Post by sportf on Jun 19, 2023 16:31:41 GMT
Summer Nats at Cordova! Yep, Victory NSS racers showed up strong at Funny Car Chaos at the Summer Nats, Cordova! Wow, what an event. 24 Victory racers all trying to take home some marbles and fame racing amongst 33 Funny Cars!!
Where else can you watch 33 funny cars qualify on a summer night, and race NSS in front of a crowd like that? Weather was fantastic, racing was impeccable.
Friday Evening we made a test pass in the cooling night air just to run in front of a huge crowd. We had our snack buffet/pot luck on this evening as well and it made a nice closing to a great day at the track. Watching that sun set in the evening was just a treat by itself, the sun turning nice bright orange as it settled over the river and woods. We were all ready for the racing on Saturday
Saturday turned out to be another great day and as time went on more and more spectators showed up to make the crowd even bigger than Fridays gang. We took one test hit in the morning before our single qualifier that would put us on the ladder. Two failures occurred during this time when Stanley Rideout in the "Rideout's Rocket" had brake problems, and Jeff Blick had his tail shaft break loose (yeah, not just cracked, broke off).
Qualifying Donnie Gaines runs dead on to get the number one qualifier spot and some marbles, and Dalton Bruemmer gets the reaction time award marbles killing the tree with a .003 hit. Not bad for a couple of foot breakers without any help from electronics, eh? On to the racing.
ROUND ONE
I get matched up with Bob Westhoff who is right up there in points, and I'm thinking I wouldn't have chosen him for my first round pick.....but then, there is no one else in the whole group I would have choosen either. So, as a pit neighbor we are the first to go up when called to the lanes, and the rest of the Victory Gang is in the lanes with in a few minutes anyway.
Bob is on an 11.50 index and I'm on my 10.50, an even one second lead by Bob. Bob takes off and he said he felt he had a pretty good light, and when my tree comes down I felt I had a really really bad light.....but not so. Both lights are close. So I'm chasing Bob down in the early evening sun and just manage to pass him in the lights. Although, at this time, neither of us knew who won until we get the slip. Both of us run dead on, both of us have good lights, both of us have a good run, but only one car goes on to the next round, and that would be me.
Next pair Jim Hagenhoff in his "American Muscle" 65 hemi powered Plymouth lines up with the FE rocket powered Comet of Curt Hoeft. Curt leaves first, and dang if he doesn't turn on the worst bulb anyone wants to see as they pass by the tree, and gives Jim a nice test pass. Jim runs it out and shows everyone paying attention that he can run the number. Curt runs his car out too and shows he could have won, but didn't.
Next Bob Lantero lines up with....well, suppose to be Stanley Rideout. But, Stanley and crew could not fix the brakes in time to make the call, so Bob gets a nice test pass, and goes on (an on and on and on). Dennis Deipenbrock did try to explain to Stanley that he could have run the way his car was, but Stanley elected to stay in the pits instead of using the corn field to stop in.
Next Bob Haberburger lines up against the hemi powered Barracuda of Jay Freihage. Bob cuts a nice footbrake .020 light and Jay tries to as well. But, and gosh this hurts as you go by the tree, the dang it bulb comes on. Both run the cars down the track and put on a nice show.
But Jay's day is over. Well, except for writing some checks to racers and taking care of Victory business that always has to be done at the track. When you don't see Jay, that is what he is doing, taking care of business, and he does that well. There is a lot of unseen work done by the director's here, and don't forget to thank them, it is what keeps this gang running as smoothly as it does.
Please keep in mind the ladder doesn't magically appear either, and the call to get ready doesn't happen by itself, there is someone running about, running to the tower, and keeping all this racing in line so the rest of us have it easy. We are Victory, but some work is involved.
Next pair up, Clay Kossuth in his real max wedge 63 Dodge lines up with Gary Beemer's 455 Pontiac Tempest. If you haven't had a good look at Gary's car, you should. This thing is perfect, and could win a car show anywhere, any time. Gary has been fighting transmission troubles the last few times out and thought, thought they were fixed......but not so. Gary turns on the done right here at the starting line bulb and Clay goes on to the next round.
Kevin Czajkowski then takes his FE powered Fairlane up against Rosie Kossuth's 64 Dodge "Lady Max" car. Amazingly enough, the announcer pronounces Kevin's last name correctly and tells all of us in the crowd that its Kevin, taking the win this time. Both cut close lights, but only one comes back for second round. Rosie runs a 10.07 on her 10.00 index, but Kevin's slightly better reaction makes the difference, and that is that.
Next Shaun Johnston lines up with Jeff Wood in a Plywood on Plywood race.. Jeff kills the tree compared to Shaun and Jeff catches Shawn well before the MPH cones. Backing off slightly to prevent a breakout, and....oh boy.....Shaun slips by Jeff and teaches Wood not to do that for the win. This is a lesson Jeff has, like all of us, learned before, and we will all learn again.......
Kurt TeVault then lines up his elephant powered 64 Dodge wagon against the beautiful 65 Plymouth hardtop of Steve Gantz ( sometimes registered as Steve Cartwright just to confuse us). Both have pretty good raceable lights, but whereas Kurt runs dead on with a .006, Steve's car slows, and can't take the stripe. No clear reason why Steve's car slowed, but we have all had that happen too. Kurt has had a "too big of a wheelie" problem and will fight that situation this whole race until his day comes to an end later on in the evening.
Then, as the darn ladder sets this up, a father-son pairing in the Bruemmer's camp takes place. Don lines up his 65 Plymouth against Dalton's 65 Plymouth. I understand they like 65 Plymouth's over there, but who doesn't? Dalton had the best reaction in qualifying last time down the track and he cuts a respectable .013 light against his dad here, who had a much slower reaction to this round. Dad can't catch Dalton, and as we know, Dalton will go on to have the best day of all of us Victory racers.
Then, Derek Straight lines up "Large Marge" against former champ John Hamer's Barracuda. Derek cuts a light on John that isn't going to be beat and John breaks out taking the stripe, but to no avail. Large Marge is literally a poster car for the Cal Tracs brochure, and its a great picture as well. Stop by and have him show it to you, it looks great!
Last pair to go down the track, Brian Haberburger lines up his "Black Max" 64 Dodge against the 63 Plymouth patina Belvedere of Jimmy Ferguson. BTW, Jimmy's 4 speed power shifting abilities look as good to me as a Ronnie Sox pass as he goes down the track. Well, here, both of these guys have exactly the same reaction times, with Ferguson leaving on a 12.25 index and Brian on a 11.00 index. Jimmy has a great 4 speed pass, but Brian takes the stripe and also the Duell Dead On award marbles by running, get this, dead on with a zero. He had an extra $100 coming his way as a result of this pass and goes on to the next round.
Last, Donnie Gaines makes a single bye pass here as the number one qualifier and that is how the ladder system works. Get a number one qualifying spot, get rewarded with a first round bye. On a ladder race system, you can see who you will run coming at you, and there is no surprizes. And, a bye run is no surprise when you see it either.
Second round
First pair consists of the last guy to go down the track in the first round, Donnie Gaines, who lines up with Bob Haberburger. Both the Haberburger brothers are having a pretty good season so far, but Bob's day comes to an end here as he turns on the dreaded "done right here at the start" bulb. Lucky for Donnie here too as he was apparently not paying much attention to the tree here and cut a conservative light here (read that really as a real bad light). Donnie takes his luck, and moves to the money round.
Next, the other Haberburger brother Brian lines up with flying Jim Hagenhoff. Brian puts a light on Jim, but Jim isn't done yet. Jim goes flying down the track on his 9.75 index and catches Brian, but only to break out and let Brian move on to round 3.
Bob Lantero then lines up with "Large Marge", the Derek Straight car. Derek is having a great year, but not quite as good as Bob. Derek knows he has his hands full, and turns on the "done here" bulb as he passes the tree. That bulb is red so you can notice it as you pass by, and so it goes, Bob goes on, and on.
Dalton Bruemmer then lines up with Clay Kossuth's 63 Dodge Max Wedge. Well, since Dalon wins this whole race here something must happen to Clay, and it does. He puts a light on Dalton, and after catching Dalton, backs off a little, a little too much (where have we seen this before?), and Dalton takes the stripe......another round, and another lesson for a well learned racer.....and Dalton moves on. If we could have a "do over" this would turn out differently......but we don't do that in drag racing. Sometimes I wish we could though, and my do over wish would be coming in just a few minutes from this round.
Shaun Johnston then lines up with Kevin Czajkowski. This will be the last time I have to type Kevin's last name. Shaun has a little better light than Kevin, and takes a little bit of the stripe for a win. This was close good race by all means, and it just happens Shaun comes out on top.
Last pair, I line up with the elephant powered wagon of Kurt TeVault. Red on red cars line up here with me leaving first. If I could have that "do over" I would have it now, because the red bulb comes on. Well, Kurt moves on, I don't.
Third round
Well, we are down to 6 cars now, and these guys are racing in front of a FULL crowd of spectators as we are running between the funny car rounds. As a racer, this is pretty darn notable!
So, Dalton is running last years champ Shaun Johnston. Both of these guys are good, and both have a great round here. Both have close nice lights, both go down the track looking good. Both break out....but as you know, Dalton wins this whole race, so it has to be Shaun breaks out more than Dalton, and Dalton goes on to the semis.
Bob Lantero then lines up with Brian Haberburger in a Mopar on Mopar round. Brian puts a light on Bob that Bob can't recover from. But, as these guys run down the track Brian can't find Bob coming up on him, can't find him side by side as he should be, can't find him in the dark, in the night. At the last second Brian desperately searches for the brake pedal to lose some et but can't find the brake pedal and he breaks out by .009! Actually, I made that up, Brian never searched for the brake pedal, and never heard me back at the starting line yelling "brakes Brian! Brakes!!!" Bob goes on, Brian learns something. .009 break out.....close, but no cigar.
Donnie Gaines then lines up against the wheelie wagon of Kurt TeVault. Donnie leaves first and then the wheelie wagon leaves with the wheels staring up at the night sky searching for the race track surface. When the front wheels come down some 50 foot out Kurt sees the win light on Donnie's score board lit up.....and the "do over' comes to mind, but not reality. Donnie goes to the semi's and will collect some semi round marbles at the end of the day.
Semi final round
Donnie Gaines lines up with Bob Lantero. Donnie cuts a light on Bob that Bob should not be able to recover from......but he does. Double break out here but Bob goes on......some luck was involved, just like every race I have seen....some luck involved. But, I say luck here, but with skill you make some of your own luck, and that is what Bob has done here. He ran the top end like the pro he is, and that is what luck is made from.
Dalton gets a bye into the finals here, and he makes a nice pass to put on a show for the crowd.
Final
Well, at this point, it is late, and its about two weeks past my bed time, but I'm not tired, yet. The jet cars have just made their final pass and the crowd is dwindling down for these few final rounds of junior dragsters, and sportsman categories. A little track prep, watch a few finals of box and no box go down the track, and its time for the Victory NSS final.
Well, Bob has had two rounds of luck on his side, but in racing and in life, sometimes the luck runs out. As Bob lines up with Dalton, it is nearing midnight, and its been a fun, but long day. Lights come down, Dalton is off on a green. Bob absolutely kills the tree, on the wrong side of green, and goes .003 red, and the evening for Victory NSS is over except for the celebration and picture time.
A great day of racing, watching, celebrating! We are Victory NSS! And we will race on! See you at the track next time!
Where else can you watch 33 funny cars qualify on a summer night, and race NSS in front of a crowd like that? Weather was fantastic, racing was impeccable.
Friday Evening we made a test pass in the cooling night air just to run in front of a huge crowd. We had our snack buffet/pot luck on this evening as well and it made a nice closing to a great day at the track. Watching that sun set in the evening was just a treat by itself, the sun turning nice bright orange as it settled over the river and woods. We were all ready for the racing on Saturday
Saturday turned out to be another great day and as time went on more and more spectators showed up to make the crowd even bigger than Fridays gang. We took one test hit in the morning before our single qualifier that would put us on the ladder. Two failures occurred during this time when Stanley Rideout in the "Rideout's Rocket" had brake problems, and Jeff Blick had his tail shaft break loose (yeah, not just cracked, broke off).
Qualifying Donnie Gaines runs dead on to get the number one qualifier spot and some marbles, and Dalton Bruemmer gets the reaction time award marbles killing the tree with a .003 hit. Not bad for a couple of foot breakers without any help from electronics, eh? On to the racing.
ROUND ONE
I get matched up with Bob Westhoff who is right up there in points, and I'm thinking I wouldn't have chosen him for my first round pick.....but then, there is no one else in the whole group I would have choosen either. So, as a pit neighbor we are the first to go up when called to the lanes, and the rest of the Victory Gang is in the lanes with in a few minutes anyway.
Bob is on an 11.50 index and I'm on my 10.50, an even one second lead by Bob. Bob takes off and he said he felt he had a pretty good light, and when my tree comes down I felt I had a really really bad light.....but not so. Both lights are close. So I'm chasing Bob down in the early evening sun and just manage to pass him in the lights. Although, at this time, neither of us knew who won until we get the slip. Both of us run dead on, both of us have good lights, both of us have a good run, but only one car goes on to the next round, and that would be me.
Next pair Jim Hagenhoff in his "American Muscle" 65 hemi powered Plymouth lines up with the FE rocket powered Comet of Curt Hoeft. Curt leaves first, and dang if he doesn't turn on the worst bulb anyone wants to see as they pass by the tree, and gives Jim a nice test pass. Jim runs it out and shows everyone paying attention that he can run the number. Curt runs his car out too and shows he could have won, but didn't.
Next Bob Lantero lines up with....well, suppose to be Stanley Rideout. But, Stanley and crew could not fix the brakes in time to make the call, so Bob gets a nice test pass, and goes on (an on and on and on). Dennis Deipenbrock did try to explain to Stanley that he could have run the way his car was, but Stanley elected to stay in the pits instead of using the corn field to stop in.
Next Bob Haberburger lines up against the hemi powered Barracuda of Jay Freihage. Bob cuts a nice footbrake .020 light and Jay tries to as well. But, and gosh this hurts as you go by the tree, the dang it bulb comes on. Both run the cars down the track and put on a nice show.
But Jay's day is over. Well, except for writing some checks to racers and taking care of Victory business that always has to be done at the track. When you don't see Jay, that is what he is doing, taking care of business, and he does that well. There is a lot of unseen work done by the director's here, and don't forget to thank them, it is what keeps this gang running as smoothly as it does.
Please keep in mind the ladder doesn't magically appear either, and the call to get ready doesn't happen by itself, there is someone running about, running to the tower, and keeping all this racing in line so the rest of us have it easy. We are Victory, but some work is involved.
Next pair up, Clay Kossuth in his real max wedge 63 Dodge lines up with Gary Beemer's 455 Pontiac Tempest. If you haven't had a good look at Gary's car, you should. This thing is perfect, and could win a car show anywhere, any time. Gary has been fighting transmission troubles the last few times out and thought, thought they were fixed......but not so. Gary turns on the done right here at the starting line bulb and Clay goes on to the next round.
Kevin Czajkowski then takes his FE powered Fairlane up against Rosie Kossuth's 64 Dodge "Lady Max" car. Amazingly enough, the announcer pronounces Kevin's last name correctly and tells all of us in the crowd that its Kevin, taking the win this time. Both cut close lights, but only one comes back for second round. Rosie runs a 10.07 on her 10.00 index, but Kevin's slightly better reaction makes the difference, and that is that.
Next Shaun Johnston lines up with Jeff Wood in a Plywood on Plywood race.. Jeff kills the tree compared to Shaun and Jeff catches Shawn well before the MPH cones. Backing off slightly to prevent a breakout, and....oh boy.....Shaun slips by Jeff and teaches Wood not to do that for the win. This is a lesson Jeff has, like all of us, learned before, and we will all learn again.......
Kurt TeVault then lines up his elephant powered 64 Dodge wagon against the beautiful 65 Plymouth hardtop of Steve Gantz ( sometimes registered as Steve Cartwright just to confuse us). Both have pretty good raceable lights, but whereas Kurt runs dead on with a .006, Steve's car slows, and can't take the stripe. No clear reason why Steve's car slowed, but we have all had that happen too. Kurt has had a "too big of a wheelie" problem and will fight that situation this whole race until his day comes to an end later on in the evening.
Then, as the darn ladder sets this up, a father-son pairing in the Bruemmer's camp takes place. Don lines up his 65 Plymouth against Dalton's 65 Plymouth. I understand they like 65 Plymouth's over there, but who doesn't? Dalton had the best reaction in qualifying last time down the track and he cuts a respectable .013 light against his dad here, who had a much slower reaction to this round. Dad can't catch Dalton, and as we know, Dalton will go on to have the best day of all of us Victory racers.
Then, Derek Straight lines up "Large Marge" against former champ John Hamer's Barracuda. Derek cuts a light on John that isn't going to be beat and John breaks out taking the stripe, but to no avail. Large Marge is literally a poster car for the Cal Tracs brochure, and its a great picture as well. Stop by and have him show it to you, it looks great!
Last pair to go down the track, Brian Haberburger lines up his "Black Max" 64 Dodge against the 63 Plymouth patina Belvedere of Jimmy Ferguson. BTW, Jimmy's 4 speed power shifting abilities look as good to me as a Ronnie Sox pass as he goes down the track. Well, here, both of these guys have exactly the same reaction times, with Ferguson leaving on a 12.25 index and Brian on a 11.00 index. Jimmy has a great 4 speed pass, but Brian takes the stripe and also the Duell Dead On award marbles by running, get this, dead on with a zero. He had an extra $100 coming his way as a result of this pass and goes on to the next round.
Last, Donnie Gaines makes a single bye pass here as the number one qualifier and that is how the ladder system works. Get a number one qualifying spot, get rewarded with a first round bye. On a ladder race system, you can see who you will run coming at you, and there is no surprizes. And, a bye run is no surprise when you see it either.
Second round
First pair consists of the last guy to go down the track in the first round, Donnie Gaines, who lines up with Bob Haberburger. Both the Haberburger brothers are having a pretty good season so far, but Bob's day comes to an end here as he turns on the dreaded "done right here at the start" bulb. Lucky for Donnie here too as he was apparently not paying much attention to the tree here and cut a conservative light here (read that really as a real bad light). Donnie takes his luck, and moves to the money round.
Next, the other Haberburger brother Brian lines up with flying Jim Hagenhoff. Brian puts a light on Jim, but Jim isn't done yet. Jim goes flying down the track on his 9.75 index and catches Brian, but only to break out and let Brian move on to round 3.
Bob Lantero then lines up with "Large Marge", the Derek Straight car. Derek is having a great year, but not quite as good as Bob. Derek knows he has his hands full, and turns on the "done here" bulb as he passes the tree. That bulb is red so you can notice it as you pass by, and so it goes, Bob goes on, and on.
Dalton Bruemmer then lines up with Clay Kossuth's 63 Dodge Max Wedge. Well, since Dalon wins this whole race here something must happen to Clay, and it does. He puts a light on Dalton, and after catching Dalton, backs off a little, a little too much (where have we seen this before?), and Dalton takes the stripe......another round, and another lesson for a well learned racer.....and Dalton moves on. If we could have a "do over" this would turn out differently......but we don't do that in drag racing. Sometimes I wish we could though, and my do over wish would be coming in just a few minutes from this round.
Shaun Johnston then lines up with Kevin Czajkowski. This will be the last time I have to type Kevin's last name. Shaun has a little better light than Kevin, and takes a little bit of the stripe for a win. This was close good race by all means, and it just happens Shaun comes out on top.
Last pair, I line up with the elephant powered wagon of Kurt TeVault. Red on red cars line up here with me leaving first. If I could have that "do over" I would have it now, because the red bulb comes on. Well, Kurt moves on, I don't.
Third round
Well, we are down to 6 cars now, and these guys are racing in front of a FULL crowd of spectators as we are running between the funny car rounds. As a racer, this is pretty darn notable!
So, Dalton is running last years champ Shaun Johnston. Both of these guys are good, and both have a great round here. Both have close nice lights, both go down the track looking good. Both break out....but as you know, Dalton wins this whole race, so it has to be Shaun breaks out more than Dalton, and Dalton goes on to the semis.
Bob Lantero then lines up with Brian Haberburger in a Mopar on Mopar round. Brian puts a light on Bob that Bob can't recover from. But, as these guys run down the track Brian can't find Bob coming up on him, can't find him side by side as he should be, can't find him in the dark, in the night. At the last second Brian desperately searches for the brake pedal to lose some et but can't find the brake pedal and he breaks out by .009! Actually, I made that up, Brian never searched for the brake pedal, and never heard me back at the starting line yelling "brakes Brian! Brakes!!!" Bob goes on, Brian learns something. .009 break out.....close, but no cigar.
Donnie Gaines then lines up against the wheelie wagon of Kurt TeVault. Donnie leaves first and then the wheelie wagon leaves with the wheels staring up at the night sky searching for the race track surface. When the front wheels come down some 50 foot out Kurt sees the win light on Donnie's score board lit up.....and the "do over' comes to mind, but not reality. Donnie goes to the semi's and will collect some semi round marbles at the end of the day.
Semi final round
Donnie Gaines lines up with Bob Lantero. Donnie cuts a light on Bob that Bob should not be able to recover from......but he does. Double break out here but Bob goes on......some luck was involved, just like every race I have seen....some luck involved. But, I say luck here, but with skill you make some of your own luck, and that is what Bob has done here. He ran the top end like the pro he is, and that is what luck is made from.
Dalton gets a bye into the finals here, and he makes a nice pass to put on a show for the crowd.
Final
Well, at this point, it is late, and its about two weeks past my bed time, but I'm not tired, yet. The jet cars have just made their final pass and the crowd is dwindling down for these few final rounds of junior dragsters, and sportsman categories. A little track prep, watch a few finals of box and no box go down the track, and its time for the Victory NSS final.
Well, Bob has had two rounds of luck on his side, but in racing and in life, sometimes the luck runs out. As Bob lines up with Dalton, it is nearing midnight, and its been a fun, but long day. Lights come down, Dalton is off on a green. Bob absolutely kills the tree, on the wrong side of green, and goes .003 red, and the evening for Victory NSS is over except for the celebration and picture time.
A great day of racing, watching, celebrating! We are Victory NSS! And we will race on! See you at the track next time!