow, coached little league together, and lo & behold, now we see each other at the race track.

You see, Joe was the first guy I ever met....literally. I've known him all my life....literally. My mom & his mom shared a semi-private room together when we were born. I believe he's 4 minutes older than I am.

Damn, he sure is gettin' old!

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We just returned from taking a few days off to visit our daughter in NY, NY.
We made the trip to watch her graduate with her masters degree in Computer Graphics & Design from Parsons School of Design, & Veronica & I are EXTREMELY proud of her.

Beth toured us allllllll over New York, & we covered quite a bit of ground in 4 days. Our main mode of transportation was the subway, but we walked our butts off (that’s why you see very few fat people there). We visited the Metropolitan Art Museum, Grand Central Station, "Ground Zero", Times Square, Broadway, Geenwich Village, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, China Town, & Soho. We saw everything from an Aircraft carrier to a fist-fight between a door man & a delivery guy. We saw a really cool Broadway Production, “Mama Mia”. Parts of New York are really cool, & some parts are just down right nasty. Beer was expensive, and Miller Lite was a rare commodity. I like crowds, but there was somewhere in the neighborhood of a trillion gazillion people that exceeded my comfort zone. All in all, I had a great time, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

On the flight back Veronica & I sat next to and visited with a very nice lady who lived in Houston AND New York. She said her husband worked in NY and she worked in Houston. Her name was Nancy Holland and she was a reporter for the Channel 11 News.
Ever hear of her?

When I got home, I got an ice cold Miller Lite out of the shop fridge, fired up the ‘Stang, and walked around bare-footed in the yard for a while………Wide open spaces – don’t take them for granted.


One more thing - I turned 50 while I was up there.

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FRIDAY NITE RESULTS:

Pass #1: 6.92 @ 100.24

Pass #2: 6.88 @ 100.32

Pass #3: 6.95 @ 100.20

Pass #4: 6.99 @ 98.74 I hit a *#@&%**!loose piece of asphalt the size of 1/2 a brick on the big end - what a drag. The track needs some work!

Pass #5: 6.89 @ 97.28 I entered a $500 bracket jackpot wit a 6.90 dial-in. Actual ET was a 6.8996. I broke out by .0004 seconds (that's 4 TEN THOUSANDTHS of a second)-- what a drag. Maybe that's why they call it "Drag" Racing

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