xtremek
Well-known member
That sounds like fun. Don't they do something similar at an airport in Indiana?
2 Sluggo's Garage
- Thread starter rmalkow2
- Start date
xtremek
Well-known member
Sounds like a great back up plan. Don't they do something like that at airport in Indiana.
I have to correct my previous answer. I recently found out that another group called Shift Sector holds 1/2mile racing events around the country and yers they have one in Marion Indiana each year currently. So that’s exciting to me as its only about 3.5 hours from my house. I’ll have to see how their 2023 schedule fits with mine next year. Maybe I can make it down there.
ECTA Arkansas Mile!
So my trip to Blytheville AR was a great success and a lot of fun. The racing is held at an airport there that dates back to WWII and also was used for B52 bombers at some point. (Eaker AFB) Today its used by private planes and also as a commercial plane graveyard and repair center so there were lots of jet planes parked that we were warned not to get closer than 50 ft to any one of them.
The runway is a little over 2 miles long so the official racing distances were the 1 mile and the 2K (about 1.25 miles). I entered the 1 mile event since I was basically practicing for next year at Bonneville at that same distance. In hindsight I should have just paid for the 2K distance and that would have also included a 1 mile speed clocking as well.
But the place was great, the people were great and the racing was super fun. Not a lot of wait time in the staging lanes either so you could run as much as you wanted. After a few 136mph and 138mph runs I then hit 139.7 mph and now had to try and break the 140 mark. Tried different engine tuning but in the end went back to the original tune and then helped aero by taping up the front of the car, removing side mirrors and flattening out the wickerbill of the rear wing. PRESTO! The car went a new PB of 140.100 mph in the mile. It runs and sounds great, shifts nice and firm and performed to expectations so I’m over the moon after all the work put in this year. Now praying for dry weather next year on the salt.
And in addition to land speed racing I’m planning some other fun racing events for this car so stay tuned for more info on that.
So my trip to Blytheville AR was a great success and a lot of fun. The racing is held at an airport there that dates back to WWII and also was used for B52 bombers at some point. (Eaker AFB) Today its used by private planes and also as a commercial plane graveyard and repair center so there were lots of jet planes parked that we were warned not to get closer than 50 ft to any one of them.
The runway is a little over 2 miles long so the official racing distances were the 1 mile and the 2K (about 1.25 miles). I entered the 1 mile event since I was basically practicing for next year at Bonneville at that same distance. In hindsight I should have just paid for the 2K distance and that would have also included a 1 mile speed clocking as well.
But the place was great, the people were great and the racing was super fun. Not a lot of wait time in the staging lanes either so you could run as much as you wanted. After a few 136mph and 138mph runs I then hit 139.7 mph and now had to try and break the 140 mark. Tried different engine tuning but in the end went back to the original tune and then helped aero by taping up the front of the car, removing side mirrors and flattening out the wickerbill of the rear wing. PRESTO! The car went a new PB of 140.100 mph in the mile. It runs and sounds great, shifts nice and firm and performed to expectations so I’m over the moon after all the work put in this year. Now praying for dry weather next year on the salt.
And in addition to land speed racing I’m planning some other fun racing events for this car so stay tuned for more info on that.
Well I’d like to post a video here of my racing adventure but cannot figure out how to attach it into a post like you would do with pictures. Anyone wanna lead this old guy? Searched on GJ for some explanation but could not find it. No middle school kids around to teach me either. 
xtremek
Well-known member
Looking forward to the vid. Bet you had a ton of fun.
And last weekend I took the car to Lapeer Dragway to get a feel for 1/4 mile performance as I get prepared for Sick Week in Florida this coming February. Not blazing fast for sure but I didn’t expect it would be as its a very heavy car. But it was a ton O fun and it sounds good anyway. Best time was a 15.26 at 94 mph which actually surprised me. If I could figure out how to improve 0-60 times it might break into the 14’s. This also gave me a chance to try out a brand new set of drag radials which will be required for Sick Week. And, since they were running a .400 pro tree that day for test and tune it gave me a chance to practice that as well.
Racing on a sunny 75 degree fall day in MI, not breaking the car and having fun. That’s a good day to me.
Racing on a sunny 75 degree fall day in MI, not breaking the car and having fun. That’s a good day to me.
Trailer Upgrades
When I first bought my 20 ft enclosed car trailer the plan was to haul around a 2000 Mustang not the behemoth of a Crown Vic cop car (17+ feet long) so it gives me very little room in the front of the trailer when the car is loaded. I had put a small work bench in the trailer on the right side, up front just inside the side door. With the Cr Vic in there I had to sit on the bench and swing my legs over the hood of the car just to get in front and attach tie down straps. No way to walk in the door and around the front of the car. So along with solving that problem I made some other upgrades to facilitate storage and securing the car for transport.
First, the work bench was taken loose again and modified a little to fit over the top of my floor mounted winch. I added wall eyelets to the front nose wall so I could tightly strap down my rolling tool cart. (Otherwise everything loose in there bounces around when driving) Re-configured some electrical wiring and the inside battery storage. The winch battery has been relocated outside and into a tongue mounted box.
Also helping to secure the car I took some rubber wheel chocks, screwed them to two pieces of plywood so one becomes the front stop block and the other gets put behind that right front wheel and screwed to the trailer floor. This helped a lot to keep the car from moving around during transport. (Especially on Michigan and Illinois roads!!!)
I repurposed an older aluminum panel with hooks on it to act as a good place to hang straps and other stuff. Plus I bought some e-track and hardware to allow me to strap the cars rear wing to a side wall securely for transport. So far that works great.
When I first bought my 20 ft enclosed car trailer the plan was to haul around a 2000 Mustang not the behemoth of a Crown Vic cop car (17+ feet long) so it gives me very little room in the front of the trailer when the car is loaded. I had put a small work bench in the trailer on the right side, up front just inside the side door. With the Cr Vic in there I had to sit on the bench and swing my legs over the hood of the car just to get in front and attach tie down straps. No way to walk in the door and around the front of the car. So along with solving that problem I made some other upgrades to facilitate storage and securing the car for transport.
First, the work bench was taken loose again and modified a little to fit over the top of my floor mounted winch. I added wall eyelets to the front nose wall so I could tightly strap down my rolling tool cart. (Otherwise everything loose in there bounces around when driving) Re-configured some electrical wiring and the inside battery storage. The winch battery has been relocated outside and into a tongue mounted box.
Also helping to secure the car I took some rubber wheel chocks, screwed them to two pieces of plywood so one becomes the front stop block and the other gets put behind that right front wheel and screwed to the trailer floor. This helped a lot to keep the car from moving around during transport. (Especially on Michigan and Illinois roads!!!)
I repurposed an older aluminum panel with hooks on it to act as a good place to hang straps and other stuff. Plus I bought some e-track and hardware to allow me to strap the cars rear wing to a side wall securely for transport. So far that works great.
jon72vega
Well-known member
Bob,
Great work on the trailer upgrades!
Great work on the trailer upgrades!
Here’s a little shop project I finally completed recently after years on my mental To-Do list. My take on a pipe anvil. Not having floor space for yet another large tool with its own stand and space requirements I made mine only out of two pieces of pipe and with a piece of square tube welded to the bottom so I can also mount this in my heavy Wilton vise when needed. Then it stores out of the way when not in use. I also purposely made the gap between pipes wider to fit 3/16” sheet aluminum.
The pipes themselves are salvaged from a couple old drive shafts. Unfortunately they were not a full 36” long or longer so I had to make the gap spacers jog outboard a little to get a 36” sheet of the aluminum in it. The bending I’ll be doing is not that precise so this should work ok but time will tell.
The pipes themselves are salvaged from a couple old drive shafts. Unfortunately they were not a full 36” long or longer so I had to make the gap spacers jog outboard a little to get a 36” sheet of the aluminum in it. The bending I’ll be doing is not that precise so this should work ok but time will tell.
xtremek
Well-known member
Funny, I just finished watching Day 0 of '22 Sick Week. Nice vids. You must be proud.
I’m just really having a lot of fun with this car. I might be the slowest car in the event but will enjoy the trip just the same. The whole drag and drive thing has become a popular racing/social event so I’m looking forward to meeting the people, seeing the sights and participating with my son who will be driving the route with me.
xtremek
Well-known member
Are you at Sick Week now?
Hey, sorry I’ve not been active here lately. Was busy at home January prepping for the trip. But to answer the question, Yes, I am currently in Florida finishing up Sick Week 2023. It’s been a tough but fun week of racing, meeting folks and driving around the country side with 330 other drag racers. We started last Monday at Orlando then went to Bradenton, then up to South Georgia Motorsports Park, then back down to Gainesville today and finally we are back in Orlando for tomorrows final day of racing. It’s been a great trip with my son joining me for the week. Weather was perfect, the car is running great and so far no major issues.
Last week I started down from Michigan pulling my trailer and stopped in Dallas Georgia to have the car worked on at Mo’s Speed Shop. We changed the converter, swapped in 4.10 gears and re-tuned the engine and trans shift points for drag racing on 93 octane.
It leaves the line a whole lot harder and has dropped a full second off my 1/4 mile time and about 8 tenths of it off my 60 ft time.
It’s a very different but very cool type of drag racing event. And much better than February in MI.
I’ll get some more pics and video uploaded when I get home.
xtremek
Well-known member
I'll be looking for you in the 1320 vids. Looking forward to you postings later.
RE: Sick Week 2023 action.
I highly recommend checking out the Tom Bailey YT channel. They have videos posted of the live feed from each day. And yes, if you have the patience you will see my Crown Vic make some passes. Days 1,2 and 3 my group D ran last in the day so I’m late in the video coverage. Yesterday, Day 4 Group D ran first so we got done early. Today I’ll be last again and the racing does not start until 11am.
So far the best pass of the week is a 14.34 at 96 mph. Nobody’s getting dizzy watching me go by but I’m having fun.
I highly recommend checking out the Tom Bailey YT channel. They have videos posted of the live feed from each day. And yes, if you have the patience you will see my Crown Vic make some passes. Days 1,2 and 3 my group D ran last in the day so I’m late in the video coverage. Yesterday, Day 4 Group D ran first so we got done early. Today I’ll be last again and the racing does not start until 11am.
So far the best pass of the week is a 14.34 at 96 mph. Nobody’s getting dizzy watching me go by but I’m having fun.
ShadowRuleZ
Well-known member
Hey, at least you're there doing it while the rest of us are just watching!
My encouragement, if you like drag racing, is start getting a car together now. Doesn’t have to be super fast. There is a huge mix and variety of vehicles which makes it fun. And a lot of us were not that fast but we still enjoyed the week and all activities. Plan a week of vacation time and come on down.
It beats trying to keep the shop warm in a Michigan February.