it is a nice homey place to race. no stresses. the owner and all involved are/were great and easy to deal with. fuel guy took john down to the end of track to see how much room to turn the dragster. 50 yr does not turn like the new ones. 2 k-turns at the valley. before i left i was looking for a backhoe. the dragster ran like crap. i wanted to bury it and be done with it. we will go next year.
Larry did you, or anybody else, get a shot of the finish light #'s when I beat the 8.3 car in the quarter finals of the Buick Sportsman bracket on Saturday? Certainly was up there as one of my top personal exciting finishes. As I crossed the finish line he passed by like a jet. Our reaction times were nearly identical and I put the pressure on by running right on my dial, 12.27. After that the finals race was anti-climatic when Tom Wagner redlighted handing me the win. It certainly was beautiful Friday and the evening was cool. The Moon certainly helped make it a great finish to the day. Saturday it was a bit warmer but still not bad for July and the rain held off until after the last round.
A personal thanks to owner Mike. While loading Thumper up on friday the rear slick went flat.What to do, am I done? Talked to John C. he called mike who told him for me to take the biter to a local service station in the morning , about 3 miles away. Went to the station at 8:45am, the elderly owner sent a worker over to the truck to get the tire. The tube was removed,repaired, and slick was put back in my truck by 9:30am. Seems Mike called owner Bruce and told him to take care of me . I was back together and answering the first time trial call at 10:30. The service station owner was a down to earth old school guy. He is 3rd generation operator and pumps all gas , I looked for a place on the pump for a cc slot, none,Bruce came out and says we don't do that, I pump everyones gas. Went inside and paid my bill(cheap) and gas and as I left he wished me luck and said say hi to Mike. BTW, I picked up a piece of welding wire that went through the tire.
John jr here. Just want to say thank you to all that attended and supported. Also the kind words meant alot to me for doing this event. Thank you to all the sponsors also. Without them there would be zero payout. In talks already for next year for this to be a three day event but not run long on sunday so time to get home still for everyone. The track and the owner are very accomodating to us with whatever we would like to do. Gary Paine suggested a bbq and hangout early friday since we are allowed into the track early. I think this is a great idea since hanging out at night at the hotel is almost impossible. You could make unlimited runs both days, track surface was sticky, and the staff was super helpful. Hope to make this bigger and better for next year. I know the pontiac guys were pissed that we did our own buick races after the B.O.P. event but maybe that will light a fire for them to get motivated. Friday buick only winners Pro tree bracket winner John Csordas jr runner up Vinnie Barberino Full tree bracket winner Willie Wager runner up Tom Wagner Saturday buick only winners Pro tree bracket winner John Csordas jr runner up Greg Gessler full tree bracket winner Mike pesarchek runner up Tom Wagner farthest buick in the three B.O.P. classes was Wil Lanier who was runner up. total payout to buicks only was 2100 dollars sponsors NDH automotive Rob Giroux Justin Cox Deeznuts lugnuts Rock auto Northeast buick gs/gn club Lanier Racing John csordas jr Gsca Paul ferry Hr parts n stuff Paul ferry Decordre automotive Phil Roitman TA performance also an anonymous sponsor please thank all the sponsors for making this happen. Thank you all again for supporting and i hope i made everyone happy by giving as many chances to race for one entry price. I know i but some laps on my car and it was well worth it for the seat time. John jr
Great event! Lots of runs....I made 11 passes! I made some bone headed mistakes like taking my opponent by 2 tenths of a second and running out and trying to go deep and pushing thru the lights in the PROtree race. Lots of ways to lose in drag racing. Here is a good one: my opponent had a .0008 redlight! Talk about dodging a bullet!
Kinda side note but the Outlaw Pontiac guys at have a guy with a 540 Chevy motor in a Firebird that wins many of their races. Even though I am the odd man out with a Jaguar with BUICK power, I feel we should never allow transplanted Chevy power at our events in a Buick body. The heart of the car is the motor IMO......
Well..We might be out in the sticks,but that's always been a great place to race. Years ago,me and several friends raced in the Friday street class all the time just for bragging rights and a pizza. I knew that everyone would enjoy themselves when they got on the track. Mike has done alot of upgrades in the last 4 years. Just by attending both days,it lit a fire in me..Now,I am searching places for new parts and places to do a transmission build etc..I also put a face with some names and had several good chats with several new as well as old friends..
I like the video sadly not the outcome. I completely screwed the pooch in that race. Easily had him on the light and I was going by him well before the 1/8th, got off it at the end, and he ran slow. No way would it run under. Wrong! Had my best 60' of the weekend and ran under even in the heat of the day. He probably was in my rearview mirror but I never looked back. Next year there will be a passenger side mirror. Made up for it winning the Buick Full Tree class to finish the day.
