AllStar Rug Doctor Dodge Challenger Nitro Funny Car

Millington, TN – The AllStar Rug Doctor Dodge Challenger Nitro Funny Car team traveled to Memphis Tennessee’s Memphis International Raceway to attend the IHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment World and Nitro Jam Season Finals on 11 – 12 October.   The last race of the season is always met with anticipation as it’s our opportunity to wrap up the season on a high note using all our season’s lessons learned and tune up information and our last chance to hoist the coveted Iron Man trophy which has been elusive this year.

Although our performance has continued to improve in both ETs and speed throughout the season, we’ve been unable to solve the challenge of piston/cylinder damage as a consequence of the pursuit of more horsepower.  Looking toward next season’s new IHRA competitive format and with few opportunities remaining to get this figured out, this weekend I decided to set aside my normal “minor tweak” approach and take a more aggressive swing at it.

We hit the track this weekend with a custom manifold modification targeting improved air and fuel distribution across all cylinders.  Although a major adjustment to our tune up and risk to our performance trends my goal is to retain or improve the engine’s horsepower output and to do so reliably.  I predict next year’s program will be similar in that we’ll have spare parts on hand to get through unexpected breakage but I definitely don’t plan to tear down the motor between runs the way our competitors have had to.   This weekend and at most of the races we’ve attending this year, the other teams routinely had the cylinder heads off on almost every pass with everything from minor to major engine damage…I simply can’t afford that type of a race program.

We were a bit anxious approaching our first race in round one not knowing what to expect of our manifold modification.  I didn’t plan to swing for the fence….just a clean pass from A to B.  That’s exactly what we got.  It wasn’t our best ET but the speed was still up there.  The post race inspection revealed all cylinders were strong and intact and with a normal turn in the pit we were ready for round two.     My goal was again, a nice clean pass.   The results were assuring.  Although we lost the race to Peter Gallen by a small margin, our ET and mph were markedly improved.

Like the first pass, I felt some vibration just shy of half way down the track and shifted to high gear to stop it.  The shift point was earlier than normal which loads the motor and clutch down likely resulting in our slower ETs.  The good top end speeds during these runs indicates the motor is making good horsepower but post race inspection confirmed that we were wearing the clutch more than I’m used to seeing. Click on the link below to see Friday and Saturday night’s Funny Car rounds…..nice flames from the headers on that first pass.   Special thanks to MotorManiaTV for use of the video. We are the first pair in the sequence. You’ll also notice the amount of “smoke” from the car during the first 200 feet of the second race (about 7 min into the video).  So much that the announcer thought I had broke traction and was spinning the tires allowing Peter to pass me.  In actuality, that’s dust from the clutch which verifies what we saw in the pits. To quickly access our Saturday night run in the video advance to 14 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z69ExFGPEwU    (You may have to copy and paste the link into the web browser address window if it doesn’t launch automatically)

Saturday started out with rain that ended in the early afternoon.  IHRA’s track crew got the track into racing condition by early evening allowing our racing to start right on time.   With a “green” track resulting from the earlier rains and knowing of our advanced clutch wear, I made some clutch adjustments and a few fuel nozzle changes to lead into our first race against Mike Halstead.   As I exited the burnout, the motor felt flat but sounded OK.  The car launched normally at the hit but I soon felt the vibration again and decided to lift instead this time giving us our slowest ET and speed for the weekend.

Back in the pits, we didn’t find any problems with the cylinders/pistons but noticed that the number 8 cylinder spark plug looked as if it was new indicating that cylinder failed to stay lit during the run.  Exhaust temperatures in the data also indicated the same. We troubleshot the ignition side and decided to replace the associated spark plug wire as a precaution.  We suspected a problem within the distributor possibly due to it getting hit by the blower belt when it broke back in St Louis.

We made some minor repairs, some adjustments to the fuel mixture due to the high humidity, and were ready for round two up against Mike Minick and the Chi-Town Hustler.   The burnout and staging were all normal this time….for us.  In the other lane, Chi-Town broke something and shut it off giving us a single car pass for the win.   Again, our time was above our new normal but our top end speeds were still good.   See the links below for photos taken during the weekend.   Special thanks to Dragstory.com for access and permissions to include them.

https://picasaweb.google.com/cldlmey/2013MemphisIHRAFinals     (You may have to copy and paste the link into the web browser address window if it doesn’t launch automatically)

We didn’t meet all our objectives this weekend as our ET’s were down but we did meet our major goal as we didn’t hurt a single part and were never forced to have the motor apart. We struggled a bit with clutch application issues and endured ignition problems with number 8 cylinder. However, speeds were promising at 237 mph & 239 mph and  considering zero engine damage and the apparent success of our intake manifold modifications, overall I consider this a successful weekend.  We gathered important information to take forward in our 2014 season.

As this was our final race for the 2013 season, I want to thank my crew for this weekend and their support throughout the season: Mark “The Spark” Hutchison, Curt “Fly Boy” Meyerhoff, Chris “Crispy” May, Jay Broad and sponsors/special guests Vince Capatosta and Reese Kittle. I want to thank and recognize Jay Broad for his personal talents in machining and assistance with the custom manifold modification.

I want to extend special thanks to all our sponsors for hanging in there with us and to the IHRA for the opportunity to race this weekend.  Our sponsors: AllStar Dodge Chrysler Jeep, Rug Doctor, AMT Racing Engines, HotShots Bar and Grill, Vital Signs, Kodiak Equipment, Vinyl Images, Pickup Outfitters, Reese Kittle, Josies Angels, and Dave Zientara Racecraft. Without you, all this would not be possible.