Live from The Rock
 

It's 1 pm and they are calling Hot Rod up for first round of qualifying. Pits are filling up, we are pitted right behind the pit-side bleachers and across from the concession stand. Alex is in the Summit All Stars race, so we had "reserved" parking. Very nice spot!

Barometer is outstanding - 12.61, we haven't raced with a barometer reading that good all year! Cross to head wind 10-12 mph. Sunny, mid 70's and gorgeous.

Lots of cars here we have never seen before, I will take pics and post as I can.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

you are lucky to be pitted where you are at. otherwise you'd be taking home lots of souvenirs from the outer grass parking lot.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Beth, what the heck kind of barometer do you have? Never heard of a negative barometer LOL!!!! Good luck to you all down there, tell Alex and Tony Hi for us. Joe & Jacque

Re: Live from The Rock
 

The Rock is always fast this time of year ! Alex and crew......Rock On !

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Beth, Alex, & Tony, I hope you guys and a Girl, kick some butt, wish i was there... John Lang

Re: Live from The Rock
 

LOL Joe - I - tend - to - use - hyphens - a - lot. It's how I can "ramble" on the internet. :D

I took a bunch of pictures during Stock Q1. I am uploading them to webshots right now. They just called Superstock, so I will post the link when we get back.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Ok, just got back. Track was not the best - we ended up in the last pair because the lanes were messed up a bit, no biggie but no track. 2260 ft. adjusted, +29.52 barometer LOL and 80 degrees with a cross head wind. 10.98 and just under 119 mph. Terrible 60'.

Link to webshots album with stock photos below, I will add what I took during SS in a minute, so keep checking that album, all photos will be there.

http://sports.webshots.com/album/575201849gZKZIK

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Great photos. Appreciate the photos and the reports!

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Yes! Thanks so much Beth! Jim

Re: Live from The Rock
 

They called Stock Q2 up. I might take some pics from the stands.

Jim Wahl - wore my Southern S/SS racing shirt on the way down here yesterday. Thought it might help me fit in south of the Mason Dixon line! LOL

Partly cloudy now, breeze is now a wind and it's dropped 5 degrees since last round. More pics coming . . .

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Ok, downloading right now a treat for all of you (I hope). It was a treat for me to watch as I am usually racing and don't get to spectate!

Alex & I went into the stands and I took a picture of every pair of stockers leaving the starting line. It tested my own reaction skills, but they will be up on that link shortly. Gotta fly, Superstockers are going up! :D

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Thanks for the pictures. I have some posted from indy, charl, and alt., but I should have gone to the Rock this week end. I love the wheels up starts.
Keep the pictures coming. Good luck.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Thanks for the kind words, Butch! It was a gorgeous day to be at the track - much better than at home where it's cold and rainy.

We picked up a bit second round, but spun the tires about three feet out. :confused: So crappier 60' times. Frustrating. I guess tomorrow I will concentrate on the down track inspection instead of just the launch pad. I didn't take any pictures during SS round two, sorry, I was so frustrated for Alex I stomped and pouted my way back to our pit spot right after our run.

They moved up the start time of the race tomorrow to 8 am now due to impending weather potential. Ought to be fast in the morning if the barometer holds, but most likely won't. That's it for now. Gonna go now and have a glass of wine in honor of the "Live From...." Queen, Mrs. Patsy Hill. :D What wine goes well with gyros? ;)

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Beth

Wear the ssssa shirt to race. You will pick up a tenth or two.

Hammer

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Yeah! Go a head and wear that shirt out! The next one's on me! Jim

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Good morning - it's almost 9 am and the sun is out finally. Rained a bit overnight, and was overcast and spitting a bit as they called hot rod at 7:45. We were doubtful if we would get any racing in due to the cloud deck, but it has since cleared away.

Hot Rod started going down about 8:15 after they ran the jet dryers a few passes to clean up the spit. Ran about three or four pair. Then a crash after the finish line. Not sure who it was but he got out of the car ok on his own. The car stopped way at the top end so we couldn't see anything to find out who it was or what happened. At least he's ok.

They are running the jet dryers again now as we wait.

Air: 72 F, 76% hum. 29.47 bar and about 2000 feet.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Just back from our run. Was hoping to pick up, and we did but not much. Cross wind about 20-25 mph. Alex drove an extra 20 feet trying to keep it straight. LOL 76 F 75% 29.49 and 2304'. Very disappointed in the track. Starting line was ok-ish. But about three feet out was all torn up, and then about 8 more feet very bald. No new pictures, sorry, didn't get down there for stock.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

At about 1000 ft when you reach the end of the concrete bleachers on the spectator side that cross wind can feel like a hurricane even in a calm wind !!

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Even though DRC isn't showing even a Superstock ladder yet, Stock just finished round one. There was a lot of good close races, and then some not so much. The wind has been a devil, we don't have our wind meter with us but I would say it's a steady 20 mph and gusting higher. And the worst part is switches from cross tail to cross to cross head. A bugger to figure out. Running Super Rod now, then box/no box. Not sure when we will get to go.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Thanks so much for the pics, neighbor!

There was nothing STEADY about that wind today! Man, that was as bad/worse than Maple Grove can get. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was walking through the staging lanes with a wind meter, "It 6 mph tail - 9 mph head! ....?!?!?!" Terry was watching Top Sportsman earlier in the day, and watched the burnout smoke pass the car, stop, and then pass the car back the other way! :eek:

See y'all in the mornin'.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Beth,

Thanx for the updates and glad you guys are having a good time. CONGRATULATIONS on your 1st round win (nobody I know of would relish drawing any of the Folks in the 1st round). GREAT PACKAGE.

KEEP IT UP..... Marvin

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Thanks, Marvin! Alex did a fantastic job, didn't he?!? :D What's funny is we drove over 800 miles to run someone we race all the time in our own back yard.

Today - rain. Warm, windy and wet.

Mike, they are announcing we might be able to start at noon so take your time. They are trying to keep the track dry as it's not raining hard nor constant, just enough that we cannot race. We call it Division 3 rain. You can walk around and talk to people in it, but just enough that you cannot go down the track.

Sorry no pictures yesterday. I will try to take more later, but it will be busy once we get rolling so no promises.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Ok, just announced they can probably get us running by 11 am barring any rain as they have been running rental cars down the track all this time and have kept it pretty dry. Finish Top Sportsman, then Top Dragster, then Hot Rod, Stock, etc.

Mike, better leave now. ;)

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Beth, hope you enjoyed your wine with your gyros! Any kind of wine goes well with anything!

Good luck to ya'll!

Patsy

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Thanks Patsy and I have to agree with you - wine goes with anything or nothing at all. ;)

We got five top sportsmen down, just about to start Top Dragster and that forsaken "spittle" rain started up again. Can't see it on the radar it's so very light, but it's enough. Grrr. I think we need to take up road racing, at least you can do that in the rain. :D

Re: Live from The Rock
 

At least we got one round of TS, TD, HR & Stock done. SuperRod was part way finished when the skies opened up big time. This is not the light drizzle we have been having. It's flat out rain. We were in the lanes and almost ready for SS, just a few more SR cars.

Good Stock races, a lot of people off their dials by .03 - .05, very very windy at the top end and the barometer dropped .10 from yesterday. Mike Beard broke his rear end on the starting line. Bummer!

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Hard to believe, but the sun is out!

They are going to finish Super Rod, then qualifying for the Summit All Stars, then Pro Stock, then E1 of Summit All Stars . . . and after all that show, if we have time and weather permits, we will try to finish the Sportsnationals tonight. Late night ahead.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Beth,
Thanks for the reports.One question....How was the qualifying for the All Stars determined?
I see that Alex is qualified last.I know it doesn't really matter anyways.GOOD LUCK tomorrow!

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Reaction time

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Thanks.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Ok, it's fast today. 200 feet. 29.49 barometer. We are out first, running round 2 of the Sportsnationals.

As for yesterday, three runs before Alex's and a few times during Super Rod, there were problems with the staging lights. Nick Folk got two thirds of a pro tree, they stopped, tried it again and it happened again. Then there were the first two bulbs of a .500 tree, no third. I was watching the car during our run, not the tree, so I don't know, but Alex doesn't think he got a third bulb to leave off of. It really doesn't matter, it was just for qualifying but it was frustrating.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Another crash. Quick rod this time, driver is out and ok. We are down again. So we've had a HR, SS, SR, QR all crash this weekend so far. And all after the finish line. Not sure what's going on up there, but something isn't right. It's windy again today, but not like it has been. Very very fast. Most picked up a tenth plus. Track had some serious teeth!

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Just announced. The rest of the events are going to be run 1/8th mile. More later

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Beth,

Who was the SS that crashed?

I was there saturday, left after the downpour around 1pm.

I spoke with local racer and HR driver Ronnie Crews saturday am, he told me the Vega that crashed ( I think HR, maybe SR) was due to the shutdown area not being dry. I think the driver's name is Webb, not sure though. Ronnie told me the driver told him that just as soon as he touched the brake pedal after the finish line the car went sideways and then over and into the wall.

I guess between the rain and the wind hings are a little tricky there this weekend.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Robert Freeman in the pro stock/pump n go superstocker during round one of eliminations on Friday. Heard the brakes completely locked up when he went to apply them right before the finish line.

There's a description on DRC here: http://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCSt...r=100#indextop

Ok, the plan to run 1/8th mile is probably the best one made so far this weekend. None of the dragsters, especially the high HP on the top end .90 class cars can keep enough downpressure at the finish line. The track is so darn sticky I almost came out of my laced up tight crew shoes lining Alex up. IHRA really has done about all they can do to give us a good track. It's up to a steamy 57 degrees, a steady 8-10 mph cool breeze and the sun is nowhere to be seen, so keeping heat in the track has been difficult. They have been running the jet up and down trying to keep it warm, but wasnt' working. Plus we keep having crashes and fluids down to slow things up for us. When we do get to go racing, a lot of the down time is our (racer's) own fault with mechanical challenges. So 1/8th mile might solve both problems.

We have been here five days and have now made 6 runs. This event makes the US Nationals look like amateur night where stress level & hurry up and wait is concerned. They are trying so hard to get us running. Schedule changes on the fly to accomodate everyone, it's been crazy.

Due to the 1/8th mile change, they let the remaining .90 classes cars get a time run to reset their throttle stops before they ran the pros. No problems then thank goodness.

Pro mod is going down now. A lot of tire shake, I don't know if any PM has gotten down the track under power the whole way. More when we know more.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

When racing resumed following about a half-hour cleanup, two pairs of Quick Rod cars and one pair of Top Sportsman cars experienced obvious traction problems around half track.

The problem is apparently caused by the cold racing surface.

In the interest of safety, the remainder of both the Sportsman Nationals and the World Finals will be run at the eighth-mile distance.


If the track is too cold at half track,how is running 1/8 mile that much safer?

Re: Live from The Rock
 

The problems everyone was having wasw AFTER the finish line. When they were lifting after the run, there was not enough down pressure to fight the wind. And too cold to stick. That is what was explained to us at least. Makes sense.

So far not one issue since they wen't to 1/8th mile. They are running R3 of Hot Rod just now.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Another monster oil down by top fuel. We were in the lanes for the last hour and they sent us back. Announced that today we will finish the Sportsnationals and the Summit All Stars. Tomorrow will be one time run, then one qualifier (based on reaction time) for the Tournament of Champions and finish the race tomorrow. Ugh.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Thats all those leakers are good for. Keeping the track from rusting.

Re: Live from The Rock
 

Its probably starting to get cooler and will be dark soon.

Monday....Finish Sportsnationals
Tuesday....All Stars
Wednesday...Tournament of Champions
Thursday....Awards Banquet?
Friday..Finally come back home?

LOL!