The Dawg Days of Winter

Projects Projects Projects. Well the PRI show was a huge success. I believe we have brought 3 - 5 sponsors on board for the 09 race season. I should have their final approvals by the middle of january and will be making a press release as the details are finalized. Plus it was really awesome to meet the people that make the parts that we rely on so heavily to race. I always try to do business with folks that make their stuff here in the U.S.A and it was refreshing to talk to manufacturers that feel the same way i do.Not to mention we saw some bad ass new stuff. So here we are the week of christmas and everyone around me is focused on shopping, and baking, and family........ and all i can think about is turning on the bottom bulb the first race of the year and busting some ass. There is so much to do, that I must admit I am somewhat overwhelmed. We are progressing nicely on our new shop mule, Or maybe i should say cow. (Johnson's Camaro is actually painted like a cow. It looks like it should be in a Chic Fil A commercial. But we have the new beast of a motor fitted, motor plates, midplate, crossmember made. I have the rear end done. The cage is almost done. Im hoping by the first week in january we can actually start bolting things together. This thing is going to be a monster. 706 cubic inches of big chief big nuts chevy power on alcohol with a monster procharger hanging up front. And me behind the laptop. Does it get any sweeter? I cant wait to burn this beast in. The orange car is pretty much sitting where it was two weeks ago. Im trying to get the cow mobile well on its way to completion before i start working on the pumpkin. But I have alot to do to it as well. A complete new engine ( boy i wish i could tell you the specs on this thing, Records will fall) New headers, new anti roll bar. New wheels. and tons of little odds and ends. I am still planning on making the move to Limited Street if the sponsors come through. Yall all need to do a voodoo sponsor dance to help me out.... We will debut the new powerplant at the U.S street nationals in bradenton, Fla on January 24th. From me and everyone on the team, Yall all have a Merry Christmas and a Smokin New Year. Ill be in the shop... See yall soon.

What Off Season?

I am not well suited for boredom. This time of the year blows. I hate the off season. I am used to going nonstop 7 days a week, and with no racing in sight, i find myself with more time than i know what to do with. So the projects begin. New motor, Spare transmission, Overhauling everything. We have some big plans in the works for 2009 and it's gonna be awesome. We tore up the 8.8 rear end for the last time last sunday. I am putting in fabricated 9 inch this week with 40 spline axles and a pro mod ultra case. I am tired or breaking drivetrain parts, and those of yall that know me know that when i do something i do it right. Im gonna try to make the Darlington stock suspension race this saturday if all the parts come in, but that will be the last hoooraaa for the year. Me and Johnson have a ton of work to do to his car to get it ready for Limited street next year. Next week i'll be in Florida trying to drum up some sponsors at the annual PRI show. Hopefully with some luck ill bring home the bacon. I hope all you guys had a Happy Thanksgiving. Ill post car updates as they happen. And if any of you have any Top Fuel or Pro MODS that need to be tested in the offseason, I have motorhome, will travel.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL (KINDA)

Thanks to some special favors and massive amounts of begging, We got the head welded up. Parts in, and the motor put back together. I spun her over at 5 pm friday afternoon and she purred like a kitten.Off we went to the ORSCA Wolrld Finals at Carolina Dragway. Friday night testing was rained out due to gale force winds and torrential downpours of biblical nature. Saturday we came out the box with a safe tune up. or so i thought. The track was slick, cold, and choppy. It had rained like 5 inches in three days. The track prep crew were really working to get a handle on the racing surface. It was working really well for slick tired cars. But was giving us radial tire guys a fit. I smoked the tires all three rounds qualifying. Ended up qualified 5th with a 5.52. That normally wouldnt even make the field but everyone else was spinning too. I was really frustrated. Down right pissed off even. I am used to adversity but its scary going into eliminations and u havent even made it off the starting line yet. Saturday was still fun though. It was like being a celebrity for a day. Horsepower Tv had cameras on me all day and we did tons of interviews. They mounted a camera in my car and a mic in my helmet. Im sure alot of that stuff will need to be censored after the tire smokeapalooza festival. I signed autographs and sold out of tshirts in like two hours. I really like it when the kids come up and ask questions. Its really cool to see the fire in their eyes that i had when i was little. Anyway all the hoopla was over for the day, and i was sleepless like always before eliminations. I worked on the laptop most of the night. Cooking up a new tune up. By sunrise i was fired up and raring to go. The sun came out and i realized that no matter what happened today i was still having fun. what better way to spend a weekend than racing. I love this stuff. I rallied the boys for a little pep talk before first round. I told them not to worry . I had frankenstiened a tune up that was gaurenteed to move the hot rod off the line. Man everyone in the world was their cheering us on.I launched her first round and there she went. It was like she was teasing me all day saturday. We took the win with a 5.13. Boy i was feeling jiggy then. My chest was all bowed out. We were back in the saddle. Second round I dodged the bullet. I pepped the old girl up a little. But not enough. I went a 5.04 to his 5.03. But guess what, he red lighted. now i was really pumped. dancing around like a circus monkey. Off we went to the semi's. But the sun was down and the track was cold and The guy i had to run in the Semi's (Terry Elam) had just went a 4.85. Holy freakin smokes thats fast. So not rain nor wind nor snow was going to stop me from loading in the badonkeydonk tune up in it. We staged and launched like two scud missiles out of a cannon. He had me by a car at the sixty when he shook the tires. then i shook the tires. It was a pedal fest. Boy i love me a good pedal fest. I wacked the throttle two quick times to clean the motor and then eased into it and damn if it didnt stick. i won with a 5.11. I was on top of the world now. We were off to our sixth straight final in a row. Boom yow. I was matched up against my buddy Dustin Bradford of the G Body Posse. We burned in and i was feeling good. Staged and launched and then boom. A hiroshima sized mushroom cloud went off again in my motor. He cruised by me taking the win. Congrats to those boys. They deserve it. We dropped another exhaust valve. This time it broke everything. But i always do go out with a bang. We clinched the ORSCA EZ STREET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. Boy it feels good to say that. Thats right. Introducing Steve Jackson And KillinTime racing. Your 2008 Orsca World Champs. I might get some shirts made. Alright ill quit bragging. Boy it has been a hell of a year. Sunday when we left the track we decided to take the rest of the winter off and get ready for next year. That lasted till about 8 am monday morning when johnson informed me that he had the motor out and was putting the spare motor in. Dayum we love this stuff. So last night, 23 hours after the catastropy we busted his motor off. We are gonna try to test sometime this week and see if it will run what my motor did. Wish us luck and we'll see everyone in Jackson this Saturday for Grudgefest.

THE SKINNY

Alright we are deep in the stinky stuff. I took the motor apart last night and its worse than what i thought. The bootleg overpriced REV (RACING ENGINE VALVE) titanium valves caused the problem. The exhaust valve broke in half under the locks. (this is the second time this has happened. ) which caused the supercharger to compressor surge whick broke the front drive off of the blower. Then things got fun as the lifter broke because the pushrod bent. The intake lifter stuck. Then the valve hit the piston and broke the entire rocker stand boss completely out of the head. Wheww that was a mouth full. So it's tuesday. I took the head this morning to the machine shop to see if it can be fixed. And fixed in a hurry. I should know by this afternoon. If it cant im not sure exactly what to do but i will figure something out.

World Finals Coming

Well Crap. Thats about all i can say after yesterday. First test pass out the box i ran it to the 330. broke a lifter which tore up the block, bent pushrods, valves, broke the rocker arm stand completely out of the head etc. etc. etc. And our ORSCA world finals are this weekend. This is very stinky to say the least. I mean the orange car has really been running as of late. I am leading the points in EZ street but its not sewn up. So as usual we are going to have to throw something together. I dont know what yet. or how. But ill be in the shop tonight taking the motor apart so ill let you no when i get it all apart.

Bradenton Recap

Well boys and girls, this is gonna be short and sweet...... We arrived at Bradenton motorsports park at 3 am thursday morning. The rain was really coming down. Finally around 6 pm we unloaded and got a test pass. I wont tell ya what it ran but i will say it was the fastest pass ever for the orange car. We were stoked. I was ready to bust the top off of an industrial sized can of whoop ass. We were supposed to qualify friday at 5pm and test all day. It was nice and clear all day friday. They wouldnt let us test because they said it "might rain" well it didnt . not till about 5pm when the first qualifying session was supposed to happen. so they cancelled that. Man we were all dying to make a pass. Everybody was. We were all like a bunch of pirate gunships sitting docked with our cannons pointing at each other waiting for the order to fire. Well come saturday it was time for some action. after 3 rounds we were sitting 12th out of 87 cars with a 4.99. I wasnt able to make a full run during either 3 rounds due to some mystery fuel problem i still cant explain. One second the air fuel is super fat and the next its super lean. i think my efi box or my O2 sensor is taking a dump. Anyways, first round today we burned in and boy i was feeling good. The other guy bumped in. I bumped in, pushed the transbrake button and went to the floor nothing. the car nearly shut off. The tree came down and he was gone. I sat there like a knot on a log stomping the gas to no avail. finally after about 3 seconds it took off like a raped rhino but crap we were done. I rarely beat myself and this slap square kicked me in the the balls. I couldnt even get out of the car at the end of the track i was so mad. But nothing to do but suck it up and load the hot rod up and head north. GPS says we should pull into the shop at 2 am. Then its back to the grindstone tomorrow. We did have a blast this weekend. And saw the baddest group of radial tire cars ive ever seen. So it wasnt a total bust. At least my Georgia Bulldawgs blew out LSU like they were a high school team. Im not sure where we will be racing next weekend or if we might actually take a weekend off. But ill let yall know.

GETTING READY FOR THE BIG ONE

WELL BOYS AND GIRLS, BRADENTON IS THIS WEEKEND. WE TESTED THURSDAY NIGHT IN CAROLINA , RAN SOME GOOD NUMBERS BUT NO MPH, WE TESTED YESTERDAY IN CAROLINA AND ROCKED THE BOX. WE ARENT QUITE WHERE WE NEED TO BE BUT BOY I THINK WE'RE CLOSE. EVERYBODY THATS GONNA BE AT THIS RACE IS FLYING. I'LL BE HAPPY IF WE ARE ABLE TO QUALIFY. MAYBE WE'LL AT LEAST BE ABLE TO "MUDDY THE WATER" A LITTLE. i HAVE TO TAKE THE CAR TO WARNER ROBINS,
GA TODAY TO GET THE CHASSIS CERTIFIED TO 25.5 SPECS. WE ARE LEAVING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON FOR BRADENTON. I THINK ITS 12 HOURS FROM MY SHOP. SO WE'LL MAKE IT SOMETIME EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. I CANT WAIT TO GET THAT THING TO THE STARTING LINE AND LET IT ALL HANG OUT. I OVER NIGHTED SOME NEW GEARS FOR THE BLOWER TO SPRUCE HER UP A LITTLE BIT . SO THE FLYING PUMPKIN OUGHT TO SOUND LIKE A 747 JET SHOOTING DOWN THROUGH THERE. YALL BRING YOUR EAR PLUGS AND ILL HANDLE THE REST. ILL TRY TO POST AFTER WE TEST THURSDAY AND KEEP YALL UPDATED.........

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

Sorry its been two weeks since ive written. The past two weeks like almost every week in my life have been in turmoil. So ill take a few minutes to bring you guys up to date. We have re re re converted the hot rod back to the procharger. Man it was a bunch of work. But boy do i love to hear the old girl whine and whistle again. She sounds like a herd of ticked tweety birds. this past monday Me and Johnson were updating the chassis to 25.5 specs and i was tacking a plate to the bottom of the floorpan. When all the sudden somebody hollered and there was smoke and flames pouring out of the car. I climbed the lift like a chimpanzee and put the blaze out with a fire extinguisher. Talk about me being a dumb butt. A spark had caught the carpet on fire and smoked most of the interior of the car. It burnt the whole wiring harness, carpet, and a door panel. Well after thrashing all week to rewire the car and finish the cage we were pretty exhausted. We tested thursday night in Jackson, Sc. 5.20 @1.40. The fuel map was way off and i was drowning the motor in fuel. But have no fear i was on a mission to get the motor extra crispy by the weekend. So here we go. Yall sit down and buckle your seatbelts and put your tray tables in the upright position. This is gonna be a bumpy ride. I worked as long as i could possibly stand it friday. Yall know me and when its race day weekend i get all twitchy and excited like a kid on christmas morning. At 1pm i couldnt take it anymore. I pulled onto my and street and evidently Johnson was suffering from the same disease. Sitting there was the motorhome hooked to the trailer and him and fatboy sitting on my front porch. Boy i tell you one thing, I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have friends who share my love for racing. We have evolved from a bunch of illiterate rednecks to a well oiled machine. I dont even have to tell anyone what to do at the track. They know the car and what it needs. Which absolutely rocks. So we head west like nobodys business in search of greatness and some tire smoke. We got to Montgomery Motorsports park in Montgomery, Alabama at around 6pm. We set up shop and hauled the orange monster to staging for her fisrt shakedown run of the weekend. Staged and off we went. I knew she was toting the mail and boy it felt good. The about 400ft she laid over. 5.13 @141. What the heck? I spun the car over at the other end and she wouldnt fire. Turns out the ignition box was shot slap out. Whoever heard of a box going bad during a run?????? I guess if it can break ill find a way. After carousing around the pits begging and borrowing, Terry Elam ( a fellow EZ Street competitor, and the guy on my heels in the points) sold me his spare box. Now thats sportsmanship. Thats how we like to race. Friends before and after the race. All the Orsca guys are stand up guys. So hoping the worst was behind us, we hauled the heap around and went gangsta style with the tune up. BAAAAMMMMM 4.95 @148 . Im thinking we are rocking the boat......... Boy was I to be proven wrong. Saturday 1st round qualifying we went a 4.97 which normally i would be estatic about. But guess what????? Dustin Mewborn went a 4.91. Holy crap. talk about changing your outlook on things. It's crazy how competition breeds improvement. So i threw some power in the old girl. to no avail. 2nd round Qualifying we went another 4.97. Well im thinking at least we are consistent. I can race consistent. So last round i threw the kitchen sink and all the appliances in the tune up. I took off like a raped rinocerous. but smoked the tires in high gear. So we were qualified 4th with a 4.97. The top 5 cars were in the fours . Man this was the tightest EZ field ever. We were almost a tenth off the pace but we all got together and decided that in the case of the rabbitt and the turtle, the turtle won because he never gave up. So that being said we were gonna be the turtle in this race. I promised the boys that i would do my job on the tree. man would we need it. 1st round i knew was gonna be tight. I nailed the tree with a .008 light and barely nipped Pouncey at the traps going a 4.97 to his 5.01. Woooooohoooo . Thats 3 4.97's in a row. Bracket mania is here. But guess what, I knew that wasnt gonna outrun Mewborn. he was number one qualifyer with a 4.91 and had his car on a string. We cooled the car down and i had my usual sit down talk with her. i told her that i didnt want to hurt her feelings and i didnt wanna make her feel like she wasnt good enough but i needed a little more from her. She didnt take it well and shot out the water pump sittin in the pits. It just slap quit working. Like she was mad at me and said screw u. I told her like Harry Hog did in Days of Thunder when Cole Trickles engine was torn up before Daytona. I said "Thats not the answer i was lookin for outa you" But we had no spare pump and no time so we decided to hope for the best and run without it. I waited for Mewborn to burn in and almost get ready. I fired up and did a short burnout and immediately staged trying to keep the motor from heating up. He clicked in and I karate kid crane chopped the tree down and drug it with me. I had a .003 reaction time. Mewborn has the fastest radial 60 ft in the world. he went a 1.14 sixty to my 1.26. He had me by a car at half track, Thats when i heard the theme song from Bonanza. You know dun dun dun dun dun da da dun dun. I was gaining ground but would i have enough time to catch him. Barely. I nipped him at the traps with a 4.96 to his 4.98. What a race. I mean it was inches on the other end. i was estatic for about two seconds till i started slowing down and heard this god awful crazy whine coming from the rear end. What the heck again. We rushed back to the pits and snatched the rear end cover off. Two cracked teeth on the pinion. CRAP CRAP CRAP... I had spare gears but no pinion bearing on the new pinion and very little time. Well we ripped the rear end apart while Big Johnson ( AKA Mcgyver) heated up the pinion with a blow torch. He somehow got the bearing off with like a pocket knife and some duct tape of something. I used a nitrous bottle to freeze the new pinion and the bearing slipped rite on. Threw her back together as they were calling last call to the lanes. That was a 21 minute gear change. Boy we are good. or maybe just lucky. Who cares. We rushed to staging. i was still loading the tune up in the car while i was strapping in. I radioed to brian to calm down and lets go to work. Being in the hot grease is where i thrive. I love pressure. We burned in and staged. I chopped what was left of the tree from the round before down and drug with me. .014 reaction time. I carried the front tires 3 feet off the ground for 400 feet. sat them down and never looked back, buzzing the clocks with a 4.94. BOOOM DIGGITY thats five in a row. HolyCrap. I mean this is some story book stuff. I really wanna thanks the racers that helped me this weekend. As well as my die hard unwavering crew. Cheri, Chris Johnson, Brian, and Jason (aka Fatboy). We are living on cloud nine. Tomorrow we begin testing for the Outlaw race in Bradenton in two weeks. Im hoping we can give all those rich boys a dose of southern orange poison. Stay tuned for testing results. im finally getting to strap some power on the motor and cant wait to see if i can tame it.

I FEEL THE NEED......THE NEED......FOR SPEED

The kid is on fire. We bailed out of town like a jailbreak gone bad on friday afternoon about 1pm. And let me go ahead a say for the record. huntsville is a haul from the shop. At one point i looked over at Johnson and told him i didnt think we could get there from here. Well we finally did and unloaded the big Orange for a little testy testy. We had planned on swapping the car back over from nitrous to the supercharger this week but the by the time all the parts came in, it was too late. The orange car had sat in the trailer for the last two weeks, and i was curious to see if we could pick up where we left off. Wrong. After several wheelstands and tire smokes and just plain farting down the track the best the ole girl could muster was a 5.21. I dont get how this thing went from running on a rail to refusing to go down a racetrack. Then i realized that the Orange car is a woman. And like any woman, She didnt like being left alone in a cold dark race car trailer for two weeks. So i did what any normal man would do in a situation like this, I bought her flowers. Well not exactly bought, and not exactly flowers. We were parked next to a cotton field so we went for a little cruise through it and brought her back some cotton. Then I had a good sit down talk with the hot rod and explained to her that that sort of behavior was unacceptable, and we agreed that she would get her act together on saturday. Now i never sleep good when the car isnt running good and friday night was no exception. After sleeping only about 3 hours we awoke to the announcer hollering something about tech and qualifying starting. So i busted the ole girl off and by goodness she sounded a little chirpier than usual. Maybe she had her mind right. They werent allowing testing before qualifying saturday morning, So i loaded a semi soft tune up in and we crossed our fingers as we towed to the lanes for 1st round qualifying. I asked Johnson if he felt good about it and he said yes, so at least one of us did. I burned in and Brian pointed me straight. I prestaged and asked the orange car one more time to please act right and dont be screwing around and showing her ass in front of all my friends. Went to the transbrake with one eye open and the other one closed fearing the worst. Turned loose and bam diggity off we went like a scud missile. Kinda like the mazda commercial where it says ZOOM ZOOM. But with about a thousand horsepower of nitrous. We went 5.07 at 146.9 MPH. I got out and hugged the hot rod and thanked her for minding her manners. Could it be that she forgave me? Or maybe its that she hates testing and only likes to be raced on the weekends, or maybe she just likes kicking ass. Brian was so happy that he backed over me with the golf cart and bout slap broke my gas pedal leg. We followed up our 1st session with a 5.00 @147.1 second round qualifying. Which put us second. Which all yall that know me know that i hate second. So we decided to take a shot at it in the last session and put the screws to it. Horsepower tv came over and did about a 30 minute interview with me. They either think im hilarious or slap off my rocker. But i had them rolling the whole time. They even wired me with a mic and let me walk around being my crazy self for a little bit. I told them to keep that camera on the scoreboards because i was gonna light them up. I think it will air on Nov 1st. Well back to the task at hand. I launched the hot rod and i knew she was rockin. I didnt sit the front tires down for 300 feet. Buzzed the boards with a 4.97 @ 147.9. BOOM YOW. But wait. My old buddy Chad Henderson put up a 4.96 which still left us second. Boy it was gonna be a dog fight on Sunday. Speaking of dog fights, or should i say DAWG fights. We watched my Georgia Bulldogs monkey stomp Arizona State into a coma on the tv. The PAC ten is over rated if we end up playing usc for the national championship we are gonna lay the wood. I went to bed and actually slept good. Sunday we woke and the sun was shining and it was cool and clear. Perfect drag racing weather. We went to church and listened to Larry Garner preach on adversity. Which i seem to know a little about. Still i was nervous about first round. We were paired up with Glenn Jones. Who by the way is one of the nicest guys ive ever met. His wife even came up to me and hugged me in staging and told me to let it all hang out. So we burned in, staged, I hit the honker pedal and blasted down the track taking the win with a 5.09. We won second round with a 5.04. Off to the semis. I tweaked the tune up just a little. Which evidently was a bad idea. The orange car got an attitude when i left and started a long slow wheelstand. I blipped the throttle and eased her down and squeeked by for the win only running a 5.20. Holy smokes we were off to our fourth straight final. Against guess who???????? My buddy Chad Henderson. We have faced each other in the finals the last two races and we were at it again. He went a 5.04 in the semis, and had lane choice. And i had no clue what to do to the car. Me and Chad are kinda cut from the same cloth so to speak. In that I knew he wasnt gotta settle with that 5.04. He played it safe last race and i knew he wasnt going to do it again. So i wasnt either. I stacked 60 more pounds up front. Put in the baddest tune up i had in my playbook and towed her around. Chad came up to me before the race and shook my hand and told me this was round three. DING DING DING. I felt like Rocky Balboa fighting Apollo Creed. Chad's car is my favorite Ez street car. I love that buick. Well we burned in hard and long. Brian told me one the radio while i was backing up that i needed to be on my game on the tree. He said no screwing around. Cut the tree down. We staged and BAAMMMM I was off. The second stage was too much for the track and it started shaking the tires at 200 feet. I was sideways all over the track but i refused to lift. i went through the traps sideways with the left front tire off the ground taking the win with a 5.09. Chad smoked the tires and handed it to me. If there was ever a time when i wanted the other guy to win it was this time. Chad and his crew work their asses off like we do and deserve a win. I know he has many ahead of him and ill be the first one to shake his hand when he parks that buick in the winners circle. I got out of the car and was hugging everyone. Even people that might not have wanted a hug got bear hugged. I was so excited i couldnt hardly talk in the tv interview.
Some people call it luck, Some people call it cheating, and some say there is a ten foot horseshoe wedged in my booty. But the truth is we are just little kids having fun chasing a dream that just wont go away. I am very fortunate to live in a country that allows me to pursue my passion. Hats off to my crew. Brian, Johnson, Dean, Fatboy, and Chris. You guys make racing fun. Its now 5.20 am and im headed out to the shop to disassemble the entire car and start building the supercharger engine. We will be at the civil wars race in rockingham next weekend if all goes well.

Royal Rumble in South Georgia.......

Are you ready to ruuuuuuummmmmbllllleee............ Boy this is gonna get worse before it gets better. Well as you can guess, the new engine block for the procharger didnt come in. We are screwed, blued, and tattooed. We stuck with the old worn out hog leg nitrous motor. How are we gonna get this thing down the track on radials? And whats worse is that orsca only lets us run two stages. Well we rolled into carolina dragway thursday night looking like some chickens with our heads cut off. After 4 test passes, all we got for our efforts was a 5.40. Im thinking we are toast. I mean nothing was even close to being fast. We left at lunchtime friday for Cecil, Ga. The place was slap packed out when we rolled in at 7 pm. All the big dogs of everything were there. And Man this place was a nice. We unloaded and dragged the old girl to staging. First pass i hit the throttle, smoked the tires, pedalled, then wheel stand. in that order. I was as lost as a florida gator fan. Next three passes equalled a bunch of slow times and bent up header tubes. I couldnt keep the front end down. Now i have balls of steel, but 300 ft wheelstands dont win races. i went to bed at 5 am. Unable sleep at the thought of getting obliterated all weekend. Saturday morning we did a couple wheelstands, to get ready for first round qualifying. All the boys seemed pretty confident in my ability to tear shit up. Then all of the sudden the clouds parted. The stars aligned and first round qualifying we went a 5.11 @146. Holy Smokes. The orange car had its mojo back. Or so we thought. Second rnd we went a 5.22. Everyone was getting faster and we were slowing down like the South Carolina Gamecocks hope for a winning season. Well last round of qualifying i decided that we were going or blowing. We loaded the hot rod for bear, and up up and away she went. We actually drug orange paint off the bumper. It really smashed down hard. My header tubes were flat as a pancake. We had to heat them up with a torch and beat a jack handle through them just to get them half ass opened up. We were qualified 7th. The number one qualifier ran a 4.96. So that put us a tenth and a half off the pace. I hate being slow. I barely slept all night. Talk about being screwed. we had the 2nd and 3rd qualifiers on our side of the ladder. if we were gonna win this race, we were gonna earn it. After much thought and argueing with Brian and Johnson about what to do first round ( i wanted to get gangsta nasty and put 46's in both foggers) We decided to play it safe and slowly chip away at the mountain of fast cars ahead of us. First round we blasted off another 5.11. which got us the win. But still slow. Second round was to be a showdown for the ages. We had Nick Yarber, the number two qualifier and the guy trailing me by 5 points in the chase to the championship. He just went a 5.05 in the first round and i knew he would step it up. I turned the wick up on the hotrod as well. We bumped in and off we went. he had me by .005 at halftrack and then i tossed my nitrous lasso out there and reeled him in, getting the win by .020 and running a 5.05. by golly we finally had a race car to work with. But there was a super fast yellow turbocharged speed bump in the way in the semis. Mr Elam went a 4.96 first round and had that thing on a mission. I knew i had to wind the old rubber band a little tighter, but how much before it snapped? We both staged. I knew i had to go. As soon as i saw amber i let the ponies gallop and damn they were moving It was so close at the stripe i couldnt tell who won. My light came on and i wa so excited i almost forgot to stop. I was even more excited when i saw the times. We went a 5.02 to his 4.95. Thats right, I won on a holeshot. My first ever holeshot win. I was feeling like the invincible man. We had my old buddy Chad Henderson in the finals. Who by the way qualified 1st with a 4.96. Well no amount of reason would convince me to not put the screws to the hot rod now. We were under dogs and were going to the finals. I was going for it all. We burned in with long smokey burnouts.Brian had the nitrous pressure high so i had to purge off like ten thousands lbs of nos. We clicked the bulbs on and Bam i was off and running like Forrest Gump. It was a side by side slug fest to the stripe. I nipped him on the big end running a 4.97 to his 5.02. Man the party was started now. I was hugging everybody and jumping around like a maniac. When the heat was on we turned up the oven. I was interviewed by horsepower tv and they must have never seen Steve Jackson unplugged after a race win. I had those guys laughing like crazy. What an incredible weekend. As i sit in the passenger seat in Johnson's motorhome, heading north on I 75. i realize how lucky i am to have friends who share my crazy backwoods passion for this way of life we call drag racing. Thanks to Brian, Chris, Jason and Cheri for all you guys help this weekend. More goods things are to come.

Par For The Course

If you guys have been following the last couple posts, then you are familiar with the demise of the procharger motor. The nitrous motor has been doing very well in testing but this weekend coming (sept 5-7) is the next stop on the ORSCA trail. We are racing in Valdosta, Ga. So i ordered the new engine block last week. Planned my whole labor day weekend around getting the supercharger motor together, getting the car stripped back down, and starting to put the thing back together. Well as usual, things never go that way. The block didnt get here and wont be here until tomorrow. which is sept 2nd. Im not holding my breath. So if by some majical reason it does show up and i can get the machine shop to get humping on it then ill start working on it tomorrow night. I dont know what i would do if i ever got to have a nice relaxing week before a race. But if it werent for the last minute, nothing would ever get done i guess. So prepare for a couple all nighters and maybe getting the old girl busted off before we leave town. Ill let you guys know how its coming. Im really looking forward to hearing it run again.

Rain Drops Are Falling on My Head

Well boys and girls. The title of this weeks blog just about sums up this weeks racing. The PTRA finally came to my home track this weekend at Carolina dragway. We were pretty amped up about getting to lay the wood to the scoreboards. I definitely had the pick em up, burn em down tune up in the old girl. Rain all night friday, rain off and on saturday. Cancelled the race at 5pm. We loaded up and hauled booty to orangeburg dragstrip. I was determined to make a pass. Got there, got in staging. Strapped in, engine running, RAIN. RAIN RAIN. Not to let the weekend be a bust without a fight. We loaded back up, headed back to carolina dragway. Fired up the blender, Johnson put on a mean low country boil in the cooker. So we had fun but no racing. Im gonna try to make a few hits this week if the weather lets me. This coming weekend is the start of that glorious national pastime we call college football. The Georgia Bulldogs will be kick stomping georgia southern. I'll be in Athens on Saturday, and then Im flying to Indy saturday afternoon to "talk with a man about a horse" so to speak.

Back To The Drawing Board

Holy Smokes What a Week. If racing wasnt my life then i would be lost. What would i do with all the free time and money? Wednesday night at carolina dragway we unloaded the car with high hopes and tired eyes. We thrashed monday and tuesday changing stuff on the car. I was bound and determined to get ole bruhilda off the starting line. Well we did but boy it was a turd. 5.31@ 142.01. Now most of yall that know me know that im a go big, or go home type of guy. Call it my ego or my stupid redneck cowboy attitude, but if im not at the top of the field, im not happy. So with that in mind i put the oooompaloompa tune up in. Poor Chris Johnson. He had know idea what was about to happen to his motor. I launched, i smiled, i shifted, i then mushroom clouded the motor. I blew the heads off it. Now yall dont get the wrong idea here. im not talking about lifting a head, or pushing the gasket out. Im talkin bout i blew the tanks off the radiator. We i tear shit up, its tore up. I hadnt even got the car stopped when i realized we were up shit creek. I had blown up my motor, my friends motor, and all my friends parts. We are SCREWED. We got home and pushed the car in the shop. I have never in life been as depressed as when i turned the lights off. and went inside. I had given up. There was no way to get another supercharger motor together by friday. My championship dream was over and six months of hard work was in the toilet. I went to bed and had nightmares all night about being a failure. I woke up at 6 am thursday morning, and went to work in the midst of a clinical depression. My old buddy Joe called and we were talking about the situation at hand. He is always good about cheering me up when im shot out. He told me to get my stupid cowboy attitude back and figure it out. At that moment the strangest thought crossed my mind. Its wierd the things u remember that u think you never will. When I was in tenth grade in high school, i had an english teacher that had a poster on her wall. It was a picture of a seagull eating a frog. the frog was all the way down the seagulls throat except for his two back legs. which were sticking out of the seagulls mouth and wrapped around the seagulls neck choking him to death. The caption on the poster said, "Never EVER GIVE UP" Boy did that get me. Its kinda retarded but that poster has got me through more hard spots in my life than i can count. Something clicked inside me and i decided i would make this race this weekend no matter what. Sometimes the hardest thing to do in life is to decide that you arent going to quit. Me and Johnson got our heads together and decided the only option we had was to put my old nitrous motor in. Thats right, i said nitrous. But it was in his 68 mustang. So at 5 pm on thursday night i parked the tool truck. Walked in the shop, and went buck nasty. By 10 pm the car was stripped. Motor and trans out, water tanks, plumbing, wiring, fuel system,, everything. Johnson got there with the motor and trans at 10:30. By 4 am we had the engine and trans in. by 7 am we had the fuel system done. at 9.14 am i hit the starter button and it didnt spin over twice and busted off and sat there chirping its ass off. I forgot how that thing sounded. All big and nasty. I love the sound of crickets chirping in the morning. I went to work with no sleep and worked till 1pm. we loaded up the orange car and headed north. Completely unsure of what was gonna happen, but we were on our way. I felt like i had already won the fight. It took three hits friday night to get down the track. 5.18 @145. The converter was way loose and i had no data aquisition on the car so i was tuning by the seat of my pants. Saturday morning we warmed up the hot rod and towed her to tech. You shoulda seen the looks on peoples faces when the hood came off. Where two days ago sat a nice neat mild mannered superchargered motor, now sat a giant balls nasty wicked nitrous motor. There are systems all over this thing. Its was time to finish the piedmont race from two weeks ago. We raced Brian Mcgee in the semis and boy was it a pedalfest. i got there first and we were off to the finals. Where we were quickly crushed. But i was happy just to be there. We qualified 5th for the mooresville race with a 5.13. Gettin better. Made it through first round. In the second round we were matched up against the current points leader Jason Richards. I knew we had to go so i screwed it to it. This was one of the best races of my career. I got him by 2 hundredths on the tree. We had identical sixty foots. He had me by half a car at half track. then my Take Me To Jesus stage came on and i drove by him barely nipping him at the traps. What a race. 5.09 at 146.9 Close races like that are what i live for. We got beat in the semis. But you couldnt tell us anything. We had went from giving up to going to a final and semi final in one day. Sometimes the real victories in life come without a trophy or winners purse. We are now 35 points out of the lead in PTRA points, And are leading Orsca points. The next race is in Jackson, Sc in two weeks so i expect to see all you home town guys there. And remember that no matter how dark the tunnel you are staring down, there is always light somewhere. You might just have to walk a little while in the dark to find it. I cant wait to get the new stator in the torque converter. I think we have some killer numbers in this thing. We will test thursday night.

TOUGH ROW TO HOE!

Im sorry it's been awhile since i've written. Things have been so hectic around the shop that i've hardly had time to sleep. Let's step back to the Ptra Race in Piedmont two weeks ago. We got there friday night for some testing. Came off the trailer, had a good run going till around 500 feet into the run. The motor hiccupped so i lifted. Pulled the valve covers and damn if it wasnt the wierdest thing ive seen lately. One of the exhaust valves pulled apart at the stem. These were not an inexpensive set of valves so im still kind of curious as to what happened. I snatched the head off. Alot of the fellow racers in the ptra helped with time and parts and found us a local machine shop. They took the head and by a miracle the guy had a titanium valve on the shelf that fit. They got back with the head around 2 am. We buttoned the motor up and finished around 4:30. Wheeeww. Talk about tired on Saturday. We qualified 5th with a 5.11. Made it all the way to the semi's and then they called the race due to curphew. So we finish piedmonts race this weekend during Mooresvilles Qualifying. Last wednesday we were testing in Jackson , Sc and blew the cylinder walls out of the block. I mean its crazy looking. you can slide your fingers from one cylinder to the next. Im thinking we are screwed. Then my buddy Chris Johnson comes through for me. He loaned me his procharger motor. Which is similar to mine but there are some differences. We juked the new motor in the hot rod, busted her off, and eased on down to the track saturday. First pass out we ring the keyway in half on the crank. Once again i think were screwed. The Johnson brings a drill over and drills the front snout of the crank, drives the drill bit in there and boom we now have a double keyway crank. sunday in dorchester we smoked smoked smoked the tires. This engine is 120 lbs heavier than mine and im really having a time getting it off the starting line. So we will be testing wed, thurs, and friday this wee. With two points races on Saturday in Mooresville. So yall some on down and hang out with us.

Racing School Recap

Tuesday I started off with a 1000 ft blast down the track. After spending hours in the hotel practicing clutch moves, feet swapping, shifts, chute dumps and brake control. I was feeling pretty confident. I have a problem if i think too much about what i'm doing while im doing it. Especially in these cars. I'm not sure if my mind works too slow (keep laughing) or because the car is moving faster than my mind can tell my body to react. But if I think about it too much i screw up. So tuesday i decided to stop thinking about it. Get my ass in the car and have fun. I was joking around and having a good time when it was my turn. Let me touch a little on safety here. If you think some of the tracks are a little strict making you wear a triple layer jacket and pants, then you need to drive in one of these space suits. You start with pants and a jacket that could withstand a hiroshima bomb. Then fire shoes. Then knee high fire boots that cover the fire shoes. Then a Hans or R3 helmet restraint device, Followed by a head sock, helmet with helmet skirt, arm restraints and a chin strap. Let just say that when your in the car. You Are IN The Car. Im used to it now and i like it. Anyways they towed me around and busted of the engine. I have gotten used to the clutch now and really like it. I dont know what ill do with my left foot anymore in the mustang. I burned in, backed up. Staged and left. Straight as an arrow to the 1000ft mark. This car is really getting fun to drive. Frank said it was a very good clean run and gave me the nod to take old girl all the way to the stripe. I way hopping around the pits like a mexican jumping bean. We towed around and the crew gave me the thumbs up. I burned in like a champion, staged and off we went. One shift, two shifts, Man this thing is hauling ass. Here comes the stripe, boom the chutes are out. Until you feel two full size chutes blossom at 230mph, you havent lived. Forget about having to push the clutch in at the end of the run, the chutes throw your foot on the clutch for you. Another clean run down. Only one more full run left and i would be done. Today we got to the track around 8:30. We had 3 inches of rain last night and water was coming up through the track. It was 1pm before i got to run. Talk about icing the kicker. Man the pressure was on. But i just told myself that i was just a kid out here having a good time driving a hot rod. I made a near perfect run buzzing the clocks at 230 mph again. I earned my NHRA Top Alcohol License. Talk about happy. I think i shook the whole crews hands twice. Frank invited me back in a couple months to drive the alcohol funny car. Three runs in that beast and i can cross over my license. So im gonna try. Now im back home and real life has set in. The orange car is still in the trailer and we have an event next weekend. It needs an engine, transmission, brakes and some overall TLC. So thrashapalooza is here again. I guess if it wasnt for the last minute nothing would ever get done. I have to go play in a charity golf tournament Saturday. It'll be fun. But time isnt on my side. So im off to the shop. I hope Kmart has a special on midnight oil.

Getting Down in Gator Town

I am down here in gator ville, I mean Gainesville Fla. By gosh this whole town is orange and blue. All these poor misguided souls are convinced that the ole raggedy Florida Gators are goin all the way this year. I stick out in my Georgia Bulldog red and black like a sore thumb. but then again, fitting in has never really been my thing. I got up this morning at 6 am fired up ready to burn in the Top Alcohol car. After a problem was found early, it was 3 pm before i got in the car. Its hard to anticipate how this thing feels when you burn it in. It's fun. I staged and dumped the clutch. the car made a move to the wall and i gently coaxed her back in the groove, Made the one-two shift at 9700 rpms, then the two-three shift at 9600 rpms. ran to about 800 feet and hit the chutes. oh crap no chutes. I hit them again and nothing. Moved my hand to the brake and pulled the car to a stop. good thing it was only an 800 foot shakedown. Im not sure why the laundry didnt come out but the crew said they were fixed now so hell yes. Tomorrow I get to take it a 1000 feet and if all is done perfectly, ( and boy thats a big if) I'll get to make a couple full passes. These cars are a handful to drive to say the least. There is so much to do in such a short time. You manipulate almost every action the car makes. And they are the only car or bike in professional drag racing that you have to control the launch rpm with the gas and clutch. (no 2 steps here) This thing makes the orange car seem like a caddilac on a sunday drive. Ill update on tomorrows progress tomorrow night.

On a Roll

I could definitely get used to this. We tested the Orange car at Carolina Dragway thursday night. It's first time out on slicks in awhile. After two unsuccesful hits at it, i was getting discouraged. The engine is beyond its due rebuild time (120 passes) and it will be monday before i can get it out and give the old girl a much deserved overhaul. It's amazing how different a radial tire tune up, and a slick tune up is. I changed everything on the car from fuel and timing maps, to weight, to shock settings. Finally it payed off. Shaking loose a modest 5.081 @143.1 MPH Which was good, except for the mile per hour. Where was it and why? I decided to make one more pass and load the car for bear. Wheelstandapalooza. The car came down pretty hard and punched a hole in the oil filter. Not happy with the results from thursday, Friday night me and Brian headed to the new track in Bowman, Sc. After two passes we got the hot rod to run a 5.12. But the MPH was only 141. I was looking over the engine and there was our problem. A crack in the supercharger charge pipe. I was happy as a pig in slop. We welded up the pipe and left for Darlington, Sc saturday morning. First round qualifying, 5.18. Problem. Broken rocker arm. Again. We thrashed and fixed the motor. Thanks to everyone that helped us. I don't even know who all brought me tools and parts but thanks again. Second round qualifying we blew off a 5.06. That was good enough to give us the number two Qualifying spot. Which was good because it earned us the first round bye. We used that as a test pass and loaded the super swamper tune up in. Of course it stood up and i had to pedal, still bumping the clocks with a 5.09. Man i wish the front end wouldve stayed down. That thing was on a pass. Second round my opponent broke. It was getting late by this time. Like 1:30 am late. Me being a night owl was loving it. In the Semi's we squeeked by with a 5.19 getting the win. I absolutely couldnt believe it. Were we really going to our third final round in a row? Bad news was, our opponent was the current PTRA record holder Jason Richards. And on his last pass he went a 5.02. Holy smokes how was i gonna get around that. I went big nasty with the tune up and did a monster burnout. Brian put me dead in the groove and radio'd to me to get his ass on the tree. We staged and bam we were off. I was actually winning for about 30 feet. Then the tires shook. But thank goodness his did too. It was a pedal fest. He was still there. I burped the thottle once and it shook again. He was still there. I blipped again and nailed it. The old girl bit. We won the race with a 5.19. Not the most impressive e.t but we will take the win. I cant thank everyone that helped us enough. For example, Just to show you how good the people we race with are, The thread repair kit that fixed my engine in qualifying, came from Jason. The guy that i ran in the finals. The Orange car will be down for a few weeks for some much needed TLC. That will give me time to concentrate on my NHRA deal. Time is ticking away to find a sponsor for 2009. We leave for Gainesville, Fla this coming weekend. I'll be attempting to finish getting my NHRA top alcohol licsense. Boy am i excited about matting the throttle on the blown alky dragster again. Hopefully we'll get some video this time. I'll keep you guys and gals updated on how its going.

Here Comes The Boom!!!!

Yall forgive me if i seem a little excited but by goodness i am. We left off with us about to make the first round qualifying sat. morning. We were slap tired after the all nighter friday night. I was napping in my hammock when they called us around. Brian looked like a walking zombie. The poor old boy just isnt used to good old hard work i guess. LOL He is gonna kick my butt for saying that. Anyways we were first in line and elected to go with the right lane. I was semi skeptical if my bandaid patch job on the engine was gonna hold up. I figured if it was going to grenade, then i might as well go ahead and help it along so i rolled through the water and dropped the hammer for the usual Steve Jackson style long burn out. I always burn in with the windows down and there is nothing better than stopping about the 330 and when the motor comes back down to idle hearing the people in the stands screaming. Im addicted to this stuff. I backed up and brian keyed up the radio and asked if the rods were still in the motor. I brought the hot rod up on two step and turned loose. 5.10 @146. Hell yes thats what we wanted. After about 3 seconds of talking about what to do next round, we decided to turn the wick up a little. Me and the orange car have this understanding that if she will do what i tell her to, then i wont wheel stand her and beat her up and blow her tires off and stuff. She blew off a 5.06, second round qualifying. Thats a new EZ Street World Record. But we still had to back it up. I was having nightmares about the Carolina race, Remember went i went John Wayne on the tune up in the finals going for the record and almost gave the race away? I decided if we were going for the record this time, that we were gonna do it right now. No more pussy footing the tune up. I loaded in king kong. The track was cool and the air was good, and as my old buddy Dean always says, I Let That Bitch Eat!!!! We went a 5.01. The new record was set. And we were tired. We planned on going out to celebrate, but after about 30 minutes into dinner at the Outback, me and brian elected to get some sleep. Well Sunday morning we got to the track with high hopes. We were Qualified 2nd and drew a first round bye. It was hot so I loaded the bracket tune up in and she did what i told her. 5.11. Good enough for me. But there is a problem. Brian checked the oil overflow and ouch it looked like a vanilla milkshake. Crap the head gaskets are torched and leaking coolant into the crankcase. I guess the 110 passes the poor motor has on it has taken its toll.oh well we came to race so we kept the oil changed and our fingers crossed, Second round we won with a 5.11. . Earning us lane choice in the semis against none other than Charles "smack talking" Hull with his new buddy David Reese doing the tuning. Well lets just say this ass whipping has been a long time coming. We staged and i never looked back. Another 5.11 secured the win. Thats 3 5.11's in a row. WOW. Well we headed to the finals against super nice guy Chad Hendersen. Chad went a 5.16 in the semis. It was gonna be a good race. Unfortunately he broke something in the water box. I hope it wasnt anything major. I know they thrashed all night friday night too. The starter flagged me to stage. I went a solo 5.06 @147 plus. Which may be a new MPH record. Orsca is checking on it. Lady Luck was definitely on my side this weeknd. Hopefully i didnt tear up the motor too bad. A special thanks to my crew chief Brian. He is always there through thick and thin. We win together and get our butts kicked together. We will be in Carolina thursday testing for the PTRA points race in Darlington, Sc this weekend. I'll keep you guys posted on how she runs.

Sleepless in Montgomery

Well boys and girls, We got to Montgomery Motorsports park Around 6pm friday. The line to get in was out to the road. This place is absolutely packed. We unloaded the orange car and loaded a safe tune up in the old girl. We were just trying to make a clean pass to start the weekend. The car launched hard and straight. We were on a hell of a pass when. dun ta daaaaa. Disaster strikes. The car lays over and start making the boat motor sound. You know that sound race engines make when they are really eating parts. That low loud mercuiser inboard sound. I shut it off and coasted around. Spun the motor over and it sounded like a pinball machine rattiling around. got back to the trailer and pulled the valve covers. Lets just say it looked Stanky. Two broken rocker arms, a shot out pushrod. one broken lifter, and the rocker stand pulled the threads out of the head. Yummy. We snatched the intake off and lo and behold, the lifter is stuck in the block. Will not come out. After four hours of prying, beating, banging, heating and framming. NOTHING. I put on my mad Scientist hat and welded a piece of all thread to the lifter, took a weight bar out the car and welded a washer on the other end. in other words a makeshift slide hammer. Me and brian put the oompaloompa on it and by goodness the lifter came out. We rethreaded the holes, and put the motor back together. Got in bed at 5. We just busted the old girl off this morning and she sounds like a champion. Bout to run first round qualifying. Yall keep your fingers and toes and whatever else you can cross crossed.

BUSY WEEK

THE TOOL BUSINESS IS A FUNNY ONE. SOME DAYS YOU ARE RELAXED AND KIND OF COASTING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. THEN THERE ARE DAYS LIKE THIS WHOLE WEEK, WHERE YOU WORK LIKE A MANIAC AND CANT PLEASE ANYONE. AT ANY RATE IM READY TO GET TO SOME WEEKEND DRAG RACING. WE HEAD TO MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA THIS WEEKEND FOR THE NEXT STOP ON THE ORSCA SCHEDULE. I AM PUMPED AFTER THE CAROLINA WIN. I KNOW THE COMPETITION WILL GET STIFFER, BUT HOPEFULLY I HAVE A TUNE UP FOR THEM. WE MAY TEST IN CAROLINA TONIGHT. I FEEL THE CAR IS ABSOLUTELY READY AND I HATE TO RISK HURTING ANYTHING, BUT MAYBE THERE'S A TOUCH MORE LEFT TO BE FOUND IN THE OLD GIRL. WISH US LUCK. I'LL UPDATE AS THE WEEKEND GOES ON.

Hard Work Pays Off

What a week at the races. The Outlaw Racing Street Car Association (Orsca) came to Jackson, Sc this week. We headed to Carolina Dragway thursday afternoon for some testing. This was the first time we had radials on the car in two months and only the second time ever. The first four hits were pretty much the same. Tire Smokeapaloooooza. I was getting a little frustrated. With time for only one more pass that night, me and Chris Johnson loaded a ridiculous crazy should not ever work or go down any racetrack tune up in the old girl. I burned in and staged with no expectations other than immediate tire smoke. I brought the engine up on the two step and turned her loose and bam she sat me in the seat and off we went. I couldnt believe that aggressive tune up actually worked. We buzzed the clock with a 5.14 @ 146.mph. I got out the car and was jumping up down like a kid. We left the car at the track and I tried to work friday. By lunchtime the phone was ringing off the hook. Everyone was fired up about going racing. I knocked off at 1 and me and Brian headed to the track. Boy it was hot. 99 degrees at 5 pm. Which was perfect test weather for what we would be qualifying in Saturday. Second pass, The old girl started showing a little attitude and busted off a 5.09 @146.8. I was estatic. Had i really found a tune up that would work in the heat? We would find out on Saturday. Around 10 pm the track cooled off and the air got good. Now if you arent familiar with Carolina Dragway, Let me just say that when Jason is working the track, and the sun goes down, you better have your drivetrain up to par. Cause there is no track anywhere that works like it. I got ballsy and loaded a pour the coals to it, no holds barred, let it it all hang out, lift up your skirt and show me what your workin with, Steve Jackson tune up in. Keep in mind now that we are on street tires here. I staged and turned loose. WWWWHHHHOOOOAAAA. The orange car carried the left front tire six inches off the ground for 3oo hundred feet. I didnt know how fast we were going but i knew we were slap hauling ass. 4.98 @147.97 mph. I was so excited i could hardly get out of the car. i bear hugged some poor guy on the top end that i didnt even know. After 93 passes in 3 months on the procharger motor. WE ARE FAST. Saturday it was 100 degrees. First Qualifying pass we shook and went a 5.40. Second we rocked the box with 5.10. Which put us number one. Third round i loaded old girl up and went a 5.03. A new Ez Street world record, if i could back it up on sunday. We drew the first round bye and i put the slick track tune up in it. It was 102 degrees and the track temp was 138. We busted off a 5.10 @146.9. good enough to earn lane choice for the next round. We burned in and my competitor lit the top bulb. I lit mine and then we sat. I guess he was trying to rattle me. They must have not got the memo that i have been grudge racing my whole life. I don't get rattled. I was talking to Brian on the radio for what seemed like forever while we sat there prestaged. We talked about the weather. And about whether or not The Georgia Bulldogs were going to win a National Championship this year. (I definitely think so) Poor brian is a lost Florida Gator fan. Anyways, Im rambling. So he stages and i click in and off we go. We won with a 5.11 @146.9. Next round we won with a 5.12 @146.7. So we are off to the finals. Now most people would take a car that is running that consistent and leave it alone. Which is always the smart thing to do. But then again im not too smart. we had to go a 5.083 to back up the record and i knew the car wouldnt do it on the 148 degree track like it was. So like Tin Cup on steroids i let my balls overload my brain and i put the go fast tune up in it. We Staged and for a split second i thought the track would hold it. The tires shook and i had to pedal it. We still got lucky and won only running a 5.40. The good lord helped us out on that one. So maybe next time I'll listen to good judgement in a situation like that. but probably not. we missed the record but got the win. So it was a weekend for the books. One of my best ever. Thanks so much to everyone that believed in me when all the rest said i was lost. It's gonna be an interesting rest of the year.

The orange car is finally getting sorted out. We raced in Nc on Saturday, And in Sc on Sunday. The Supercharger is definitely making the power to get the job done, Now it's just up to me to get it down the racetrack. The Ptra gave supercharged cars a 200 lb weight break.I believe the car will be faster, I again just have to get down the track. We are in negotiations with several companies regarding my Nhra Top Fuel deal for 2009. Any and all help you guys can give as far as leads is greatly appreciated. We will be testing in Jackson, Sc Thursday night. We are getting ready for the ORSCA Race next weekend.

Crazy Week

Saturday we headed to Julian, Nc to Piedmont dragway for the 3rd stop on the PTRA tour. We qualified 5th with a 5.17 @146.3 mph. In the Second round I drew the ptra world reord holder and lets just say he put it on me. I treed him with a .020 light to his .059. But he ran me down going a 5.09 to my 5.19. We are expecting the PTRA to even the rules up but havent heard anything yet. Today I left at 6am to fly to Brownsburg, Indiana to meet with one of the sports prominent owners. We are trying to get a deal together for 2009 and have 2/3 of the finiancing secured. I just need to secure the other 3rd by August 1st. Please email me if you know any corporate people that may be willing to advertise nationally. Thanks guys

Wednesday May 7th

We loaded up Saturday May 3rd and headed to Orangeburg Sc for some in the heat testing. This was our first test on a 125 degree racing surface with the procharger. We made 7 passes, with each getting faster than the one before ( always good). The car is definitely close to being where we want but We still need a little more. Mph is way off PTRA and ORSCA pace. The new Torque converter picked us up to 143.9 mph. We have our third points race in Piedmont , Nc this weekend. We are changing rear gears in the car now. Im gonna try to get the car through the sixty foot a little smoother. It's really wanting to rattle the tires about 50 feet out. We'll be At Carolina Dragway testing thursday night.

Tuesday April 25

What a weekend we had. Let's begin with last thursday night. I made 3 passes. The orange car is sixty footing decent, but will not run on the big end. So after about 2 hours of looking at the data logs and talking with Mo and Chris Tuten, I decided the camshaft profile wasn't aggressive enough. We headed home around 2 am. I got up early Friday morning and began searching for an in stock cam grind that would work. Bci in atlanta had one so Brian was on his was to pick it up. I tore down the engine and got ready for install. He got back to augusta around 4pm. We needed a part that was in columbia Sc and they closed at 5. So we pushed the car in the trailer and brian drove while i put the cam in going down the highway. We got to Rockingham too late to make first round qualifying. So i finished the engine. Saturday on second and third round qualifying the supercharger blew the coupler off. which resulted in only running a 5.52. Sunday morning in the last round of qualifying we changed the coupler and the old girl went a 5.27 @ 139.54 mph. Still off but it put us in the field 9th. First round we won with a 5.28 @ 139.43mph. So we have a consistent car. We just need more power. Second round we were defeated by the class mph record holder. Our setup is the only one with a limit on power. I know it sounds dumb, but Nitrous and Turbo combo's are unlimited. Yet we have to run a small procharger. None the less i will make it competitive. The new camshaft loosened up the converter two percent. So that means we are making more power. Tonight we will tighten up the converter and test Thursday night at Carolina Dragway. Saturday Night we will race in a ss race in Sylvania, GA.