Finally, Redemption – Running Open Comp at the WCHRA

Written by Mike Lawless
Photo by Max Cackle

Bakersfield, CA – “When I saw the light you cut on a .4 pro tree, I said to myself ‘no wonder he’s been redlighting!’” Those were the words of fellow E/Gas competitor Jim Brown at the June 9th installment of the WCHRA series. We’ve gone down on redlights in E/Gas (11.60 index, .5 pro tree) for the last several events and it has been getting REALLY old!

The Event also featured a Chicago Style Nitro show. This is a short race format with one round of qualifying for an eight car field, 16 cars tried to qualify and then those eight are run, the two quickest (NOT the round winners) go the final round.

Our friend Paul Miller, also an E/Gas competitor had joined us for the day since his car was out of commission. The conditions were incredible for this time of year, and when the sun went down, indescribable!

As for us, we had decided to try out Open Comp. A “Dial In” bracket with a .4 pro tree. Over the last season and a half, we simply have not been able to tame the car enough to run the .5 tree in E/Gas. Since it’s a stick shift deal, there’s no adjustable release button. It’s just dump the clutch and go. I’ve tried arguing with the car, but for some reason, the car always wins those arguments!

We had actually decided to double up and run both. Unfortunately, while others manage to pull it off, for us, that proved undoable. Had the run order been reversed, it may have been OK.

After our first round of qualifying in Open Comp, we needed to hurry back for the E/Gas Qualifier. The car ran good on its first run in OC, posting an 11.49 at just under 118. I didn’t even un-strap or remove my helmet for the E/Gas qualifier. My wife Cindy towed me directly up from the end of the first run to make the qualifying run for E/Gas.

That run resulted in an 11.56 feathering the throttle on the top end, but what was more telling was that the clutch was so hot and sticky, it didn’t respond to clutch management at all. The reaction time was minus .055 red on a CM setting that should have slipped the clutch enough to go green. The engine also complained a bit by pushing a little oil out the breather and issuing a puff of smoke out the exhaust on top. Even on Alky, the chambers and rings still see significant heat, and it probably butted the ring gaps on that run, much like it did at the March Meet on 2009 when we had to hot lap it in the late rounds. Air-cooled motors are finicky that way!

With that, we decided to withdraw from E/Gas.

I was to be Jim Brown’s first round match-up. He was observing when we ran second round of OC qualifying when we posted a .027 RT on the .4 pro tree. He came around to make sure I had decided to withdraw and give him the single. Good on ya Jim for asking. (I probably would not have asked).

Our ET on the second qualifying OC run was 11.50 at 118. On our third and final run, we netted an 11.52, which is exactly what I predicted based on the rising temps. I have to say that having Rancho Performance Transaxles do the “Pro Shift” thing on our trans seemed to help consistency tremendously!

Temps were starting to fall by the time eliminations started. Cindy had wanted me to dial a little lower than the 11.52 I had planned on and lower than the 11.50 dial I went with. In OC, once you have chosen your dial, you own it for the duration. No changes.

Qualifying position in OC is based on reaction time rather that ET. We qualified eighth with a .027 RT. Fortunately for us, this pretty much gave us a gift in round one, pairing us with the 16th qualifier. A young man in a supercharged Dakota pick-up. He was supposed to be dialed at 13.40, but didn’t put his dial on his window. His qualifying RT was .341. It made me think that perhaps he was new to the game.

However, always aware of gamesmanship, I didn’t lay off. We staged, his side of the tree came down (a blinder prevents opponents from seeing each others side), and since there was roughly two seconds between us, I waited till he left to come up on the two-step. I caught the kid by well before the 1000 foot mark and paced him through the traps, running an 11.80 @ 100mph for the win. I considered that round a gift.

By the time second round came, is was dark, and I’ll tell ya, that to me, there’s nothing finer than night racing at Famoso! My second round guy was much tougher. Perennial winner Mark Miyashiro in his C/Gas roadster (9.60 dial). What I CAN say, is that if he underestimated me this time, he probably won’t in the future.

I reckon that I was pretty amped up for this one. I went .003 on the tree and when I saw him coming up quickly but still behind me, I gave a throttle a couple womps, and got the win light! That was a very satisfying run! I ran 11.54 on my 11.50 dial to his 9.57 on his 9.60 dial. It was a great feeling. A feeling I haven’t had for quite a while.

Paul had told me that during the run, the people on the sidelines were chanting “Go bug, go bug” and when our win light came on, we got a big cheer!

Things weren’t going to be getting any easier for the next round. Into the semi-final, there was a bike dialed in at 8.79, a black Corvette dialed in at 8.60 and white 55 Chevy dialed in at 8.60. No matter who I had, they would be coming up on me with a closing speed of around 40mph.

I got the bike.

With about a .025 starting line advantage it should have been mine to win. (.072 to his .097, and I was a little bugged about being “late”).

Approaching the stripe, man, he was coming fast. I made the split second decision to stay in it because I just knew he’d come around. He didn’t. I took a .06 stripe, and lost on a double breakout, 11.44 (11.50 dial) to his 8.76 (8.79 dial). I went over to his pit, we shook hands, and I said “MAN, that was fun!” I told him that I was trying to decide on whether to lift, and I decided right at the last second, “Screw it! I ain’t lifting!” We both laughed and he said “I knew we were both gonna break out, cuz there was no way I was gonna catch you!”

Even with the loss in the semi’s, it was the most fun racing we’ve had in a long time. If I had any doubts about my abilities, they are there no longer. I proved to myself that I can hang with the Open Comp guys. Of course, I will have to “re-learn” judging the top end since the biggest majority of OC racers are B & C/Gas class racers (8.60, 9.60 index). It’s been a long time since I’ve had to do that. We have been running index for the last several years, and “my guy” is always right next to me thru the traps.

We will leave E/Gas behind and focus on OC for the remainder of the year, and work on moving over to D/Gas next season, (10.60 index, .4 pro tree). I also think we gained a new measure of respect amongst the faster guys too. And that is also a good feeling!