Speaking of my wife, who has been at my side
for nearly 30 years, it is Mother’s Day
this weekend and I hope you all will make a
call, send a card, do something a little special
for your mother. My mother passed away a couple
of years ago, but since she spent 16 years serving
her special “jumbo dogs” as my concession
manager, we are “grilling a few dozen jumbo
dogs” this Saturday at the races. We will
enjoy talking about all the good times and how
her hard work is still something I will never
forget about her. God bless racer moms—we
love you!
What is the deal with this “Cross-Talk”
system?
We just ran our first race where the CompuLink
“Cross-Talk” starting system was used.
I have to admit that I think that it stinks
and that it is targeted toward the slower cars
in the Electronics (box) bracket. If you have
one of the faster cars, which we do, you have
three choices:
1. Put an “N”
by your car number and they will disable it,
but you can no longer crossover as the tree
is shielded and if you run a fast car you know
what blinking Pre-Stage and Stage lights do
just before your top light comes on.
2. Let go on the
top bulb (the top light comes on both sides
of the tree but stays on for the fast car).
You can then “go on the chip” for
up to four seconds if you run a slow car. I
feel it is too hard on the engine to do that.
3. Or, you can
wait for the top bulb to go out and hope your
engine responds quick enough to get up on the
chip before the transbrake releases. In our
case the 4.5” stroke and 572” engine
seems to get there but if are ever a 2/10ths
late getting it to the floor we will likely
have a bad run.
Sure, there will probably be ways to overcome
it. An inline C0-2 throttle controller is one
way but not a legal part in our regular class,
Top Dragster. If the opinion of the designer
is to get rid of fast cars wouldn’t it
be easier to just change the ET breaks? I know
things
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have
to be changed but I can see no reason for this
deal. Now if it was “first or worst on
the red-light rule” I might have to agree.
I hated having a .499 and then the fast car
wins with a .475 because I went red first. That
idea is for another column but it does warrant
debate.
Well, that’s all my rambling on for the
May issue, except for one more thing. Most of
you also read the project car articles I write.
I mentioned in the last one I hoped the dragster
would perform on the quarter mile. We knew it
would take a converter change since we reached
7100 rpm on the 1/8th mile and that is the rpm
we want on the quarter mile. Steve Ottilie loaned
me his 10” BTE converter and to say I was
pleased is an understatement. The old Mopar
unloaded in 56 degree weather and a 65 degree
track at 7.575 at 175.40. Fastest run ever by
over 2/10ths. Check out the “Project 4-Link”
column for more details and recent updates we
have made on the dragster.
We are having fun and burning up diesel fuel.
God Bless America!!
Be safe my friends, 
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Dead-On
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4/8/04
I remembered
drag racing was "fun" last weekend |
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