'57 Chev - driver Roger Young - 331 c.i. Edwards & Young Engine
Chris Young in background
Edwards & Young Racing
Seattle, WA.
NHRA #6035 & #G603
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The Dale Williams Project
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'57 Chev - driver Roger Young - 331 c.i. Edwards & Young Engine
Chris Young in background
'71 Chevelle - driver Chris Young - 357 c.i. Edwards & Young Engine
'66 Pontiac Tempest - drivers Paul & Torri Young - 400 c.i. Pontiac Engine
What's New for 2010 - Updated March 22, 2010
2009 Post Race Reports
2008 Post Race Reports
2007 Post Race Reports
2006 Post Race Reports
2005 Post Race Reports
2004 Post Race Reports
The Dale Williams Project
2003 Post Race Reports
2002 Post Race Reports
2001 Post Race Reports
2001 Chevelle Completed
'98 & '99 Post-Race Reports
More Than a Tow Truck
Contact Information
What's New for 2010?
'57 Chev: 15 Sep 09: We now have the 331 out of our '57 and pulled the heads. The cylinder walls are in excellent condition so we'll stick with our reliable 331 in the '57. We'll replace the Ram pressure plate and disc and resurface the flywheel before the engine goes back in the car. We had 93 runs on this clutch! 20 Oct 09: We've had the valves ground and we installed new Manley 1.625" valve springs in our old heads with new valve stem seals. The guides, keepers and retainers were in excellent condition. Next we'll start on the short block. 26 Oct 09: We got the short block torn down this weekend. All in all in good condition and the bearings still looked like new but are scheduled for replacement. There was some scuffing on cylinder #7 from a broken lifter in 2000, but nothing normal honing will not repair. We'll be replacing the rods, rings, main & rod bearings, and installing new pressurized lifters over this winter. This will probably be the last rebuild for our old, reliable 331 after many years of great service! 2 Nov 09: We've cleaned & inspected the pistons, hung the replacement rods, installed new pin locks and are prepping the new rod bearings. Next we'll focus on cleaning the block & honing the cylinder walls for "file-fitting" the new rings, The flywheel has been resurfaced and lightened from 25 to 22 lbs. which should help us on the launch. 16 Nov 09: We lightly honed the cylinder walls so as not to increase piston clearance more than absolutely necessary. Next a complete cleaning of the block, oil gallies and a liberal coat of oil on the cylinder walls to prevent rust. Then we'll file-fit the rings, clean the cylinder walls again with ATF, and we'll start reassembly. 3 Dec 09: We've polished and installed the new main bearings, installed the crankshaft and new rear main seal, installed the camshaft and Jesel belt drive with the new "Rhino" belt. And we're in the process of file-fitting the new rings and installing the piston/rod assemblies. Speed-Pro now has a new recommendation for the 2nd ring. They suggest to widen the ring end gap from our usual .017 to .023" which reportedly improves the sealing of the upper ring. I've read other reports on this over the past year which have found the same results which I will follow. This is also why some newer pistons offer the "compensation" groove between the top and 2nd ring which these older pistons don't have. The top ring-end gap recommendation remains the same as our last set, .020" Of course the bigger the bore, the wider ring end gaps required. Follow manufacturer recommendations for YOUR engine! Here's what Speed-Pro states in the ring instructions: "Most of the 2nd ring gap recommendations are larger than the top rings. Recent testing has proven that a larger 2nd gap increases the top ring's ability to seal combustion. This larger 'escape' path prevents inter-ring pressure from building up and lifting the top ring off the piston."
5 Dec 09: We got all the rings gapped and the piston & rods in the block.
17 Dec 09: We now have most of the engine assembled and should have it completed shortly. New Moroso 22111 high-volume oil pump (based on the 55-HV) and pickup, new Comp lifters with pressurized oil feed to rollers.
Oil Pump Volume and Pressure Explanation - by Melling Engine Parts 21 Dec 09: We now have the old 331 completely assembled less water pump, and top of the intake manifold & carbs. Oil system is primed.
14 Jan 10: We've ordered the new Aldan coil-over shocks and springs for the rear of the car. Next we need to start putting the '57 back together and order new hides! 21 Feb 10: Chris has the new decking and electric winch on our trailer, and we've installed the fresh engine with a new clutch in our '57 this weekend. Fired it up, set the timing and ran it thru the gears on stands. Next we'll install the new coil-overs on the back of the car, check the preload, new slicks and we'll be ready for the test & tunes coming in April. We're getting excited about getting the '57 down the track again! 28 Feb 10: We got the new Aldan Eagle coil-over shocks installed in the rear of the car this weekend, reset the ride height, and found our old shocks were "dead." This should markedly improve the traction of the '57 for 2010! Next we'll order the new slicks and we should be set for the test & tunes in April provided our Spring weather cooperates.
'71 Chevelle Wagon: 3 Nov 09: We are going to change as little as possible and concentrate on making the car more consistent over varying track and atmospheric conditions. We'll trade a bit of E.T. for that much needed consistency required in Super Pro and Chris has installed a Turbo Action air shifter and upgraded our delay box for the shifter.
21 Dec 09: Barry Hobson & Ed Roark assembled our replacement back-up TH-400 which is now ready if and when we need it. The original transmission was badly damaged when the trans brake applied in high gear last August because of a wiring problem (cross-short) in the harness going to the trans brake. We were very fortunate when the band stripped the lining which prevented a complete catastrophe! We need to install the new NHRA accepted dipstick, new transmission blanket and the Chevelle is ready to hit the strip in 2010! 10 Jan 10: Chris got the new trans blanket and approved transmission dipstick installed. The Chevelle is virtually ready to go for 2010! 15 Mar 10: We checked the seat pressure on the valve springs and installed the valve train with all new pushrods this weekend.
'66 Pontiac Tempest: Stay tuned!
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2009
25 April 2009 - Bremerton Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon This was our first time out with our new 406 in our refurbished Chevelle at a test 'n tune. On the first pass we only wanted to run the car to the 1,000-foot mark to check the chassis setup, oil pressure, etc. Chris was pumped when he recorded a 10.469 @ 115.07 MPH running 103.36 MPH at the 1/8th with a 1.335 60-foot time. Density altitude was excellent at 533 feet. We went back to the pits and adjusted the valves and made no other adjustments. Chris ran it through recording a 10.308 @ 127.49 MPH running 103.86 MPH at the 1/8th with a 1.374 60-foot time. Density altitude was excellent at 504 feet. We were delighted and have the video of that pass for all of you. We made one more pass without any adjustments to see if it would repeat and it recorded a 10.313 @ 128.04 MPH running 104.03 at the 1/8th with a 1.376 60-foot time. Density altitude was excellent at 570 feet. We loaded up and came home delighted with the results with the new engine and our personal thanks to Mike at Shafiroff for working with us on the 406. And kudos to ProSystems for a Dominator which worked very well out of the box! My personal thanks to Paul and Torri for the video work they did this weekend. Your videos provide us valuable information in making chassis adjustments! We'll now retorque the heads, change the oil & filter, and do normal maintenance & inspections before we take it back out for our first race in May
9 May 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon.
This was our first time out at PR this season on a beautiful Saturday evening. On our first pass in the left lane we rattled the tires on the leave (video below) and ran a 10.466 @ 125.37 MPH. After this pass we lowered the launch chip to 4800 to soften the leave a bit. On our second time run in the right lane we recorded a 10.430 @ 125.67 MPH and waited for the first round of eliminations. The air cooled quickly as the sun set and Paul selected a 10.38 as our dial-in. Chris ran a 10.381 @ 126.47 MPH on a 10.38 dial-in. We hit the number on the mark but our opponent recorded an outstanding .009 reaction time and ran a 9.123 on a 9.11 dial-in taking the win light ending our evening early. Considering using radial slicks? You might want to discuss this with Jeff & Tom Warnke. Their hard-charging Nova usually runs 10.28-10.30's @ 128 MPH. Here with their new radial slicks the car buzzes the tires on the starting line and Jeff has to pedal the car. UPDATE: The Warnke's increased the tire pressure the next weekend and the new radials responded very well !
30 May 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon. It was a beautiful and much warmer day at Pacific this Saturday and we had jetted our carburetor for the significant increase in density altitude prior to this race. On our first time run, we recorded a 10.480 @ 125.81 MPH at a density altitude of 2065 feet (video below). On our second time run in the right lane, Chris recorded a 10.448 @ 126.12 MPH at a density altitude of 1826 feet and we prepared for the first round. We were the first pair out in Super Pro against Barry Hobson in his Pontiac Tempest when the top of the trans brake button broke on the starting line basically ending our evening. Barry won easily with a 11.496 on the brakes. Chris was able to reapply the button but it reset the delay box timer and we left very late and also spun the tires on the starting line where the track had just been patched recording only a 10.478 @ 125.89 MPH on our 10.41 dial-in. It only once again proves there are many unexpected ways to lose a race but we'll regroup!
13 June 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon & '66 Pontiac Tempest This evening we took both the Chevelle and Tempest out to Pacific Raceways. The Chevelle recorded back-to-back time runs of 10.429 @ 126.48 MPH and 10.421 @ 126.45 MPH in both lanes. While waiting in the staging lanes for the first round, the density altitude and correction factor slightly improved and we dialed with a 10.40. However the humidity was rising rapidly (72%) and we got bit by that factor only running a 10.471 @ 125.95 MPH. Chris cut an outstanding .010 reaction time and the car got a bit loose at approximately the 50-foot mark and coupled with our poor dial-in we once again lost in the first round to our competition who ran a 10.018 on a 10.01 dial with an excellent .013 reaction time. I'm still waiting on the data for Torri's Tempest, but she ran a solid 12.67 @ 105.45 MPH with a .014 reaction time during a time run in Sportsman bracket. She backed that number up in the first round but was a tad late on the tree to loose in the first round. Our thanks to Joey who gave us a hand at the track and loading all the equipment. It gets a bit hectic running two cars and we appreciate his help!
11 July 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon This was a hot afternoon at Pacific, and we rattled the tires hard on our first qualifying pass recording only a 10.584 @ 124.60 MPH. After this pass we gave the front end more travel and raised the wheelie bars for more weight transfer and the car responded with a 10.474 @ 126.22 MPH on our 2nd qualifying pass. In the first round of eliminations, we got a BIG break. Chris left the line early with a -.003 reaction time but our competition crossed the center line and was disqualified so we came back for the 2nd round. We ran a 10.456 @ 126.44 MPH on a 10.43 dial-in. In the second round, we won recording a 10.440 @ 126.47 MPH on the brakes on a 10.40 dial-in. In the third round we were paired against Brandon Spitali and Chris got the advantage on the starting line with a solid .014 reaction time but we broke out by .005-seconds running a 10.415 @ 126.81 MPH on a 10.42 dial-in. Brandon cut a unusual .058 light and ran a 8.82 @ 155.01 on a 8.75 dial. Congratulations to the Spitali family racing team who we enjoy racing with. Brandon ended our evening but we gained a lot of valuable data in the night air which should make us better! This coming weekend the big boys from NHRA will be in town at the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways July 17-19.
21-23 August 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon This was the big, three-day Pacific Sportsman Nationals this past weekend. For us, this became the weekend from hell which began with a promising pass off the trailer on Friday running a 10.37 @126.61 MPH. We learned when called to the lanes for our second time-run that somewhere on the first pass it had lost reverse and we had to replace the transmission for Saturday. After replacing the transmission, we recorded a 10.358 @ 126.32 MPH which was a new personal record for us at Pacific. But from that point on the dragsters in Super Pro kicked our rear for the next two days. Chris bettered his competition on the tree almost every run but we could not hit our dial-in as track conditions changed throughout the day. Like last year this race brought out the heavy hitters with great packages and we, frankly, just weren't up to the task. On Saturday, there were two perfect packages in Super Pro racing for the 10K. We'll now be testing for next season altering a few things working towards being more consistent under varying track conditions! Pacific Sportsman National Results - Pacific Raceways.
29 August 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon Chris and Paul took the Chevelle out this evening with a few changes incorporated to hopefully make the car more consistent over a broader swing of track and air conditions. The car responded favorably to the minor changes running runs of 10.455 @ 126.34 MPH, 10.421 @ 126.68 MPH, and 10.413 @ 126.79 MPH. 60' times were more consistent recording 1.419, 1.414 & 1.415 respectively over a density altitude change of nearly 700 feet. We've slowed down the car slightly for the sake of consistency. We've got a few ideas for 2010 to make the car even more consistent and hope to have a much better season in 2010 ! We knew going into the 2009 season with a new combination that it would put us at a major disadvantage, but the data we've collected this season should make us more competitive in 2010.
29 August 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest Torri drove her Pontiac this evening recording a 12.662 @ 105.17 MPH on her second time run. In the first round she ran a 12.651 @ 105.27 MPH on a 12.62 dial-in with a -.013 red light losing to Al Young.
10 & 11 October 2009 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest This is the PR roving reporter with the race report for 10/10 & 10/11 at Pacific Raceways as we took the '66 Pontiac Tempest out to put a "few" laps on it to say the least. The days are separated as Paul drove it on Saturday and Torri took her crack at it on Sunday, please see summary below. Paul - Had 8 hits on Saturday with a best of 12.446 @ 106.29 mph with the corrected altitude listed at 47 feet which was on the 3rd hit. He actually had a best of 106.60 mph on the 5th hit with a reading of 475 feet corrected altitude. The best et and mph are were both within thousands of a second of the record for the car since it was purchased from Barry Hobson. He had a lot of fun on this day with the only disappointment being there were no eliminations. Torri - She had 6 hits on Sunday with a best of 12.398 @ 106.71 with the corrected altitude at an awesome 24 feet below sea level also on her 3rd hit. She actually had a best of 106.93 on the 4th hit with a reading of 210 feet corrected altitude. These were both new records for the car and she had a blast! This was about what Chris & Paul expected as Torri is about 70 lbs lighter thus they expected it to go about .07 quicker in ET as it is usually .01 per every 10 lbs. In conclusion, everyone is really happy as the old girl (Pontiac) has approximately 175,000 miles on the 400 c.i. Pontiac engine and keeps on trucking! It was a fun event and we are looking forward to the Halloween Bash in a couple of weeks, weather permitting.
26 October 2009 - 2009 Statistics Compare: Edwards & Young 2008 Statistical Report Edwards & Young 2007 Statistical Report |
2008
26 April 2008 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest This was Paul's first time out this year with the Tempest at Pacific Raceways. The Tempest ran well for its first time out this season after installing Moser 35-spline axles & spool in the rearend, replacing the fuel pressure regulator, and installing a manual valve body in the TH-350 this past winter. The car picked up enough to put it in the 12's this season. Paul ran a 12.672 @ 105.320 MPH on the first time run at a rare density altitude of -125 feet! On his second time run the car spun the tires on the starting line and slowed to 12.858 @ 104.460 MPH. Then it was time to dial-in the car for the first round. Paul left just a tad bit early with a -.009 light and ran the car through recording a 12.720 @ 104.440 MPH. We're very pleased with how he drove and how the Tempest ran on their initial outing for 2008! The plugs show that the carb is jetted very rich which we'll address before the next race.
9 - 10 May 2008 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest This was a test & tune for Torri's Pontiac this Friday after we had jetted the carburetor leaner following the April 26th race. The engine responded well to the jet change and Torri set a record run for the Pontiac this evening at a density altitude of 494 feet recording a 12.491 @ 106.660 MPH with a 60' of 1.693. We're extremely proud of Torri as she did a good burnout, hit her shift points well and got her Pontiac down the track in fine fashion! Paul drove the car on Saturday night, but weather permitted only one time run before the rains came and ended his evening. Paul recorded a personal best of 12.605 @ 105.950 at a density altitude of 1072 feet.
31 May 2008 - Pacific Raceways - '57 Chev This Saturday we took the '57 Chev out for its first time this season after going thru the gearbox and lightening the static clutch pressure 90# over the winter. The weather forecast was excellent and it was beautiful as we headed for the track this morning. On our first and only pass at Pacific Raceways, we had the chassis setup too tight for a cool track and rattled the tires hard at the end of 1st gear and well into 2nd. I've never rattled the tires in 2nd gear before so this was a new experience for me. Despite a unintentional very deep stage (I didn't set the brake pressure high enough) and shaking the tires we recorded a 10.879 @ 124.45 MPH. Shortly after this run the rain started which was unfortunate, but we at least got one pass while many others did not get the opportunity to make a single pass before the race was called. Take care !
14 June 2008 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest Paul, Torri and Chris took the Pontiac out to Pacific Raceways this evening to just have some fun and run a test & tune. Paul established a new record for the Pontiac this evening recording a 12.443 @ 106.870 MPH. Torri set the previous record on May 9 of this year when she recorded a 12.491 @ 106.660 MPH. This is a close family competition ! Paul did enter the 12.50 heads-up Northwest Pro Street Association category but lost in the first round on the brakes recording a 12.557 @ 103.190 MPH.
28 June 2008 - Pacific Raceways - '57 Chev This was a very challenging day for all the drivers, crew members, and particularly the starting-line crew at Pacific Raceways as we faced abnormal June temperatures in the mid-90's and a starting line temp of 135 degrees. We have never run in such low air density conditions in all the years we have logged weather data. These conditions made traction marginal and robbed horsepower from the engines slowing all the cars approximately two to three tenths, and two to three MPH. On our second qualifying hit we managed a 10.967 @ 123.04 MPH and dialed the car in with a 10.95. In the first round we recorded a 10.968 @ 122.78 at a density altitude of 3111 feet, but lost when I turned the tree red ending our evening early. The good news was that we ran the last two passes within 1/1000th of a second. Take care !
13 July 2008 - Congratulations to Barry Hobson! This past weekend, our friend Barry Hobson won Top Sportsman in his Pontiac Gran Am at the divisional race in Woodburn, Oregon. All his hard work is beginning to pay off and Barry is currently 6th in the Division Six points race after attending only two divisional races! In the final round against the slower Daryl Hemley, Barry cut the better .020 light and ran a 7.233 @ 182.88 MPH lifting. Barry qualified 3rd with a 7.128 @ 192.96 MPH. His car is currently powered by a 705 c.i. Steve Schmidt motor.
19 July 2008 Update:
This weekend at the NHRA Shuck's Auto Supply Nationals at Pacific Raceways, Barry ran his first 6-second pass in A/AA in Comp Eliminator qualifying recording a 6.994 @ 194.72 in the left lane. However, Barry lost to the eventual Comp Eliminator winner, Alan Freese running in C/AA in the first round on Saturday.
2 August 2008 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest Torri drove her Pontiac this day but lost in the first round when she broke out running a 12.518 @ 106.46 MPH on a 12.56 dial-in. Her opponent ran a perfect 14.02 on a 14.02 dial-in which made it tough on Torri to advance this evening.
16 - 17 August 2008 - Pacific Raceways - '57 Chev & '66 Pontiac Tempest - [Updated 25 Aug 2008] This was the big $50,000 Pacific Sportsman Nationals this weekend. We decided to enter both the '57 and the Pontiac and take on the heavy hitters. We learned quickly that you would need to bring your A-game to even have a chance to advance in eliminations in the very hot weather. '57 Chev: On Saturday we got one qualifying hit in the morning prior to eliminations. With the '57 we opened with a 10.860 @ 124.01 with a .046 reaction time. Density altitude was already 2568 feet at 9:30 in the morning. Then it was onto the 1st round where we faced Will Smith and his Mopar. Will put together the better package running a 10.799 on a 10.79 @ 122.06 with a .021 light against my tire spinning 10.91 on a 10.86 @ 123.11 with a .027 light. Will won with a margin of victory of .0491. Density altitude was 2734 feet. We were out for the day in Pro-A and Will continued on to the 5th round. On Sunday morning we had 15-minutes to warm-up the car and hit the lanes with a dial-in on the car. Guess who we would draw again in the first round? WILL SMITH ! This time we put together the slightly better package running a 10.839 on a 10.82 @ 124.06 with a .055 light against Will's 10.802 on a 10.78 @ 123.87 with a .057 light. We won with a margin of victory of only .0052 seconds! We got there first by about 3 inches! This was the closest race I've been in years and the cars where glued together down the track with Will holding the narrow lead until the '57 hit high gear and stuck the nose out in front with the little mouse motor. Density altitude was 2212 feet.
In the second round a 12-second Vega wagon flat whooped me and our weekend was over for the '57. We spun the tires hard on the starting line and again when I hit 2nd gear drastically impacting our 60-foot and 330 times. We only ran a 11.049 on a 10.90 @ 122.78 with a .061 light. The Vega put together a solid run with a 12.240 (lifting) on a 12.14 @ 106.07 with a outstanding .009 light. Density altitude had deteriorated to 2904 feet. '66 Pontiac Tempest: Paul had a good start on Saturday at his first major race. His competitor turned the tree red in the first round and Paul advanced in Pro-B running a 12.843 on a 12.79 @ 103.930 with a .136 light. Density altitude was 3147 feet. In the 2nd round Paul drew a 8.30 dragster, Paul cut the far better light running a 12.863 on a 12.85 at 103.590 with a .033 light, and the hard-charging dragster broke-out chasing him down !!!! Density altitude had deteriorated to 3507 feet. Paul lost in the third round when he turned the tree red, running a 12.834 on a 12.86 @ 103.980 with a -0.029 light at a density altitude of 3502 feet, but his run against the dragster was the highlight of the day for us!!! On Sunday, Paul narrowly lost in the first round when he turned the tree red by a nearly perfect, but negative -.004, running a 12.771 on a 12.74 @ 104.710 MPH. Density altitude was 2751 feet. Our weekend was over but we had a good time despite the heat wave & thunderstorms that hit the track this weekend. We enjoyed the company of pitting with Jeff & Tom Warnke with their hard-charging Nova. Jeff cut solid, consistent lights but they too had a hard time running the number when the track heated up. As a side note to our match-ups with Will Smith there is some history here. Chris and I coached his younger brother, Lenny, in Junior League football years back. And Paul & Lenny were teammates!!! Special thanks: We'd like to thank Dale Green, Stan Leerkamp and Chris Martin for having the courage to organize a big-buck bracket race here in the Northwest. Somehow the track reportedly took over the event but without the vision of fellow racers this race would not have been so very successful. We heard there were approximately 275 cars entered and many were double entries giving them multiple chances to win with racing on every day of the event. The large purse brought some outstanding racers to Pacific Raceways where many of the races were decided by thousandths of a second! Like I said, if you didn't bring your A-game to the line every round, you were out!!! We sincerely hope this will become an annual event and that with increased publicity that the spectator count will increase. It was a good one! Very special thanks: We'd like to thank our wives, Pam, Torri, and Melodie for taking care of us this weekend, especially in the very hot and humid air. They feed us, keep us hydrated, video tape our runs, and yell and scream when we win and encourage us when we don't. We have the best cheerleaders in Division 6! And a very special thanks to Chris this weekend for his hard work helping prepping the cars, staying at the track at night during thunder storms and helping us into the beams on the hot starting line. He did an excellent job! In closing, this was the last race for the '57 until we go through the engine which now has 142 passes since its last tear down. We know it needs rods, rings, bearings, and head maintenance before hitting the strip again. And we've been having a difficult time hooking the car when the clutch and track surface get hot which we must address in the future. Next year my focus will be helping Chris with the '71 Chevelle as he again hits the strip with the new 406! Perhaps this is a sign of the times. WJ is known as the "Professor" and I seemingly have my own moniker. Several of the young lions at the track over the past couple of years have dubbed me as the "Old Man" at Pacific Raceways.
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1st Annual Pacific Sportsman Nationals Results Friday August 15th, 2008 Pro Bracket - Winner: Steve Kelly, Vancouver, WA. '67 Camaro - Runner-Up: Steve Kelly, Vancouver, WA. '67 Camaro Super Pro - Winner: J.R. Learkamp, Olympia, WA. - Runner-Up: Paul Nero, Eugene, OR.
Saturday August 16th, 2008 Pro Bracket - Winner: Jody Lang, Puyallup. WA. '79 Malibu Wagon - Runner-Up: Tony Pearce, Marysville, WA. '70 Mustang
Super Pro - Winner: Stefan Kondolay, Chilliwack, BC. '04 Worthy - Runner-Up: Andrew Morris, Olympia, WA. '07 Mullis
Sunday August 17th, 2008 Pro Bracket - Winner: David Chun, Jr. Vancouver, WA. '99 Cameron Red - Runner-Up: Jody Lang, Puyallup, WA. '79 Malibu Wagon
Super Pro - Winner: Dennis Kooker, Gig Harbor, WA. '02 Yancer - Runner-Up: Steve Hannawacker, Bremerton, WA. '55 Chevy
25 August 2008 - 2008 Statistics Compare: Edwards & Young 2007 Statistical Report Edwards & Young 2006 Statistical Report Edwards & Young 2005 Statistical Report
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2007
5 May 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon This past beautiful Saturday night we made our first runs for 2007 at Pacific Raceways with our '71 Chevelle. On the first (and only) qualifying hit we recorded a 11.006 @ 120.16 MPH with the new Comp camshaft and the shear plates under the carburetors. On the second run which was the first round, we recorded a 11.024 @ 120.19 MPH and took the win when Chris cut an incredible .002 reaction time ! Due to many delays throughout the evening starting with a Christmas Tree malfunction and followed by massive oil downs, the race was called due to curfew after the first round. First-round winners were awarded 40 points for their efforts and given $20 of credit towards future admission. We did NOT realize the performance improvements we had hoped for from the new camshaft and reversion plates. We were off our pace by 0.17 of a second despite ideal atmospheric and track conditions. We'll advance the cam 2-degrees and slightly richen the fuel mixture to see if this helps before our next outing. Here's the specs on the new cam: Comp Cams #12-970-9 (small base-circle cam for rod clearance)
26 May 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon After advancing the Comp Cams 2-degrees, we went out again to Pacific Raceways and slowed down even more running a 11.217 and 11.223 on our first two time runs. We then dialed a 11.21 for the first round, Chris cut an excellent .016 light and we broke out lifting running a 11.163. We are not happy with the performance of this new cam, and have serious doubts about the shear plates. Therefore we will install our old combination from last year without the shear plates and reinstall our old Lunati 50132 cam before taking the Chevelle back out again.
2 June 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '57 Chev This was the first time out for me and the '57 this year and with new Goodyear slicks on a beautiful and very HOT Saturday night race. We learned in the first qualifying hit the hook was excellent pulling the front wheels thru the first three gears and spent the rest of the evening lowering the wheelie bars after every pass to tame the car down. The spectators loved the show but you waste a lot of time hopping down the track! We finally started hitting our pace in the fourth round were we lost breaking out recording a 10.841 on a 10.90 dial while lifting at only 121.15 MPH and recorded our best 60' time of the night with a 1.429. (Our record is 1.420). Our 1,000-foot data indicated we would have ran a 10.82. Best MPH of the night was in the third round were we ran 124.26 MPH at a density altitude of 1697 feet. Pacfic Raceways ran a very good program this evening and their crew appears to be hitting their stride! The track was in good condition especially considering the heat. Congratulations to our friend Jeff Warnke who made it to the Pro finals and lost when his transmission failed. Not a bad night for the West Seattle bunch, we had a great time! I thank my entire family for their love and support. You did a great job and I had a wonderful time going a few rounds with the old car. On Sunday we went back to work on our Chevelle wagon installing our 2006 tune-up. We installed our old Lunati camshaft, removed the shear plates under the carbs and are ready for our next race with Chris back in the wagon.
8 June 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest Last summer my daughter-in-law, Torri, purchased this car from Barry Hobson. It is powered by a Pontiac 400 c.i. motor with a mild cam, 750 Holley, headers, MSD ignition, has a TH-350 trans, a 12-bolt posi rear end, Goodyear Drag Radials and is very, very streetable! This evening Torri (Chris' wife) and my son Paul decided to take the car down the strip at Pacific Raceways and had a great time! Torri has a new nickname, "001" when she cut an incredible .001 reaction time on only her second pass down the strip !!!! Paul recorded the best E.T. of 13.339 and best MPH of the evening with a 102.19. They had some shifting problems with the factory shifter which will be replaced soon, often going from 1st to high.
7 July 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon Chris had a stellar night behind the wheel earning us a bye in the first round when he cut the best light during the Super Pro qualifying runs recording a .002 reaction time. This gave us a much needed single in the first round as we were adjusting the chassis to a greasy track and Chris backed up his previous .002 with a perfect .000 reaction time!!! Chris pedaled the wagon to the 3rd round before losing to the hard charging Chevy II wagon of Al Chinn when we broke out by a mere .008 recording a 11.082 on a 11.09 dial-in at 118.90 MPH with Chris having another remarkable .004 reaction time on the starting line. Not a bad evening for Chris considering the marginal track conditions in the heat and high humidity. Our 60' times tonight were less than spectacular but we were happy to see the horsepower improve over our previous outing with our old tune-up back in the car.
7 July 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest This was Paul's first actual race in Torri's Tempest and he won his first round in the Sportsman category on the brakes recording a 13.081 @ 93.92. He lost in the second round when he left the starting line in 2nd gear. Paul's quickest pass of the evening was on his 2nd time run recording a 13.069 @ 101.30 MPH. It's great to see Paul having a good time!
14 July 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon This was another very hot day at Pacific Raceways, but the starting line was better prepared this evening despite the high track temps. Chris won in the first round running a 11.126 @ 118.82 with a .023 reaction time at a density altitude of 2473 feet. In the second round we cut it too fine when the car dead hooked and pulled the front wheels out of the beams (decreased roll out) and we redlighted with a -.004 reaction time ending our evening. After this race, Chris was 14th in the points at Pacific Raceways tied with defending Super Pro track champion, Fred Hoffman. We'll be taking next weekend off as Pacific Raceways will be hosting the Shuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals, July 20-22. The schedule for televised coverage is available at: 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series television schedule We will try our new merge collectors our next time out hoping for some performance improvement. Lack of test & tunes due to inclement weather early in the season put us behind schedule this season.
14 July 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest Paul took the Pontiac out again this evening but experienced some difficulties during the second time hit when the battery cut-off switch failed shutting the car off during the burnout. After repairs, Paul he was able to make the first round and recorded a 13.472 @ 96.97 MPH on the brakes (13.20 dial-in) but was nipped at the finish line ending his evening. We have some work to do on the Tempest over the coming winter to make it more competitive and reliable.
28 July 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon Prior to heading out to the track, we installed our new merge collectors by Performance Welding Racing Headers. This is the one change that actually brought improvement this year picking us up by approximately .06 seconds. On the first time hit leaving at 6,000 RPMs we turned the tires hard on the starting line and ran a 11.113 @ 118.83 MPH at a density altitude of 2126 feet. We then lowered the leave to 5800 for our second time run and recorded a 11.088 @ 119.11 MPH. The merge collectors, as advertised, appeared to broaden the torque curve in the motor. In the first round Chris recorded a .011 reaction time and got on the brakes hard near the finish line running a 11.078 @ 118.51 on a 11.03 dial-in to take the win. In the second round we failed to run the number when we recorded a 11.125 on a 11.04 dial-in. We were puzzled at the time but our VDO playback tach gave us vital information showing the engine only reached 5500 RPM when the trans brake released 300 RPM short of our desired launch RPM thus bogging the motor. Chris was either a little late getting the engine RPM up or we are having a problem with the torque converter. We'll know more this coming weekend.
4 August 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon This evening we went home early losing in the first round when Chis left slightly early with a -.008 reaction time running a 11.077 @ 119.49 MPH.
11 August 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon Tonight was the last bracket points race at Pacific Raceways for this season and we were hoping to have a strong finish. Once again consistency plagued us and we broke out in the first round at a density altitude of 1361 feet running a pretty strong 11.032 @ 119.33 MPH on a 11.08 dial-in. Predicting a dial-in this year has been a real struggle. In 2006 we could predict what the car would run within a few thousandths of a second. This season if we get within four-hundredths we've been lucky despite the fact we have been running with our 2006 tune-up for most of the season. The problem is not the engine but somewhere in the transmission, converter and/or tires. This winter we will be rebuilding the engine and taking a very close look at all components behind the engine. Chris finished tied with Randy Winkler for 16th spot at Pacific Raceways this season in Super Pro with 260 points.
17 - 19 August 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '57 Chev This was scheduled as a three-day event hosted by Bucky Austin as "Bucky's Nostalgia Race" at Pacific Raceways. Unfortunately Mother Nature did not cooperate late Saturday & Sunday and prevented finishing the race but we made some excellent time runs on Friday & Saturday. In June of this year we had the '57 out and ran a best of 10.841 with the car set up pretty loose for maximum weight transfer. Following that race we tightened the front shocks and travel limiters and lowered the wheelie bars to make the car more manageable. These adjustments paid off and in similar air on Friday on a very well prepared track at Pacific we rolled off the trailer and recorded a 10.690 @ 125.38 MPH leaving the starting line at 7800 RPM in the left lane. We then switched to the right lane and recorded a 10.658 @ 125.11 MPH at a density altitude of 1660 feet and parked it for the day. These two runs are the quickest the '57 has ever run in those air conditions and we were delighted with the results! It takes an excellent track surface, good tires & correct clutch setup for the '57 to run that quick which requires a very tight chassis setup to accomplish. If the track isn't good, we can't run those numbers. On Friday night they ran the jet cars which leave a fuel residue on the track surface. This was evident on Saturday morning when we got a bit crossed up leaving the starting line and ran a 10.780 @ 124.59 MPH. We then lowered the launch to 7600 RPM and raised the wheelie bars slightly. We then recorded a 10.704 @ 124.89 MPH in the right lane, and then returned to the left lane to run a 10.758 @ 124.68. Unfortunately the rains came and washed out the event but we were very happy to run 10.60s once again. We haven't done that since May 6th, 2001 ! I want to thank Carl at Pacific Raceways who was very busy prepping the track. Before the jets ran it was the best surface we have run on in years! Had the density altitude been ideal on Friday the old car would have ran in the 10.50s with 134 runs on the engine ! This likely is our last race for either car this year, and the engine in the Chevelle needs to be looked at this winter. My personal thanks to my family for their love and support throughout a wet weekend, but we had fun and enjoyed talking with the fans at the track, seeing the jets cars, old funny cars including Gordie Bonin's old Bubble-Up Pacemaker which was crewed by Roland Leong this weekend and driven by Terry Capps and ran 255 MPH on Friday night. Then there were those awesome nitro bikes. Those riders are crazy going over 200 MPH on a bike with their front wheels off the ground until the finish line !!!! One rider bailed from his bike in the lights at 198 MPH but was reportedly unharmed while the bike was totaled. Not for me!
21 August 2007 - 2007 Statistics Compare:
28 October 2007 - Pacific Raceways - '66 Pontiac Tempest This weekend, Torri ran her Tempest in Sportsman bracket at the annual Pumpkin' Drags at Pacific. She lost in the first round when she turned the tree red with a -.005 light and recorded a 13.225 @ 102.47 MPH. Prior to this race, the 12-bolt posi rearend was gone thru by Bill Scribner replacing all the stock internals with a 35-spline Moser spool & axles, C-clip eliminator kit, and he reinforced the stock housing.
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2006
19 Mar 2006 - '71 Chevelle Wagon This Sunday was the first outing for Chris in the wagon this season at Pacific Raceways for a test & tune session. This was also the first time out using the delay box and we are happy with the initial results. Here are the numbers in run order: 1.454 ------ 4.413 ------ 6.924 ------ 9.120 ------- 97.25 --- 10.995 -- 119.65 -- Lowered shift points 200 rpm 1.465 ------ 4.391 ------ 6.882 ------ 9.064 ------- 97.89 --- 10.925 -- 120.68 -- Changed to 1.6 rockers on exhausts 1.451 ------ 4.394 ------ 6.885 ------ 9.062 ------- 98.03 --- 10.917 -- 121.02 The last two runs were our quickest and fastest for the air conditions to date. We believe we are ready for the National Open at Pacific Raceways in April.
28 Apr - 30 Apr 2006 - National Open - '71 Chevelle Wagon
This weekend was the Season Opener at Pacific Raceways and our first race in Super Pro. We got three time runs on Friday and one on Saturday before heavy showers came and cancelled the remaining sessions. On Sunday morning we awoke to unusually cool weather with optimal horsepower and track conditions. All of us dialed-in for the first round on Sunday morning not knowing exactly what our cars would run in this outstanding air. When we went down the track the corrected altitude was -324 feet ! We dialed-in with a 10.90 knowing the car would lay over in high gear with our carb jetting and like all others, hoped we were close. Chris was paired with Howard Esping with identical 10.90s. This was a heads-up race! Chris barely redlighted with a negative .012 reaction time and drove the wagon thru the top end for data in these unknown air conditions and recorded a new personal best of 10.854 @ 121.17 MPH. Unfortunately we gave this round away when Howard cut a bad light with a .160 reaction time. While we all hate to lose in the first round, Chris did an excellent job of hitting his shift points on every run giving us some excellent data from -324 feet to 1820 feet with this tune-up in the car. He also recorded two excellent reaction times back-to-back of .004 and .009. We just cut it a little too fine in the first round and are certainly looking forward to our next race at Bremerton Raceways!
Tribute to Ronnie Sox... by By John Jodauga, National DRAGSTER
24 June - 25 June 2006 - National Open Runner-up - '71 Chevelle Wagon This past Saturday, June 24th, Chris and Paul did an outstanding job and runner-up'd in Super Pro at the National Open at Bremerton Raceways with our '71 Chevelle !! I was out of town for my Vietnam Air Cav reunion (and had a wonderful time) and can't take any of the credit! Chris made it to the final round after winning five earlier rounds, including a couple double breakout wins. He ran a 10.974 in the final on a 10.90 dial-in. He lifted just a tad early and his opponent took the stripe. Throughout the weekend he cut some very consistent and outstanding lights! Some of the Top Comp guys were not very happy about a "bracket car" putting them on the trailer.
Bremerton, National Open June 24, 2006 Super Pro Results: Runner-up: Chris Young, G603, Seattle, WA, 71 Chevelle Wagon, .004 Reaction Time, 10.90 Dial In, 10.974 sec, 115.23 mph [on brakes] Semi: Jim Bruns, 6352, Silverdale, WA, 69 Camaro, .066 Reaction Time, 10.07 Dial In, 10.048 sec, 132.39 mph Semi: Bill Maness, A666, Vancouver, WA, .025 Reaction Time, 10.61 Dial In, 10.586 sec, 124.27 mph On Sunday there was another National Open race and Chris lost in the third round when the car somehow barely redlighted despite the fact the 60' time had slowed to 1.483 in the heat of the day. We're still not sure what happened in that round but were very pleased with the weekend results. Chris was in 8th place in the 2006 Division 6 National Open Points Chase following this event.
7 July - 9 July 2006 - Divisional Race, Woodburn, Oregon - '71 Chevelle Wagon Chris cut the better light but lost a very close first-round race when he broke-out by .002 seconds running a 11.018 on a 11.02 dial-in. Judging an opponent who is closing with a 50 MPH advantage is impossible to say the least! Despite the hot weather and very hot starting line (144-degree track temp on Saturday afternoon), the wagon produced good horsepower throughout the weekend averaging 120.59 MPH over five runs. Due to the high track temps, 60-foot times were understandably somewhat slower during this event. The wagon was running 008-.010 seconds off its normal 60-foot times throughout the weekend.
12 August 2006 - Pacific Raceways - '57 Chev Well the '57 was still sitting around this year in one piece, so we pressed our luck on the engine run count and decided to take it out for a little spin this season. Prior to this outing we took 200# of pressure out of the clutch and still lit the tires up in the first qualifying hit recording a 10.920 @ 124.24 mph in the left lane. We dialed a 10.90 for the first round, picked the right lane and caught my slower opponent shortly after hitting high gear, lifted and still went too quick with a 10.824 at 120.36 mph. Looking at the incremental data we would have run a 10.79 at 124+ mph. Not too shabby for an engine with 123 hits on it! Our night ended early but it was sure fun to roll the shifter once again this season!!!
19 August - 20 August 2006 - Bremerton Raceways - '71 Chevelle Wagon This weekend we ran our '71 Chevelle wagon at Bremerton Raceways in the Electronic Shootout category with an abundance of top notch dragsters & roadsters in the field. On Saturday in the first round our opponent redlighted and Chris ran the car thru recording a 11.036 on a 11.04 dial-in @ 119.56 MPH. In the second round we recorded a perfect 11.040 on a 11.04 dial-in, in the third round we recorded a 11.025 on a 11.02 dial-in. In the fourth round Chris cut an awesome .003 light but we broke out going too quick with a 10.989 on a 11.01 dial-in. We're still trying to analyze how the car picked up that much with only an improvement of 100 feet of corrected altitude compared to the previous round ! On Sunday we lost in the 1st round when our 330' time went away and the wagon skated coming off the staring line in the hot afternoon sun falling off the pace with a 11.074 on a 11.03 dial-in. [We later learned we had damaged the lifter and cam lobe on #1 exhaust]. Chris had the advantage on the starting line by .017 seconds and lost by a mere .0092 seconds against a beautiful dragster running 7.608 @ 172.87 MPH. Now that's some major muscle! Throughout both days of eliminations Chris gave us a starting line advantage with his excellent reaction times! I'm very proud to say this year Chris has a win/loss record of 5-1 while facing a dragster in Super Pro. Chris has done very well in his first year with the delay box and Paul has been doing an outstanding job picking our dial-ins. I am a very proud Papa!
7 September - Breaking the Big MPH Myth Many fellow racers thought we had gone batty to run our small-block '71 Chevelle wagon in Super Pro this past year stating the need for high MPH to succeed in the Super categories. That's the myth anyway. Yes, there is an advantage to having the quicker car in bracket racing. The slower car that always leaves first has the first opportunity to red light (foul). But let's be realistic, there is no way we can make a heavy door car with a small-block run 175 MPH. Even if possible it certainly would not be practical. The trend in the past years has been to run increasingly larger displacement engines that are now available in a light chassis to have the big MPH as you approach the finish line to judge your opponent as you catch them. The reality is a dragster running 175 MPH catching our 120 MPH wagon cannot judge the closing distance any better than we can judge them! Our wagon is one of the slowest cars in Super Pro yet we had great success against the very well prepared and much quicker and faster dragsters this past season. We were successful because Chris cut excellent lights, the combination in our Chevelle was very consistent and most importantly, predictable, and Paul picked excellent dial-ins from the data we have collected over a broad range of atmospheric and track conditions. Bracket racing still comes down to cutting a competitive light and running your number, regardless if that number is a number you pick as your dial-in or an E.T. dictated by the category you run such as 10.90 (Super Street), 9.90 (Super Gas) or 8.90 (Super Comp). All are a form of bracket racing which has become very competitive in the past few years as the equipment and drivers have markedly improved. We have proved if you run your race you can be competitive without the big MPH.
18 September 2006 - 2006 '71 Chevelle Statistics
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2005
13 Feb 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon This Sunday was the first outing for the Chris in the wagon at Pacific Raceways for a test & tune session. Despite the cold weather and green track, the wagon with the new trans brake hooked extremely hard, carrying the front wheels for approximately 20 feet by the end of the day after a jetting change and some chassis & wheelie bar adjustments. Here are the numbers in run order: - 1.541 ----- 4.625 ---- 7.221 ----- 9.483 ------- 94.130 --- 11.414 -- 116.060 - 1.510 ----- 4.499 ---- 7.063 ----- 9.306 ------- 95.210 --- 11.224 -- 117.100 - 1.508 ----- 4.478 ---- 7.063 ----- 9.304 ------- 95.410 --- 11.217 -- 117.540 - 1.462* --- 4.443* --- 6.997 ----- 9.228 ------- 95.770 --- 11.133 -- 118.000 - 1.469 ----- 4.444 ---- 6.996 ----- 9.230 ------- 95.780 --- 11.142 -- 117.490 * Wagon new record We were happy with how the chassis worked, but less then satisfied with the engine performance on the top end of the track. Before our next outing, we will install a larger camshaft with hopes of improving our ET & MPH.
Our thanks to Barry Hobson for installing the Hughes trans brake in our TH-400 transmission. It worked flawlessly on its first outing.
20 Feb 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon & Chris Run First 10s! Prior to this test & tune session, we installed a larger camshaft from our 327 - Lunati RRA-317-334 - and shortened our header tube length 2". The engine responded very favorably with the following numbers in run order: -1.467 ----- 4.432 ---- 6.952 ---- 9.152 ------- 97.020 --- 11.030 -- 119.430 -1.460 ----- 4.400 ---- 6.903 ---- 9.093 ------- 97.520 --- 10.961 -- 120.190 (1) -1.464 ----- 4.384 ---- 6.882 ---- 9.069 ------- 97.570 --- 10.932 -- 120.550 -1.456* --- 4.364* --- 6.851* --- 9.034* ----- 98.080* - 10.898* - 122.210* * Wagon new record Footnotes: We are pleased, the tunnel-ram combination is now coming together! Looking closely at the engine after the testing session, "we have every reason to believe we can get even more power out of the 350 before the opener at Pacific Raceways," stated Roger Young, crew chief & tuner of the wagon. Roger added, "The entire crew has worked very hard putting this new combination together. It has allowed us to start using knowledge gathered from years of data collected from our '57, and we intend to put that knowledge to good use. Chris is doing an excellent job driving the car on a cold track and adjusting to the many changes after a year layoff. Once he gets on his game, I believe he and the wagon will be force to contend with."
6 March 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon Prior to this outing, we advanced the camshaft 2 degrees and slightly richened the air/fuel mixture. We soon learned the engine preferred the tune-up we had in it on 20 February, dipping back into running 11.0's, but since this was the first race at Pacific Raceways (non points), we elected to leave the cam timing where it was at the track. In the first round, Chris cut an outstanding .018 light and won easily only pushing the wagon hard enough to get around the competition, recording a 11.08 on a 11.04 dial-in @ 110.81 MPH. In the second round, Chris red-lighted with a -.050 light, and ran the car through for data recording a 11.026 @ 121.25 MPH on a 11.00 dial-in. The great mystery in this round was that our 60' time slowed to 1.485 despite no sign of tire spin in our video and excellent track conditions! We'll be putting our earlier tune-up back in the car for the next race.
22-24 April 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon - Pacific Raceways This past weekend, Chris drove our '71 Chevelle wagon at the season opener (a National Open race) at Pacific Raceways. Chris lost in the first round on Sunday when he turned the tree red by a mere -.007 seconds, running an 11.16 on a 11.11 dial-in. Fuel slosh in the V-bowls apparently caused a misfire at the end of 1st gear slowing the car slightly despite having modified carb floats. We need to investigate this problem further. Chris felt bad about the first-round loss but it happens to all of us. I remember losing in the final round at Mission a few years back, cutting a -.004 light while my competition was late with a +.156. In other news, Gary Putman made it to the 3rd round of our bracket before losing. Kudos to Jeff & Tom Warnke who were very pleased with the performance upgrade of their Nova with Air Flow heads, recording 10.60s during the weekend with their Clyde prepared small-block. With some rear suspension work and larger slicks their Nova could easily run 10.40s to 10.50s! It was a long weekend at Pacific as weather conditions impacted the racing program for racers and spectators alike. On Sunday we were called to the lanes at 0930 and did not get our first pass of eliminations until nearly 1300 (1 pm). For me personally, I enjoyed spending time with with my friend and former Modified Production racer, Terry Kelly. Terry drove me up to the starting line in his golf cart on Saturday where we had a front row seat for the Comp cars. Watching those like Hancock & Lane, Frank Nelson and other "old" Division 6 racers is never boring for me! THANKS TERRY! As for our '57, we have a complete Strange 9" center section with 6.00 gears coming our direction. We'll save the old center section with the 5.86 gears which are in excellent condition for a back-up unit. We hope to have the '57 out to Pacific Raceways one Saturday night in May.
14 May 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon - Pacific Raceways This weekend the wagon was much more consistent as we apparently (knock on wood) have resolved the fuel slosh problems we had been experiencing with the tunnel-ram with V-bowl carburetors. On three hits, the wagon ran 11.138, 11.108 & 11.124 and we hope to tighten that spread in the future. Chris cut excellent lights in the two qualifying sessions recording .030 and .028 respectively. However he was again a bit early in the first round with a -.010 to end his evening but he is becoming more comfortable with the trans brake. We can now make some minor chassis adjustments to give Chris a little more cushion on the tree during eliminations. In other news, Jeff & Tom Warnke after changing to radial slicks, pushed their Nova into the 10.40s this race! We hope to get our '57 out next time!
28 May 2005 - '57 Chev - Pacific Raceways This Saturday night was our first outing for the '57 and myself this year. In air that was 2600-2200 feet and in 80 degree weather, we ran two runs of 10.920 @ 122.78 mph followed by a 10.934 @ 122.78 mph in the first round. We were looking for the '57 to pick up the pace slightly in the first round and raised our launch rpm, spun the tires just off the starting line and lost a close one to our West Seattle neighbor, Gary Putnam, by a margin of victory of .0243 seconds when Gary cut a better light. The good news is Gary went on to the 5th round before being eliminated and picked up some valuable points for himself. We will be making some slight tuning changes as we are adjusting the '57 to the VP fuel and I need to work on my reaction times!
18-19 June 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon - Bremerton Raceways This was a two-day race and our first time out to Bremerton this year. On Saturday, Chris was eliminated in the third round of the 'cash bash.' The wagon also recorded a new personal best 60' time of 1.442 secs. on the first hit of the day. On Sunday, he was eliminated in the first round when he was a tad late on the tree, but the wagon ran a 11.089 on a 11.08 dial-in. Not bad considering the density altitude was 2500 feet! This weekend the wagon ran very consistent and we are getting a handle on the dial-ins and thanks to our new VDO playback tach have additional data that will benefit our program in the future!
25-26 June 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon - Bremerton Raceways This was a two-day National Open at Bremerton. On Saturday, Chris was eliminated in the second round running a 11.017 on a 11.02 dial-in at 120.59 mph. On Sunday, he won the first round before the rain came running a 11.013 on a 11.00 dial-in at 120.51 mph. This race has been rescheduled for August 27th. This weekend Chris and the wagon ran extremely consistent recording their final three passes of 11.017, 11.016 & 11.013 respectively over a wide range of density altitudes. This is what we have been looking for! Not only were we more consistent, we also picked up the car by .045 secs. and gained 1 MPH over the previous weekend in nearly identical air with minor jet changes by closely looking at the data we have collected over this season. For next season, Chris has some plans to take a few pounds off the wagon, and reduce the brake drag inherent with the factory front disc brakes to pick up the performance in the car, just in case he decides to run a few races in S/ST.
9 July 2005 - '57 Chev - Pacific Raceways We went out this night as a Test & Tune for our annual trip north to Mission Raceway for their Nostalgia race. In the first qualifying hit we ran the 750 carbs off the wagon and experienced a fuel slosh problem off the starting line so we went back to our reliable 660s and recorded a 10.87 @ 123.91 mph with our old 5.83 rear gears. We drew Richard Smith in the first round and ran a 10.885 on a 10.85 dial-in and narrowly lost by a mere .0095 seconds. Unfortunately for us on this run our old ignition misfire gremlins which also impact the tach [see our post-race report of 2 Aug 04] resurfaced during the water burnout which persisted until I hit high gear. Following a long, detailed discussion with MSD, we both feel that somehow the electric cooling fan motor might be the culprit. It was right after we installed the cooling fan that the misfire gremlins invaded the '57! Yes, we run a electric cooling fan on our wagon with no problems but from a different manufacturer. Hopefully we can solve the problem prior to Mission.
30 & 31 July 2005 - '57 Chev - Mission Raceway Park This weekend we headed north to Mission Raceway, BC to run the annual Langley Loafers Old Time Drags. The good news is our misfire gremlin has left the car most likely attributed to a faulty battery cut-off switch that had momentary opens when subjected to vibration. We also did away with our radiator cooling fan prior to this race as suggested by MSD in case that was the problem. Chris also manufactured and installed a shielded harness to the tach. Whatever the cause for the misfire, it has vanished for the moment! The bad news is the high track temperatures greatly attributed to poor traction conditions at Mission [the track was later resurfaced in Oct '05] leading to some very interesting passes for our old Shoebox despite our best efforts to loosen the suspension and soften the launch RPM from 7600 to a record low 7000 RPM. To give you an idea of the track conditions in the first round of eliminations we recorded an all-time worst 1.583 60-foot time. Last time out at Pacific Raceways in similar heat the car ran 1.444. However, the problem was not just on the launch pad - we turned the tires thru the first four gears using much of the lane on the tricky Mission surface. New hides under the back of the car would have certainly improved the situation! In the first round of eliminations we ran a 10.907 @ 124.10 MPH (strong enough MPH to normally run 10.70s) on a 10.90 dial-in at a corrected altitude of 2394 feet. Unfortunately we once again turned the tires hard on the starting line and the eventual winner Wayne Kauk from Everett, WA. who cut an outstanding .013 light against me took the stripe! Wayne drove extremely well thru eliminations and deserved the win. W - Wayne Kauk, Everett, WA '64 Falcon .056/12.70/12.719/101.74 RU - Paul Paprskar, Mt. Vernon WA, '64 Dodge .039/11.15/11.217/118.53 Jeff & Tom Warnke came to Mission with us with their hard chargin' '69 Nova and recorded a 10.37 on their first qualifying run in Street Machine B. Jeff also spun the tires on the starting line even with new hides on the car. On their second hit on Saturday, Jeff staged the Nova, placed it on the chip on the trans brake and the car didn't move when he released the trans brake (broken sprag). Chris & Jeff drove all the way back to Seattle to pick up our used TH-350. Unfortunately after a combined thrash under the lights on Saturday, we learned the ultra-bell on our transmission hit their flexplate ending their weekend, but the young men (Jeff, Chris & Paul) didn't give up without a valiant effort which made both father's proud! Our good friend, Howard Williamson, lost high gear in his transmission on Saturday in his 9-second blown Street Roadster ending his weekend also. Despite the above, we did have a good time and once again enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Langley Loafers and the staff at Mission Raceway Park. Sharing the weekend with Jeff, Tom, Howard and my wonderful family always makes the trip north very enjoyable! For more on the 2005 Old Time Drags at Mission Raceway Park, please see: For a short video by Larry Pfister of Horsepower Heaven that features our '57 at this event, please see the "Streaming highlight video" on the Mission page above! This ended the season for our '57 which will be parked next year to go thru the engine, which is badly in need of some preventive maintenance after 120 passes. Our reliable Ram pressure plate also has 71 hits with no problems. For the remainder of the season we'll be focusing on Chris and our '71 Chevelle wagon. Be well,
9 August 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon Update Over this past weekend we installed the heavy-duty Wilwood disc brake kit on the front of the wagon, and replaced the factory power brake booster and master cylinder with a manual Mopar unit. Total weight savings was 42 lbs. and the Wilwood brakes will reduce the drag of the factory discs. The Wilwood kit was truly a bolt-on project with excellent instructions. We were required to make a push-rod for the Mopar master cylinder - the one provided being approximately 1" too short for this car. We also modified the carb floats on our 750s again after trying these carbs earlier on our '57 and once again experiencing fuel starvation at the end of 1st gear. Solving fuel slosh in V-bowl carburetors mounted sideways is proving to be interesting!
27 August 2005 - '71 Chevelle Wagon - Bremerton Raceways This was the continuation of the National Open which was rained-out on June 26th. In the morning with the cloud cover the wagon recorded passes of 10.980 & 10.963 @ 120+ MPH. On the second qualifying hit of the morning, the wagon recorded its best-ever 60' time of 1.436 seconds. The Warnke's also had two exceptional qualifying runs of 10.23 & 10.24 (new personal best) @ 128+ MPH hiking the front wheels high on those two passes. Then the cloud cover lifted, temps quickly rose, and the excellent traction disappeared. Chris won the second round running a 11.048 on a 11.02 dial-in running the car thru when his opponent redlighted by -.040. Jeff Warnke also won the 2nd round with a close double breakout victory! Both teams were in the hunt! Then the race ended for both teams with a giant thud. Neither team heard the call for the 3rd round and the race for us was over without firing a shot...we had found a new way to lose. This marked the end of our 2005 season. In review, we were happy with the performance and consistency improvements we made with the wagon this year but less than satisfied with our driving this season. Speaking for myself, the past two seasons driving the '57 I've lost repeatedly running on my dial-in but losing the round on the starting line. Hopefully we can turn it around in the future.
6 September 2005 - Indy Results Reversed: NHRA makes the correct decision NHRA - 9/6/05
19 September 2005 - 2005 Statistics
24 October 2005 - Mission Resurfaced We're happy to report that Mission Raceway is resurfacing their track to the 1/8 mile! See photos courtesy of Horsepower Heaven.
4 November 2005 - Winter Goals During the off season we'll be working on the wagon replacing valve springs, timing belt and new tires all around. We made excellent progress this past season making the wagon consistent and predictable. We'll try a slight cam-timing change initially, followed by trying 1.6 rockers on the exhaust - clearance permitting - to see if that would be advantageous in early 2006 testing (it could hurt the torque), but otherwise our tune-up will remain virtually unchanged. Chris has managed to get some more weight out of the wagon over the winter. It now weighs 3637 lbs. compared to 3711 at the start of the '05 season. We have also decided to take a stab running the wagon in Super Pro. Chris has installed a Biondo delay box. The hope is to be more consistent on the lights triggering from the top bulb. Like many cars, sometimes you get stuck between lights making it difficult to cut a consistent reaction time. However, being one of the slower cars in Super Pro will not be advantageous and we'll need to rely on our data to choose dial-in's closely. The '57, as stated elsewhere, will be down for engine maintenance for '06. It needs a fresh set of rods, rings, timing belt, valve springs and valve grind plus new slicks before it hits the track once again. We were pleased on how the '57 ran towards the end of the '05 season. Unfortunately, maintenance is required on the old reliable 327 (331). We wish you all well and hope to see you next season!
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2004
1 May 2004 - '57 Chev This Saturday was our first time out this season, and our first passes down the new track surface at Pacific Raceways. I'm happy to report the track was in excellent condition despite the unseasonable warm weather, and the starting line was excellent! Pacific Raceway's personnel also conducted one of the smoothest programs I have personally experienced at this facility in years. Good job guys! Our jetting was a little rich for the weather conditions, but we stayed with the setup and adjusted the dial-ins accordingly. In the third round I left with my best reaction time of the evening with a .010 light, recording a 10.745 @ 124.49 mph to take the win light. Unfortunately, electrical problems kept "the ol' heap" - as John Force would say - from making the 4th round. All in all, a good evening for our first outing of 2004. This was also my first experience with the new LEDs on the Christmas Tree, and as always, my personal thanks to my crew for a job well done! Gary Putman was upset in the 1st round when he broke-out. Jeff Warnke made it to the third round before being eliminated. 2 August 2004 - '57 Chev Well, it was off to Mission Raceways in British Columbia this past weekend for the annual Langley Loafers Nostalgia race. Sometimes you conquer problems, sometimes you don't ! The high-rpm ignition misfire that has plagued us in our last three outings continued, despite a concerted effort to locate the gremlin including using waveform patterns, resistance checks, voltage drop tests, garlic and anything else we could think of before the race and at the track on Saturday and Sunday morning. We replaced the entire ignition, rewired the ignition system including ignition switch, distributor, MSD 7AL2 box, coil, cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, even disconnected the alternator, tried a different battery, tach - the list is endless.... We did mangage to win the first round running exactly on my dial-in, but opted to pull out of the competition with the engine shooting ducks on the starting line and down the track to evaluate the problem in depth. How the '57 ran a 10.88 running so poorly, and without the use of a tach (it was wiggin out above 7,000 rpm's) escapes me! Despite all this madness, we only missed qualifying for the quick-eight in Street Classic by .09 - seconds. We believe we found the problem late Sunday afternoon after the race, which the MSD tech department also confirmed as the likely cause on Monday afternoon following a phone call upon returning home. If, after incorporating a couple suggested MSD updates the gremlin is excised, we'll give a full report to help others avoid this particular frustration! Our congratulations to Howard Williamson for making it to the money rounds to the semi-finals in Street Rod "B" with his blown, 9-second roadster. We met Howard at Mission back in 2001 and have remained in contact ever since. Most importantly, Howard has solved the handling problem that almost put him into the wall at Mission some weeks back. Congratulations Howard! We always enjoy your friendship! The blown Gasser show was again excellent, and there was only one oil-down throughout the weekend. As usual, the staff at Mission did an excellent job and the hospitality by the Langley Loafers was warm and friendly! 7 August 2004 - '57 Chev After incorporating the two updates suggested by MSD, we took the '57 out to Pacific Raceways to confirm the results. It was clear during the burnout that the ignition problem had been corrected, and I recorded a 10.78 @ 124.40 mph with a .038 reaction time. We could have easily ran 10.60's at Mission had we located the problem. Being this was our last outing for the '57 this season, we went out to confirm our ignition problems were corrected and just have some fun. I put Chris in the driver's seat for the second time-run hit and first round of eliminations. The first time pulling the levers on a 5-speed, Chris made an easy pass at 11.22 @ 122.27 mph with a .028 reaction time! Not bad for jumping from an 3-speed automatic into a 5-speed clutch car! He stepped on it a bit in the 1st round of eliminations, recording a 11.04 @ 123.88 mph leaving a bit early with a -.011 light! We certainly had a good time and Chris truly enjoyed the chance to drive the '57, and I'm proud of him! "It's a much more difficult car to drive then our wagon, dad!" Indeed it is, but truly a blast! Now, regarding the misfire discussed in our previous report, if you run a MSD system we suggest you install the 8862 shielded magnetic pickup harness, and the 8830 RF filter when using a 7AL-2 ignition box to help filter any unstable voltage to your Two-Step rev control or other electronic accessories. In our case, as we improved the battery voltage, the primary voltage to the coil increased and induced a false signal into the magnetic pickup wires, creating a false signal to the ignition box. It is also suggested by MSD to twist the magnetic pickup wires coming out of the distributor (or crank trigger sensor) to further help cancel any voltage induced signal and keeping the pickup harness as far away from any other voltage source as possible. We hope this helps others! We also offer our congratulations to Gary Putnam with his Chevy-powered Pontiac, making it to the final round this evening and narrowly missing the win! With this outing, Gary is basically assured a spot on Pacific Raceway's Pro-bracket team to represent PR at Mission this season! That's two years in a row that Gary has made the team with the 400 small-block designed by us. Update: As of August 15th, Gary was #5 in the PR points standings this season! Gary Putman runs first 10!
Gary of Westside Imports recorded his first 10-second pass in his Pontiac at Bremerton Raceway on April 11, 2004. Gary runs a 400 Chev low compression, small-block designed by Young Racing Engines. Gary recorded a 10.977 @ 122.46 mph with a 1.515 sixty-foot time after freshening the engine over the winter after 200 trouble-free passes and installing lower rear gears. The following weekend Gary recorded a even quicker 10.94 pass at Pacific Raceways after averaging 11.20's @ 118 mph last season. After a slight jetting change, On the morning of April 25th at PR, Gary ran a 10.83 @ 123+ mph in good air! Update: Gary finished #5 in the Pro-bracket points at Pacific Raceways this season. Congratulations to Gary!
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The Dale Williams Project 17 Nov 02: Well, after 14 years, today marks the day that Dale Williams' '70 Chevelle S/S fired after all these years. Dale purchased this Chevelle when he was 18 years-old. We thank Dale for his patience in the 402 Chev motor we built with mild compression and a hydraulic roller cam for street/bracket racing use. His engine should put out at least 550 hp and approximately 540 ft. lbs of torque as built. Dale's Chevelle is a factory 4-speed car with numbers-matching block, heads & crankshaft. Probe supplied the pistons and rods, Childs & Albert provides the ring seal. ARP fasteners were used throughout the engine. A Holley Strip-Dominator manifold (no longer produced) and 750 double-pumper carb makes up the induction system. MSD distributes & lights the fuel. The exhaust is routed thru Hooker Supercomp headers and Flowmaster Deltaflow 3-chamber mufflers. Behind the engine is a SFI approved aluminum flywheel. A Ram pressure-plate and disc with a Lakewood scattershield, couples the power thru a Super T-10Y gearbox to the freshened 12-bolt Chev posi-rearend using Yukon axles. The 4.56 gears were retained because they were in excellent condition, but 4.11's would be more realistic since the hydraulic-roller cam limits the engine to 6,000 rpms. It was very encouraging for all involved to hear the Chevelle run again. Some said it never would! Oh ye of little faith! Stainless Steel Brake manufactured the bolt-on small-diameter brake booster to clear the tall valve covers required for the stud girdle. Update: On Oct 12th 2003, Dale ventured out for his first street cruise with his Chevelle which is now again licensed and insured! And YES, this Young Racing Engines small big block makes plenty of power and torque and revs like a small-block! Congratulations Dale! It's been enjoyable helping you!
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2003
2 November 2003 - Chevelle wagon Well folks, Chris got the 350 engine pulled from the wagon and we got it torn down today after 116 passes. It was good timing for the teardown. All the bearings and SCAT crankshaft looked excellent! The flame travel in the engine was also very good - especially for a single 4-bbl manifold. However, we discovered some coolant in #6 cylinder. A preliminary inspection indicated the coolant is coming from around the steel intake valve seat in the aluminum head. The compression ring was ruined and the intake valve seat was badly pitted just below where the coolant was coming from. There also was slight water damage to the upper end of the cylinder wall which we can thankfully clean with a light hone. The piston itself was not damaged. The cylinder walls showed no shadows thanks to the block filler and there was minimal scuffing to the cylinder bores or piston skirts. Except for the coolant damage in #6 cylinder, the engine was in excellent condition.
2 & 3rd August 2003 - Mission Raceway - '57 Chev This weekend we raced the '57 at the annual Langley Loafers Nostalgia race at Mission Raceways, B.C. We qualified #6 in Street Classic with a 10.764 run on Sunday morning to once again make the quick-eight for their Street Classic A bracket. In the first round I gave it away with a red-light while running a 10.78 on a 10.78 dial-in. This year Jeff and his father Tom Warnke also brought their '69 Nova north to Mission for the very first time. They ran their Nova in Street Machine B and made it to the semi-finals before Jeff lost a close round running a 11.28 on a 11.26 dial-in on the brakes hoping to push his competition, who had an advantage on the starting line, out on the top end.
As usual, a good time was had by all at Mission this weekend. The race featured A & AA/Gas coupes which put on a great show during the weekend. For pictures of the Mission race courtesy of Horsepower Heaven, please see: Our '57 is featured on the top of page 2 following the Gas coupes on page 1. We thank the Langley Loafers and Mission Raceway for their usual warm hospitality! We learned this season that the new camshaft does make more mid-range torque then our old cam, but is harder to hook and gives up approx. .05 seconds in high-gear compared to our old camshaft. Final Point Standings for the Division 6 National Open Series: On another note because of his fine outing at Bremerton, Chris finished 10th in the Division Six's National Open points in Pro-bracket this season with our Chevelle wagon! Considering Chris only entered one National Open this season, finishing tenth overall is a job very well done! 2. 1 Martin Rachel 226 3. 6265 Darrin Eby 225 4. 6862 John Korfiatis 214 5. B652 Ray Bollinger 136 6. J600 Sherry Barnett 135 7. K643 Mike Montoney 134 7. H682 Doug O'Conner 134 9. 6104 Brad Plourd 120 10. G603 Chris Young 113 FEATURED VIDEO: '57 at Mission, BC, 2003 - Langley Loafers race Professional video taken by Larry Pfister of Horsepower Heaven for us at Mission, B.C. in 2003 at the Langley Loafers race. We were in "Street Classic" at this event and this video will show you how chassis adjustments alone can pick up your car. We rattled the tires in the first run and only recorded a 10.93. We had to increase the front suspension travel, raise the wheelie bars and lower the launch RPMs. On the 2nd qualifying run, you'll see the car was pulling to the right and we adjusted the ladder bar preload following that run to make it go straight down the track. By the opening round on Sunday we ran a 10.78 on a 10.78 but unfortunately, I left the starting line a bit early! This Horsepower Heaven video was paid for by us, Edwards & Young Racing, which we want to share with our viewers! Enjoy! Note: This was with the 50132 Lunati cam and Hoosier slicks. It was a difficult combination to hook up!
28-29 June 2003 - Bremerton Raceway - Chevelle wagon This weekend Chris did a stellar job driving the wagon at National Open hosted at Bremerton Raceway. On Saturday he tested a larger BG carburetor on our 350 but the 25+ year-old Holley 830 we modified many years ago still has a slight edge.
On Sunday Chris "cut the tree down" advancing to the semi-finals (6th round) where he cut an excellent .509 light to Doug Conner's uncanny .501 light (.500 being perfect). Chris narrowly lost when he got there first but broke-out with an overall loss a mere 3-hundreths of a second running a 11.146 on a 11.19 dial-in (-0.044) while tapping the brakes in the lights at 117.170 mph. In the finals, Doug Conner with his '67 Camaro cut a .050 reaction time running a 10.626 on a 10.58 dial @ 125.27 mph to lose to the '85 Mustang of Sherry Barnett with her .061 reaction time and a run of 11.557 on a 11.55 dial-in @117.47 mph. Chris' worst light during eliminations was a .042 (aka .542) ! He averaged an excellent .019 throughout eliminations! In the second round, Chris also recorded a near-perfect .501 light which gave him the single in the third round. It was by far the best driving job Chris has put together to date and he narrowly missed collecting the $1,000 prize money! We'd love to re-run that semi-final again against Doug, or best 2 out of 3? Paul did an excellent job of selecting the dial-in's throughout the day which is required now to win in Division 6's Pro-bracket field of solid drivers with good equipment. As always, Torri did a fine job video taping the runs. The old man here just tunes the car before they go out and gets to sit back and watch the "kids" kick butt!
12 June 2003 - Pacific Raceways - '57 Chev
This evening I wheeled the '57 to the third round before red-lighting with a .475 reaction time in the right lane. During this event the '57 recorded times of 10.818, 10.842 (10.80 dial-in, lifted), 10.816 (10.81 dial-in) & 10.820 (10.79 dial-in). Post-race inspection indicates that with the new camshaft the engine is running slightly lean. With the new cam the car is a bit quicker to the 660 mark then our larger cam, but a bit slower in high gear - basically a toss-up!
Our clutch setup was right on the money and we're very pleased with our current chassis setup which greatly tamed the car down on the gear
changes.
My thanks to Chris, Paul, Pam & Torri for a job well done!
7 June 2003 - Pacific Raceways - Chevelle wagon
This day in 95 record degree heat, Chris took the Chevelle wagon out to PR. Despite the corrected altitude being in the neighborhood of the operational ceiling of a SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, the wagon ran 11.20's at 117+ mph in that heat.
Dad was helping Chris on the starting line where it was only a "balmy" 131 degrees, but that's cool compared to driving inside the car!
Chris was upset in the 2nd round when he had his lunch handed to him on the tree, but that's racing folks! After that round Chris and I drank about 2 gals of water, loaded up and headed home.
This coming weekend PR is hosting the Divisional race, so it will be two weeks before we're back out at PR. In the interim, we hope the hottest weather in June for the century has departed PR ! Two weeks ago it was in the 50's with rain almost every weekend! That's racing in the Northwest!
31 May 2003 - Pacific Raceways - Chevelle wagon
Chris took the Chevelle wagon out to PR this last past Saturday evening. He did well and made it to the 4th round before being eliminated. The wagon is performing very well and ran as Paul predicted over a broad range of atmospheric conditions
Below are the round-by-round stats:
1---------11.185-----11.16-----117.820-----Win
2---------11.187-----11.15-----115.390-----Win (On brakes)
3---------11.146-----11.14-----118.110-----Win
4---------11.127-----11.14-----118.680-----Lost The wagon will again compete at PR this Saturday evening weather permitting!
On a sad and more serious note, we learned that Jim McKelvey after battling major health issues passed away Friday, 30 May 2003. Our sincere condolences to his wife, Gail and his son Paul. Jim was the partner of Terry Kelly for years in Division 6 competing in Modified Production. Their cars are featured on our "Blasts from the Past."
Rest in Peace Jim... 10 May 2003 - Pacific Raceways - ' 57 Chev
We took the '57 out this Saturday for test & tune, and are delighted to report that our old 5-speed transmission is again alive and well.
We made two passes and recorded the following:
Not bad for having a new camshaft profile in the motor and running on very sticky Hoosier slicks for the first full pass. We learned we have too much clutch pressure in the car for the Hoosier's hiking the front wheels through the first four gears over-powering the wheelie bars which is a violent ride to say the least! We will soften our clutch pressure accordingly to not only settle the car down on the gear changes but also to free up the motor during the gear splits.
Jeff & Tom Warnke were back out this weekend and recorded personal bests in their Nova running 11.0's at over 119 mph before being eliminated in the quarter-finals. Kirk Hobson also ran personal bests (on gas alone) with his truck running consistently in the 10.20's.
26 & 27 April 2003 - Pacific Raceways - Chevelle wagon
Chris took the Chevelle wagon out this weekend on it's maiden runs for 2003 this weekend. On Saturday with a fresh Village Transmission TH-400, he recorded the following time runs between rain showers:
On Sunday he recorded the following in a time run:
In the first round of racing on Sunday, Chris recorded the following:
However, Chris left the starting line just a tad bit early with a -0.006 (.494) reaction time in the right lane ending his weekend.
We are pleased with the new TH-400 trans built by Village Transmission, and the new TCI torque converter. The Chevelle's 60-foot times were the most consistent to date! The car has picked up from last year when we were using a TH-350 transmission that lacked stamina and had also slowed the car down.
Jeff Warnke also suffered the same fate as Chris in the right lane, also barely red-lighting to loose in the first round in his Nova after recording several strong 118 mph personal best time runs. Jeff and his father Tom are making progress sorting out their new engine combination for 2003.
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2002 22 April 2002 - Pacific Raceways - Chevelle wagon Yesterday was the first time out for either car this season. Chris took the Chevelle wagon out and won the first two rounds at Pacific Raceways (formerly SIR) before light rains cancelled the event. We're hoping for spring weather to come to the area sometime in August. The wagon recorded it's best 60-foot time to date with a quick 1.505 secs. This is excellent for a heavy vehicle weighing 3661 lbs with driver! It's best pass yesterday was recorded in the 2nd round of eliminations: 660 feet: 6.997 secs 1000 feet: 9.222 secs E.T.: 11.119 secs @ 118.170 mph This was also the quickest pass the wagon has recorded in runs during a day race, vs night racing. This coming weekend - weather permitting - the wagon will be back out with Chris driving at Pacific Raceway's (PR) "season opener." We'll try a few changes during Saturday's "test & tune" session and Chris will be racing on Sunday. Chris is off to a fine start and carrying on where he left off at the end of last season! The '57 is ready to go also. We've installed new rear gears and are going to try Hoosier slicks for the first time. This particular Hoosier gives us 1/2" more of tread width and features a stiffer sidewall then the Goodyear's we've been running for years. The stiffer sidewall SHOULD be a benefit with the clutch car. The '57 is scheduled for some test runs on May 18th at PR. We're also anxious to see how the new camshaft works which we had installed for the last run of last season. Unfortunately we cut a slick and I had to abort the run before any data could be collected. Our congratulation to Jeff and Tom Warnke with the .8 sec. improvement in their 350 powered Nova. The car with a Edwards & Young recommended cam change is running solidly in the 11's this season and should be a contender! We also wish to congratulate local racer, Gary Putman, with the season debut of his 400 Chev bracket-race small-block which we helped design. Gary's Tempest also picked up 8-tenths of a second and recorded his personal best in the 11.20's at 118+ mph. We'll have more details on this engine in the future if the 400 proves it will survive the rigors of racing. After 80+ runs last season running 12.0's, the stock nodule-iron crank bent and wiped out the main line. Gary has since installed an after-market non-twist forging, 4-bolt main caps, better rods, one of our old roller cams, and new heads. Chris updated the rear suspension in the Tempest which is hooking well considering the small 10" slicks.
1 May 2002 - Pacific Raceways - Chevelle wagon This past weekend Chris had the Chevelle wagon out at Pacific Raceways for their season opener. On Saturday the rains came and he only got one hit that afternoon on a very slippery track. Sunday, the weather was beautiful and the car ran very well on it's first pass - 11.14. After his second qualifying run of the morning our very reliable A-1 prepared TH-400 transmission started freewheeling after returning to the pits and forced him out of the competition. No complaints since this transmission had over 250 passes on it without ever been torn down for inpsection!. I'm told the snap ring which retains the pressure plate on the clutch pack broke. Fortunately the A-1 converter does not appear to be damaged. Chris currently is working on replacing the tired TH-400 with a race-prepped TH-350 which will feature an aftermarket bellhousing. By theory this TH-350 should free up approx. 30 horsepower. The good news was the car is featured on Division 6's "Horsepower Heaven" page.
Pacific Raceways Season Opener April 27, 28 2002 4 July May 2002 - Chevelle wagon Following the Season Opener at Pacifc Raceways, Chris installed a R A T prepared T-350 transmission. This is a hard-hitting unit that in fact hits so hard it pulled the motor down when shifting into high losing a tenth. Raising the shift-points helped to recover the lost tenth and in June, Chris installed a custom-made TCI Super Stock converter which is not as tight as the A-1 and he recovered the lost tenth. Despite these problems Chris has been able to make it to the third-round of elimination regularly before being eliminated. '57 Chev The '57 Chev this year has been a study in frustration. Two times out at PR for testing we have had shifting problems with the 5-speed. The good news is the Hoosier slicks give us excellent hook. On the first pass the car hooked very hard and rode the wheelie bars for approx. 45 feet. Upon hitting 3rd gear the input gear (high gear) broke. However 60' times and 1/8 mile times and mph have been excellent but we have failed to put a full pass on the car this season. We are currently going through the entire transmission and hope to have the transmission problems sorted out to defend our runner-up performance at Mission last year and to also participate in the Super Chevy race at PR. Later,
14 July May 2002 - '57 Chev Since breaking the input gear in our Richmond Gear 4+1 five-speed in our '57 early this season, replacing the broken gears, bearings, sliders and shift rings, and checking the shafts for runout, this transmission still fails to shift when under a load. It is not clear if the case is distorting under a heavy load. Since this transmission is no longer in production and finding replacement parts is becoming virtually impossible, we are faced with making a serious and costly upgrade in transmissions or placing the car in retirement. We will not be venturing north to Mission Raceways in August for the Loafers nostalgia race and the '57 will not be racing in the immediate future. Our '71 Chevelle wagon will be racing at the Super Chevy race at PR later ths season.
3 August 2002 - Chevelle wagon On August 3rd, Chris drove the Chevelle wagon to the 1/4 finals before being eliminated by barely red lighting with a .489 reaction time (.500 is perfect). Chris did an excellent job that evening recording the following reaction times and the car ran on it's dial-in twice during eliminations! Details in eliminations were as follows: Time .518 -- 11.382 ---- 11.30 -- .082 -- 106.840 -- Win -- (On brakes) .558 -- 11.258 ---- 11.25 -- .008 -- 117.100 -- Win .513 -- 11.263 ---- 11.24 -- .023 -- 117.340 -- Win .489 -- 11.250 ---- 11.25 -- .000 -- 117.190 -- Lose -- (Red Light) Chris will be taking the wagon out again this Saturday evening (August 17th) at Pacific Raceways (PR). The following weekend he'll be competing at Pacific Raceways "Super Chevy" race which will mark the end of our racing efforts this year. Gary Putman of West Side Imports also had an excellent evening on August 3rd. He too went to the 4th round before being eliminated. Gary's Pontiac is powered by a Young Racing Engine designed 403 small-block Chev. The West Seattle gang did well and Gary moved up to 16th in the PR Pro-bracket points standings. Between Chris and Gary, by the fourth round they had pretty much eliminated the top-ten points leaders who were present that evening. Chris did an excellent job as a "blocker" to help move Gary up in the standings from 22nd. However on August 10th, Gary lost in the first round and the Young family was camping on the Olympic Pennisula. Gary is attempting to make the PR team in the bracket finals this year and he just might accomplish that goal. Not bad for only his second year of racing! Later my friends, and keep cool in all this heat!
17 August 2002 - Chevelle wagon This Saturday weekend Chris took the wagon out to Pacific Raceways (PR) in Kent. In the first round he cut a good light, hit second gear and we believe it was the sprag in our new R.A.T. TH-350 trans that broke! (It now only has high gear and reverse after only 21 passes). Broken transmissions seem to be some kind of bad juju this season! As reported we destroyed our 5-speed transmission in the '57 earlier this season, and also broke a snap ring & burned the clutches in our TH-400 in the wagon early this year. Please send good juju via return mail ! We hope to have the TH-350 repaired by Ed Roark and back in the wagon for Super Chevy this weekend at Pacific Raceways. Our sincere thanks to Jeff Warnke for helping to yard the broken trans. out of the car on Sunday to expedite the repairs.
Our CONGRATULATIONS to Gary Putman who will be representing team PR at Yakima Raceways in the bracket finals! Gary reported he finished #15 in the points and made the PR team As indicated in our last report, Gary's Tempest is powered by a 403 Chev small-block with 5.7" rods we picked the pieces for. After over 80 runs we are happy to report it is still hanging together and running consistent numbers (11.30's @ 118 mph). The 4340 crank, 4-bolt aftermarket caps and block-filler seems to have solved the all too common main-line problems with a 400 small-block. Gary hopes to gear the car down and run bigger slicks next year as inconsistent traction with his current 10" DOT slicks can be a problem when the track gets hot. With better traction and lower gears Gary's Tempest should be running low 11's or high 10's next season.
Also our congratulations to Jeff Warnke this past weekend. Jeff finally got the 1st round monkey off his back and got his first victory in eliminatiions this past weekend at PR in his 350-powered Nova. He has been running consistent 11.80's at around 118 mph these past weeks. Jeff and Tom (his father) will be sending out a used 8" GER converter we gave them over the winter for freshening which should step up the car's performance for next season. Over the winter they hope to also install a 4340 crank & H-beam rods, and perhaps pistons to bump up the compression ratio. Their current combination is a stock crank, rods, and a very mild 11:1 compression ratio with a very tight torque converter which pulls the motor down hard on the launch.
Be well, and send the good juju our way! WE NEED SOME!
18 September 2002 - Chevelle wagon
Well race fans, it has been awhile coming due to a death in our family (my brother) but here's the recap of the Super Chevy race that was held at Pacific Raceways the weekend of August 24th & 25th.
Thanks to Ed Roark and the Hobson brothers, they got our broken TH-350 transmission back together to get the wagon down the track. Jeff Warnke helped Chris getting the transmission in and out of the car. My thanks to all !
On Saturday, Chris went to the 4th round in the "cash bash" after losing in the 1st round and buying back in.
On Sunday, Chis, Jeff Warnke and Gary Putman ALL made it to the 4th round before being eliminated! One of the best outings this year for all above and a solid collective effort.
As reported earlier, Gary finished 15th in the Pro-bracket points at PR and had earned a place on the PR team for the bracket finals in Yakima. However Gary broke a bone in his foot and had to bow out of that event after all his efforts to make the team.
Over the winter we intend to replace our TH-350 trans with our old, reliable TH-400 in the wagon and replace the tired old slicks.
The future of our '57 Chev is still up in the air. This weekend we'll be taking one last look at the old 5-speed to make certain we didn't miss anything that may be causing the shifting problems.
That's all folks!
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2001 14 April 2001 - Bremerton Raceway - Chevelle wagon Run #5 for the Chevelle
Air Density: 97.8 Driver: Chris Young Reaction Time: .607 secs 60 Foot Time: 1.511 secs 330 Ft. Time: 4.562 secs 660 Ft. Time: 7.138 @ 94.72 mph 1000 Ft. Time: 9.399 secs 1/4 mile Time: 11.335 secs 1/4 mile mph: 116.05 mph @ 7,600 rpm's
6 May 2001 - Seattle Intl. Raceway - '57 Chev The air was excellent but the temperature was low creating a high horsepower, marginal traction condition which raised its ugly head on the first time-run in the left lane. After hitting third gear the car made a move towards the guard rail and I was forced to shutoff. 44 year-old sheetmetal doesn't hold up well against Jersey barriers! The second time-run was in the right lane and the '57 responded with a 10.689 @ 126.67 mph. Our valve train problems of 2000 were solved with the new Manley springs & retainers! We then entered eliminations and won two rounds before being eliminated in the third round by Richard Smith's hard-charging Chevelle wagon. We won't talk about my poor light! ( : The second round was noteworthy because we had to win twice due to a clock (e.t.) malfunction for our opponent in the left lane. The 2nd round re-run was a double-foul start but being the quicker car we were handed the automatic win and were able to make a full power run; 10.694 @ 126.45 mph with our jetting lean for the 103.1 air density recorded. This particular evening the '57 recorded SIR "personal bests" e.t.'s at the 660 & 1000 foot marks, and as noted above a new personal SIR mph record of 126.67. Our old SIR mph record was 125.867. The car is ready for Mission (June 2 & 3rd - RAINED OUT) and we've found the horsepower to mph once again!
10 June 2001 - Seattle Intl. Raceway - '71 Chevelle He won easily recording a 11.333 @ 113.260 mph (on the brakes) with a .535 reaction time on a 11.25 dial-in. The second round he was late and lost running a 11.270 @ 117.400 mph on a 11.25 dial-in. The '71 Chevelle wagon has been running extremely well and VERY consistent. The times above are with the car staged deep thus recording legitimate e.t.'s of plus or minus .003 seconds from a 97.2 to 100.2 air density. This will be the combination the wagon will be using for the rest of the season. We have been hearing a lot of comments from fellow racers on how hard this car accelerates, outrunning almost all 11 second and many 10 second cars (despite its ponderous weight and small engine) to the 1/8th mile. We are pleased with the combination and Chris has removed approx. 30# from the doors (crash reinforcement panels) since last Saturday. We do intend to try some different combinations during this season (in test & tune runs) as we continue to collect data for next year. Our thoughts are a slightly higher stall converter and using a TH-350 transmission vs the heavier and more power consuming TH-400 that is in it presently. We know that a TH-350 consumes approx. 25 less horsepower then the TH-400. The large 2nd to high gear split (1.48:1) and heavy TH-400 components pulls the engine down in its torque band when shifting into high gear. Freeing up some more torque or load would put the wagon in the high tens. The engine is currently producing approx. 575 horsepower with a single four-barrel carb on Unical 110 Race gas. Our main focus this season has to been to get the '71 Chevelle sorted out (mission accomplished) and give Chris time to settle in as its driver. And our youngest son, Paul, has been doing an excellent job at the track helping Chris the past few weeks. I'm a proud father watching the family tradition move on to a 2nd generation! On another project, Dale Williams has ordered his custom pistons and rods from Probe Industries. We look forwarding to giving Dale a hand getting his 396 four-speed street/strip Chevelle SS back together after years of sitting in mothballs. 17 June 2001 - SIR - '57 Chev 23 June 2001 - SIR - '57 Chev 22 July 2001 - SIR - Chevelle Wagon 330 E.T.: N/A 660 E.T.: 7.036 @ 96.03 mph E.T.: 11.160 MPH: 118.590 @ 7600 rpms Chris cut more consistent lights this evening also, with a .552 in the first round which he won, and in the 2nd round a .585 which he lost. The 1" carb spacer required more jet as the air improved and the car slowed down in the 2nd round because of the lean mixture and ran a 11.180 @ 117.97 on a 11.15 dial-in. We are very encouraged and have jetted the carb slightly richer! 4 August 2001 - SIR - Chevelle Wagon The first time run was a rare treat for both of us. The ol' man ran the '57 in the right lane vs the "kid" in the left lane. The "old geezer" got a slight light advantage but the Chevelle was right on my quarter panel until high gear. It was fun to run each other and we thank SIR for allowing us to do so. And we thank Jeff Warnke and his father, Tom Warnke, for towing the wagon out to the track to make this father/son run possible! 330 E.T.: N/A 660 E.T.: 6.991 @ 96.700 mph E.T.: 11.009 MPH: 119.030 @ 7600 rpms Notice as the mph continues to increase, the engine rpm remains the same showing tire growth. It's time to step on the '57 or the "kid" is going to be going faster than me!
'57 Kicks Butt at Mission!
11 & 12 August 2001 - Mission - '57 Chev This year we did much better, making it to the final round and being eliminated when I red-lighted by a mere 8/1000ths of a second! Here's the round by round stats: My opponent ran 10.370 @ 131.84 on a 10.00 dial with a .530 light. 2nd Round: My opponent ran 11.018 @ 124.82 on a 10.49 dial with a .658 light. Final Round: My opponent ran 9.507 @ 139.66 on a 9.47 dial with a .619 light. Both cars slowed down slightly in the heat of the day on the top end of the track. This was a very rewarding weekend for our entire crew. We not only made it to the final round, but the Langley Loafers presented us with a very, very special award after the first round of eliminations. They presented us with the "Best Bitchin' Race Car" award. Considering the hundreds of fine cars racing, this award is very special to us and makes the years of running a vintage Modified Production car with a stick worth it as this is a fan appreciation award.
And throughout the weekend, I could not help but feel Kathie and Tom smiling down from above with pride as we approached this race with a setup that we knew we could win with. Not the setup to run our fastest, but one that would go the distance and allow me as the driver to win or lose this race. The old car did everything we asked of it, and rightfully deserved "The Best Bitchin' Race Car" award as she danced her way down the 1/4 mile. It has been a hectic season preparing the Chevelle and '57, but also very rewarding thus far! We may try a new Lunati camshaft late in this season which our research indicates would give us approx. 40 more pounds of torque and 15 more horsepower out of the 331 and take advantage of the 5-speed transmission vs our old cam which was designed for our old 4-speed. The new cam if successful, should increase valve spring life considerably also without hurting our top-end horsepower. Of course things always looks good on paper! The race track will be the real test!
18 August 2001 - SIR - Chevelle Wagon Chris has sent a message to his competition. That the car will run on its dial-in and it is going to take an incredible reaction time to beat him. He hopes to run the wagon at SIR for NHRA's 50th Anniversary drags on Sept. 2nd. (SIR's flier is somewhat vague on if it is the 2nd and/or 3rd).
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Chevelle Completed!
For other local wagons running in our area, see: Wagons of Steel
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'98 & '99 Post-Race Reports & Record Runs:
Thank You! And our special thanks to the Rick, Cal & Mike for the fine job they did on the starting line at SIR this season. You did a great job guys under tough conditions and we appreciate your hard work and devotion to the sport! And we always enjoy talking with those of you that stopped by our pits throughout the year. We appreciate your encouragment, support, and just bench racing with all of you!
Quickest & Fastest Runs in 1999! - '57 Chev
ON OLD TIRES! |
More than a Tow Vehicle Speaking of torque, Chris owns the 1-ton Chev pickup pictured below. The dualie not only is one heck of a tow vehicle, it also thunders in its own right! The Young Racing Engines 482 c.i. Chev engine with Lunati street-roller and Dart-Merlin heads flat puts out big torgue while running on pump gas! The truck on gas alone has ran 13.53 and with a mild shot of nitrous thru a plate system ran a 12.80's smoking the tires thru 1st gear at a mere 6100 lbs!
The truck features a BG double-pump carburetor that flows over 1000 cfm's of air and the BG carb makes it very drivable to tow with also.
In 2000, Chris placed third in the points at the "Import vs Detroit Iron" series hosted by SIR. Who say's a tow truck can't be fun!
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E-mail Roger Young - Owner/Driver '57 Chev
E-mail Chris Young - Owner/Driver '71 Chevelle Wagon
E-mail Paul Young - Driver '66 Pontiac Tempest
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15 Mar 10: New slicks are now on the car and we're ready to go!
