[hamidlmt]

I went out to Portland International Raceway today. I thought they were having the normal 1/4 mile drags, but it turns out they were having a high school drag night.... bracket racing in the 1/8 mile. So, I was put in the Alumni Fast category. This was my first bracket racing experience.

Qualifying runs:
R/T .202, 60' 2.159, 1/8 9.393 @ 74.78 MPH
R/T .163, 60' 2.169, 1/8 9.466 @ 74.17 MPH
R/T .081, 60' 2.188, 1/8 9.483 @ 74.20 MPH
R/T .002, 60' 2.140, 1/8 9.356 @ 74.98 MPH - fastest reaction time!
R/T .185, 60' 2.134, 1/8 9.351 @ 74.90 MPH

So, after a good discussion with a friendly lad at tech inspection, I dialed in a time of 9.34

Elimination runs:
R/T .353, 60' 2.173, 1/8 9.386 @ 74.92 MPH Win!
R/T .085, 60' 2.203, 1/8 9.503 @ 69.27 MPH Win! (Had to hit the brakes at the end of this run)
R/T .514, 60' 2.145, 1/8 9.349 @ 75.00 MPH Win!

Made it to the finals! Last elimination run and my best time of the night:
R/T .230, 60' 2.126, 1/8 9.335 @ 74.93 MPH Lost! Overshot my dial!

The car was running great and hooking up nicely. It feels much stronger with the new custom H-pipe. I can't wait to see what she'll do in the 1/4 mile!

Talked to a lot of nice folks that was surprised it was a 6. There was a 95 Cobra running 10.1's, an 02 GT with an intake and Flowmasters running 9.5's and a supercharged 98 GT running 9.3's. All nice fellows, but young and not terribly great drivers.

Whatta blast!!

[hamidlmt]

Just a quick update:

Went back to PIR tonight (two night in a row... is the addiction getting bad?) for some quarter mile drags. It was a little warmer tonight and I seemed to be having traction problems all night.

I just couldn't duplicate my 1/8 mile times from last night... stuck in the 9.4's in the 1/8 and in the 14.7's in the 1/4.

First run of the night was the best:
R/T .147, 60' 2.165, 1/8 9.412 @ 74.63 MPH, 1/4 14.716 @ 91.82 MPH
(my second fastest 1/4 mile to date)

So, I was a little dissappointed since when bracket racing last night I was hitting pretty darn consistent 9.3x's in the 1/8. Looks like 14'6's will have to wait a bit LOL.

My 2nd run I went up against a beautiful 67 Fastback... he had a 14.5x compared to my 14.7x. On this run, we were both flagged for noise. After 10 pm they don't let cars over 92db run so they can stay nicey nicey with the neighborhood. The next run I ran solo and the noise flag was removed.

My last pass was the worst, not leaving nearly enough time for cool down as the track was closing soon... I just wanted to squeeze in one last run. But, when picking up the time-slip, the lass told me to head up to the 2nd floor of the tower. I asked her why and she didn't know.

So, my wife met up with me and we headed upstairs. I told them that I was sent up there and they asked my name.

They said, you were runner up in the Alumni Fast bracket racing division last night... nice job!

So, I don't normally pick up strangers, but I brought this little honey home...
http://www.transcendingtouch.com/mus...t_runnerup.jpg