Anybody here running local "points" with a slow bracket car?

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OldmanRick

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Just curious if any of you guys, or a family member, is running a regular schedule at a local track? 14's,15's,16s...even 19's...lol. :D

I know I had a blast at times running in the bottom of Pro or Street and taking out the competition. I'd love to hear your "trails & tribulations" of getting it done.....If so, let us know.
 
My car used to run 14s-15s and I raced it competitively every other weekend. Even won my first (of three) Wally's. There's also been many times our fast dragsters broke and had to borrow/rent/use the tow vehicle to run in sportsman class to stay in the points. One time our altered broke a transmission and I had to borrow a fellow racers Camry. Wound up winning the no-electronics class that day. Also went many rounds in the 6-speed Cummins truck. It's amazing how antsy people get at the light while staring at a 17 second vehicle getting very far down the track.
 
Cool! gumper. I thought we might give out a little love to the few that may still be doing it. I can imagine wheeling that 6spd diesel down the track was a adventure :).
 
One of our local tracks have rain-outs from time to time, so we have RV/Tow vehicle races with passengers. The track set an index of 25 seconds in the 1/4 for all contestants. Most people the first year it happened would launch and haul *** to the finish while watching a stop watch then have 1 mph fender races across the line, which we did and took second. We decided the second year to break the beams and sit at the starting line until the stopwatch reached a predetermined time (8ish seconds) then would take off so as to cross the finish at full speed so the opponents couldn't fender us. We won that year. That was a lot of fun, and it was amazing how tight some races were. There were a few races that came down into the thousandths.
 
Rick, I used to bracket a 67 Box nova with a 6 cylinder/glide... deep stage and ran 21.20-21.22 all day everyday, no matter the weather.

It was not a crowd favorite, but, it went rounds. The drivers of single digit cars hated it!
 
When I started racing.... days after getting my licence at 16 I would race the truck we towed the express down with. It was an 87 Ram that was a slant but we swapped in a 360. I ran in the 17's and raced street. I won the class and still have the trophy in the first race I ever entered... I still think that's pretty cool. I was a kid, it was slow, but it was a blast going rounds. It wouldn't get into third before the strip so I would shift into second and turn around on the bench seat and look out the back window watching the other guy gain on me. If the race was at night I would put my 4 ways on cause I figured my flashing lights passing by his tree would be a distraction... dick move but I was a kid... Went to the bracket finals in PA and made it three rounds in the high school class before some 30 yr old spanked me in his grand national...

I year ago at our local Mopar race I ran my 2013 4.7 Ram and runnered up... that was a blast, like I was 16 again. I won the event this year being one of the faster in the class with my Dart.
 
gumper said:
One of our local tracks have rain-outs from time to time, so we have RV/Tow vehicle races with passengers. The track set an index of 25 seconds in the 1/4 for all contestants. Most people the first year it happened would launch and haul *** to the finish while watching a stop watch then have 1 mph fender races across the line, which we did and took second. We decided the second year to break the beams and sit at the starting line until the stopwatch reached a predetermined time (8ish seconds) then would take off so as to cross the finish at full speed so the opponents couldn't fender us. We won that year. That was a lot of fun, and it was amazing how tight some races were. There were a few races that came down into the thousandths.
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That's so cool! Our tracks never did anything like that. What a great way to salvage a crappy day. :thumbrig:
 
crackedback said:
Rick, I used to bracket a 67 Box nova with a 6 cylinder/glide... deep stage and ran 21.20-21.22 all day everyday, no matter the weather.

It was not a crowd favorite, but, it went rounds. The drivers of single digit cars hated it!
Click to expand...

Damn Rob, this one kinda hits close to home...:D. One year, 96'/97'ish, I ran the wife's 16 sec. driver twice in "street" and got taken out both times by the same 69' 6cyl Deuce that ran mid 20's.

1st time he tree'd me in round one and forced me out.
2nd time was in the final, same result. I dumped the stripe and he went a dead on 20.66...lol.



P.S. I should have mentioned that the loss in that final was my last trip down a track.......Ima so sad...:(.
 
Dart Sport 360 said:
When I started racing.... days after getting my licence at 16 I would race the truck we towed the express down with. It was an 87 Ram that was a slant but we swapped in a 360. I ran in the 17's and raced street. I won the class and still have the trophy in the first race I ever entered... I still think that's pretty cool. I was a kid, it was slow, but it was a blast going rounds. It wouldn't get into third before the strip so I would shift into second and turn around on the bench seat and look out the back window watching the other guy gain on me. If the race was at night I would put my 4 ways on cause I figured my flashing lights passing by his tree would be a distraction... dick move but I was a kid... Went to the bracket finals in PA and made it three rounds in the high school class before some 30 yr old spanked me in his grand national...

I year ago at our local Mopar race I ran my 2013 4.7 Ram and runnered up... that was a blast, like I was 16 again. I won the event this year being one of the faster in the class with my Dart.
Click to expand...

Darcy, at least we had some fun back when we were kids.....I know I did several "John Force" hyper type antics after I beat some guys when I was young, that some of the "elders" let me know, in know uncertain terms, wasn't cool :). Actually it was in the mid 70's before Force had won anything?.....Maybe he learned from me...lol.
 
sst3193 said:
There was a guy that used to run a Yugo, at our local track. 22.1 seconds!
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I worked at a lease/rental company in 1990 for about six months, and we had 3 of those gems in the rental fleet...:D. Most stayed out of service 90% of the time because we couldn't get parts for them.....even though they were only a few years old...lol.
 
OldmanRick said:
Darcy, at least we had some fun back when we were kids.....I know I did several "John Force" hyper type antics after I beat some guys when I was young, that some of the "elders" let me know, in know uncertain terms, wasn't cool :). Actually it was in the mid 70's before Force had won anything?.....Maybe he learned from me...lol.
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You know what Rick... whenever I still see my win light go on I loose my ****. I know your supposed to act like you've done it before but I would rather act like it could be the last round win I'll ever have.

I've always thought that starting in a slow car to learn the big end first.
 
Dart Sport 360 said:
You know what Rick... whenever I still see my win light go on I loose my ****. I know your supposed to act like you've done it before but I would rather act like it could be the last round win I'll ever have.

I've always thought that starting in a slow car to learn the big end first.
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I agree about the slower cars. At the time, I doubt I even realized how much I was learning just running cars like that for fun.

As far as the possibility of a last win, I completely understand. The runs I spoke of earlier in the mid 90's against that @#&%# Chevy II were the last times I was on a track. So close, but so far. :banghead:
 
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