Re: Re: Relieved or insulted?

From: Bob Tom (tigers@bserv.com)
Date: Wed Jun 25 2003 - 09:57:00 EDT


At 09:10 AM 6/24/03 -0400, you wrote:
>It sucks that they're twisting this legislation like that, I can only pray
>that it doesn't get that bad here. Go after people that are actually
>breaking the law, instead of those who are trying to race safely/legally.

At my age, I am pretty well pass getting upset over most things but this was
a little close to home. Most racers that I've seen going and coming from the
track really drive safely and sanely ... exceptions being those "driving"
imports!

>How did Race #9 go?

Well, when I went out for tt #1 at about 10:15 a.m., it was already 77F
the shade :-( When I ran my last elimination round around 3 p.m., the pit
area was 108F in the sun and 93F in the shade! Hate to think what it was
in the staging lanes and on the track :-( Thank heaven, humidity was low
and there was a light breeze! Reminds me why I decided to make this
my last season on the track.

I had done some minor adjustments during the week so I ran 6 time trials
(instead of the normal 4) to get a shakedown. Baro. pressure was 29.4"
and fell to 29.3" so power making wasn't going to be great.

In round 1, I was matched with car putting up a 18.25 dial to my 14.75.
I bulbed with a .345 to his .932 (knew I shouldn't have opened up those
T...man posts!). We both ran it full out. He broke out with a 17.968 and
I broke out with a 14.739.

Upon returning, I noticed that the car who is one point ahead of me was
waiting for the next round at the head of staging lane, At the last sec.
I turned into the staging lane instead of the pit area and bought back in.
Luckily I was matched up with him in round 2.

He put up a 17.03 dial while I lowered mine to 14.73. The "curse" got
me again at the lights (his .616 to my .649) and when I had a brain
cramp and left the gear in D after the burnout :-( The tranny did the
2-3 shift automatically at around 4500 rpm and I ran a 15.14! Fortunately,
with the T...man now being in San Fran, the "curse" fades in and out, and
he broke out with a 17.02! Man, I can imagine how p_ssed he was
to get the hole shot, be 4 to 5 lengths ahead at the line and off the gas
a little and braking a little at the line only to break out by 1/100.

For round 3, the "old boy's club" told me that I would running against
the run-away points leader :-( Even the staging lane manager had him
paired up with some else!

Anyhoo, he put up a 12.36 dial and I left mine at 14.73. We did our burnout
and as we approached the tree, we saw both reds flashing. Apparently,
the track wanted a bit more time between starting our class or they had him
paired up with some else in the computer :-P We shut down and put our windows
down for some air. During this time, the guy who just broke out against me was
sitting in the stands and began yapping to the flagman and the points leader
about how he should be the one running. That made me glad that he took
himself out :-)

I ran a 14.734 and the leader drove the line with a 12.472 but the "curse"
had come back in and I had just a horrible rt (.664 to his .530) handing him
a .026 win (arggghhh)! Fried, baked and toasted ... in more ways than one :-)
It has taken me until Tuesday to recover from the heat :-(

I had put on the 9-way adjustable Rancho 9000X rear shocks during the week
and set them to 7. In the 9 runs that I did, my 60' times were all within
.03 sec of each other. I'm guessing that 7 might be a little too still and
am going to try a 5 setting next weekend.

It's going to be really hard walking away from the track! Maybe indoor
go-karts
next year :-)

Bob



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