The oil really pissed me off...

The Impala is a finely tuned racing machine, so it is very sensitive to slippery conditions on the track surface.

 

I guess I could run our Imp as well and not worry about buying wheels and tires.

 

I bet if I did a search I could come up with more then a dozen "today's racing sucked because......" threads..........just seems to be the theme over the last year or so.
You slay me.

 

Usually it's Pacific Raceways that's jerking us around, though. They're actually been getting better, but still have a ways to go..

It's just been the last couple times at Bremerton they started pulling the deal of skipping us in the running order for some reason... which is ****** bullshit...

 

Now your talking........

 

Was that a ghost I just heard? Pop in, start ****, pop out. Oh, it's Sardog, whats up dude?

 

Just a clarification I heard about the first Exxon Valdez incident that oiled down defenseless birds, children and got a bit on the track as well - while I would have been the first in line to have a "chat" with the guy, I did bump into a buddy of his that had the true poop.

Evidently he had replaced the oilpan with a new fabricated one. His buddy didn't know if it was pressured tested in any way before installation, but it turned out after post-mortum examination that it had a weak weld on the backside. During the race, it didn't hold under pressure and gave way after he launched, thus inflicting the Spray of Doom rather than just dribbling out the back. He didn't notice it until the end of his run when he saw very little oil pressure, so he honestly had no idea that he got to the end of the track a few pounds lighter.

**** happens, and it can happen to any of us while the crowd goes wild with speculation. Granted, if my car is stuttering, I hear metal debris bouncing off the bottom of my car and small pin holes appearing in my hood I would pull over instead of riding it out, not all things would be easily noticed. Do you regularly check the rear view mirror for blue smoke as you're focused on a tach and staying between the line and the wall? Me too

If it was the final for the Ultimate Race in the Universe, the other guy red-lighted and all you have to do is cross the finish line, would you pull over? Personally I would because I'm still making payments, but don't think I could answer for everyone else

 

OK OK,.but the bottom line is im trying to learn the freeken deal here so I make a run do something stupid (every damn time) then while its on mind and im going through it over and over,..... TWO HRS. go by and I just canot stop thinking about **** and beer that long! No freeken way am I ready to run with you boys yet so what is the track going to do for us?? I know about wednesday night but as I get up @ 04:00am before the damn drunks are even home yet that would be,................difficult!

 

You do if your car is slow and it is an automatic....

 

If you wait 'til you get it perfect, you'll never race. Just go out, run, scrape up a few points and have fun ...

 

BTW I have NO need for a tach while I am going down the strip. IF you are looking at it you have NO clue what your car is doing

I shift cars by feel. If you can not tell when your car has stopped pulling and it is time to shift you need to practice more

I can under stand about the oil downs and rain and all that stuff.

I have been towed home from the track..taken to a hospital from the track...Lost brand new motors at the track just about every think Don said except rolled(one I really do not want to try...so I don't road race much) and I must say........ Sitting around watching the rain fall and the grass grow is torture in comparision!

 

(Pulls out excuse book) I can always use more practice, but I have to shift right at red line to get the most out of my power curve and gearing - it's easy to hit the rev limiter, so I bumped it up a bit "just in case"

Looking at my ranking past couple of years against many autos, I don't think my method of insuring my valvetrain integrity by eyeing the tach and looking at the data logs to ensure I'm shifting right at 6000 (most often hitting 5950 almost on the dot) isn't working bad at all. Some ball players wear the same underwear after winning, why should I not use a system that is comfortable to me?

Besides, never having raced a car faster than very high 12s and doing some pro bracket time, I rarely feel compelled to use the rear view mirror much, let alone can hear my own engine over the cutouts in the other lane on many passes

 

Thanks for the info Jonathon! Makes it a little easier to swallow knowing it is something many of us could have done. So the whole day was mearly a complete cluster-**** comedy-of-errors. Still, some things could be changed to make it better for all.

On that note, it looks like there will be a CCC mtg tonight, so if there is any issue that you would like to see get some attention, speak up now & I will try to talk about it for you (or let me know & I will tell you when & where to show up). Things I think we are going to discuss include:

Run schedules - make it, post it, stay with it all day to avoid confusion
Lane closure - not turning cars away after the first cars get pulled into staging
Eliminate Wed nite events
Getting a point for showing up if the event gets rained out - 1st elim run would still be worth 1
Awarding 1 point to the team that gets the most cars at a race

Anything else you guys are concerned about? Thoughts on these? Talk to us....

Location: Damans Tav, 148th & 24th, Redmond 7PM

 

Mark I really like the Wednesday night one. It tough enough to get out on Friday nite events. Wednesday is the Red headed step child of race night...pun intended!

 

CCC Mtg moved to next Tuesday....

 

Personally, I don't mind the Wednesday races... at least it isn't as crowded, and there isn't a crapload of morons trying to get "mad propz" for taking their buzzcans down the quarter mile in a slower time than my Impala... it's the million and one jackasses there for Friday "street legal TnT" that slow the process down at Pacific.

At least on the Saturday races at Bremerton, it's all competitions... usually that's a good thing, the last couple times out having all kinds of stuff going wrong haven't been the norm in the past.

 

If you take out Wednesday night would that sort of be defeating the purpose of the CCC?
The reason we have track days is to keep people from doing too much road racing (its never 100% but better than nothing) and not everyone wants to run bracket, Pro or semi-pro.
They just want to get out and have fun. If you make points doing it then its even better.

2¢

 

I like Wednesday races because I automatically get the day off work.

 

Wow, some people that actually LIKE the Wed races. Thanks for the info, keep it coming.

 

I kinda like the Wednesday races too. I get a nice quite evening at home................ oh wait, you probably want to hear from the people who actually go to the Wednesday night races.