Well, after two rain dates the PA Jr. Dragster Championship finally happened this past weekend! We were all geared up for some TnT Friday night, only to pull into view of the track and find it a ghost town! Apparently, there's no TnT on Friday nights this time of year. Benjamin was truly upset since he had convinced Mom to let us camp out overnight in the pits, we had little air matresses, sleeping bags, a small grill, plenty of food, water, his BMX Trick Bike, just about everything. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img] He was more excited about crashing in the pits for the night than he was about another TnT session.
So, my brain worked for a minute, and we checked out Maple Grove Park across the street! We got permission to camp out for the night in the actual campground, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] So, after getting a fire roaring, burgers going, and some R&R we were able to have a fun " guy's night " afterall.
My 'little' buddy (who turns 9 on Saturday!) was burning everything!
Needless to say, we were first in line at MGR Saturday morning - even though about 10 motorhome rigs showed up overnight and camped out in the entrance lanes. It was nice to have the your choice of parking in the pits, and plenty of time to get through tech and prep for the first run. The first run was a 12.93 on the 12.90 limit - which is awesome, the r/t was a bit lazy at .281, but it had been awhile since our last race, so I cranked the launch idle up from 3,500 rpm to around 4,000. The next time shot was a 12.88 with a nicer r/t of .066. No changes necessary. But then, the track delays drug the day down, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img] Between oil downs, and 2 long delays (1.5 hours each at least) for water coming up through the track in the shutdown area there was a lot of this:
My 'baby' Buddy Danny wore his favorite boots for the event, appropriate given the water situation! When we finally got the first elimination run in around 4pm, we ran a 12.93 on a 12.90 dial - but lost at the tree, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/mad.gif[/img] Benjamin had another lazy light .236 to the competitor's .116 (also lazy), and worse yet the competitor ran a 13.033 on a 12.90!
So, there was room to make it up - Benjamin said that he lifted a bit at the stripe, not sure why, but nothing like a first round loss help us down the learning curve a little more. All in all, it was a great day, the weather was perfect, the car ran the number 3x in a row (this is especially amazing for a 12.90 car!), and Benjamin came out grinning after each run.
[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]
Anybody with an 8-16 year old who likes racing should give this a try!