Better late then never!
What a weekend! Friday came and I had a million things to get done and for once the car was loaded up and John was actually ready to leave on time. Guess who was running late! John got the tranny fixed in the truck and we are hoping it stays together for the trip. Will it stay together? Who knows and we say "Fuck It" and Eric gave it hell. Eric kept a good pace most of the way and just before Washington D.C. we came across a monstrous Mad Max looking tow rig heading down the highway, the Showdown Racing rig. Bill gave us a toot of his monstrous air horns as we freight trained by him. Ourselves and the Showdown crew arrive at the eery entrance to MIR around 1:30am only to pull in behind Daryl Hudson who is parked outside the gates. A mini pre-race DSM Racer reounion begins and the beer starts flowing, until 5am. UGH.
Saturday morning comes early. The sound of fart cannons and diesel trucks brings an end to our short lived shut eye. We find our pit spot and start to get situated for Saturdays qualifying activities. The heat and humidity starts setting in later in the morning, it's going to be a hot sticky miserable weekend.
Round 1 brings an excellent start for the Shearer Fab sponsored cars of Daryl Hudson and Bill Lowe and an equally impressive start for the Shep Racing team. Bill took the top spot with a 9.3@158mph with Daryl Hudson hot on Bill's heels with a 9.427@148mph. We decided to leave the bottle out of the Shep Racing Talon for the first round to make sure everything was still in good working order from the Shootout. Right off the trailer John put up the number, an 8.07@178mph, to put us in the top spot.
Round 2 of qualifying came and we decided to sit this one out, but some excellent numbers were posted from some fellow racers. Gary Gardella came to the line and knocked us off the top spot with an impressive 7.86@186mph, amazing peformance for the weather! Chris Rado in his fresh Scion Tc has continually been getting faster and layed down an impressive 8.1@175. Daryl Hudson and Bill Lowe also decided to sit this round out.
Round 3 comes and we want that #1 spot back. The nitrous went back in the car to see what we've been missing out on the last few races. The lights drop and the car leaves like it's on a mission and trips the 60' beams sideways "Drifter D" style in 1.25 seconds. John is driving his ass off and the timing lights reveal a 7.854@182.28. A new personal best for John and puts us back in the number 1 spot! We're excited, the crowds excited, other teams are excited, everyone is happy! Jason Hunt is up next in the team CSI Matco Tools, GM sponsored Cobalt, an absolutely wicked machine. The time comes to fire up the car and it won't start. Everyone has there fingers crossed as they keep cranking away and it's not looking to promising. Seconds before they get time out the beast fires and is ready to make a pass. First round did not go to well for the team so this round can only be better, as long as the car stays running. They stage the car and it motors away, like a pissed off freight train, as the lights drop. 7.631@194.60, god damn that thing is fast!
Sunday comes and Round 1 brings us a bye run. And what I saw that round, my eyes couldn't believe. John actually took it easy going down the track, 13.7@101! Hunt had a bye run as well, Gardella defeated Jimmy Jones, and Rado defeated himself as he red lit on a bye run. Bill Lowe and Daryl Hudson both advanced to the next round. Daryl ran another 9.4, unfortuneately he wounded a motor and would be finished for the weekend.
Round 2 eliminations comes and the Shep team is paired up against Gardella. Multiple times we've lined up against Gary and have yet to beat him in a side by side race. Gardella's Cobalt is fast, consistent, and a tough competitor. Needless to say we're excited to run Gary, as the car is running good , and nervous at the same time. We rush to get the car through the water box and the tires cleaned off to get John up to the beams in a timely fashion. John gets the car in pre-stage as Gary is creeping ino the beams. Both cars get in pre-stage, John bumps all the way in and Gary looks like he dragged the brake a little hard as his Cobalt lurches into the second bulb. The lights drop and both cars leave with a quickness. John looks like he is out front and is pulling away, the car drifting all over the track like it's on an ice rink. We're jumping around like bunch of little schoolgirls at the starting line. The boards light up with the win light on our side, hot damn! 7.812@185. to Gary's 8.08@185. Damn we're happy! Another personal best for the weekend, and new 4 cylinder AWD record, and a win against gary. Damn we're happy! Bill Lowe took the win to advance to the finals in Pro/4 running another mid nine second pass, 9.5@158mph passing his competition with ease. This pairs him up with #2 qualifier Harry Sohn in the finals.
Final Round comes and we have to run Jason Hunt in the finals. We're excited, we've had an exceptional weekend and regardless of the outcome of this race we're going home happy. It would be nice to beat the Jason and the CSI Cobalt though. The time comes and both cars are creeping into the beams at an equal pace. Both lanes light the second bulb at the same time and the bulbs drop. Hunt leaves the line without flaw while John got caught up in the rapid rate of the staging process and bogged the car slightly. Hunt freight trains to a 7.69@195mph. Everytime I'm amazed by watching this car go down the back half of the track, it accelerates like few other vehicles I've seen. John still ran a very quick 8.25@185 despite the launch, but it wasn't enough to hang with Hunt's Cobalt. Bill Lowe had to race hary Sohn's low nine second Del Sol in the finals. Both cars had less than stellar passes and was like watching two gimps, each missing a leg, race to the finish line. Bill broke an axle right off the line and had a hairy ride down the track. Everytime the car came in boost it would shoot toward the wall, Bill had his hands full keeping the car in check and going where it was supposed to go. Featheringthe throttle and drivinge the car like a mad man, Bill motored by Harry who had problems further down the track. 11.06@130 to a 11.75@100. A big congrats to Bill for the win and for taking home the J&E Pistons prize money for the lowest E.T. and highest MPH in his class. What a weekend!
Pics and Video can be found here.
My fingers hurt, that is all.
ron
posted at 09:37:27 PM
SEMA - 10.30.2007