SATURDAY EVENING NOTEBOOK -
I would like to thank Aeromotive for sponsoring our coverage for the weekend. If you have any fuel system need be sure to check out Aeromotive.
I want to give a big THANK YOU to Wade Mooney and his wife Jenny. They were being a big help with internet access for me and the round sheets. If not for them there might not have been round sheets for anyone to post. Also to Wade Rich, he took care of us working up in the tower and gave the racers one of the best track surfaces to race on this weekend. They also reported this to be the largest crowd at SGMP outside of an ADRL event. I would also like to send out a thanks to Donald and Amanda Long and Denny Savage for putting one heck of an event. I could see this becoming a yearly event.
Erwin Rackley was not having a very good weekend even before his last qualifying pass. Then it got worse when the car got loose and slapped the drivers side of the car into the wall. His damage does not look terrible and he should be able to get his 2005 Outlaw Radial car fixed up and back out there.
Spurgein Adkins did not have any luck in the first round of eliminations in Extreme 275. He got loose and put the super nice 1989 Mustang’s nose into the wall. He was ok and the damage does not look to serious so I would expect him to be back out soon.
David Schulz was the number 12 qualifier in Extreme Street in his Fox body Mustang with a 5.14. He took out number 33 qualifier Marty Stinnett in the first round but it looks like they hurt something. When I made it by they had 5 guys flying around the car taking stuff apart. I did not get a chance to talk to them, but the way they work working it looked like it might be something serious.
Joe Morgan won his first round matchup in his Extreme 275 in his 2004 Ford Mustang. Joe is using a big block Ford with nitrous for power to be the number 8 qualifier. It looked like they were going through normal between round procedure and checking the plugs after their first round victory.
Xtreme 275 racer Travis Thomason made the 16 hour drive from just outside of Tulsa. This is his first time traveling more then a couple of hours from home for a race and it is paying off for him so far. Travis has laid down the fastest pass every round that he made this weekend. In the first round of qualifying he laid down a 4.99 at 145.7 in his 1990 Mustang with a big block Chevy on the bottle. The next round he stepped it up and went quicker but hurt a couple of parts in the process. They spent Friday night and Saturday morning getting it back together and missed the last round of qualifying. He still held the number 1 qualifying spot heading into eliminations where he had a bye run. Wanting to make sure everything was good he ran it out to the tune of a 4.91 and there were no hurt parts.
8:50 pm They have called it a night for the heads up cars tonight. They will begin at 10 am tomorrow with the Radial vs the World second chance race. I will have more updates after I get some dinner and get back to the room.
7:25 They are getting ready to call Xtreme BMF 275 to the lanes. As long as the they can keep a little heat in the track they will try to get through the first round.
6:30pm Vern House stood his car up and some liquid got on the back tire. It sent the car into the left wall and it shot back across the track into the right wall. Vern is OK and out of the car. He was racing Chris Tuten and luckily he was ahead of Vern and was not involved.
Race Officials have announced they will only run for another hour or so tonight and they will call it a night because of the cold conditions. They will resume racing tomorrow morning at 10am.
Everytime I have walked by the Cooner pit I have not seen the car out. I just heard they were really leaning on it and melted the motor down.
MORE SATURDAY NOTES
The Wolfe crew was checking the transmission before eliminations start. This seems to be the biggest issue for racers this weekend. The will be ready for the first round of eliminations.
Hyperformance is here on the property. They had an engine with a full turbo kit set up on the back of the trailer to show people the kind of work they do and the parts they provide. You can se Dan talking with a potential customer.
Kevin Smith is the Ultimate Street racer that hit the wall earlier and was ok. They were in the pit getting everything fixed up to make the first round of eliminations. It looked like they were pretty close when I made it by but were still thrashing
DJ Loiacano broke a gear last night and spent the evening changing out the gear. The replacement he found was not the same as the one that broke but it would get him racing again. Well the car really liked the new gear and DJ ran his best ET ever by over 2 tenths. It was an understatement to say him and the crew were happy. Not only was it a career best pass but it got him in the top 32 in Radial vs The World. The bad news is he will have to run David Wolfe first round.
Chad Revia is having trouble running as quick as they do around home so they are at work in the pits. They are adjusting the suspension and adding on the bars so they can throw more power of it. They did not make the top 32 but there is an all run second chance race. Bob Kurgan has an issue before he could make the last qualifier. It is the first time the car has been to the track since last fall, so he thinks there may have been condensation in the brake lines causing the rear brakes to lock up. They bled the brakes and looks read to go for eliminations. Yesterday I notices water running down the side of the trailer and it seemed to get worse through out the day. It was the Chicago snow still melting off the car.
Dave Hance was not in the top 32 coming in to the last round but that all changed. Dave laid down a 4.65 to jump up to the number 10 spot. I thought yesterday that the bump spot would be around a 4.80, well I was off a little because the bump ended up being a 4.76
10:30 AM - Ultimate Street Racer Kevin Smith in his Malibu pulled a big wheel stand on his last qualifying hit. When it came down it looked like it broke a wheel or steering part and went into the wall. Kevin is on and out of the car.
Lebron Hill in his 2000 Camaro has been having trouble all weekend and is in the last Ultimate Street qualifying spot. His troubles continued with the last qualifying shot with a nitrous explosion at the hit. John Kolivas has been fighting electrical gremlins all week. He has also hurt the rear end and will not make the field today. His crew chief Jeff Reid has been fighting issues with his Ultimate Street car. John and Jeff spent the evening changing the transmission and looking for his electrical gremlin.
Back at the track here in Georgia and it is decent weather. There is some cloud cover but the wind is lighter. The great crew here at SGMP is already hard at work getting the track ready for today's competition. Qualifying ran over yesterday so they had to cancel the final session just to get in the show is this morning at 10 am. Just got word there will be a second chance race for the Radial vs the World for the qualifiers outside of the top 32. There was not much going on in the pits on my way through and it may have been from the big party last night.
FRIDAY ACTION FROM THE CAMERA OF JASON ROBERSON
Talented photographer Jason Roberson sent us a collection of some of his finest shots from Friday. While words can't exactly do justice in describing the intensity of this event, Roberson's photos come pretty close.
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FRIDAY EVENING NOTEBOOK -
The theme for the evening is keeping warm. It really cooled off towards the end of the second round of qualifying. Lets hope it stays warm long enough to get all the racing in tomorrow.
Transmission and converter changes were pretty popular in the pits after the last round of qualifying on Friday. The word through the pits was the track was as good as any track most of these guys have been on. I would say that is pretty accurate looking at qualifying with 32 cars running 4.86 or better in just 2 rounds. I would not be surprised to see the bump at 4.80.
Terry Elam and grew were mounting up some new tires and making some suspension changes. They are in the field at number 26 with a 4.81, but with the bump being a 4.86 they want to step it up. A lot of cars will be trying to step it up in the morning to get in the show.
DJ Loiacano is trying to make the field for the Radial vs the World class but has had some bad luck. He had a wheel stand in the first pass and was trying to get the car to stay down. On his last pass it started to come up on him and he had to pedal it and when he did he believes it bent the pinion. They were looking for a gear but were not sure if they could find one.
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FRIDAY AFTERNOON NOTEBOOK -
Brad Edwards ran an off pace 5.13 for him and the class. He was in the pits with Dave Zimmerman from Team Z Motorsports working on the front suspension. They are hoping to pick up the pace for the next round. David Wolfe called it he just busted into the 4.4’s with a 4.49 at 172 mph. Daniel Pharris stood his Mustang up on the bumper and it came down really hard. There is oil o the track and it will be a little while before we are back up and running.
Sam Vincent ran a 4.70 on his first hit and that was good enough for the number 6th spot. Sam was on slicks for the first round but is switching to radials for round number 2. He is not sure how it will react to the tires but he is going to give them a shot.
Dave Hance had some issues to fix from his pass last night and was able to make 5.36 hit. They were in the pits still trying to get things tied up out of the way.
Chip Pike is here from Arkansas with a car he just purchased from Matt Jones. This is his first weekend out with the car and it has come to an early end. The engine melted down on his first pass and he thinks it is the block and the head. He ran a 4..86 on the first pass and was in the 21st spot.
Keith Berry and his Wooo Crew were very busy when I walked by their pits. I did not see their pass to see what happened but they were thrashing. The intake and one head was off and the second head was coming off. Hope they have time to get it back together.
Mike Freeman laid a nice pass down in the first round but had a cutting out issue as he went down the track. When I made it by they were getting ready to put the intake back on and if they fixed the issue they should have a shot at number one.
David Wolfe laid down the quickest time in the first round with a 7.51. David said that it was set up the same as the pass yesterday but it just did not spin on the big end. He mentioned the air was not as good and his 60 foot was not as good either. He is going to step it up a little for the next round and feels that a 4.47 to a 4.49 is what the car will run.
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The Hawkins Racecraft Mustang had an issue the first round of qualifying. Word from the pits is that it doesn’t like the carb they had on the car. The taped the hood scoop back on since it was blown off on the first pass. They also changed the carb and are ready for round number 2.
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FRIDAY EARLY NOTEBOOK -
Big Daddy is fine!! But he did have a mishap and ended up into the wall on the big end. He is not sure what happened but he did see water on the windshield before it turned right into the wall. It hit the right front corner of the car pretty hard and then slapped the rear quarter panel. But the most important thing is Big Daddy is fine and will be back to race another day. But his weekend is done.
Steve Ayshe is here from my hometown, Wichita, KS., with a car he purchased from Bart Tobner at the end of year and made a few upgrades. Steve and the guys from Wichita Dyno stopped at MV Performance on their way to the track. They are on radials for the first time and had trouble getting down the track yesterday.
Chris Tuten is here basically testing for the NMRA race next weekend. He did not want to add any weight so he is racing in the 315/60 radial class with his 28.5 x 10.5 slicks. He is also running the small 94mm single turbo will be out-gunned but he is here to support the race and is driving another Mustang in the Ultimate Street class.
Bob Kurgan is here with a few changes from the last time he was at the track. He is on the Goodyear drag radials and has the new Vortech XSi blower with the gear drive. I am surprised at all of the Goodyear radials here.
Jason Lee has been down here since Monday trying to get out of the cold of Michigan. He even celebrated his birthday down here this week. Jason is racing in the Ultimate Street class. He is in the first pair of cars down the track today and it is hooking. Jason pulled the tires from the hit and the kept going to ride the bumper. It only came off the bumper when he pedaled it at about 600 feet.
Big Daddy is here and feels confident enough that he is just cleaning his car before the first round of qualifying. He made a test pas yesterday and had his best 60 foot and 330 time he has had but it unloaded the tires and he had to get out of it on a 4.72 pass. He felt it would have been a low 4.50 pass and the quickest of the day for sure. David Wolfe just ran a 4.51 on radials with out bars for the record.
There are several Outlaw 10.5W cars here on the small tires. TJ Casper is one on them in the Mustang they bought from Tim Lynch. This is the first weekend for TJ to be on the small tires also. On his first pass yesterday he smoked the tires on the hit of the throttle. He said his second pass would have been in the 4.5’s but the throttle cable broke during the pass.
The Car Killa has been for sale, but Jeff Paulk has pulled her back out for the $20,000. His S-10 truck is still in Limited Street trim on slicks and no bars.
Everyone wants to see how to be “Stevie Fast” and the crowd around the Killing Time Racing. Steve brought his Outlaw 10.5W car and it is sitting on radials and has his bars on for the weekend. Bruce Roberts was the first to lay down a pass in Ultimate Street running a 5.16. Then Goss Knows laid down a better pass. Brian Goss Knows number 1 qualifier with a 5.10. A lot of cars were pedaled because of wheel stands.
BB and T Racing is another team that has showed up with a former Outlaw 10.5W car to the true 10.5 class. It looks like they have purchased the Skinny Kid Race car that was built for and raced by Brian Carpenter raced the last few years. It is one of the most beautiful cars on the property.
I am here at South Georgia Motorsports Park and this place is packed! Tech had cars form each classed lined up and the pits are loaded with some killer cars. The weather seems to be warmer then yesterday with a headwind and some sun with a high in the mid to high 50’s. I also want to give a big thanks to Wade and Jenny for the help with an Internet connection. Here is a shot of the trophies.
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