LIVE from Indy - NHRA Div 3 LODRS Season Opener

[Michael Beard]

We're LIVE from Indy, for the NHRA Div 3 LODRS season opener. It's a good for filling out tech cards. The (wildly) inaccurate long-range forecast originally said nice Fri-Sat with rain on Sunday. The reality is actually a better situation: rain this morning leading into a picture-perfect remainder of the weekend.

I got here about 4pm yesterday and worked til 9pm (interspersed with a lot of benchracing with folks who stopped by to talk about next week's Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals.) Installed new seatbelts installed, changed the starter, put my big front tires on, new class/car# decals, and saw Lynn Ellison for Collector Tethers. Since I've got the old school straightpipe collector with the 3-bolt flange, I didn't know exactly what I needed, but Lynn crawled under the car and had a combination for me in a jiffy. I also got to check out his JustNTime transbrake button test bench. He had three buttons set with different springs, shims, etc. I hit each one, not even hooked up to anything, and the last one was visibly, shockingly slow to release. Actually did a double take. They've hit on a perfect balance to accomplish that. I'm a footbraker with a slow leaving car, but if I were in Adger Smith's car again, that button would be just the trick for those 7000 rpm launches. Sure easier than swapping tires! (Indy is one of the few places I even need the tall fronts... Fiber optic Compulinks are nice and tight!)





While the overnight rain has soaked everything, it is starting to slow a little. Looks like the pits filled up quite a bit last night -- lots of rigs, but plenty of elbow room, too.

I wanted to add a thanks to Summit Racing Equipment. I've been so busy that my order wish list had been buried on my desk for a month. I finally made use of my Summit gift cards from last year's IHRA TOC and Christmas. Ordered a bunch of stuff online Tuesday night and it was on my doorstep the next afternoon.

[Michael Beard]

Still ugly, cold, and very windy, BUT the rain has stopped and the jet dryer is making noise. We got quite a bit of rain and the temp and humidty may make drying a chore. Not sure how much the wind will help. It's a pretty brutal headwind right now.

[TGould]

Michael, how about a picture of the "fix" for an old school straight pipe collector with a 3 bolt flange?

Tom

[Geerhead55]

Originally Posted by TGould

Michael, how about a picture of the "fix" for an old school straight pipe collector with a 3 bolt flange?

Tom

Absolutely, Michael,,inquiring minds want to know (besides, I've got the same setup)!
Danny Durham

[thomas sheehan]

Mike Pustelny's copo...

[thomas sheehan]

new copo running SS/E...

[Pete Beau]

Originally Posted by thomas sheehan

Mike Pustelny's copo...

Look at the at the heads on those guys. :-)

The car is owned by a gentleman, Mr. George Lyons. We had the privilege of racing his car this weekend. George is real good guy and got his license Thursday. He'll be a good addition to class racing.

Thank you George.

[Michael Beard]

Well, 6:30pm, finally sat down for some lunch.

Turns out, at least with my particular TTI headers, I couldn't get the 1.75 clamps to work. I could get them started up top where the tube was 1-5/8, but couldn't maneuver it past the step. 2" clamps worked. Also turned out that the 15" cable was fine for the driver's side, but the tubes on the passenger side come together different and tight, so I ended up needing the 20" cable. Anything worth doing is doing three times, right? Start out with the right stuff and it's a piece of cake. Thanks to Lynn the Pirate who was very patient with me! For straight pipe flange collectors, it's exactly what you would imagine: one clamp on whatever primary tube is easiest/best for you, one clamp around the collector itself (mine is 3"), and a cable running between them. Doesn't have to be/isn't supposed to be taunt, so position wherever it work for. I just ran the cable so that it was going over the flange, but wasn't up against any of the bolts. It really IS ridiculously simple. Again, just look at your tubes on both sides to figure out what you need *first*.

S'wanyway... After that, got through tech in short order, then went back to drain the likely mix of fuel I had in there from bracket racing the end of last year, flushed the return line, and filled it up with fresh C-12. First qualifying run, the car was getting harder to start as I got toward the front. About 2-3 pair back, it was bad enough that I just let it run. Staged sloppy, felt like a slug, but went A-B. Batteries finally gave up on the return road though, so with a helper here and there I pushed it across the scales and to fuel check. Jory Elliott's dad gave me a ride back to my pit. Took the truck and trailer down, and put the batteries on the charger. Got her going again. Oh, by the way, the timeslip printers are down, so everyone is going to the tower for a copy of the run sheets. Ended up -.005 red and ran within a few hundredths of Numidia back in October, easily accounted for by the headwind vs our tailwind last fall.

Wore out. Heading back to the track to see if we can get a 2nd hit yet today.

[Robert Swartz]

Michael,

Is Gary Summers there this weekend? I really need to stay home and work. If he's running this weekend, may run up there tomorrow. Would really like to get a look at his car.

Robert Swartz