TERCEL1: A memorable Memorial Day
Working vacation relief shifts for VOA (The Voice Of America)
doesn't give me a set work schedule so my days off have no
set day... so, as soon as this week's VOA schedule was
posted and I saw that I had this Sunday off, I quickly did
some research to see which area track had test 'n' tune.
Recently re-opened Maryland 75-80 had T'n'T, but it also had
elimination runs (which I felt would slow things down
considerably for T'n'T) and after my first experience at the
track on its re-opening several weeks ago, I decided, instead,
to travel South to the state of the art facility, MIR (Maryland
International Raceway)
While MIR was also having a special show today, their T'nT
had always been run very efficiently and I was always happy
with the number of runs. The "show", however, slowed things
down considerably... where on a strictly T'n'T day at MIR
produces anywhere from 8 - 10 passes, today's runs where a
meager 4 runs... I may have been able to squeeze off 5 runs
but after waiting pretty much all day for the 3 runs, I decided
to run in the 'gamblers race" which means if you lose, you're
finished racing for the day... No loss, as I was tired and
wanted to go home anyway. There had also been a couple of
minor rain delays which added to the overall delay in running
the T'n'T...
I arrived at MIR around 8:45 AM, staked out a place for
TERCEL1's pit area...
Got the car prepped, got it teched in and then back to the pit
area to wait for 10 AM and the start of
what I thought was to
be open sessions but, it turned out NOT to be that format so
there was plenty of time between T'n'T sessions to look
around and absorb the goings on at MIR:
Main Street, USA:
Remember the troops on Memorial Day:
Overflowing staging lanes:
Constant reminders of when I used to be on the air:
Looks like a frog...: :dunno:
Waiting out a passing rain shower:
Although the limited amount of passes didn't allow me to fiddle
with the boost and FCD, I did manage some very consistent
and respectable 60 foot times as you can see by the day's
"report card":
When the announcer read off the final digit of the 6 digit
winning number and I had it, I had all I could do to not to yell,
"I WON! I WON! I WON!" I HAD IT! WHOO-HOO!
$300 bucks!!!
"I WON! I WON! I WON!" :rockon:
Who cares if the prize money was all in $1.00 dollar bills!!!