Well, I finally got Shamu to the track. Let me tell you it was no small miracle.

So Dino and I roll out to Houston Raceway Park for the safe street night. All kinds of cars from dodge trucks to dragsters, and lots of mustangs and cameras in between. I am not going to discuss who I raced in any of my races, because that is not important, all that is important is what times I pulled. (Beside I got whooped every race by a drag car of some sort) J

So here goes, run 1:
I pulled up to the line, no burnout, no stutter box, no nothing. I wanted a base line run. So I bogged the launch (of course) and got through the gears quite well. And ran a 15.086 at 101.41 mph, 2.779 60’ (ouch). For the rest of the times, (R/T, 330, 1/8th, 1000, etc.) see the scanned slips at the bottom.

Run 2:
I decided to use the stutter box this time. It is set at 4500 rpm. So I do a mini burnout, not even any smoke. I get up to the line, hold button and floor it. Car hits 4500 rpms, I build a couple pounds of boost, the line turns green and I pop the clutch. It took off much better, but I had a problem. The car was sputtering and didn’t want to go. I could not figure out what the problem was until I realized that I did not let go of the stutter box button. So I let go of it and I take off. I run to a scorching 16.563 at 99.14 mph, 2.459 60’. Oh yeah, watch out.

Run 3:
So I am beyond pissed. I get back to the front, do a pretty good burnout and pull up to the line. I am focused on the mission, “let go of the stutter box,” I kept telling myself. So I stutter box it, the light turns green and I am off. I let go of the stutter box and shift to 2nd, she is pulling hard, I get to the top of 2nd and shift to 3rd, still pulling like a champ, then it happened. I went to shift to 4th and yep, I missed the shift. I was struggling to get it into 4th, thought I did, started to let the clutch out, and oops, it was 2nd. Shot flames out the back, (yes I have it on video) said fuck it, just pushed the clutch in and coasted the rest of the way. Coasted to a 14.678 at, get this, 82.76 mph, 2.310 60’. Man, I was beginning to think that God was out to get me.

Run 4: (last one)
So once again I pissed off. Get to the front, do a hella burnout, smoke all around me. Pull up to the line. Stutter it, light goes green, and I take off like a raped ape. (I actually pulled the race mustang next to me out of the hole) Shift to 2nd still going strong, shift to 3rd, no problem, but then it happened. It felt like my clutch was slipping near the top of 3rd, because I stopped accelerating. So I stay on it and finally I shift to 4th, it kind of feels the same. Like I was not accelerating as fast as I was in the other runs. Shut her down after I cross the line, and I was pissed. Get my slip and I ran a 14.275 at 99.58 mph, 2.186 60’ (hell yeah).

So I decided to call it a night. I am pretty sure that my car is a 13 second car, I just cannot get it there. Yet. All in all for my first time at the track, I think I did pretty well.

I can’t wait to go back again though!

Slips here:

Brynden