First report from Famoso at the ANRA Finals. The West Coast HA/GRs were represented by Team Geezerspeed and Team Twirl'n who are the only two of us running at the moment. Team Geezerspeed is in the middle of some chassis updates, having recently had a "tail shaft operation" with the associated loss of 13 inches of frame rail and wheelbase, and the leaning tower of power is going through some teething problems, but the boys still managed to draw some interested potential builders to the class with their unique style of early mid-engined rail. They only got in two runs on Saturday due to a mysterious lack of air in the right rear tire while in the lanes for the second round of qualifying, but were looking forward to a better day on Sunday. First up on Saturday morning Old6rodder at the lights ready to go: He bogged a bit on the launch as the track seems to be more "contact cement" than asphalt, but made the first run for the "new and improved" shorter wheelbase Barn Job and got some good commentary from the crowd: After having the "airless tire" in round two, Russ staged for a run and after making sure the light was actually green, won the race against a much quicker car, with the aid of the other lane "picking the cherry": Russ's time on the sign: Team Twirl'n just keeps gettin' better and Rocky and Lee are really making progress since they put the stick in the car. Lee shifts that top loader so it sounds like an automatic and had three good runs on Saturday setting a new fast ET for the car and bringing lots of interested folks and possible new builders into the fold. Lee loves the burnouts and though it doesn't show very much, got nicely sideways lighting the tires: At the line the car looks great with all of the lettering and bright color and I hate to say it but that little Ford 6 really sounds good too: The reward for all of their work, finally into the 14 second runs: These guys are really what this class is all about, and the true trailblazers for our bunch here in California. Next year we are going to have more cars running out here and the fun just keeps growing. We have several new cars on the way, and though we have newer tow rigs and better facilities for our cars and teams, it's like you walked into the pits in the late '50. This is drag racing like it used to be and I'm looking forward to racing with these guys next year. Dick and Rocky will have to fill ya in on Sunday's racing as we did a one day turn around. The ANRA runs a good show and they seem to really like our cars so it looks like we have a home for now and need to get enough cars that we can put on a good showing. The season is done for most of us, so get building this winter and lets try and have a bunch of HA/GRs there for 2009.
Not much to add to Tom's Saturday review. Twirl'n's getting their car debugged very nicely, and Lee's handling the lever just fine. Keeps turning better'n better times, just the way we're supposed to. Our own first run Saturday was a lame 15.821 @ 84.54, with my forgetting to reset the jets properly after installing the new needles. Also, I've failed to cure our top end crap still. The shorter car hooks up great though, and I'll add some better pictures to the album this week sometime (later I may segregate out a "run" album as well). Russ got nailed by a gremlin on our second run as the right rear tire elected (for no reason we could discern) to go flat in the lanes. We spotted it only just before he was to be staged (real bias ply sidewalls'll hold their shape just fine under a light car). Fortunate, but damned frustrating. We pulled aside and let the rest of the Open Wheelers get on with it. A thorough inspection and re-airing showed nothing evident so we deduced it as an unseated valve core from our previous pressure check. Russ took'er out for our third run and did fairly well considering the still extant crap. So for Sunday Lee and I decided to dial in at 14.50, run together heads up and put on a bit of a show. And we did just that, nice parallel water-box burnouts, good alternate lights staging and all. We both cut a decent tree and launched nicely side by side. All that equality ended at the end of first gear of course, as Lee motored away from me from there on. They've got that little Ford just singin' and he's handling it right. The motoring-on continued to its 14.789 @ 83.54 (he had to back off a tad to be safe on his dial-in) conclusion against my 15.740 @ 80.82 trailering. It was a blast and the stands loved it. The announcer had a field day with it as well. But the best is yet to come, folks. That was but the first round of eliminations. I'll steal a march by telling you "somebody's" HA/GR made it to the last round of the ANRA, Season Finals, Open Wheel class to face down the class points leader for the year. Got yer 'tention yet? Fill in and finish the story, Lee ..................
Dang.......really sorry we couldn't have stayed for Sunday. Would have loved to see that side by side, heads up pass. Forgot to add to the first report that our Crew Chief, (and total support in this car we are building), Patti, sends her thanks to both Geezerspeed and Twirl'n for a fun day at the drags.
What a GREAT time the Team TWIRL"N Gang had, people @ the ANRA races are great and we make new friends each outing. I can't wait to have Lee tell the story, I got to spill the beans! The three speed had him smiling EAR TO EAR, no more was he along for the ride counting stones along the retaining wall, he was BANGING GEARS! The manual trans improved his reaction time over the stock auto and the car ran a BEST of 14.65 (.55 seconds quicker than the stock C4), breaking out by .010 in the FINALS. The interest in the cars is awesome, from what Old6' and I can tell we think there may be 7 or more cars by DRAGFEST I'll try to leave something for LEE to add, Rocky
Wow.......14.65, 0.21 improvement in one day....... screw the break out, racing is going as fast and quick as ya can. Lee sure does a great job banging those gears. Looking forward to keepin' you guys honest next year. Been makin' parts and keeping the hole saws warm.
Yep, and now they say they're going to beat us to a 13. Worst thing about that is they just might do it, we won't get another shot 'til March at least.
The Jalopy Journal
