The Northern Super Heavy Shootout was rescheduled from earlier in the spring to May 19th at Cecil County Dragway. I had hoped to run the Blue Flame at the event but it turned out I had to take the 'back-up' - the Opal Opalescent 1996 Mark VIII.
The class I participated in was the Street Eliminator bracket class for 14.00 ET and slower.
Time trials in the morning went well with the car running pretty consistent and with decent reaction times considering I haven't run the '96 at the track very much. Sixty foot times could have been better, but considering I was running on street tires, I couldn't complain.
RT - 0.036 / 0.026 / 0.039
60' - 2.102 / 2.069 / 2.051
330' - 5.932 / 5.943 / 5.873
1/8 - 9.088 / 9.125 / 9.030
mph - 78.14 / 77.76 / 78.12
1000' - 11.827 / 11.874 / 11.770
1/4 - 14.142 / 14.195 / 14.084
MPH - 97.49 / 97.24 / 97.55
With a new best of 14.084 @ 97.55, I decided to play it safe and dial in a 14.0 for the beginning of the eliminations. The Impala in the opposing lane dialed a 15.51 giving him a 1.5 second head start for me to chase him down.
Car - 100 / 515
Dial - 14.00 / 15.51
RT - 0.194 / 0.313
60' - 2.098 / 2.314
330' - 5.912 / 6.659
1/8 - 9.074 / 10.171
mph - 77.92 / 70.15
1000' - 11.831 / 13.219
1/4 - 14.165 / 15.787
MPH - 96.61 / 88.21
Left 1st 0.2311
Upon returning to the pits, I immediately changed the dial in to a more reasonable 14.10 and awaited the next call to the staging lanes. The opponent for round two was another Impala dialing in at 14.65. Only a half second difference at the tree this time.
Car - 100 / 80
Dial - 14.10 / 14.65
RT - 0.067 / -0.026
60' - 2.070 / 2.113
330' - 5.962 - 6.126
1/8 - 9.144 / 9.436
mph - 77.63 / 74.82
1000' - 11.899 / 12.279
1/4 - 14.228 / 14.693
Right 1st 0.1782 foul
Since the Impala red-lighted, I had nothing to lose and made sure I ran the car all out to get a legitimate ET to help dial in the next round. Good thing the Impala left early too, as his dial was a lot closer than mine. My difference between the dial-in and ET of 0.128 seconds against his difference of 0.043 seconds.
Once again I changed the dial-in, this time upping it to a 14.19 - only 0.038 off the last ET. The finals brought another Impala - this one dialing in at 15.32, over a second difference at the tree.
Car - 100 / 802
Dial - 14.19 / 15.32
R/T - 0.158 / 0.116
60' - 2.090 / 2.500
330' - 6.001 / 6.538
1/8 - 9.189 / 9.870
mph - 77.54 / 74.29
1000' - 11.947 / 12.737
1/4 - 14.281 / 15.349
MPH - 96.69 / 85.54
Right 1st 0.1043
I basically lost it at the tree - I needed a 0.053 reaction time or better to close the deal.
Not too shabby, none the less. Better than I had expected and the satisfaction that the car was running well made for a good day.
And after all was said and done, it was gratifying to pick up the Runner Up trophy for the Street Eliminator class of the 2012 Northern Super Heavy Shootout.
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