This was my first time out in 2 years and had a great time driving our ’57 in Pro bracket. The weather was hot and muggy which makes traction a challenge, but we got by Jeff Denton’s ’55 in the 1st round with a .016 light running a 10.909 on a 10.88. In the 2nd round I cut a solid .035 but the car slowed to a 10.939 on a 10.89 as the humidity climbed to 71% and the car hooked better in this round pulling the small motor down with our reduced launch RPM. Congratulations to Makayla Quam who put me on the trailer with her Valiant, she drove well.
But I had a great time and my thanks to Pam, my very able crew chief Chris & Paul for all their help & support! The car with the retarded cam timing is running strong in high gear but we’re giving up 2 mph to the 1/8th. We’ll loosen the front shocks and advance the cam before the ’57 sees the track again!
Paul won his 1st round in Sportsman also and we were off to a good start. Unfortunately Paul left just a tad early in the 2nd round and our night was finished.
I also want to thank the crew at Pacific Raceways for all their hard work in the heat and humidity. Good job ladies & gents!
Video below which also includes the 1st round win of Jeff Warnke in his hard chargin’ Nova! – Roger
Battle of the Shoeboxes in the 1st round! Roger Young (left lane) vs Jeff Denton in his beautiful ’55. Jeff was in 5th place in Pro Bracket going into this round. Photo credit: Kelly Miller
Battle of the Shoeboxes – Photo credit: Jim Doyle
I flat missed our front shock setup on the ’57 for a HOT track! My mistake, but “you run what you brung” with only two qualifying hits before eliminations begin. I had a great time and thank Chris, Paul & Pam for all their help & support. Video by Pam Young.
And I want to thank Dave, Justin, Kelly & Tim for coming out and supporting our racing this evening.
Checked the valve lash this morning and all was great. Plug coloring and exhaust valve coloring was spot on. Chris came over and patched the left header – again. They are getting kind of thin after 39 years!
Will adjust the cam timing and front shocks another day. This old man has to pace himself! 🙂
July 17th 2012:
We have something going haywire in the valve train of our 331 in the ’57 which we need to find before running it again. There is a “clicking” noise when cranking that is in rhythm with valve motion. Just installed new lifters and valve springs 12 runs back when we had the motor torn down, but anything can happen when racing!
July 18th update:
Chris and I checked out the engine, our new lifters are not allowing enough oil to the top end of the engine. Chris did pull some of the rockers today and looked at the pushrods – no signs of any damage. But we’ll pull down the motor, clean everything, check the valve springs and guides and repair the oiling problem!
We believe whatever the problem, we’ve hopefully caught it in time to prevent any major damage to our old, reliable 331. We plan to get the ’57 back out in 2013.