Live from Lebanon Valley-NHRA Lucas Oil Series 2012

[sean parker]

Thanks!

[Jack Matyas]

The stands were packed and the crowd cheered ( OK - so I made that up ) but the brothers bashed in the mountains with Gary winning over Barry -11.25 over 11.36 .

Others -- Fletcher over Ticcony
Hough over Fedili
Lisa over Orsino

Most this morning were a few hundreths faster .........S/S up soon .

[Jack Matyas]

Bad news from Stock round 2 - the boss blew up -- as I was pulling in the bleach box I looked up to see Ken putting out huge smoke from both sides and pull over next to the wall - quite an explosion - looks like the crank just snapped .

More bad news - Ken told me my pay was cut in half effective today ......least he still has his sense of humor - and he did ask what his light was ( thats from hanging around the Biondo family ) .

[nickh]

Ouch....Let Ken know the rednecks have started collecting their beer cans and will be cashing them in to help.

[gmonde]

man !!!!!!! tuff break,, it could have been real bad if he oiled the rear tires ,,even stockers can have huge breakage gmonde

[Dinsdale]

Originally Posted by Jack Matyas

Bad news from Stock round 2 - the boss blew up -- as I was pulling in the bleach box I looked up to see Ken putting out huge smoke from both sides and pull over next to the wall - quite an explosion - looks like the crank just snapped .

More bad news - Ken told me my pay was cut in half effective today ......least he still has his sense of humor - and he did ask what his light was ( thats from hanging around the Biondo family ) .

That looks about as ugly as it gets and being a FE guy I'm really sorry to see it. I am curious as to what brand crank that is and why all the Mallory on the front counter weight. Usually the 428 get's weight on the back for an internal balance.

[Gary Parker]

What a race between me and my brother Barry. The correct times were 11.02 for Barry and 11.15 for me. It was Barrys first race back in some time and the 3rd pass on the corvette. I would not want to run him again. That car is super fast and he will not be late a 2cnd time.. Thanks to all who made the race a special one. Gary Parker

[Dave Ribeiro]

Congrats Gary , say Hi to Barry & his Vette really runs & looks Great ..
Welcome back , Stay Cool ....

[Ken Miele]

Thanks nickh, I will be okay, I would rather have the beer right now.

Dale, the brand is ford, that's all we can use. I can't help you with the Mallory, I don't do cranks. Hopefully NHRA will let us use aftermarket cranks. It would be nice not have to go through this again.

Garrett, I was thinking that myself. It could have been ugly. Very little oil came out. The crank broke just as I shifted into second gear and the balancer smashed into the water pump neck and blew water over the headers. The oil came out when I lifted and it sloshed to the front, I shut off about 100 ft out.The oil pan had no holes. Its funny, the first two rods are still on where the crank broke and the engine spins fine. The front part of the crank ripped the front main right off the block. The main cap did not look bad, but the block is trash. There is also a 4 inch square hole on the right side of the block above the pan rail. I have been running 428's for over 25 years and never seen a crank come apart like this.

Sorry folks for the lack of reports, I think Jack will have a more info later tonight.

[Tim H]

As always we appreciate the reports and especially all the pictures. A darn shame to see a motor destroyed but good to know that no one was physically injured and the car came to a safe stop upright.