Mike Puckett
SCCoA Member
Well this was not one of my better days. The July heat and continued 3rd gear shift problems were there in force. I missed 3rd on 3 out of 5 runs but at least I've discovered the cause. The 3rd gear blocker has had it. A speed shift into 3rd at low rpm gives a very resounding crunch even though slow normal shifts are Ok. At 5400 rpm a granny shift works Ok with maybe a little crunch but a speed shift will not go into gear. Thankfully, I have another tranny ready to put in and I'll get that installed this week so I'll be ready to go next weekend. My 1st time trial I missed 3rd but still ran a 13.988 and beat a 2001 Mustang's 14.655. Action stopped for an hour while they replaced a faulty 1/8 mi photo sensor. On my 2nd time trial I was very careful with my 3rd gear shift and ran a decent 13.582 easily beating an Accord's 17.179. I was a bit distracted by his red light and my 60' was off by .1 so It would have been a 13.4 with my normal 1.9sec 60' times. The heat was slowing everyone down as well. Eliminations started at 4pm and darn if I didn't come up against the same Honda again. This time his reaction time was a slow .809 to my .547 and he broke out to boot with a 17.117 on a 17.20 dial. I missed 3rd and ran another 13.98 but got the win anyway. On my 2nd elimination I had a bad .765 reaction time and lost to a 70's 350 V8 Cutlass. Being careful with my shift I ran a 13.596 on a 13.45 dial but couldn't overcome his 13.287 on a 13.05 dial. I bought back in but lost again in the 3rd round against the same car because I missed 3rd again and ran another 13.9. So it's obvious that I've got to get my spare tranny in before next weekend or it'll be much of the same. Plus I don't know many times I can bounce the engine off of the rev limiter before it protests. I Had fallen to 4th in points but should remain there as several of the front runners didn't do any better than I did.
On a side note 2 GTP's showed up and it was obvious that they'd had some big bucks poured into them. One actually had a sponsor for financial backing and it showed up in his times running a 12.02 best and is high 11 capable. The other was a bit slower but on it's maiden trip to the drag strip and ran a 12.96. Both of these cars were based out of Ohio (Ohio State Univ) and were with the guy in the Honda whom I beat twice. I'm glad I ran the Honda and not the GTP's. I want to keep my undefeated string against them intact. On to next week. I hopefully will have the new tranny in by Wed.
On a side note 2 GTP's showed up and it was obvious that they'd had some big bucks poured into them. One actually had a sponsor for financial backing and it showed up in his times running a 12.02 best and is high 11 capable. The other was a bit slower but on it's maiden trip to the drag strip and ran a 12.96. Both of these cars were based out of Ohio (Ohio State Univ) and were with the guy in the Honda whom I beat twice. I'm glad I ran the Honda and not the GTP's. I want to keep my undefeated string against them intact. On to next week. I hopefully will have the new tranny in by Wed.