Howdy all.
Last night Paul Poore, Frank Friedman and myself went to Kansas City
International Raceway and flogged our Solo cars down the old 1320 drag
strip. I think it would be great fun to get all of an areas Solo cars
to take a diversion from the mundane cone dodging that we do each
weekend and go participate in some real racing. Drag racing that is.
;^) Seriously though, it's a fun diversion once, maybe twice a year.
It was plenty hot and with lots of humidity the cars just wouldn't be
making peak horsepower this evening. Well needless to say I beat Paul
and his tired 200SX two out of two runs, once in each lane just to be
fair. My 16.987 @ 81.61mph to his 18.054 @ 75.63mph and the second time
around it was my 16.828 @ 82.21mph to his 18.603 @ 75.18mph.
Needing some closer competition I proceeded to line up next to Frank
"the fearless" Friedman and his car from the Fatherland. I taunted him
mercilessly that the sheer power of Mother Mopar under my Neon's hood
was gonna pound his aging Kraut-mobile into the ground. I was on street
tires and Frank was on Kumhos. The gauntlet had been thrown down and
the challenge accepted.
The burnout box is particularly fun in a FWD car as you just put the
front tires in the water and pull up on the parking brake handle as hard
as you can, then sidestep the clutch at about 3000 and let the awesome
power of Ma Mopar warm the hides a bit. After almost producing copious
clouds of Dunlop smoke I preceeded to let off of the parking brake and
spin the tires some more on the sticky part of the track between the
burnout box and the start line.
BTW, can you say "torque steer"? I sure can.
Anyway, Frank and I lined up next to each other and after both sets of
staging lights were lit our collective hearts pounded just a little
harder and the race was almost upon us.
I revved my motor to 4000 rpms and held it there anxiously awaiting the
green light. Here comes the first yellow light. Man that tree is slow.
Here comes the second yellow light. My gosh, what's taking that third
light so long to turn on. Ahh, the third light turns on and I quickly
release the clutch and simultaneously mash the gas pedal to the floor.
I never even saw the green light but with a scorching reaction time of
.752 seconds it's no wonder. Look out John Force, I'm comin' for ya
buddy. Frank's reaction time was actually better at .701 seconds but it
wouldn't help him on the big end. As my tires struggled in vain to
resist the power of the Neon's motor the car accelerated out of the
lights like a top fuel dragster, only slower.
At the 60' mark I was WAY ahead of Funky Frank due to my superior clutch
slippage/accelerator management skills with a time of 2.374 seconds to
his 2.742 seconds. I speed shifted into second gear and the front tires
let out an ear piercing chirp as they found themselves on the losing end
of the battle between the grip of the track and the raw power of Mother
Mopar under my blue striped hood.
At the 330' line I was still worlds ahead of the Wundercar with a 6.916
second time to his 7.179 seconds.
I could see Frank clearly behind me in my driver's side mirror but could
see him starting to gain on me. Oh no!! I hit redline in second gear
and shifted to third, again the tires struggling for grip. At the 1/8th
mile marker I was still ahead with a 10.724 @ 62.99mph to the Hun's time
of 10.918 @ 65.56mph. He was gaining on me though.
At the 1000' mark the hotrodded VW was starting to make his move on me
but I was confidant that I would be triumphant in the age old battle
between the western forces of good and the eastern forces of evil. I
was still ahead with a time of 14.020 to Franks 14.144.
Mnn oh man, what a struggle. Franks highly illegal car was slowly
moving out of the view of my side mirror and into my peripheral vision.
I could clearly see his illegally lightened carbon fiber and graphite
front bumper at my driver's door and was sure i saw him filling 'er up
earlier with 100 octane race gas but there was just no way he was going
to pull ahead of my heart stopping 150 pure American horsepower.
YEAH!!!! I crossed the lights first with a 16.785 @ 81.47mph to his
16.877 @ 81.57mph.
Poor Frank and his Porsche were just no match for my driving prowess and
the sheer unadulterated power of Mother Mopar and her muscle endowed
Neon. I won the battle by a staggering margin of 0.092 seconds.
Whew, democracy and freedom were safe for at least another day.
Oh yeah, my A/C was on the whole time. ;^)
See you on course.
Eric Linnhoff in KC
#69DS TLS #13
'98 Neon R/T
<eric10mm@qni.com>
Patrick Henry:
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone
who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it
but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined."
Benjamin Franklin:
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary
safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
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