Chris had his ’71 Chevelle out to this Division 6 Lucas Race at Pacific Raceways and made it to the 2nd round on Sunday.
The car ran well this weekend with no problems. In the first round Chris cut a .028 on the tree and ran 10.559 on a 10.60 dial to take the double breakout win lifting.
In the second round he lost a close one to a hard-charging Super Stock cutting a .032 light to his opponent’s .028. His opponent ran an outstanding 9.153 on a 9.15 to Chris’ 10.570 on a 10.56 dial with a slight lift at the stripe. This was a close one folks! And my thanks to Paul for giving Chris a hand during this long weekend! Chris also put the Chevelle on the scales during the weekend and it now weighs 3715 lbs with driver. Not exactly light!
This marks the end of the major races at Pacific Raceways this 2015 season. Remember, the August 29th race has been cancelled. Each year the season gets shorter. – Roger
Gary Wells photo
Jim Doyle Photo
Saturday Time Run, August 22, 2015
Chris helping Joe Loch at Divisional
Anthony Hutchinson photo
Congratulations to Chris!!!
Cutting good lights and running the numbers.
Sounds like some tough racing going on…
Dan faced off against Buddy Perkinson in round 1 again this PDRA Memphis race.
Buddy was now running Billy Alberts 2015 Camaro with an 8xx cu in motor. He may have just bought it from Albert. He had run 3.90 in the final qualifier and was trying to back that up for a new National ET record. Dan left first and beat him on the tree this time. Car was running great until about 300′ when a valve broke and the car slowed to a 4.26 on a 4.13 dialin. If the car would not have broken Dan had a good shot at beating the number one qualifier as he set a new national ET record on a holeshot. That would have been wild.
As it turned out it just sucked… Buddy lost second round after showing his dialin a lot.
Dan’s friend a Ronnie Davis lost in the finals on a red light of . 003 but took the championship points lead by roughly 175 points I believe. Dan held the TS points lead for 13 races over two seasons. Very proud of that accomplishment for him in a tough racing environment. It would be a hard feat for someone to repeat because you have to win the championship in the prior year and win the first race of the next season to keep the streak alive. That’s not easy.
Now he has to figure out how to get the lead back by the end of this season with only 3 races remaining.
Keep up the great racing guys!
Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC
Sorry to hear that Dan badly injured his motor, that’s hard to take!
Here is the TS summary from Memphis PDRA…
Round 1:
Barry Daniluk, Red Deer AB, ’68 Camaro, TS, Left lane, (0.056) 4.06 4.083 0.023, def. Bruce Thrift,
Waycross GA, ’07 GTO, TS, (-0.003 foul) 4.18 4.204 0.024
Bob Gulitti, Tomball TX, ’11 Camaro, TS, Left lane, (0.002) 4.14 4.145 0.005, def. Randy Perkinson,
S. Chesterfield VA, ’15 Camaro, TS, (0.030) 4.04 4.024 -0.016
Buddy Perkinson, Prince George VA, ’15 Camaro, TS, Right lane, (0.028) 3.90 3.916 0.016, def. Dan
Ferguson, Harrisburg NC, ’02 Firebird, TS, (0.023) 4.13 4.261 0.131
Earl Folse, Raceland LA, ’68 Camaro, TS, Right lane, (0.035) 4.09 4.113 0.023, def. Rick Corn,
Paducah KY, ’10 Avenger, TS, (0.016) 4.21 4.466 0.256
Mick Snyder, Demotte IN, ’63 Corvette, TS, Right lane, (0.014) 4.05 4.065 0.015, def. Dane Wood,
Chesapeake VA, ’06 Escort, TS, (0.017) 4.17 4.184 0.014
Todd Ewing, Vinemont AL, ’00 Camaro, TS, Left lane, (0.016) 4.22 4.252 0.032, def. Don Klooster,
Kalamazoo MI, ’63 Corvette, TS, (0.151) 4.08 4.078 -0.002
Cheyenne Stanley, Cythiana KY, ’07 Mustang, TS, Left lane, (0.030) 4.17 4.145 -0.025, def. Aaron
Glaser, Shepherdsville KY, ’69 Camaro, TS, (-0.001 foul) 4.07 4.079 0.009
Ronnie Davis, Suwanee GA, ’63 Corvette, TS, Left lane, (0.020) 4.09 4.211 0.121, def. Joseph
Mohana, Bourg LA, ’57 Bel Air, TS, (0.366) 4.20 4.235 0.035
Round 2:
B Daniluk, Left lane, (0.001) 4.06 4.073 0.013, def. B Gulitti, (0.013) 4.11 4.132 0.022
R Davis, Left lane, (0.020) 4.08 4.111 0.031, def. B Perkinson, (0.076) 4.07 4.183 0.113
M Snyder, Right lane, (0.035) 4.04 4.146 0.106, def. T Ewing, (0.074) 4.21 5.062 0.852
C Stanley, Left lane, (0.052) 4.14 4.140 0.000, def. E Folse, (0.005) 4.08 4.074 -0.006
Round 3:
M Snyder, Right lane, (0.034) 4.05 4.190 0.140, def. B Daniluk, (0.000) 4.05 5.326 1.276
R Davis, Left lane, (0.022) 4.07 4.083 0.013, def. C Stanley, (0.060) 4.13 4.160 0.030
Round 4:
M Snyder, Right lane, (0.013) 4.05 4.036 -0.014, def. R Davis, (-0.003 foul) 4.07 4.080 0.010
You can see that Buddy dialed 3.90 in first round and then dropped to a 4.07 dial in round 2. That’s a big change when conditions should be improving. I don’t get that big a change but I guess they could have been trying to save parts or possibly damaged the motor a bit in the first round. Didn’t even run the 4.07 number… Interesting….
Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC
Sorry to hear about the engine damage to Dans motor. My buddy Barry blew his super comp motor up badly and damaged the nose on the Grand Am. He is seriously considering selling all of his stuff! It’s a tough sport for sure!
Chris,
Yes, it can be frustrating for sure. Eight days before at Milan, MI Dan had his career best ET. Had just put new rods, valve springs and rings in the car recently. Then this valve breaks, but it could always be worse. If it was easy what value would it all have though.
Challenging to race people that have a lot of financial resources, or that just drive someone else’s car. But that’s racing and the world in general…
He will get the car back in the game, just a matter of exactly when. He has torn the motor down and knows what it needs now. In the mean time you look for the best way forward.
I hope your friend keeps his car. It would be a shame to quit something he loves doing. Sometimes you just have to be patient and work through it. Dan is lucky in that he doesn’t have a wife or kids so he his free to chase his dream now.
Take care,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC