Scary Moments in Your Racing Career?

Myron Piatek · 12-10-2008, 11:47 PM

1) 1989 or 1990, I was at the Moroso 5-Day bracket race. Made a pass, went through the lights, lifted, and nothing happened. Car kept accellerating. First impulse was to jam the brakes on but I also went for the ignition switch. As soon as I killed the ignition, the was a "kaboom" and the car swerved around, but was starting to slow down. I coasted around the last turn-off and stopped, trying to regain my composure and figure out what happened. I thought I blew the engine but also noticed the car seemed to be sitting crooked. When I got out, I realized I had blown one front tire and severely flat-spotted the other. The engine wasn't blown but the throttle had stuck on an air pan I had installed.

I remember frantically searching for replacement tires or tire/wheel combo. I did find a shorter combo to borrow for the rest of the race. I think I ended up getting a little money that day.

2) Gainesville Raceway. I was in the thick of the points chase in in Pro or Super Pro ET but my Challenger was broke. A friend let me borrow his '68 or '69 big block Cuda that was capable of at least low 10's with a Dominator carb. Not wanting to run that fast, I disconnected the back barrels and figured I could short shift to run high 10's or low 11's. Shifter was an OEM type with no ratchet action. I think he had an air shifter but I always shifted manually. Anyway, I launched, went from first to third, realized what I did after a second or two, tried to go back into second and went to first instead. The valve body did not have a freewheeling first gear, so it locked up the rear wheels. People at the starting line said they got a good view of both sides of the car.

When I got back to the pits, I loaded the car up willing to take just the one tech-in point and passing on the second point earned for at least staging the car in the first round.

12-10-2008, 11:47 PM	#7
Myron Piatek VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Florida Posts: 1,542 Likes: 34 Liked 138 Times in 51 Posts	Re: Scary Moments in Your Racing Career? 1) 1989 or 1990, I was at the Moroso 5-Day bracket race. Made a pass, went through the lights, lifted, and nothing happened. Car kept accellerating. First impulse was to jam the brakes on but I also went for the ignition switch. As soon as I killed the ignition, the was a "kaboom" and the car swerved around, but was starting to slow down. I coasted around the last turn-off and stopped, trying to regain my composure and figure out what happened. I thought I blew the engine but also noticed the car seemed to be sitting crooked. When I got out, I realized I had blown one front tire and severely flat-spotted the other. The engine wasn't blown but the throttle had stuck on an air pan I had installed. I remember frantically searching for replacement tires or tire/wheel combo. I did find a shorter combo to borrow for the rest of the race. I think I ended up getting a little money that day. 2) Gainesville Raceway. I was in the thick of the points chase in in Pro or Super Pro ET but my Challenger was broke. A friend let me borrow his '68 or '69 big block Cuda that was capable of at least low 10's with a Dominator carb. Not wanting to run that fast, I disconnected the back barrels and figured I could short shift to run high 10's or low 11's. Shifter was an OEM type with no ratchet action. I think he had an air shifter but I always shifted manually. Anyway, I launched, went from first to third, realized what I did after a second or two, tried to go back into second and went to first instead. The valve body did not have a freewheeling first gear, so it locked up the rear wheels. People at the starting line said they got a good view of both sides of the car. When I got back to the pits, I loaded the car up willing to take just the one tech-in point and passing on the second point earned for at least staging the car in the first round. __________________ LOCOMOTION Racing