JP1738's Stocker and S/G car

[JP1738]

Been a few weeks but I'm still out doing my thing. Made my way to the Jegs Sportsnationals at SGMP a few weeks ago with my station wagon.

Pulled in on Tuesday night about an hour from the track where I nabbed a hotel stay, then made my way on the the track Wednesday morning. It rained most of the day that day so we were only able to get one time-shot in for Stock. Ran class eliminations and first round on Thursday.

I ended up in the Auto Combo for class eliminations where I ran Cody Philips, I only managed a .20ish under pass and was swiftly dispatched out of class run-offs. Had an extremely tough draw first round of the national event in Joe Santangelo. I got a bit too aggressive on the starting line and unfortunately turned it -.004 red ending my weekend. I was really pleased with the car though. it ran extremely consistently in the 4 hits I made, running 12.764 off my 12.78 dial-in after my red-light first round, which is pretty much exactly what I thought it would go.

I left that evening to come home for a local points meet at Roxboro on that Saturday, more on that later because there was serious drama. I don't want to clutter this post with it though.

[JP1738]

So... Roxboro, 7/12/25.

I left SGMP (400 miles from my house) on Thursday after I turned it red first round of stock eliminator, drove all the way home, worked Friday, swapped cars and trailers, and drove to Roxboro Motorsports Park (another 200 miles away) to race 6.0 index and the bracket race with my dad.

For those of you counting at home, that is a grand total of 1000 miles to make this race after leaving the Sportsnationals early to get to and from RMP. At that point I had made quite the sacrifice to make it there for the points meet. My efforts were not rewarded at all.

As you all on here well know, I class race both of my race cars, competing my wagon in STK and my Mazda in SST and SG (depending on how I feel that particular weekend) on top of all the bracket and index racing I do . Therefore, on my Mazda, I have a throttle stop and all of the accompanying technology to make it operate. That car runs anywhere from mid 6.0s to mid 6.1s depending on the air and track conditions on motor. I typically have to spray my car with nitrous to make it fast enough to run 6.00 index. I am not the only one using nitrous, of course, and it is perfectly legal in the class. What is not legal are throttle stops. The spirit of the class is side-by-side, heads up racing, with no stops or drive shaft sensors. It doesn't really apply to me given that my car isn't fast enough to use a throttle stop in 6.0 index, so I just run it wide open and spray it just a tickle to get to the number.

Well for one reason or another, all of the remaining cars 3rd round (8 total) of the race were protested, of which two were my dad and I. We were made to take the hoods off our cars so that the engine bay could be inspected. It was discovered (obviously) that on both mine and my dad's car, there were throttle stops. Now everyone who knows the two of us knows that neither of us are actively using them, in fact, my dad's car's throttle stop isn't even wired or plumbed, it's just sat there to make the throttle linkage and hood scoop all workout out right. I leave mine on for the same reason, plus my wide-open-throttle-switch for my nitrous wont work without the carb being that height.

My car IS NOT FAST ENOUGH TO USE THE THROTTLE STOP IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY, AND ED'S ISN'T EITHER. PLUS IT WASN'T OPERABLE. This justification and lobbying fell on deaf ears and we were disqualified from the event.

What a bunch of F#CKING BOLOGNA. This was almost three weeks ago and I am still beside myself upset. The craziest thing is that I have a really good relationship with both the head of the series and the track manager, both of which stood quietly while I was tossed out of the race after driving 1000+ miles to be there to support the series. Every rule in drag racing for the most part can be enforced at the discretion of the track operator, and neither of my "friends" came to my defense to lobby on my behalf. What a bunch of fake, cowardly, spineless, pieces of human debris.

I believe I handled the situation as well as I could have, but I was devastated for a number of reasons. The money and time I spent to be there was wasted, I missed the opportunity to race the NHRA Divisional at SGMP for it, the friends I thought I had simply aren't my friends anymore, I've lost a race track that I genuinely enjoy going to because I cannot justify going to race there after this fiasco, and a host of other things. It wasn't that I got thrown out of one race, I now have lost an entire race track and group of friends over it, friends I spent years cultivating a relationship with, just for them to throw it away at a moments notice.

I am infuriated, devastated, and heart broken over the whole deal and I still don't really know what to think. Let me know what you guys think if you read this far.

[BIGG18c]

Dawson, I always look forward to reading the latest updates on all of your racing and wish I had the gumption to put all of my racing escapades on a forum so please do not take this the wrong way. If the 6.0 rules specifically state no throttle stops allowed then I believe the promoters did the right thing. On the other hand I also agree with your logic of the car is not fast enough to use one and your dad's car not even being hooked up. In the end the rules should be enforced as stated. Please keep updating us on your racing endeavors and good luck!

[Frank Castros]

Dawson,
Hang in there kid. You got screwed and it sucks.
Frank

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by Frank Castros

Dawson,
Hang in there kid. You got screwed and it sucks.
Frank

preach.

[Pauley]

Originally Posted by BIGG18c

Dawson, I always look forward to reading the latest updates on all of your racing and wish I had the gumption to put all of my racing escapades on a forum so please do not take this the wrong way. If the 6.0 rules specifically state no throttle stops allowed then I believe the promoters did the right thing. On the other hand I also agree with your logic of the car is not fast enough to use one and your dad's car not even being hooked up. In the end the rules should be enforced as stated. Please keep updating us on your racing endeavors and good luck!

i get what you are saying here BIGG. the working understanding is, no operable stops. there was another local series that said no stops allowed. if he looked at your car and you showed where the stop was disabled it was good. you are basically using a $500 spacer plate at that point.

my mistake was not asking to see said rule in writing. then asking for the tracks interpretation of the rule in writing.

ep-they had me flustered and i didnt think fast enough.

[pmrphil]

Huge difference between USING a throttle stop and "having" a stop. Our local track would only make sure any delay box OR stop was disconnected AND wiring removed and that was always good enough.
Yes, I agree, you guys got screwed, more than one way.
Pretty chicken ***** way to do things.
And wanting to see it in writing would probably not have helped - "the race director has final say" bullcrap is what you would have heard.

[Tim H]

My view is that the car with "all the technology to make it work" was illegal, sorry. The argument that you don't use it just doesn't fly with me. The other car that was not wired should not have been bounced.
I, like many others, truly appreciate your updates especially regarding the stocker. Thank you for those.

[Mike Gray]

Years ago I had a super-gas mustang that I would run in the Hot Rod Heritage races close to home. I ran into the throttle stop problem and disconnecting the wiring was not an option. The controller had to be completely removed from the car.

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by Tim H

My view is that the car with "all the technology to make it work" was illegal, sorry. The argument that you don't use it just doesn't fly with me. The other car that was not wired should not have been bounced.
I, like many others, truly appreciate your updates especially regarding the stocker. Thank you for those.

Fair enough, I can live with that. I did have it zip-tied open so even if I turned it on, it wouldn't work. That evidently was not disabled enough though.

Also, there was no universe where I could ever actually use it on purpose and still run the index, I'm simply not fast enough and all of the guys that we race with know that. But it was on the car, wired, and plumbed. Bad look either way, and like I said, I took my medicine. It just tasted like caster oil.