alfradio
Member +
This thread should actually be titled:
"Put on the trailer by Lady GaGa!"
...but more on THAT, later...
Today (July 25th, 2010) marked the first time TERCEL1 would
run on THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS! On eight other occasions,
I'd run back to back days but NEVER THREE DAYS IN A ROW!
So, in true alfradio fashion, I picked three of the HOTTEST days
of the summer so far... makes sense, doesn't it!?
I was still a little fried from yesterday trip up to Cecil County,
where the temperatures were so hot (and the racers so few)
the track was closed hours early! Intent on going to Mason-
Dixon today, I was disappointed when I discovered it was
closed:
Waffling back and forth for a while about spending another
afternoon under the scorching rays of the sun, Sandra
(my lovely wife) reminded me of the lunch cooler she used on
her job. A cooler which she filled with 4 frozen gel-packs which
I could use throughout the afternoon to wrap in a towel and
apply to various parts of my overheated body... Worked for
me so at around 10:30am, I was off to MIR:
Always wanting to pit near some folks who might keep an eye
on my stash, I immediately found a group of race fans (with
TENTS no less...) so after asking if they'd mind if I parked
along side their set-up.. not only did they say, "sure!" but, they
offered me the comfort of their shade... an offer I couldn't
refuse!
Normally, I'd be taking countless photos of track-side activity
and of my little hot rod but, the heat sapped my enthusiasm
so this was the only photo taken of TERCEL1 (1 second before
passing out from heat exhaustion (Ha-Ha-Ha!))
The above photo, by the way, was taken from my vantage point
under the shade of me newly found friend's tent(s) THANKS
'GUYS'!
Once settled and getting the car teched in, I made a few
passes, then returned to the pit area and awaited for the
track announcer to call to the staging lanes, the class which
I'd entered TERCEL1:
Scoping out the competition, as I paired up for the Round#1
of eliminations, I was pretty confident that TERCEL1 might go
a few rounds by the looks at the other cars in the field...
For the life of me, I dunno why I put a 13.19 on my window as
a dial-in time... I'd run nowhere even close to that time but...
the guy with whom I was paired dialed in a 15.18!
It must've been the heat or something but, as the lights on
the tree started coming down, I held my RPM at around 6000
and kept thinking,
"WE CAN TAKE THIS GUY... JUST DON'T RED LIGHT!!!"
In the split second that it took that last amber light go out
before the green light... 3 things happened almost simultaneously:
1: I saw a RED LIGHT (but, I hadn't started moving yet!?)
2: It was HIS SIDE of the tree (bracket racing AL, WAKE UP!!!)
3: My side of the tree had started counting down... I felt
TERCEL1 creep forward a tiny bit, then I saw GREEN and went...
I chased the guy down and crossed the finish line first without
running quicker than my dial-in time of 13.19 (in fact I ran a
pitiful 13.659) but when I picked up the time slip I discovered
I too had turned on the RED LIGHT too but not as bad as my
opponent?
Upon my return to the pit area, I found that it was being taken
down because the guys Honda (running Top Street?) was
beaten in his first round of elimination. I thanked them for
their hospitality and moved my stuff closer to an RV (which
cast a mighty large shadow) and waited for my class to be
called up again...
If any of you have ever been to one of these imports events,
you know that along with the drag racing, there is also a
bikini contest and a DJ spinning tunes (rather loudly, I must
admit) on his own sound system which is NOT muted when
the track announcer is calling classes up to the staging
lanes... and THAT is how Lady GaGa put TERCEL1 on the
trailer... I did NOT hear the call for Round#02 of the ET/Bracket
class!!!
When I drove up to the staging lanes to see when the class
was to be called, I got the bad news... "It was called about
10 minutes ago..." The staging boss asked me if I'd like to
make a run anyway... and I figured, what the heck?
I can't help but believe I'd have gone another round because
for Round#02, I'd changed my dial-in time to 13.39, and look
what I ran for my very last run of the day... UGH!
Oh well... That's why it's called drag racing... 'cuz sometimes,
it's a DRAG!
alf :homer:
"Put on the trailer by Lady GaGa!"
...but more on THAT, later...
Today (July 25th, 2010) marked the first time TERCEL1 would
run on THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS! On eight other occasions,
I'd run back to back days but NEVER THREE DAYS IN A ROW!
So, in true alfradio fashion, I picked three of the HOTTEST days
of the summer so far... makes sense, doesn't it!?
I was still a little fried from yesterday trip up to Cecil County,
where the temperatures were so hot (and the racers so few)
the track was closed hours early! Intent on going to Mason-
Dixon today, I was disappointed when I discovered it was
closed:
Waffling back and forth for a while about spending another
afternoon under the scorching rays of the sun, Sandra
(my lovely wife) reminded me of the lunch cooler she used on
her job. A cooler which she filled with 4 frozen gel-packs which
I could use throughout the afternoon to wrap in a towel and
apply to various parts of my overheated body... Worked for
me so at around 10:30am, I was off to MIR:
Always wanting to pit near some folks who might keep an eye
on my stash, I immediately found a group of race fans (with
TENTS no less...) so after asking if they'd mind if I parked
along side their set-up.. not only did they say, "sure!" but, they
offered me the comfort of their shade... an offer I couldn't
refuse!
Normally, I'd be taking countless photos of track-side activity
and of my little hot rod but, the heat sapped my enthusiasm
so this was the only photo taken of TERCEL1 (1 second before
passing out from heat exhaustion (Ha-Ha-Ha!))
The above photo, by the way, was taken from my vantage point
under the shade of me newly found friend's tent(s) THANKS
'GUYS'!
Once settled and getting the car teched in, I made a few
passes, then returned to the pit area and awaited for the
track announcer to call to the staging lanes, the class which
I'd entered TERCEL1:
Scoping out the competition, as I paired up for the Round#1
of eliminations, I was pretty confident that TERCEL1 might go
a few rounds by the looks at the other cars in the field...
For the life of me, I dunno why I put a 13.19 on my window as
a dial-in time... I'd run nowhere even close to that time but...
the guy with whom I was paired dialed in a 15.18!
It must've been the heat or something but, as the lights on
the tree started coming down, I held my RPM at around 6000
and kept thinking,
"WE CAN TAKE THIS GUY... JUST DON'T RED LIGHT!!!"
In the split second that it took that last amber light go out
before the green light... 3 things happened almost simultaneously:
1: I saw a RED LIGHT (but, I hadn't started moving yet!?)
2: It was HIS SIDE of the tree (bracket racing AL, WAKE UP!!!)
3: My side of the tree had started counting down... I felt
TERCEL1 creep forward a tiny bit, then I saw GREEN and went...
I chased the guy down and crossed the finish line first without
running quicker than my dial-in time of 13.19 (in fact I ran a
pitiful 13.659) but when I picked up the time slip I discovered
I too had turned on the RED LIGHT too but not as bad as my
opponent?
Upon my return to the pit area, I found that it was being taken
down because the guys Honda (running Top Street?) was
beaten in his first round of elimination. I thanked them for
their hospitality and moved my stuff closer to an RV (which
cast a mighty large shadow) and waited for my class to be
called up again...
If any of you have ever been to one of these imports events,
you know that along with the drag racing, there is also a
bikini contest and a DJ spinning tunes (rather loudly, I must
admit) on his own sound system which is NOT muted when
the track announcer is calling classes up to the staging
lanes... and THAT is how Lady GaGa put TERCEL1 on the
trailer... I did NOT hear the call for Round#02 of the ET/Bracket
class!!!
When I drove up to the staging lanes to see when the class
was to be called, I got the bad news... "It was called about
10 minutes ago..." The staging boss asked me if I'd like to
make a run anyway... and I figured, what the heck?
I can't help but believe I'd have gone another round because
for Round#02, I'd changed my dial-in time to 13.39, and look
what I ran for my very last run of the day... UGH!
Oh well... That's why it's called drag racing... 'cuz sometimes,
it's a DRAG!
alf :homer: