Bakersfield Experience

[Justin Graham]

What a great experience I had this past weekend at Bakersfield. My first NHRA event ever as a competitor was a BLAST!

I rolled in Wednesday night because I didn't want to be up at 3 a.m.to leave my house by 4 a.m., and PRAY, L.A. traffic didn't act like itself that early, too. I tried not to geek out as I pulled up to the gates and into the pit area. Knowing the serenity of this place would be alive and raucous hours later.

Thursday morning, I got my Racer wristband, and now, it begins sinking in; it's official. I'm here to RACE! I walk back to my pit, starting to geek out, MY PIT , get the charger on the battery and wait. I began to hear Famoso come alive and knew that was the cue to start up. I unload the Malibu and take a warm-up lap. I see the line for the scale, get in line, wait, then get weighed, and everything checked out peachy. Circle back and get the charger back on the battery. Later, I hear the call I've been waiting to hear, "Stock to the lanes".

Time to go..ehhh..."Not so Fast, my friend," the Malibu got a serious no start issue. Efforts get no result. I miss the First Round of qualifying. I've got so many hours to get it right for the Second Round. I hear a voice say my name, turn around, it's Jared Jordan. I told him about my situation, and he offered his charger. I immediately took him up on it and began to charge. Time passes and the Malibu fires up. YES! I'm ready. Lanes, box, and Stage. I made a good run, and I got my first time slip. I'm on the Q sheet. HELLYEAH! I'm qualified. I then get an opportunity to pit near the DeFranks and jump on it. Hours go by, and I hear there may be time for a "Clean up run". The charger has been on for a very long time, and I'm certain I'm good.Four hours later, I'm making my second pass. Lanes, box, Stage, I make my second run, and it's nine hundredths better. HELLYEAH!!, I moved up the Q sheet.
So I get a copy..WHO did I draw??..STEVE WANN! Welcome to competitive NHRA Stock Eliminator racing bro! I've never been so anxious for a Friday morning in all my life and THAT'S including Christmas!!

Friday morning, I get up early, like early dark thirty, get the charger on the battery. It's getting close for the call, so I start the Malibu, and do a warm up lap, come around, and back on the charger. The call is made, turn the charger off, turn switch to ON, hop in and fire up...I said fire up...Malibu said NO!!! Holy smokes, I've got to act fast. Turns out, Steve was so far down the line, he was practically where my pit was located. I stand by his Plymouth, he sees me there and we talk. I explain my situation and he accommodates to wait to a point. Perfect! time to hustle..but to no avail, and I miss First round. DAMMIT!! I really wanted to race Steve Wann. Now, Friday is a school session. Pitting next to the DeFranks was a great move. I got some assistance and advice on my issue and ran to the store to buy a battery. Get back to the track, hook it up, looks great, issue solved, for now.

Saturday morning, and things are looking good. I hear the call, and I'm ready for Q1. Lanes, box, Stage, and I blast the quarter better than the Thursday clean up. Now I wait for Class Elims. and I'm getting anxious for my first competitive race. I never got to see the ladder and the dude running the lanes, tells me "You got Nanette Stein". SWEET! I find her, do the intros, and we talk. Get suited up, and its Lanes, box, and Stage. Bring up the RPMs, time to go..and RED!! DAMMIT!!, the rest of Saturday is a back in school session.

Check the Q sheet later, I'm bumped down eight spots. Learning qualifying position math, I see I drew Ritchie Pauley for First Round. Soon after, we hear that Stock is running First Round, TONIGHT!! The realness got bumped up a notch. The call gets made, put the dial on the windows, and I hustle up to the lanes where I meet Ritchie. We talk and get ready to race. Now, I'm pumped this is FIRST ROUND Man! Lanes,box,and Stage. The Tree starts, GO!!.its GREEN!.GO MAN!, I feel the loss of traction...HOLY SHIFT!! get back in it.HARD! I know he's RIGHT THERE. I peek, and see the nose of the Mustang in the quarter window, SHIFT DUDE!, peek again. Look forward, side peek, and I don't see a nose, look forward, peek at the mirror, and he's way back. HOLY Gs!, did I just win First Round?! Get the slip and its confirmed, I won because he went Red. Now, I've learned to check the board at some point down track. Get back to the pit, check the ladder, and see I'll be racing Shelby Williams. Prep for Sunday and pack up for the night.

Sunday morning, early dark thirty..AGAIN!, charger on the battery, get the Malibu ready. I hear the call. It's TIME!, getting anxious because it's the SECOND ROUND..on a SUNDAY!! Put my dial on the windows and get to the lanes where Shelby and I talk. Lanes, Box, and Stage. Bulbs are lit, yellows are dropping, and BAM!.GO RED!!! DAMMIT! I decided to leg it out for data and went three under my dial. Get to the scales, congratulated Shelby, shared encouragements at fuel check, and my race weekend was over. Loaded up and trekked it home.

This experience is exactly how I imagined it. I can't thank everyone I met enough for making this an indelible memory, a FOREVER memory. Thank you to Jim, Jimmy, and Tony DeFrank for their generosity, Jared Jordan and his parents for their encouragement, Bob Gullett for offering a battery,TomO and Adam Strang for greeting me after Clean up, Bryan and Brandyn Phillips for just being cool dudes ready to help, Steve Wann for being understanding and patient, Nanette Stein, Ritchie Pauley, Phil Jr, Steve and Shelby Williams for being amazing people. I know I've missed some, but you're not forgotten. If you've made it this far through my story...Thank you for your time as well

[John Winslow Jr]

Sounds like tons of fun, every name you mentioned are great ambassadors for the sport, nothing like class racing. First time out in the truck spun a cam bearing in the pits me and Stevie up till 1am replacing it, good times!! John

[Jared Jordan]

Glad to have you join us. All you need is a little experience and there’s only one way to get it. See you in Vegas.

[MR DERBY CITY]

Nice, Welcome ,…. you should of bought a new battery Thursday evening. I hope you have checked your alternator/ charging system since you have returned home. Don’t fall into that trap of charging your battery all the time. When it’s later in the day and you are going rounds that charging system better be WORKING ….

[Julie Jordan]

It was nice meeting you! We will catch you at the next race. Drag racers are the BEST people!

[Justin Graham]

Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY

Nice, Welcome ,…. you should of bought a new battery Thursday evening. I hope you have checked your alternator/ charging system since you have returned home. Don’t fall into that trap of charging your battery all the time. When it’s later in the day and you are going rounds that charging system better be WORKING ….

Shamefully, Jim DeFrank said that I should replace the battery and I have ZERO reasons why I didn't do exactly that. Lesson learned, respect knowledge. I was experience hard starting issues throughout the entire event, even after the battery swap. I've taken advisement on the steps to check the charging system. Hoods up now.

[Robbie Welch]

What a great story and so refreshing to read it and remember back when we were all like this. So happy to just be a part of a sport we love. Justin good luck with your future racing plans and thanks for sharing your story.

[Race Clean]

Originally Posted by Justin Graham

Shamefully, Jim DeFrank said that I should replace the battery and I have ZERO reasons why I didn't do exactly that. Lesson learned,

You are in good company. It is safe to say 90-95% of the racers have learned that lesson somewhere along the line and replace battery's accordingly what they learned.
Now I am on Lithium and will probably learn something new before soon

[Lenny5160_v2]

I really miss having that level of excitement for a race weekend, and enjoyed reading your account of it.

Thank you for sharing, and good luck!

[MR DERBY CITY]

Originally Posted by Justin Graham

Shamefully, Jim DeFrank said that I should replace the battery and I have ZERO reasons why I didn't do exactly that. Lesson learned, respect knowledge. I was experience hard starting issues throughout the entire event, even after the battery swap. I've taken advisement on the steps to check the charging system. Hoods up now.

You might want to add a new starter to the list…..and new battery cables might be in order also. CHECK THOSE GROUNDS……