Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

Lost in the 60s wrote:

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 I don't have a clue, really. Mild 350/powerglide with 3:31 open rear and street tires. 

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Mitch, I'm in the same boat.  The RFR website said something about 1/4 tenth increments for the Muscle Car Classic, so I was going to put down either 13.5 or 13.75 seconds as my time hoping I don't break out.  I'll be ecstatic with a 14 sec. pass!

This is like before Christmas when I was 10 years old.  I had trouble sleeping last night thinking about tomorrow!  :biggrin: 

Winston Wolf wrote:

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For the guys that haven't bee there before.....

You don't have to put down anything right away.  You will get 3-5 time trials in the morning before the racing starts, depending on how many cars and how many breakdowns.  When they start elimination racing sometime after lunch, you will know what class you are in by then from the time trials.  They say 1/4 second brackets, but I have seen them at 1/2 second too, it depends on how many cars are there. If you want to win, you really need to have the car dialed in and running right at the low number at the bracket.  The difference between 11.50 and 11.61 is a bunch, and unless the faster guy makes a mistake, it's a hard to win battle.  If you're on the edge, its probably better to run the slower bracket and short shift or pull a couple degrees of timing or something.  (I don't know why I am telling you guys all the secrets) 1/4 second between cars is a couple car lengths, a half second seems like a mile.

I do prefer this heads up racing though, it makes it much more exciting.

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Winston, thanks for the explanation.  I wasn't sure if we'd get a chance to dial in first or not.  And thanks for sharing your tips!  :wink: 

Add 2 more to the "crew" - one of the guys I work with (2010 Challenger) is gonna run, and another guy is tagging along with his boy (spectating).

SShink wrote:

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I'm running street radials (BFG TA's), so traction may be an issue.  I'll have to walk it out of the hole then hammer it.

Pushrod has offered to let me use his ET Streets if I have issues.  Thanks Pushrod! 

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You will definitely have traction issues with those TA's. I'd bolt the ET's on tonight...

 

-- Edited by Lost in the 60s on Friday 10th of June 2011 05:23:38 PM

Thats unfortunate John. Better that it decided to leak now then tomorrow morning when you got to the track.

Just curious. Are there any plans for food at the track?

I have a brand new one here for a '67 Camaro, if it will fit. You would need to solder 2 small pin holes, as it was damaged in transit. Its a 3 row copper/brass.

All loaded up ready to go! 

 

Chris R - CHECK YOUR VOICEMAIL

Bowtieman427 wrote:

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Stan good to see it fits..... my neighbors are going to love me. It is raining here in Pine Island so I am not loading it tonight it will 5AM in the morning. Did you have any issues or words of wisdom loading on Uhaul trailer. Not so sure on the tie downs. It fit well ?

-- Edited by Bowtieman427 on Friday 10th of June 2011 08:20:40 PM

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At first UHaul told me it wouldn't fit.  I told them I checked on line and it said it would be fine.  Then they told me they have 2 widths.  We went to the lot and he said he gave me the 'wider one', whatever that means.  There's plenty of room on each side, and it was easy getting it on.

I loaded it just before the heavy downpour as I didn't want to try loading it with wet ramps and tires...

Yeah, my neighbor would NOT be happy if I fired it up at 5 a.m. to load it.  Good luck!  :wink:

See you tomorrow.

 

dashboard wrote:

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It's race day and the weather is clear.

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We drove in some light rain a couple times to get there and the start was delayed about an hour BUT, we raced !! Well, we all time trialed. Some of us left early for other obligations but it was GREAT to pilot a car down the quarter mile again after 33 years...:biggrin: I was able to squeeze a 14.6 @ 96mph out of my mild 350 with 3:31 open axle and street tires, so I'm OK with that. But this really brought the old NEED FOR SPEED back and I'm already planning a lock-rite for the diff and getting some sticky tires... The Camaro is almost 2 full seconds slower than my old '70 Chevelle but then the Camaro doesn't have a modified LS6 in it either. With a few traction enhancements and tighter gear changes, I think I can get it into the low 14's.

Shannan and I had a good time watching the cars run down the track especially the ones from the club. Great weather...nice and cool but still got sunburned. Glad nobody had an major issues at the track and congrats to Scott for winning his class.

JJ and I had a great time too. It was nic meeting you guys and thanks for all the help with trying to fix my dipstick hose leak. I never had so much fun in a car before what a rush. I was talking to a guy from Kasson with the 442 and he tells m h tries to go to all the muscle car events there. We are deffinatly going back. Anybody want to go let me know I think the next event will be July 10th, first I have to fix the oil leak. I was looking for Winston and did not see him there did anyone else see him ?

 

Winston was along the fence down near the staging lanes. Not sure why he didn't "pit" with us ??  Guess his dogs have their territory marked down there...:biggrin:

Had a GREAT time.  It was probably one of the best times I've had with my clothes on!  :biggrin:

The meet up at Tony's worked out fine, the drive there was uneventful other than running into drizzle/rain as we arrived at the track, nobody broke anything (couple of pesky leaks was all), and there were 3 winners in the group (Scott, Tony, and Gearlube).

It was such a good time, by the time I got home, unloaded the car and took the trailer back, I was WIPED OUT!  I didn't even get on the forum last night I was so tired out. But  a good tired.

I ran the Chevelle 6 times and my best time was 15.2 sec @ 90.78 mph.  Kind of disappointing, but most of my issue was getting off the line.  The TA's just didn't have any grip.  I could have swapped tries with Pushrod, but was just having too much fun without worrying about breaking something.  It's good enuf for me and I can no longer say I'm a drag strip virgin! 

I'll leave it to those that raced to post their best times, but here's what I remember:

Steve M.: Low 9's

Mitch: High 14's

Pushrod: Low 13's

Tony: Low 11's

Scott: Low 12's

Frank/Amy: Mid 11's

Tom: High 14's

Bowtie 427: Mid 11's

Winston Wolf: Mid 11's

Stan: Low 15's

John D.'s friend (20XX SRT Challenger): Mid 13's

Everyone in the group said we need to do this 1-2 times per year, and I agree.  There was plenty of track time, probably because of a lower turnout due to weather concerns, but still enough cars to take a break and sit and watch when we weren't racing.

We made a pit stop on the way back to the cities in Baldwin, WI and took over the local Hardees.  BS'd some more and then everyone headed home.

Here's the pics I took.  John D. has more down on the starting line, so I'm sure he will add them later.

Meeting up at Tony's:

Waiting at the track entrance:

Waiting for tech inspection ('72 Chevelles seemed to be the car of the day.  There were at least 4 others that weren't part of our group):

Misc. pit shots:

Scott won his class (12.50)? on a double breakout.

Tom Brokaw went several rounds in his class (14.0)? and trophied..

Craig lost a close first round with a 13.03 to a 13.00 in the 13.0 class ( and avoided a new nickname):biggrin:

I went to the final in 11.50 and brokeout. so I trophied.

Mitch drove the 67 Camaro out and made some nice runs... Stan found the limitations of BF Goodrich TA radials on every run.

Frank had the streetrod out. He and His daughter were knocking out 11.70's?

I think Justin (winston wolf)was in the high 11's.. and I think Jim ( Bowtieman 427) was low 12's?

couple of minor issues .. the banjo fitting on Craigs car worked loose and spewed power steering fluid on the header during one of his runs.. no big deal. He tightened it back up.
Jim had a small oil leak from the base of his Lokar dipstick tube.. He shmoohaaad it up with some silicons for the day...

was reading post and will add that was not a normal day at the rock, on a normal day i spend all day in the staging lanes hardly ever go back to the pits. cars would fill up 4-6 lanes of cars waiting to run. i don't think there were even more than 6 cars in line at any given time yesterday. most likely would be hot and you push your car up in line without starting to keep it cool. and thats where a lot of the bull****ing happens waiting in line.

amy wrote:

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I have a few pictures as well that I can post later on. It was a good day at the track with a great group of people! We sure did have a lot of fun.

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'Bout time you signed up and posted on your own...:biggrin:

My last run was much better than the first 2. I took the far lane for it and it was much stickier than the tower lane. For some reason, I got both tires pulling with very little spin. Pulled a .188 reaction time and managed a 14.58. Sure got the old racing blood flowing again but I miss yanking the stick on the old M22.

 

also dont forget to look at http://www.soulfisherphoto.com/Rock-Falls-Raceway/2011/June-11-Muscle-Car/17522663_Mp28zW#1333691041_Vtv4wbJ for photos of the event.. If you see one of your car, or anyone elses, that you like... they are available for purchase . prints including canvas.. Geez!, merchandise including T-shirts, playing cards and lots of other stuff ,or you can pay to download the file .

-- Edited by Tony Hoffer on Sunday 12th of June 2011 01:48:07 PM

More Pics:

 

I took a bunch of pictures as well. Spent 20 minutes trying to resize them and they still post too big. I give up so here are a handfull of them. Out of all the Chevelles at the track today. There sure were a lot of 72 Chevelles. 

Stan running against Gearlube.

 

Johns friend Mike with the (black) Challenger. There were a handfull of Challengers there too.

-- Edited by Chris R on Sunday 12th of June 2011 04:35:17 PM

-- Edited by Chris R on Sunday 12th of June 2011 04:38:32 PM

the 37 will be down for about a month. my motor mount on passenger side is welded to the frame same as drivers side. a piece of the frame that the mount is welded to has ripped out. the weld on the mount held but a chunk of the frame has ripped out. there is no room to work so off come the fenders, dog house and the engine.

Keep those pics coming if there's any more. Newsletter material is always needed.

the 37 is back on the road. what a pain in the butt that was.