Last night I took my car out to Ardmore Dragway to prepare for the HAMB drags this Friday. Boy, did I ever learn a lot! Very humbling experience. It was my first time to race at an actual dragstrip so I should have know I wouldn't set the world on fire, but I would have bet $$$ that I would run better than I did. Made 4 p***es and the best I could do was 12.67. That's not bad for a street car, but honestly it should do MUCH better. These Firestone whitewalls just would not hook up for me. 8.8 1/8 mile times. I had people telling me it looked great spinning the wheels like Wild Willie, but... 0.4 reaction times didn't help either. Mike (hemi28modela) was giving me a serious spanking off the line all night long lol. Thanks Mike and Herb (60g***er) for putting up with me and trying to show me the ropes! You guys hung by my side even when I was stinking it up. Next time I'll bring some paper bags so nobody will know who we are Oh well, hey...everybody has to start somewhere I guess. Oh, I just about forgot to mention shifting from 1st to 4th on one p*** LOL!! I blame that one on my shoulder harnesses being too snug, but I don't know if anyone is buying it. Had a hell of a good time though! I really love Ardmore, but keep it to yourself because I'm afraid of it ever changing to suit the m***es. Really cool dragstrip! To be continued....
Umm,.,....you are in the TWELVES! Guys try for years to get a street driven hot rod that fast and still be able to drive it to work. Congrats.
Dude, that is hauling ***. What was your 60 foot and mph? Are you gonna DRIVE that rig from Texas?? Nice work, -Abone.
Thanks for the kind words fellas I kinda needed it lol. Let's see here (digging one and only salvaged time slip out of trash)...60ft=2.16 and 111 mph through the traps. No, Jeff I'm gonna puss out and trailer it. I can't hang.
Ardmore was the first place I had ever raced at in 1979 at the tender age of 17, was sur I had a 12 second car! But the reality was high 13s! Humbling for sure, but it kept me motivated to get it in the high 12s less then a year later. I will always have a soft spot for that track and must say, the current owners have done an outstanding job to make it a modern racing complex in comparsion to when arriving in the 70's, the first guys there would grab grain shovels and brooms to clear the cow **** off the track as it was "dual purpose" track in those days!
yeah dude thats very respectable et for a street car and i would say if you get it to hook better your et will drop dramatically
Couldn't ask for nicer people than the folks running Ardmore. The cow**** story reminds me of yet another misadventure I had lol. We were running at night and I had no idea where the end of the track was and drove right off the end of it into the pasture! So glad I decided to practice before the big show.
old d.j. was bakin'em for at least 200 feet!! mr.ford and the crew s****ed the track a few days before so the track was ****, no good ruber so it wasn't all johns' fault!! he's got a little more in the bag i think! white plugs don't cut it usually! mokan will be a little better. good to see you made it home safe john! cya herb.
Man thats real respectable for the first time out .I myself have had street car that i thought was faster than it actually was ,till i got a time slip.Your not alone and its nothing to hang your head about.Atleast your racing and not sitting in the stands.My advise would be to get sum real slicks out back for the track sessions.If you could drop your 60' into say the 1.8's or 1.7's you would be amazed at the difference it makes in you 1/4 mile time.Hope to see you there racing on the 4th at the Ruenion.I will be there trying to beat my best as always.Ardmore is one of my favorite tracks and the first one i ever raced at in high school (circa 1990).Great people there ...
Thanks everybody! I guess it's safe to give me my shoestrings back. I got to bed at 3:30 this morning and had to get up at 6 lol. I ain't complaining Herb...it was a blast! Look forward to hanging out with everyone at Mo-Kan and definitely will see you at the reunion on the 4th Shock. That's gonna be a big one. Maybe once I get my Mickey Thompson ET streets mounted I can drop my 60'.
Many years ago my brother and I were at a track and watched a kid in a Karman Ghia run some low 20 something. My brother was making fun of the kid and I reminded him that this kid was out there doing it and we were paying to watch. 12's is very respectable, and I love the Ardmore track. When Johnnie still owned it he opened up one Saturday to let me debug my car with no one around. He taught me a lot on that track.
Ha..Ha.. your post hit real close to home, I took mine to the 1/8 mile grudge night race last Wed. They had cones setup keeping you out of the groove, "to save the rubber" I was told. I pull into the burnout box knowing I've got some hard old tires so I'll do a big burnout to soften them up. I hit the gas and the car goes instant 90 degrees right facing the wall. The crowd gathered at the starting line said whoa as did the look on my face I'm sure. Now I'm thinking how can I get to the line without backing up back into the water...lol I leave the line spinning so I short shift into second (th350) and then into third and managed to lift before the cones for some reason. I only ran a 9.44, humbled I line it up again and this time leave it in drive for the burnout . It does a boggy burnout but it does one and of course it dies coming out of the box. I leave spinning again but hold it longer in first, into second, drive and somehow neutral this time. As the motor is free reving and I cross the cones I'm thinking to myself WTF, but it went faster with a 9.23. I let the damn thing cool down and watched the ricers impress the young kids. I'm thinking these kids need some old hot rod in their blood. I get her back in the burnout box, put it in second and bounced it off the rev limiter coming out. I bring it up to about a thousand rpm to preload the ch***is and let it fly, I get a 520 light even. I hold it in first to around 5200 spinning those old hard *** tires and hit second and keep my foot into it past the cones this time. I see a 8.75 flash on the boards as I'm going by, now we are getting somewhere. I pull back into line again with the same procedure, get a 530 light and run another 8.75, no improvement so right out the gates and head home. It was fun, I didn't break anything, but I'm sure I need a new master cylinder after trying to stop the damn thing. But sure thought I knew what I was doing...lol
Your 60 foot blows. (no offence) With the ET Streets and some practice, you should be able to get your 60 down to 1.7, maaaaaybe 1.5. With your mph and a 1.5 60 foot, you would shave a half second off your 1/4 mile et. You could be banging on the door of the 11 second zone for sure. Lots of guys THINK they can do that, but not many actually can. I'm very impressed with your little car, you need to DRIVE that old girl to the Drags and make a run for the cup. Nice work, -Abone.
No offence taken at all...matter of fact I completely agree. I think my 1/8 mile time is absolutely sickening. The bright side is I have all kinds of room for improvement. It will be fun to see what happens. I can't believe how poor my driving was though. It's just different at the strip so I have learned. My jetting was way lean too,shifting ****ed, you name it I fouled it up. So I hear they are gonna have test and tune friday night...
heck yeah go back out and give it hell, i would say you'll be lookin more in the high 1.7 to 1.9 60' range but thats still awesome and a thousanth of your 60' equals way more down track, i love seeing others take there hot rods out and beat on them at the track, especially street driven to the track hot rods. i drive my 31 to the track and it has run 11.04 at 123 mph on dot tires 1.62 60' and then drive it back home, i love the fact that it gets much more respect than trailered faster cars any day
you did good john! im glad to hear you made it home safe too! You're gonna do great next week, I have a feeling i'll be watching your *** more than you were mine! once you get everything bumpin in the same direction she's gonna fly, and just remember it's 1st 2nd 3rd then 4th! lol. I had to rib ya a lil. We'll see ya fri mornin gonna be blast caravanin!
Twelves your first time at a strip? Mine was mid-fifteens... with a 2.21X 60' time. Work on traction, work on consistency, and you'll do great. -Bill
I think everything you guys are saying is right on the money. I have no idea what it'll run at this point, but that's what makes it interesting. If it was easy to put up big numbers then it wouldn't be so fascinating trying to do it. I'm going to have fun no matter what so I can't lose. Thanks again Mike for leading the way for me Friday night! Racing with you gave me much more information than if I had just done some bye runs...for one I wouldn't know just how bad I am off the line lol! Means more when you see a dude just stacking it on ya! I agree man...Mokan is going to be insane! p.s. I know I had everybody there cracking up/wondering what the hell was going on when my rpms dropped instantly from like 7k to 3k coming out of first lol. Best I can tell I went from 1st to 4th then up into 3rd LOL! Talk about losing your ****. I was like,"I can't control my hand!...make it stop!!!" lol
I'm trying Mark! It's definitely harder than it looks (as you well know). I have a new found respect for all the racers.
If you look back in one of your other threads "I TOLD YOU THOSE TIRES ****". I sound like Pops now!!!! Great time for first run, do the tire thing and maybe some 11's.
The Jalopy Journal
