It’s that time of the year again, at least for us on the West Coast—fire ’em up, put in a tune, and hope the tires hold everything you throw at ’em. Yes, it’s heads-up drag racing time!
It’s hard to believe it’s already been six months since we’ve been at our local digs. The good news with the off-season is that it offers ample time to get the car ready for another year of racing. The bad news, well, sometimes that six-month period can feel like an eternity.
This weekend, we’re headed out to Famoso Raceway in McFarland, California (just north of Bakersfield), and trying our luck again on the 275 drag radials. Last season we went as quick as 4.91 at 150 mph in the eighth-mile and 7.48 at 193 mph in the quarter-mile with a stock suspension chassis.
Yes, that’s pretty stout and quite frankly, much faster than I anticipated us going with the limited number of runs we had. Even so, that didn’t come without a little drama, namely trying to make that performance a bit more repeatable. It’s one thing to run quick, but more often than not, it’s the consistency that really pays off at the end of the season.
In case you’re wondering, our goals for this year are like everyone else’s and that’s to beat our personal best and see if we can’t figure out how to gain a little bracket-like consistency. Then again, that’s where the real challenge lies with these types of cars … right?
One very important thing I’d like to point out is that this type of fun couldn’t be had without a great crew. Ask any successful team and they’ll tell you that the crew is the backbone of any group, and to put it bluntly, unless you’re independently wealthy or have the fortunate talent to handle the engine builds, the chassis sorting, the ability to read the data logger proficiently, and the prowess to be at several places at once, you need a select group of friends you can always rely on. Yes, I’ve said it before, and you’ll never hear me say it any different.
At the end of the event, there’s only one thing that matters: Was it fun? If that answer is yes, then you’re definitely doing something right. Of course there’s one thing I’d like to know and that’s how many people tend to crew with you on any given race weekend?