Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats

[Joe Martens]

Thanks for the reports, Jack. I'll be looking forward to reading them throughout the weekend!!!
Good luck.

[Jack Matyas]

Finally its Thursday and in an hour or so we'll hit the track .Very sunny this morning with the fog lifting off the tree lines rapidly ..........temps in the low sixties and a nice barometer (29.77 at the local airport) but here's the bad news - humidity is near 97% and they are calling for thunderstorms this afternoon with the possibility of hail along with them . Sure hope those Pro's like playing ball in the rain tonight .We'll just have to make the best of our runs this morning -- not as much "fooling around" as usual -- guess its 1100' instead of 1000 .Like the big guy in California says --" I'll be back"................

PS--Plenty of rigs just pulling in this morning - this economy has everything screwed up - racers seem to be working that "extra" day to help pay for things . Can anyone remember when Stock/Superstock didn't have full fields at the Keystones ?

[Jack Matyas]

9:15 First time trial ---Stock 75 degrees -- 61% humidity -- 81 grains of water -- .53 vapor pressure -- 29.19 barometer -- 2632 DA -- in other words its slow out there -- on top of that everyones 60 was 2 to 3 off . 1)Bogan -1.067 low ET --10.233
2)Belden -1.037
3)Horensky -1.035
4)Parker -1.001 (Gary)
5)Monohan -.982
6)Matyas -.972
7)Giermanski -.953
8)Lowell -.938
9)J.Linke -.934
10)Totaro -.932 Top Speed 127.33
They just told us we're going to get three hits today -- next one in half an hour.........

[Tim H]

I believe it is raining !!

[Jack Matyas]

Yes , it rained but not before Stock got the third and final shot at the tricky Maple Grove track .Not much 1000' stuff going on today with the exception of the few who always want to be at the bottom .Congrats to Gene Monahan on his #1 position -- I believe his first -- well done ! During the last session the weather was anything but nice--88 degrees -- 40% humidity -- 79.4 grains of water -- 29.23 barometer --.53 vapor pressure -- 3431 DA --just plain ugly and for some reason most teams couldn't get hooked-up well. Sorry I didn't get much on here this afternoon as I was busy with the softball thing-- so little time and so much to do . Anyway Mother Nature won out tonight as the Pro Softball game was a washout totally .The "players" came into the stands about 8:15 for a Q&A session along with pictures and autographs - they tried hard but not as much fun as the game would have been .Good thing our own Bob Frey was there to MC and help pass the time .By the way , more than 7 G's was raised for DRAW tonight -- they should be pleased .

Tommorow morning eliminations begin with Stock being third out -- could also be a washout as rain is predicted...........we'll see .Even now its raining so in the morning if its not they probably won't start on time .

[Jack Matyas]

FOG ! ! ! Thats what we have this morning and it'll take awhile to burn off . Did hear the jet dryer for a short period but its silent now -- nor sure why -- either its real good or real bad out there .60 degrees at the moment and not raining but the local forcast in Mohnton ,PA is calling for a 50 percent chance of thundershowers today --should we believe them ? ?

For the time being it seems that cars are staying in their trailers with not too many folks out and about .

Since there is no real hurry this morning I'll just finish breakfast and mosey around outside -- maybe I can dig up some good dirt for your reading enjoyment .................
Almost forgot -- how about those first round match-ups -- Zane vs Biondo --what are the chances of that happening? Then we have young guns Fletcher vs Pires . The only heads-up I saw was Curcio vs Veach h/sa .

[Jack Matyas]

Well the fog dried up and they spiffed-up the track and sent us out for first round third as planned -- what a difference a few hours make .The weather really changed from early this morning and the performances showed it- many racers including myself picked up .10 to .15 from yesterday afternoon -- plenty of run-outs I'm told as I didn't get to watch many because I ran early in the round .Thank God my opponent(Tom O Loughlin) went red or I would have been out bigtime.Round two in one hour I'm told by officials -- we'll see..............

[danielct301]

Good Morning Jack.
Has the fog burned off?
Will eliminations be starting on time today?

[Jack Matyas]

Racers have just started engines and its a beautiful morning here at Maple Grove Raceway with temps in the high 60's at the moment but climbing rapidly as the Sun is shining brite and no clouds showing .Those teams that are still in can't wait to hit the track .

Had plenty of time yesterday to Bar-b-q and just sit around BS-ing -- the biggest topic among stocker guys and gals were the interesting stats regarding first round redlights - out of 42 match-ups there were 21 redlights and 11 lights that were .009 or better including two perfect .000 deals .Needless to say there are alot of first round losers walking around PO'd about this matter .Most thought something didn't smell "right" .I didn't witness it but was told there was an adjustment of the rollout after first round - did it really happen ? Anyone actually see this ?

Since I got put out in RD 2 (.008 red) I'll have plenty of time today for reports ..........Later


PS--Hey Pudgie - you missed some great S/S class action yesterday along with a ton of super eats at night -- ya gotta get out more buddy ! ! !

[Marc LaBrecque]

Hey Jack . -008 ouch ! Well that does leave time for fried chicken tenders and mushrooms . With what I got done this week I should have gone to the Grove ! Gonna step it up Sept - Oct .

Marc