Finally had our grudge race

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SpeedracerX

Still on this side of the dirt member
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So... after years of friendly trash talking, Mr B. and myself finally had our dueling A-body grudge match.. I have never raced a car on the drag strip ever until last night.. And man what a rush it was!! I had an absolute blast.. I lost.. but I didnt even care.. The buggy ran better than I expected and I managed not to break anything.. good times..

First race, I made about every rookie mistake possible.. I slept at the light, then when it came time to shift from 2nd into drive (full manual shift valve body) I had a total brain fart with the shifter and lost precious time.. (back story is my mechanic who got all our cars ready for the night, installed my quarter stick yesterday morning LOL .. for the past 8 years I have column shifted the Dart.. I totally forgot to squeeze the handle to get her into 3rd LMAO) ... I said if the Dart ran a high 15 on my first time racing I would be ecstatic..it ran a 15.35!!

2nd race, I did better at the light, and he never lost me... he ran a 15.15 and I ran a 15.19! SOOOOO close.. lol.. It was such a fun time.. All of our 'crew' went.. wifes also... Me and Bob with the Barracuda and Dart, Bruce with the Cordoba, Randy with the Javelin, and my good friend and mechanic Ed with his 71 Dart...

Here are some pics from the night... video to come...
 

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Here is the video for the first race...

[ame]http://youtu.be/7wgO6MlnbwA[/ame]
 
And here is the 2nd race... My favorite pass of the night.. He still had a slightly quicker reaction time than me.. but 15.15 and 15.19... It doesnt get a whole lot closer.. lmao... I had the time of my life for sure..

[ame]http://youtu.be/7KpNWe853e0[/ame]
 
Here is the time slip for that 2nd race..
 

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Very cool Bill!! Having fun is what's it's all about, if you go expecting to win it's alot less fun, especially if you lose lol. Sweet cars and your friends look like a great of bunch of dudes to hang out with, thanks for sharing :glasses7:
 
Very cool Bill!! Having fun is what's it's all about, if you go expecting to win it's alot less fun, especially if you lose lol. Sweet cars and your friends look like a great of bunch of dudes to hang out with, thanks for sharing :glasses7:

Trust me Keith, none of us are pro racers LOL .. I never built the buggy with this in mind, it was something fun we had always talked about doing.. plus we were curious how evenly matched the cars were.. we were kind of thinking the Dart would run a little better just because its the one with headers, aluminum intake, holley double pumper carb, super stock springs.. As opposed to the Barracuda which as Bob will point out is bone stock.. right down to manifolds LOL ... they're both 360's, with 727's and 8.75 rears with 3.55 gears.. his is an earlier 360 and has always been a freak.. my 360 is a mid 80's smogger motor.. All in all I was happy as could be with how it ran... when it hit a 15.1, I really wanted a high 14 second pass... my last pass I had issues and slowed down to a 15.40... Oh well.. again, this was just for fun.

And yea, they are the coolest cats to hang out with.. They're more like brothers to me than friends..
 
Thinking we're gonna make this an every year event for the gang lol
 
Very cool! I see big things in your future, big expensive things that is...
C
 
Very cool! I see big things in your future, big expensive things that is...
C

That is what I was thinking. First some tuning just to gain an edge, then checking tire pressures, gain a .01 and maybe that mechanical pump is slowing it down, so on goes the electric. Those headers mean you need more fuel so a rejet or bigger carb, then a cam shaft. Next thing you know 10k is in the motor and you are looking to lighten the car.


No matter what you do it will always be fun to go to the track with your buddies. That is cool that you have a group to go with, and makes it that much more fun, plus you are safe doing it on the track. Now you got pictures, stories, and memories of good times.
 
Yup your buddy " Treed" you as the saying goes. My daughter use to ask me when I cut a bad light "Dad what happened, did you take a coffee break?" A day of fun and neither one of you broke anything! I say your both winners!
 
Yup your buddy " Treed" you as the saying goes. My daughter use to ask me when I cut a bad light "Dad what happened, did you take a coffee break?" A day of fun and neither one of you broke anything! I say your both winners!

LOL... from the looks of it, I was on a heck of a coffee break LMAO... As for neither of us breaking, the last pass I heard some strange stuff coming from the rear after my burnout.. we were talking at the garage tonight, judging from the sounds I am hearing and the way it felt on the way home, I may have wiped out an axle bearing... That'll give me another project this winter LOL
 
That is what I was thinking. First some tuning just to gain an edge, then checking tire pressures, gain a .01 and maybe that mechanical pump is slowing it down, so on goes the electric. Those headers mean you need more fuel so a rejet or bigger carb, then a cam shaft. Next thing you know 10k is in the motor and you are looking to lighten the car.


No matter what you do it will always be fun to go to the track with your buddies. That is cool that you have a group to go with, and makes it that much more fun, plus you are safe doing it on the track. Now you got pictures, stories, and memories of good times.


You describe 'the bug' as we call it.. lol.. my buddy Bruce with the Cordoba got bit a little harder than me LMAO.. He's already talking about another converter, steeper gears LOL .. I never intended the Dart to be much of a drag car, and it most likely never will be.. however, I have a couple plans for the future, to hopefully put me into a 13 second pass LOL
 
Lookin' good Bill. You could quietly slip in some 3.91 gears over the winter and get a practice tree from Summit and be a pro by next spring. How'd the Doba run? Doesn't he have a Hemi in it now?
 
Lookin' good Bill. You could quietly slip in some 3.91 gears over the winter and get a practice tree from Summit and be a pro by next spring. How'd the Doba run? Doesn't he have a Hemi in it now?

The Cordoba did really good I thought. He has a worked over 440 in it now. his best pass was a 13.70 I do believe. Considering how much car there is too get rolling I was impressed... best pass for the Javelin was a 12.89

And truthfully I was actually thinking about 3.91's. lol.. And now that I may have taken out an axle bearing I'll most likely be pulling the rear apart this winter. ;)
 
hay Bill I had soooooo much fun just being there with you guys and running the barracuda and the 2nd run was awesome so close I will see you later my brother thanks for the pics and video bob
 
hay Bill I had soooooo much fun just being there with you guys and running the barracuda and the 2nd run was awesome so close I will see you later my brother thanks for the pics and video bob

I couldn't agree more my friend.. I had an absolute blast.. Can't wait for us to all gather and do it again next year...(even though we won't be lining up again seeing naw how you'll be taking the Fury.. It'll be a blast to watch your race and you can watch mine)
 
That looks like a blast. I have some friends trying to do the same thing here but something always pops up and it never happens.
 
That looks like a blast. I have some friends trying to do the same thing here but something always pops up and it never happens.

Keep trying... It took us a good while to get everything lined up, but it was WELL worth the effort
 
After work today I will post up the videos from Bruce and Randy's races.. (the Cordoba vs Javelin)
 
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