JP1738's Stocker and S/G car

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by cad

I noticed my AR3934 plugs doing the same thing last season.... I dont know the cause, as nothing had changed with my combo after the dyno. Switching back to NGK this season.

Yeah I need to do better about checking these plugs. I've been running that brand for a while and the center electrode always wears down like this after a period of time. Mine gets quite a lot of abuse between quarter-mile racing and nitrous for index racing. Not to mention if all goes to plan, I'll make 200-250 runs in it this year. I try to change them out twice a year to avoid the engine breaking up as it often does when the gap grows to this size. If I haven't changed them out in time, it'll typically let me know.

[JP1738]

Well, going along with the theme this year, I just cannot seem to pull into the lanes right at all. Rode over to my local track Shadyside this past weekend to double enter in 6.0 index and the bracket race and was rather rudely shown the door in both classes third round.

.015 take .001 no good in the bracket race as my man was .003 dead 4.

.006 dead 6 no good in the 6.0 race as my man was .008 dead 1. .012 total package and .003 behind for the bye to the final. A bad beat and a tough pill to swallow.

Once again, I just have to keep making good laps and hope that the little numbers will start to go my direction so I can start coming out on the winning end of these good, tight races.

[nickh]

So curious minds want to know, is the left headlight up a speed secret? Would think you are giving up 1 to 2 mph. Just having fun Dawson it is fun following your journey, it is nice to see other broke racers doing the best we can with what we have. Love the grocery getter wagon too.

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by nickh

So curious minds want to know, is the left headlight up a speed secret? Would think you are giving up 1 to 2 mph. Just having fun Dawson it is fun following your journey, it is nice to see other broke racers doing the best we can with what we have. Love the grocery getter wagon too.

Thanks man!

LOL the real reason I only have one headlight is that the scrap yard I raided to find headlight pieces only had the driver's side assembly. I've got some of the parts to mount the other side but not enough to make it work. The headlight I do have does work and folds up and down. I have the motor wired to a momentary switch on my switch panel and the headlight itself on the other side of the same switch. If you notice, the headlight is sticker bombed because the trim piece on top was off a grey RX7 so instead of painting it to match, I just covered it with decals. Now I can see where I'm going and wink at people at the same time.

Here's a pic of the car before I cut out the cover that was just welded in place and then another pic of what it looked like before I bombed it. Before I added stickers, it just looked like the car had a black eye lol.



And here's a pic of the headlight on just after I jerry rigged it all together and before I painted and installed the plastic trim that surrounds the framing.


I know you didn't ask for all this and was just kidding, but I thought it was pretty neat so I figured I'd share.

[JP1738]

Little update on my build thread here:

After struggling mightily with the car's consistency I decided to take a few steps towards sorting that out. I hit up a good friend of mine in Jerry Cline and had a front end alignment done on my Mazda. I noticed it had begun to hunt really bad down track at speed and I felt like the car had none or positive tow in the front end. My suspicions were confirmed and tow was added and the alignment was corrected. I also threw some new to me tires on the car. I discovered the rear slicks on my car were much older than I previously thought and I think the sidewalls of my MTs were completely destroyed. The car was much much more consistent at the most recent race I attened but I ran into the buzz saw that is my father for the loss at 3 cars in the 6.0 index race.

I have had a pretty rough go since my last post on here. Still struggling to string enough winlights together to get in the winner's circle. Made the wrong decision at Rockingham dragway in there 6.0 index class at Duck X Production's Battle For the Thrones first round for the loss. Then the next race I hogged the finish line up on my dad in the semis of the 6.0 race at Shadyside dragway shortly after turning it -.001 red 4th round of the bracket race. Still turning loose like a hero and driving pretty good, just keep running into good runs or making the wrong call on the big end. My worst light at Shadyside outside of my -.001 red was .014 through 3 practice hits and 8 total rounds of eliminations. I'm thrilled by that to be honest but haven't seemed to be able to get the job done. I'll keep plucking away, I know my luck will turn around at some point.


Getting new tires mounted and bubble balanced at our shop

Semis with my dad. .009 5.996 taking a pile for the breakout loss.

Great lick here, .005 dead .004 taking .009 stripe after killing about one hundredth at the finish line

[nickh]

Dawson no sub for more laps in a car, great job. You should have told your Dad that if he wants a fathers day gift then he should have let you win the round...Hey just kidding. I am sure that was fun racing him, am sure there will be some trash talking at the dinner table LOL.

In 05 when we started running TS, the car we bought and was advertised that the tires looked new....NOT, we went to a race first time with the car at the track, damn near wrecked it on the top end started skating around. Come to find out the tires (Hoosiers) were old (no I did not check date code and that is on me). After putting new tires on went from running 7.80's not hooking and skating to hooking up and running 7.20's. After that we went to Hughes (through Donnie Pedan helping us) and they built us a converter then car started running 7.0's and dipping into high 6.90's. Keep digging love following you!

I am old and retired now but the memories are taking to the grave. Now the most exciting thing a do everyday is taking my Beano Pill for excessive Gas!

[doglover44]

Hope you are having fun at the 4 Wide in Charlotte !

[JP1738]

aaaaand I'm back on my build thread after a brief hiatus.

It's been an awesome last few weeks of racing and I'm really excited about the way my program is trending! Had a great showing at the national event at Charlotte in my stocker making it down to the semi finals where I lost a double breakout to the runner-up Dennis Bargeron.

We would tangle again the following weekend at the Double National Open at Carolina Dragway. I managed a 3rd round appearance in Stock on Saturday, losing to the eventual winner and good buddy Kenny Anderson. Then I turned around and made it to the Super Street and Stock final on Sunday where I failed to get it done in both classes. Dennis Bargeron got me again in Stock where we had a really great race. .046 to his .050, he drops to dead three giving me .007 to get in. I out-stopped him to get .004 behind to go 7.941 off my 7.93 dial for the loss. Missed the tree to Chip Johnson in the final in Super Street, then failed to get far enough behind him to lose a double breakout by .004.

Not a bad weekend at all considering it cost me $840 to roll in the gate with two race cars in tow, entering all 4 National Opens as well as a pair of SGAS races that were being contested in conjunction with the Opens. Managed a 4th round showing in SGAS Friday night while the Saturday race was rained out after the completion of the open. After all was said and done I managed to break even on the entry fees after cashing in 3 out of 4 of the opens I entered.

I plan to keep the road hot this spring and summer! Two race cars for a one man band ain't easy but I'm still giving it 110%. I'm headed to Roxboro Motorsports Park to compete in there 6.0 index class and bracket race with my Mazda. I'm definitely due with as well as I've been driving, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow's races. Got the valves lashed and some maintenance done on the index ride, locked and loaded for the weekend!

ZMAX Dragway!




Sunday drive down the 1/4 mile!


Getting everything ready for Carolina Dragway!


The complete rig with essentially my entire life's work in tow.


My heaven.


Getting my act together for this weekend!

[JP1738]

Another update coming in hot before another full weekend of racing!

I've had a whale of a time at the races the last few weeks and won a ton of rounds, I think I'm really hitting my stride this year. Coming off two final round appearances in Stock and SST at the D2 Carolina Dragway National Opens, I kept the road hot and eased up to Roxboro Motorsports Park 5/10/25. I doubled entered my Mazda in 6.0 index and Top Eliminator and made it to both class finals! Ended up taking the runner-up in 6.0, while my final round opponent and I in Top elected to split and quit. A good lick for me financially and a huge confidence booster after driving really good all weekend. I'll put a pic up of all the time slips, but during eliminations, I think the worst I let go of the button in either class was .024, otherwise it was mid-teen or better. Awesome Awesome weekend and I was so proud of the results.

Fast forward to this past weekend I went to Union County Dragway for another round of double entry in 6.0 and Top where I had similar results. Tuned it -.001 red second round of 6.0 index, but ended up making it to another final in Top where I was .022 dead 7 to be .001 behind a 4.60s dragster. A tough runner-up but good race overall. Once again, extremely proud of the result and the way I drove all day long. The car has been amazing since I put new rubber on all 4 corners and my 6.0 nitrous tune-ups have been on the money.

Tomorrow I head to Shadyside dragway to run a class called Baby Gangsters. It is a 6.30 index race on a .400 pro tree that is limited to 28/10.5 tires, door cars, no electronics, and no wheelie bars. It's a challenging class, but I threw the small tires back on my Mazda to do a little grudge and outlaw racing. I'll try to sneak back home and swap cars out in favor of my station wagon to get a few hits in on Sunday in preparation for the D2 double divisional coming up next week at SGMP. Really excited to get back to class racing and join my friends over there for a few days, it's gonna be a blast!

Roxboro staging lanes. Trying to get some of the heat out of the car after hot lapping it and being deep in both classes the entire day.


Lots of laps! I didn't include a few by-runs I had in this pic, I believe I made 17 runs in total, all in a span of about 10 hours.


Finals at Union


Comically small car


Winner's Circle with the entire rig!

[goinbroke2]

Since my junk is still in pieces, I'll live vicariously through you! LOL!! Awesome summer and it's just starting, great job!!