DragPak Debut and a Stock R/U

The Father's Day weekend race on June 18 at Pageland Dragway in Pageland, SC was rained out midway through the first time trial session.

Since that time, Sloan Racing Engines worked feverishly to complete the 5.9L DragPak engine for the Volare, and we debuted the new combination in Super Stock GT/HA trim at Dunn-Benson Dragstrip on Friday, June 24 in a test n' tune session prior to the weekend's full IHRA Division 9 Summit Pro-Am Tour event. We made five test runs Friday night, made two Qualifying runs Saturday, and ran first round of a Stock/Super Stock Combo race Saturday night. We started out with a 7.07 @ 94 mph, and tweaked our tuning to a 6.85 @ 98 mph in eight runs. Thanks to the knowledge base provided by Jeff Teuton at Southland Speed, Super Stock veteran Mark Nowicki, and many others, we have been able to ascertain several key areas that need attention that should help us reach our goal of 6.60 Elapsed Times in the 1/8th mile, and mid 10's in the 1/4 mile. The Duck Tape Volare made it to the second round of Super Stock on Sunday, falling to reigning Stock World Champion, Richard Alford.

The Duck Tape Turismo was on track on Saturday and Sunday as well. Driver Michael Beard shoed the little Plymouth to back-to-back 9.91's in qualifying, then capitalized on a string of winning reaction times to reach the final round of Stock. There, he faced Richard Alford once again, with the same results, but the Runner-Up finish in a 6-round race once again proved the competitiveness of the four-cylinder front wheel drive car, and will put us in the pages of IHRA's Drag Review Magazine in an upcoming issue.

Our sincere thanks go out to all who have helped us along the way, particularly in getting the Volare back on track, including Duck Tape brand duct tape, Sloan Racing Engines, Southland Speed, Abruzzi Racing Transmissions and Converters, Mickey Thompson, K&N Filters, Bearden Oil-Sunoco, CAM2 Blue Blood Racing Oil, Bradley Auto Parts, Jim Bailey's FINISHED, Ross Pistons, Macy Motorsports, Billy Nees Race Cars, Stephen Beard, Matt Zapp, Terry Knott, and Jill Beard.

EVENT RECAP:
IHRA Div. 9 Summit Pro-Am Tour
June 24-26, 2011
Dunn-Benson Dragstrip
Benson, NC

FRIDAY
Test n' Tune (Volare)

SATURDAY
Qualifying (Volare & Turismo)
S/SS Combo: Rnd 1 (Volare)

SUNDAY
Super Stock: Rnd 2 (Volare)
Stock: Runner-Up! (Turismo)