I just wanted to chime in to agree with the other posters
regarding Carlisle. It was a lot of fun. I came up on
Thursday this year, and it really made a big difference.
I still didn't see anywhere near the full show, but I did
get to see quite a bit, and I was somewhat less tired.
(Although I was tired enough to fall asleep despite Boog's
snoring. ;-) Some of the credit for that has to go to
John (Burgan) for pelting him with breathe-right strips...)
:-) Anyway, as soon as the on-line hotel reservation
system will let me, I'll be reserving a room for next year.
There were a mess of Dakotas there. At least twice as many
as last year. I never did get a chance to count them, but
based on the "panoramic" pics I took from the grandstand,
I estimate somewhere between 50 and 60. One thing that
surprised me was that I didn't see a single quad cab!! Did
anyone else? Another thing that surprised me was how clean
some of you guys can keep your engine bays! Particularly
impressive was Rich Wisotzkey's daily driven '96. I've seen
restauraunt eating utinsils that wish they could be so clean!
Now that I've seen what is possible, I want to try to make
my engine a bit more presentable for next year. :-)
The drag racing was also a lot of fun, particularly since
I didn't make it last year and I actually got to participate;
sort of... ;-) I was pretty impressed with the entire
Miller family. Scott's 12 second Shelby Dak is impressive,
as are Shane's 440 Ram and especially Rick's 440 Ram (currently
the third fastest truck on DragTruk). I accidentally lined
up against Shane during the third round of eliminations (I was
warned about him and I didn't mean to, but I screwed up).
Anyway, he took me out by treeing me by an tenth and running
.009 over his dial to my .045 breakout. This next statement
may catch me some flak, but this was my first time drag racing
in an auto, and I absolutely loved it! This strengthens my
conviction to replace my NV3500 with a 727 even more.
I definitely agree with Bob's comments about the R/Ts and
saying goodbye. I don't know why there has to be such a divide
between "them" and "us". There are several R/T owners who act no
different than any other DMLer, but I don't understand why
there is such animosity shown toward us by what seems to be
the vast majority of R/T'ers? Have I/we done something to merit
this scorn, or is it simply a matter of egos and a superiority
complex on their part? Anyway, enough about that. It was
definitely hard to say goodbye and leave. I should have left at
4pm, but I managed to procrastinate and delay it until 6pm. It
was great seeing the familiar faces from last year and meeting
a bunch of new ones. Hopefully I'll see all of you next year
(if not sooner!).
The trip home was rather interesting; it was either raining
cats and dogs or clear and sunny. Very weird weather! BTW,
I filled up in Carlisle, just before hopping onto I76, and
filled up again about 10 miles from home in Fredonia, NY with
just under 350 miles showing on the tripmeter. 20.1mpg. For
most of the trip, the cruise control was set at 70mph, but
sometimes around 55, and for about a half and hour or so,
80mph. Not too shabby for a truck with a V8 that runs mid
14's. :-) (I'm convinced its the MPI intake.)
Many thanks to everyone who came out and registered as
DMLers! Not only did we get the tent for free, but the
DML will be receiving some cash from Carlisle! I also want to
send out a special thanks to Shane Baker for all of the innumerable
things he did before, during, and after the event to make it
such a success. I also heard several people echoing these
sentiments during the meet. I just wanted to let you know
that we greatly appreciate your efforts. Thanks, Shane!
-Jon-
.---- Jon Steiger ----- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@twistedbits.net ------.
| Affiliations: AOPA, DoD, EAA, NMA, NRA, SPA, USUA; Rec & UL Pilot - SEL |
| '92 Ram 150 4x4 V8, '96 Dakota V8, '96 Intruder 1400, '96 FireFly 447 |
`------------------------------ http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ----'
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