Going Motorcycle Drag Racing July 21-23 Cordova IL

#overachiever
Congratulations Rob!!

 

Went out the third round on both entries last night. Had some problems that I hope are solved. Has to mess with my carbs, put in new fuel lines, and seem to have the electronics issues sorted

 

DAY 2

No Time trials straight to races

Pass 1
Race 1 #1400 entry
dialed a 5.68 based on yesterday. Ran a 5.72. Beat him @ the tree with a .012 but we lost the ticket coming down the return road so I didn’t get to see any data.

Will buy back
Edit: My sweet mom went and got a copy from the tower after both races. So I can at least use it to help analyze.


Pass 2
Race 1 #400 entry
Dialed a 5.72 and had a close race, now the bike ran much quicker 5.68. I beat the guy a little on the tree but he had a perfect pass and ran right on his dial in. .004 me to .007 him on the lights

 

Pass 3 Win
Race 2 #1400 entry
Beat him on the tree .025 worst light of the weekend

Had him covered and slightly let off


Pass 4 Win
Race #2 400 entry
Spun for some reason in the first 60 feet
.003 excellent light
Other guy broke out
I won off the good light and good luck, because my bike ran really slow 5.75, he should have beat me.

 

So, what's the bottom line here? Have you won enough money yet for your next car?

 

Car? I thought this was forklift races.

 

Where the pics/videos? Come on @Boman Forklift youre slipping here.

 

He supplied a live link .
https://m.youtube.com/@wellsracingpromotions

 

This was taken yesterday and she came around to sell it today. Like a track day rider, I couldn’t resist

 

All I’ve done is spend money and now drinking some beer!!!!


I will post a little later, been packing stuff away and BS’ing with other racers.

Unfortunately I went out the third round again, with a bike that isn’t running as consistent as I hoped. Oh well still having run.

 

Awesome stuff. I missed the live link post. Yes, gotta buy that picture. That’s really cool that you still do that with your pops.

 

Am I the only one that loves seeing pics of a drag racer with knee pucks on his leathers?
Good job Linders. Those were some nasty lights/launches off the line.
Did Dad make it to the track?

 

No he didn’t. Actually this is the first time I’ve been at a drag strip in the Midwest without my dad. We started going together in 1976 on his 75 Z1 900. He has raced every year since then until last year. He broke his tibia, fibula. Ribs, shoulder and punctured a lung crashing at the finish here in 2021.

He texted and called me and mom a bunch over the last two days, but he just didn’t feel he could show up and not compete.

 

Pass 5
Race #3 #1400 entry
Lost

Last pass the bike ran .07 slow, which is terrible, because it spun and the weather was worse, density altitude was increasing. So I change my dial in from 5.68 to 5.70.

Do my burnout and roll up about 2-3 feet from the line and it stumbles and dies. I realize I forgot to turn the fuel on and with this chassis, the petcock is way up under the bodywork. I jump off bike and flag my mom to come with the starter cart, I lay on the ground and get my hand under the bodywork and turn it on. Thankfully she fires right up.

The guy I was racing against was super cool and a good sportsman, he had lit up the top bulb and just waited for me. He could have lit the bottom bulb and I have 10 seconds to stage, but he didn’t.

I cut my worst light of the weekend after all that chaos .030 and my bike wouldn’t run the dial in. I went 5.72 on a 5.70 dial in.

Afterwards I found him and his wife and thanked them for being good sports. He said, yea I want to win fair and square, besides I won’t overheat waiting for you. He then apologized for putting on the top bulb and rushing me.

He went all the way to the finals and split the purse with the other racer. I think he said he lost by .001.

This track has a bar and we hung out a bit. His car runs on alcohol which helps consistency. He said all day long he ran 5.97x on every pass, only varying on the .00x, ran a 5.977 against me.

I wish bikes could be that consistent. If I lived up here, I would be experimenting with alcohol carbs or injection, just don’t have the time as infrequently as I come to race.

 

Pass 6
Race #3 400 entry
Lost

Ran a 5.72 last pass on a 5.70 dial in and got beat, so I dial a 5.73. As good as these cars are, I need to be able to play the big end and can’t give up a .01-.02 if my bike won’t run it’s number again.

The grandson of another bike racer starts helping me about 3 passes earlier, so he pushes my bike up to the staging lanes while I put my leathers on.

This event lets you choose what lane you want to race in as you push up to the staging lanes. I’ve been running in the left lane all day, both days. But I did choose the right lane for my bye run yesterday, just to see if it was any different.

Anyway they have cars in 5 lanes and we got in the wrong lane. I always ask going up, and my helper said he asked but we got in the right lane, which I didn’t realize until I was about to go out. It was too late to change then, but that was a bummer.

We both cut identical -.008 red lights. Since I have the slower dial in, I leave first, which means I get the loss. The rule is first or worse, so about the only way I could win is if he came out and crossed the center line.

I saw the red light, so I left it pinned to see what she would do, and ran quicker at a 5.713. I hope that data helps today. Had we not both red lighted, I would have at least been able to try and win it on top, since the bike could finally run its number.

So my dilemma for today is my lights varied from a -.008 to a .030, so 38 thousandths of a second, which is not good when racing cars. If I were at a 3 day bike meet, I honestly think I could have won some money.

That red light is really bad because I have to decide if I now add more delay in my box or hope it was a fluke?????

We had rain last night and I heard a chance for today, so the weather is changing and that changes your consistency. Supposedly, weather doesn’t effect an alcohol car as much as a gas powered one.

 

I looked at that photo and my wheelie bar is on the ground and my front tire is too. That shouldn’t really happen as it will inhibit weight transfer. I have an old picture with this bike the first time I rode it and the front tire is 1-3 inches in the air with all weight transferred.

So I put 3 1/2 turns per side to raise the bar. If I had time trials, I wouldn’t have made such a drastic move. Also this bike currently requires removing the entire rear wheel to change the wheelie bar height. I am going up in tire pressure from 5 to 5.5lbs and see what happens.

We get no time trails today so my first two races will probably be lost tuning everything and I will buy back into the second round.

All these changes will possibly change my reaction time, since the wheel will not roll out of the timers, it may pop up and break the beam that way, before rolling forward.

 

Sucks no practice runs.

Making lots of changes is never good, but maybe you'll get lucky.

Have fun.

 

I have to stand corrected when I said many of the good bracket racers don’t dial their fastest pass. I saw lots of racers that were dialing a number and then hitting it every single pass

 

For a couple extra bucks she coulda inset a pic of the slip with the 000 RT. Sounds like you had a great time, I'm jealous! Went to MidOH yesterday and it was a bit depressing watching and not racing.

 

That would be a great idea. I should reach out and send her a scan of it and buy another picture.