Decided to get one more track day in with Max the daily driver B4 packing it in for the season. Was hoping for a 12.6 @ 109... The results? Interesting - good and bad. The bad: Cold weather and ****py track netted stock suspension/tires 60' times. Best 60' was a 2.098, with most everything else in the 2.1-2.3 range. The wheelspin was lurid - nasty ***ed wheelhop even in third! Best ET of the day was a 13.003 - Hell, didn't even break into the 12's AT ALL! The good: Trap speeds were friggin' outta this world. Max pulled like a bear once he found traction, and managed to click off a 109.36 MPH trap speed on his best run. Got danged if some sticktion wouldn'ta netted a 12.7 or better! So - best run: 2.098 60' 8.564 ET at the 1/8th 1/8th MPH N/A tower side 13.003 1/4 ET 109.36 MPH trap. The 60' and the 1.8th tell the story. Max danced all over the launch, the 1-2, and even the 2-3. Tried everything from an idle launch to a 4 grand sidestep; there was no gittin' Max off the line inna hurry - period. I was bummed. Handed the keys over to Dale, a buddy of mine who had posted up a P/B of 12.70 in his 383 Challenger R/T a few minutes B4 Max ran. Dale has a 14 flat '99 GT 'vert; figured his 20-odd years of launchin' DR cars might be able to eke out a tenth or two more than I could. Nope. Dale ran a 14 flat. Said the car was like drivin on ice. Guys were runnin' real hard out there. Musta been the last run of the season...We watched a guy **** a valve on the line; another guy grenaded his motor on the big end; a Mustang gutted his trans on the 2-3 shift, and some goober lost brakes and ran off the big end of the track at 110+... Interesting. Did I mention the guy whose S-10 burned up in the staging lanes? Anyway - the best part of the day was this: On my 1st and best run, Max lined up against one of Dale's buddies runnin a 440 six pack Super Bee. Guy's got a 12 sec vanity plate; car's clean. Do a dry hop, stage shallow. Lights drop; I gate the 'Bee by nearly two tenths. Getting the jump was good; Max started spinnin' and hoppin' midway thru the 60. the 'Bee took back the lead B4 Max was outta 1st. Powershift 1-2 @ 6500 RPM; back axle does the wheehop boogie for about a tenth of a second B4 settlin' down. Max roars; takes the lead back from the 'bee at the top of 2nd. 2-3 powershift at 6400 RPM and the 'Bee momentarily sticks his nose out at the bottom of 3rd. Max takes it back - just. Wind the snot outta 3rd (prolly went too far) and stuffed it inta 4th. Max gave the lead up on the 3-4, but took it back again midway thru 4th. NO FRIGGIN' WAY was I gonna lift early after the trap. We were a dead heat crossin' the line, and we BOTH kept goin' for several heartbeats after the trap; neither willing to concede even tho the line was rapidly fadin' and we were both rollin' up fast on a buck twenty. Max braked hard and caught the first turn-off; the 'Bee went down to the end B4 scrubbin' off enough speed to turn. Rolled up to the timing shack and: The winner of the run by 0.01 second was...Max. What a way to end the season - knockin' down a 440 six pack. Runnin' hard, Chuck.
Those are the "COOLEST" races that you'll remember forever..., and it doesn't matter what e.t. you run...!!!
Thanks. I was pretty pleased, as this was a guy who prides himself on havin' a 12.6 Pure Stock RB Mopar. He only takes it out to race. Meanwhile, I show up with my year-round, drive-to-work car, and get a nose on him. Drag racin's fun. Anybody who thinks they're a street hero needs to spend some time at the strip; it's a COMPLETELY different ballgame compared to rollin' off a stoplight!
Pix - Dale thought he'd caught the run on vid, but all he had was a low 12 el camino pullin' a couple of lengths on Max. The daily driver: It's alright. It's been an engineering challenge to see how fast it can run and still 'appear' stock - even with the hood open. I've got one more round of mods to do which should get the car to launch faster - once I do that, Max should be able to click off a 12.6. I need to finish what I started B4 concentrating fully on The Perfect Rod...
That sounds pretty cool man. Alot of my buddies were at Milan this weekend also. I thought about taking my max wedge car out for a run but had to work instead.... We'll have to get together sometime next year and run our cars...It should be pretty close. With the dual carb set up I'm running 10.92 @118mph. Now, with the single 850 holley it runs 12.02
I am not sure who or what max is but it sure runs good. 12's out of a daily is a harder than people think. I use to run a 70 plymouth 440 with 4spd and a 489 cased 4.11 with a hyd 509lift 292dur purple stick and it did the same speed as yours 109mph but I was able to et to 12.7 with good tires. At least you know the car is capable of easy 12 sec p***es after you get some traction. good luck next season and keep us posted. FED
To youse guys: 1) I've run Max against low 12 cars; they pretty much walk away. I'd need headers and cams (note the operative word there - cams) to wake him up and turn that coveted 11.9X p***. 2) As for what Max is... That's why this is OT. Max is an '03 Mustang Mach 1. Limited production alloy block DOHC 4V motor. 5 speed. Max is tarted up with some porting, 4.30's, suspension mods and a buncha other little things. It was the last one on the lot in Detroit in October of '03; the dealer gave it away. As for a 12 sec DD bein' hard to get - yah. It takes time to sort it out, and even then it ain't all that reliable. The rear end is in the process of rippin' the welds apart in an effort to beat the front end to the trap...
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