NOTICE - Dallas Area Classic Chevys Message Board Will Soon Be Deactivated

[David Graves]

Like last year, for those interested I will try to blog about our 2015 racing season here as Blown Inheritance hits the track again for another season of nostalgia drag racing.

Having moved to a new home over the winter, it has left little idle time. The dragster has been gone through on the surface, having it stripped down to the bare bones and inspected, but no internal mechanical work this year. I hope to get another year out of our setup.

We did do a display at the Dallas Auto Show in downtown Dallas for the SHRA and that was the first event for the car this year. It was a great display with lots of folks looking and asking questions about the various nostalgia drag cars we had on display that included DACC members Billy Walker's '55 and Jim Baughan's '37 Chevy.

The car has not been fired since the final event in November last year. Our season with the Southwest Heritage Racing Association was to have started in March at Little River Dragway in Temple, but rain forced a postponement of that event to September, so now our season will get underway this coming Saturday at North Star Dragway in Denton. The dragster is ready to run and I will fire it at home this week and hopefully all will be well. We will get to the track Friday for a test pass, primarily to get my head and my driver and son Chris back into the game. It is a routine that we need to be refreshed on and we need to be ready on Saturday afternoon for the first qualifying session of the year that should take place about 3PM. We are all itching to get going! Having finished second in points in our class (Nostalgia Eliminator 1) in 2013 and 2014, I expect things to be very competitive in 2015 as new cars are committing to running the series. Blown Inheritance wants to have a better start to this year than what we did last year!

I hope some DACC members are able to use the discount coupon they received to come out and see some great racing as this will be only one of two events in the metroplex that we will be racing.

Our schedule looks like this for 2015 -

April 18 - SHRA Spring Nostalgia Nationals - Denton
May 2 - SHRA Wichita Falls Nostalgia Nationals - Wichita Falls
May 23 - SHRA Ardmore Nostalgia Nationals - Ardmore
July 11 - SHRA Summer Nostalgia Nationals - Amarillo
August 1 - SHRA Big Country Nostalgia Nationals - Abilene
Sept 12 - SHRA Little River Nostalgia Nationals - Temple
Oct 10 - SHRA Nostalgia Nationals at Thunder Road - Shreveport
Oct 31 - SHRA Championship Finals - Denton


Info at www.SHRAracing.com

Here is a shot from the Dallas Auto Show - next up will be at the race track!



_________________
In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage

[David Graves]

Race #1 Denton recap

Finally – the racing season is underway!

I fired Blown Inheritance for the first time this year on Thursday before the Denton race at home. All went well, except I noticed a pesky oil leak that was coming from the rear of the oil pan. After warming the engine and drive train up, I would continue to wipe oil off the oil pan at the back, yet it would return a few minutes later. My thoughts were that it was leaking from the rear main seal. Although there is not a lot of room to inspect that area, I could not see what would be a leak that was producing the amount of oil that would appear on the bottom of the oil pan after a few minutes. So – I wiped it off and stared at it for a minute. The oil was coming from what was a crack in the weld on the oil pan where the bottom plate and back side come together. I had two options, run it like it is and let the diaper catch the oil, or drop the pan and get it repaired with less than 48 hours before race time. Fortunately, my son Chris (who drives Blown Inheritance) best buddy Alex was in town. Alex has worked on the NHRA racing tour for over 10 years as a crew member on nitro cars, the last several years with Don Schumacher Racing and Matt Hagan’s NHRA 2014 Funny Car Champ team. Being that it was an ‘off weekend’ for NHRA, Alex drove the ‘company vehicle’ to Dallas from the last event in Vegas to the next event in Houston with a layover in Dallas. Needless to say Alex is not afraid of tearing into motors as that is what he does for a living many times each race weekend. So I loaded the dragster and took it to the track in Denton on Friday to let Chris and Alex repair the pan. With ‘the company vehicle’ on site, it is a rolling race shop and is not lacking in tools and equipment. By race day Saturday, all was well and ready to go! Here is a picture of Blown Inheritance in our pit space for the weekend with the ‘company vehicle’!



We had an optional time trial run that we decided to run just to get us into the routine again, plus give us a tune up run for the event. The weather was a bit warm and humid, conditions we seem to run well in. For this first run that did not count towards qualifying I reviewed our data and put in what I felt would be a stout run that should be near our 4.65 index. The car launched and ran straight as an arrow down the drag strip to a 4.59 ET at 153 MPH, one of our quickest runs and well under our index! So for the 1st qualifying session I needed to slow it down a bit. To do that I simply choose to richened the fuel mixture. Q1 got us a 4.68 at 151 MPH and for the moment in the #1 spot! I wanted to go a little quicker in the 2nd and final qualifying session (but not quicker than our 4.65 index). The weather effects performance and the density altitude had dropped from Q1 so I left the tune up alone, hoping for a slight pickup in performance just because of better weather. It responded with a 4.67 at 150 MPH. We ended up in the #2 spot out of 15 cars in our class. We had a car that could win!

But before eliminations began, a Texas Spring gully washer hit the track and washed out any attempt to finish the race. So the decision was made to finish the Denton race at the next SHRA event on May 2nd in Wichita Falls. This means this next event will be a big event as points for two races will be awarded on the same day, so I hope we will be ready! There could be some significant points earned in a short period of time and I intend for Blown Inheritance to get its share!

Below is a shot from Denton, and below that the on board video of the 2nd qualifying pass that got us in the #2 slot with the 4.67 ET.



VIDEO OF Q2 PASS
https://youtu.be/uB9dRbjF2RY
_________________
In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage

[David Graves]

Wichita Falls Report

Much better weather greeted us at Wichita Raceway Park for our 3rd attempt this year to get a race in. Alot of opportunity was on the line for this one with both the completion of the rained postponed Denton race and Wichita Falls were all taking place on the same day. Our hopes were high for a good day.

The car was running good in Denton, so other than the routine maintenance was all I did since the last event. The agenda called for running the qualifying and eliminations for Wichita Falls first, and then run the eliminations for Denton after that, so that meant it could be a long day if things went well. We had a long day.

Q1 for the Wichita Falls race had us run 4.74 at 149 MPH, a good off the trailer number, but almost a 10th of a second off our 4.65 index. For Q2 I leaned it out a little and the car responded appropriately and went 4.69 at 150 MPH. At the end of the qualifying, we were in the #2 slot out of 11 cars in our class. Eliminations had us against Steve Dunkin who had qualified #7 with a 4.79, so we had a 10th of a second on him and I decided to leave the tune up alone. Both cars ran similar to qualifying and we took the win with a 4.69 at only 142 MPH so the car was going to run a bit quicker but the speed indicated that Chris lifted before the finish line (we normally run close to the 150 MPH mark with that ET). Round 2 had us against Ron Muncy who had qualified #5 with a 4.77 and he had ran a 4.76 in Round 1. Our race with him got us the win light and again Chris lifted before the finish line and by doing so saved us from breaking out and losing. Our 4.66 at only 144 MPH indicated that had Chris stayed in it and run the normal 150 – 153MPH pass we would have run under our 4.65 index by a significant amount. Good driving saved us there. We earned a bye run for the semi final so I decided to fatten the fuel up some and run it hard all the way since we couldn’t lose. The run produced a 4.69 at 152 MPH and put us where we wanted going into the final, however the shut down was a bit of a wild ride for Chris as the track has a bump past the finish line. Chris found that bump and got the car bouncing, enough to where it almost ripped the diaper completely off the motor, and that would play a factor in the final round. We got the car back to the pits and removed what was left of the diaper and a quick visual indicated the oil pan appeared ok. With only a little time we were called up for the final against a strong running altered driven by Jason O’Neil out of Mesquite. He had qualified #1 ahead of us so we both knew this was going to be a battle for the event win. We got Blown Inheritance fired up and did our burnout but the #2 cylinder was dead, raw fuel pumping from the header. That distraction likely got to Chris and when the light turned green he left to soon and lit the red light giving O’Neil the win. Once back in the pits, I discovered the culprit on the #2 cylinder was a broken spark plug. When the diaper got ripped from underneath, one of the brackets that holds the diaper got pulled into the spark plug and cracked it.

With that event complete, racers got ready to run the eliminations for Denton. All of the qualifying had taken place in Denton before the rain, so we all knew who we had for round 1. Several racers that raced in Denton didn’t make the Wichita Falls race so there were some bye runs. For this race we also qualified #2 out of the 15 cars in the field. Our first round was a bye as our opponent was a no show, and we idled down the track to keep from building more heat in the motor and tranny (this was our 7th run of the day so far!). Round 2 we had Steve Matthews out of Oklahoma who was the 2013 Champ so he is never to be taken lightly. We got the win when Steve red lit and our 4.70 at 149 MPH was looking good as we were low ET of round 2. The semi finals were next and we had the Altered of Clay Cunningham who has a first class operation out of Dumas Texas. He raced part time last year but has committed to run the full series in 2015 so he will be a player in the points chase this year. I didn’t change the tune up but conditions changed (especially the track), and when the green came down Blown Inheritance spun the tires and Clay took the win. Looking back I should have added a half pound or so to the tires to get a better patch out of them with the cooler track temps. Live and learn. My daughter in law Tera would go on to win the Denton race.

So, after two events Blown Inheritance is in 2nd place in points, just behind Jason O’Neill and just ahead of Tera Graves. This event was tough because of the many runs we made, and I will be ordering a new engine diaper and inspecting things closer before the next event on May 23rd in Ardmore. We have a history of doing well in Ardmore, and I sure hope to continue that streak. In the meantime, I will have San Antonio on my mind as Marlene and I will be driving our ’56 Corvette with the other DACC members down to Lone Star 33!

Here is a shot of Team Blown Inheritance getting ready for a run!


_________________
In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage

[David Graves]

Amarillo Report

The spring racing season was kinda like the spring car show season, a lot of rain outs. The SHRA event in Ardmore that was to have taken place in May was, you guessed it – rained out. So we have been patiently waiting for the next event, that the July SHRA Summer Nostalgia Nationals at Amarillo Dragway.

We have never run this track, nor have we run at altitude. Amarillo is at 3600 feet altitude, but when factoring in other variables such as air temp, grains of water in the air, the ‘corrected’ altitude is normally between 5000 and 7000 feet there. This is what the engine thinks it is running at. Think of it as the ‘Heat Index’ for engines. So, with less ‘air’, means less horsepower and that means you better do some tuning to get some of that power back that you are used to at lower altitudes!

Amarillo Dragway is like stepping back in time. Built in 1960, this track has seen it all, the good times and bad times. In its peak in the early 70’s, the track hosted the NHRA World Finals for several years but that event moved on (now held in Pomona, Calif) and the track has seen hard times. The original tower is still there and that is what makes this place so neat. The first 330 feet of racing surface was replaced this spring with new concrete and that was an improvement, but frankly they don’t see a lot of high horsepower cars run at this track now and it made for a less than ideal racing surface for us. But we all play on the same turf so it is the tuner and driver who adapt the best that succeeds.

I had planned to put a smaller pulley on the blower to spin it faster and put more air in the motor. My stash of blower pulleys consists of 3, and I thought I had the middle size on. I didn’t. We had been running the smallest pulley all year so that eliminated an important tuning tool I had planned to use. As it turned out the rest of the competitors were having horsepower issues also except for one, that was Clay Cunningham who lives in Dumas, just north of Amarillo and knows the tune up for these conditions. Regardless we went into the final qualifying session of two making our run that netted us a 4.97 (welloff the 4.65 index we run). That put us in the #1 position, until Clay ran, and his 4.73 took #1 from us. We stayed in the #2 spot and for that I was happy. Our class had some breakage and the points leader Jason O’Neill was out after qualifying, opening the door for us to advance in points if we could go rounds. Other cars also were not able to make the eliminations and what eventually would happen on the elimination ladder because of that would be two bye runs in the semi finals. So, the racers discussed between themselves that whoever makes the semi finals would just skip that (not have two racers make single runs) and go ahead and match the two semi finalist into the final round. We had the combination to get us to the semi final (which became the final round) against wouldn’t you know it – Clay Cunningham. He had been running in the low 4.70’s while we had been running in the high 4.90’s – so I knew he had us covered. I could do some things to make ‘Blown Inheritance’ go faster, but I did not want to risk tearing up my stuff to win this one round. I did find a blower pulley from someone that had one less tooth on it and stuck that on, but that was the extent of my preparation for the final.

We pulled to the lanes for the final and with racing now under the lights for the final, we planned to give it all we had and hope for a mistake in the other lane. Burnouts for both cars went as planned and the cars staged. Clay had a very slight advantage at the green, and maintained a lead all the way. He did lift early knowing he had us covered and his 4.85 defeated our best run of the weekend 4.89.

The runner up finish was a win to me in these conditions, and with those points it put us in the points lead in our class. With 3 events of 8 complete it will be a battle for us to stay ahead of the other racers in points but it’s a good feeling to be competitive with these guys who run 2-3 times the budget and pull big trailers with tons of parts and crew that helps. Blown Inheritance is made up of a driver, crew chief and helper (Marlene) with an open trailer, 3 tool boxes and a folding table. It’s fun being a underdog and being able to beat these guys every now and then!

Here is a photo from Amarillo. Next up will be the SHRA Big Country Nostalgia Nationals in Abilene on Saturday evening August 1st. It should be hot but we can run in heat as long as there isn’t altitude to deal with!


_________________
In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage

[acardon]

Well done!!! Reliability wins out. That's a close race against "Home Field Advantage".

[David Graves]

ABILENE REPORT




We came into Big Country Raceway leading the points in Nostalgia Eliminator 1, and we wanted to exit Big Country Raceway leading the points. Team ‘Blown Inheritance’ knew that would be a challenge, huge in fact since there are several racers right on our tails.

This is our first ever event at Abilene, and we found the track that is located right on Interstate 20 to be a nice facility. The track surface only lacked as it was a bit bumpy in spots and that would give some teams a fit. The corrected altitude to my surprise was quite high, not like Amarillo but not far from it. Knowing we had issues in Amarillo getting the car to run the 4.65 number, it looked like we would have that battle again.

For the 1st qualifying session, I picked a soft tune up to just see what we would do. Running along side my daughter in law Tera, Chris ran a 4.90 at only 144 mph. The 60 foot time was a lazy 1.21 so I knew I needed to get the big block Chevy motivated on the next run. Oh and Tera who is number 3 in points put down a 4.6646 for the second quickest run of the session, and Clay Cunningham who is just behind us in points put down a 4.6645 for the #1 spot after Q1. These guys and gals are playing for real!

After playing different tuneup scenarios in my head, I decided to see if putting more fuel in it would make the motor respond for the second and final qualifying session. My gut said to lean it out more, but I elected to richen it up and learn from it. What I learned was I should have leaned it out as it slowed to a 5.01. After the smoke cleared, we found ourselves in the 4th slot behind Cunningham, Tera and O’Neill, all whom are right on our tails in points. Their better qualifying position earned them a few more points than what we got, bunching us up even more in points at the top.

The eliminations started off with upsets, with Tera going out against a lower qualified car, O’Neill was upset when he also lost to the slower car from qualifying. Cunningham had a bye run and advance. We also advanced when our 4.82 took out Michael Anderson who ran into issues and idled down the track. Our time improved dramatically as I leaned the motor out big. What this left us after Round 1 of eliminations was us and Cunningham advancing, and keeping the heat on us to go more rounds than Cunningham to keep the points lead.

Round 2 of eliminations had us against Andy Mear’s ’57 Chevy funny car, who is very capable of running with the best of them, especially in high altitude situations as he is from Lubbock. His winning time in Round 1 was a 4.78 so our 4.82 was close to him. I elected to take just a little more fuel away from the motor for the tuneup and hoped for the best. At the green, Chris red lit by the smallest margin with a -.0075 but ran it through to a 4.75. Mears took the win due to our red light start but his 4.69 would have been tough to beat. Cunningham who had also advanced to Round 2 lost in a upset when he also red lit. The result of all these upsets is we would leave Abilene with the smallest of leads, 215 points over Cunningham’s 203 points.

There are 4 cars that should contend for the championship as we move into the final 3 events. We were to have 4 events but the event that was scheduled to replace the rained out Ardmore event has been cancelled at the track we moved the event to. Redline Raceway in Caddo Mills is being remodeled and will not be completed in time. So that took an event out of the schedule giving us just 3 events remaining. Up next for us will be the September 12th Little River Nostalgia Nationals in Temple. But before that the SHRA will have a bracket only event at Denton’s North Star Dragway on Saturday August 29th that will feature Old School No Electronics, Old School Electronics and Nostalgia Super Stock classes. Any DACC racers are welcome to run!

Below is a shot from Abilene.


_________________
In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage

[David Graves]

TEMPLE REPORT
9/12/15

We came into Temple leading the points in our class, Nostalgia Eliminator 1, by a slim margin of 12 points, just over a round. We needed to do well at Temple to maintain our ability to have a shot at the title when October 31st rolls around for the SHRA Championship Finals at Denton. We have 3 competitors within 37 points of us so with 3 events remaining we need to do well at each event. First up is Temple.

The weather at Little River Dragway was relatively nice and cool for a late summer day, a welcomed relief. And with that cooler weather, you can expect the cars to perform better. Our off the trailer run for the first of two qualifying sessions nabbed us a 4.672 at 151 MPH and in the #1 spot after the first session. You earned points based on your qualifying position so doing well even in qualifying can be important when the points chase is so close. In the second qualifying session, I elected to richen the fuel mixture some, in hopes of running even quicker and even under our index which is 4.65 seconds in the eighth mile, just to see if I could and know my limit. But perhaps I should have leaned it more instead of richening it as it slowed down to a 4.74 at 150 MPH. Regardless when qualifying was over we were in the top spot and earned the most points in qualifying (and a $100 bonus!), which would prove to be crucial as the night wore on. Jason O’Neill who is one of the 3 nipping at our heels qualified in the second slot with a 4.679, just 7 thousandths of a second slower than our best run! #2 in points Clay Cunningham was in the #4 qualifying spot and number 2 in points and he would face off against my daughter in law Tera Graves who sat in 3rd place in points. This would be a huge race between #2 and #3 in points, as the loser could easily find themselves out of the points chase with only Shreveport and Denton remaining. Our ‘Blown Inheritance’ dragster had a bye run in Round 1 due to an odd number of cars in the field, and fortunately that would prove valuable. Our Round 1 solo pass resulted in tire spin right off the line, after I elected to put it back like it was in the first qualifying pass, and with no opponent in the other lane we got a withdrawal from the lucky bank. Our round two opponent would be the winner of the huge Clay vs. Tera match. In that pair both cars had to fight traction issues with Clay coming out on top, and a date with Blown Inheritance in Round 2. I had concerns with spinning the tires off the line, and I really didn’t want to take power out of the motor because I knew Clay would be playing hard ball. So I decided to leave the fuel mixture alone, and took a half a pound of air out of the rear tires in an effort to get a better grip off the line. And of course, crossed my fingers! At the green, Chris spun again, got back on it and tried to chase down Clay but came up short, giving Clay the win. In the next round, Clay would face O’Neill in the final. Clay would defeat O’Neill with a 4.67 to O’Neill’s 4.69! When the points were tallied, we found ourselves sharing the points lead with Clay, with O’Neill 28 points behind us and Tera 52 points behind us. Tera is last year’s champ and her 1st round defeat in Temple likely put the chance of a repeat championship out of reach for her.
.
So next up on October 10th is our event in Shreveport at Thunder Road Raceway where the drama will continue in our battle to earn our first series championship. Below is a shot of Chris warming the tires before our 1st round pass.



_________________
In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage

[David Graves]

SHREVEPORT REPORT

Before I get into the details from the Shreveport event, I would like to say thanks to the club members who stopped by the house/shop in September during the Cruise to the Tara Winery. It was that stop with the help of club members we pulled Blown Inheritance out for a brief ‘fire up’ with Deb Sealock in the seat. I enjoyed it and I hope she and all the others did. Below is a picture just before we started the blown big block with Ms. Muldowney.. errr Sealock sitting in the cockpit! There was a video online but I can’t seem to find it. Regardless that was fun …



Now, on to the race, next to last for the year. We came to Thunder Road Raceway Park in Gilliam, Louisiana in a flat out tie for the points lead in the Nostalgia Eliminator 1 class. Behind us and Clay Cunningham were two more cars within reach. It would be very important to do well to keep Blown Inheritance in the hunt for the championship.

The weather was incredibly nice. The excessively warm fall had turned cooler with very dry air in place. No moisture in the air allows more fuel and oxygen which equals more responsive and quicker runs. While we seem to always do well in very hot and humid conditions, we and everyone else were excited about running good.

The first qualifying run took place about 5:30 in the evening with the air temp at 81 degrees and the corrected altitude at 1736 – very good conditions. I reviewed data from past runs and decided to go for it with what hopefully would be a dead on run of 4.65 which is the index we run. The goal is to run the 1/8 mile as quick as you can without going quicker than 4.65, if you run quicker you are penalized. The question comes up often – Why run against an index that limits your performance? It is because this index forces us not to run our cars 'all out' or as hard as we can and that minimizes wear and tear on the equipment and makes it more affordable to participate in drag racing. It is very common in the sport to run index racing, and our nostalgia series does just that and that allows more participants to get involved and enjoy the sport without breaking the bank! Now, back to the racing… Our first of two qualifying runs produced a 4.646 at 152 MPH, just 4 thousandths of a second to quick! The second qualifying session I would try to slow it down just a tad, and hope for the best and get into a number just above 4.65. I slowed it down by adding just a bit of fuel to the motor during the run, which I do with a jet or pill in the barrel valve which controls the fuel flow into the motor. That effort produced a 4.68 at 152 MPH and with that qualified us in the #3 spot, ahead of Clay and for the moment put us back in the points lead.

Round 1 we faced a new competitor to the NE1 class, but not to our series. Bee Godwin was the NE2 class champion in 2013. Being that he was out of the points chase in the NE2 class this year, he elected to push his front motored dragster a little harder and step up to the NE1 class at this event, testing the waters for a possible move up next year. He improved his performance by adding nitromethane to his fuel mixture, and by experimenting he was a bit off pace with the rest of the class. I was hoping for an easy win into Round 2. Regardless I tuned to slow down Blown Inheritance, as the corrected altitude had fallen to just under 200 feet and the air temperature was 57 degrees! These are mineshaft conditions, but with index racing you don’t want to go ‘to fast’ and the challenge was to slow it down so that we did not run quicker than 4.65 seconds. Again, I richened the fuel mixture with the jet setting and we went to the starting line hoping for a good run. It didn’t happen. The tires spun before Chris got 20 feet off the starting line, he did a quick pedal job (getting off the gas and back on hoping the slicks will grab) and it took off. But Bee in the other lane had a soft tuneup and had no issues getting off the line and motored on down the Louisiana drag strip to beat us with a 4.88 to our struggling 5.01. That hurt, but how much it hurt was yet to be decided as we had to wait and see how the other competitors did. Clay would go on to win two rounds of racing before going out, giving him a 19 point lead when the smoke cleared. Jason O’Neill, one of the racers who could take the top spot went out in the semi finals, and is 16 points behind us and in 3rd place. It will be hard but not impossible for Jason to take the championship as both our car and Clay’s would have to stumble bad at the final event, which is unlikely. The fourth car with a shot at the series championship going into the race in Shreveport was my Daughter in law Tera Wendland Graves and her first round lost has given her little hope to be able to repeat as the champ in this class this year. Oh, and Bee would go on to win the race, defeating Andy Mears who drives the ‘Dragon Slayer’ ’57 Chevy funny car. Just amazing that Bee beat us all!

With the October 31st SHRA Championship Finals in Denton remaining as the only race left for 2015, we will settle this championship thing one way or another. I hope we can perform well and go two rounds further than Clay as this is what we must do in order to win the championship. Odds are tough that we will but you never know because this is drag racing and anything can and will happen! We have finished in the number 2 slot for the championship the past two years, we want #1 really bad. Plans are to arrive at North Star Dragway in Denton on Friday and do some testing in order to get ready for Saturday evenings racing. Not only is the championship on the line for us, but we also are qualified in the specialty ‘race within a race’ event called the Alkydigger Shootout. Alkydigger is a big supplier of hard core racing parts for our kind of cars and they have put up $3000 for the SHRA to have this special race that will take place during qualifying for the SHRA Finals. For us, if we win our share it will be $750 and boy would I like to get that check! So testing is on the agenda for Friday, with all the racing taking place Saturday along with a big Halloween costume contest and lots of candy for the kids that will be in each pit space. DACC club member Jim Baughan will be attempting to wrap up a championship himself with his ’37 Chevy Coupe in the Old School No Electronics Bracket class and with the big lead in that class that he has, his task may be a little easier than mine. But again, it’s drag racing and ANYTHING can happen!

Come out and support the teams, stop by and hang out in Blown Inheritance’s pit if you like, we love visitors! And if all goes well we may come out on top! For more info on this event click this link
http://goo.gl/VK2PU4
_________________
In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage

[David Graves]

DENTON SHRA FINALS REPORT

It has taken me a while to even want to put this into words.

We came to the Southwest Heritage Racing Association Championship Finals at Denton, 19 points behind 1st Place runner Clay Cunningham. We had barely been hanging onto 1st place in the points most of the season, and after Shreveport the Dumas, Texas bunch overtook us for the top spot. We had a slim chance of making up the 19 points to win the championship at this event and basically had to get qualified as good if not better than Clay and get two rounds on them to get the points lead. On top of that, Jason ONeill was nipping on our tail just 16 points behind us with the same intention – get the top spot in points by the conclusion of the SHRA Finals.

We did do well this year in the fact we were in the top slot for the Aklydigger Shootout. This company is a big supplier to our racers, and puts up big cash for a bonus ‘race within a race’ that takes place at the Finals. During the season, we all earn points based on how well we qualify at each event, and those Top 8 earners at the end of the season get to run for the big money. We were fortunate in that overall this year we qualified better than the rest and had the top spot. To win the big money, there are two rounds, the first round pairs the 8 cars and the two winners that run the quickest advance to the final pair, that’s where the big money is! The first round of the Shootout takes place in the 1st qualifying session for the SHRA Finals – thus the ‘race within a race’. We were paired up against #5 Tommy Drozd who has performed well but is lacking power in his setup this year to run the numbers in our class. One thing that was working against all of us was that weather took out Friday nights test session, which many wanted to use to get more tuning information for Saturday’s race, and that was high on my agenda. But that Friday night rain washed out that opportunity and we all had to do our best at guessing the tune up for this most important first qualifying session and Round 1 of the Shootout. I selected a tuneup that in the past had run in the upper 4.60’s to lower 4.70’s, which would put us in a safe but quick ET and should handle our underpowered opponent. But we don’t race them on paper… For some reason we ran an off pace 4.84 and got beat by Drozd’s expected number of 4.82. Wow, what a disappointment as we thought we had the tune up to go to the money round. And that run counted as our first of two qualifying runs for the Finals, and wasn’t what we need if we were to catch Cunningham in the championship points chase. Oh well on to the second qualifying session. I wanted to make a drastic change in the tuneup. The weather was in the upper 50’s and humid and I elected to richen the fuel mixture. That helped and got us a 4.78 at 145 MPH but I expected more. Cunningham qualified better than we did and by doing so put us 3 rounds down which really made this championship look impossible for us. Oh, and my daughter in law Tera went on to win the Shootout and pocketed the $750!

Feeling defeated with our poor qualifying performance, I still wanted to end the season on a good note so I elected to lean the fuel mixture out and trust that would create more power for us and a better run for the first round. Ahead of us, about 2 pair or so, Cunningham was running before us. Wouldn’t you know it he was beat in Round 1 by a car that shouldn’t have won! (like I said, we don’t run them on paper!) That made that dim light at the end of the tunnel just a little brighter for us as there were 4 rounds of racing ahead of us and all we needed to do was win the semifinal round (3rd Round) and we would catch Cunningham and take the Championship! Chris perked up, as we pulled to the line for Round 1 and with it now 10:30 at night the track was getting cold and there was a lot of moisture in the air settling on the track. The North Star Dragway crew did their best to keep the track sticky but there was only so much they could do. Our first round was a relative easy win as our 4.72 took the win. Round 2 I left the tune up alone, and Chris pulled to the line amped up ready to drive. At the green light a little tire spin slowed us down, but Chris pedaled the throttle and it hooked up and charged to the finish line moving all over his lane and hugging the center line, but he never lifted. The off pace 4.98 took the win over our opponents 5.29 and he also was hugging the centerline and had to lift as evidence of his 129 MPH run. Chris was charging hard after spinning the tires early and his 147 MPH number was proof of that! Amazingly that put us in a place I didn’t think we would be – win one more round and we win the championship!

Our opponent would be Jason ONeill, who had his own mission to pass us and Cunningham for the championship. All this was made possible by the upset loss by Cunningham in Round 1. ONeill has a fast but inconsistent car but believe me this was the race of the year and we both had our game faces on! Normally things are pretty laid back and such, but with so much on the line, it was all business and we wanted to rip their throats out on this run! Again it’s late, about 2AM on Sunday morning (several big delays took place during the event), the track was marginal at best and both cars needed to be at their best to advance. If we win, we win the championship, if ONeill wins, he can win the championship if he wins in the final round. The cars do their burnouts, in spite of the lateness of the racing, a huge crowd has gathered around the starting line area to witness this. The cars stage and the green comes down, Chris leaves on ONeill with a great .041 light but ONeill is charging hard, both cars are moving around in their lanes as they make their way downtrack. ONeill has the lead at 60 ft, Blown Inheritance is ahead at the 330 ft marker and Chris is driving like a mad man never lifting as the dragster is moving all over the slick racetrack, and just before the finish line he lifts to prevent crossing over into the other lane, but gets the win light as we beat Oneill to the line with a 4.82! BUT … a timing block at the finish line that measures the performance of the cars that is situated in the middle of the track is knocked over. It appears Chris tags the block which will disqualify our run and hand the win to O’Neill. There is a bit of chaos at the starting line and I immediately head in the golf cart to the end of the track to pick up Chris, as I know hanging around the starting line is not where I need to be with all the high emotions for both sides. I stop about halfway down so that I can hear the PA, waiting for a decision as to whether we really hit the block or not, but that decision doesn’t come. I picked up Chris and towed him back to the pit and it was perhaps 20 minutes after the run before a decision was handed down. There is no question that the block got knocked over, but was it because our car hit it or did it perhaps blow over from the force of the air as Chris went by at 121 MPH (remember he lifted to stay in his lane which resulted in the low MPH number). The track crew and SHRA staff inspected the track and block and came to the conclusion that our car hit the block. Tire marks show our tire never touched the centerline, and no marks were on the block. Had we hit it, the marks would have been very evident on the timing block. We had to swallow our pride and accept the decision and the fact that we just lost the championship. The feeling of disappointment was overwhelming.

ONeill had the opportunity to win the championship now as he was in the final round, against the very tough Andy Mears with his ’57 Chevy funny car. Mears would take the win, and keep ONeill from a championship, and the Cunningham team had to endear a full night of watching others nearly take their title away from them. It was perhaps one of the most dramatic endings to a season of racing we will ever be involved with.

We ended up finishing in second place for the 3rd year in a row. This time we missed the top spot by 1 point! 1 point is normally not a lot to be concerned with, but it’s was everything at the end of the season for us. Jason ONeill finished two points behind us, and 3 behind the Champ. It was an amazing season full of competitive tight racing! Although it was disappointing to lose the championship, it is gratifying that we are able to run with teams with much more resources in dollars and crew members. I need to thank Bill Mitchell at Competition Sales of Dallas, our lone sponsor who supplies us with our Brad Penn racing oil. If you need a good deal on speed equipment, contact Bill and tell him I sent you and he will treat you right!

We will regroup and give it yet another shot in 2016.

Below a picture from Denton



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In My Garage -
'55 Bel Air Hardtop
'55 Bel Air 2dr Sedan
'56 Corvette
'67 Camaro RS
'69 Blown 427 nostalgia front engine dragster
'17 Indian Chief Vintage