The newest drag racer gears up!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Here's the latest, might be window of opp depending on the track as long as it's not an elim round:

http://www.jrdragsterplus.com/phpBB2...ic.php?t=16132


BTW, just a heads up - no touching the car after it hits the first staging beam or a/t disqualificaton:

http://www.jrdragsterplus.com/phpBB2...ic.php?t=16124

[Chevy454]

Worrying about a GoPro is one of the more stupid things I've heard out of the NHRA lately...especially on a Jr. dragster. But, sounds typical of Glendora...

[sYc]

Not too hard to fgiure out. We all know how sponsor $$$ detemines the rules for NHRA, so my guess would be, NHRA charges pro video companies big bucks to video their events (licensed), thus any other video is viewed as non-licensed. Of course no where does what might be good for "johnnie racer" and the sport sport figure in to this logic.

[ORIGLS6]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Chevy454</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Worrying about a GoPro is <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">one of the more stupid things </span></span>I've heard out of the NHRA lately...especially on a Jr. dragster. But, sounds typical of Glendora... </div></div>

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sYc</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Not too hard to fgiure out. We all know how sponsor $$$ detemines the rules for NHRA, so my guess would be, NHRA charges pro video companies big bucks to video their events (licensed), thus any other video is viewed as non-licensed. Of course <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">no where does what might be good for &quot;johnnie racer&quot; and the sport sport figure in to this logic.</span></span> </div></div>

Agreed on both counts!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Some more pics of the Eastern Conference Finals:

The 8-9 year old kids always ran first thing in the morning, made for a nice photo at 8am as the sun just crested the mountains:



Back in the pits / shade after a run:



Got him to pose with the car:



He's tall, and growing like a weed! Must be all of the healthy 'track snacks':





Ben is here with Paige Wheeler from the UK. Paige is the 2010 UK Jr Dragster Champion, and came to the US to race at the Finals:



The Maple Grove Raceway Team has been raising money for Alex's Lemonade Stand, and decorated their portion of the stands with the theme:



Our racing buddies, Joel ready to warm up the slicks (this car is for sale right now, just in case any of you guys want to jump in!!):



We put a new computer on the car while we were there so we could get better graphs of the runs - amazing! We just plug our download thumb drive into the dragster computer and it automatically downloads the data. Very cool, I can now see/better understand what Benjamin is telling me (or not telling me!):



Little bro was sure glad to see Benjamin when we got home, and loved his new, yellow, Halfscale Dragster t-shirt:

[Chevy454]

Is that a &quot;Mopar&quot; decal on the nose, lol? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/laugh.gif[/img]

What did you think of Bristol? I was geared up for a FAST event there one year and had car or truck trouble and didn't make it...everyone said it was a pretty sweet facility &amp; location. I see the &quot;deep&quot; on the car...I'm surprised they let you do that as picky as they are about everything else...heck, I've been to tracks where it's prohibited for everyone (which is goofy)!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

The Mopar thingy on the nose came with the car - and it's air brushed, and under the clear coat. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif[/img] The deal was such that during prior ownership, the track champion got a free paint job from Kohr's Customs which is a Mopar resto shop here in PA. They really did a beautiful job on the car, and I can't bring myself to sand it all down. So, we left it alone, and our vinyl guy actually tied in the colors with the Ben Bear Racing design. Funny you mention, bec/ after the first run I've never even noticed it being there! This experience has been the proverbial 'drinking from the firehose', so the Mopar isignia is no longer a priority. We'll likely change it when Ben decides to migrate away from the Ben Bear Racing motiff.

Bristol is the best track I've ever been to, hands down. There is nothing bad to say about it. Staying at a local Super8 type of hotel was crazy reasonable at $50/night, and we shared the room with our racing buddies. Super Walmart on the way to the track kept the cost of ice and food/snacks down, and the bathrooms were not only huge, they were spotless. There is a separate Shower House, a 1/4 mile of RV hookups - 2 deep, a Hospitality Suite for more trailer or RV's (read; quiet, next to a meandering creek, not on the main RV row which is 'party city'!). Overall, an awesome track. Oh, they have deep fried twinkies too - Ben's new favorite!

The DEEP staging thing is actually track specific, and Bristol allowed deep staging - even for kids older than 8-9 I believe. The general rule that most tracks follow is that DEEP is allowed for the 12.90 cars bec/ the cars react so slow, and the kids are learning how to cut a light. However, you must put DEEP on the car so they can over ride the Autostart on the tree's computer. We never mess around at the line, we courtesy stage and then immediately DEEP stage. Our take is that we are there to race, not play head games. As long as you do that, most tracks will not give you a hard time.

Staging DEEP has improved RT's dramatically, as much or more than raising the idle to within several hundred RPM of clutch engagement. We are now moving up to 8.90, so we will no longer stage DEEP - and although some feel that 8-9's should not stage DEEP, I felt that I'd rather reposition the car vs have Benjamin relearn the tree.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Sorry for the double post, but here is a good example of how important the on-board computers are, as well as having the ability to graph it out visually. On this particular day, we only got one time shot, so it was exceptionally hard to dial the car. Ben was on a streak of red lights, so I decided to back the idle down a bit to slow the car's reaction - yet have him leave on the same spot on the tree.

This computer allows you to overlay two runs to compare, the red line is rpm. Notice the lower starting point on the left with one of the red lines, it was lower than I wanted it to be - but once he lites the top bulb I can't touch the car. These 12.90 carbs can vary their idle a lot, thus he left at ~3650 rpm vs the prior run of ~4000 rpm. The car slowed by 1.5 tenths, and his .014 light was not enough to compensate the other car's .130 lite. This is the hair pulling cycle of 12.90, but I could not blame the entire deterioration on the starting line rpm.

When perplexed, ask the driver! Ben states that he might have lifted or pedaled - normally this is good when you tree the other driver, but he would not have known that yet. So, why? He wasn't sure what he did.... I'm befuddled, there was no wind, no tire spin, engine didn't break up.... I pull the laptop outta the truck, download the runs to the drive and upload them - to find this!:



Notice where one of the red lines drops off significantly sooner than the other. Ben was right, he did lift - unconsciencously, as he was looking around for the other car! Good stuff to know, can't argue the data. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img]

Another point, this kid has sure grown in a little over a year! The car is up on the stand in the most recent pic, so you have to add about 4 inches!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Who would have thought that the Halloween Race for the Jr's would be snowed out - along with the makeup race! We'll see if we can get our first crack at 8.90's this Saturday....

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

This engine will go 4 seconds and ~24mph faster than the previous class. Quite a leap, especially when you consider this is within 660 feet! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] Ben can't wait. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]