Happy Halloween!

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October 5th 2013:

Today Chris and Paul came over and gave me a BIG hand going through the ’57. We pulled the headers, tested the 1.625″ Manley valve springs, pulled the valve train and torqued the heads to start things off.

The pressure on the #7 cylinder exhaust valve was down from the others around 30# (250 psi on our Buxton tester), so we pulled the spring and learned the outer was broken at the top which fell apart when we pulled the retainer (pictured below). We replaced that valve spring and sealed the motor for winter. Buzzing the motor to 8800 when I missed shifts always takes its toll.

Broken outer 1.625 Valve Spring
from our ’57 Chev

Chris pulled the old Doug-Nash 5-speed transmission and we tore it down and we’re glad to report there is just normal wear. We will be replacing our old Long shifter with a new style pistol-grip Long shifter from G-Force Transmissions over the winter, now confident that our shifting problems we had the last time out can be attributed to the shifter. One of the advantages of the new shifter is that it has heim joint ends and straight stainless steel rods. You should be able to get the adjustment on the new shifter, nuts on! (Yes, there have been improvements over the years!) While apart we will debur some of the shift rings but that is just normal maintenance with a pro-shifted transmission.

Also before Spring we will be replacing our Goodyear slicks with Hoosiers that have a stiffer sidewall. And the old buggy should be good to go for 2014!

I want to thank Chris & Paul for all their help today, and also Pam who took good care of us providing us coffee and sandwiches!

October 7th 2013:

I just pulled 1st gear and the 1-2 slider off the mainshaft and see no problems here. In fact I’m surprised how good the slider looks after a couple of missed shifts. Just dress the pro-rings on the gears and the transmission is ready to put back together.

This morning I ordered the new pistol-grip style Long shifter for the old transmission and should have that delivered within a week.

New Long shifter for Doug-Nash 5-speed

October 8th 2013:

Today I dressed all the points on the pro-shift rings & sliders and the transmission is ready to be fully assembled.

Chris came over this afternoon and we got the gearbox back together. When the new shifter arrives we will put it back in the car for 2014. – Roger

October 16th 2013:

Today our new Long shifter arrived and we got it installed on the transmission and bench adjusted. We are very pleased with how the shifter is working compared to our old shifter and there are marked improvements, such as the straight stainless steel shifting rods with heim joints, compared to the old bent shifter rods which were very difficult to adjust and would flex and crack.

The line-lock button is now located on the top of the shifter – Roger

New Long shifter installed on our transmission

October 26th 2013:

Today we got the transmission and new Long shifter installed in the car as a complete unit. This required enlarging the hole in the floorboard by Chris to make it happen, but makes it far easier to adjust the shifter and stops on the bench and raise the whole assembly into the car. My thanks to Chris and Paul for all their help today! – Roger

New Long shifter in our ’57

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Hello Race Fans,

Wow, it was an exciting weekend of racing to say the least as I was able to secure the 2013 Pacific Raceways Sportsman Championship and go to the final round in the final points race in pretty dramatic style too.

My closest race of the day was in the very first rd against Bremerton Raceways John Barnett as I took the win by a mere .005, way too close for comfort I tell ya!

I got a bye in the next round thanks to my .020 light against John and lo & behold I go and cut a perfect .000 light on this pass running 12.369 @ 105.91 mph.

My 3rd rd race was another fairly close one as I got my opponent at about 1000 ft due to once again cutting a perfect .000 light.  It was pretty comical when I pulled up to the time booth as Lori was just shaking her head in disbelief and I was shocked too when she told me what I did.

My 4th rd race was a rematch from earlier in the season against Nick Douglas in his blue Dart as I had the reaction time advantage and forced him to break out running 12.105 on his 12.12 dial so I felt good getting a little redemption as previously I lost to him due to a redlight. 

My final round race was against a cool guy Larry Decamp in his nice Camaro as we were basically heads up with my dial being 12.36 to his 12.33, we left pretty much together with him having the reaction time advantage and we were side by side all the way down the strip.  I ran 12.369 to his 12.358 but just couldn’t quite make up the difference of .043 on the tree, had my worst green light of the whole weekend but he earned the victory for sure.  I believe this was his 3rd win of the season, great job Larry.

Final Round – Paul Young R/Up, Larry Decamp Winner
See It Imagery photo

You think the day is over, you are mistaken!  This was also a King of The Track race so the top 2 points earners in each class paired off against one another for the Wally and lucky me I had to face the 2013 Pacific Raceways Super Pro Champ Steve Beggerly.  I unfortunately went red for the first time of the weekend by .018 as I knew that needed a great light but unbelievably Steve redlighted too by .002 but due to me being the slower car I lost, sure would’ve been nice to take him out as that would’ve been a nice accomplishment to cap the weekend.

I want to say thanks to everyone for all of their loving support this year as always, glad I was able to bring home a 2nd Track Championship for team Edwards & Young Racing and my 1st partnering with West Family Racing.   I learned a lot over the year, especially at the ET Finals in Spokane as drag racing is a very humbling sport but you have to perserve and learn from both your ups & downs to make you a better racer & teammate.

Hope to see you all in the coming weeks at the team banquet, hopefully this time I will manage to make it there without having to use crutches!  LOL

Sincerely,

Paul Young
Edwards & Young Racing

Video:

httpvh://youtu.be/SYwyf2k2zNA

Beggerly Captures Super Pro Title; Lewsley Repeats in Pro – Pacific Raceways – September 9, 2013

Paul Young
2013 Pacific Raceways Sportsman Track Champion

Paul put down two perfect reaction times back to back
on September 8, 2013!

Final Top Ten 2013 Sportsman Points Standing:

1. Paul Young – 612
2. Jason Bravo – 514
3. Gordon Rust – 504
4. Larry DeCamp – 499
5. Don Elgin – 473
6. Brandon Glatt – 427
7. Nick Douglas – 421
8. Diane Petitt – 418
9. Jerry Durant JR – 399
10. Barry Hammond 394

Update October 20th 2013:

Had a wonderful time last night at the Pacific Raceways Banquet.  I wanted to say thanks to everyone for all of there loving support this year that made it possible for me to win the 2013 Sportsman Championship for the 2nd time in 3 years. …

Chris Young – My big bro & crew chief
Torri Young- My sister-in-law & car owner 66 Pontiac Tempest
Roger Young- My Dad & crew chief
Pam Young – My Mom & loving supporter
Melodie Young & Isaak Young – My wife & son that give love & support that allow me to do what I love
Ron West – partner/friend/crew chief/car owner of the 67 & 68 Mustangs
Mac West – My teammate who will be back full time & ready to kick butt in 2014
Justin Jung- Helped us out quite a bit at the track the past couple of years
Jason Biscay & Brenda Biscay – Helped us out tremendously in getting car over to Spokane for ET finals.

There are many more people that have helped along the way that made it possible and I hope they all know who they are as I try my best to let them know even though sometimes I may forget to mention them at times when things are frantic.

Love you all very much & see everyone at the track in 2014! – Paul Young

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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