JP1738's Stocker and S/G car

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by Keith 944

Watched the runs, pretty impressive. Believe you have a winnable ride. Good luck in the rest of season

I think you're right, which is bad because I'm about to run out of excuses! Check out these two time runs and first round the week prior to SGMP where I went bracket racing for some extra seat time! It wasn't quite this good at SGMP, but it wasn't bad either.

[JP1738]

That last stretch of I-85 coming home from Valdosta really did a number on my car. Looks like it was rough enough to blow both front shocks out :/

Guess this is what you get when you race a really old car with stock components. I'll throw this in the same broken parts bin as the rear wheel cylinders that blew out on the first test drive.

[Mark Ugrich]

Originally Posted by JP1738

I think you're right, which is bad because I'm about to run out of excuses! Check out these two time runs and first round the week prior to SGMP where I went bracket racing for some extra seat time! It wasn't quite this good at SGMP, but it wasn't bad either.

To quote Dave Morgan….” There is consistency in mass”

[JP1738]

Finally showed my old bracket car some love last weekend. Bolted some small tires on it for a little Thursday night TnT and grudge, then the big tires for some bracket action and throttle stop testing. Getting geared up for the Charlotte 4-wide where I'll be running Stock and SST!

Shoutout to Marion Stephenson for selling me some used Phoenix 14.5x32 radial construction big tires off his Comp car, I think the my car really likes them.

[JP1738]

Out with more old, in with more new! The front shocks on my wagon had completely blown out and were leaking all over the place. I snagged some new 90/10s off the internet and tossed them in the car last night before the next D2 double this weekend in Reynolds, Ga.

[JP1738]

On another note, managed to collect some coin at the first SGAS race of the season scoring a runner-up finish to the great Jim Perry at Carolina Dragway last weekend. Driver was on it most of the day including the final, but a .013 pick up to 60ft was my demise as I couldn't get back to the good and lost a double breakout 6.298 to a 6.299. Good race and a nice payday, basically covering all the upgrades I did to the car over the winter. If you live down south and have at least one testicle, (outside of Lauren Freer and Michelle Lisenby, y'all are cool of course) come run one of these SGAS races! They are a great time and deserving of a bigger spotlight!

[JP1738]

NEVER SAY DIE. After a nearly complete bust at zMAX DRAGWAY with my stocker and mazda in S/ST, coming up short to Christopher Webb and Eddie Longhany Jr., I decided the only way to make something of the weekend was to keep up the pace and persevere. I left zMax at 11pm saturday night to try my hand at the 6.0 and Pro Tree Door Slammers classes at Rockingham Dragway for their Civil Wars race. Pulled in Sunday morning, got one clean up run, and went to work. Doubled in both classes to 4th round where I turned it a few thousandths red to Steve Sechler (the eventual winner) but I kept it together for the win in 6.0! What a fantastic event they put on and a very much needed confidence boost and payday for me.
Thank you Daren Poole-Adams for helping me get my stocker to and from the track, I really appreciate it.
Thanks again to Brad Plourd for the tires I’m ruining on my stocker. They just keep working and I’m still so greatful for that. Also shoutout to Scot LaMar for his transmission I’m still abusing.
Congrats Don Shuford on your fat dub at Charlotte, I had you picked to win on my fantasy team.
Thanks Meg for the pics and support, your patience is appreciated when I’m all to hell.
Also awesome to see my good friends at the track Glenn Mcconnell and David Lester. I literally could not have done it without them. The coil wire on my car burnt up, but thankfully I had a spare coil and David loaned me another wire to make it happen. It all got ziptied to the cowl and away I went. Glenn let me borrow some power after my generator quit and a couple hotdogs to keep me from falling out. Thanks guys it was great hanging out. I’m so sorry for the parts attrition on both your cars. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.

Hard to drive when you can't see! Had this gaff first round as I forgot my hood-pins at the trailer

[JP1738]

Check out the new wheels! At this point, I truly feel like the coolest guy on the planet. We are riding two deep with this new to me double open trailer!

[JP1738]

Managed to snag another win at my little local outlaw track Shadyside Dragway! Picked up the 6.0 index win! The pro tree has been very good to me so far this year. I've entered 4 P/T races this year, SGAS at Carolina, 6.0 at Rockingham and Shadyside, and S/ST at Charlotte and have made 3 finals despite my early exit at the zMax National.

Five rounds of racing, tough competition, and a whole lot of nitrous to get it done! No barometer this past weekend meant we were spraying from the water box the the E/T shack, but I had enough to get the job done in the finals!

I brought my stocker along with my new to me double open trailer and had a good friend of mine wheel it. He's a lot more experienced than me at swapping feet, so I wanted to get him in it to try to win some rounds and give me feedback on what he likes about the car, doesn't like, and changes that might make me more competitive. He wasn't able to go deep in the race, but we did learn some very valuable information about the set up and things to note moving forward. It needs another oil change and the shift points adjusted still, but it gets a little bit better every time it shows up at the track! If this had been an NHRA race, we would have struggled to get under the index, we were only managing around an 8.22 off its 8.26 index. Safe to say it does not like thin air! Barometer was sat around 28.85 in/Hg most of the weekend.

[JP1738]

Got my shift point dialed in best I can!

The car started out with a #2 weight+orange spring and stock weight+green spring, which shifted at 6750 rpm.

Then tried to make a big swing to see where that put me, left the stock weight side alone and changed the #2 weight to a #1+purple spring (heaviest spring and weight) to see how much that would change the shift point. It made a huge difference and moved the shift down to 5500 rpm.

It seems counter intuitive but a stiffer spring quickens the shift point, I decided to leave the weight alone this time and go to the lightest spring. #1 weight+red spring. That got me right where I wanted to be at 6200 on the button. In the future I may try a slightly stiffer spring, maybe one step up to bring the shift in just a touch sooner, but I think that's good for now.

Final combo for any who might reference this later:
stock weight+green spring and #1 weight+red spring got me 6200rpm.

Sorry to all my neighbors who heard me making test passes at 11pm Tuesday while testing the shifts. Can only test it at WOT...
Also shoutout to the guy who saw me testing again Thursday who yelled "DO A BURNOUT" which I promptly did. I couldn't resist.

*All testing was done in a closed environment and all safety measures were taken (helmet and seatbelts utilized)

I'll include an image of the weight and spring chart for everyone's reference.