I was on that show, blue GTS with the parachute. I've made more passes down a drag strip than anyone on this board. I had my car set on kill when I got there. Had rented a track that week to prep. We were the first group to go on the 2nd day. When nate went first, I knew we were screwed. His car can run 8.90's in bristol with no air. He went 9.50 with a full set of slicks/skinnies. I knew we were screwed. They had only prepped the track 150' and drug the rest.
When the lambo in front of me went 11.40's spinning all the way down the track (same one went 9.10 in testing at 169 two weeks prior), I just laughed. They had to edit out most of my conversation with the judges. When asked once they keyed in their times what I thought I'd run, I said I'd be lucky if I made it down the track. If you notice on my pass, they cut the camera half way through the run. That's because the ass end of my car came around at 330'. That's boost in 2nd gear coming on. The driver side front wheel was to the right of my right shoulder. I've never had the car that sideways, in all the passes I've made.
I flew up the return road, drove straight to the starting line and lost it on the crew. The zmax crew is the worst crew in NHRA. That's why they bring the bristol crew to prep it for pinks and other big shows. Roy Hill was there, thank god. He had rented my track (I owned an IHRA track for 2 years) many times. After I explained that someone was going to get killed, they finally stopped the show. They spent 45 minutes and reprepped the entire track. From there it was, but they refused to redo our show.
Just to give perspective. I came back for pinks all out a few months later. I left the car set on 12lbs of boost, left at 2k rpm to intentionally slow my 60' down (1.78's vs 1.50's I can cut) and ran 9.83 on a 20" invo. I went into that show set at 17lbs and had planned on running 8.90's, because I thought they'd prep the track.
Drivers had nothing to do with those times, it was a **** track. As far as my driving ability:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD2Uzq45R2k[/media]
Drove it to the track and drove it home.
. Not bad for a 20" invo.
