It's Hammer Time

Holy smokes this off time has killed me. I thought i was ready for a break but four weeks of off time is slightly excessive. The Hot Rod is out of the paint shop and she looks top notch. Van and Neil at 2Keys Customs slap laid it down. Orsca comes to Carolina Dragway this weekend and I think we are ready. Updates to follow

The Heat Is On

Down here in the south, we are in the midst of a massive heat wave that we call summer. It is routinely 95 plus degrees during the day. Thoughts this time of year often turn to beaches and tropical vacations, but not on my team. We went to the finals at the PTRA race last weekend in Mooresville.We got beat by 7 hundredths of a second in a dawg fight of a race by my buddy Flyin Brian Mcgee. But we picked up 30 points on the points leader and are still tweaking the hot rod. I am having a problem making the ponies gallop in this hot stanky air. But I think i am headed in the right direction. The orange car is in the paint shop as we speak getting a new look. We have a month off before the next Orsca race, and will be giving the orange car a break for a couple weeks. We almost have the new 68 camaro done and may test it this week. It is called the Cowmaro and you will see why when we bring it out. It will be a monster and i can't wait to lay down on the honker pedal.

BREAKING RECORDS AND PARTS

Remember in my last post i told you guys that the orange car was gonna be a handful, Well it was. We got to Montgomery Motorsports Park at around 7 friday night ready to shake the ole girl down one time. I knew i had it flying thursday night at carolina, but was unsure if my tuneup would work at another track. Well shortly after we got there a tsunami of biblical proportions busted loose. It rained like 5 inches. So no testy testy friday night. Saturday morning Tsunami number two hit. It rained from ten am to 3 oclock. Finally around 6 we were ready for our first qualifying shot. No testing, just straight down to business. I figured if we were gonna show these boys we were serious, now was as good a time as any. I rolled through the water box and Big Johnson gave me the signal to drop the hammer, I stepped down on the honker pedal and burned in hard, rolling to the 330 in a cloud of smoke. I gave the camera guys sitting on the wall a thumbs up and backed up ready to rock the house. Brian got me dead centered in the groove, I eased into the beams. It's crazy how a sport so violent and wild as drag racing requires you to be so delicate and gentle. I mean when we stage the car it looks like i am treating that thing like a delicate flower whose petals could be easily knocked off if i am too harsh. And then half a second later, i am trying to sling the crankshaft slap out the motor for 4 seconds. Anyways, I launched hard and straight and we lit the clocks on fire with a 4.679. Thats a new Orsca Limited Street World Record. If we backed it up. Second round qualifying i became my own worst enemy and tried to run 4.20's and knocked the tires off about 200 feet out. Third round i picked up my balls and stuffed them back in my pants and screwed my head on straight and ran a 4.682. Which backed up the record and gave me a boost of confidence going into eliminations on Sunday. We had the first round bye and again i let my balls overwhelm my good judgement and smoked the tires. Once again Brian and Big Johnson calmed me back down. Second round we won with a 4.68, Third round we won with a 4.74. She was on a serious pass but about 300 feet out it broke another intake valve and backfired the blower.I wasnt sure if the motor was hurt or not. We only had about 15 mins to get ready for the semis. We thrashed and changed blowers, and just ran the rocker arm down on the broken valve tip hoping she would hang on. Evidently the backfire hurt something else because it was running like doodoo. We absolutely got lucky in the semi's when our opponent went red. The orange car would have made the pass but probably not fast enough to outrun him. I couldnt believe we were going to the finals. I found that the crank trigger gap was 150 thousandths off the wheel. I didnt know if that was causing it to run bad but we adjusted it and fired the motor in the pits and damn she sounded good again. So we towed around, ready to get down to business. I loaded in the baddest tuneup i had. If we got beat, it wasn't gonna be because we got outrun. I was strapped in the car ready with my fingers crossed when one of the two cars in front of us oiled down the whole track. Now it was midnight on Sunday and the track said it would be a hour or so before they could get it cleaned up. So me and Jeff Paulk decided to split the money and run for the points and the trophy at the next event. Kind of a bummer but we were slap worn out. We drove all through the night, getting home at 6:30 am monday morning. I stepped out of the motorhome and got in my tooltruck and worked 12 hours Monday. Which for the record absolutely blows. Anyways, its thursday and we have PTRA this weekend in Mooresville, Nc. I talked to my buddy Phil Shuler who is a Top fuel crew chief for Schumaker. We think we have the valve problem identified, we are going to put a complete top fuel valve setup in after this race and see if it hold up better. We really need to win the race this weekend to stay in points contention so you may see some crazy stuff going on.

Alabama Bound and Down

Well we are loaded up and headed west. As i type this, Big Johnson is behind the wheel with the pedal to the metal, Brian is in the back sleeping like he always is at least 12 hours a day, And i am staring at the laptop looking over tuneups and fuel maps. We tested the car at Jackson last night and boy let me tell you, She ran like a wildabeast. We only made one hit and i told the boys that that was all she needed to do this weekend. So we are all in high spirits. I cant wait to get there and rock the box tonight.If the track is good the orange car should be a handful.

The clouds have parted

It's crazy how my mood and overall demeanor is directly affected by how my hot rod is running. My mom says i have motor oil flowing in my veins. Anyways, I tore the engine apart and i think i may have found the slowness. The valve springs were junk, along with one bent exhaust valve, (because the valve springs are junk) and the cylinder head was warped pretty good. Possibly to due the overextension of my right foot on the gas pedal. Abby's Performance got my heads fixed up yesterday with a new set of springs, a valve and a fresh surface. We slapped the motor back together last night and i will bust the ole girl off when i get home from work this afternoon. Then if all is well, I have the sneaky suspicion that we will probably head to Jackson, Sc tonight to make a couple test hits before we leave for montgomery in the morning. I cant wait.

Getting ready for ORSCA

A quick recap on last weekend. We were racing in our hometown, at our hometrack. We unloaded friday night and made two hits. Decent et and Mph for the air and temps we were running in. But i didn't feel that it would be fast enough to win. So i took the Supercharger Store Gear drive apart and changed the gear ratio inside, speeding up the blower in attempt to combat the bad air. Saturday morning, first qualifying pass we went a 4.92 @ 156. Second round i whittled on the ole girl a little and sped up slightly to a 4.91. Which put us qualified number one. But it was however a very tight field. I really leaned on the car pretty hard during each round of eliminations. In doing so i popped a head gasket in the semi's slowing to a 4.96. That still was enough to muster the round win but we were headed to the finals against Jeff Tyson. He has won the last two PTRA races and is deadly consistent. At this time i didnt know that the head gaskets were toast, i just knew we were down on power. I tried to compensation power with a big balls tune up in the finals. We both staged and i took the slight advantage off the tree, but that was the only time i was out front. I smoked the tires about ten feet out and Tyson cruised down for the win running a 4.93. Congrats to those guys, They know how to win.So we have Orsca Limited Street this weekend in Montgomery, AL. The engine is apart (again). and ill be up all night all week (again). I need a vacation.

Summertime Stretch

Well as most of you know, thrashing is something me and the boys are pretty accustomed to. It's practically a way of life. We completely overhauled the engine the week before thae Atlanta Orsca race, only to have it rain out. So here i sit with a fresh engine and nowhere to abuse it. Sure the last three weeks have been filled with piddling here and there, We got the new nose and hood put on and did a few odds and ends, but no real excitement. I am bored out of my skull. It is a fairly widespead fact that i have the slowest golf cart in the free world. I mean we will be riding at max speed and some kid on a tricycle with training wheels will blow past us, I have even been beat by girls. So i decided on monday that enough is enough, With no thrashing to do on the car, I have turned my attention to the golf cart. The ole Ez 25 is getting a transplant. I pulled the engine apart, ported the cylinder head, decked it .065 thousandths, tuned the clutch, reworked the carb, and tweaked the exhaust. I should have it back together tomorrow and ready to test in the neighborhood. If the damn thing doesnt run when i get it back together, Its getting a Procharger. Anyways, we have Ptra this weekend at our home track in Jackson, Sc, followed by Orsca in Montgomery, AL next weekend. Then Ptra the following weekend in Union, Sc. So finally downtime is almost over and we get to do some head bashing.Also for all of you that emailed about t shirts, i should have them in two weeks or so. I ordered another 200 so we should be good. The car should go in the paint shop to get her new dress sunday if i dont blow it up saturday.

LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT

Boy what a weekend of highs and lows. We pulled into South Georgia Motorsports park just after midnight on Wednesday. We probably would have gotten there sooner if the stupid GPS hadnt sent to timbucktoo down a wrong road. First thing Thursday morning we warmed up the hot rod and towed her to staging. Let her rip with a 4.82 striaght off the trailer. We were pretty fired up to run that number after thrashing all week. I was just happy that no parts fell off. I tweaked and screwed on the ole girl a little, and the next pass she lifted up her skirt just a little more and laid down a 4.78. Two back to back passes with nothing falling off. Holy crap. Then luck turned south. After two slow 5 second passes I was bum fuzzeled. The car was all of a sudden super fat out of the hole, and I couldnt figure out why. I went over all the maps and past tune ups and was pretty lost, So i called up the Grand Pumba of boost Chris Tuten, and we put our heads together and found something in my tune up that was causing the problem. Its was so stupid of a thing that i won't even tell you, But most things generally are simple. It goes to show that no matter how smart we think we are, we never can know it all. Anyways, Next pass back in the game with a 4.82, followed by a 4.78. So we finished where we started and were fairly consistent. We were in high spirits thursday night, which in turn led me to wake up with a mild headache friday morning. We had all day to test friday, but i was pretty confident. I told Brian, and Chris that if the hot rod ran good on the first hit that we were done testing and would wait for first round qualifying. 4.78 right off the trailer. We were ready. They called us to staging at around 7 pm for first round qualifying. I was ready to go cowboy style with the tune up. I figured we had a decent base, why not go ahead and lay the wood. To my surprise the boys agreed with me. Now this is dangerous territory. Me wanting to throw caution to the wind and light the candles, and Brian and Big Johnson not fighting me. I put my Mad Scientist tune up in the ole girl and drug her to staging. Burned her in like John Force just for good measure, and staged her up. Lights came down and off i went.She was cooking when she went into high gear and never stopped. 4.65 @164 Mph. Boom that put us number one. I blew my voice out hollering at the boys over the radio. We were on cloud nine. Saturday we huddled together and talked about how we wanted to proceed. We decided to play safe and back her up a little. Second round Qualifying we went a 4.69, followed by a tire smoking in the third round. We were still number one heading into eliminations but i was pretty nervous cause of the recent tire smoke. I backed her down a little more just for good measure. We had a first round bye. I knew the instant I turned loose of the brake that I was on one hell of a pass. The orange car snapped me in the seat and never let me back out. When she shifted to high she never stopped dangling the left front tire. I buzzed the clocks with a 4.609 at 165.39 MpH, a new stock suspension world record. I am always talking shit about have the baddest stock suspension car in the world, well now we have it on paper. Talk about being on cloud nine. I walked halfway back to the trailer up the return road before Brian, and Chris scooped me up on the golf cart. Although our excitement was overwhelming, we had to get down to business. We won the second round, but only went a 5.35 due to multiple wheelstands. The next round was one of the most heartbreaking moments ever in my life. I was racing my old buddy Terry Elam. He is one of the most honest, nicest guys in drag racing and has the absolute most beautifully built stock suspension car i have ever seen. We staged and launched and off we went, side by side. We both had awesome 60 foot times. We were side by side still at halftrack. The Orange car started making it's move about 4oo feet pulling half a car, then I smoked the tires like a funny car at the traps and had to pedal. Terry took the win with a 4.71 to my losing 4.73. I was still way out of shape from smoking the tires and had to drive the shit out of it to keep it off the wall. I got it straightened out and looked up and the was Terry's car on fire. I locked the brakes up beside him and snatched open his door as he was getting out. The track put out his fire and and my heart sank when we looked at his car. Although not a total loss, its burnt pretty bad up front. He told me it will be fixed, and i am certain by his drive and determination that it will be just as beautiful as it ever was. Then in remarkable show of sportsmanship, Terry bypassed the scales, forfieting the round and allowing me to be reinstated to the next round. I didnt know whether to be happy to be in the race or devastated because my friends car was torn up. I have been in his shoes and there arent too many things in the world more sickening than tearing up your baby. I would have much rather stood behind his car and cheered him on the next round than for his car to be burnt. Anyways, My motor was hurt. When the car smoked the tires in hit the rev limiter hard must have hydrauliced a cylinder. It was had 75 percent leakdown on one cylinder and 50 percent on several others and was smoking pretty bad. We towed to wounded girl to staging for the semis, We squeeked by that round only mustering a 4.95, but we were off to the finals. I decided to get really aggressive on the good cylinders and really get after the tune up. I basically stopped caring about the motor and put her in destruction blow up mode. We were racing John Kolivas, the number two qualifier and all around nice guy. We both staged and left together and the orange car blazed down like she didnt give a damn or even need 8 cylinders, taking the win with a 4.63. But now she was hurt worse. We won the Boosted race, and as a bonus, we were to take the top two boosted cars, and the top two nitrous cars and run a four car shootout for even more cash. I had to run a nitrous car first. I left the same tune up in the hot rod, taking the win, but slowing to a 4.73. She was eating herself from the inside out, and now we had to run Kolivas again for the second time of the day. I left themotor cooking tune up in, hoping that she had just one more pass in her. It took me about 20 seconds to get her started in staging and boy did she sound raggedy. I decided to take a shot at the tree knowing I would need all the help I could get. The tree came down and i hammered it, going red by .012. But it wouldnt have mattered anyway, Kolivas went a 4.67 to my 4.95. he deserved the win and ran one hell of a pass. We got paid pretty good for winning the Boosted race and for finishing second in the shootout, Hopefully enough cheese to fix the car. Thanks to my crew and my sponsors for sticking by me through the tough times, and to Donald and Amanda Long for putting on such a bad assed race. I took the motor out and apart last night and we need some pistons, and rods. I have ordered what we need and with any luck the rods and pistons will be in on thursday. We have to leave friday for the Orsca race in Atlanta, so look forward to me burning the midnight oil. I guess I wouldnt have it any other way.

It's ALIVE

Well i got the new cylinder head in last night. Pulled and all nighter and a half. Got the motor put back together and back in and busted her off at 5 pm this afternoon. Boy she sounds good on 8 cylinders. I ready to kick the tires and light the fires. We are about to pull into South Georgia Motorsports Park for the Outlaw Radial race. We are a tired group but excited nonetheless. It is gonna be one hell of a race this week and i cant wait to get knee deep in the middle of it. We are testing all day tomorrow. Ill update yall tomorrow night.

Licking my Wounds

Well so much for trophys, and records, and the competition going home early. All we did this weekend was break parts and us go home early. I mean this was one of those weekends that would have been much better spent fishing, or at the beach, or even digging ditches. Friday we loaded up and headed for mooresville, nc. I was feeling like a champion and everyone was in good spirits. We pulled into the track and as soon as we got parked a bandwagon of Hooters girls invaded our motorhome. It turns out that Big Johnson's wife had set the whole deal up for his birthday. Me and Brian and Fatboy were just glad to be there. After some of the best wings and cake on the planet , and some cool photo's, they were off. I'll have a few of the pics up this week. There ain't much to compare with an army of Hooter girls in KILLINTIME Racing tshirts. Anyways, that just about where the fun ended and hell began. First pass off the trailer friday night the old girl was on a pretty decent pass when poof. the engine shut off and i coasted the rest of the way down the track. Turns out we broke a shaft in the gear drive. With no spare I was certain that we were screwed. Now this next part can be confusing, but here goes. i called a buddy of mine (that chooses to remain anonymous for reasons u will find out later). Turns out that he had the part we needed on his race car. The problem was that his car was 5 hours away from me. And he was two hours from his car in a gentlemens establishment of questionable stature. Well i conned him into going to his shop at about 5 am saturday morning and taking his car apart. Then i enlisted the help of just about everyone i know to relay the part to North Carolina . Which got there about 30 minutes before the first round of qualifying. Well we wam bam thank you mammed the car back together in record time and pulled her to staging. Brian said he was feeling good about it, Johnson said he was'nt sure, and me and Fatboy were ready to roll some heads. I burned in and launched it. It was smooth and clean and slow as molasses in january. It only ran a 5.02. What the hell? So we dragged her back to the trailer, and I got to digging. Turns out we had two fuel injectors stopped up. After borrowing more parts from a fellow competitor, I was dancing around like i circus monkey. I just knew we had all the crap behind us. Second round qualifying, i made it about 200 feet down the track and then i heard something in the motor that sounded like a pinball machine. i shut it off and once again with a heavy heart dragged it back. We broke the tip off of an intake valve. Not to be discouraged we borrowed yet another part from another competitor, And proceded to snatch the head off for some super speedy cylinder head surgery. We got it almost apart and found a crack from the valve guide all the way to the spring seat. Well that was it. the towel was tossed in and the grill was fired up. Shit if we cant race worth a shit, then i figured we would do something that we do know how to do EAT. So now I'm back at the shop and about to pull the engine and take it all the way apart. We have to leave on Wednesday for the Outlaw Radial Championship race in Valdosta. All in all it's not looking good. Me and Brian will be burning the midnight oil all week. If any off yall see me walking around and happen to get a glimpse of the ugly monkey thats riding around on my back, then please swat him off. Cause we need some good luck this week. Updates to follow. Talk at u soon.

Preparing To Lay The Wood

We are off to to Mooresville, Nc this weekend for a little PTRA racing. It's the second stop on the tour and im ready to turn on some W's. Friday is Big Johnson's birthday. He said he wants a trophy for his birthday, So i put a just a tad extra in the old girl for the weekend. Look out for the competition to go home early and records to be broken.

STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT!!!

As most of you know, Our official points season started last weekend at ZMAX dragway. It was the first stop on the PTRA tour, and we did pretty decent. Ill skip all the details due to time constraints, but track was absolutely the worst racing surface i have ever raced on. I'm not going to go into detail here because it is a new facility and I am sure with time they will get it figured out. Anyways we qualified number one with a 4.88 @163. Made it all the way to the finals and lost. The car smoked the tires downtrack in high gear. But we did manage to set both the E.T and MPH records. All in all it was a good weekend. I learned alot about the car and some of my competitors. I am really fired up about this weekends race in Orangeburg, Sc. It is the first race of the Orsca season and the whole team is stoked. I cant wait to see where we stack up in limited street. I get to take the reducer out of the blower and let the big dog eat. The competition will be fierce this weekend and i think we are gonna need all the help we can get.

LIGHTING THE CANDLES

Boy what a weekend. After 54 long and exspensive passes with the new motor i finally got a base tune up this weekend. We were in Jackson, Sc for their Grudgefest and 28 inch tire race. First pass off the trailer I told ole girl to go from a to b with no screwing around. I bumped in and turned loose and off we went. Just like she got tired of all the tire smoke and wheelstands and busted transmissions and oil pans and said to hell with all that. Me and Johnson have come to the conclusion that she only like to be raced on race day, and not tested. I wanna tell yall what she ran so bad but you will have to wait till next week . More on that later. Anyways we made a few adjustments throughout the day only to get quicker. We won the race by default when my opponent suffered a broken transmission in the finals. Well that should have been the end of the day, But wait. yall know we are rednecks and cant leave shit alone. This was grudgefest, and i was in a ass cutting mood. So I went looking for the biggest baddest non wheelie barred car at the track and boy did i find it. I thought them boys were gonna faint when i told them i would run them with the teeny weeny tired orange car. Well after much hackling and and haggling and pissing and moaning, we ending up running for enough to just about pay off the national deficit. We pulled into staging and i was feeling really cocky and they were too. Johnson told me to rip their head off on the tree. He said we would need it. Boy was he ever right. We burned in and i waited about twenty minutes for them to clean out all 25 stages of nos they had on the 700 inch king sized gorrilla tarantula motor. They finally purged 3 bottles off and pulled into the beams. I pulled right in on top of them. Cocked the hammer on ole Lucille, and went to mat. That magical flash of three amber bulbs lit the night sky as we both turned loose. Now anybody that has every ran a grudge race for big cheddar knows that feeling you get when you turn loose. No matter what is going on in the world. Nothing matters and nothing can break your desperate concentration to get to the other end first. Off we went. Our lights were almost identical but them having all that motor and NOS pulled a sixty foot like a pro mod. There is no more sickening feeling in the world than watching someone drive off from you when you have your foot in the floor and there's nothing you can do. Then pulled me a car and some change by the 330ft mark. I was feeling like all was lost and that a second mortgage on my house was inevitable. And then the pulling stopped. Lucille reared here ugly nasty head and it was like being shot out of a cannon when the old girl went to high gear. I think i felt the earth spin the other way for just a split second. I was charging hard but was running out of track fast. It was gonna be a photo finish , I dumped the chute at the mph cone and as the chute blossomed, that Big Bright Glowing W came on loud and clear in my lane. It was the second drive by murder of the year. All the NOS in the world cant keep you out front when The ole Procharger gets wound up. Two weeks in Orangeburg yall will find out what it's all about. So with full pockets and a smile on our faces we headed home. The track gave me one of those huge checks thats like 5 feet long which is the coolest thing ever. We have one more match race this thursday and then it's time to hunker down this weekend at the PTRA Season opener in ZMAX. Those boys better bring their A game cause im feeling froggy. Wish us luck.

One for The Money

Well as most of you guys know, The first ORSCA race of the year was cancelled due to weather. And while i am not one to tell mother nature her business, I sure was read to get the hanky panky on. On the race track that is. We tested at rockingham two weeks ago at the Holcomb Civil Wars race and did decent. Although i still dont have the new combo completely figured out, i did see some bad ass mile per hour and some super fast back half numbers. this all adds up to the fact that the power is there. It's just up to me to make the best of it. So now we have a couple weeks off before the PTRA season opener at ZMAX, followed by the ORSCA Re opener at Orangeburg. So what do we do with all this idle time, We are gonna roll some heads. We have a locked match race this weekend, in Macon, Ga. which should be a damn good race for some pretty decent cash. And then next weekend is Carolina Dragways Grudgefest. Which we fully intend on finding some poor lost soul to tango with. While i love class racing, I also have to respect my roots, which is hardcore nasty bad assed stanky grudge racing. The fans love it, I love it, and most of the time the guy in the other lane hates it. LOL It will be a fun light hearted couple of weekends before we get back down to business. With any luck we should have the car in the paint shop in the next couple weeks. I cant wait to see what Neil and Van are cooking up for the 09 paint scheme. See you guys at the races.