[JP1738]

Well, crap. Don't have any pics to speak of but the Baby Gators was pretty much a disaster. I did manage to get qualified and run under the index, but that's where my luck ran out. It appears that after the heads and intake were surfaced, it moved the distributor too low onto the oil pump and was bound up. Over time it shifted the timing and kept slowing the car down. It had maybe only 28* or so by the time I ran first round and I had no idea. I could only go 13.13 first round. Drove all day back home Saturday and took it testing Sunday to sort out the issue. Timing was one of the first thing I checked and realized it was extremely low. After reaching out to a few people I realized what was causing the issue, I tightened the distributor back down and added a few extra gaskets and it went right back to printing tickets. In 3 runs at Shadyside on Sunday it moved .007 to 60ft and ran 8.00 and 8.02 on the two runs I ran it to the finish line. Dang this has been frustrating but I'm working on it.

I have pulled the plug on the Gator nats and withdrawn. I just can't afford to take my stuff back down there again this week, and so far, the state hasn't been terribly good to me. I'm going to go to my local bracket track and footfeed the stocker to get some more seat-time and continue improving the car. I'll be back to class racing at SGMP in a few weeks, looking forward to it already.

I learned a ton while down in Gainesville this weekend. I got a lot of help and advice from Tim Stickles who helped me go through my Q-jet and show me what did what and how to adjust/change/tune it better in the future. He even loaned me a different hanger and some secondary rods to try. Super awesome guy in person and extremely generous with knowledge and parts. I hate the adversity he faced as his SS car kicked the rods and his stocker was having consistency issues along with mine.