V's Blog
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Monday, April 07, 2008
- Bits from the pits, Houston 2008
- On the way to Houston, the fourth race of the season we stopped off in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a day of testing. Tulsa is a very good track to test at since it is smooth and the operators there are always glad to help us. We were able to get a lot done and had a great learning experience. Some of the new ideas we had been working on would help us in the future.
Houston looked to be real warm and humid for this time of year with both temperatures and humidity in the mid 80’s. Friday’s first session proved good as we qualified 2nd for the session. Anytime you can do well right off the bat is a great way to start any race as you have less distant to go to get better and you can fine tune instead of making big adjustments. Fridays second session we tried a to improve but we actually did worse, still we were ahead of the game because we knew what direction not to go. Still we were 6th over all going into Saturday.
Saturdays weather was a little warmer and the time would be hard to improve on< but improve we did, even though it was by only one thousands of a second it was enough to move us up 3 spots, from 6th to 3rd. Saturday afternoon session was even hotter and we actually lost a spot when Ron Krisher improved one thousand of a second and bumped us down to 4th.
Sunday we woke up to a slight rain that cleared up, but the humidity was very high. We had the Kendal Oil folks for hospitality, with Pat Harlan hosting some of his customers and other guests. Also Phil Sontag and Monica Ray joined us from the headquarters just across town. We filled the Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus with a fresh batch of Kendall oil and went out to face our first opponent, Kenney Koretsky. Kenney was celebrating his 50th birthday but we blew out the candles by going right by for the win. Secondly we faced Jim Yates who is another long time racer. Even in the bad lane we treed Jim and took the win for an invitation to the semi finals where we would face The number 1 qualifier Kurt Johnson. As we let out the clutch to do our burn out against Kurt the transmission popped out of gear, probably breaking in the process. It probably didn’t make much difference as the track became a one lane race track and every one in the left lane lost traction almost immediately. Still 36 in points we head off to Las Vegas in 2 weeks. Don’t miss that one as the Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus streaks to the winners circle.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Bits from the pits, Gainesville 2008
After being able to enjoy our win for two weeks we were ready to resume racing again. On the way to Gaines, Florida we stopped in Houston , Texas for a few test laps. Even though most teams headed for Southern Florida and Georgia, we thought testing on the next stop of the NHRA tour would be helpful. We have soo many parts from Larry to test that there isn’t enough time to get to all of them. We got rained out on our second day of testing but found some value in the time we did have.
Arriving in Gaines we readied our Kendall Dodge Stratus for what looked to be a cool start, well cool it was as the rains came before we even got to warm up our engines and the day was called. Saturday proved to be a drier day but the humidity was so high it felt like it was raining all day at least to the Coloradoans who are used to drier conditions. The first session surprised many teams and we certainly were one of them. We didn’t approach the track aggressively enough and recorded a lazy 12th spot. Having only two sessions to figure out a track is very hard for racers especially when we usually only visit these tracks once a year. Usually it takes a couple of sessions to get enough rubber on the track to really make these cars perform. The second run on Saturday we adjusted the car to be much more aggressive and even though we ran a lot better we still didn’t hit it hard enough and actually lost a spot to the number 13 position. Apparently many teams did the same thing.
On Sunday morning we readied the Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus for race day with a fresh change of Kendall oil and we readied the Hospitality area for Duane Munson and Kendall customers and friends. Our first opponent was to be Mike Edwards who is one of the best leavers in the business. We noticed our car was a little to quick off of the line on Saturdays session so we tried to slow it up a pinch. We cut a .040 light which was too slow compared to Mikes .022 light even though we out ran him a 6.665 to our 6.660, which was the fastest run in the left lane. We did learn a couple of things that we had hoped to learn in testing and I’m sure that we will use them in our next race in two weeks in Houston Texas. I’m sure we wont try to slow up the car again as we should have left it alone Happy Easter every one as the team takes off a couple of days to unlock some more secrets.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Bits from the pits, Phoenix 2008
On the way to Phoenix we stopped in Tucson for a short tune up. In the past we have found that testing in Tucson was usually rewarding before the Phoenix race. Once in Phoenix we put in our good race motor which Larry Morgan had to repair after Pomona. Friday then we tuned up the Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus but before we were able to run the rains came and the days activities were cancelled.
Saturday weather was much better, and the first qualifying shot we recorded an 8th best for the session run. Phoenix is one of those tracks that there is a lot of difference in the lanes and on the second run we got the bad lane. Coupled with the lane difference and a wrong turn in the tune up department we slipped to the 10th spot. Loosing lane choice at a notorious one lane track was not the position that we wanted to be in but we new that this new Lazarus race car was quick on the tree so we had to hope it would pull us thru on Sunday.
Sunday morning and the temperatures are much cooler but we prepare our Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus for battle by putting in a fresh batch of Kendall oil. Our first opponent would be one of the best leavers in the business, Greg Stanfield. Greg, a former multiple world champ in Super Stock, is running quite well so far this year, but we treed him and never looked back for the win. Next we had the fastest guy in Pro Stock, Greg Anderson. Greg, also a multiple world champion, was also bitten by the his new car as the Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus streaked to another round win. This is the first time in many years that we have beaten Greg and it was fun. Next it was the current world champion, Jeg Coughlin. Once again the Kendall car was first off the line and even though we only won by 13 then thousands of a second it still counts as a win. In the finals we would race Jason Line, another past world champion.
Jason struggled last year on his starting line lights, but this year he seams to have found his handle again. But the Kendal car once again got the jump off the starting line and never looked back as we got the much over due win. The crew really worked hard to get us here and we look forward to more wins in this 2008 season as we have a car that will leave first every time and get that win. We didn’t have the fastest car this weekend, but we left first every time. A couple of weeks off and it’s on to Gainesville for the Gator Nationals, be sure to tune in.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Bits from the pits, Pomona 2008
A lot has happened in the off season as we head to the Winter Nationals in Pomona, the first race of the 2008 season. Soon after the end of the 2007 season we went to Florida for a week of testing with our brand new Lazarus car. The week proved that the new car was even better than our old car which had over 600 runs on it, Most teams won’t run a car over 150 – 200 runs fearing the tubes (frame) are getting loose. But our old car was true and faithful to us during its life cycle as a Pro Stock car. The new car seamed rather quick in reaction times and that’s something that we sorely need in our program. A little 20 – 20 hindsight tells us we might have run the old car too long. In January we headed for Florida for another round of testing, although this time we brought our carburetor guy with us to work on the tuning aspects of the car. It was a good session and we learned a lot. Once again the car seamed to react very well and raised our excitement for the up coming season. Super Bowl weekend we went to Las Vegas for the annual Pro Stock show down, a pre race only for Pro Stockers comparing their off season work. Although mostly a test the Kendal Dodge Stratus worked very well and continues to show us a view of the up coming season.
We were excited to arrive in Pomona for the start of the 2008 season and although we knew how much we still had to learn about our new ride. Thursdays Qualifying session yielded a number 10 spot, but we new that we were capable of much more. We need to figure out the tune up for our new motor, carburetors, headers, and gear ratios. Now, granted that a lot to sort out we figured that we could get some progress made before the weekend ended. Friday we were in the bad lane, but we still managed to improve our time. Saturday morning was our chance to improve since the weather was going to be a little in our favor and we were going to be in the better lane. Unfortunately our Hemi motor encountered some parts failures and we had to settle for the 10th spot. Now, 10th isn’t too bad, but with out lane choice this track can be a difficult one to win on.
Sunday morning we filled our Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus with a fresh batch of Kendall Oil and proceeded to tune the car. We were confident that with the improved reaction time of the car we could still be a factor even in the bad lane. Well we proved that we were a little optimistic as the right lane claimed every one that tried it in round one and most of the day as well. Not the start that we had hoped for. We know that we are going to do a lot more testing to get back our race form. We need to hurry as we race in Phoenix in 2 weeks and that’s not a lot of time. We were joined in Pomona this weekend by Bill Curry from Kendall Oil who invited 75 of his closest friends and customers. Bill and guest were treated to a fun race with very warm weather conditions to make the winter weather seem far away. We were able to talk with a lot of those customers whom we are able to see once a year or so. Two weeks and we’ll try it again in Phoenix.
A big thank you to our friends at 10-4 Magazine. It’s nice to have you along for the ride.
V. Gaines
