Great Event!

I rolled into my driveway at 8pm Sunday and unloaded the car, what a kick-butt event this year. Whoever put the empty beverage bottles in my pit box is a real joker. Off to work shortly for my pre-employment drug screen and physical...if BBQ sauce was a drug, I'd be in big trouble!

Between the Pig 'n Whistle ribs and the track's new BBQ sandwiches and Smiley's gas station and BBQ pit on the way home, I've met my quota for the year.

Here's the chronology...

Thursday:
Mild rain in the morning had us on the road course in wet, challenging conditions. Zero wrecks and carnage surprisingly, and everyone I talked to had a great time managing the slippery turns. My compliments to all drivers...this could have been a real disaster but everyone played safe and had a great time.

James G., Greg Franks, and I spent the afternoon at the track planning the wiring for James' LS1 swap and then returned to the hotel to get started after an excellent supper at the Pig 'n Whistle where we chowed on "muddy" ribs and the best fried okra in West Tennessee. We thrashed on the main electrical feeds until midnight with help from Dan Burke, and entertained the crowd of spectators that assembled to cheer us on.

Friday:
Great weather!! The drag racers got a full morning of action and the track was reported to be getting stickier continuously as the morning went on. After lunch, the road course went hot and most of the student drivers were getting signed off for solo driving. The event organizers opened the track for lapping and drivers got plenty of seat time, the track was hooking well in the corners and again zero wrecks with only a few spinouts. I saw one engine failure on Shanta's IROC, Dean's rear diff let go, but that may be all. Time trials began on time, but by then my rear slicks were gone and I was sliding/oversteering through the sweeper and S-turns. I gave it best effort and ran a best of ~92.xx sec if memory serves...Alex Folken and Mark Frouhar were smoking hot while I was spectating, and it looked like everyone ran good lap times.

I was multi-tasking between driving the road course and continuing James' LS1 wiring, with he and Greg working away on the fuel pump and PCM electrical feeds as well as the Class-2 serial bus wiring for the OBD-II connector. Larry Moy saved the day with his '92 Helms manual which got us past two roadblocks with the chassis Pass-Key system and fuel pump electrical feed, and Jon Martin helped us non-E.E. types find the best way to handle 12VDC circuit separation to ensure reliability. I'll let James take it from here.

That evening was time to kick back in the hotel parking lot, cheer Dean and his crew on while they swapped in a replacement rear end, and munch on awesome-as-always wings courtesy of the Classic guys. Many beverages were consumed.

Saturday:
The morning is kind of a blur. The OJ machine at the hotel breakfast bar was my best friend. I went to the track and spectated the auto-x...very nice course with a great mix of tight turns and WOT straights. Drag racing eliminations rocked!! Very competitive again this year. I packed up at 4pm and set course East.

My hat's way off to all the organizers and the attendees, this was an outstanding event and I can't wait till next year!

-Kevin