HOT ROD Drag Week 2019

Someway, somehow, Mike and Tony got the trans back together (first gear was in rather more than the one piece that it should have been in...) in Blasphemi in time to make a 9.30 pass right at the end of the day. If my arithmetic is right they keep a slender lead in A/Gasser going into Day 5.

It's going to make for one hell of an episode of Roadkill when it comes out...
 
Brilliant recovery there. Nothing left on the table tomorrow I hope and some great results to come.

I really haven't been able to follow it closely this year so thanks for the updates :)
 
I don't think it's ever lasted more than 3 consecutive passes. Looks great when it launches. Not a gasser fan but love hit it gets down when it works.
 
Dave Newbern is confirmed out. Blew 3rd gear out of the trans, then his engine started making noises of distress and he called it quits rather than risk sending the rods out of it. He'll be back next year, potentially with a power adder of some kind :)

Dup said:
I don't think it's ever lasted more than 3 consecutive passes. Looks great when it launches. Not a gasser fan but love hit it gets down when it works.
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He actually made the end of Drag Week 2018, but blew it to Narnia when trying to make one last quicker run attempting to win the class with the "party pulley" on the engine (smaller supercharger pulley for mo' boost) and the transmission hung on the 2-3 shift. This year he just left the party pulley on all week! The car makes north of a thousand horsepower at the rear tyres. Stuff breaks :)

As of 3:30am Eastern they hadn't quite made the second checkpoint yet due to the weather (straight axle gassers, trailers and a lot of rain don't sensibly mix) and needing to sleep. But they'll get there.

Day 4 results.

Looking interesting in places here. Three or four guys can still win Street Race small-block PA if they can nail that 8.50 bracket. SR big-block PA is tight as well, with three cars closely matched including the Aussie Chevelle with the turbos poking through the hood. George Dodworth's Tesla continues to be Mr Consistency having laid down a 10.4xx every day so far - not sure if you guys have seen just how much he's removed from inside that car, but the weight saving must have been considerable!

Unlimited is all but decided in Tom Bailey's favour, though the Supra can overtake the OG Ascona today for third place. Oh, and we might see Bailey turn the wick up here and try to beat his 6.18 from earlier in the week - what price a 5.9xx??? And in A/Gasser Finnegan's average ET is 8.872. Jarrad Scott in the Ranchero is at 9.035. What these two do rather depends on each other now - if Finnegan gets a reasonably good run then Jarrad needs to go deep into the 8's to win the class. And it's not as if the Ranchero has had bullet-proof reliability this week, if he starts chasing a time then he could well end up breaking down. ***edit*** Freiburger has crunched the numbers, if Finnegan runs a 9.145 or better then he can't be caught (because the cars aren't allowed to run quicker than 8.5 without a funny car cage, and gassers aren't allowed FC cages).

Like I say - it's looking interesting.
 
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Day 5 - Virginia Motorsports Park, North Dinwiddie, VA


MToD: Link live

The programme is a little different today, starting and finishing later than the previous days. First up will be Street Machine Eliminator final qualifying runs to get into the Top 32 race. Then class cars get one last session. Then the SME Top 32, which will be a bracket elimination competition held head-to-head - so reaction times at the tree will matter, rather than the simple time trial that the racing has been all week so far! After the Top 32, then time permitting there will be a shootout between qualifying stick-shift cars, and also a competition between qualifying 8.50 class cars in Street Race small-block PA (the 'Crazy 8s').

Oh, and if you think the week has potentially made the drivers a little insane at this point then check out what it's done to Freiburger...I'll bet Lohnes is glad to be out of the way at his NHRA job today :D

***edit***

Rain delay at the moment, so Freiburger is doing storytime and Q&A on the live feed for a while. Might be a couple of hours before they can get Day 5 going.
 
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Love it. Need to catch some highlights Figure I'll be up in the night thanks to a baby with tonsillitis so might catch up on some of it.

Managed to see the VetteCart wannabe, did it make another run as it only broke the beams for the standard ET.
 
Finnegan has made a pass, but a 9.73 ET. So technically he can hand that in and complete the week, but he needs a quicker run to win A/Gasser. Jarrad Scott has been down in a low 9 pass today.

Dup - don't think the 'vetteWreck has been back for a proper pass. He was in Street Machine Eliminator anyway, so I think his Drag Week is done.

***edit***

Blasphemi was apparently only on 7 cylinders. Finnegan will be back for another go.
 
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A huge wheelstand and a 9.04. Finnegan can't be caught - he wins A/Gasser! :D

And a great pass by Doc James MacEntire - 7.89 @ 170mph, naturally aspirated.

***edit***

Sweet mother of...

Tom Bailey just ran 6.07, with a car that was moving around a bunch. I reckon a 5 was possible there.
 
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Well you were right! In there by a gnats whisker but the barrier has been broken. Might encourage some people turning it up for next year

Just caught up with some of today's feed. Wow. 170mph n/a pass, pretty amazing. Fin with the win and awesome wheelstand. So many capable machines making decent passss on the last day. Love that silver Chevy, looks like a show car but really can move.
 
It would have been one thing to do a 5.99 in the Sunday test 'n' tune, or on Day 1. But on Day 5, after racing on all four previous days and driving all those miles on the road? Tom Bailey, absolute legend. Hell, his five day average was 6.2990 at 228.81. That record might stand for a bit...
 
Final results got published. Absolutely crazy how many street driveable cars averaged 8s or better.

Heroes of the week for me? Tom Bailey has to rank right up there for that 5.99 pass. Mike Finnegan for averaging 8.906 @ 155.23mph in a straight-axle gasser. Doc McEntire for almost squeaking into a 7-second average naturally aspirated. But the greatest performance of the week IMO was James Eby in the 1919 Franklin, who averaged 29.582 @ 46.81mph. Just incredible.

Swedish driver Robin Johannesson won Spirit Of Drag Week in the 'baby' Ascona for making it through in spite of all the troubles that they had and still averaging 7.792 @ 174.19mph. Good on 'em :)
 
That Franklin making the roadtrip minus the passes is a feat in itself, brilliant stuff all round. Well to be honest for any of those machines to make the trip is a thing. The whole culture around the event is brilliant too, if there was a slight possibility in my life to take part of be all over it!
 
Tom Bailey has been racing Sick Seconds 2.0 again recently. Apparently the engine hasn't been out to be refreshed yet, but he's been and gone quicker than the 5.99x pass at Drag Week.

5.773.

:eek:

At 259.66 mph.

:eek::eek:
 
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