Joliet 2011 Recap

Dallas and I left Tuesday morning for Joliet, IL to get in line for a hard pit space, as they're gone quick in this NMCA/NMRA combined race. We arrived at the track's staging area at 3:30PM Wednesday — about 12 rigs back in line. The track started letting the drivers onto the track at about noon Thursday. We had our pit set up, credentials established, the cars teched in, and back on the trailer by 4PM.

My biggest complaint with Chicago is the tight pitting, and the lack of enforcement of diesel generator exhaust routed into the pits of others. For the third year in a row — a different NMRA toter and trailer
combo has been pitted to my right and their two diesel generators have pumped exhaust into my pit 24/7. For four days we couldn't sit in
our pits, work in our pits, turn off our generator and open the windows of the coach, or cook on the grill because of the carbon monoxide. All of the NSS racers I see at the track show the proper consideration to get and install the exhaust extensions sold at Camping World. The NHRA has a policy for the safety of people in the pits — but the NMCA/NMRA do not enforce one. I've made my Complaint, however my last one was completely ignored. But I digress!

Not a good weekend for me personally. Back in Mechanicsville, my Vitamin C qualified well, but was more than 1/10 off Sunday morning in the first round of eliminations — handing Kurt Neighbor an easy win. In the first Time Trail at Joliet I was almost 2/10 slow. I took all of the weight out of the car — and was still 1/10 off in the second Time Trial. For the last Time Trial I bumped the timing from 32 to 35 and ran my number. In the first round of qualifying the motor didn't sound right as I crossed the line, and so I shut down and had towed back to the pit. I thought it was a rocker or push rod — but all looked well when we pulled off the valve covers. Then we noticed a drop of water from the #3 spark plug.
Pulling the plug had about an ounce of water come out. We hoped for a blown head gasket — but after pulling the head and dropping the #3 piston in the hole — we saw water dripping from the cylinder wall on top of the piston. So I was done for the event. After being pushed back in the Semis in Bradenton for 6 drops of clean water, going -.002 red in the first round of Atlanta, and the car not running the number in the first round in Mechanicsville — I don't have a prayer for the Points Championship this year. Not a good year at all for me.

The Blow by Blow reporting from the track and the final qualifying ranking, ladder and the round results can be found at the Joliet Live thread at the NSS Forum. Fast Forward to the Finals — it was the battle of the Dougs — Doug Duell and Doug Poskevitch, with Duell turning on the "Stupid Light" and giving Poskevitch the win.

Dallas' car was also having a problem running the number — even with the seat removed. On the way home we dropped it off in Evansville, In to have the hood (Dallas forgot to put the hood pins in at Mechanicsville and the body guy down sucked at fixing it) properly mounted, and look at why the Vacuum Pump is blowing oil everywhere. Dallas will go up to run the car in Chandler in a couple of weeks, and bring it back to have the hood prepped and painted. I'll most likely run it at the Dave Duell Classic — as the money for FX is big.

We arrived home at Monday night at 10PM, and by Wednesday 10AM the engine from the Vitamin C had been pulled and disassembled. By noon, the block and crank were at the machinist to be Sonic'd and Magnafluxed. We're hoping that we can resleeve the block and reusing the crank, pistons, cam, and crank. I was planning to run the Texas Whale next year, and was planning to freshenup the Vitamin C this year — and have it as a backup to the cars Dallas and run next year. It looks like that we'll be doing the Freshen up now. I ran the Vitamin C this year because it is dead nuts on consistent, and I felt my best chance for a ring — as opposed to T&Ting a new car. Now that my chance for the ring is hopeless (unless I was to ACE the next three races and three people fell on their faces – Fat Chance) I'll use Milan and Indy to work out any wrinkles in the Whale.

The below are a few NSS photos from Joliet — you will find 80 photos by clicking here.

 

 

Share on Facebook

Hot Rod Reunion Bowling Green Recap

Dave Schultz

June 20, 2011

I’m giving this report, not because I was there, but because there was a thread on the NSS forum keeping people updated. All of the races are updated as they happen on the NSS forum.

Some of the first news received was that 00 Joe (who has been recovering from surgery and rehabilitation after a fall off the top of his motor home) was going to make his comeback at this race. The the next bit of news was that Barry Camp had a wreck on a scooter (not sure who’s – as I’ve never seen him on one before) — and had to go to the hospital. When he returned, he looked rough and wasn’t planning on finishing the event.

Barry after his return from the hospital

39 Drivers showed, and qualified through the breaks of constant rain. The below is the Final Qualifying and the Eliminations Ladder.

a larger more readable version is on the forum link above

Because of the rains, 18 people headed back home thinking that there would not be an Eliminations rounds. They were wrong — making Eliminations “First Round Ugly” from all of the Byes. Fast forward to the finals, Barry Camp (who was convinced to stay and compete) and Clay Kossuth lined up, and both broke-out by the smallest amount — but Barry by a slightly lesser amount.

I guess it pays to stay. Congratulations Barry Camp.

Share on Facebook

I’m having a terrible year. Pushed back in the Semis at Bradenton for six drops of clear water between the staging lanes and the burnout box (they were watching for me every pass because of a rumor), a -.002 red light in Atlanta in the first round, and then misjudging the weight in the first round of Mechanicsville while racing sick as a dog.

I need a break!

Congrats Doug, Dallas, and Kurt who passed me up in Maryland. Don’t take it for granted — I will get my shit together.

Share on Facebook

Recap of the Bradenton race in Fastest Street Car Magazine. The images below are a little too small to read — so click on them to get the readable version.

Share on Facebook

NMCA In Mechanicsville, MD Recap

Dave Schultz 7601

Dallas Schultz 7602

June 7, 2011

 

The event actually started Tuesday, May 31st for Dallas and I. I had spent the previous 9 days in bed, trying to recover from E-Coli poisoning and was still sick (still am) — but if I didn’t at least make one qualifying pass to get on the ladder — I had no chance left for the Championship ring. We normally would have left Wednesday for the 1500+ mile trip, but Dallas had to do all of the driving to Maryland, so we left a day earlier.

 

We arrived at the track late Thursday afternoon and set up our cramped pit. On Friday morning we teched the cars in, and at 1 O’clock Time Trials started. We had three Time Trials, but I ran 11.06 on a 11.00 Index in the Vitamin C at 3:15PM — and figured I was good to go for the 1st Qualifying at 8PM when the weather would be cooler. Dallas was also close enough to his Index that he passed on making more than one Time Trial pass.

We got two Qualifying passes on Friday and three more on Saturday. This was due to the very light turnout for the event. MIR is a very nice track, and the track operator and his people are some of the best I’ve seen. The track hooked good — and the weather was cool. However, NMCA hasn’t figured out that they can draw a lot of people to races in PA, NJ, NC, or MD. I’ve never seen a decent car count at any of those events. I hate making the 3000+ mile round trip drive for these races — especially when we have tracks in Texas that they haven’t considered to replace the low attendance Eastern Seaboard races. This will be most likely my last year with the NMCA as they get farther away every year — but I digress.

 

I had only intended to make 1 qualifying pass as it was worth up to 340 points for the year to get on the ladder — even if I didn’t show for the first round of eliminations — but I felt well enough to make all of the qualifying and then attempt the Eliminations. The below is qualifying after the 4th round (no change for the 5th) and the ladder.

 

 

It rained during the night, and it took the track staff most of Sunday morning to get the track ready. I guessed the weight wrong for the humidity, plus had a terrible 60′ from spin — so Kurt made quick work of me as I was about 1/10 off. Camp won over Poskevitch, Midile over Roell, Dallas over Hopkins, Koester over Young, Merrick over Winick, Wilson had a “Broke Bye” when Bates got backed out, and Duell had the “Competition Bye”.

 

 

In the second round it was Duel over Camp, Neighbor over Dallas, Koester over Wilson, and Midile over Merrick. In the Semis, Duell beat Midile and Skippy Koester beat Kurt Neighbor. Doug Duell won in the finals.

 

 

Dallas and I left the track at about 2PM and arrived back at the shop at 8PM — driving 31 hours straight. There is a thread on the NSS forum with more details and comments.

 

 

Share on Facebook

Texas Whale is Mopar Muscle Magazine’s August 2011 PentaStar!

 

Share on Facebook