MO Predator Racer
Member
This weekend we had a double header drag race. There was a race from Thursday to friday and then saturday to sunday. We left for the races on Wednesday to make some test hit. We were about 15 minutes from Heartland Park Raceway and a Highway Patrolman is riding our butt and turns his lights on. We have a 53 foot aluminumn gooseneck and gmc 3500 is our towing setup. He gets to the window and says "Have you ever done a DOT inspection?" Then he starts asking us questions like how much is the entry fee and do we win a cash prize if we win. We tell him yes and that we right all of that off on our taxes. Then he tells us that the combined weight of our tow rig is supposed to be 26000lbs and we are at 39000lbs and that we are supposed to have a DOT because we are going across state lines to compete for a cash prize which means that we are commercial. Then he says that the person driving is supposed to have a Class A CDL. He tells us that if we want to be able to go to the drag strip we would have to be escorted by him. So we get on our way to the race track with a private escort from the patrolman. He then follows us into the racetrack at which point he sees that noone at the racetrack has a DOT on there truck and there are much bigger rigs than ours at the races. The only people he saw with a DOT on the truck and trailer was Goodyear Tires and Sunoco Racing Fuels. He tells us that if we want the truck to leave the racetrack that he cautions us that the person who drives it home has a CDL because if we get pulled over again than we would be in big trouble. That was the end of that but he just let us off with a warning and we thought that was gonna be the worst of our weekend of racing. Boy were we wrong. That was just the start of our bad luck. We made 2 test hits with our car and spun like crazy and we only went high 8s at less than 160 in the 1/8th mile which is very slow for our car. We threw on a different brand of tires and it hooked like crazy but we were still alot slower than we would like to be. We messed with jetting and everything but the car wasnt going down the track very fast. Qualifing goes ok with both cars. My dad goes around 8.75 which is slow for his car and my grandpa goes around 8.70 with his a little slow for his car but not to slow. My dads car starts having issues with when he is in a wheelie the car loses power and it loses power on the big end so we do all we can and at the very end of the wekend we realize it is probably because we had some ignition issues. We decide to swap tranys in my dads car to see if it goes faster on the launch which was before we figured out the real issue with the car was in the ignition. We put a different transmission in it with a different 1st gear and we get it all put in and start the car up and the transmission starts leaking like crazy out the front. SO we took it all out again and put a new front main seal in the transmission and it stops the leak after we put it in. Then we mess with my grandpsa car which is a stick car and we find out a clutch lever broke so we have some clutch levers overnighted from las vegas to get it fixxed. We go into first round friday morning and both cars go out in the first round. The cars are both good but they went very slow so we get ready for the next day of racing where we start qualifing for the next race. We do our first qualifing session for both cars and it is good but both cars are still way slower than they should be and my dads transmission started leaking very slowly so we take it out and put the other one back in it and we dont have enough time to get it put back togethor for the 2nd qualifying session but we decide to not rush stuff and skip the 2nd session of qualifing with my dads car and just take my grandpas car out. My grandpas car didnt get down the track very good and it spun the tires and we wernt sitting in the groove very well so he gets out of the throttle. We go into 1st round and both cars are good to go. My grandpa redlights and my dad gets out of the throttle becase the dragster went right around him and he wasnt gonna catch up. We go to the hotel and get up Sunday and get to the track to take the awning down off the trailer and then a thunderstorm happens and it starts lightining and so my dad said he wasnt gonna get up on the trailer in a storm so we wait 2 and a half hours for the storm to pass and then we take the awning down and get ready to head home. We leave the track this time with a family member driving who has a CDL to avoid getting in toruble and we get onto the road to leave the track and it is very bumpy and somewhere on that road the tailgate must of been unlatched but the all the bumps or something because when we try and turn a corner all of a sudden the trailer just starts pushing the truck towards the curb and just hear this loud noise and the tailgate had jammed into the front of the trailer anf finialy broke off the truck and the truck started turning so here we are in the middle of the road trying to putt he tailgate in the bed of my grandpas truck since he was following us home. We get home safe last night but I can just say we had the worst luck for the races. I didnt mean to make this story so long but here it is.