Norwalk made me realize...

[SNKBITE]

How much it sucks to have to wait 7 hours after making your first elimination pass until you get called back to the lanes for your second session!!!
Now that I have vented, on to the next issue.
You know I thought I had my car set up to maximize everything I have to do during competition, but unfortunately I still have an issue with 3rd gear at WOT. I had originally installed a Hurst Billet Plus shifter in my car, then removed the shift arm that came with it and installed a much taller Hurst Competition plus shift arm which was much closer to me so I didn't have to reach while shifting. This seemed to eliminate my "missing 3rd gear" issue.
Well, I missed it again Saturday night at Norwalk, which really wasn't the cause of my loosing in the 2nd round as I cut an incredible .397 light which was RED, thus putting me on the trailer.
While driving the 100 + miles home I started thinking about this, and sure enough when I got home at 12:30 in the morning I dug out the shift arm that came with the Billet Plus and reinstalled it in my car. I then proceeded to go out in the country and make about 6 WOT passes from 2nd to 3rd gear with the new shift arm, and realized the throws seemed shorter, and that is is indeed more comfortable than the Competition Plus I had on it. All 6 passes with the original Billet Plus went fine....
Lesson learned= stop trying to improve on every little thing and concentrate on basics.
Oh yea, I ran an 11.88 on an 11.85 dial in the first round, and after dialing in at 11.75 for the 2nd round, went .397 red.
It was nice meeting you Snakebite. I enjoyed talking to you. Too bad not too many others from here showed up.

 

[Wilson & Co]

Sorry bout your misfortune. Sometimes you start digging to deep for answers to your problems...I know how you feel.

Any other news worth reporting back on?

Any notable 03/04 cobra passes?

How many terminators raced that you noticed and did they get a 03/04 class up and running?

ROg

 

[SNKBITE]

No 03/04 Cobra classes as of yet.
One of the things I found most interesting was the number of new Mercury Marauders on hand. There were no less than 8 of them, I watched one run an 11.88 which I thought was impressive, until not 2 minutes later one clicked off an 11.78 ET..
I spent the rest of the day stewing over the long @ss wait between eliminations so I wasn't really paying much attention to some of the things I should have been.
Although there was a Mustang, not sure what year as I was talking to a friend when he was staging, that was in the Street Legal Class and had just came through the gate from the required 30 mile cruise and clicked off and 8.74 ET. @ 150 something.. UNBELIEVEABLE what $$$$ can do if you have it.
I hope to see more from this sight in Bristol in August.

 

[BlackMachWon]

Good to talk to you Saturday. We talked for only a short time before you had to make a pass.

I am impressed how your car runs with stock exhaust + mufflers. Making me rethink the catback thing.

Yes, there were a ton of Marauders in True Street (the class with the 30mile cruise). One of the 11 sec cars you spoke of has an 03/04 Cobra motor and 6-speed trans. PHP in MI built and brought it.

Greg LaPoint has the black 99-up style 8 sec True Street car. He won last year also. He was at WFC in St. Louis in May, but couldn't get his car to work on drag radials, he's set up for ET Streets. Super clean, well done car. I think he was going over 160-161 mph.

That one long winded announcer needs to be taken out back and shot, he was annoying as hell.

 

[SNKBITE]

Nice meeting you too BlackMachWon. I agree that the announcer was a major pain in the @ss. Not that I dislike the Southern accent he has, but he sounded like a $hit salesman with a mouth full of samples. A major wanna be comedian..PAIN IN THE A$$.
I thought that one of the Marauders was shifting during his run.
I had no idea he had a 4.6 breathed on engine in it. Very impressive to say the least..
Being the hard head I am, I committed to not running headers or a cat-back on my car from the beginning. I have no intention of adding an aftermarket blower so I am maxed out on the air I can feed the engine, and as long as it is expelling what I can feed it with the stock exhaust, except for the bolt in Magnaflow mufflers I did add, I am very content with its performance.
My only disappointment is that I was not up to driving the car as I normally can, which took me out in the 2nd round of eliminations, and I was not able to get it to run where it usually does at that track which is in the 11.60's with a 1.60 something 60 foot time.
Maybe I am getting old or something..
Nice meeting you. Going to Bristol in August?

 

[trey193]

What were your guys mph's with 03's over the weekend??

 

[SALEENNOTCH]

Norwalk was cool, I still am surprised the mod motor guys make more money than the pro's though.... 10 grand compared to 2-3g's.. hmm.
whats with that?

 

[vector]

not sure if you guys saw me there.

i was running true street

best pass was my second one after the cruse

11.2 @ 125 down almost 4mph in the 8th and in the 1/4

best 60 was 1.78 on that run

this was by far the hottest it has been for me running

my 60ft was about .1 off of my norm

and i dont even want to talk about my first pass after the cruse

lets just say leaving off just above idle does not really help to much

 

[SNKBITE]

I don't remember seeing you run vector, but I was talking to someone there that knew you and metioned you were there.
Track conditions were a little suspect for Norwalk. It usually treats me a little better also.
1200 cars registered to run Saturday. Too long of a wait for my taste. I will more than likely go to Bristol in August.

 

[smoke em]

SNKBITE HOW ARE YOU? I agree the wait was pretty bad but I had a great time. I have never been around so many mustangs in one place and so many good racers. The track was a little slick.
did you see my run sunday, if not here it is 1.872 60 ft 12.16
at 115.53 with my brand new 2.8 pulley. thanks for the tip I dropped my air down to 15 lbs. babied the clutch out of the hole never spun a bit

 

[BlackMachWon]

Vector,
I saw you run, I believe you were the fastest 03/04 there?

They usually pit all the true street guys right there next to the track, close to the grandstands, kept walking around looking. Not until I saw the caravan leaving did I realize where they put you guys. Could have been a little further away, jeez.

SNKBITE,
I may go to Bristol, been wanting to see that track.

Any and all of you guys should come to Bowling Green in late Sept. for the NMRA finals if possible. Cobra only class, with more cars than you've seen racing in one place.