What better way to officially hit middle age than to go racing and win a Wally!!
After our good showing at the Bug-in, we we hoping for a smooth engine service and hopefully a weeks rest after all the Bug-in prep. But, it wasn't meant to be. Some slightly damaged valves and bearings put us straight back into panic mode!! Without any delay, the rods went off to Pauter for a quick run through and Anthony took the heads and did his magic. It definitely needs a set of valves but at the moment, the wallet said no! So a little touch up and back in they went. Mario at Pauter got the rod's turned around in 24 hours and gave us the green light.
So off to Heads Up for another info filled dyno session. Coming off the dyno and with a great weather forecast, we felt really good about the weekends possibilities!
The first round of qualifying, however brought major disappointment. 11.03 @ 120. NOT GOOD! The usual in between round service found I had taken a little to much fuel away from her and video showed that the suspension that had brought record setting E.T.s at Bug-in, could almost shut the motor off on launch at an NHRA prepped event. So I rejet and and we back some suspension out and better to a 10.92 @ 123. Still not what we expected, but a step in the right direction. The plugs looked better and with the near 4,000 corrected altitude I decided on no jet change, but we took even more suspension out. Bam 10.76 @ 123.76. Now we're talking. Everything from two weeks before duplicated!! With 2 more qualifying runs we tried a couple off the wall changes and it slowed down on both so on to class eliminations.
First round gave us a bye. With the clutch on race mode and everthing back into low e.t set-up, the car went even quicker 10.75 @ 122.23 with a .019 r.t. It's looking like a bracket car and the old shoe is doing ok! A quick run through found the reason for the MPH loss. A loose manifold. Locked it back up and round 2 found us facing Greg Tims, the current NHRA National Record Holder. This one was going to be tough as Greg can cut a light and we took a little clutch out as the last thing I wanted to do was redlight! The Mamba did her job as Greg got a slight holeshot on me as expected, but the car ran a 10.76 @ 124.36. So the final was going to be against the Historic team of Rick Stanchfield and Eric Ballard and the "Mean Machine" ghia. It was kinda of funny, but Rick came up to me and said "Lets see if David could take down Goliath. They we're thinking the same thing we were?? These guys have been setting records at this type of racing for years and for them to think that?
Not wanting to leave anything on the table, Aside from the clutch, we stepped it up a little. Rick had qualified second and we were sure they would be bringing the heat. Again the car responded. 10.72 @ 125 with a 6.75 in the 1/8th at 101 mph. Incredible out of a little stock headed 2275! Unfortunately, Rick had issues in the other lane and the race was over early, but I saw red next to me for a good while!
The teardown went smooth as the engine was deemed legal by the NHRA crew. However we opted to call it a weekend as we did not want to risk hurting the motor with a valve or bearing failure which we were still unsure of. Plus the teardown is brutal as it takes place outdoors in a dirt filled parking lot. Not good for internals! I was really hungry for a crack at another wally but my crew chief made the smart choice!
Before ending this post I wanted to thank our sponsors, backers and supporters.
Rick at BugPack products for the engine parts that have been put under extreme pressure and have not skipped a beat.
Jessie at EMPI Inc. for the 51mm carbs that gave us that little extra to set us apart. They idle and drive around the pits like stock, and go up on full throttle perfectly. I got a funny comment from Kevin Barrett saying, WOW it sound like a street motor!
Mario at Pauter Machine for the killer rods, oiling advice and quick turn around. Got the filter off and it looks good!!
Vic at Wiseco Pistons for new pistons (part# K633m94). They sell these off the shelf and are an excellent piece!
Al at Dominator Enginnering for the chassis and fabrication. The confidence that the car will go straight and is safe lets you
concentrate on other thing things that are very important!
Mike at at 407 SpeedShack. The tranny is working so nicely, its almost a shame to take it out. And no its not clutchless!!!
Roger at Heads Up Performance for all the help throughout the years. From dynoing, to machining, to letting us use the shop,
we really appreciate it!!
Also want to thank Tim and Taylor Walton and Jason Young for the help in the pits and filming the car. You saw the results of the video
information first hand. Also big thank you to Robin Hart, Anthony's better half for her support and enthusiasm of the race program.
Next a thank you to my wife Shalon and son Jake, who is eager to kick me out of the driver seat, for their support and love. Also want to thank my dad,
who has been there from day one teaching me how to release a clutch (before that of course) to helping push the car in the trailer this weekend.
And last but not least I wanted to thank Anthony Chicca, who's hard work, knowledge, determination and loyalty to the cause has put us in the position to be competitive everywhere we go!
Thank you,
Doug Gonzalez
D&A Racing
The Cal-look Lounge
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