Ola mi drag racing amigos! Whoa what a minute….last week was when the international spotlight was on dragracetires.com, this week things are a little more home spun, biscuits & gravy style. So after powering down a couple of Hardee’s finest, I got on the road again with my buddy Mike Freeman and headed up to Knoxville, TN for a little 5.70, IHRA “Quick Rod”, style racing. The rule book on this one says that throttle stops are legal, and with no minimum weight limit or tire rule, basically anything goes. If you can start it, you can run it. High dollar dragsters vs. door cars, vs. altereds oh my!

I hope this one’s got gas & brake pedals!

If it aint black…take it back

Ole Mike and I didn’t do too badly in the qualifying order, running a 5.71 on only our second pass. The only problem was that the 3 blind mice in the scoring tower failed to write down the number of our car along with those of several of our competitors. Therefore all of our times got thrown out the window, and who you lined up against in the staging lanes was who you raced. Just to keep it chaotic, there was a 3 hr rain delay thrown in for good measure, insuring that we’d all have a late night. Too bad ours ended early with a first-round loss due to a malfunctioning c02 bottle/throttle stop assembly. Oh well, we still had a blast, and Mike’s 125” roadster/bodied altered is a hoot to drive and the absolute perfect platform for funny car practice. Bleary-eyed, we drove down the road sipping on coffee and eating Krispy Crèmes….Mike is a detective for the Walker County, GA Sheriff s Department so it was only natural to set the mood with the correct cop food as we talked back and forth about classic crime stopper moments.

So Big John Dunn, his wife Melissa, and the IHRA’s Kurt Oberholtzer came through town the other day for a visit, and to talk about the future of nostalgia funny car racing. So when it came to bench racing, it seemed as though Corky (my boss) clearly had the upper hand on Dunn when discussing the level of sophistication required to race a timed rally event verses a drag car…demonstrating that for guys like me & Dunn to try to rally race, would be about like bringing a knife to a gunfight. I’m just glad he’s on my side and that the long pistol found its way back onto his desk…

Don't bring a knife to a gunfight!

Next weekend its crab cakes and drag racing as the IHRA Nitro Jam is going down at Budd’s Creek Maryland, where I’ll get to tag along with Army, Dunn and the gang as they duel it out in the nitro funny car ranks. Also right around the corner is the next ORSCA race where we’re currently sitting #2 in points, and the Camaro is sitting on full kill…locked/loaded and ready for a shot at the title….as the weather cools down the racing will definitely heat up.
Until next time…..

EG

…and never the bride.  At least that’s what it’s starting to feel like after last Friday night.  Upon taking a look at the ORSCA schedule and seeing that we had a fair amount of time off before the next point’s race, we made the last minute decision to pack up and head south for a non-sanctioned outlaw style race about 50 miles west of Birmingham, AL.  The goal was to gain more seat time in the 5.30 class, while perfecting our tune-ups for hot weather competition.  The sketchy part was actually getting there, we drove 4 ½ hours through some of the worst thunderstorms imaginable, (at one point I considered putting on my helmet and H.A.N.S. device inside the motor home), thinking that there’s absolutely no way that we would be racing that night.  Wrong.  We got about 10 minutes from the track, and the place was dry as a bone, where they had just completed time trials and the entire evening’s program was on schedule.  Super.  No testing tonight, just qualifying and racing.  Somehow we made it in the field, and 4 rounds later found ourselves in the semi-finals again, where I promptly turned on the red-light by 15 thousandths of a second and ended our evening.  Oh well, at least we were in the wedding…
Saturday morning the race promoter came by the trailer and offered us a deal that we just couldn’t refuse.  He was running an anything goes, quick 8 outlaw feature event that evening, and offered us a free entry fee + free crew admission if we’d just give it a shot to qualify.  This meant turning up the nitrous and going for broke…all the while hoping we didn’t break.  After the first quick 8 qualifying pass, it became apparent that we were going to have to lean on our equipment pretty hard to make the show…and after considering all the options, particularly those that might not have a good ending, we decided to focus on the 5.30 race that evening instead….and this time we didn’t even get a wedding invite as my nemesis Mr. Red-light himself showed up in the very first round of racing.
Oh well, I learned a lot.  You have to be focused to show up at somebody else’s home track and hope to win.  With non-sanctioned tracks everything is different; the Christmas tree, timing lights, starting line roll-out, shut down, etc.  However, seat time is always beneficial, especially when you’re running for a championship and I’m sure this experience is going to help us out somewhere further down the road.
Speaking of the road, tomorrow morning I’m leaving for Nashville to get my first taste of TV land.  Horsepower TV’s Power block on SPIKE TV has asked us to bring the car and to talk a little bit about its metamorphosis over the winter, as well as those companies and individuals who’ve made it possible.  TV aint really my deal…racing is, but opportunities like this don’t come along very often, so I owe it to our sponsors to make the most of it.  Look for a post on that one soon…
In the meantime, here are a couple of reality TV clips from last weekend deep in the heart of Dixie…

Keep the rubber side down,

EG

I-22 Outlaw 5.30 qualifying

I-22 Outlaw 5.30 eliminations

I-22 Ride-along

Riding the momentum from a semi-final appearance in Atlanta last month, expectations were high for a strong showing in Steele. But before we get into the meat of the coconut, I’d like to make mention of the fact that it’s still difficult to get my mind around just how much ground we’ve covered in such a short period of time. Seems like the sleepless nights, logistical difficulties, parts shortages, and last minute thrash of getting a new race car ready, no testing, etc were just last week.……whoa, hold on a minute, it was just last week! It’s every week, same song…different verse, but never mind all of that let’s go racing!

Saturday morning was a blue bird day, not a cloud in the sky, and hot….hot like jungle hot. Steamy southern summer weather had rolled with the “tide” right into ‘bama just in time for qualifying. Just how hot was it? Try 94 degrees in the shade, and 140 on the track. Conditions were challenging to say the least with most competitors struggling to get down the lanes. We fared better than most with 5.318 and 5.308 passes in the heat of the day. Going into the final nighttime session, we decided that we had nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking an aggressive shot at the pole position. After all, the ORSCA Championship point’s system rewards not only round wins, but also qualifying order…therefore it is imperative to make the most of every lap down the track.

Sitting in the staging lanes, I watched the last 2 cars right in front of me make nearly perfect passes. With the penultimate run of fellow Phoenix race tire competitor, Blaine Aldridge, resulting in a 5.302; it became apparent that if I was going to better my qualifying position, then it would have to be by 2 thousandths of a second (whatever that is). Lucky for me, I’m not in charge and the Man above is….as I pulled onto the track Blaine’s crew was still wildly celebrating their well deserved qualifying effort, while I started my burnout procedure and Steven staged the car. Nothing left to it but to do it…..as I passed through the finish line beams and looked at the scoreboard, I couldn’t believe what was staring back at me…5.300, with a .005 reaction time and #1 qualifier. ‘ole black was on kill. The only thing I regret is that I couldn’t be back on the starting line to celebrate with Steven, his wife Cynthia, and my girlfriend Amber. All of which made up our crew for the weekend. What an awesome experience!

Eric Gullett, In-car Qualifying Pass, ORSCA Steele, AL

Speaking of awesome experiences, Sunday mornings are unique at an ORSCA race. Larry Garner is our trackside minister (as well as official sponsor of the 5.30 class), and he offers a brief message in a down to earth manner that really seems to touch all of those in attendance. On this particular morning it had a profound impact on me. Larry talked about how we should make an effort to share our testimony, regardless of what we actually may think about it…that God will use it. I’d never really thought about it that way…I feel a conviction from time to time when I’m in these high stress race situations, that I don’t do a good enough job of relating to others who makes this all possible. However, the worst thing I could do…is nothing at all. God’s blessed me enough to be here with the people and resources to be competitive; therefore I should always try my best while showing my appreciation with my thoughts, words, and actions. He’ll take care of the rest of it…

Race time. With the hot late afternoon sun shining down, we found ourselves in the semi-finals again where we would face newcomer to the series, Steve Crawford.

Semi final matchup verses Steve Crawford

Steve had lane choice, and we were forced to deal with unfavorable lane conditions as we made our best effort and came up short. Just like Brian Farrar did after defeating us in the semi-final last month, Steve would go on to win the final in commanding fashion. On a positive note, I learned a lot about racing on a greasy, hot track at this level (something that I hadn’t previously seen before), and after 3 events, we’re currently sitting #2 in points!!

ORSCA 5.30 Index Class Points Standings0 Index
Pos Name Total
1 Brian Farrar 277
2 Eric Gullett 216
3 Blair Aldridge 167
4 Casey Prince 159
5 Steve Crawford 126
6 Ronnie Clayton 111
7 Dan Sullivan 90
8 Brad Lackey 84
9 Paul Baxter 84
10 Chris Krebs 76

I really believe that it’s just a matter of time before we have our day, but until then…I’ll just keep doing my best, knowing that He’ll take care of the rest.
Thanks for reading,

EG

PS – special thanks to Corky Coker and David Leach of Coker Tire, Jack McKinnis of DART, Chris Douglas of COMP Cams, Stanley Poff of TCI, Patrick Burris of Royal Purple, and Joe and Marlene at Holeshot Wheels.

Here’s a little update on how things are going in outlaw land as of last night. I guess you could look at it as a photo essay of sorts…which is by design since I’m too tired to write much of anything coherent.

Only 16 days to go until qualifying at ORSCA Montgomery, AL…and I’ve been doing some research on rain dancing. However, if there’s one thing that you can’t count on to cooperate in the South, it’s the weather. With that being said, the great news is that we now have 80% of the parts we need and should have everything by next week. So, the thrash is on like donkey-kong.

Look for proper recognition to all those companies and individuals who’re making Project (Panic) 5.30 a reality in the next post…the shout-out list will rival a gangster rap video!

Proverbs Chapter 3 vs. 5-6

God bless,

EG

“Honey, you’re never going to believe what I saw at the race track today…”

I met Bobby at the ORSCA event held in Montgomery, AL last November, and I immediately took a liking to his style. He’s pretty much been the man when it comes to making huge horsepower and mud racing. However, after conquering that world, he felt compelled to do what any true-bloodied outlaw innovator does…look for a new challenge. So, he decided to “give this drag racing thing a try.” I’m sure glad he did. Check out his site:

www.msmisery.com

At PRI Orlando, the topic of tires came up. I told him that 4wd drag trucks aren’t exactly our specialty, but if he’s up for it…so am I. Look for Ms. Misery to be wearing some Phoenix test sneakers sometime in 2010.

Click for video of Bobby testing his 4×4 Outlaw 10.5 Truck

EG

Ps- I just got back from the IHRA Nitro Jam in FL, look for the full 411 in the next few days.

Well, it’s official. Johnny and the outlaws at ORSCA have finalized their classes for 2010, and there’s a new 5.30 E.T. index class. Here’s the rulebook (don’t worry it ain’t that long):

1) No throttle stops
2) Car must have doors

Man, you’ve gotta love anything goes outlaw racing! Now, all we’ve got to do is change everything we’ve ever learned about car set-up and racing in the 6.0 class. I’ve had several people question the wisdom of making a change this late in the game (racing starts in 7 weeks). But then again, nobody’s ever accused me of being smart to start with, waiting for ideal conditions is rarely an option… and I’ve never seen a statue made of a critic either. So here goes:

The two primary differences in the classes are that 6.0 required the car to weigh 2,800 lbs and run a 10.5 inch tread width tire…there are a few other rules regarding appearance, safety, etc., but the weight and tire were essentially the limiting factors in performance. Welp, you can throw all of that out of the window for 5.30. Since weight equals horsepower, the first order of business was to get rid of everything non-essential, and lighten up everything else. Since the car didn’t exactly have a CD player and air-conditioning to start with, the weight savings challenge on what was a fairly lean race car was a formidable one. Out came the entire drive train for an evaluation and preliminary game plan for more power…more on that later.

Rather than ruin the paint job that my buddy Chad did for my birthday a couple years back, and gut the car’s all steel body, we decided to keep the shell intact and convert the bolt on stuff. Namely the bumpers, grill, rear deck lid, all went to fiberglass, and a new light weight rear spoiler that is a one-off aluminum set up was installed (courtesy of Mr. Randy Petet, and his bad-to-the-bone Porsche Outlaw 4.70 car that the wing was formerly attached to). Also on the Jenny Craig program; new steering rack, battery (yes, you can even get a light weight 16V battery), and a re-designed 2 gallon fuel cell. Initial weight savings to the chassis – about 150 lbs.

The next order of business was to get what’s left of the car over to my buddies Greg and Josh at the Honest Charley Garage for some touch up paint/body work. My sled got worked over like a borrowed mule last season and was in dire need of some touch up work/cosmetic surgery and the guys at HCG were gracious enough to lend a helping hand.

At the body spa.

Hmm...wonder what I should put in here?

No junk in this trunk!

As for power, here’s this keyboard crew chief’s theory: The car will need to run a 5.15-5.20 E.T. to be competitive in the class, therefore at 2,550 lbs, on a Phoenix PH455 17.0/33.0-15 tire we will need to generate 1,100 horsepower. That’s a lot of donkeys. So my buddy Steven and I disassembled the engine, and took the internals to our friend Lance’s machine shop where everything was magna-fluxed, mic’d and tested. Lance is a trip, we went over to his place out in the Georgia countryside on a Sunday night, opened the door, and he’s in there grinding away while rocking out to the Blues Brothers “Sweet Home Chicago”…on 8-track! When asked to see his music collection, he opened up a 4’x8’ steel file cabinet packed full of slammin’ 8-track cuts. Talk about soul!

Everything on the engine bottom end came back in fine form. Now it was decision time…should we take the existing, heavy-Chevy iron block, bore it out to .100 over, use my existing 4.25 crank and make a 505 cu. In. power plant? A 505 would leave us a little light in the loafers with about 900 h.p., and we’d need to rely heavily on the n2o to make the additional HP, needed to run the ET, plus it’s heavy, HV (that doesn’t really mean anything, I just thought that since we’re on initials I’d through that in there ☺…).

OR…….step up to the plate and build an all-aluminum, king dog, 565ci big block using a DART block, heads, intake and my crank. You know where this is headed…the thought of an engine weighing 150 lbs less and making 200hp more, really isn’t any kind of decision at all. As we speak/write, somebody in Detroit most likely shoveled out their driveway this morning, headed into work at DART, and is behind closed doors doing final prep work on an all aluminum Big “M” block, 4.600 bore, with Pro-2 CNC Ported 380 Aluminum heads and a port matched single plane intake. Kinda brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it…

Next on the list will be getting the behemoth big block breathing. Just like DART, COMP Cams is the best in the business at what they do. A call to their tech guys resulted in a cam, lifter, timing belt and shaft rocker system combination that ought to get us somewhere north of 1,100hp on motor…and just for additional insurance, we decided to go with one of their ZEX nitrous plate kits, good for another 500hp, that’s 1600hp total if we lean on it!! I get the feeling that we’re headed into Wiley E. Coyote territory here…and I couldn’t be happier about it. More updates on project 5.30 as the pre-season progresses.

Memphis says...”King dog what? When do we get to eat around here”

Speaking of being shot out of a land cannon, my good buddy Army Armstrong is coming down from frozen Pennsylvania next week, and picking me up for a road trip to West Palm Beach, FL where the season opener IHRA Nitro Jam will take place. Army will be driving the “Texas Jungle 2” nostalgia nitro funny car, owned and operated by Henry Gutierrez of San Antonio TX (see June 2009 blog archive). I can’t wait to see mi amigo’s from TX, the Trevino’s, Big John Dunn of Dunn & Gone, some 1/8th mile burnouts and get to a warmer climate.

Texas Jungle in Action.

Before I wrap it up for this time around, I’d like to give thanks to the good Lord above, who makes all things possible, and to Coker Tire, Dart Machinery, Comp Cams, Farrow Motorsports, and everyone else who’s working hard to make project 5.30 a reality.

Thanks for reading,
EG

October 3rd – Southern Outlaw Heads Up Last Friday morning my mood reflected the weather outside…rainy, cold and dark. I’m not going to get into everything, as this aint a self-help column, and I’m a drag racer….not the Unabomber. Anyways, it had been 4 weeks since I’d gotten to race, and it appeared as if this particular evening’s qualifying session was also in jeopardy due to rain. To be perfectly honest about it, I didn’t really care whether it got rained out or snowed out for that matter. Although the weather did come around, and qualifying did happen, I finally just decided to sit it out and see how I felt about things Saturday morning. (more…)

Hang ‘em high

Cooler temperatures, college football, and red-hot racing…it just doesn’t get much better than this. Frustrated by the inconsistent tune-up and lack of results for the end of July and August, we decided to do some extensive trouble shooting in an effort to get back on track. The fuel system and carburetor were taken apart, cleaned, and re-jetted, electronics were replaced, valve lash was set, and upon checking the timing….the culprit was found. My distributor had somehow loosened just enough to take approximately 10 degree’s of timing out of the engine. I was relieved and amazed to learn that I hadn’t been totally lost on all of my settings…the car had just “detuned” it-self by about 150 horsepower. Now I had the answer why I’d been hitting myself over the head with a hammer and flushing $100 bills down the toilet for the past 4 weeks with no results. It’s the little things that kill… (more…)

…as promised, glamour shots

“If you don’t have anything nice to say…then don’t say anything at all.”  This trite but true saying pretty much sums up my state of mind towards writing a blog for the past month.  That’s not to say that everything is gloom and doom with no relief in site, quite the contrary.  (more…)

At least its warm with all this stuff on

It’s NCAA tournament time, and my #1 seeded Louisville Cardinals are marching towards Detroit.  Let’s hope that my qualifying effort for my first ORSCA event to be held this coming weekend at the brand new I-22 raceway in Alabama…will be good enough to get in a tournament style elimination-bracket of my own.  Pre-season testing to date has been good, bad and ugly. (more…)