Edwards & Young Racing – Seattle & Kent, WA.

Today we took the ’57 out to Pacific Raceways for its last field trip of 2013, and Paul was driving Torri’s Pontiac in Sportsman attempting to wrap up the 2013 Sportsman Championship.

After the drizzle cleared up in the morning and the track was dried, I was first up with the ’57 in Pro Bracket. Once again we buzzed the tires on the starting line and only mustered a 10.971 @ 124.14 mph. The good news is after Chris replaced our old fuel tank with a foam-filled fuel cell prior to this race our high gear drop of fuel pressure is resolved. I had 7 psi in the lights.

We lowered the launch to 7300 for our 2nd time hit and the car left much better (pictured below) but the transmission blocked out going into 2nd gear. This also happened in the 1st round so we have some transmission issues – likely the 2nd gear pro shift ring and slider –  to address over the winter. We’ll also be replacing our old, crusty Kustom headers with Stahl headers and putting on new Hoosier slicks since Goodyear has discontinued our tire size.

See It Imagery photo – CLICK TO ENLARGE!

The Tempest was running well today but Paul was a bit late on the tree in the 1st round and lost, but he did pick up 30 valuable points and is still currently the points leader. Paul then went into the Gambler race and went a couple rounds before being eliminated by a -.007 redlight. After this round Chris jetted the carburetor for the upcoming Division 6 ET Finals at Spokane next weekend using the data from Boise – both tracks are similar elevations and predicted temperatures, so the Tempest is ready to go! After the Spokane race there is only one points race remaining at PR which could decide the 2013 Sportsman track championship.

Hiking the left front wheel, August 24th 2013

My thanks to Chris, Justin, Paul & Pam for all their help with the ’57 this season. Not the best season by a long shot but the motor held up well so I’m happy! – Roger

Torri & Peyten cheering for us from the stands!

August 19th 2013:

This past weekend Chris took the Chevelle out to Pacific Raceways for the divisional race along with helping Barry Hobson with his Top Dragster and Top Sportsman cars. Barry did well on Sunday making it to the 3rd round in both categories before being eliminated.

Barry Hobson at the hit in Top Sportsman – Pacific Raceways Divisional Race, August 2013

As to our Chevelle wagon, problems continue to plague us. A car that averaged 10.42 last season only mustered a 10.793 @ 124.88 MPH with a sluggish 1.473 60 foot time on its final pass on Sunday. Frankly I think we are having some engine problems which we must investigate. Or the transmission/converter is consuming a ton of horsepower. Either way, we need to take a step back and examine everything carefully. Until we can find the problem the car will remain parked. – Roger

UPDATE:

Chris informed me this afternoon that while taking the car off the trailer, the car wouldn’t back up. I guess my hunch that the sensitive transbrake switch was applying when the car came down and bounced after the lauch was valid. Now we have two transmissions to replace and the converters are in doubt.

Regardless, we will still run extensive checks on the motor. I hope the damage is limited to the transmissions. It has been a very frustrating year for all involved ! – Roger

UPDATE:

Since our original post, we checked the engine running valve spring pressure checks, leaked down the cylinders, checked the ignition timing and all is in good shape. The only wear we saw was with some of the lash caps which we will replace before next Spring.

Chris has since installed the new transmission with our rebuilt TCI torque converter we were using prior to the 2013 season. The Chevelle should be back to launching hard in 2014! – Roger

We were going to take the ’57 out this evening but threat of thunderstorms and the fact I tweaked my back this morning cancelled that venture.

However, Paul went out to garner more points in Sportsman before the rains came just before the 3rd round and here is his report on his race for the track championship. Chris was at the track giving Paul a hand and maintaining the Tempest. – Roger

It was a crazy evening at Pacific Raceways as the weather threw everyone a curve ball with figuring out what to dial and due to unplanned down time for oil downs, breakage, etc. we all had 1 time hit before 1st rd which isn’t much of an issue with the Pontiac as the car is consistent as heck to say the least!  🙂

This afternoon was HOT here throughout the Northwest with temperatures reaching 91-degrees on the first qualifying hit. Kudos for the track crew at Pacific Raceways for doing a good job in the unusual heat here in the Seattle area, the worst atmospheric conditions we have run in since keeping data.  

Chris was on a roll before the transbrake gremlin raised its ugly head again in the 4th round of Pro Bracket and wouldn’t apply on the starting line. The car rolled through the beams turning the tree red. This year has been frustrating dealing with the repeated stuck transbrake piston but Chris was having fun until that moment!!  Despite the heat and high water grains, the Chevelle put up some good numbers during this event running in the low 10.50’s and 1.42 60′ times.

Paul extended his lead tonight in Sportsman driving Torri’s ’66 Tempest to the semi-finals before being eliminated by an exceptional run by his competitor that took the well deserved round win cutting a great light and running on his dial-in. Like Paul said, “he earned that one!”

Our thanks to Justin Jung once again giving us a hand at the track this evening. Job well done guys! Paul’s report is below – Roger

It was a fun filled evening with both Chris & myself making it to the 4th rd, I was very happy that we both did well well just a little sad for Chris having lost due to transbrake issues.  We were really thinking that we would both meet in the winners circle together for our respective classes but still great evening overall, good job bro!

I lost in the 4th rd with a good rt of .019 but as you know my opponent Larry DeCamp went .005 on me and ran 12.277 on a 12.27 dial to my 12.343 on a 12.32 dial due to spinning a bit off the line but not too bad.  I saw him pretty much the whole way from 660 ft on as he was just pacing me as he only went 102 mph so great job on his part as a great race.  I picked up another 63 pts so should be about 85 pts ahead of “The Worm” as he showed up at the last second due to racing at Bremerton earlier in the day.

Thanks again for all the support given by everyone, can’t wait for the Nostalgia race in 2 weeks as should be fun times with watching Dad kick butt! – Paul Young

’70 Chevelle, Pro Bracket:

As reported the last time out, the Chevelle damaged our reliable TCI torque converter in the 1st round after 169 runs. Chris & Justin got the replacement TH-400 with the new, tighter TCI converter in the Chevelle this past week. We were hoping for a performance improvement but the car is actually running a tad slower with the new converter.

To add to the frustration in the 1st round this Sunday, the transbrake didn’t apply. After this aborted effort, Chris pulled the transbrake solenoid and found the pushrod had stuck. With a little spit & polish it is once again operational.

’66 Pontiac Tempest, Sportsman:

Paul was running Torri’s Tempest this Sunday as the ’68 Mustang of Ron West still has some problems to sort out.  Prior to going out this weekend Chris replaced the old dual-plane intake with a single-plane model. In the performance department there was no measurable changes. As predicted it gave up a little on the bottom end and improved slightly on the higher RPM range, but the end result was basically a wash.

Paul lost a very close race in the 1st round running a 12.343 on a 12.36 with an outstanding .016 reaction time. His competition cut an equally uncanny reaction time of .013 and ran a 10.657 on a 10.64 for the win!  You don’t see many of those great races in Sportsman!

Barry Hobson runner-up in Pro Bracket:

Barry did an excellent job today, getting to the final found of Pro Bracket with his blue Pontiac Tempest. Torri purchased her ’66 Tempest from Barry years back and it still has his 400 c.i. engine in the car. Congratulations Barry!