It is only
8am on a Sunday and already the track is abuzz with activity, the skies are
clear and the sun is shining, “it is hot”, thinks the racer, “and that will make
the car run slower”, he says as he takes a sip of his coffee. Other racers are
waking up and starting to come out of their motorhomes, trailers, or wherever
else they slept after the great pit party Saturday nite.
The roar of
the race car engines are also coming to life, as we hear the announcer say
“Welcome to Virginia Motorsports Park, it is a beautiful day for racing and we
will be opening the staging lanes at 9 o’clock , you will get 1 time run and
then we will be calling Street class for their 1st elimination run so
be ready.” As our racer is in Street class he starts preparing the race car for
his 1st time run.
The time
run is good, the car is very consistent from the runs on Saturday and our racer
is ready for the 1st round . He starts his pre-race routine, checks
the tire pressure, fuel level, is charging the battery and starts to sit down to
relax before the run when the PA system cackles “Attention in the pits,
attention in the pits, Street class to lanes 3 & 4, Street class to lanes 3 &
4.”
“Well, here
goes”, says our racer as he gets in the car and heads toward the staging lanes.
His heart rate is increasing and his adrenaline is starting to rise. “Calm
down”, he tells himself and then he continues his pre-race routine, starts
breathing slowly as the car rolls toward the tower, remembering what he learned
in The Racer’s Mind course. “2 cars to go and then I’m up he thinks”, as
he fires the motor to bring the car to life.
Fast
forward to 6 rounds later and it is now 6pm and our racer is in the finals. It
has rained during the day so there were some long delays where the track had to
be dried. It is also much cooler and starting to get dark, “I have to be
careful” he says, “the car will be faster and it will also launch quicker.”
Across the pits, his opponent is thinking the same thing. “Attention in the
pits, Street final round to the lanes, Street final round to the lanes”, the
announcer says. Both racers proceed to the staging lanes.
As the cars
do their burnouts and then check their dials, both racers suddenly realize that
they have both dialed up so as not to break out. They carefully pull into the
pre-stage beams and our racer decides to wait to stage and is attempting to
“burn down” his opponent. Now his opponent stages and our racer quickly follows
in after him, both racers are staged, our racer quickly checks his gauges,
“uh-oh” he says, “my water temp is a little high, must be careful”, he thinks as
the tree starts to come down, 1st yellow, 2nd yellow, 3rd
yellow – both race cars fully come to life as their motors are pushed full
throttle and the front ends both come up.
As the
front tires again grip the racing surface and the cars race quickly down the
track, they are dead even at 330 ft, but at the 1/8 mile our racer is way ahead
of his opponent, “what is he doing?”, he thinks, then he remembers that his
opponent has the faster car. “He’s going to catch me at the stripe and force me
to break out”, he thinks. Sure enough his opponent is right beside him at 1,100
ft, our racer looks over, whomps the throttle a couple times, looks at the
finish line, looks over at his opponent, then guns the throttle just in time to
see the win light come on……………… in the other lane.
Why
did our racer lose? Could it be he did too long of a burn out? Or maybe that
water temp got too hot? Or maybe trying to “burn down” his opponent heated up
the converter too much? These and other questions will be answered in this book,
Drag Racing 101, so climb in your race car, strap in, and hold on because you
are now entering the high-stakes and exciting world of drag racing!
