Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

Derek and I headed down to the "Run to the Hills VI" last weekend in Pigeon Forge, TN. Since his O/D was shot, he had to trailer. I got my new engine installed and got to drive the car for all of 15 miles to road test it before we hit the road and drove it 1,010 miles. LOL!

We got there at 11:00 AM on friday and left at noon for a trip up the infamous "Tail of the Dragon" road that slithers through the Smoky Mountains. It's a really twisty, turny road that's a blast to drive. We had our families on board and were in a group of 70 cars, so it was far from a 'max effort' drive, but still fun!

The next morning was the autocross- it was a challenging course in a parking lot, and was set up 'wide' to accommodate bigger cars. Great fun- and Derek did really well! He finished 11th overall, and missed the top 10 (and another crack at a shootout among the 10 fastest cars) by just a sliver. He nicked a cone on his fastest run, and except for that, he'd have made it in. Considering the level of cars/drivers at this event (some of the best in the country showed up), it was super impressive and he got the attention of many of the big players in the world of Pro Touring with his outstanding talent on-track.

I didn't do as well, finishing ten seconds slower than he did and getting frustrated at my own driving mistakes. But, that's how it goes. I will practice more and gain some confidence. I was just trying to get through the course without missing any gates or hitting any cones, and Derek is skilled enough to focus on the driving line and when to accelerate/brake. It was still a lot of fun, though...

The last day was a mix of 1/8-mile drags and a speed/stop challenge. I did pretty good here, finishing second overall in a field of big dollar/high horsepower cars that aren't 4-door wagons. The winning car was a '66 Mustang with a tube chassis, fat tires, and Chevy LS power. He beat me by .07-second. Not bad.

The speed/stop deal was cool. They placed cones at the finish line, creating a 40 ft. box after the lights. The challenge is to get the lowest ET while stopping inside of the box. So, you take off and accelerate like a normal dragstrip pass, but then you have to slow down enough to stop inside that box. It really tests a car's ability to accelerate and stop. The entire car had to be inside the box- if any part of the car broke the plane of the box (even just a bumper), the run was DNQ'd. You got 3 chances- so it paid to be careful (conservative) to ensure you ended up in the box so at least one run counted.

I crept up on this and kept getting better. For my last run, I really went for it and my bumper ended up within an inch of the back of the box, but it was legal! The wagon ended up 7th overall in this deal, which really made me happy considering the F-bodies, Mustangs, and Vettes that were also competing- Some of them with ABS.

Derek did good at the drags and speed/stop too, but he just didn't have the horsepower to be super-competitive. His transmission was also acting up. He's REALLY fired up to get the new LS/6-speed combo in there now! With more power and a manual box, he's sure to be in contention to place highly or even win this event (or others like it) next year.

We haven't seen the overall finishing order yet, but since we both finished so highly in some different elements of the competition, we both should be near the top of the overall order. Considering there were 70 cars there, we were both pretty pleased, and both of us should be in the top 20, if not higher.

I also grabbed the Long Distance award for driving the furthest to get there, which was really cool.