Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, NC
August 19-21, 2011
Vehicles: Duck Tape Volare, competing in Super Stock
The Duck Tape Turismo was sidelined this weekend with fuel system or carburetor problems.
Friday: Test n' Tune
Saturday: Qualified 13th in Super Stock for Sunday's main event. Saturday night Stock/Super Stock Combo race, lost in round 1.
Sunday: Advanced to the final round of Super Stock. We were suiting up for the finals when a thunderstorm forced the conclusion of the event to be postponed until the Summit Pro-Am event in Darlington, SC in two weeks. (http://www.ihra.com/News/2011/08/21/1/)
We've struggled substantially with the new combination in the Volare up until this weekend. Tim Sloan at Sloan Racing Engines has gone above and beyond in recent weeks, working on many components outside of the engine. We exorcised the last major gremlin this week, and went from languishing in the 11-second zone in the 1/4-mile to a massively-improved 10.65 on the very first test run Friday night. With some tuning on the fuel injection system, we ended Friday with a personal best of a 10.579 @ 124 mph (6.65 @ 101 mph in the 1/8th mile). The power, consistency, and driveability are all there. As I'd hoped after last week's national event victory, all it was going to take to turn the season around was a good car. Over the course of three days, the 60' times moved just a hundredth of a second, lane to lane, day to night, a testimony to the MoneyMaker Racing supplied Calvert Racing springs, shocks, and CalTracs suspension. Reaction times were from a perfect .000 to an .035, with the exception of a single run where I had too little fuel in the setup for the lower launch rpm I tried on that one run. While I would've liked to have been able to finish the race at Rockingham, Darlington has also been good to Duck Tape Racing over the years, and we can go into the weekend knowing that we have either a Win or a Runner-Up already!
Although new car blues are to be expected, the last two months have been admittedly frustrating. Thank you so much to each and every one of you who have had a hand in putting the new Super Stock combination together, improving it, and sorting it out. We now have the competitive race car that we hoped it would be, and to score a final round in the first "good" weekend out is vindication, and encouraging to say the least!
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