Yep. It's official. Jason Schaefer is now on The Yay-Hoo Cup for the third time... and, as usual, he did it with style... 'Schaefer-style'. If you guys remember the stories of Jason's previous wins in 2011-12 (here), you'll recall that the latter was effectively a repeat of the former wherein Jason and crew met up with Reggie Moore in the Organ Grinder and they drove the 350-400 miles together to the event. Then, both years, after ticking off 10.6-second passes, Jason would blow up his motor and get towed back to Joplin by his brother-in-law's coupe. Back in the hotel parking lot, the Schaefer clan would celebrate-slash-prepare to trailer the wounded Chicken Coupe back to Florida so the kids could start school on Monday. That's just how they did it... twice. This year was a little different. This year, Jason drove the Chicken Coupe the full 943 miles to Joplin from Florida... but he included a slight detour to pick up his 14-year old nephew, who would serve as co-pilot for the journey. The trip to Joplin was effectively drama-free, but their safe arrival was countered by buckets of rain dumped down the carbs of the coupe's blown big block Friday night. Pre-race tuning was expanded to include oil changes and hoping for dry cylinders. It worked. The coupe ticked off a 10.80 pass in detuned, highway-friendly mode, and Jason promised that he was gonna leave well enough alone so that he could... you know... win The Cup™ and safely drive the beast back home to Florida. That plan lasted about an hour, though, as Jason was soon tempted by the need to push the beast further... and he floated valves in the process. So... dust off Plan B. Pile the tools and crew into the rumble seat of the coupe, and hitch it behind the Organ Grinder for the tow back to Joplin wherein the trailer awaits. Congrats to Jason! I'll let him respond with additional details here, but this 10.80 pass was the quickest of the Cup Contenders™ this year. The Cup™ is his, again. I also want to thank all the other folks who signed up to make the run for The Cup™ interesting and fun: Robin 'RAVEN' Harvey (drove 250 miles) Ken 'RACER29' Long (150 miles) Reggie 'ORGANGRINDER' Moore (360 miles) Nick 'MALCOLM' Hoesing (350 miles) Jason 'JHO' Holland (350 miles) Mike Harty (403 miles) You guys all rule!
Well it's like my dear sweet grandma used to tell me: "It doesn't really matter whether you win or lose...... as long as you win" Special thanks to All the Yay-Hoos for re-directing everyones attention to the MOST IMPORTANT PART OF HOT RODS....... DRIVING THEM ON THE STREETS..... WHERE THEY BELONG!!!! And very special thanks to Blake for cool words and great photos.... It was the exact therapy that I needed... God Bless all you guys!
Great job Jason! AND, to the Yay-Hoos for puttin' the challenge out there, drive 'em AND run 'em. Hats off to both of ya! Thanks.
I think most were in the 12's except Reggie, who ran very low 11's... perhaps others will chime in here to confirm...? Either way, it's important to emphasize that anyone could win The Cup with a mid-12 run. We don't want folks refusing to sign up just because some 10-sec guy signs up. Anything can happen on the track! We had guys who run easy mid-11's refuse to sign up last year because they just assumed they needed mid-10's to compete... not so.
I assume you're referring to years of cars? Our take has always been that if Ryan allows it to register for the HAMB Drags, it meets our criteria... as long as it's driven to the event.
My best was an 11.55. I was a tenth slower than normal because my throttle cable had slipped a bit not allowing WOT. Didn't realize it till I got home but knew something was slowing me down.
That was me last year. The previous year's winner, Mike, was supposed to be there so it caused me to chicken out. He had been running I think mid 9's in his Henry J. Turns out I could have had it last year had I entered because he ended up not being there. But for me it's fun either way. The main thing here is DRIVE THEM THINGS!
Better late than never! I didn't drive all the way to Joplin but it was worth the trip! Driving into the car park with wall to wall kool was the ultimate in my 7500 mile US road trip! Going to make it again, hopefully soon! There were some wicked fast hotrods getting amongst it, one in particular was an A coupe with organ pipe exhaust, was thoroughly entertained everytime it launched and grabbed gears, great ride, HAMB drags rock!
Gee willickers, I thought my 63 Galaxie 427 was bitchin', that is, UNTIL I saw the Chix coupe! Congrats!
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