rmcdaniels
01-09-2005, 10:17 PM
http://s115271005.onlinehome.us/images/Drag2.JPG
(that's not me, just an exhibition of my mad MS Paint skillz)
So I went to the track at Fayetteville today, trying to get into the 11's, and it was a beautiful day for it, clear and cool with no wind. I was running late, got there with only an hour until the track closed, so hurried up and got the slicks on, staged up, got a real good burnout, and lined up in the laft lane to run next to an older Camaro or TA that was loud as hell. Light goes green and I'm off, spun em a little too much on the launch, then a little too much in second, hooked up in third, great shift to fourth, stayed in boost, looking down the track I see a late-model white Trans Am way down the track by where you get off onto the return road, just sitting there against the left wall, facing me. I figure he broke down, but why is he facing back this direction? At any rate he's far enough down that I'll have plenty of time to slow down, even if I finish my run, so no big deal. So winding it up in fourth, well over 100MPH, I look down the track and see the Trans Am launch away from the wall accelerating rapidly in the middle of my lane, coming straight at me. The older Camaro/TA is to my right, a bit behind me, but not far enough back that I can gradually cross over that way with any degree of safety, and I can't do a really rapid lane change in wrinkle-wall slicks anyway, that sidewall just ain't built for high speed cornering. So I hit the brakes, the rears immediately lock up and the nose dives a little bringing the edge of my fenders in contact with my slicks, which stick out a bit. Lots of smoke is generated and I use as much brake as I can without bringing my fenders in contact with my slicks too much, but it's enough to keep the rears locked up. I'm not slowing down anywhere near fast enough, and the TA is still accelerating right at me. I go sliding, screaming through the traps, still in excess of 100MPH, a giant cloud of blue smoke trailing behind me, the TA still coming at me, accelerating, getting real close now, when apparently he notices the car coming at him through the smoke cloud and he hits the brakes. Fortunately there is an access path to the return road right after the traps for the people who just run the 1/8th, and he turns into it as I go flying past, still in excess of 70MPH. By the time I get back to the staging lanes, I can't pick out the car, and there's only a couple hundred white Trans Ams at the drag strip, so I figure it wouldn't be fair of me to go around kicking the ass of everyone in a white late-model TA, because some of them probably wouldn't deserve it. So no harm done, except to my nerves, that adrenaline jolt had my hands shaking for ten minutes, and to my two rear tires, which now have nice flat spots on them that make it seem as if I'm hitting an expansion joint every four feet as I drive down the road. The slicks just have a couple of small grooves in them from hitting the fenders. I did win the race and pulled a 12.35, but my trap speed was a little off. I only got one more run in, and overreacting to spinning them too much on the first run, I bogged it in first and only pulled a 12.4 . Then I drove the 80 miles home, the car going thip-thip-thip-thip all the way on the two big flat spots. My wife suggested I stop racing so I don't die or break my car, she just doesn't understand.
(that's not me, just an exhibition of my mad MS Paint skillz)
So I went to the track at Fayetteville today, trying to get into the 11's, and it was a beautiful day for it, clear and cool with no wind. I was running late, got there with only an hour until the track closed, so hurried up and got the slicks on, staged up, got a real good burnout, and lined up in the laft lane to run next to an older Camaro or TA that was loud as hell. Light goes green and I'm off, spun em a little too much on the launch, then a little too much in second, hooked up in third, great shift to fourth, stayed in boost, looking down the track I see a late-model white Trans Am way down the track by where you get off onto the return road, just sitting there against the left wall, facing me. I figure he broke down, but why is he facing back this direction? At any rate he's far enough down that I'll have plenty of time to slow down, even if I finish my run, so no big deal. So winding it up in fourth, well over 100MPH, I look down the track and see the Trans Am launch away from the wall accelerating rapidly in the middle of my lane, coming straight at me. The older Camaro/TA is to my right, a bit behind me, but not far enough back that I can gradually cross over that way with any degree of safety, and I can't do a really rapid lane change in wrinkle-wall slicks anyway, that sidewall just ain't built for high speed cornering. So I hit the brakes, the rears immediately lock up and the nose dives a little bringing the edge of my fenders in contact with my slicks, which stick out a bit. Lots of smoke is generated and I use as much brake as I can without bringing my fenders in contact with my slicks too much, but it's enough to keep the rears locked up. I'm not slowing down anywhere near fast enough, and the TA is still accelerating right at me. I go sliding, screaming through the traps, still in excess of 100MPH, a giant cloud of blue smoke trailing behind me, the TA still coming at me, accelerating, getting real close now, when apparently he notices the car coming at him through the smoke cloud and he hits the brakes. Fortunately there is an access path to the return road right after the traps for the people who just run the 1/8th, and he turns into it as I go flying past, still in excess of 70MPH. By the time I get back to the staging lanes, I can't pick out the car, and there's only a couple hundred white Trans Ams at the drag strip, so I figure it wouldn't be fair of me to go around kicking the ass of everyone in a white late-model TA, because some of them probably wouldn't deserve it. So no harm done, except to my nerves, that adrenaline jolt had my hands shaking for ten minutes, and to my two rear tires, which now have nice flat spots on them that make it seem as if I'm hitting an expansion joint every four feet as I drive down the road. The slicks just have a couple of small grooves in them from hitting the fenders. I did win the race and pulled a 12.35, but my trap speed was a little off. I only got one more run in, and overreacting to spinning them too much on the first run, I bogged it in first and only pulled a 12.4 . Then I drove the 80 miles home, the car going thip-thip-thip-thip all the way on the two big flat spots. My wife suggested I stop racing so I don't die or break my car, she just doesn't understand.