Team Stanley And Weiss Racings Finale’
After our failed attempt at a $20,000 payday at The Shakedown at Etown its time to sit back and look at quick snapshot of the 2009 season for Stanley & Weiss Racing.
It definitely did not start off well for the team and our brand new 1968 Tim McAmis Camaro that was purchased from, of all places, Racing Junk.com! Don’t laugh, this car is living, breathing proof that “The Deal” is out there waiting for someone to find it! All it takes is a stroke of luck, be willing to pay the agreed on price and have a friend out there in cyberspace to certify that it is what is professed to be! That must be followed up by an honest person willing to take your Benjamin’s!
The very first hit on the car saw the new piece bounced off the wall about 100 feet out! Only John Stanley’s quick thinking and driving skills saved it from being a lot worse than it could have, should have been! After John’s brother Raymond, his friend Richard and Tim Fraker Race Graphics repaired the battle scars, it was off to the home of the blues, Memphis, Tennessee. We had put Memphis on the schedule so we decided, to heck with it, let’s just go! When the smoke cleared after qualifying we ended up 18th with 3.91! On only the 2nd full hit on the car.
So it was off to Richmond, Virginia next to see if maybe, just maybe we had what it takes with our new car to REALLY “swim amongst the sharks”. Our test hit early on Friday yielded us a shut off run after the car was not lined up straight. Another part of our learning curve with a state of the art car. And then it was into qualifying Friday night and did we qualify well or what!!! The aptly named, it soon became evident, “Appalachia on Steroids” Camaro went, to quote the ADRL Prez, right by the 80’s with a booming 3.79 qualifying run!!! John may have lost a close race to Todd Tutterow in the 2nd round but we left Virginia happy, happy, happy!
Next up was St Louis, Missouri the home of our “financial advisor” (we need me more cash!) and friend William Craig Weiss, better known as Axle to all in the drag racing fraternity. The 3500 feet of air did not bother the Camaro as it laid down a qualifying run right out of the box 1st round. John got a bit upside down mentally in the first round and left a BIG red light on the tree against Bubba Stanton. (Thanks Roger Henson, but he did pay me!) And then it was on to Columbus, Ohio, the scene of lots of our successes during the street car wars. We again laid down a number in the 1st round that would not get us booted from The Show. John redeemed himself well in the 1st round when his 80 flat got to the finish line before Todd Tutterow’s 78. Next up he put a needed .027 bulb on the young phenom Jason Hamstra and took the win light as well. In the semis it was Josh Hernandez and his Bad-Azz 57 Chevrolet. At the flash of the yellow John had .06 in the bank and although he had a car on Josh at the 60 foot marker it was not enough to hold off Josh’s 74 run!
At the Rockingham Drag Stock meeting the Stanley and Weiss Camaro again showed why it can no longer “fly below the radar screen” of all the racers. Our 2nd round qualifying run of 3.76 at over 202 MPH showed everyone we were a force to be reckoned with. A first round loss AGAIN when the car rolled the beams ended our day, but we left there the world’s quickest AJ Olds car to the 1/8th in the world!
At the season ending Texas race in Ennis is when it started for us! What you may ask? That very same thing that bites one and all somewhere, sometime! The “Stuff Happens” syndrome. The first round qualifier AGAIN left us solidly in the field but it was all downhill after that! “Luck of the draw” they call it and it was all craps for us! ANOTHER 1st round loss left us starting the 2010 season in the 12th points position. Although it’s not too bad considering there were 49 other cars in the mix!
This brings us to this past weekend in Englishtown, New Jersey. This was the 2nd in a row of “what the heck just happened to us” racing weekends. A mechanical gremlin bit us 1st round and then again 2nd round of qualifying. A 1st round loss against Tommy Gray showed us another thing we MUST fix this winter.
Thanks again to all our loyal friends and supporters. You help us keep marching onward and upward!
The Year In Review
