Mike Puckett
SCCoA Member
We were on the 1/8th mi this time so the guys going to the finals could practice. I won a total of 7 wins, 5 in eliminations against one loss in a buyback round to take home the trophy in the last race weekend of the season. I ended up the season in 6th place and didn't make the division finals. I've had trouble with my reaction times all season and haven't gotten past the 2nd round in too many weekends. By the time I figured out and corrected the problem I was in 6th fighting to keep from falling to 7th after being in 1st back in June. I had a little a little help from a couple of red lights but rose to the occasion and won outright when I had to. Here are the time slips. In the 1st round I took out Dr. Jim in his 04 Corvette when he broke out. I beat him on the tree but was a little off my dial in. I'd run an 8.28 on my previous run but it warmed up quite a bit and I slowed down. The 2nd round was against the track champ in his 429 '62 Econoline pickup. As you you can see I tried a bit too hard and red lighted pretty bad plus I spun the tires and lost a 10th off the line as well. I paid my $10 and bought back in to continue hoping I would get some luck. After seeing some Hawks or maybe eagles? flying over the track, whatever they looked like Thunderbirds to me so I decided that today was my day. My 3rd round was against a very quick antique Chevy pickup. Lady Luck smiled and he just barely red lighted giving me an automatic win. The 4th round was against my fellow 6th place competitor and his 04 Durango. We lined up to run for the position and he anticipated the light too much and red lighted giving me another automatic win.
We were now now down to 3 cars. The other 2 guys had already had the bye and couldn't get it again so I got the an automatic bye and while they had to run each other I got to make a solo run for another automatic win. In the meantime the track computer had broken and they shut down to replace it. The replacement computer was an old one and had a perfect reaction as .500 instead of .000 so I got to make a practice run out of my solo pass. If you'll notice my r/t is pretty bad. I adjusted for the difference for the next round which was against a 68 Charger. I just barely bumped on the stage light and jumped between the 2nd and 3rd yellow and nailed a .527 (.027) light. I caught him before the 330' marker and knowing I was dialed in a 10th low I ran it out for a strong win. If I'd paid attention to my timeslips I'd dialed an 8.5 on each run and been a lot closer but fortunately I didn't need to, luck went my way.
We were now now down to 3 cars. The other 2 guys had already had the bye and couldn't get it again so I got the an automatic bye and while they had to run each other I got to make a solo run for another automatic win. In the meantime the track computer had broken and they shut down to replace it. The replacement computer was an old one and had a perfect reaction as .500 instead of .000 so I got to make a practice run out of my solo pass. If you'll notice my r/t is pretty bad. I adjusted for the difference for the next round which was against a 68 Charger. I just barely bumped on the stage light and jumped between the 2nd and 3rd yellow and nailed a .527 (.027) light. I caught him before the 330' marker and knowing I was dialed in a 10th low I ran it out for a strong win. If I'd paid attention to my timeslips I'd dialed an 8.5 on each run and been a lot closer but fortunately I didn't need to, luck went my way.
