Thread: A Good Season...

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... but not as great as it could have been.

Went into last weekend High Altitude Bracketnationals summer series ending race in 1st place in Run Tuff (no electronics, no transbrake, 10.0 and slower) and 4th place in Pro ET (no electronics, transbrake ok, 7.50 - 13.80).

One and half round lead in RT and four rounds out of first in Pro.

Friday was time trials and jackpot races and points race saturday. Friday night broke transmission in first round of jackpot race... lost 2nd gear. Won the round and tried 2nd round skipping 2nd gear but 3rd was starting to go. Friday night before holiday weekend not much hope of getting it fixed for saturday.

A buddy offered to let me drive his car saturday. 67 Firebird with a 505ci PONTIAC motor (this is the guy that gives me the most crap about my chebbie powered firebird) Lots more power (~700HP), lots more weight (3600#), lots less gear (3.55:1), and about half a second faster (11.0x@124). Had a few time trials to learn how to drive it... lots of little idiosyncrasies.

After my friend offered up his car, another buddy had help lined up to thrash on the tranny overnight but I told him not to worry about since I had a car.

Ended up losing 1st round Run Tuff because the 15mph head wind decided to quit about the time I staged. Broke out by .04 after shaving off 6mph. Won two rounds in Pro taking out the points leader in the 2nd at which point I needed two more rounds + one guy to go out before me to take the championship.

Third round lined up against a fellow that needed to win to have a shot at a podium spot (6th) and trash talking ensued. He double-bulbed me while I was still in the water box which really pi$$ed me off. His little maneuver worked though when I went -.013 red. My own fault for letting it get to me. I should've just sat there a minute or so before staging (hindsight).

So, finished the season 2nd in RT and 5th in Pro which is still by far the best I've done in this Quaker State series in the five years I've been racing.

http://www.bandimere.com/standings/p...ate%20Run-Tuff

http://www.bandimere.com/standings/p...te%20Pro%20E.T.

Who knows what would have happened driving my own car

Now time to gear up for the fall series and the last King Street race. Had the championship in King Street last year but stinking it up this year sitting in 12th place. Conceivably could still make the podium if I do very well (quarter finals or better) at the last KS race 9/18.

Buddy found the tranny broke the drum and folded a snap ring. Said he's never seen one fail like that in 20 years working racing transmissions. Anyway, was lucky because didn't circulate metal through everything. TH400 basically all stock except manual valve body. Held up to four years of strip punishment with ~550HP (probably 1000+ runs). Car's back together and ready to race Sunday.

Was invited to Division 5 ET finals in Topeka but declined because it is same weekend as KS race and "Footbrake Nationals" race here at home plus the expense of going out there. Someday I would like to go.

Thanks for reading.

-Chris

Thanks for sharing, Chris - it's all part of the fun and I enjoy reading about your successes - and failures too as it seems that you're able to turn them into opportunities. You've got a great attitude friend!

Best,
Glenn

Congrats on another great year Chris! Ah, the old double bulb scam! Been on both ends of it and lost everytime! Got lucky on the tranny deal, anyway! Buddy of mine used to say that if the good luck and bad luck balance out, it was a good season! Good luck in the Footbrake nats! Sounds like a blast, how many cars do they usually pull for it?

i lost 2 gear in two 400s i have fliped the sprag they were the HD i think 36 element the last time i move up to the coan super sprag $$$

Thanks, Glenn! My post count would be a lot higher if I told ya about all my failures and losses I owe a lot to the folks on here that have given me tons of advice over the years from tuning to chasing gremlins and racing in general.

Thanks, Dave! Yeah, I tried to pull that once to a guy who had previously tried to burn me down and ended up screwing myself... I think I was late that time. Best to ignore the other guy's shenanigans and just race your race... someday I'll learn. Footbrake nats I'd say we probably see 200-300 cars. They run separate classes for chevy, ford, mopar, and buick-olds-pontiac-(everyone else e.g. Willys, AMC, etc.). I get to choose whether to run chevy or BOP but I always pick BOP (to the chagrin of the poncho guys that call me half-breed). They run all these separate then the winners of each do a run off for "King of the Track". It's a fun event.

Pat, yeah he gave me the option to install "racing clutches" for an extra $100 but basically talked me out of it since the stock clutches had held up so well behind this motor. I still don't really understand the failure... don't know squat about trannys. My previous failure was from breaking the sprag in the converter and that going through the tranny taking out the front pump and essentially everything else. If I ever go bigger on the motor, I'll need to beef up the tranny. If this motor breaks, I'll be going 496/502.

-Chris

no its 2 gear sprag if you lost all of 2 if it slips then its clutches . if you are running the big clutche packs i have use the red paper B W and the hold up ok . there is a sprag/diode in the stall i have trash many stalls .the best one so far is the steel stator 9 inch from Coan if your making big power you do not want a alum stator stall . bad things will happen

Picked it up last night. Took a while to get the shifter right shift arm got bent in transport. Has 7 pack stock waffle? clutches. Guy told me 2nd was fine direct drive drum spun and bent a snap ring but I know 2nd was first to go and was completely gone anyway it's back together and close to shifting right. Might need to tweak the cable a little. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Coulda had the red clutches for extra $100 but he said I don't need them. The old clutches looked fine. Last time it was the sprag in the converter went and trashed everything. Now have 10" converter from local US Transmission and Torque Converter in Denver... It took three tries to get the stall right but it's worked great since.

-Chris