Good to hear your first trip out was successful. I just hope mine will be as good next spring when the Fiat hits the track for the first time. Everyone should ask Santa for a digger for Christmas!!!
Took the Gold Digger to Tulsa today for my last test-n-tune of the season. We were running late, so I decide not to take the time to mount the Wheelie bar, on the first run. I'll never do that again. They had just prepped the track before my run, so there was plenty of glue. Pulled a major wheelie out of the hole. Felt like it went six feet in the air to me. Probably was more like four feet. When I set it back down, I stabbed it again. Went up in the air again. What a ride. Went back to the pit and put the bar on. On the second run, I babied to a 10.2 @ 127 MPH. 1.4 sec to the sixty foot and 6.40 sec to the 1/8th @ 102. I had let off it a bit at mid-track then decided to go for it. I'll run faster next spring.
Lookin' good, Randy! Sounds like you had a blast. What a great way to spend Sunday afternoon. Thanks for the report. Dave
Rule # 1 ALWAYS put wheelie bar on. Should have called me. We took Brown's car to Noble last weekend,very thrilling.
I got my rail out for some fun recently. Two weeks ago I ran a 10.2 at 133. My son got to drive it a few times. He really had a ball but he said it wouldnt pull on the top end. I decided it must be the valves springs. Took it over to Recycler's shop last week. He helped me rebuild the heads with a valve job, springs and a new sew of roller rockers. THANKS BRAD! Took it to Tulsa yesterday for their old time drags. I entered in the FED/Altered cl***. This was my first compe***ion. Turns out they decided to run that cl*** bracket style. I didn't know what it would run, but I guessed 9.81. First run, I laid down a 9.818 at 138. MAN what a rush. The other rail had started after me. I saw him comin up along side me. Must have won by a tire length. I had won first round. Second round, 9.815 at 133. Wow, back to back hit the dail-in perfect. I think the speed was down because the motor got really hot. It didn't cool down enough for the final round. It was pushing 230 at the tree. I just let off the gas and let the other team have the win. It just wasn't worth the risk. Why was the car so hot? Well Tulsa is one of the hottest places on the Earth, but it was my fault. I had a fluke accident loading the car. The bottom must have dragged, the radiator got pushed into the bottom pulley. I took the radiator off, got there late. I think if I had a cooling system, I may have won this thing. Take a guess what's next.
Way to go, Randy! Let me get this straight. You "guessed" 9.81 and then ran two 9.81s... WTF? How about "guessing" me some Lotto numbers? Glad to see the car's coming around.
I had put 9.85 on my board and then dialed it down some more. If it weren't for a bit of bad luck (or poor judgment) it would have been an even better day. I'll get 'em next time.
I've been getting ready for the HAMB Drags. I'd like to know who else will be running in the Dragster Cl***.
Here's the latest update on the Gold Digger front engined dragster. Took it out to Tulsa Raceway Park last Friday. First run with the new engine, ran a 9.03. Not far from my goal in the 8 second range. Captions: 001: Thanks to my great crew and Speed Merchants team-mates Brad and Cory. 009: It's fun to have the coolest car in the staging lanes. 011: first burnout, after several months off. What a rush!
More Photos! 012: On the launch-pad. Comencing countdown. 014: My new "Masked Avenger" costume. 019: This photo gives you an idea what it feels-like, when I release the ****on: WARP SPEED!!
The Jalopy Journal
