I should have posted earlier in the summer. I still have to learn to contribute to social media more often.
After a year of racing here is our report.
The FED was finished up last fall and we made it to the track on a cold day for my sons first couple 1/8 mile passes.
The posting from a year ago showed our day at the track. The engine was VERY rich and was fine for a cold day. The car ran 6.48 @ 104 MPH.
He had raced Jr Dragsters in the past but now we are into the real thing!
We didn't change anything over the winter except to lean out the engine.
We signed up to race in the Gasser Racing Series at our home track Empire Dragway.
Its 1/8 mile bracket racing with no electronics. They run 2 classes: traditional Gassers and a Mod class for open wheel cars and more modified pre 74 cars.
We have the only FED in the Mod class. I'm hoping for more FED's next season.
My son John has been working on drag cars all of his 19 years of age. Now he gets to drive a car instead of just a crew member.
Many years of working on Bunny Burkett's alcohol F/C and some time on Tim Wilkerson's nitro F/C helped him to understand proper maintenance and attention to detail.
We started the year out pretty good. Winning a round or two the first couple races. As we progressed we leaned the fuel a little more every time we went out. I ran the engine on our dyno but didn't lean it out much. I thought he would need more time to get used to the FED. By the middle of the season we had a runner up and several round wins. We entered the tracks big nostalgia race in August. Still 1/8 mile bracket racing but it brought out of town competition. We ran the class for FED's and Altered's. 8 or 9 cars for Saturday and Sunday. Not many open body cars in the Northeast. It was Very hot both days in the low 90's and high humidity. I leaned the fuel even more and we hit our high points for the season.
Saturday we got to the final round. We leave off idle and do not use the transmission brake.
He left in 2nd gear and we lost. Runner-up is still good and we towed back to the pits to cook and feed our crew of friends.
As we are all trying to cool off, they announce over the PA a gamblers race for everybody. $20.00 to enter. John asks if we can get in on it. We are all hot and tired and say NO. He really wants to keep racing so we finally give in and tow it up to the staging lanes.
4 rounds and we get to the final again! Both cars pre-staged. We use a hand brake and he is pumping the brake to stage very shallow just like he has all day. A FED flexes in the middle and its flexing up and down as he pumps the brake handle. The stage bulb flickers and is on. The FED relaxes and the stage bulb goes out and the RED bulb comes on. Bummer! But we get two runner ups in one day and learned two ways to loose. That is how you learn.
We go back on Sunday and enter the same class. This time we go to the final and take the WIN !!! It was the highlight of our summer!
Later in the summer we ran a Friday night class called "Open Comp". Two time trials and they knock off .010 from your best time. We ran a 9.27 so our dial in for the night was 9.17. Not to many cars that night but we still had to race 3 rounds. We WON beating the class champion in the final!!
Back to racing the Gasser Racing Series. A couple more round wins and a couple of first round losses.
Overall we finished 5th in the points. Pretty good for his first year behind the wheel.
No real changes for next year. We will get my FED put back together and try to race two cars next year.
Also my buddy Luke Zane will get his FED out called "The Prisoner". He has a couple of postings in this web site about his build.
My wife and I race as a family and she is the best crew wife out there. She also has worked on both Nitro and Alcohol F/C's and wants to win!
Many thanks to Brian Krieg, Jerry Malczewski, Luke Zane, Pat Coyle, and Paul Francia for all their help.
Inspiration to always do it right the first time from Mo Burkett and Dennis Whitestone.
Always thank God and God Bless America!!
