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UPDATE FROM PROSTAR GAINESVILLE, NOV. 16-18, 2001
Well, this was the last race of the
year. We traveled to Gainesville on a high note after the surprising gains
we made at Dallas. We had great expectations for this weekend, which we
did get. We only qualified #4 with a 6.57 on a shut-down pass. That
matched us up against Brian Johnson in the eliminations who qualified with
a 6.42. I knew our bike was doing real good and could run in the 6.40's.
We started out fairly even but by the 1/8th mile, we were ahead and moving
real good. It was a great race with Brian running in the 30's and us
running another career best pass of a 6.19 @ 218. m.p.h.. We then had
Spider in the semi's. We knew we had to make another run like the previous
one, but got a little greedy on the tune-up. We had extreme tire shake
after the launch then went up in smoke and had to shut down. All in all it
was a great way to end the season with an all time best. The performance
from the last few runs show us that we are on the right track, and that
really boosted our crew. We had struggled for so long without any real
obvious gains. The fueler is now all apart for the winter in Oklahoma City
at Motorcycles Unlimited, with many needed improvements being made for the
2002 season. We're hoping to pick up right where we let off at the first
race on March 1st, 2002. Just never know what the tiniest of changes may
do. UPDATE FROM NHRA DALLAS, OCT. 19-21, 2001 Our
weekend at Dallas started out cold and windy. But conditions improved and
so did every pass. All the changes Big Carl was trying was working and Ron
was riding extremely well. By Sunday we recorded our best E.T. ever with a
6.22 seconds at 221. m.p.h.. We also took home the win at this race.
That's something we haven't done in quite awhile. There was certainly a
lot to celebrate this weekend. We also had a small cheering section with
the extra friends who came down from Oklahoma City for this race. We
really appreciated them being there. This was a very successful and
fun-filled weekend. We are really looking forward to the Prostar World
Finals in Gainesville in November. Hope to see everyone there. UPDATE FROM NHRA CHICAGO, SEPT. 28-30, 2001 The Joliet racetrack was great
this year. We had three days of good weather and little wind. All our
passes went well, with each pass showing improvement. By Sunday our final
pass was about all that was left of that particular engine. It was
starting to go down hill and was showing signs of fatigue!!! Even though
we exhausted that engine, it still gave us a runner-up in the finals. UPDATE FROM NHRA INDIANAPOLIS SEPT. 1-3
UPDATE FROM NHRA TOPEKA MAY 24-27 We finally had a great weekend in Topeka after three years of bad weather. Only had one day of hard wind. We did have top speed of the weekend at 218. mph. All our passes went well with one pass on Sunday being quite a shock due to an "unknown" NHRA rule. We thought the starter had accidentally fouled us with a red light. As it is so loud on the starting line, we couldn't understand what exactly was going on. The starter motioned us to re-stage and we ran a great solo pass. We later found out there's a new seven second rule that requires the second racer to stage within seven seconds of the first racer turning his pre-stage light on. At least that's how we comprehended what was told to us !!! Anyway, we'll have to watch those staging lights a little closer at the NHRA events. Once the computer takes over there's no margin for mistakes. UPDATE FROM ATLANTA PROSTAR RACE, APRIL 2001
Atlanta was a very windy and cold weekend. The wind only got worst by Sunday. We are still experimenting with different clutch settings and had some great half track results. This also caused some handling problems, which the high winds didn't help us any in our analysis of each pass. We made it to the final with Larry "Spiderman" again. We had the final covered until a gust of wind pushed the bike over the centerline just at the finish lights. We took out all the MPH. and E.T. lights and was disqualified. Luckily, Larry had shut down after a bad launch and was not beside us. The Lord works in mysterious ways!!! We have a few repairs to make on our paint job after hitting all the cones at the top end in the finals. We are also experimenting with the paint job by adding a few flames for something new. Let us know what you think! UPDATE FROM GAINESVILLE PROSTAR RACE, MARCH 2001
The first race of the year was a charm. Apparently the changes we've been working on all last year are finally paying off. We had a very encouraging weekend and the entire team is really pumped up. Every pass we made bettered the previous one and we were back in the 6.30's again by the final run. We won every elimination round and are in the finals against Larry the Spiderman. We did have a slight rain delay on Sunday and the race schedule was delayed enough that the Top Fuel Final will have to be run at Atlanta next week, March 31. But it was a very exciting weekend and really got everyones' confidence back up. We are hoping for our first 2001 Prostar win since we've been mainly concentrating our program on the NHRA events over the last several years. |
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