LIVE from Atlanta NHRA Div 2 LODRS

[Michael Beard]

As I left the house at 3am this morning, the temp reading in the truck was 76 degrees, an obvious hint of what's in store for us during the 2-day event. Forecasted highs are 92-93, so I've even packed the fan along with plenty of water, G2, and canned fruit. Made good time, not really hitting any traffic to speak of, as I meandered through a sleepy Charlotte. There was a bit of a smoke show from some building north of Greenville, SC. Not sure what the story was, but a news chopper hovered nearby to get the scoop. Actually got to Commerce ahead of the 8am scheduled gate opening, so I swung through the local bird bath to wash away the sheen of pollen/sap from the many trees at home. Even the driveway had the appearance that it had rained... pollen. Thankfully it came off easily. Pretty good line at the gate, and of course many rigs inside already. They're movin' 'em in. Tech opens at 9am, Qualifying at 10.

[Britt1112]

Good Luck this weekend Michael!!!!!

[Jack Matyas]

Good morning Michael - welcome to the "other side" .............and get that camera clicking ! ! !

[HR9121]

Wow Michael, that's a big tire you're sporting under the Volare these days.

[Michael Beard]

While we did have to hop from line to line to line (gate, pay window, park, tech, registration), they have a LOT of staff at almost every position, so it may have taken some time, it wasn't arduous. Recent bracket/heads-up racer turn Stock rookie Lil Ricky Pennington mention that Atlanta has been rewired with fiber optic. I like a nice tight rollout! Didn't have to get after it too hard and came up .016. Ran a laboring 10.80, much like Pittsburgh. A better Barometer, but the heat has tempered the correction factor. The cross headwind isn't helping the cars, but the breeze has made it quite bearable, almost comfortable, in the shade. Scales, but no fuel, in the first session.

Weather: 86.9 deg, 50%, 29.14, 3340 DA

Saw Pittsburgh winner Emily Volkman, Jake Sealey, parked with Monty Bogan and Gale Pinkston, Mark Lewis is running the Tiffin Nova, Bob and Craig Marshall elected for the long drive for the shorter 2-day race format, and I had the pleasure of finally meeting Stewart Way in person, crewing on their Hemi Barracuda.

They're already back to the top of the order, except for a big cleanup going on in S/G.

[Michael Beard]

Paul Forte from Turbo Action is out making the rounds. Good to see him again.

Sounds like the cleanup is about done. Back to S/G... a 9.91 sez the cleanup was good.

[MikeMoller]

Michael,

Did Jake Sealey find a stocker?

[Michael Beard]

Mike, no. Jake's just running Super Stock.

[Michael Beard]

An... interesting round. We hit our predicted high, 92.6 degrees, and the barometer has fallen a few, but the wind turned tail, leading to a small pickup for some. The fun started at fuel check. None of the Marshall's fuel that was fine at Bristol would pass here: several jugs. I had completely drained and flushed my system yesterday and bought 10 gal of fresh at the local track. Come to find out out, it's not VP Sportsman, C-16, Sunoco Blue or anything else. The VP guy explained that the bracket tracks get some kind of formulation they make that's close to Sunoco Blue, but it doesn't check as anything. Drained and flushed everything ($) again, and filled it with C-11. Took the car back down and checked it again. "You got it as close as it gets" the official said. So, lesson learned about buying fuel.

Years ago, I discovered that they'll sell you "Sunoco Blue" with a straight face, but it was actually Turbo Blue.

[Michael Beard]

Edit of above: the Turbo Blue story was from Canada.

Slow. Hot. Headache. Mm.

Got a third shot, and with new people coming in each session, avoiding Rampy is proving quite a trick. Whooole lot of if-this-then-that-but-what-ifs. Fuel passed no prob that time. Weather: 92.0, 36%, 29.06, 3605 DA, actually a smidge better than Q2.

Would do well to hunt up some food.