DND
Race Report #7
IHRA World Nationals
Norwalk Raceway Park
Norwalk, Ohio
August 25 - 28, 2005
Dakota Truck – Yankee Flyer
D/TA (D – Truck Stock
Automatic Class)
Welcome Race Fans,
This is a jammed packed
report from the IHRA World Nationals event at Norwalk Raceway Park. This is a
world class event on par with the NHRA US Nationals.
First, let me thank my good
friend, G. R. Whale, Editor at Large for PRIMEDIA publications, for the great
article in the September/October issue of Truck Trend, Vol. 8, No. 5, on the
DND Race Team.
I gotta say that that Greg’s
article helped me, to some extent, answer a question I ask myself a lot during
rain delays at the track, or after first round losses, or after me or my driver
& son, Dan make a stupid decision or mistake. That question is, “What the
hell makes us do this?”
Thanks Greg, your insight is
most enlightening.
Please, pick up a copy for
yourself at your local news stand.
Another round of “guddos” to
the crew at CDS Performance (Chris Sniesak) & McCormack Motorsports for
their hard work in performing some maintenance on the Yankee Flyer, prior to
the IHRA World Nationals. Seems that the right front coil spring lost its
bounce after the last event.
Lastly I have to thank the
support from my wife for helping in preparing all the provisions for a well
stocked “rig” prior to our departure.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Dan & I decide to get an
early start on Thursday, rather than a late night arrival on Wednesday.
We roll out in plenty of
time to make the 10:00AM first round qualifying at Norwalk.
Things are going fine, until
we attempt to enter the Ohio Turnpike. Be advised that as you pull through the
toll plaza to get your ticket, the mechanisms checked your length and your
weight.
As I reach for the ticket, a
red light (I hate red lights) comes on indicating we are over weight!
The toll booth attendant,
nice lady, says “Wait, you’re over weight”. Hey, at least her at the red light
agree. “Where?” I ask. “The coach”, she says. “Where?”I ask. “Rear axle”, she
says.
“How much?”,I ask. “Can’t
tell”, she says. “Can you adjust it?”, she asks. “ We can adjust anything”, I
respond. “You’ll have to pull through the toll booth, make a U-turn, and make
your weight adjustments. Come back through Gate#2”, she advises. Must be
something special about Gate# 2, but OK. We take the 74 foot rig through the
toll booth, make the U-turn, come back through the booth, and pull to the
shoulder. We drain about 25 gallons of fresh water out of the RV holding tank,
move about 150lbs. of ballast (needed for weight adjustments on the race truck
later) from the front of the trailer to the extreme rear, and take one link out
of the trailer hitch equalizing bars. Back through Gate #2, and clear sailing.
We won’t make first round now after this delay.
We roll into the Norwalk
facility, get our credentials, go to the wrong gate, get re-directed, and
finally escorted to our pit spot. Thank you, Earl (IHRA official), for the
great job of parking us.
Sure enough, we have missed
first round qualifying. Dan goes and gets a qualifying sheet.
Careful study shows that
there is not a single entry in D/Truck class. So, we add about 150lbs. to the
weight box to move up a class. I should mention that at this event, vehicles in
the same weight / horsepower class compete in heads – up racing for class
winner, no handicap racing here. If there is only one entry in the class, well,
do the math!. Dan & I set about the weight change and change the fuel
filter on the Aeromotive fuel system. Finally finished we take it to the
closest scale. Seems this scale says we are still 10 lbs short. So we put
another 25 lbs. behind each seat.
Now finally, we get the call
for our first time / qualifying pass.
Temp is 83 degrees, humidity
is 49%, Corrected Density / Altitude is 3188. Pretty good conditions
Dan does the normal burn out
& stage routine. The reaction time is 0.029 sec. not too bad. The truck
runs 12.272 seconds, at 105.77 MPH. A little slow for the weight we put in. However,
this is good enough to qualify 0.628 sec. under the “D-Class” index of 12.90
sec.
Now, Dan takes the truck
over the “official scale” on the other side of the track, and it says we are 60
lbs heavy. Humm, added 50 lbs, were 10 lbs light, now we’re 60 lbs heavy!
They must use the “new math”
at this track.
Additionally, this run is for Class champion. We win Class!
This means a picture in the
winner’s circle, and a check of all the race components for contingency
sponsors. Wouldn’t you know, that both Dan & I have on dirty tee shirts,
that don’t match. We do have “team shirts” but they’re in a closet some where.
Back in the pits, we take
the 50lbs out from behind the seats and get ready for the tomorrow’s pass.
Friday August 26, 2005
Today is a special day,
since the owner’s of the Yankee Flyer are due to show up. We need to be on our
best behavior.
We roll into the staging
lanes right around 10:00am.
Dan does the normal burn out
& stage routine. The reaction time is 0.135 sec. Need some improvement
here. The Truck runs 12.145 sec.at 106.73 MPH.
An improvement of 0.127
seconds. Right on track.
We move up to 32nd
in qualifying, running 0.755 seconds under the class index.
This pass is more inline
with expected results, given the weight we finally got correct, within 10 lbs.
of minimum, is close enough.
The truck owners, Dan &
Chris Sniesak finally find our pit spot. Turns out, they did manage to get a
seat in the grandstands in time to see the Dakota make the second pass.
Now it’s time to turn on the
‘ol DND Racing charm and entertain our vehicle owners, with gourmet burgers and
grilled corn on the cob.
A great day!
Saturday August 27, 2005
First round eliminations,
and as usual, we’re first up. We draw a very good competitor, S. Stillings.
This guy and his Top Stock Camaro finished #2 in the Nation in IHRA Stock last
year. We get some race advice / strategy from one of the Southland Dodge crew
(Top Stock racers, from Houma, Louisiana), which is greatly appreciated. At
10:00AM in the morning, the weather is not very similar to the day before, 74
degrees, 76% humidity.
I put a 12.15 sec. dial on
the window, and Dan rolls into the burn out box. Staging goes well, no
mistakes. As usual, we get a head start, as Mr. Stillings has dialed 10.80 sec.
Dan’s reaction time is good for this run, 0.112 sec., however, Mr. Stillings is
better. He catches the Dan at half track, holds a fender on him to the finish
line. The truck turns 12.157 sec.(very close to the dial) at 107.14 MPH, but
it’s not enough. Darn first round runner up’s again. Mr. Stillings goes on to runner
up in the Stock Class for the event, guess it was his day, not ours.
We decide to stay for the
IHRA night of fire, and enjoy the show Saturday night.
Sunday August 28, 2005
Dan & I pack up and
leave the track in plenty of time to get home in time to unpack and unwind.
As we pull out, we notice
the RV is leaning substantially to the left, about 12 degrees.
The rear air bag suspension
is not taking air. We limp to the first fuel stop on the Ohio Turnpike and
diagnosis the issue. Dan takes the matter in hand, and removes the air control
valve for the left rear air bags. We disassemble it, clean it, and determine it
is not a repairable unit. We get some appreciated advise from some truckers .
One guy even goes so far as to look for a replacement valve or by-pass coupling
in various tool boxes in his rig. God Bless our Truckers!
I check with the “tech guys”
in Oregon at Monaco to see if we can proceed without damaging anything. Yes,
you can proceed, go slow and check to make sure nothing rubs. The ride is
terrible, the mud flap on the coach gets 2 inches shorter on the drivers side,
before we stop to remove it, and Dan has to set the cruise at 55 MPH ( I know
this kills him).
We make it back to DND World
HQ with minimal damage.
Until next time,
Keep the revs up………
DND Race Team
Dave Perrine – Crew Chief
Dan Perrine - Driver