1997 Cayuga Import Night

(As originally posted to the Talon Digest)

This Sat, Sept 20, a bunch of the Usual Suspects from the Ontario division of Club DSM Canada descended upon Cayuga Dragway for Import Night.

The gates opened at 18:00, and when I got there at 18:05, the pits were already full of cars. Wow, what a turnout. At least a hundred cars, and most of them newbies, it would seem. The track staff, used to the old hands from the V8 world, were running around like headless chickens trying to sort out all the people who had absolutely no clue what it was they were supposed to be doing. Heh.

Perhaps they should steal a trick from the SCCA, and hold a driver's meeting before they open the lanes for time trials and explain to the new guys how all this drag race stuff works. They'd save themselves some frustration.

It had rained earlier on in the day, and while the track was dry, there were all kinds of puddles of standing water in the staging lanes, with all kinds of Rice Boy morons driving through them and getting their tires wet. Accordingly, the start line was pretty slick, and 60' times were suffering.

What's more, it was cold. Real cold! I'm a Canadian too, so if I say it was cold, it was COLD! Did I mention it was cold? It was cold! Good for power, good for intercoolers, bad for drivers. Brrr! Summer's over. :(

The car was running pretty good, with a 14.90 in time trials, and me cutting lights in the .550 range, so I felt pretty good about my prospects for the night. First round put me up against a nitrous fed VW Golf with a 14.0 dial vs my 14.9. Spun a little at launch, but the car felt good. Real good. Near the finish, I had a look in the mirrors to see where he was, and he was WAY back. Urk! Smacked the brakes good and hard through the lights, but just missed, running 14.893. .007 too fast. Doh!

For me, ze var vas over. Gotta remember to pull a tenth out of my dialin if the car sits for any amount of time between time trials and eliminations.

When I saw the timeslip, I was really kicking myself. I had a .601 light, he had a 1.2 light! I could have missed 2nd and run a 15.5 and STILL beaten this guy. I don't know about you guys in the Unexplored Southern Area, but up here, Johnny Rice Boy can't drive. My fellow Canadians, some time spent with a practice tree would pay some serious dividends in the Honda-thrashing department.

High points: Lionel quietly going about his business and winning his bracket, running 12.7's all night. Way to go Lionel! Mark (PPG) running a 14.0 - just a hair off his 13.99 goal for the season. Me turning a best ever 14.79 in the time trials after the event. (Honda guy: "what you got done to that thing, to make it so fast?" Me: "A K&N filter" HG: "What else?" Me: "Nothing. It's pretty well stock" HG: "I've got $1000 in this thing, and it turns high 15's!" Me: "*shrug*" :)

There's another event scheduled for mid October, and if it doesn't conflict with an SCCA race, I'll be there - if there's no snow, that is.

I wonder if BFG makes a snow tire in the drag race compound...