Things are looking up for the nitrocentral team.
Waterman pump on the way.
All bearings are fine
Re-ringing the motor this weekend.
New billet blower about to be ordered.
Minor head work being done as I speak.
New 13:00 M&H slicks on the way.
We have all just written off our bad showing at Bowling Green as just not enough time
to prepare. True we did qualify, finally, but would have been nice to apply some time to
getting the tune up closer. Rather than spend the weekend putting out fires so to speak.
Working overseas is nice financially but hurts when you have limited time to get everything done at home.
The BIG question is, will we be at New England Dragway?
Financially, it's a loser for me personally. And the crew for that matter. New England is a great track but it's probably the worst track in the country for finding reasonable places to stay during a race.
Nearest area of motels is over 30 minutes away in Manchester and trust me, that area is not cheap.
Don't even try to find anything near the shore.
On the plus side, it's one of the best for flights into Manchester. Non stops from Florida as one example.
So, at this moment, I'd have to say I'm on the fence about the Reunion at New England.
It will be sometime 1st of August before I make that decision and if we've got some financial backing to help make it happen.
Honestly? I don't see how they will get a full field in Top Fuel without addressing the distance/expenses problem for most crews. You're certainly not going to see the West Coast cars make that tow.
Without Bowling Green being a points race and Murphy's car already being here, BG would have been a short field, especially on race day. It was a HUGE race for Murphy and Denver as they'll go back to California with a great start in points. Not such a big deal for others. Just another race.
We shall see. We're moving right along with the intent of going but it's certainly not carved in stone yet.
Now if all those folks who offered cash on Bang Shift for us to go would actually do it, might be another story completely lol
Bob
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Bowling Green report and mishaps along the way.
To say we over came long odds to even get in the show at Bowling Green is an understatement.
To begin, we did a fire up at my place 3 wks before BG. After fire up we found #8 was giving no egt readings. Where I had plenty of time left, decided to tear the motor down just to check things out.
Found a slightly leaking head gasket but nothing else.
Week later we're firing the car up again. Much different sound but no egts on #8. Decided it had to be the sensor so ordered another one for BG to replace while there.
In the mean time my A/C unit at the house quit so had to hire someone to put in a new unit.
We were planning on leaving for BG around 4am on Wednesday but with no A/C in the house we decided it was better to be in the truck with A/C than the house without so hit the road around 7pm on Tuesday night. Glad we did.
We had 2 blowout on the trailer before we ever got out of Georgia. By now it's around midnight so here we are with no spares and no place to get one.
So, spent the night near Valdosta.
Got up the next morning and went searching for tires. Luckly found a place that opened early.
Fixed the flats and hit the road yet again only to have yet another blowout.
Seems the tires/wheels Frank had bought were much older than he knew. 7 years old in fact.
Back at yet another tire place to buy 2 more tires. Finally on the road and no more drama on our trip to Bowling Green. Already dog tired and we haven't even started on the car.
Fast forward to 1st pass on Thursday...
Warmed the car up in the pits and good news is all sensors and data collection working perfect now.
Went to start the car on the line and could not find the neutral position on the clutch. Bracket, for what ever reason, was allowing the clutch to go over center. Pushed back to the pits. 1st time in my career I've ever had to push back from the starting line. Pete Jensen and Frank Ousley helping us get it straightened out. Apparently lack of sleep is not good for making good decisions.
Found the issue with the clutch stop so now all set for 1st round qualifying on Friday.
Got to the line and basically all the crew had a brain fart. Everyone thought Jerry had the Dually cleared but he hit the Dually rear tire with the left wing. Broke off the internal mount in the wing.
Pushed back to the pits yet again. We could have made a pass without it but I'm too anal about stuff to let that happen.
Long and difficult repair of the wing but we did get it done to get into the final round of qualifying.
Thanks Frank Ousley for the use of your parts and ideas.
I'm going to leave the repair there to remind people of what can happen. lol
When we got back to the line, we watched the Mr Boston car get DQ'd on his pass due to an oil down penalty which means we only had to run an 11 second pass to get in.
Fired the car up and Jerry got it down the track on what would have been a mid 6 second pass.
"Would" is the key word here as the timing system was not turned on and we got no time, hence still not in the show.
After some visits by Frank and Jerry to the tower, they gave us 1 hour to get back to the line for a make up run.
I was none to happy about this but I'm not sure what else would have resolved this?
To their credit, the Mr Boston team came over to help us make the 1 hour turn around. Damn nice of them considering they were helping the team that might keep them out of the race.
Long story short, Jerry did about an 800ft pass to get us in at a 7.99et. We wanted to make sure we were finally in and didn't care about the et. Just beat 11 seconds and stay between the cones.
Basically, we had no time during the meet to actually work on getting the car down the track quicker. Given the time slip on the last run, the car was on a 6:40 pass when Jerry clicked it as Denver was in another time zone on his run. Tune up was WAY off due to heat and humidity but there just wasn't time to go down that road given all the previous drama.
The announcers, bang shift, and all the people in the stands were great and appreciated all the hard work we went through just to get in the field. I couldn't be prouder of Jerry and the entire crew for taking a very difficult weekend and at least getting us in the show.
If work permits we'll be testing in Bradenton in August and then on to the Reunion at NED in September. See you all there.
Bob
To begin, we did a fire up at my place 3 wks before BG. After fire up we found #8 was giving no egt readings. Where I had plenty of time left, decided to tear the motor down just to check things out.
Found a slightly leaking head gasket but nothing else.
Week later we're firing the car up again. Much different sound but no egts on #8. Decided it had to be the sensor so ordered another one for BG to replace while there.
In the mean time my A/C unit at the house quit so had to hire someone to put in a new unit.
We were planning on leaving for BG around 4am on Wednesday but with no A/C in the house we decided it was better to be in the truck with A/C than the house without so hit the road around 7pm on Tuesday night. Glad we did.
We had 2 blowout on the trailer before we ever got out of Georgia. By now it's around midnight so here we are with no spares and no place to get one.
So, spent the night near Valdosta.
Got up the next morning and went searching for tires. Luckly found a place that opened early.
Fixed the flats and hit the road yet again only to have yet another blowout.
Seems the tires/wheels Frank had bought were much older than he knew. 7 years old in fact.
Back at yet another tire place to buy 2 more tires. Finally on the road and no more drama on our trip to Bowling Green. Already dog tired and we haven't even started on the car.
Fast forward to 1st pass on Thursday...
Warmed the car up in the pits and good news is all sensors and data collection working perfect now.
Went to start the car on the line and could not find the neutral position on the clutch. Bracket, for what ever reason, was allowing the clutch to go over center. Pushed back to the pits. 1st time in my career I've ever had to push back from the starting line. Pete Jensen and Frank Ousley helping us get it straightened out. Apparently lack of sleep is not good for making good decisions.
Found the issue with the clutch stop so now all set for 1st round qualifying on Friday.
Got to the line and basically all the crew had a brain fart. Everyone thought Jerry had the Dually cleared but he hit the Dually rear tire with the left wing. Broke off the internal mount in the wing.
Pushed back to the pits yet again. We could have made a pass without it but I'm too anal about stuff to let that happen.
Long and difficult repair of the wing but we did get it done to get into the final round of qualifying.
Thanks Frank Ousley for the use of your parts and ideas.
I'm going to leave the repair there to remind people of what can happen. lol
When we got back to the line, we watched the Mr Boston car get DQ'd on his pass due to an oil down penalty which means we only had to run an 11 second pass to get in.
Fired the car up and Jerry got it down the track on what would have been a mid 6 second pass.
"Would" is the key word here as the timing system was not turned on and we got no time, hence still not in the show.
After some visits by Frank and Jerry to the tower, they gave us 1 hour to get back to the line for a make up run.
I was none to happy about this but I'm not sure what else would have resolved this?
To their credit, the Mr Boston team came over to help us make the 1 hour turn around. Damn nice of them considering they were helping the team that might keep them out of the race.
Long story short, Jerry did about an 800ft pass to get us in at a 7.99et. We wanted to make sure we were finally in and didn't care about the et. Just beat 11 seconds and stay between the cones.
Basically, we had no time during the meet to actually work on getting the car down the track quicker. Given the time slip on the last run, the car was on a 6:40 pass when Jerry clicked it as Denver was in another time zone on his run. Tune up was WAY off due to heat and humidity but there just wasn't time to go down that road given all the previous drama.
The announcers, bang shift, and all the people in the stands were great and appreciated all the hard work we went through just to get in the field. I couldn't be prouder of Jerry and the entire crew for taking a very difficult weekend and at least getting us in the show.
If work permits we'll be testing in Bradenton in August and then on to the Reunion at NED in September. See you all there.
Bob
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