Summit wk 11, bad day at black rock but shift problem analyzed

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. :D On to next week. I hopefully will have the new tranny in by Wed.
 
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