"Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Well boys and girls here we are parked and ready to go but like they used to say on TV- "what a revolting developement" this is -- you guessed it -- rain and big time rain -- good news is that its supposed to clear out during the night and not lose tomorrow .Bad news is that more rain is being forecasted for Friday .After that Saturday and Sunday look terrific at this point .Everyone is crossing their fingers and hoping that the first D1 race of the season gets off on time .I'll try and keep you posted.......For those of you coming in Stock and SuperStock are pitted on the Atco SpeedShop side of the track .

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Thanks Jack see you tomorrow.

Dennis

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Jack, can save me two spots? On the asphalt of course. LOL! see you tomorrow.
Sam

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Sam -- If you're coming in tomorrow you shouldn't have any trouble finding a great spot on the asphalt -- not more than 25 to 35 trailers here tonight...........

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

FOG ! ! But at least the rain has quit - here's the weather just outside my window -- 58 degrees , humidity a whopping 70% , barometer at 29.88 and steady , grains of water at 52 , vapor pressure is .35 with a final DA being 549 .Still plenty dark here but gates will open in a few minutes with a long line of racers waiting to get in and stake out their pit spots . Today will consist of Tech , test n tune , and some brave souls will make Record attempts .Stay tuned ..............

PS - With this much fog I don't think we'll hear the Jet for a couple of hours .

Kenny Meile -- Hope you're reading this as you are on Camera Duty this weekend , mine is sitting on my office desk - right where I left it .Go figure - I remembered bananas for my Cheerios , packed all my Meds but no friggen camera .

Update 8:50 est -- Pit gates just opened -- track dryer not yet running -- conditions damp at best - fog starting to lift -cloudy and overcast skies .

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

must be a growing old thing?????????????????

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Morning Jack, any announcement on a starting time today?
Thanks for the updates they are very informative.
Dan.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Unfortunately, due to commitments with work, I'll be sitting this one out. I hope everyone has a safe, and dry race. Jack, we love those old photos!

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

What a day ! ! Because of the weather conditions today we had a very late start this morning .Not a lot of cars here for the test n tune and as for record attempts -- forget about it ."Only" three records were set today -- Dave Thomas in his SS/BA Corvette -- 8.86 , Gary Parker in his 73 Camaro H/SA --11.11 @118 Plus MPH and last but not least yours truly in C/SA with our 97 Firebird at 10.36 at almost 129 MPH .

Tune-up and record runs are still going on and today test n tune was a bargain -- you could get as many runs as you wanted -- just wear your stuff out if you so desired .Tomorrow is still looking bad -- probably a washout ! ! We'll see -- hoping for the best ......

Still plenty of pit space so com'on down ........later .

Extra -Extra -- SS/H record set at 9.74 and backed up.............

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Jack, as always, thanks for the updates!
Bill Seabrooks - superfan1
Bridgeport, Ct.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Any B/SA Wedges and a big white ss/bm fridge running today?

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Congrats to Gary Parker on the record run
Well done..........

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Good job. You moved the mph up a bunch.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

ALRIGHT MR. PARKER

CONGRATS ON THE RECORD....

MORGAN'S ALL AROUND... lol

See you Saturday..



Pistol Pete

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Congrats Gary
Very nice run

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Hey Jack -

Did you notice how Ken ran??

Sal

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Congrats Gary
Glad you can't run G yet, lol.

Jim

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Thanks everyone. Thanks to Brian Tilburg for lots of horse power. Oh course we have to go through tech tomorrow. Later Gary

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Sal, didn't see a full run but he broke the rear in the last round of test cycles. Hopefully he can get home for his spare.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Weekend local weather here at Atco -- Friday -- rain and 63 degrees
Saturday -- Windy and 62 degrees
Sunday -- if needed -- Partly cloudy and 63 degrees

Vic -- Yep , gettin' old is tough
Mr .Warehime -- Sorry you're sittin' this one out -- hope to see you soon.
AC -- Couple of B/SA wedges here but I was a little busy today to see much
Sal -- Kenny made some passes today -- saw him spin once and on another he broke the rear.....

Atco track fact -- Racetrack is a mear 93 feet above sea level .

With only four records broken today teardown will be tomorrow morning and shouldn't be a very long affair -- stay tuned ..........

For those of you that are interested there was a "new" CobraJet here today -- sorry I didn't get his name but after a couple of tries he made it down the track-- drove it easy out of the gate and went 9.88 in AA/SA.Kenny told me he got some shots of it to be posted soon .

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

The new CJ is Erich Bollmans.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Hey Jack Congrats on the record in C, Thats a hell of a deal for a test n tune, Maybe you want to come back West and get 2 runs for a 100 bucks again in Vegas Huh!! LOL. You coming back in OCT??
Good luck in ATCO and maybe we can meet again in OCT. We couldnt make it to this month but
plan on being there in OCT.

Bob Aceves
746 E/SA
68 Firebird

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Sal, you can go to 1320go.com to see runs from today, I think Ken went 9.89 at 132mph But it list`s all the cars as ss class`s, Tom

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Its after midnight, final got the new rear in. It broke on the last test session pass. Fighting lots of gremlins today, the rear was the icing on the cake. I just wanted to make a few easy runs and get ready for race day......good thing I decided to run the car today.

I took some pictures, but my plan was to drive through the pits and give everyone some shots of the new cars or cars that have not been seen much. Well, things did not go as planned, maybe tomorrow.

The air was pretty good to day. My gauges were showing about 1100 feet. Barometer was 29.95 and the humidity was between 50 and 60%, temp was around 62.

I got a look at the only northeast CJ, this one was race ready, not like the one in Florida. Eric Bollman's CJ is one of the 50. I got to run him, it was a interesting run. I'm not going to get into all the numbers, but I can run with him today. I went a 9.89 to his 9.88. As for the future, I do not think I will have enough pony's for the new CJ. It will be tough to run with them, I will have my work cut out for me. They are cools cars, and I'm glad to see them racing.

The AA car to beat right now is David Barton's Hemi. He went 9.73, that was an impressive run, I don't think I could have went any better then a 9.79 if I stepped it up. Lots of people are worried about the CJ, I'm more concerned about Barton's Hemi. Another car here to watch in AA is Steve Sawka...sorry Steve if I spelled you name wrong.

I will try to get more pictures tomorrow. I hope I have a better day, but I'm still having fun even when breaking parts.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Bollman`s Mustang went 137.65 mph.if his car number is 112, the record for AA/SA is 134.24, Tom

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Damn 9.74 in SS/H. Back to work. Who set it? Post a pic if possible.Congrats to whoever it was. ED

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Tony Fillapone in SS/H .

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

As promised its Friday and the monsoons are here -- its been raining most of the night and judging by the noise from the roof of my coach pretty hard .As you may tell from some of the previous posts we had a great day here at Atco yesterday with Joe Sway and Company having the place in terrific shape.Racers here in the Northeast have their pick of tracks to race at and coming here is all good -- probably why Atco has been "Track of the Year" many times .Joe's run all day test 'n tune was a huge hit with the racers yesterday -- everyone got their moneys' worth .Also thanks should go out to the NHRA and Mr. Lang & Co. for the extended time given to Record Runs -- when was the last time you made as many attempts as you wanted in a single day ? Could it be that Sportsman racers are very important once again -- sure looks that way .This economy has changed a great many things but we sure didn't see it as a way of bringing the Sportsman back to the front.............later as its off to teardown for me .

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Kenny.....I didnt think those 9 inch rears were supposed to break ! You didnt try to "NETURAL START" it did you? LOL

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Look at all the fast "paper"

Good luck to all and thanks for the reports.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Update -- Its raining so hard that even teardown has been postponed to at least noon .This afternoon it looks like most racers will tune up their TV's and breakout the adult beverages and nachos .Wind is also starting to pick up some speed .

Bob Aceves -- I'd love to try Vegas again -- maybe? You're right - two runs for a hundred is stiff .

More later as it unfolds ........

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Here's the latest -- 11:20AM -- all racing today has been canceled-- even teardown -- things to resume tomorrow at 8:00am --- stay tuned for more info ............

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

No records then????????????????

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

They will probably have tear down tomorrow for the racers who want their records.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Any news if they are going to try to get it done in one day?

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

The website says 2 time runs and run as much as they can and finish on Sunday if need be

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Update -- 4 pm EST -- You won't believe this but we all know what happens when you cancel the days activities -- you guessed it -- the Sun is out and it sure feels like 65 degrees.........will it last ? What next you say -- Round 1 @ Joe Sways' famous Tiki Bar and Lounge right here in the pits at Atco....come and join us .Later......and probably with some great gossip .


Conversation overheard early yesterday morning while visiting the Diamond RV compound -------- I've lost my pants during the night -- any idea where they are ? Hmmmmmm..........

Update 6:45 pm EST -- Just started raining again with temps in low 60's but the wind is starting to pick up bigtime...........and the Sun is out ! Weird , just plain weird.
Think I'm gonna put the Dish down..............

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Talked to Bob Lang. Tear down is 8:30 sat. mornng.

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Jack:
I would have stayed had i known you were buying??? Congrats to you and Bill on the record. Not all that good air for Atco!

Dean

Re: "Live" from Atco,NJ-PC Richard National Open
 

Not much happening today, Jack has pretty much covered it all. I would like to give everyone some food for thought about how lucky we are in this sport of drag racing.

Everyone knows the problems I had at this race. I would like to share what happened to me on Thursday. I hope it may help some of us realize, although NHRA is not perfect we have a pretty good racing deal.

I met a stock eliminator racer named Thomas Sundstrom, he is from Sweden and we met through Class Racer. He started emailing me about how good my stocker ran and he told me about his. We became friends through email, its very interesting how they race stock over in Sweden. They only have about 40 to 50 stock super stock cars. They police themselves, they don't have an NHRA tech, but they follow our rules right down to the horsepower ratings. They only race 6 times a year. They do not have a track they can go to every weekend to even test. The events are setup at airfields and they must get permission to race. They setup all the equipment and when there done its all packed up and taken to the next race. These guys love the sport and are grateful they have a place to race.

Thomas emailed me a few months ago and said him and a two of his friends that also race were coming to the USA to watch drag racing, stock and super stock racing to be exact. He ask what was a good race to go to in the beginning of April, I told him that the Atco Open would be a great race to see fast s/ss cars. He said that's great I will be there. I was not sure he was serious, but he was. He also asked if there was a speed shop near by to get some autolite racing plugs, they hard to find and expensive in Sweden, I told him I would get them for him. Well he showed up on Thursday night right form the airport. Him and his friends had not slept for 30 hours. I was trying to find a ride back home to get my spare rear. I was trying not to have to unhook the motorhome, it would be so much easier just to get a car and shoot home, about 35 miles. It was late and most racers were gone. Thomas said I will take you home and bring you back, no problem. I could not believe it, 30 hours and a guy I never met gets me out of a jam with no thought about finding a hotel and getting some sleep, just thinking about helping a fellow racer.

What I'm am trying to say is, we have it pretty good even when we think its not. These guys would love to have as many races as we have and a place to test anytime you want. So they next time you think NHRA is the worst place to race, think of these three guys who would loved to have the opportunities that we take for granted.

Thanks so much Thomas and Stig Ottosson, and Bo Nylund for the help, it made my night so much easier and gave me a greater appreciation for what I have.