Happy New Year?

Project Stocker has taken a major setback as of mid December due to an NHRA decision to revisit the class indexes. For the 2010 year all stock eliminator and super stock classes have their class index reduced by 3 tenths. This means that the N/SA index went from 13.30 to 13.00. Even when adjusted for altitude at my local track the index would be 13.25 which is what I believe will be the maximum et potential my current combination can handle. Mix in some poor weather and I will just never get under the index.

For a well established class racer who has been at this game for a while and has a strong running car the index change mostly is an irritation. However, for the low buck crowd or those racers trying to get started in class racing the index decision is like having a door slammed in your face. The internet and work benches everywhere are stuffed with theories about why the indexes changed. Some accuse the NHRA or selling out to corporate interests while others argue the fault is with racers themselves for sandbagging quick cars. Regardless, the decision to reduce the indexes has a big impact on racers as it means they will need to spend a lot more money to be competitive. The scary part (IMHO) is that it starts to create a kind of country-club mentality in what is supposed to be a sportsman oriented class. The roots of local drag tracks everywhere can be traced back to the the "racing of the family sedan". The early stock and super stock cars helped form the backbone of bracket racing everywhere and have remained a staple of NHRA drag racing for 50 years. In fact, it is last class of racing in which a hard working and creative racer has an honest chance of building and racing at a National Event without breaking the bank. In the "big picture" of racing it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Also, given the reality that car counts in stock and super stock are dropping in many divisions, how will lowering the indexes further help encourage more potential racers and index chasers to come out and race? Instead, many people might start asking themselves the question I'm wrestling with...why bother?

Season End Updates

My drag racing season ended two months ago but I've been too busy at work and in life to get around to a post until today. The final race of the year for me was the SIR Alcohol Funny Car feature on August 22nd. This is a big race for Saskatchewan's only quarter mile facility and features IBAA cars and nearly 200 sportsman racers. Nearly record crowds and great weather made it a memorable event.

I made relatively few changes from the race two weeks earlier in August so performance was similar with et's around 14.30 all day and night. However, during the quarter finals I left too quick and ran flat out with the car picking up 4 hundredths. I've never had much success night racing so I was very pleased having made a few rounds. I definitely need a lot more practice night racing though.

I end the season this year with a nagging sense of frustration. I naively embarked on my stocker project believing I could find 'tenths' with some proven and simple bolt-on items. Upon reflection I realize that I should be searching for 'hundredths' and that the route to get this car under the index will be a lot longer and more costly than I first imagined. However, now with a solid drivetrain I can begin to experiment and tune in hopes of finding some et. I'm busy considering and saving for some winter project options. Areas to address will certainly include rear suspension, exhaust upgrades, tuning add-ons, skinnies, and the removal of a few items. One last thing - I'm starting to buy lotto tickets because those new Cobra Jet's look fantastic!

I Love This Motor

"I love this motor" was a parting comment to a good friend during eliminations on the weekend. The racing weather on Sunday was consistent and so was the motor. Regardless of the water temperature and mild winds the car was running within 3 hundredths on each pass. That kind of consistency and a lot of luck combined for a win in the Sportsman category. What followed were run-offs between classes to determine the "King of the Track" who would receive a special Wally. I was fortunate enough to squeak out a couple of more wins and take home the very special trophy. Truthfully, I'm still in a state of shock that I actually won it...

As for the car performance this weekend it was very consistent running between 14.22 and 14.25 @ 95mph all day. Somewhat disappointing was the lack of et drop from the National Open. Despite a corrected altitude of nearly 2000ft less than Medicine Hat the car didn't pick up any mph or drop et. As in the last race the car seems to pull very hard in 1st and 2nd gear but seems to "level-off" around 4000 rpm in 3rd gear. The 302 EFI motor is designed for torque so it is not surprising that it runs of out steam early in the powerband. I need to find out what bottleneck is keeping the power back. The next investment will be some good quality headers and an adjustable fuel regulator. A custom cam with some more cylinder filling duration is also on the wish list. Oh yeah, any advice on finding more horsepower is appreciated!

I'm fortunate to have a few sponsors who support my racing each year. Their support is a big help to making racing more affordable. I am very grateful for their continued support!

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National Open

I finally got a chance to make some passes last weekend at the Medicine Hat National Open. It really felt great to hit a few lights and feel the excitement of a busy drag strip again. I had hoped for 13.90's but had to settle for 14.20's all weekend long. Between the extreme air (5000 feet +) and some valve body problems finding more power was not going to happen. Best pass this weekend was a 14.22 @ 91.6 mph on a 1.96 60 foot. The mph would have been 95mph (and et 14.17) but I was scrubbing some speed as I had the win. This run was done with a hot motor in the worst air of the weekend. This tells me that my motor likely wants to be running with less fuel.

There was a large turnout of stock /super stock cars last weekend which made for some exciting racing. There was a large variety of cars ranging from a GT/AA car through to a V/SA car. It made for very diverse racing for certain. To my surprise there was also a P/SA 1989 Mustang GT convertible stocker from Washington. It was really exciting to meet someone running a combo I'm trying to build. The owner was really helpful and has offered to help point me in the right direction with my own project. Blair from Nitroimage snapped quite a few pics of the action which some can be viewed here.

Next race will be an SIR points meet. I'll be playing with the valve body, timing advance, and my launch technique to see if I can manage some 14.0's.

Rained Out

Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans today for fans of Saskatchewan International Raceway. Despite a promising start to the morning, once time trials began the skies darkened and the rain started. Despite the efforts and hopes of the staff the race could not proceed. So, I'll have to wait until the Medicine Hat National Open to get a baseline ET for the new mill. Despite not getting any passes it was great to visit, or 'chin wag', with old friends today. I think I'll head on over to Nitro's SIR archives for the afternoon...

It Runs!

After three weeks of thrashing "Project Street Legal Stocker" is finally running! This Sunday it will make its first pass with the new mill (fingers crossed). Unfortunately, I ran over my budget which meant I had to cut back on a few key items (ie. exhaust and fuel regulator). This will cut 2-3 tenths of ET as the factory exhaust and fuel settings are conservative. I can cheat the fuel system into enriching the fuel mixture with a resistor in place of the coolant temperature setting. However, you can't find a way for the motor to breath through the factory exhaust. Oh well, I'll keep buying those 6/49 tickets just in case :) Regardless, my goal of running class this year will have to wait.

When taking apart the old motor I was shocked to find out how much timing chain stretch was present. I had replaced the timing chain in the old motor with a high performance chain from a local dealer less than 20,000km ago. Anyhow, that chain stretched enough to create 3/4's of an inch of play in the chain. When I set the distributor in the new motor with the identical timing settings as used in the past it had moved from 10 advanced to 12 degrees retarded - that is 22 degrees of cam timing and a pile of torque that could never have been found before. My next post will be after the SIR race on Sunday July 26th. I'm hoping for 13.90's.

Out with the old...

Four hours of unbolting things and a few helpers resulted in the old motor being plucked from the car last night. Good thing as the delivery company dropped off my new converter this morning. It feels like Christmas in July:)