Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

After a short two hour drive here we arrived and got in line and boy I'm glad we got here early as they decided to open the gates early by about an hour and a half -not sure why 'cause tech didn't open only parking -but we got us a great pit spot--including electric service , trees and grass .Hard to find stuff in this sea of asphalt .I've been coming to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park (the official name) since the late sixties and as time goes by this place keeps getting better ...it truly is a nice place to race .

Deb and I had dinner tonight with Dave Riberio and Glen Hartzler with most of the conversation being about the Republican Convention this week and the best thing I can say is that its a good that we weren't drinking as it surely would have become heated --- great conversation with two good friends though .

As for the other racers the pits are pretty filled up tonight as most think that they better get their time trials in tomorrow as rain is expected late Friday and lasting into late Saturday night .

Almost forgot -- Dave had not one but two blowouts on the way here from Virginia and we've got to find him some tires to get home on -- if anyone is coming tomorrow and has any please let us know -- he needs 205/70/15 's -- my cell is 610 533-6393 -- I'm sure he'll be very thankful .

As always 'till tomorrow-------- "And on with the show".............

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

its not going to rain because i did no t go to etown

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Hey Jack tell Dave if he can't get any tires call me and ill come get his car and he can tow the trailer empty. Might just need some fuel help tho. Lil Duane

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Good morning -- Bright Sun greeted us this morning -- nice barometer --temps in the high 70's --humidity around 45% -- but we were not wanting headwind going down the track - forget records -- forget great ET's - we'll be happy just to get our two licks in today .Sheets are not out yet but it didn't seem anyone went very fast.........storms coming late this afternoon .Break out the adult beverages then for the next 24 or so hours......

Evan Smith here with his car apart for re-certification --- a whole lot of work for lousy stinkin' .006 .I'm sure he learned some valueable lessons about using "local" machine shops for critical work .

More coming ...........

PS - Mr. Lang and company will probably go to a "hurry-up offense" today with the storms coming so expect anything and take nothing for granted ! ! !

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Looks like Jeanne Linke really stepped it up in that second round!
LOL!!!.

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

1 1116 J/SA Jeanne Linke, Old Bridge NJ, '85 Camaro 10.859 12.75 -1.891

How much for that car? !!!!!! LOL
Chuck

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Well , we got both passes in today but no one had much to show for it as the #1 seed turned out to be "only" -1.164 under with Steve Szupka in J/SA being the lucky pilot .#2 was a surprising David Barton in his A/SA Hemi.#3 had Henry Kunz in his old faithful 69 Nova G/SA .#4 turned out to be me in E/SA and I thought it would be better .#5 was Barry Parker in B/SA who finally outdid his brother who was #6 in H/SA.At #7 it was Dave Casey in his G/S Camaro who abandoned his friends in New England to come here .#8 was the big body terror of Frank Bialas in C/SA .At # 9 it was Bill Beldons' stick shift Nova and James Perrone in his 69 Nova H/SA made #10 being -1.036 under .

With only 80 cars on the property this is the smallest car count in Stock I've ever witnessed here at E-town and I'm not sure if the economy is the blame or the weather .Speaking of the weather , the temps have dropped a bunch in the last hour or so-- the storm is coming -- no doubt about it .

The Second annual PC Richard / Pontiac BAR-B-Q was a big hit tonight -- great "free" food and drinks along with "free" t-shirts and plenty of "free" door prizes-- all in attendance had a great time I'm sure .Did I mention there were "free" things -- thanks to Gary Richard and our friends at Pontiac .And lets not forget the fine folks at Raceway Park who hosted at the Top End Bar and Lounge--a great place to hold a bar-b-q.
'Till tomorrow..............
PS-- FYI-- Jeanne Linke was .891 under at #41 in J/SA

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

congrats to barry parker on #5, 2nd run looked good, I think 10.47, and our friends with the C/SA GTX and the 350 pontiac Firebird I think N/SA. really good group of people running stock, everyone we spoke with. from Chris and Mary.
good luck all this weekend.
Its 3am, I can't sleep and its pouring out here in NY.chris

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Nothing but dark clouds this morning but they are still planning to start time trials at 10 am with Stock going out first followed by S/S and then Comp with the Super classes after that if its not raining..we'll see ! ! ! Back later........

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Thanks Jack,

The rain may be a minor problem this weekend when compared to the predicted wind gusts. Be careful when towing home after the race.

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Jack,

80 cars at Englishtown plus 50 at Epping equals 130 stockers competing in division one at the same time...not bad.

Thanks for the great reports.

Bruce Deveau

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Stock -- S/S and Comp all got their last pop in this morning .Picked up some fresh cars in all categories and the Ficacci Family took over the top spot in Stock with their G/S 70 Camaro .Other results not printed yet .All the "leakers" are on the track now with the Super cars to follow if it doesn't rain first -- and it looks like it may start any minute .Looking out at the track the flags are straight accross and flapping a bunch -- I think we might be in for "the big one" .

From a performance standpoint its all trash here as the humidity is in the high seventies and the barometer dropped two tenths...........its all downhill from here .

I can't believe it but they just called us to the lanes for first round.................later .Opps ,we have to go after the super classes and another round of leakers......never happen today ..wind is picking up ...flags ripping even more .We'll see............
PS-- the photo is this morning as the stockers went thru Englishtown's famous "hole in the wall".Stick with me on this photo thing --I'm learning but it may take awhile .

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Jack,
Reports are great, photo works as well,,,,,, do me a favor and hold on to Hanna while she's @ your place. we're running here @ Epping and dry. 1st rd of 100K P/S shootout in the lanes.
Best of luck this weekend to you and the GTO!

Unk

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Thanks Unk but here's the deal - its now raining here and on its way to you .Some of the Super classes got in but if I had to guess we're done for the day as the wind is picking up and you can now see the backside of the leaves (old wives tale?) with very dark clouds on the horizon .

NEWS FLASH --They just called all racing for today and will resume tomorrow at 10am


Why are the guys running with coolers ? Guess they need to fill-up with adult beverages for tonight ! !

Here's some interesting match-ups for 1st round-- all heads-up -- E/SA Kopecky vs Fetch
E/SA Matyas vs Molle
B/SA DeMarzo vs Pappas
H/SA Lynch vs Young
H/SA Hartzler vs Parker
I/SA Sepanek vs Ohanesian
We ended up with 89 stockers.......And for those of you who like long handicaps check this out--Tommy Goldman (driving Ed Fernandez' little Gremlin T/SA) vs Barry Parkers big block 69 Camaro B/SA -- about 3 1/2 seconds..........

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Many Moons Ago at a S/SS at Atco had to race Clayton Wright, me in a w/sa and clayton in his SS/AA I think it was 6.5 sec. head start,when he went by me in the traps it took me 3 days to find out which way I was headed.

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Wow-------the Sun is back and we've chased Hanna towards New England (sorry you guys at Epping) -- looks like a beautiful morning in the neighborhood ----- temps in the mid-sixties already..........I'll be back after a nice walk..............

Evan Smith showed-up this morning with a new Shelby "Super Snake" in my favorite color - if I was ever going to junp ship and change camps this would be my choice - its one nice car ! !

Bob Lang and co. were out early this morning prepping the track and it looked really good -- we should have great conditions to race today -- the barometer is back up and the vapor pressure is decent again - most cars will pick-up a bunch first round.......still a little windy and the humidity is burning off ...

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Jack,

it's Ok, Hanna is gone from Epping as well. Got some water in the pits to deal with, but that's being handled, should be on track by 10:30.

Sure was wet last night though........

Dealt with Gustav in KC and here in Epping (Sat morn rain), Hanna last night,,,,,
Now it looks like I get to deal with Ike next week in Shreveport...... Can someone turn the hurricane nozzle down a bit?


Unk

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

1st round of Stock was a dusie.......plenty fast...lots of heads-ups ans at the end there were a half dozen no shows .Also there was the normal stuff -- lots of racers dialing soft producing big runouts .As far as the heads-up went it was myself over Molle , Kopecky over Fetch , DeMarzo got a bye when Pappas didn't show , Parker passed Hartzler and Sepanek beat Ohanesian . Leakers out there now -- S/S up soon...

Unk-- 10/4 on the Hurricane nozzle .

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

2nd round in without much fanfare -- usual suspects still in --Zane , a couple of Ficacci's ,Williams , Wendy is still around and the fairy tale continues -- I'm in rd 3 .It'll be a few hours as they must run two rounds of alcohol before we go out again

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

With Zane in the final (again) against Kopecky its anybodys' race........Zane's .001 in the semi's looked good...........

Congrats to Gary Richard S/S winner

Great light to Kenny and the win........In Stock

Aragona wins Comp but takes a tenth CIC hit........

Sawyer over Altillo in SuperGas

Albrect over Szilagyi in SuperComp

Great weekend that no one thought would get in the books.........

Till Atco we'll sign off.................Jack & Debbie

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Jack, even though I was there it was still great reading your report. Dead on with the report. Did not have time to stop by after you pounded me, good job top end, maybe next time I'll give ya a better a race.See you at Atco.

Re: Live from Englishtown-NHRA Lucas Oil Series
 

Joey -- You gave me a good race but it was all about the toss before the race -- you lost and went to the right lane -- many have told me they had problems in it (including me the next round) not sure what was up with it ...........OK so you owe me one -- see ya soon .