Now the details
Gotta congradulate the crew at Greenfield Dragway for an amazing job of getting a race done. 200+ cars and a 1:00 PM start time usually means disaster this late in the year but that crew knows how to get it done. Final round ran well before sunset. As someone said it is a well oiled machine at that track. Hospitality as always was second to none, even got fed Sat night. Donna Keans makes great chili even when she does it by the gallon. Turns out our friendly tech guy Sam Henneberry is a pretty good hand on a bbq too, did a great sausage for me. Thanks folks for making it a great weekend.
Sat was certainly wet but light rain most of the day so lots of bench racing going on everywhere in the pits. Went into Liverpool with Bruce and Travis to check out the chinese restaurant, very good food. Fri night it seemed a lot of people had already written off Sat because the partying was extra heavy and went all hours. lots of big heads Sat morning. ;D ;D ;D
Sun morning did not look very promising early on but did not take long to clear up and the sun came out. All smiles in the pits with evryone looking forward to going racing. The staff decided there was time to qualify and away we went. Air was certainly different than the weekend before in CB, 2300 instead of 300 and I thought the car was broken in 1st gear it felt so slow but ran what it should have for the air. Made a heck of a lucky guess and ran dead on with a 6. Blair Power was guessing much better and went dead on with a 0
Track had been scraped very well before the meet and everyone was really wondering about traction but Gary Keans worked his magic and it was very good all day.
Personally I lost in the 5th round with a redlight but my racing is getting better thanks to some advice from a friend (more on that later). I see Rene Coughlin lost the same round I did, not sure whether she was footbraking or using the delay box but had a good day going some rounds.
Big story was the ADRA points battles getting settled.
My good buddy Rylie Green coming thru for the 3rd straight year to win Junior Dragster, had it pretty well locked in before the meet but he lost in the semi's to pad the lead a bit. Hard to beleive he has only been racing for 4 years. Good job Rylie
Travis Livingstone retained his lead in Pro, all the racers close to him slowly fell by the wayside as Travis responded to the pressure and went the rounds he had too to get his first championship. Congrats Travis on a job very well done.
WOOHOO Bruce Howatt wins Super Pro, first time for a championship for him. He was in tough too with Jason MacNeil close behind and we all know what Jason can do. Have never seen Bruce so hyper at a race as the rounds wound down. The man could not sit still, Wayne Delany told him he had fresh shoes if Bruce wore his out pacing. ;D ;D ;D ;D Congrats Bruce, just made my day being there to see you win.
Gotta say a few words about the top 3 in Super Pro. As everyone knows I have been heavily involved with the ADRA from the very start and involved in the Improvement committe here at Raceway Park. From that I have developed a real rspect for the people who give back to the sport we love. The top 3 racers in ADRA Super Pro points really epitomize that thought.
Bruce put a lot of time and energy into the ADRA in his years as VP and President and really brought the ADRA ahead in leaps and bounds. But the work he puts into Raceway Park is nonstop. Not sure the place would be open without him. He is usually one of the first ones there on raceday, helps set up the timing gear and has put a lot of personal time and money into that timing system.
Jason MacNeil has been on the exec of the ADRA for some years now, currently as VP and will be president next year. From the start he brought a lot of euthuiasm and great ideas to the ADRA. Has a great work ethic and I hope he stays on the exec for some years. Real asset to the organization.
Doug Decker, well not sure Greenfield could run without him. He has put a ton of hours into turning that place into the "well oiled machine" it is now. Really got an example of that during qualifying when there was a computer glitch. Doug was all strapped in ready to go but got out, got the problem resolved and we were trouble free for the rest of the day.
One of the things about all these guys is while they guide how drag racing works it is always "how to make drag racing better for everyone " not how to make it better for themselves.
So when you congradulate them for their points finishes also thank them for the work they have put in to make our sport better for everyone.
Speaking of people who give back to the sport congrats to Brian Mansfield on the S/P runner-up and Jeremy Keans on the Pro win. I hear Brian and a few of his buddies have taken on the job of making sure the track is scraped for every weekends racing. Usually a thankless dirty job but thanks to Brian and his friends we had a great track to race on. Jeremy is also one of the mainstay volunteers at Greenfield and puts a bunch of work into making that place successful. Have even seen him cleaning the track after dark with a nice fresh t-shirt. ;D ;D ;D Sorry Jeremy couldn't pass it up.
;D ;D Jeremy is also one of the most modest racers I have ever met. I was around his pit late in the day and knew he had run the Pro final. Asked him how he did and finally got a "got the white slip" out of him. ;D ;D
Congrats to Nevin Scott holding up the PEI banner with a win in Bike/sled.
Gotta thank my buddy "The King" Richard Boyd, while i have been going some rounds lately my lights have not been stellar actually they have been really bad. Also had a few rounds where my thumb came off the button and the car rolled. We were discussing my method one day and once it became clear to him what I was doing the comment was "what are you an idiot!!!!!!!!!". The King is so tactful.
;D ;D ;D ;D That got me thinking and when Glen MacLean basically said the same thing I decided to try the method Richard told me to use on my practice tree which I had been stuggling on too with inconsistency. The practice tree gave me a rough idea of how much to change my delay. .548 qualifying, took .015 out and .536 first round. The glare from the sun and a complete miss got me for 2 rounds but I had taken .01 more out of the box and went .526 in the 4th round. looks like I may have a plan thanks to some good advice. Basically I was trying to hold the buttom softly and it was not working. All over the map with my lights. 2 races to go to see if it works as well as it did on Sun.
Got afew more things for later but I hit the wall this afternoon and am dead beat after a long day yesterday.
Hope to see lots of you in MDP this weekend.
;D ;D ;D ;D