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Welcome to the September 2nd, 2002 edition of "On The Road with Kenny
Racing," the bi-weekly newsletter featuring the Landa Pressure Washers Super
Comp Dragsters of Alan and Jason Kenny.
August 22 was test & tune day at Cecil County Dragway. We used it to try
shifting our dragsters on a timer, instead of RPM. After three runs, we had
the cars dialed, as well as a baseline throttle stop ratio.
Friday featured a Top 8 race, which we failed to qualify for. Dad made a
shock adjustment after the first time trial, and ran an 8.87. I saw that
... slowed my ET about .025 ... and ran 8.927. Had I left the timers alone,
I would have run in the 8.901 - 8.903 range and made the show. Woulda,
coulda, shoulda. Apparently where the shocks are set has a very big effect
on the elapsed time.
Due to a couple of serious rainstorms, first round was moved to Sunday. Dad
dialed 8.92 and was very fast, running 8.87 on the brakes. My car was
actually slower, but my opponent brokeout after my solid .415 reaction. In
round two, I lost to Joe LaRusso. I dialed for an 8.91 and ran 8.942 out
the back door. I tree'd Joe .414 to .427, but he ran dead-on 8.900.
SUPER COMP 101 - The term "out the back door" means I never lifted, keeping
my foot on the pedal all the way through the quarter mile.
We left Cecil County around 5pm, stopping at the Flying J located just
minutes from the dragstrip. Flying J's are a racers dream. We dumped our
holding tanks, filled up on water, fueled the freightliner and generator,
and sat down for a really good meal. Is there anything better than an
"all-you-can-eat buffet" after a long, hot day at the races? One hour and
forty-five minutes later, we were loaded, refreshed and ready for our
journey to Indy.
One more note on that Flying J. We must apologize to the poor sucker (Regis
Lepage) who dumped his tanks after us. Just a reminder to everyone ... when
dumping your tanks (especially your black tank) make sure the hose is
secure. If it comes off, it can make a nasty mess. Not too mention it's
not exactly a Calvin Klein cologne-type smell that results.
After 3 or 4 fairly large Flying J diet cokes, Dad & I were both fairly
wired on caffeine. We drove until about 1am that night, finally finding an
empty parking spot in an Ohio rest area.
We arrived at Indy around 3pm Monday, and got parked about an hour later.
With over 1,100 entries at Indy, we were surprised and lucky to park next to
our division one friends, Regis and Carolyn Lepage. Todd Logan, another D-1
Super Gasser, was also pitted on the same row. Though we were 150th in
line, we pitted about a half-mile from the starting line. The one advantage
of this was that we could shorten our warm-ups a bunch.
We teched in on Tuesday. Just under two hours in the tech line was a new
record for my career. Wednesday and Thursday featured time trials. After
the Cecil experience, we decided to go back to shifting on RPM. When
shifting on RPM, we feel as though we have a better handle on the car ...
what it's going to do and when it's going to do it. We also used some free
time to collect sponsor decals for next year. We figured this was a good
race to collect at, as most everyone would be here.
Friday saw first round start around 10:30am. Dad went up when Super Comp
was called, and I hung back to ensure we didn't run each other. Before I
was about to go up, Morgan Lucas, the son of Forrest Lucas (Lucas Oil), was
involved in a top-end accident in his Super Comp Dragster. That was the
second accident in two races, as Franklin DiBartolomeo also had the same
mis-fortune with his dragster at Cecil County. Both drivers were ok.
Morgan was actually back at the track the next day, watching the Saturday
nitro session from the starting line.
As it turns out, there were 183 Super Compers, and I was #182 in line.
Shane Carr arrived 5-10 minutes after I did. Dad won by treeing his
opponent, and then wheeled him taking .004 stripe. I also tree'd my
opponent, and lifted when I caught him, coasting to an 8.94. We couldn't
remember the last time we both advanced past round one at an 8.90 race.
Round two was fast, very fast. I was about 6 to 7 pairs behind fellow D-1
Super Comper Doug Doll. I asked Doug's dad whether he won or not, and he
shook his head in a negative direction. He then leaned in the cockpit and
said, "It's quick out there, real quick." I slowed my car about .010
seconds after hearing that. Then, I caught my opponent fairly early, and
lifted. I lifted around the 1050-1100 foot mark, and didn't touch the
brakes, taking about .013 stripe. When I saw his win light come on, I knew
right away I brokeout. I ran an 8.874. Doug wasn't kidding when he said it
was fast. Dad was behind me in line, and I knew I had to get back to him as
soon as possible. You should've seen the look one racer gave me when I hit
the throttle on the return road.
I got up to Dad, and told him I was on an 8.81-8.82. He adjusted his timers
and still ran an 8.88, taking the win when his opponent brokeout even more
so. Round three saw Dad turn on the red light, a .398. He dialed clean,
and ran it out the back door to an 8.918. What made this loss pleasant was
the fact that his opponent was .401 on the tree, and ran an 8.907. Dad had
no chance. His only hope would've been to go green, and have his opponent
give away the finish line.
After we were done, we went to the stands and watched the nitro cars,
followed by the alcohol cars. We then strapped everything down, the golf
cart, dragsters, etc. After hitching the trailer back to the truck, we
watched the Saturday night nitro session from the starting line. That was a
cool experience. Saturday night, under the lights at Indy. The stands were
absolutely packed, the weather was nice ... not too humid, not too hot. I
always enjoy viewing things from "behind the scenes."
A fun experience. Fun enough that Dad & I agreed this race will probably
remain on our schedule for next season.
This weekend, we are off to Epping, New Hampshire for an IHRA national
event. Dad had very good luck at this track with the alcohol car, so we
hope that'll continue in the 8.90 Quick Rod class. After Epping, we'll head
straight to Maple Grove for the Lucas Oil Keystone Nationals.
MOTORHOME UPDATE - Well, where do I start? July 3rd, we put down a deposit
on a 2003 Monaco Windsor. At that time, the salesman told us delivery date
would be 8 weeks away. However, since it was July 4th weekend, the order
wouldn't go through until the following Monday. That meant we would receive
our motorhome Labour Day Weekend (September 2).
August 13th, Dad calls to get an exact date on the Motorhome delivery. The
salesman responds October 28th. Delivery just went from 8 weeks to 16.5
weeks. The salesman then calls back two days later and says they can't put
the 10K generator in the Windsor ... it won't fit. The generator is a
necessity, so at that point we had to re-consider our options.
Long story short, we are about to finalize the purchase of a Monaco Dynasty.
The Dynasty is an upgrade from the Windsor in many areas, including the
chassis, engine, transmission, and generator. The Dynasty also features an
extra axle, which will make towing the trailer much easier, and allows us to
cancel the fairly expensive tuff-tow option.
ROADSTERS UPDATE - It's looking like we'll pick up the Corvettes after we
return from "The Big Go West." Translation ... we'll pick a day when it's
not snowing in December and pick them up then.
TRAILER UPDATE - Trailer has not yet begun construction. Most likely
scenario will have Dad & I take our Freightliner to Illinois to pick up the
trailer. Then we'll head over to S&W in Pennsylvania to pick up the
Roadsters.
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Tentative 2002 Schedule
August 22-25 = NHRA Divisional Event @ Rising Sun, Maryland.
August 31-September 1 = Bracket Race @ Grand Bend, Ontario.
September 6-8 = IHRA National Event @ Epping, New Hampshire.
September 12-15 = NHRA National Event @ Reading, Pennsylvania.
September 26-29 = NHRA National Event @ Chicago, Illinois.
October 10-13 = NHRA National Open @ Reading, Pennsylvania.
October 24-27 = NHRA National Event @ Las Vegas, Nevada.
October 31-November 3 = NHRA Divisional Event @ Las Vegas, Nevada.
November 7-10 = NHRA National Event @ Pomona, California.
November 13-17 = Bracket Race @ Bradenton, Florida.
November 20-24 = Bracket Race @ West Palm Beach, Florida.
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