Just wanted to say that the Vegas event was a great one. The V8 showing was lower than the Turbo cars but that wasn't a big surprise. Friday was canceled due to high winds, but Saturday was action packed. That facility is simply awesome, and you just can't go to Vegas without having a good time. Some really nice GS's were in attendance and a couple Skylarks too. I was diving under all of them and asking everyone the same questions..."what kind of headers" and "what kind of tailpipes" One of the guys from Utah was running a Dr' Gas X-pipe, it sure sounded good. Another guy had a set of 315/70 drag radials tucked under the fenders of his Skylark, it looked sweet. So now I've got all the info on wheels/tires/exhaust to complete my Christmas list Anyway I hope to see more V8 cars there next year. I put in my two cents with the event coordinators and said that I liked seeing the V8's included, and I personally liked the fact that the V8's ran their own program aside from the turbo cars. Ps. Gary, I checked your car out a few times, but you weren't with it. How'd you like that tail wind? :TU:
Tail wind? We don need no stinkin' tail wind. And don't be telling Renee there WAS one. Sure am glad it wasn't blowing the opposite direction; had that in Boise. Sorry I missed you. Met lots of nice folks for sure - the guys I've known for years here and a lot of new ones from the turbo crowd. What a BLAST!
Guys, Here's a link to another board with the same subject. It should have a link to pictures before too long. http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=61194&goto=newpost
We ALL had a BLAST in Vegas. Got blown out Friday night because they wouldn't open the track due to the high winds. Disappointing, and yes, I had a tizzy fit for about 10 minutes. I was prepared to load up and drive home Saturday with the morning wind, having never had the car off the trailer - but...they opened at 7am Saturday for us and we ran until 5pm (and I was in bed at 8:30pm so NO HANGOVER!) 60? Grand National/Turbo Ts and 8 GS cars. Low V8 attendance was partly due to NHRA finals at Pomona the same weekend. Won't be that way next year. I got 3rd/4th (of 8 cars - I won one, lost one) in V8 brackets ($60, which is way more that I expected - thanks in part, I'm sure, to the $500 contribution from the BPG - THANKS again) but was burned in my losing round by a bad tree that they discovered a couple matches later. I got red without a 3rd yellow or a green so never had a chance. Who knows? (Not taking away from you for putting me on the trailer Scott) They said the wind cut the wiring. It also happened to Jason Bible and Dave Monson and I talked to a couple turbo guys who ran into the same thing. It took that old codger Sam Davis to figure it out in his finals match with Scott McIntyre so they re-ran the match, which Scott won (congrats on the inagural plaque, belt buckle from Skip at Ron's Restoration, and $160). Sam and Scott are ruthless in brackets.. it was a kick to watch the drama. It was all good.. no complaints; we all had fun and no one was upset about the lights. My first bracket run was 13.44 @ 84mph on a 12.99 dial.. lifted at 1/2 track and almost let Skip around me at the traps. That flippin' fast-ramp 224/236 cam has a top end pull from Hades. We're calling it "the little cam that can". Jim Burek took my car for a spin and banged gears off the rev limiter both shifts. He shifted when he felt the limiter kick in at 6 grand cuz it was still pulling hard. Yeehaawww. And I thought it was degreed wrong. My 8.2" posi is shot. Len pointed out to me that I'm only roasting one tire in the burnout box so I ran all day with a pegleg. I think this has been going on all along. Running 2.0 60' times that should have been 1.8 or 1.7. Traction was there but not with only one wheel. They said I spun all the way through 1st gear. We watched a '67 Stang blow his driveshaft off the car at launch so traction was available. I was next in line to run so got a good view of the shaft bouncing around on the ground. Don't know if he had a loop but the shaft came clean out of the car. Took 15 minutes for them to clean up all the junk. Guy was a jerk in the hotel parking lot earlier, too, so we all got a kick out of watching them push his car off the track.. he was DONE. There were maybe 2 or 3 high-11s Mustangs there out of 30, and none quicker that I remember.. the rest would have gone DOWN to the Buicks. The Buicks and Rustangs ran separately so we didn't clash, and with the exception of the guy in the red car minus driveshaft, I heard of no conflict with the Ford guys. That Vegas track is beautiful. Makes Firebird look a bit like Wendover. Not quite but it's way bigger and nicer than Firebird. So here's the results with pegleg, stock 350 converter, air density at 3900' (from a high-tech weather station in one of the guys trailers). I ran 50/50 mix of 91 octane with 114 I got at the track. $37.50 for 5 gallons. Bumped the timing to 38* total and the fuel pressure up to 7.5psi on recommendation from John Osborn, who built my Qjet. Bolted it on and it ran great. Didn't disconnect the swaybar either.. spaced it. 20psi in the DRs and 18psi in the airbag. Launch at around 1500rpm spinnin'. R/T .600 (from a previous run) 60' 2.009 Ran 1.8 or 1.9 at Firebird if I remember. 330 5.478 1/8 8.330 MPH 86.27 1000 10.796 1/4 12.872 FWIW: NHRA conversion from 3900' to sea level comes out to 12.25. MPH 108.76 Ran consistent high 107mph nearly every run. 13.0xx were most of my times.. same-o stuff, but clicked off a 12.938/107.39 on my very first rip down the track, so I was pumped all day. Got the 12.872/108.76 on my last run loss in brackets but had busted 108mph 2 or 3 times before. With a good converter and good posi, and air, I think I can get real close to 11s next year. Probably might have run 12.50 with traction Saturday... yeah, I'm being optimistic, why not? There were GN cars running consistent 8s/9s/10s. Wheelstands abound. There were a lot of 13 second GN cars too. I think John Galina ran 6.90 in his Turbo Trans Am and John Schmidt ran 7.80s in his twin turbo 6-banger Opel. Someone can correct these numbers.. I was busy. Kirkland had his Stage 1 car out for the first time. Went from 14.4 to 13.50s with a little timing adjustment and on T/A radials and 60' times in the 2.5 range. He'd have been right in there if we'd had time to put my drag radials on his car. He's gonna tire up this winter. That car WILL run. Oh yeah, and a lean Qjet. He and Scott continually poked fun at me for trailering. Kirkland drove 450+ from Salt Lake, and McIntyre from Sunny LA. Get over it already.. hehehe. Jason Bible also improved a lot during the day with some tuning help from Jim Burek. Everyone who Jim helped (which was anyone who asked) improved. That includes me. We really only did minor adjustments to any of the GS cars. Another "What a guy!" for Jim. That Jason is a heckuva nice guy, too. He and his wife Kelly are about as good as they get. "Kid" just out of the Marine Corp and working hard. They seemed to really enjoy hanging out with a bunch of old bald guys. I'm looking forward to hooking up with them at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake next year. Good to see the young folks getting into the old Buicks. And Jason sure came in handy when it came time to lift heads and a TH400 out of my suburban.. hehe. Kelly, John Kirkland's wife Mable Ann and my (15 yr.old.. hahaha) wife (and 3-time grandmother) Erin all hung in there (enthusiastically) through seemingly endless (to them) bench racing over dinner, over beers, over breakfast, over the sink while installing makeup, over the chatter of slot machines, over absolutely everything... and they all 3 sat in the stands together hootin' and hollerin' for all of us. And Erin was full of questions on the way home: Why did you need race gas? What's timing? Why do you roast the tires? Compression? I think you guys might have created a gal to give me a run for my money if we get her in a car. I know she's not afraid to drive one. Those classy ladies sure make it easy to be Fast with Class. Got to meet Jim Burek and his brother T.J., Len Bentley, Skip Ylhanin, Scott McIntyre, Jason Bible, Dave Monson, Basketball Sam Davis, John Schmidt, Gordon, Doug, Jon Whittington, Jack Bilger, Bruce Hunter (Ohio? sheesh) took the time to introduce himself, a bunch of turbo guys, including Steve (Snapperhead), Racin Jason, Steve Hurst (BGNRA), and on and on.. I can't remember them all. What a GREAT bunch of guys. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Len Bentley (benderbrew) run his new Stage 2 car.. it wouldn't fit on the borrowed Mustang trailer. Real bummer, but Len showed his class by showing up and helping out with bench racing, taxi service, loading/off-loading, tuning, wrestling heavy stuff, encouragement, and consumption of a bit of the barley-pop. What a guy! And just wait'll next year, right Len?! Scott McIntyre got us passes to SEMA. Len, Erin and I meandered around one building Friday for several hours but saw only maybe 2/3 of that one area. Really cool stuff. Killer Hummers.. WOW! No GTO. Had a bunch of folks try to get our passes from us as we were walking from SEMA back to the truck. Coveted ticket you might say. Mine will be hanging in the shop. Awesome. Thanks again Scott. Consensus around "The Strip" was that the V8 cars added a special flavor to the brew (pun intended) and that V8 participation might well be what it takes to bring this event up to premier level. This was only the second year for this event so I'd say we're off to a killer start. The V8 and Turbo guys have the same goal so I see no real obstacle to getting it done. (JOIN THE BUICK PERFORMANCE GROUP!) It'll be a matter of participation. Jon Whittington and Jack Bilger tell me they're tentatively planning on an early October date for next year and will get confirmation out ASAP. I passed out a couple dozen BPG newletters and entry forms. Gave the remainder to the gals at John Schmidt's table for distribution. We sported our BPG shirt proudly at both the track and SEMA. I had fairly lenghty conversations with Jack Bilger, Jon Whittington, and Racin' Jason, as well as other Turbo organizers and participants and expressed our gratitude for the invitation and got very positive responses on the GS cars being there. They want us back IN FORCE. The track could not have been better, notwithstanding the tree problem that was weather related. 1st class facility, easy parking, big paved pit area, etc., etc. Main Street Station is a nice hotel, too. Has everything you need, including a very good buffet and it's own brewery.. can't beat that now can ya? CAUTION: Bars in Nevada don't have clocks and they NEVER close. Got snowed on from south of Ely all the way to Elko coming home but the road was just wet.. whew! Sure glad I trailered.
Vegas Gary Sounds like you guys had a great time out there, must be nice to race this late in the year, we have been done for a couple weeks now. Also sounds like the car is running pretty good too, just do me one favor--dont get the car running to good---you know that only causes more work for me in the long run.....:laugh: Maybe someday me and Renee can get at least one of the cars out there for that race, but in the meantime, you and Renee can just keep talking trash to each other over who is faster for now.
Right on Denny. I'll keep my chin up and strive to catch that gal. It ain't gonna be easy though, and I don't think she's buying into that NHRA correction factor stuff. And I can hear her now on my converter, posi, and all the other stuff I gotta fix.. "so, what's your point?" might be her comment. If I ever get around her car, it's gonna co$t you BIG! And when you add the rollbar for those 11s runs the weight will slow her back down and it'll be more $$$$ for go-fast goodies. Notice I haven't mentioned I might beat her in a bracket race; I'll be happy to run the same dial -in and get within a 10th of her R/T.:laugh:
Mike, I lied. I had all the cameras but didn't have (or take) the time to get them out of the truck. Way too much going on to either shoot pics myself or give Erin the rundown on their operation. Scott did get some shots though, and I expect he'll probably make them available soon. Others as well. I only watched about a half dozen races all day; too busy with my own car. That car of yours is looking good. Gonna be a real sweatheart when it's done. I scorched Skip with a .600 light (great for me). He says I was "guessing". Maybe he thinks trees are for shade while fishing. :grin: I practiced all morning while he was resting after the long drive Friday night. I whooped him pretty hard and let up about 3/4 track.. whoops.. he very nearly went by me at the finish but luck got me there first. He's riding me hard about the light.
Sea Level? Gary...you still blaming everything on the mountain elevation? Holy crap! LOL...you know when I first read that I thought of that...and then you replied back and said that I would say that... I was scared. I'm scared cuz I think you know me too well! Now what you got to remember is that I'm not at sea level. If I'm not mistaken the adjusted elevation at Cecil came out to around 1500 feet or so and according to our local tracks web page...my local track is at about 2000 ft above. That would be without our overwhelming crappy humidity factoring into it too. :Brow: But all in all...you have to be just thrilled to death over breaking into the 12 second club!! Welcome!! :grin: As for beating me in a bracket race...hmmmm I will agrue with you over that. Remember with only 4 runs on my car with the new set up I've gotten a 12.03 12.04 12.04 and 12.08 outta my car. Can't complain about my consistency! And we ALL know that women are better at cutting lights...right? :Brow: I'd smoke ya on the tree!!!! All kidding aside....CONGRATULATIONS and I wish you nothing but the best of luck getting the quicker times with every run!
Re-read my post Renee. Goofball. "Notice I haven't mentioned I might beat her in a bracket race; I'll be happy to run the same dial -in and get within a 10th of her R/T." Read as: even if my car was close to her's, she'd stomp me under the tree.. No illusions there. And I did know you weren't on the seaboard racing. All in all, I'm pretty happy and I know there's more in the combo. The banter is fun, though.:grin:
OOPS Sorry Gary....my bad. Guess I did read the post wrong. Not that it matters...cuz I'd be whooping all over you! (with or without the car) :Brow: All this trash talking sure is fun though...when it's done in a fun way. :laugh: Ok...so when you coming out thisaway so I can putting a :spank: on ya and then have you buy me a :beer o No: :eek2: :laugh:
Renee, Can I bother you for more info on your combo? I'm hoping to get my car in the 12.oh area also.
