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| El Mirage - May | Speedweek | World of Speed | World Finals |
| El Mirage - November |
As the 2008 Racing Season begins, looking back, I realize
that it marks my 53rd year in this crazy endeavor. When it all
started, little did I know the effect it would have on my life. There are many
wonderful people I cherish as my friends, several that have gone on to the top
of the sport, some that have given their lives in the pursuit, others have
displayed their humility in accepting the failure to achieve their dreams. From
these friends, I have learned to accept the good times and the not so good
times, that records are set to be broken and that no one person has all the
answers. This experience has taught me two things…”One
who walks in another’s tracks leaves no footprints.” and
“If an expert says it can’t be done, get another expert.”
My sons Jeff and Barry and I went
to the opening meet at El Mirage this past weekend. Our goal was the same as the
last two years, to put Barry in the “Dirty Two” Club. We made three runs
during the two-day meet. For the first pass, we ran the engine setup as dynoed
giving us 202.473 MPH. According to the EGT’s, it appeared to be a bit lean so
for the second run, I installed a step richer jet. Barry messed up on the
shifting, which ate up too much course, and we ran 195.214 MPH, but the EGT’s
looked better. Our other problem was that the rpm/speeds were not lining up with
my gear charts. Our RPM’s were in the mid to high 7000 range and the engine
likes to run in the mid 8000’s. As it turned out, we had put a step higher
gear in the car in November '07 and didn’t get to make a second run, so I had
no record of the change in the computer.
I had five gallons of nitro left
over from the 60’s that I have been aching to use. Having talked to a few
about what to expect from a 10% mix and I decided that rather than go down a
gear for the third run, I would give it a try. Well, it smelled good…sounded a
bit crisper, but the results were not that encouraging. We left the lakebed with
our goal in unchanged, running only 203.653 MPH. Barry will have to wait until
November to try again.
It was a great weekend; I visited
with several long-time friends, spent quality time with my sons and found the
engine to be sound, apparently ready for Speedweek. I have a few more chores to
do with the car, but basically it is ready.
I received an email this morning, with pictures attached, discussing the plans for repairs to the salt. To my surprise, the salt is already dry and looks GREAT! Hope to see you there in August.
This has been a different kind of year for us. We went to
the May Lakes Meet and came home with some good data, but no record. After
checking over the engine, we were basically ready for Speedweek so no thrashing
needed this year. There were a few odds and ends to take up my time, but nothing
of a critical nature so I was able to relax a bit.
Margaret and I left for the salt at 7 AM Saturday the 16th stopping overnight in Elko and getting to the salt at about 9 AM Sunday. After a partial pit setup and getting the fire bottles certified, we went to Wendover to pick up Jeff and Barry who flew in from Red Bluff CA. That is a better way to travel, but Dad and Mom still get to tow for 12 hours. Something is wrong with this picture!
We didn’t get the car ready for inspection on Sunday
before they closed the line, but it worked out well since the line was much
shorter on Monday morning. We got through inspection about noon and readied the
car for its first run. I took the first ride, running a 200.005mph ¼, a
207.239mph 1st mile and shut down just after the 3 mile when the oil light came
on. This was a very sad moment since last year we had two crankshaft failures
(broken rods). After changing the oil, checking the Oberg Oil Filter and finding
it to be clean and getting everything back together, I found the wire to the oil
pressure light switch had been captured by the valve cover which eventually
grounded causing the light to come on. Oh Happy Day! A stupid thing to do, but I
have done worse.
Since I don’t really cherish driving as I once did, I
chose to let Barry do the driving for the rest of the week. He enjoys driving
and does a great job of feeling what the car is doing and responding
appropriately. His first run Tuesday resulted in a 212.934mph ¼ mile,
219.758mph 1st mile, a 232.701mph 2nd mile, a 238.358mph 3rd
mile and an exit of 239.646mph. I had chosen what I thought was a rich jet, but
the engine temp was 190+ which was above what I like to see with alky. During
the check over in the pits, we found that we had collect debris in the nozzle
screens. We cleaned them and richened a step for the next run. This run was to
be the best of the meet for us. A 211.002mph ¼, 218.323mph 1st mile,
a 233.418mph 2nd mile, a 240.775mph 3rd mile and a
242.695mph exit speed. Engine temp was again high 205 F. Again we found debris
in the nozzle screens. We cleaned them again and this time disassembled the fuel
filter, cleaned it and flushed the system from there forward with gasoline.
I upped the jet again by .002 and Barry went on his fourth
run. The speeds were down a bit, 212.380mph ¼, 218.943mph 1st mile,
231.815mph 2nd mile, 238.031mph 3rd mile and 239.939mph
exit, still a good run. We haven’t run this well since 2004 so it is not that
discouraging. We have been running less ignition timing (34 BTDC as opposed to
the 39 BTDC) since being on the dyno in April. The quarter times have been lower
than we ran in 2004. Our best in 2004 was 223mph and this year 212mph was the
best. I believe that we could qualify if the ¼ times were 5 or 6 MPH better.
Thinking that more timing would achieve that goal, I advanced to 38 BTDC. On the
next run Barry shut off in the quarter after losing #4 cylinder. It now appears
to be too rich! #2 and #4 plugs were wet. We leaned it a bit and made another
attempt. At about 8000 rpm in second gear the engine abruptly quit. Back in the
pits it was found that the camshaft was no longer turning. We decided that it
was unlikely that we could make the needed repairs on the salt, so we broke camp
and headed home Friday AM.
After pulling the engine and making a partial teardown, we
know this…there is a broken roller lifter, (apparently because of a sloppy
lifter bore, this bore was damaged in our blowup during the 2007 Speedweek,
obviously our repair was not sufficient.) a
bruised camshaft, a broken pushrod, two bent pushrods, and the lifter tie-bar
found its way to the front cover exploding the timing chain, and a few bent
valves. I don’t know how many since the heads have not yet been disassembled.
It looks like a complete teardown is in order to assure that we have no hidden
problems to plague us in September.
All in all, we had a great week. We enjoyed being together as a family, (our sons, Jeff and Barry, my brother Gary who has been at every Speedweek since 1986 and nephew Ron who returned for the first time since 1990), seeing many of our longtime friends, and enjoying the atmosphere of just being on the salt. This marked my 51st year since first coming to the salt in 1957. I missed 1968 and 69, but otherwise have made all the meets since. Of course we would liked to have gone faster, but that will come. It was good not to have crankshaft problems and it appears that the fuel system is functioning as designed once again. We have a bit of work to do and then, weather permitting, more testing at the World of Speed.