Outlaw All-Stars

Results and images are from The Outlaw All-Stars Series finale @ GIR on 11/1/2009

Took 2 cars to test and tune on Saturday. Wanted to run the El Camino to see if it would be competitive in 14.0 index and took Malibu to run gambler race on 10/31. I got there late and found out the gambler race was full. I got my money back for the Malibu and made 1 pass in the Camino. It was a tire spinning 14.1. That was good enough for what I needed. I left the Camino there and drove home with the Malibu. The next day the 2 Bobs and I came back for the final Gateway all star race. The 3 of us entered 12.0 and I entered the camino in 14.0. Bob V's first time run was 12,23 @87 mph. I thought he was letting off trying to run 12 flat. I soon found out that his coil wire fell off in 3rd and the car died. It was going 96mph in the 1/8th! It would have been Bobs record pass somewhere in the 11.60s. My Malibu was acting stupid again and the best I could do was 12.35. I was cutting good lights though .111s. Bob R was awesome. His first pass was 11.969 and backed by several 12.0 passes. His lights were so good it got him the bye run in 2 rounds! Bob R ended up winning the 12.0 race. The El Camino was more impressive than the driver. Round #1 it went 14.02 and round #2 went 14.03 but lost with a .342 light, Not bad for a stock 350 with a 6 speed. (Big G's version)

The story for project Ultra Nova had highs and lows. The car saw the streets for maybe 15 - 20 minutes since the last Big G race in August. There was enough time to make two passes in time trials. I was anxious to see if this was going to be a tough car to beat like it was at the last Outlaw event. The first time run without changing anything turned out to be 11.969. I was surprised by this given the cool air and slight tail wind. Before the second time run I moved the shift light RPM down to 5500. My next and final time run was 12.01. My confidence grew after that pass because I remember what I did wrong that cost me the last Outlaw event. My reaction times were spot on to be a player in this class. In round 1 I was paired with a fox body stang and I ended his night at the christmas tree. He cut a .293 light to my .103. I was so far ahead of him that I let out and finished with a 12.11. Round 2 was interesting because I pulled to the staging lanes and was told I had a bye run. After all cars were paired up a guy in Nova rolls up and gets paired with me. I was a little peeved because there were some easier cars to beat in the lanes and I was forced to race this dude. Just as I suspected he would run a good time and force me to be on my game. He did bring out he best in me, I cut my best light of the day .046 followed by a lethal time of 12.029. My margin of victory was a little over a tenth of a second. There were still an odd number of cars and my bye from the previous round carried over so I got a free pass to see where my car was running. I ran a full pass at 11.992. My class was called to the staging lanes again and I was the last of the 3 cars but I pulled up in the right lane (my fav) to race another Nova. I was told I would get another bye run. Geoff started to tell the guy I just had a bye run but he didn't follow up on that. Our class races were delayed for a printer malfunction. I wondered if they were checking the previous match ups to see if I should be racing a car instead of getting another bye. My semifinal pass featured tire spin and my worst 60' time of the day. The final round pairings were the Ultra Nova vs a Malibu wagon from the 80's. The wagon was for real, he sent home the previous Outlaw event winner in the 1/4 finals. We rolled to the burnout box and I made sure to stay longer and go through all 3 gears during my burnout. I staged deep and checked to see what he would do and he wasn't going deep. The lights on the tree went off and my reaction time was exactly what you'd want in the finals, .067 to his .155. He gained on me only slightly through the first 1000 feet and I let off just a little at the end to make sure it wasn't a breakout pass. The final times were Ultra Nova 12.021 to the wagon's 12.028. the total margin of victory was .095. I remember screaming WOOOOOOOO!! after I saw my win light at the end of the track. I went the entire day without telling Big G or Bob that the long sleeve shirt I had on was the exact shirt I wore in the picture on the Ultra Nova project page where I'm holding the check and trophy. How could I lose wearing my lucky shirt I thought. As it turns out the shirt wasn't the one I thought it was, it just happened to be the same color!

Great Gray paperweight info and pics are being worked on still

_______________________________________________________________________________________