Doug (the Elder) had OKed me to license months ago but Douglas (the Younger) was a little concerned with turning me loose in an 8 second dragster with no modern day experience. I convinced them that I would not freak out while driving because of all of the other motorsports that I actively do Sportbike track days, shifter karts, etc.). I have gone over 180 mph on sport bikes hundreds of times over the past 15 years at track day events.
After some talking (Douglas) agreed to let me drive. He told me that he was only going to let me run the car 150 feet on the first run to make sure I could handle it. After suiting up and strapping in, the time had come. Douglas was a confidence inspiring instructor and was very good at calming me down.
He taught me the burnout and staging sequence and now it was time. Once the two staging bulbs were turned on, I pushed the transbrake button (this button locks the driveline so the car cannot move). Once the button is pushed, I let off the brake and go wide open on the throttle, wit for the third light on the tree and let off the brake. WOW, I could not believe the acceleration from and automatic transmission car. These things launch like a rocket the first 300 feet.
I watched for my 150 foot mark and let off the throttle. After that, it is a long coast to the finish line and turnout. I could not believe the car did the quarter mile in a little over 12 seconds (faster than almost any production vehicle) and I was only on the throttle for 150 feet.
After that, Douglas let me run five more runs taking the car progressively further until the fifth run when I went the full quarter mile. The car ran the following ETs:
- Run 1 - 150 foot run, 12.478 ET at 57.48 mph (coasting for most of the track
- Run 2 - 300 foot run, 9.596 ET at 92.93 mph (still coasting 3/4 of the track and my fastest 1/4 mile ever)
- Run 3 - 600 foot run, 9.372 ET at 101.07 mph
- Run 4 - 1000 foot run, 8.926 ET at 122.76 mph
- Run 5 - Full 1/4 mile run, 8.647 at 152.11 mph
- Run 6 - Full 1/4 mile run, 8.632 at 152.61 mph (this thing was hauling the mail)
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| Me being silly the night before we left to go to the school. I was pretending I was the famous "Thinker" statue while trying on my new safety gear, ha! |
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| Sitting in the Super Comp dragster for the first time |
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| Suited up and ready to go |
After I finished my runs, I talked to Douglas for a while about the day and what my plans were for the future with "The Black Hole" my ProMod Corvette. Douglas told me that I had done very well but that I need lots of seat time more than anything else. He told me it would be difficult to get that kind of seat time in The Black Hole.
He suggested that what I needed to do was buy a turn key Super Comp car and enter every race I could to get experience. He told me that it would be much easier to handle "The Black Hole" if everything else was muscle memory.
I knew he was right but I was not going to tell Traci that we needed to buy another car!!!! She had already put up with enough, ha!
Traci went to the truck while I finished my paperwork for my license and when I got into the truck she was already watching the videos that she had taken of the runs. She was happy for me and took possession of all of the paper work so it would not get lost. She started showing me videos and we were both talking about how neat it was to do the school. I was not going to mention the guidance that Douglas had given me (at least at this point, ha!).
Much to my surprise she told me that she really enjoyed watching me and felt like I really needed a Super Comp car to get some experience before driving "The Black Hole".
I do not know what I did to deserve this woman but whatever it was, I am glad I did it. She knows me better than I know myself. She is truly, my other half!
We spent the whole drive going back home with her looking on racing junk.com for turn key dragsters, reading off the adds that she knew I would be interested in. By the time we got back to Magnolia on Sunday, we had found the perfect car. It was in Longview, Texas about 4.5 hours away. After work on Monday, we drove to Longview to look at the car. I now own it but that is another story on another page.
Here is a link to one of the videos that Traci took of one of the two full passes:
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