Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

In another 10 minutes we'll be inside the gates of the beautifully manicured Maple Grove Raceway and its good to be me today.Why you ask-I'll tell you its because I'm #12 of the hundreds waiting to enter on this sunny Wednesday morning .With temps expected to be in the low eighties all weekend performance in all categories should be terrific.Today is just parking and tech but speaking with many racer friends last night everyone is reved-up and can't wait to get on the track Thursday.And lets not forget the big softball game Thurs night along with the Pro show Friday evening ..........Like they say ---"And on with the show" .Later.......

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Thanks Jack and good luck.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

have fun jack !!

and let the 1000 foot racing begin :)

captain

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Thanks for the report Jack. I am leaving Ct. at 4:00 tomorrow morning and I should be at the track by 7:00. I will be sure to stop by and introduce myself.
Bill Seabrooks - superfan1

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Another 10 minutes turned into 4 and 1/2 hours till I got parked ! ! Good news is that everybody including Pros waited -usually its just us that wait -- tech was a breeze and now its time for lunch ...........

BTW - its chicken on the grill in case anyones hungry .

Capt.Jack---10/4 on the 1000'.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Jack, what is for dessert? Good luck and hope you have a great race, keep us posted.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Thanks for the reports, Jack. I'll be looking forward to reading them throughout the weekend!!!
Good luck.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Finally its Thursday and in an hour or so we'll hit the track .Very sunny this morning with the fog lifting off the tree lines rapidly ..........temps in the low sixties and a nice barometer (29.77 at the local airport) but here's the bad news - humidity is near 97% and they are calling for thunderstorms this afternoon with the possibility of hail along with them . Sure hope those Pro's like playing ball in the rain tonight .We'll just have to make the best of our runs this morning -- not as much "fooling around" as usual -- guess its 1100' instead of 1000 .Like the big guy in California says --" I'll be back"................

PS--Plenty of rigs just pulling in this morning - this economy has everything screwed up - racers seem to be working that "extra" day to help pay for things . Can anyone remember when Stock/Superstock didn't have full fields at the Keystones ?

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

9:15 First time trial ---Stock 75 degrees -- 61% humidity -- 81 grains of water -- .53 vapor pressure -- 29.19 barometer -- 2632 DA -- in other words its slow out there -- on top of that everyones 60 was 2 to 3 off . 1)Bogan -1.067 low ET --10.233
2)Belden -1.037
3)Horensky -1.035
4)Parker -1.001 (Gary)
5)Monohan -.982
6)Matyas -.972
7)Giermanski -.953
8)Lowell -.938
9)J.Linke -.934
10)Totaro -.932 Top Speed 127.33
They just told us we're going to get three hits today -- next one in half an hour.........

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

I believe it is raining !!

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Yes , it rained but not before Stock got the third and final shot at the tricky Maple Grove track .Not much 1000' stuff going on today with the exception of the few who always want to be at the bottom .Congrats to Gene Monahan on his #1 position -- I believe his first -- well done ! During the last session the weather was anything but nice--88 degrees -- 40% humidity -- 79.4 grains of water -- 29.23 barometer --.53 vapor pressure -- 3431 DA --just plain ugly and for some reason most teams couldn't get hooked-up well. Sorry I didn't get much on here this afternoon as I was busy with the softball thing-- so little time and so much to do . Anyway Mother Nature won out tonight as the Pro Softball game was a washout totally .The "players" came into the stands about 8:15 for a Q&A session along with pictures and autographs - they tried hard but not as much fun as the game would have been .Good thing our own Bob Frey was there to MC and help pass the time .By the way , more than 7 G's was raised for DRAW tonight -- they should be pleased .

Tommorow morning eliminations begin with Stock being third out -- could also be a washout as rain is predicted...........we'll see .Even now its raining so in the morning if its not they probably won't start on time .

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

FOG ! ! ! Thats what we have this morning and it'll take awhile to burn off . Did hear the jet dryer for a short period but its silent now -- nor sure why -- either its real good or real bad out there .60 degrees at the moment and not raining but the local forcast in Mohnton ,PA is calling for a 50 percent chance of thundershowers today --should we believe them ? ?

For the time being it seems that cars are staying in their trailers with not too many folks out and about .

Since there is no real hurry this morning I'll just finish breakfast and mosey around outside -- maybe I can dig up some good dirt for your reading enjoyment .................
Almost forgot -- how about those first round match-ups -- Zane vs Biondo --what are the chances of that happening? Then we have young guns Fletcher vs Pires . The only heads-up I saw was Curcio vs Veach h/sa .

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Well the fog dried up and they spiffed-up the track and sent us out for first round third as planned -- what a difference a few hours make .The weather really changed from early this morning and the performances showed it- many racers including myself picked up .10 to .15 from yesterday afternoon -- plenty of run-outs I'm told as I didn't get to watch many because I ran early in the round .Thank God my opponent(Tom O Loughlin) went red or I would have been out bigtime.Round two in one hour I'm told by officials -- we'll see..............

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Well second round is in the books and believe it or not no rain but it is getting darker minute by minute .Both rounds today had an extreme amount of redlights that no one can explain . Oh well , anyway yours truly was included in the second round group that lit the big red one -- opps . Pro's will take the track over for the day very soon so.............

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Good Morning Jack.
Has the fog burned off?
Will eliminations be starting on time today?:confused:

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Racers have just started engines and its a beautiful morning here at Maple Grove Raceway with temps in the high 60's at the moment but climbing rapidly as the Sun is shining brite and no clouds showing .Those teams that are still in can't wait to hit the track .

Had plenty of time yesterday to Bar-b-q and just sit around BS-ing -- the biggest topic among stocker guys and gals were the interesting stats regarding first round redlights - out of 42 match-ups there were 21 redlights and 11 lights that were .009 or better including two perfect .000 deals .Needless to say there are alot of first round losers walking around PO'd about this matter .Most thought something didn't smell "right" .I didn't witness it but was told there was an adjustment of the rollout after first round - did it really happen ? Anyone actually see this ?

Since I got put out in RD 2 (.008 red) I'll have plenty of time today for reports ..........Later


PS--Hey Pudgie - you missed some great S/S class action yesterday along with a ton of super eats at night -- ya gotta get out more buddy ! ! !

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Hey Jack . -008 ouch ! Well that does leave time for fried chicken tenders and mushrooms . With what I got done this week I should have gone to the Grove ! Gonna step it up Sept - Oct .

Marc

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Round three -Stock- 50 % of the female field still in with Allison and Wendy moving on ... Zane out..but the Champ moves on ......Billy Nees with his "Candy Car" hangs on ...La Belle with his Wynn's Camaro still in..Ficacci's flyin' ...Ron-Ron with us yet.....Yo Ken waved goodby........Young gun Pires gone..and Bubba too...Ralph Paporra still in for you gearshift fans...fellow e/sa racer fletch lookin' good...."Little Jeanie" gone... more coming !!! as this day goes on it just gets nicer --- as they say its a "Chamber of Commerce day".............


PS-- Yes, I know this is Stock/Superstock but my good friend and car builder Tommy Goldman just won the "Perfectly Strange" award in SuperGas -- not bad -- $1,000 award that will be doubled because he has the decals on --way to go Tommy ! ! ! !

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

jack,why all the no shows in rnd. 1 of super stock,some broke but not all those guys did or did they?????????

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

SS carnage was very high.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Well they did it -- I'm not sure how but we were done by 7pm on a Saturday night of a large National event--Well done NHRA -- Got thru 4 rounds of S/S this afternoon and night along with some Stock and SuperGas not to mention Alcohol classes and throw in some SuperComp .Maybe it was because the Pro's cooperated or the Sun and Moon were aligned or who knows what but it worked .Round five in most classes tomorow means great racing and the track has really come around --S/S guys were saying it has real teeth .

PS-- Debbie and I were going to leave early Sunday morning but the NHRA changed our travel plans - an official came around late this afternoon and informed us that we should be at the rear of staging tomorow morning at 9:45 am to receive our "Best Appearing Car " award and take pictures in the circle .To say we're thrilled is an understatement .I'm old school -- "if it don't go chrome it"- but this one goes too .Thanks to those who voted for us ..till tomorow - I'll be the one on cloud # 9 .................

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Jack

Congrats on the Best Appearing Award !

ps - thanks for your help the other day


take care
Ang

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Way to go Jack congrads.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Congrats on best appearing car, Jack. You can't leave. Who is going to give us live reports?

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Jack,
CONGRATS on the Best Appearing award, well deserved!

Unk

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Way to go jack & deb.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Congrat's Jack very well deserved ! Great combo , " CHROME and GO " !

Marc

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Way to go Jack! That is a beautiful ride for sure! Jim

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Thanks for all the kind words guys -- sorry we had to leave the race early but I made a commitment that if I was out of the Keystones we would go to Mountain View Speedway in Wind Gap , PA where I cut my racing teeth for a racer reunion this afternoon .Sure am glad I went -- saw a lot of folks that its been a very long time since we spoke .What a life -- Maple Grove spotlite in the morning and MT.View in the afternoon - two tracks in the same day just like the "old days"...............hope I don't wake up tomorow morning and its all a dream......................memories -- its all about the memories .

Congrats to all the winners this afternoon............

PS-- One last thing- none of this would be happening without people I should mention -- Thanks to my partner Bill Myers who is behind the scene while I get the kudos and Ryan Korek of Korek Design who sprayed some awesome paint work on our GTO and I can't forget Tommy Goldman who helped put this jigsaw puzzle together .

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Congratulations on the Best Appearing Award. Saw the pic on DRC tonight, truly a beautiful car!

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Congratulations Jack , well deserved.

Re: Live from Maple Grove - NHRA Toyo Tires Nats
 

Congratulations Jack on the Best Appearing Car award! Remember, I predicted that you would win it; congratulations again for a job very well done.
Bill Seabrooks - superfan1