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Later Thursday night as the staging lanes were
closed, Moran and crew rolled into the water
box for one last attempt that day. With the
air 250-feet below sea level and the track temperature
optimum, Mike fired "the shot heard around the
world" as he ran an incredible 6.26 at 239.70
mph. His incrementals were 1.06, 2.83, and 4.19
at 184.
Proving it wasn't a fluke, he came back on
Friday night in very similar conditions and
backed it up with an equally impressive 6.25/236.84
with incrementals of 1.05, 2.83, and 4.18 at
185.
So where does he go from here? As Moran said,
"Mile per hour doesn't mean anything, I want
to run 5.90's." He wants to make some outlaw
Pro Mod races but feels like even though he's
two-tenths off where he wants to be, these runs
have already put the fear in other competitors
that say they don't even want to race against
him. Since the car is making all the numbers
on the back half of the track, the team has
their work cut out for them and they're going
to start working on the front half incrementals.
Moran admits he isn't against the use of alternative
fuels or other power-adders to get to that five-second
time-slip if that's what it takes.
With some talk in the pits already about boycotting
racing against him, if you don't see him anywhere
else, Mike plans to field the car in Orlando
for the this year's World Street Nationals October
15-17.
Behind the scenes, the crew consisting of Bart
Lemiux, Larry Larson (who Moran states has helped
immensely with the chassis and clutch calls),
Matt Trett, Mike Vincowski, Eric Coleman and
Matt Grawberg keep the Red Line Oil-sponsored
Monte Carlo in race ready condition.
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Moran wants to see turbos legal in Pro Modified
although it will be up to IHRA Tech Director
Mike Baker to make that call. From conversations
between Moran and Baker, Moran thinks it is
a future possibility although admittedly Baker's
plate is overloaded now and it would take a
lot of time to figure out a reasonable set of
rules to play by. So, it would appear this project
is on the "back burner" for now.
In the end, Moran and team are rolling up their
sleeves and still working and doing R&D in the
quest for lower e.t.'s and faster speeds and
that five-second time-slip.
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