June 12, 2008

Here’s what I’ve got to say about the Vegas NHRA Heritage Series event... 

WOW! 

I’m sure you have all formed your own opinion about the political posturing among the funny car ranks – I will spare you my own personal opinion on it.  (Can’t we all just get along?!)  I mean, honestly, I wake up every day, thankful that I’ve been chosen as the-butt-in-the-seat of this quality NFC ride.  In March, we set our sights on the Heritage Series points title.  A little in-fighting isn’t going to change that.  

That being said, holy cow, did you guys see what happened in the desert??  (Judging by the attendance, you didn’t…)  The Future Flash team qualified number one for the show.  Numero uno!  How cool is that?  I know that is not a big deal to some, but it was a first for me.  We got a bye-run into second round, which gave us some much needed data for the rest of the elimination rounds. 

Before I go further, did you ever hear the one about the chicken and the pig’s relationship to the ham and egg sandwich?  Well, the chicken is involved, the pig is committed.  Of course, I am committed (as in, strapped in), but I would have to say that my guys are committed too.  They worked their collective asses off for this effort, and everyone’s heart, soul and raw knuckles) were invested in this deal.  Because of that hard work, we won second round, and headed into the final, knowing (of course) that anything can happen, but things were looking in our favor to win our first race as a team, and MY first race in nostalgia racing since the late 80’s.

Final round had us paired with Nate Bugg, one of my favorite guys in this class.  We left the line first, and almost immediately went into (what I thought was) tire-shake (come to find out, it was something else).  I was just about to pedal – the shake happened too early in the run to “short-shift” through, then the next second, I was in the wall.  I mean – right NOW, I was in the wall.  And already going about 110 mph.  Apparently, the number 4 rod decided it needed to leave the confines of the engine block, which allowed about 12 quarts of oil to pump onto the track in the path of the right rear tire.  This all happened at 60 feet into the run.  By 100 feet, I was hitting the wall at nearly a 90-degree angle.  How do things go pear-shaped so quickly?  

Now, it was a game of “hold on, and react.” The picture sequence on DRO shows it all.  Right before I hit the wall – the car was on two wheels, and I was “full steer” away from the wall (in some crazy attempt to NOT hit it).  I will tell all of you that it was only instinct on board at that time. I would love to take credit for consciously making the decision to steer away from the wall, but it was the unconscious reaction that caused that one.  Thank god we’re programmed to do what we do.  Anyway, I tagged the wall – hard! ($989 well spent on a HANS device).  I thought for a minute that I was going to roll on top of the guardrail (a la Tim Grose style), but thankfully, came back down.  Then, the rear tire got “into” the wall, and attempted to drive me over it (which would have resulted in landing on the other side – NOT GOOD!).  Again, thankfully, the car came back down onto the track, but not before shooting the body about 30 feet into the air.  I realized that the right front wheel was gone, and I was sliding on the right header, when a pretty good fire started up.  I asked myself – when does this train stop?!  Finally, fuel shut-off in OFF, I came to a stop at the finish line, somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 seconds from when I hit the loud pedal. 

Anytime something like this happens, a crash, big fire or explosion, etc., the first thing that goes through my mind once the car comes to a stop is, “how bad is the car hurt?”  The conversation with the track’s safety crew was pretty funny.  One guy was putting out the fire, and another gets in my face and asks if I’m ok.  YES! – I’m ok – how’s the car??  Do you know where you are?  Of course I know where I am – I’m Vegas, and I just crashed.  How’s the car?  Mendy – does anything hurt??  Well, my arm a little.  I take off my jacket to reveal a big “egg” on my forearm – it hit the cage when I hit the wall.  I guess that hurts a little.  Everything else is fine.  How’s the car??  At that point, they determined I was fine, gave me an ice pack, and proceeded to remove the leaking, smoking beast off of the track.

I can’t even tell you the emotions running through me at that point.  Here I was, BLESSED with the best ride of my life to date, in my first final round, and now the ride might be OVER before we even get to realize our potential.  Am I fired?  Are we parked?  Dammit dammit dammit!

Then my people started to arrive on the scene and I started to take in what everyone else had just experienced.  Donnie Couch had immediately started running down track when he saw what had happened.  I think his 60-foot time was better than the car’s.  He almost fell on his ass when he hit the oil (literally!).  Nate Bugg made his way to the scene, and was visibly disturbed.  Several race newbies that had been hanging out in our pits were practically hysterical.  I was now in the position of comforting people in what was, quite frankly, MY moment of despair…

Thankfully, the car was fixable.  Even more thankfully, Gary Messenger wanted to fix the car and continue on.  (I wasn’t fired – Yay!!)  Intuitively, I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, but crap gets weird when things like “crashing” happens.  Needless to say, I don’t work for a team that needs to blame anyone.  We learn as a team, win as a team, crash as a team…I guess “that’s racing.”  I got into an argument with a friend a few months ago – he’s been racing Super Comp for a few years now – and I said something to the effect of, “when you crash, you’ll understand.”  He says “whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute…whaddayamean WHEN I crash?!  It could happen, but…”  I told him, “Look, you want to race the rest of your life, right?  Well, in the process, you WILL crash.  If you are not ok with when, versus if, then you should not be doing it.”  I guess I put my money where my mouth was (again…).

Anyway, the Future Flash team is in the process of rebuilding, fixing, patching, etc.  Kenny Youngblood hisself fixed the historic ’72 Charger body (see “Mending Mendy” at VintageFuel.com).

So…that’s a bout it.  We will be tested and ready to do battle in Boise at the Pepsi Nightfire Nationals.  We’re number one in points right now, and don’t want to give that up.  In the meantime, please git yerself the August issue of Hot Rod Magazine.  A girl you know is featured in it. 

See you at the next one!

March 21, 2008

To say the very least, this was my most memorable March Meet to date. There I was on Friday, March 7th, sitting in the staging lanes, licensed and ready to qualify, just 23 days after accepting Gary Messenger’s offer for the permanent seat in his Nostalgia Funny Car. Those days leading up to the race were a whirlwind fer sure.

First of all, I’m an accountant by day, and right now is not really the most opportune time of year to take three days off. My company is knee-deep into the year-end audit of our financial statements; we are basically operating in triage mode. My CFO asked me on the Thursday night before the race (I was still at work at 8:00 pm) if there was any way I could work half-days during the weekend. I had to put it into perspective for him. I told him that I would probably reschedule my wedding day for the current needs of the company, but I couldn’t miss the March Meet because, by-golly, it is IMPORTANT!

So, with a promise to check my cell phone, I left work in the rearview and headed north for the Patch. All weekend I answered variations of the same two questions:

1) Which car is harder to drive, the digger or the funny car?
2) Which do you like better?

Honestly, if I had a nickel…anyway, not to cheat on my previous rides, but, I think I’m leaning toward the funny car as my favorite, probably because of the challenge and the opportunity to learn something new. It is just so different than anything I’ve ever driven. I think you can hear the motor better because the exhaust noise is muffled by the body. It feels more stable than the dragster on the big end too. And, there’s the bonus of getting out of the car sans oil-bath.

Donnie Couch put a soft, baseline tune-up in our hot rod on Friday, and we ran a 6.21 off the trailer, which was good for #1 qualifier – of the “B-field,” that is…(the FC show was divided into two, 8-car fields, the A-field and the B-field). With about 30 cars in attendance, we were happy to be in the show on our first try, but as some folks refer to the B-Field as “just testing,” we were obviously looking to move up into the top 8.

Just prior to our Friday session, Randy Beck crashed on his first full pass in John Rodeck’s NTF. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt. Everyone in the pits moved into Friday night BBQ-mode with hopes that this would be the only crash of the weekend. Unfortunately, this was not to be. As we all waited in the staging lanes for our first qualifying pass on Saturday, the unspeakable happened. After 40 years of racing, John Shoemaker took his last ride down the quarter-mile, running off the end of the end of the track, leaving us forever. Back in the staging lanes, we all knew it wasn’t good when the LifeFlight helicopter landed on the scene, but it wasn’t until after we ran and had returned to our pit that I heard the horrible news. Having known John and his wife Judee my whole life, I didn’t take the news very well.

After composing myself, I resumed my chores, and began to mix fuel. I intended to turn a 93% jug of nitro into a 95% jug, only to find I turned it into 80% because I was distracted. At that point, I had to tell myself to get my head in the game, for we had another run to make that night. There’s nothing like 3,000+ horsepower to bring you back into the here and now.

The Future Flash launched like a rocket on our second run, recording a .968 sixty-foot time, the quickest in NFC history. The car made a move on me just past half-track, and I had to pedal it to correct and get back in the groove. As I pulled off the track, I was pretty disappointed; I expected we probably didn’t improve our initial time of 6.21. Boy was I wrong! I figured the track guys were messing with me when they said I ran a 6.05! I thought, there’s no way – not with pedaling in the middle. We were definitely going to run our first 5 (yeah, until we didn’t…) Anyway, the time was good for the #5 spot in the A-field. With that, we were pleased!

First round had us paired with Dennis La Charite. Our hopes of progressing to the next round ended in violent tire shake that flipped the mag switch off, killing the ignition and our hopes of a March Meet victory. All-in-all, we were very pleased with the results. I now have five – that’s right, count ‘em: F-I-V-E full passes in a funny car under my belt. Our team chemistry is second to none, and Donnie’s talent as tuner will continue to move us forward. I’d say, for a plan that came together less than a month before, we did just fine!

See you all at the Strip at Las Vegas “Speed Spectacular” on May 2nd, 3rd & 4th for the second event in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Here it is, March 4th, 2008, and I have NEWS! I am now the official driver of Gary Messenger’s 1972 Dodge Charger Nostalgia Funny Car! Yep, that’s right, I’m going over to the “The Dark Side.” Or, as Jennings’ Code Red team calls it, I’m now “Funny Car Scum.”

This all happened so fast. Gary, and his Crew Chief, Donnie Couch, offered me the ride on Sunday at Pomona during the Winternationals (2/10). I accepted on Thursday (2/14). I got fitted for the car on Saturday (2/17). We were going to test that weekend, but it rained. So, on 3/1 & 3/2, only FIVE DAYS before the March Meet, we roll up to the Patch to put our respective monies where our respective mouths are. Meaning, Gary said “you’re our driver; we’ll get you licensed by the March Meet.” I said “you’ve got a deal – I think I can drive one of these things.” So here it was, just two short weeks after I said yes, and I was in the hot seat.

I got to the track early Saturday morning, and worked through my nerves by diving in to my driver chores, which are packing chutes and mixing fuel (and giving Donnie a hard time). I planned on taking the car to about half-track on the first run. I’ve got to admit, I was pretty nervous in the staging lanes. As soon as the 426 came to life, I calmed right down, but there was a moment there when they dropped the body down that kind-of took my breath away. I remember thinking, “Well, that’s different…” I don’t care what kind of funny car star you are, if you tell me you weren’t nervous the first time the body came down and it was show-time, I will tell you you’re full of crap! Anyway, after I rolled through the water and hit the gas, all bets were off. There’s nothing quite like a burnout in a nitro funny car.

I went to half-track and just beyond in my two passes on Saturday, not because that’s what was planned – Donnie told me I could take it to the finish line, for all he cared. I only went that far because that’s about where my comfort level was. Then, on Sunday, we made one, nearly full pass, clocking a 6.38, and one full pass, a 6.33 at 222 mph. And then that was it – when I crossed the finish line that second time on Sunday, I became a licensed AA/FC driver! As I lay in bed each night, unable to sleep because I’m too excited, I realize: I’m going to be competing at the 50th annual March Meet in one of the baddest-asserressed NFC’s around. I still can’t believe it!

And, as if it couldn’t get any better, I get to work with veteran tuner Donnie Couch. I’ve already learned so much from him – in just two days at the track. He is, hands down, the best!

So, check out my crew. Shown in the picture (left to right) are Ben Thompson, Bobby Wong, Greg “GK” Karapetian and Conrad Bigelow. Under Donnie’s guidance, these guys worked their collective butts off and gave me a flawless racecar to learn with. Honestly, the only thing I had to think about was learning how to drive, an education we plan on continuing this weekend at the March Meet.

So, come by our pit this weekend and say hi. We’ll be easy to spot. We’re the team that’s having the most fun, and I’m the chick funny car driver with the giant smile on her face!

Mendy