Hot Rod Drag Week 2022

Well, Tony and Mike gave up on the plan to swap over the Hemi from the Hemi Gremmie, because that engine didn't have internals that were set up for boost and lacked the extra keyway in the crank for the blower driver. They said running it with just the tunnel ram would have made the car too slow to be competitive and they didn't feel like blowing up the Hemi that he just gifted Dave. So now they are officially out of competition but are trying to source parts to fix the engine in Blasphemi and get back on the road and make exhibition passes.

My personal update for today at and out of Indy...

Im pretty sure my clutch is going south in an attempt to move 4100# from a dead stop and 4000rpm because I don't have enough rear gear to get it moving. Oh well. I'm not winning anything but personal satisfaction of finishing at this point. I turned in a 13.56@105 slip.

Today's route was confusing right at the end. If you followed the google maps route, it had you go out one road just to 180 back to the road you just left. The paper route was different. The road in question was chipsealed at some point this year and is still loose pebble gravel. Either way, route was ran correctly, eventually.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

In reply to Ranger50 :

Get nuked for me at Byron.

I saw a Drag week car getting gas in Mahomet pulling a trailer.  It was some AMC Javelin looking thing running without doors it was black and red thing pulling a red trailer.  Looked mean and sounded nasty.  

Go get them participants.

In reply to Appleseed :

Close enough?

In reply to nocones :

That's because he lost one on a 6.50 pass. "Same" car that crashed at us131 on the last day last year.

Day 3 Livestream goes active at 8AM CST

If it weren't for a busy week at work I'd be heading down to Byron to watch today.

I passed a early 70's red Nova pulling a trailer on 88 near DeKalb about 6:30 this morning.

I so wanted to turn north on 39/51 but had to get into the plant today.

RacetruckRon said:

I'm starting to wonder if he actually likes blowing up these big dollar Hemis.  Blowing E36 M3 up like that on Day 1 isn't good for views...

It's the only explaination that makes any kind of sense. Hurt it in a certain range and it's good for the "show" but if you land on the point end statistcally it can suck bad.

I'm blown away by how hardcore the Swedes are about this event. On Day One, three of the top five fastest runs were by Swedish entries (Tom Bailey and Alex Taylor were the other two). I know that the Opel Ascona, the one that barrel-rolled at Drag Week a couple years ago, was smashed up pretty bad just a few weeks ago during testing and they thrashed it back into shape.

In reply to NickD :

The s10 is a tt lsx that ran 6.50.

Still trying to finish up the all run group... but lots of broken drivetrain parts slowing everything down.

The diesel c10 twisted the housing when it let go....

Bummer. I love that C10.

I know Tom Bailey and Steve Morris are having issues. After Day 1, they had metal in the fuel system, a sparkplug with the end nipped off, and a damaged piston. Then yesterday, it "sneezed", their words, at the 1/8th mile and nipped off the electrodes on two more cylinders. Tore it down and found more metal in the fuel system and replaced two more pistons. 

Well, Finnegan putting the car together at the very last second wasn't a recipe for success.  No time for testing on a car that's sat for so long isn't a great way to start.  That being said, he's had that car for a very long time and I'm really surprised that he doesn't have check lists for everything.  Ie:  Check the fuel level.  He also had plenty of time to test all the accessories while he was waiting for his motor to be built.

It looked like Ranger50 improved on his time from yesterday! Hoping for a smooth and safe drive for him.

Made the quick cruise...

Yes car picked up because the AdvanceTrac garbage didn't hurt the 60' as bad. It's still an abysmal 2.xx.... Shifts are started at 6250-ish, stab the clutch without lifting, and crossing the stripe just as the 7500 rev limiter kicks in.

Just watched that Finnegan is trying to pull an all-nighter from Indy to Cordova for tomorrow.

Day 4 Livestream

Watched Finnegan's coverage of what happened. There was even more drama behind the scenes of Day One. First they tested the two-step and blew the burst panel out of the intake manifold, they really weren't sure why. Then the fans weren't working. Then they went up to the lanes, the car made the pass and they hurt it (Almost zero fuel pressure all through third and fourth, really ought to have some sort of safety or idot light there). Jared Scott had blown up the transmission in his car and was out of compeition, so he was offering them the Hemi out of his car. They passed on that, then were supposed to be buying parts off of some guy who was in the hospital getting surgery. Then they called Cotten to have him bring down the Hemi Gremmie from his shop where it was stored to borrow the engine out of that. Funny part is, the block in the Hemi Gremmie is the one from Blasphemi that Finnegan blew up four years before at the exact same track on Day One of Drag Week 2018 when it dropped a valve in the burnout box. They gave up on that after Finn called and talked to the engine builder who said that engine was built to handle zero psi of boost and would 'splode if they tried it. They posted photos yesterday of them putting new rings in at Snake Enterprises. According to Tony, every piston was okay, it just needed needed new rings. Also he got a gnarly burn on his arm from a MAP torch. 

Took advantage of the 50F air.....

One pass and done! 12.94@112!

Off to WWT!!!

This dude never quits!

I built the intercooler in the orange/white Cummins C10 before Sick Week earlier this year. He has a brand new motor in the truck now which hadn't yet been fired when it was at my place to redo the charge piping(different turbo and intake manifold); less than a week before Drag Week. Constant delays out of his control and pushed thru to make the event anyhow. This morning he has himself a brand new fabricated 9" housing and is working on getting the truck back together!

In reply to gumby :

Sorry...I was checking out the rear end.

In Finnegan's latest video they're still thrashing - they pulled the engine apart and decided the only problem is the rings lost tension from the high heat caused by the lean condition.  He ordered a new set of rings for overnight delivery and they'll put it back together tomorrow.  He knows they're out of the competition but hopes to be able to just put in some exhibition runs.

Finnegan broke the rearend somehow, he's asking for 35-spline Ford 9" parts.

Tom Bailey had the tongue on his trailer break off on Wednesday while going down the road. They ended up getting the trailer moved to the track on a rollback while they drove the Camaro. It caused some discussion of the rules, but was determined that only the car/truck can't be towed, the rules say nothing of the trailer. Guarantee they make an addendum there next year.

There's a 0.0250 second gap between first (Tom Bailey) and second (Michael Westberg, the Swede in the S-10) and Dave Schroeder isn't that far behind either of them. If Bailey wants to win, he needed to throw down another 6.0 or a 5.xx (which is what they really want) to get a safe lead.

NickD said:

Tom Bailey had the tongue on his trailer break off on Wednesday while going down the road. They ended up getting the trailer moved to the track on a rollback while they drove the Camaro. It caused some discussion of the rules, but was determined that only the car/truck can't be towed, the rules say nothing of the trailer. Guarantee they make an addendum there next year.

Wow. I knew the trailer broke, but hadn't heard he utilized a rollback to haul it to the track...I'm disappointed that this passed the "otherwise enlisting an illegal support vehicle" language already in the rules. No addendum necessary, just proper enforcement.

-edit. I typed "surprised" but I'm not. Having been on DW and experiencing their race director's preferential rule enforcement methods first-hand, disappointment is more accurate than surprise.

-edit2. The bit of rules I quoted is from the previous set. The 2022 rules have that line omitted! It was part of a rule which included calling a phone number to notify DW of situations on the road. Interesting, but doesn't change my position that the rollback hauling a competitor's trailer to the next track is a support vehicle.

Funny, FB served me up a video of a broken trailer in the road.  I can not find it now but there is video out there.  At the moment I didn't make the connection that it was Drag Week video.