The Calm Before The Storm.

First, Let me start off by thanking those of you that were instrumental in getting the car back going after i bent her up. Big Johnson as always was first on the scene when the work started and the last one home after it was done. Chris bell, Brian, Fatboy, Brian Canada, Mike Kandefer, Dennis, Jeff Miles, and Cheri. Im sure there are others that im forgetting, You guys inspire me. Another huge thanks goes out to Jeremy at UPR racing products. (UPRproducts.com) He supplied the complete new mustang suspension after the crash and let me tell you, it works. I was amazed how the car handles and drives. The 1.18 sixty foots on 28 inch tires and stock suspension are unbelievable. Not to mention that at 160 miles per hour the ole girl drives straight as an arrow. Bottom line is this. Anytime you can spend your money with a company who creates a superior product(made in the usa) and that has the customer support to stand behind that product, it's a win win.
The opening week of the racing season is at last upon us. Finally. We got the car back going last week and went to Darlington to run their stock suspension race. We did pretty well making it to the semis. I got a few more bugs worked out of the car. The engine is really making big power.. and im not talking about like it feels peppy or it i think it'll run. Im talking about neck snapping nuts out power. I wish i could tell you guys some E.T's but i have a few heads to thump off in the grudge world first. Yall will all get a taste of what we're working with this weekend in Rockingham. We head there for their civil wars outlaw race on friday. While this is not a points race for us. I am using this as a "tune up" race. The following weekend is our season points opener for Orsca.So this weekend will show us where we stack up against the rest of the field. I am counting the minutes till we all pile in the blue goose and head east. Nothing makes me tick like heading out of town for a race. We are going to test thursday night in carolina. Ill let ou guys know how she runs. I hope to see alot of you this weekend. it's supposed to be sunny and 75.

Heading to Wall Mart

In the back of every racer's head whether he admit's it or not, is always the fear, or at least the thought of crashing. That moment where a controlled chaos becomes an uncontrolled nightmare, Where you go from driving, to simply being a passenger. Yesterday i got a glimpse of that. All you that know me know that i am not scared of anything. I define the word fearless in and out of the race car. And at times, it bites me in the ass. I'll start from the beginning. The new engine has been together almost two weeks now and has proven to be quite the challenge to tame. In redneck words. This thing is a beast. As of last friday, I had yet to make a full throttle pass. There seemed to be no amount of power or adjustment that i could take out or put in that seemed to work. The car was extremely violent and bad mannered altogether. So we changed torque converters. Now let me tell you, this thing is tight. And it seemed to really load the engine. Which is what i was looking for. So friday night i decided that since it was raining in most of the entire southeast and most of the country, that i would just simply drive where the sun was. Well it happened to be sunny and 85 degrees in orlando, fla on saturday. So at 6 am saturday morning, I woke up and decided that i was gonna race if i had to drive 500 miles to do it. My buddy Wes said he would go so i tore out at a high rate of speed and headed south. I picked him up in Jacksonville fla and we made it to the track just in time to miss first round of qualifying for the Battle of The Brands Outlaw Radial class. We unloaded and I put the laziest tune up i had in and second round qualifying we finally made a full throttle pass. It was slow but i was happy. Last round i pepped it up a little and picked up 4 tenths. That put us 3rd. And all was well. Sunday morning the weather absolutely went to shit. It rained for two hours, then got cold as balls. The track cut all the classes back from quarter mile to 8th mile. For safety, The wind was blowing 30 miles per hour. Well first round I burned in and staged the old girl for the first round of competition of the year. After Lopping the other guys head clean off on the tree we both proceeded to smoke the tires and pedal. I was sideways going thru the traps taking the win by two hundredths of a second on a holeshot. Boy i was fired up. I knew the track was marginal but man it got loose quick. So the next round i took out all the power i could. i used the same super lazy tune up from second round quailfying. I knew that if i just went a to b then i had a good shot at winning the race. I staged and once again in steve jackson fashion cut the tree down with a chainsaw. The car launched hard and straight. The old girl was on a rail. then the shit hit the fan. About 400 feet out the car shook the tires. The guy i was running also had problems earlier on. I pedalled the car, straightened her out and the wacked the throttle. Up Up Up and away we went. It stood straight up at roughly 140 mph. I lifted and when the car came down it was pointed straight at the center line and straight at the other guy. In the blink of an eye i made an instinct decision.I snatched the wheel straight toward the wall and smacked the throttle to spin the tires and stuck it straight nose first into the wall. It was either lose one car or both. I decided in that split second to keep my car out of his lane no matter the cost. The car rebounded off the wall and again went toward the center and again i snatched it straight into the wall. It spun around about three times hitting the wall each time. I really took a shot. Talk about sore today. I can hardly move. The car appeared to be totalled out. But i never crossed the center line and didnt hit the wall till after the 8th, and won the round. What a shitty way to turn the W on. I was disqualified because i couldnt cross the scales because the car wouldnt roll. I loaded up my junk and my pride and headed north. Driving all night and getting home at 5 am this morning. I was certain that the car totalled and my season was over. The first ORSCA race is three weeks away. Then like they always do, my boys came to the rescue. My crews endless devotion to my dream amazes me constantly. you can always tell who your friends are when the shit hits the fan. We win and lose together in everything we do. And not just in racing but in life as well. I woke up at 8 am to the sound of a beating and banging in the shop. I walked out and there was Big Johnson and Chris Bell disassembling the whole car. I didnt even ask them to. The just showed up. I hobbled off to work. By 10 am the car was completely stripped. Neil and Van at the paint shop said the would do whatever it took to get us going. Brian (stickman) Canada donated a parts car at no charge . The car is now on the frame rack. I will know by the morning if it can be fixed or not. We have three weeks to get this thing or something running before the first race. So its time to do what we do and get busy. Updates will follow. In other awesome news, We picked up a new sponsor this weekend. I will make the announcement later in the week.

Getting it in Gear

I am very excited and pleased to announce that The Supercharger Store has come onboard as a sponsor for the 2009 race season. I have heavily relied and depended on their gear drive time and time again on my road to the 2008 championship. Going fast and having durabilty don't always go hand in hand. We drag racers generally abuse our performance parts to the brink of failure. I am no exception. The SuperCharger Store gear drive has withstood the punishment and abuse of drag racing time and time again. We raced the orange car in excess of 300 passes last year. You heard that right. 300 runs. Not many parts could or will ever stand that kind of abuse. Our gear drive performed perfectly will little to no maintenence. As a matter of fact, I am about to change the oil in it and bolt it back on the engine for another full season. Not only does the unit provide durabilty and absolutely look bad ass, but the most important thing is performance. We all know that losing friction is gaining power. There is not a more efficient and consistent way to drive your Procharger than with a Supercharger Store Gear drive. Not only do we have the best product on the market, but we have the best service too. Terry and Bob are always just a phone call away. How nice is it to pick up the phone and actually talk to the people that designed and built your product. Couple flawless performance, durabilty, and the best service around, and you aren't making a purchase, you are making an investment. Terry and Bob, thank you guys so much for putting your faith in me to represent your product. Together we are gonna be a handful........

Action Heating Up

Boy the time is almost at hand.... The days here down south are sometimes warm enough to make me think race season is close. Our first race is only 3 weeks away. I cant wait. Im like a bull in a china shop. I am ready to smell some tire smoke. Last night i bolted the new cylinder heads on the new engine. Even if this beast does run worth a toot, it still looks bad ass. Me and the whole race team got a huge shot in the arm this week, as the announcement of two new sponsors came in. We would like to thank and welcome Procharger/ATI onboard as an official sponsor for the 2009 race season. Thanks to all the people that helped me put this deal together. Procharger powered us to the world championship in 2008 and I cant think of a better way to usher in the new year than with a big honking new blower strapped up front. Also We would like to welcome, and are thrilled to represent Mickey Thompson racing tires for 2009. I have never even ran another tire besides Mickey Thompson. Mickey Thompson supports its racers in almost every level of competition, and i look forward to putting their tire back in the winners circle this year. Well I have alot done to the car, and alot still to do in the next 3 weeks. The car itself is pretty much ready. The engine is not. I still have to get the intake done. I am adding another set of fuel injectors to try a satisfy the fuel demands of the new combo. She is gonna be awfully thirsty around 8000 rpm. I have a new control unit for the efi coming, along with a new fuel system. I'm headed north as we speak to do a little snow skiing with the boys this weekend. This will be last time for the next ten months that racing wont be center of my focus. And while i am looking forward to the R and R, my thoughts keep wandering back to season at hand. We are once again underdogs in a new class. But i wouldnt have it any other way. When you start at the bottom, all you can do is look up. I have a few tricks up my sleeve for these boys this year. With a little luck, I should be putting the engine in the car this coming week. I'll keep yall updated as progress occurs.

The Season Before Us.

The long hours in the shop day after day are starting to pay off. I have updated almost every component on the orange car. Including a new rear end, anti roll bar, new seats. all new wiring, carpet, dash, new brakes, and most exciting of all is this new hog leg top secret powerplant ive been working on all winter. I wanna tell you about it soooo bad but ill keep my trap shut until it actually runs. I finished the shortblock today. The heads should be in and done by the weekend. On my racing partner Johnson's new 68 camaro ( its not new but with the thrashing it has seen in the last 3 months it might as well be new) we have totally rebuilt the car from top to bottom. This is the car to watch in 2009. Ill spare you the details but i will say this. Its Big. Its Bad. And it is going to slap haul ass. I cant wait to mat the throttle on that gigantanormous motor. We will be fielding a two car Limited Street team for 09. along with several grudge races. All thats left on his car is wiring, fuel system and a couple odds and ends. Look for it to be running in about 3 weeks also. On a good note. I would like to welcome MICKEY THOMPSON onboard as a sponsor for the 2009 season. We have always used and relied on Mickey Thompson tires to get the job done. These tires piloted us to a championship in 2008 and im tickled to death to have them believe in me and stand beside us in 2009. No one will work harder to achieve another championship than i will this year. I live and breath this stuff. So here is whats on my plate right now. the car is leaving for the paint shop in the morning. Neil and Van at 2 Keys Customs are going to do a little touch up as well as make some custom new door panels. I will be working on the new bohemoth engine all this week. I have roughly two weeks to get the whole car put together for testing. We are scheduled to race at the Fat Tuesday Race in Hattiesurg, Ms on feb 21-24. So ill be updating you as progress continues.

TICK TOCK...TICK TOCK

Not only am i stuck in the doldrums of the winter off season. But to makes things worse it has been unusaully warm down south. We have routinely had days in the 70's. which makes me wanna race even more. Any of you that know me know that i dont function well without a car to drive. Like a fish out of water so to speak. I am knee deep in the Orange car overhaul. What started out as a few winter improvements has lead to some major changes. Right now the car is a bare unibody and a roll cage. Everything is getting updated from the front to the rear. New engine, blower, wiring, interior, carpet, rear end. etc. etc. I have full intentions of giving whoever is in the other lane this year a fit. We are Making the move from ORSCA EZ Street to Limited Street. Some say this is a foolish move. And i agree that we are stepping off into the deep end. Where chassis's routinely cost in excess of what i have invested in my whole car. but i guess i'll just have to try to make up for that with a little good tuning and alot of good driving. On a brighter note, I will have the new release of this years sponsors up in about a week. We were planning on making the US Street nationals in Bradenton Fl on Jan 24 but my new pistons came in wrong and I am still waiting on exhaust valves. So we are shooting to be testing by the second week in february.I cant wait to feel the new motor pull in high gear. Updates and new motor pics coming soon.

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.