Friday!

It's Friday the sun is out, the track is dry and it's time to race!  Walking around, the pits looked a little empty.  Some racers were thinking friday's weather was going to be bad, would not show up until Saturday.  Some racers took advantage of the test pass before first round qualifying.  Chris Tuten was one of them and it didn't go according to plan.  When he came back to the pits what he thought was a head gasket problem turned out to be a burned exhaust valve and seat.  Chris took the head off and Jason Lee made some phone calls to see if he could get the head fixed.  It was a valiant effort by Jason Lee but it wouldn't be fixed in time.  Chris Tuten ran all weekend on 7 cylinders (more on this later).

First round qualifying got off to a good start.  But as the storm slowly started to move in, the track crew picked up the pace.  The only classes left to run were SSO and Pro Outlaw 10.5., when the lighting got close and they called the race.   The new race was to get everything packed up and into the trailers.  The rain hit fast and got progressively worse as Conrad Scarry and crew loaded their car, and loaded Joe Cram's on top with it.  By this time the storm got really bad, we all moved into the lower part of the trailer.  We were all contemplating how to get the awning down without loosing it or hurting somebody.  When a big gust of wind came and rocked the stacker (with 2 cars in it) side to side, we knew we had to get the awning down, 8 guys ran out and had it down in minutes, no injuries and saving the awning.    The rain came down hard for about 20 min. then slowed to a light drizzle.  We were soaked, and the pits looked like a tornado had hit.  Mike Murillo and his crew braved the whole storm holding on to their tent to keep from loosing it.   It was the only one left standing when the storm had passed.  We ran over helped Joe Cram take the tents off of all the JDM cars and then heard that Dwayne James and John Urist lost their canopy.  Their canopy was ripped off and thrown onto the other side of the trailer with the lights smashed everywhere.  The only thing left to do was head to the track bar, "The Winners Circle".  When we walked in it seemed everyone got there long before we did.  Jason Lee and Chris Tuten where having a good time.  All the NMRA guys where sitting at the bar, and Enzo Pecchini showed up. We discovered a practice tree setup.  As the lights came on, everyone headed over.  The the smack talk was bad at the bar, and it was really on when we were trying to tree each other.   The line of the night, Jason Lee said to Chris Tuten after he turned down a drink, "Just drink it!, it's not like you need to be on your "A" game tommorow on 7cyl's."

Saturday!

  Saturday morning all the carnage from Fridays storm was cleared up.  Still the pits looked a little empty for Pro Outlaw 10.5.  Only three cars would show up. Jason Lee smashed his record on both passes today in Drag Radial with back to back 7.89's at 180mph.  We caught up with Jason after his first pass...

Jason Lee went a 7.89 at 180.12 mph.  How was that pass? 

I pretty much just put a conservative tune up in it, basically.  The air was just really good, it always is out here in Atco.  I got a little more aggressive on the leave and it definately took it.  I had to pedal the car a little bit.  The front end was 3 ft in the air.  Just a great pass, it felt great.  The motor is brand new, so I am just happy that it's making the power that the old one did. 

Sunday

When we showed up everyone was ready for first round eliminations.  Some shocking upsets, Joe Cram went out first round in Super Stangs to newcomer Sondra Leslie.  Joe decided to race in bracket to get more exposure of his 07 Edelbrock sponsored car.  Jason Lee ran another record breaking pass in the first round of eliminations with a 7.87!  Chris Tuten won his first round running a 7.77 still on 7cyl's Click for story.  Mike Murrillo who set #1 qaulifyer in pro 10.5 Outlaw found a hole in one of his cylinder heads.  But still ran, determend to not go down with out a fight.  Mike would run the finals on 7cyl's  This was a very exciting race for all that knew he was on 7 cyl's  Staging the car it sounded like it was coming up on boost pretty good and made for a climatic staging but when the lights came down, those big tires and the car being setup for 8 cylinders firing, the car just bogged down til the 200ft mark then took off like a rocket.  By this time Conrad Scarry had a substantial lead over Mike and took the win! 

Johnny Mac who won the first event of the year verses 5 time Champion John Urist in the finals.  These two where battling it out all last year for the championship with Urist coming out on top.  The excitement started when these two cars pulled into the water box.  Two Procharger cars light up the burnout box.  The sound of these small tire cars with 2000hp echoing to the line is unreal.  When the lights came down it was side by side action. All the way down the track until the score board lit up. It was John Urist to take the win with a 7.34 and a 7.31 for Johnny Mac.  The race was won on reaction time!  The crowd went wild and so did the Urist crew!

After the awards and pictures were done we said our goodbyes and headed out on our 10 hour trip home.