Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

HeLL YeAH!

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

How's the Stocker coming along ?

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Another great weekend in the PAR Racing Engines, House of Payne Performance, Pauley Racing Mazda RX7. Managed a win in the "Hot Street" class at Carolina Cashdays No Prep at Shadyside Dragway presented by Motion Raceworks. This class was a challenge as it was a minimally prepped track and the class is limited to a 28/10.5 slick on a 5.70 index. I showed up on some gently used M/T slicks I had never run before and went to town. Made some excellent laps and put the car in the winner's circle once again! I essentially had to spray the car from one end of the track to the other along with a few ballast and starting line timing changes that seem to have payed off massively. The car was absolutely on rails all night long and my little old small block survived the heavy dose of laughing gas thrown at it pass after pass. Looking forward to the next small tire race with it already. Now, to stick the big tires back on it and prepare for some bracket and index racing in the next couple of weeks!
https://i.imgur.com/r4pF4p8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CZPSSL1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/S7NWedh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SKlhfpA.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

More really good seat time week before last in my wagon, took it out to Union County Dragway to run Footbrake and Sportsman. At this point in the year and the weather conditions, the thing really wants for some HP, only dialing 8.20 against my 8.26 NHRA Index, but obviously none of that mattered that weekend. Getting better at hitting the tree every time I make it to the track!
https://i.imgur.com/BtAkVdd.jpeg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Two for one! Picked up the 6.0 index win in a tough field of 14 cars at Roxboro Motorsports Park along with the win in the 9 round bracket race the same day! 16 passes and a whole lot of win lights!!! Easily my best day at the track fun wise, financially, and confidence building! The car was on rails and I was turning loose good when I needed to and good enough when I didn't. Thanks to all the folks out there that make it possible for me to go out weekend after weekend to do what I love!

Even got to take on my dad in the final of the index race who of course is always extremely tough. I was lucky enough to come out on the winning side despite leaving second!

https://i.imgur.com/10xoTe9.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/6piZkiW.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/28wnBj1.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/s68y1kS.jpeg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Are you going up to Indy ?

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Hell nah, can't qualify there

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

9 rounds to win top? 6 rounds to win 6.0. Man you guys must have a lot of cars or lots of bye backs

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

The volume of cars down south is surprising, and the competition is no less surprising. But it IS fun ;) Racing in the Carolinas was always a blast.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Both lol. They had tons of cars with 1st OR 2nd round buy backs in top and 6.0. Thankfully and miraculously I was able to win both races and stay out of the BB window in both classes!

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Yeah the crowds around here for a regular points race is very encouraging. My home bracket track Union County Dragway in Union, SC has around 150-170 total cars between Top, FB, Sportsman, Juniors, and TCR in there regular bracket points races. A little less so in the brutally hot portion of the summer but the spring and fall bring out tons of cars on a weekly basis.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Staying busy here in NC! Went over to my local track Shadyside Dragway to run in 6.0 and the bracket race similarly to what I did at Roxboro the week prior with very different results. The car was much slower, only running around 6.15 on motor. Really had to get after it with the nitrous to keep up with the 6.0 field but managed to get the car fast enough. Had early exits in 6.0 both days with the car slowing up second round both days causing me to get behind .003 on Sunday and quit and get way behind on Saturday. I'm ready for the weather to turn so I don't have to spray so much and risk engine consistency and reliability.

This past weekend I made my way to Rockingham Dragway for the "Rock Records Open", a double NHRA national open race with 1/4 mile on Saturday and 1/8th mile on Sunday. Honestly had a great showing in my Mazda, recording a runner-up and semi finish in S/G each day. The stocker was a bit of a wild card showing some inconsistency, but I was hitting the tree in it really good which allowed me to get to second round on Saturday and third round on Sunday. Very promising weekend heading into the NHRA Carolina Nationals coming up in a week and a half where I'll be double entered again in Stock and S/G!

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

I think I've known a few owners of that Vega in TN and NC.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Last couple weekends for me has been humbling. After my relatively poor showing at the Shadyside Dragway double 6.0 and bracket race weekend, I made my way to Zmax Dragway in Charlotte for the national event to run Stock and S/G. Unfortunately I had issues with my station wagon which caused me to qualify particularly poorly and not have a dial in Friday morning for first round. All in all I made a decent lap first round in Stock, hitting the tree .049 (not great but not terrible) and taking .011 stripe but losing in a double breakout to the eventual runner-up Kenny Anderson. Super Gas was basically the exact opposite. I made two great qualifying hits and had a really great handle on the car. Unfortunately my delay-box malfunctioned first round Friday morning and did not activate my throttle-stop. I did my best to get the car whoahed up at the finish line but still broke out by a wide margin going 9.79 at 104 as opposed to my normal 9.90 vicinity at 139.

Incredibly disappointing and essentially as bad as the weekend could have gone. I ended up going golfing with a friend on Saturday just to salvage the weekend, lol. Shot 84 though so that's pretty good :)

I'm really upset with the performance, and even more so with myself as both scenarios were completely avoidable if I'd been more careful. Devastating. I will regroup and try to be at the Carolina double national open next week with at least one of the cars. It's really hard for me financially to bring both cars to the track and double enter both days, so I may be only bringing one, especially after doubling and failing to get any round money at all from Charlotte.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Haven't updated in a while, and I figured I'd blast a couple photos up here on a slow Monday.

The day before I showed up at the Rockingham D2 National open race on Sunday, I was at Shadyside Dragway once again for some bracket and 6.0 action. Ended up winning the 6.0 class and getting to 3 cars in the bracket race. An awesome day of racing with 11 round wins and a nice $800 payday at the end!
https://i.postimg.cc/hPtBzTLX/IMG-6585.jpg

Got a new sway bar mounted on my stocker after the stock one broke and fell off somehow. This is an aftermarket beefy-er one I found on Summit and it seems to be working really great. Much stiffer than the stock one and chased a lot of the old body roll out of the car. Very pleased with it.
https://i.postimg.cc/jSG0F1Gf/IMG-6576.jpg

After the weekend, it was time for repairs. At some point while I was at Rockingham, I blew another wheel cylinder in my Malibu Wagon stocker which received a new one this past week.
https://i.postimg.cc/bNVjQrg3/IMG-6586.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/xdMDDR24/IMG-6591.jpg

Always busy at my shop learning and growing! One more race for me this year then both motors in both cars are coming out for upgrades and freshen ups! Taking donations now!!! :)

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Congratulations on your win & semi-finals at Shadyside!

I'm debating on running an index & bracket class the end of Nov. The issue is, I need to set the car up for a .400 pro light for the index class. I'm not even sure how it will react with this new combo. Then I'll be screwed up for my bracket set-up.

I'm assuming you were on .500 pro light for the index class?

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

All the 6.0 index stuff around here is based on a .400 pro tree. It's not too bad for me as I can have the car set up for super gas as well which is also .400 P/T. You being a no-boxer, I'd imagine it would be very difficult to get the car switched over from bracket to index mode. For me it's just a matter of rolling the delay in and turning the nitrous off. I do highly encourage you run some index stuff though, It is far and away my favorite form of drag racing and I wish more people did it.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Thanks for the reply, JP.

I have run S/ST & S/C but didn't like all the down time at the Divisional/National events.

There are not many local index races out West. The one I wanted to try in Nov. has a good selection of indexes. I would have to tighten the tune-up in the ecu & lower the boost pretty good to get slow enough for a .500 pro light.

Our conversation has my wheels turning! It's probably wishful thinking anyway.

The link below has the index classes towards the bottom of the page.

https://streetcarsupernationals.com/...las-vegas.html

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

A couple comments w/ regards to this flyer and your index aspirations:

1. This flyer is for the 2023 race, I don't know much about SCSN but I'd make sure the race and flyer for this year's race has similar rules and index classes before you arrive.

2. I assume you would choose the quicker 9.60 index class, which is contested on a .400 P/T knowing that you're car is capable of 9.0s. If this would be your selection, you need not worry about slowing the car down to hit the tree, if anything speed it up.

3. This is not a true index class race given that all three of the index classes run together (7.60, 8.60, and 9.60). You are given an index, yes, but you are not racing others on the same index, so it's essentially a pro-tree bracket race where you can't choose your dial

4. If you choose to run the 9.60 index of the 6 given, this will be EXTREMELY advantageous. You will be out front any time you are racing a driver in a faster index, but the advantage of a "clean tree" is way more significant that the disadvantage of being the slower car. Here in NC, a class called "Pro Tree Eliminator" (PTE) is contested somewhat regularly. It's a dial in bracket class based on a handicapped pro tree where blinders are used so you cannot cross over and react of your opponents tree. Almost every single one of those races is won by either a slow car or the slowest car just because they get a clean tree every time instead of a delayed pro tree where there opponent leaves ahead of them. Anytime I run that class, I slow my car down by over a second just to be the slowest car in the field so I always get a clean tree.

Let me know your thoughts and an updated flyer if you have one. Also let me know what index you want to choose.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Dawson,

Sorry for posting the wrong link! This one should be the correct one.

I'm not hell bent on even running this event. I've done well running the bracket classes & won with a sponsors S/C 7 sec truck in the electronics class. That was many moons ago. They didn't treat the bracket racers very well back then. I skipped racing the event for about ten years because of that. Last year I tried it again & it was a cluster because of a last-minute surprise rule change.

Anyway, I plan on running the No-E Class & wanted to run one of their all run together Index Classes, scrap that idea!

Now, I'm mildly considering the Open Comp Class with a .500 pro light. I'm not overly thrilled about not getting a clean tree. I do have a way to get around them picking my automatic dial-in for eliminations. I'll just hold or bag about .15 during my qualifying runs.

We don't even need to discuss this & I'll do the No-E class. Sorry to muddle up your thread!

1700/781L :)

https://streetcarsupernationals.com/las-vegas-rules/

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

My last "hoorah" of the season! Picked up the win in 6.0 index at Roxboro Motorsports Park this past weekend! Car was excellent as always and the nitrous over-ride came in very handy in the finals. Had to make up for a starting line deficit, .003 to my .014, and then get rid of all of it at the finish line. I get .036 behind, down 10 mph to go 6.023 to my man's 5.998. Got lucky, but I'll take it. I think my quick thinking with the spray and drop payed dividends!

https://i.postimg.cc/wx0C7q1X/IMG-6954.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

And just like that, I'm calling it a season! Sending my little 383 off to PAR Racing Engines in Spartanburg, SC for rings, bearing, valve job, and likely rods and pistons. The motor has somewhere around 550 runs on it since it's last freshen, about half of which are nitrous hits or 1/4 mile. The rotating assembly has way way more than that. It is tired, but it owes me absolutely nothing! Thanks for following along on my build page those of you who frequent it. Can't wait to get everything cleaned up and organized so I can finish my stocker teardown and keep rolling on winter projects!

https://i.postimg.cc/C57p6R9L/IMG-6619.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

With only a month before things are supposed to get rolling down in Florida, my 305 is coming out of my wagon to get a few small upgrades and changes. The help is courtesy of Billy Wilson and his family. I'll be taking the engine to Chad Taylor for it's assembly. Super excited to step my program up a bit, even if the parts are on loan for now. Going to try to tune on the chassis and fuel delivery a bit before Orlando to find some hp, maybe I can make a few laps this year that help towards the class average!

Huge thanks to those guys, this would not be possible without their generosity and the interest they've taken in my Stock Eliminator journey!

https://i.postimg.cc/PrHhfWyZ/IMG-6835.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/xTPQXXpZ/IMG-6834.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Things are coming together! Just got word from PAR Racing Engines that my good friend Dawson Putman has finished assembly of my small block for my SST/SG/Bracket/Outlaw Index/Small Tire/No Prep car! Planning to do a little bit of everything with it again this year, starting the year in Orlando or Gainesville. More to come once I take delivery of it and start the process of getting it back in the car with all of it's bells and whistles. I think it will be one of, if not the only car in SST this year with a nitrous plate beneath a throttle stop lol.

https://i.postimg.cc/0NcrMkSR/IMG-6845.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

I'm sure somebody would say something about a nitrous plate beneath a throttle stop in SST. I guess that's what the "lol" is for.

1700/781L :)

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

I've never been asked about it, but I take the bottle out of course. No nitrous to spray, but I leave the plate on because it's a pain in the a$s to take off

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Getting close to fire up on my Mazda! At this point, all I lack is the diaper, some new plugs, and a new flex plate with current sfi #. I'll have to go back and slide the trans back to swap the plate out, but I didn't get it in time to put the new one in with the motor, so I went with what I had for the time being. Now all I need is the engine back for my stocker and my program will be back to 100%! Thanks again to the boys over at PAR Racing Engines for helping me out and getting this old worn out small block back in fighting shape!

This is what you call 10 lbs of sh!t in a 5 lb sack!

https://i.postimg.cc/fb9KJHt9/IMG-6850.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Got him all buttoned back up! Fought a couple issues after getting the car fully put back together, mainly fuel system. I guess the carb sitting for several months in a freezing cold shop killed the o-ring in both needle and seats, so I've since replaced them with some Holley 110s. Also, one of my fuel regulators sprang a leak (the one for the nitrous system), guessing the cold got it too as the gasket where the adjuster nut failed and was spraying gas everywhere.

Getting that fixed was a nightmare. I tried replacing the gasket with one I had, but it leaked worse, then tried bolting on a brand new one I've had as a spare for some length of time, but it has some sort of clearance issue where it just bypassed all the fuel regulating aspect and went straight to whatever the fuel pump makes pre-regulator. Ultimately I robbed the guts out of the new regulator, installed them in the old one, and now it holds pressure and allows me to adjust it again. Each time I did this I of course had to remove all the fittings attatched to it and put them on the other. I'm a wiz at Teflon taping pipe fittings now lol. I'll have to get a flow gauge to set it again for the nitrous system, but that's no big deal, I'll come up with something on that.

https://i.postimg.cc/rm6pgG1v/IMG-6862.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

You going to Gainesville ?

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Seems unlikely, but that's the plan!

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Just got the engine stabbed back into my wagon last night! Still have to dress the engine and transmission, but thankfully that's something I have a week or so to pick away at. Might even make Gainesville!

https://i.postimg.cc/FHRT6VDn/IMG-6865.jpg

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

I saw the qualifying sheets for this weekend in Orlando. .679 under your index. Been keeping up with your adventures on here. Glad to see you're making improvements and getting quicker. Keep up the good work.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Love the dry hops Dawson!! We need to bring them back. Makes for a better show!




Bret Velde
2003 I/SA

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Dawson, Congrats on the class win this weekend at the Baby Gators. More to come I am sure.

Hard work does pay off.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Why do you overdrive the alternator so much?

Congrats on your good race in Gainesville.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Dawson, like most, I have been following your adventures, especially in
your Malibu. Congrats on your Class Win!! And further Congrats on your
excellent showing in the Eliminator. Six rounds is nothing to sneeze at,
especially considering the Hitters that show up for that race. I watched
the whole weekend and I was almost as happy for your round wins as
I am for my own, almost. Great job on the performance improvements
and the results!

J.R.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Awesome Job Dawson Class win and semis in Stock!

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Agreed 100%. I don't know why we ever got away from them!

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Honestly? Because those are the parts I had when I put this whole thing together. I need a smaller drive pully or a bigger alternator pulley to slow it down some. That said, it makes 14 volts at idle which I really like, lol. Might not be the best for performance but great for peace of mind. I'll not be flaming out anytime soon.

Re: JP1738's Stocker and S/G car
 

Thank you so much J.R.! It's been awesome to get the car working well, faster, and more consistent. While the car moves with the air quality and wind quite a bit, its always been very dialable. Not to mention I've made great strides in hitting the tree a lot better and getting the hang of how the car reacts to different tire pressures and stall speeds. I'm absolutely over the moon with my car and I's performance this past weekend. Can't wait to get back out there and try again!