A Fitting End To A Terrible Drag Racing Season

Written by Camp Stanley
Photo by Roger Richards

Hagerstown, MD – This 2011 season have seen things go from bad to worse to what we thought were great and then back to bad yet again. After we left the next to the last ADRL Norwalk, Ohio we were pretty sure we finally figured out what had been ailing our race car since the Topeka race in June. And FINALLY we got it right!

So off to the last ADRL race of the year in Dallas, Texas we went, sincere in our beliefs that all was once again well with the Appalachia on Steroids Camaro. We really had no desire to put the car away for the winter not knowing if we had truly solved our issues. We consciously decided to use the last race of the season as a test session and could help justify the expense by dropping the car off at Garret Race Cars in Marble Hill, Missouri after the race. We had scheduled the car into Garret’s after the Maple Grove race for some needed updates and some chassis work that could only be done on a chassis shop jig.

The ADRL had added an extra test session on the Friday afternoon to help fill out there first three day race weekend. This was great for us as we needed all the chances at the track we could get! So now into how those five chances at the killer ADRL track worked out for us. A little hint: can you say good, bad, and indifferent but in the end it came up GOOD! HA, confused you one and all didn’t I?

The first run was a time run as I said and although John got timed out on the tree because he didn’t get staged in time he did as he should have, he left go of the button and went to the other end for the data from our tried and true Racepak computer! The car did something it had not done since testing at Maple Grove. It didn’t spin the tires, it didn’t shake, it just hauled a$$! Finally we had our race car back under us with something to work with.

But that wicked witch, Fate who has been with us all year left us know in very short order that she was not willing to turn us loose yet! On Qualifier number one on Friday night the car left pretty well again although it had a cylinder out for 2.3 seconds. The issue with this run was that our good friend “Legbone” Leggett went “bowling for cones” in the top end. For the uninitiated, that means he ran over the top end clocks and shot them across the track and stopped our timers. Can you say DNQ because of that? Yep that it was! On Saturday morning’s second qualifier we had an electrical glitch which did not activate the timers when John left the starting line! Instant tire smoke at the hit, but John pedaled it and legged it through for more of that infamous data we have been unable to gather! We needed to see if the car would respond to a quick pedal without doing anything stupid. And respond well it did, not quick, not fast but right down the middle of the track!

And now we were down to two more shots at the race track and the bump was falling like a Wiley Coyote boulder off of a cliff! The third qualifier finally gave us something to be happy about till we got down to the bottom end. The oil pan cracked a weld AGAIN and dumped oil under the tires from about half track on and John drove his butt off all the way to the end of the track, not knowing what was going on. We still got a decent lap even without all the dramas. Our back half time was within .03 of Quain Stott’s 3.71 run in the other lane. So time to call on Garret to weld ANOTHER crack in the oil pan. All fixed and back together again for the last qualifier we were in plenty of time so off to the lanes we went. But that WITCH was still riding on the spoiler for our last shot! When John completed his burnout something broke inside the transmission and he could not get the car out of gear even though the transbrake was applying. So he had no choice but to shut the car off and be pushed back ending our 2011 season!

And now you see what I mean about “a fitting end” to this racing season. We have managed to be attacked by every gremlin known to man in the racing world and some we invented along the way. BUT as I also said, we feel good about the car being back to where it has been and are looking forward to the 2012 ADRL season!

Thanks go to one and all that support Stanley&Weiss Racing for your continued support through this horrible year! It means more than you can ever imagine!

Our car is back!