Post by sportf on Jul 20, 2020 16:47:10 GMT
Cedar Falls Night of Fire
Friday, as the racers pulled in, it started out with a mist that didn't look real promising. But suddenly the mist stopped, the clouds cleared, and literally within minutes the track was ready to race.
With open time trials, we had one group trial, and then open trials. Many Victory Racers took advantage of this and got in quite a few rounds before calling it a day.
Saturday started with a breeze that thankfully lasted all day as the weather was hot and sticky, but certainly bearable with that tail wind. But then, it's never too hot to race.
We started with 20 cars, but had two failures. Matt Mothershed's intake leak at the block seal failed. This is certainly familiar to most Mopar racers. Jay Freihage's water pump/motor plate water leak is another fail point, and Jay elected to fix that in the comfort of his shop.
With the first of two qualifiers, the drivers meeting was held, and racers declared their index. With the typical verbal business taken care of, the drawings started. With the money and gift certificates given out during the drawings, and money/certificates given for qualifying and best reaction time during quals, the amount totaled to just under $1500! And the racing fun had yet to start! No other race group has the sponsorship of this Victory group. Thank you to all of our great sponsors. Thank you for sharing your fun with us!!!!!
With our final qualifier, Dennis Spurgeon qualified number one, this writer got the best qual reaction time, Jim Kroeger and Dustin Christensen got 3 and 15th qual certs from Rodger Stanke Performance. Then, it was on to the racing.
Round 1
Dennis Spurgeon took out Dan Beale in this round with a slightly better light. But also, Dennis ran right on, receiving the Doug Duell $200 award for "Dead on" or perfect light in race action.
Dalton Bruemmer took out newcomer Mike Doss with a better light and a smoother run in a race between '65 Plymouths.
Dustin Christensen took out Jim Hagenhoff. Hagenhoff had a double oh light but took too much stripe against the 11.50 car of Dustin's. It's hard for both the slower and faster cars to judge that stripe, just this time luck fell on the opposite side from Jim.
Next Bruce Lang took out John Hamer in a race of the Barracudas. Bruce's slightly better light gave him the winning edge and John was out, waiting for the gamblers race to start, with some of the rest of us first round "runner ups".
Nest, Bobby Westhoff took out Russ Berens. Both had good .030s lights but in a double break out Bob came out on top.
Jim Kroeger took out Tom Hoffman in a double red light race. But this writer's earlier red bulb trumped his later light and Jim goes on to round two, while I wait for the gamblers race to start.
Don Bruemmer then took out Steve Glubke in a race of the hemi powered Mopars. Steve's red bulb did him in and put him in line for the gamblers race. Don ran his car out the back and ran a steamy 9.70 on 9.75 index. No engine looks better in an engine bay than a hemi, but only one car goes on to round two.
Jerry Stellrecht took out Brad Wentland in a 11.75 "heads up" index race. Brad's .009 red put him in line for the gamblers race, and Jerry goes on to round two.
In the last pair to go down the track in round one, Kevin Czajkowski took out Greg Deaton when Greg's red bulb turned on. As I was coming down the return road, I witnessed these two racing, and not knowing Greg had red lit, I was yelling to myself "hit the brakes Deaton, you are 5 cars ahead!!!!!!" But, as Greg said "I lost on both ends of the track" after breaking out as well.
Round two
Bruce Lang's .032 light was certainly enough to put up a good race, but Kevin Czajkowski's red sealed up the race for Bruce. This was a "heads up" index race in the 9.75 index, and Bruce was on the number as well.
Next it was Bob Westhoff's much better light than Dustin Christensen's light and it gave Bob enough room to take the stripe and waltz on to the third round, and on his way to eventual event runner up.
Then, Jerry Stellrecht, having a pretty good day, ended Don Bruemmer's day when Don got the red bulb deal from his reaction to the end of a rather hot day.
Next, Dalton Bruemmer, got to go on to the third round when Jim Kroeger ended his own day with that dreaded bulb when the red color came on. This was as the evening sun set towards the end of the track, in a beautiful sunset.
Dennis Spurgeon, got the ladder bye as a result of the number one qual position, and he made a full pass to check out his dial as the temps slightly faded, but the humidity came up.
Round 3
Round three was all really decided by the lights on the tree. In this round, if you had a good light, you were the winner.
Bob Westhoff took out Dalton Bruemmer when Dalton went red.
Dennis Spurgeon took out Jerry Stellrecht when Jerry was caught off guard when the tree came down. Jerry had some pretty good lights as the day went on, but this round was the exception.
Semi finals
In this round, Bruce Lang matched up with last year's champ Dennis Spurgeon. Bruce was on a roll from the previous rounds and he wasn't going to go easy on Dennis, because he knew he couldn't. Bruce was going to win this round, coming out on top on both ends of the track.
With Bob Westhoff's ladder bye, he ran down the track to test his index in this slightly cooler evening air, and made weight adjustments accordingly for his final pass.
I might also add that as the night came on, there was "bleed over" at the tree from one side to the other. That is, when the tree came down for the slower side, this bleed over came around the blinder and actually gave the illusion that the faster side lights were coming down as well. It was not good for the faster car. (I was in the gamblers race at this point, and as the tree came down for Dustin Christensen's 11.50 car against my 10.75, I actually didn't know what was going on and truly guessed at the tree).
Bruce Lang got the ladder bye into the semi finals.
Final
Bruce was on a roll through out the day with a series of great raceable lights, but so was Bobby Westhoff. Well, except for this round. Bobby made sure he wasn't red, and that was the cause for runner up. But, when you make the finals in Victory NSS, you've had a pretty good day in anybody's book, and both racers agreed to that. $1000 win for Bruce, against a "not too shabby" $600 runner up for Bob.
Gamblers Race
10 racers took part in this race and that gave us another chance to put on a show in front of a very large crowd. With folks standing along the fence and in the stands, it is very cool to race under the lights. And with the current nationwide circumstances, this was a very sizeable crowd in anybody's book.
In the end, this writer came out on top of a "heads up index race" with Greg Deaton. Greg had been fighting a miss all day long, but managed great lights, and his car to win the first two rounds of gamblers, and got the ladder bye into the finals. But with the "miss" returning, this allowed me to get around him at the top end and take the stripe in the final round.
A great week end of bench racing, visiting, and all around racing down the track with the best looking cars in NSS world! With the race concluded an "after race review" was held by all staying at the track, well into the night. As I drove from the track into the night, the flash of the jet vehicles at the line, lit up sky in an interesting display of what looked like lightening in the dark night. What a great week end. See ya next race.
Friday, as the racers pulled in, it started out with a mist that didn't look real promising. But suddenly the mist stopped, the clouds cleared, and literally within minutes the track was ready to race.
With open time trials, we had one group trial, and then open trials. Many Victory Racers took advantage of this and got in quite a few rounds before calling it a day.
Saturday started with a breeze that thankfully lasted all day as the weather was hot and sticky, but certainly bearable with that tail wind. But then, it's never too hot to race.
We started with 20 cars, but had two failures. Matt Mothershed's intake leak at the block seal failed. This is certainly familiar to most Mopar racers. Jay Freihage's water pump/motor plate water leak is another fail point, and Jay elected to fix that in the comfort of his shop.
With the first of two qualifiers, the drivers meeting was held, and racers declared their index. With the typical verbal business taken care of, the drawings started. With the money and gift certificates given out during the drawings, and money/certificates given for qualifying and best reaction time during quals, the amount totaled to just under $1500! And the racing fun had yet to start! No other race group has the sponsorship of this Victory group. Thank you to all of our great sponsors. Thank you for sharing your fun with us!!!!!
With our final qualifier, Dennis Spurgeon qualified number one, this writer got the best qual reaction time, Jim Kroeger and Dustin Christensen got 3 and 15th qual certs from Rodger Stanke Performance. Then, it was on to the racing.
Round 1
Dennis Spurgeon took out Dan Beale in this round with a slightly better light. But also, Dennis ran right on, receiving the Doug Duell $200 award for "Dead on" or perfect light in race action.
Dalton Bruemmer took out newcomer Mike Doss with a better light and a smoother run in a race between '65 Plymouths.
Dustin Christensen took out Jim Hagenhoff. Hagenhoff had a double oh light but took too much stripe against the 11.50 car of Dustin's. It's hard for both the slower and faster cars to judge that stripe, just this time luck fell on the opposite side from Jim.
Next Bruce Lang took out John Hamer in a race of the Barracudas. Bruce's slightly better light gave him the winning edge and John was out, waiting for the gamblers race to start, with some of the rest of us first round "runner ups".
Nest, Bobby Westhoff took out Russ Berens. Both had good .030s lights but in a double break out Bob came out on top.
Jim Kroeger took out Tom Hoffman in a double red light race. But this writer's earlier red bulb trumped his later light and Jim goes on to round two, while I wait for the gamblers race to start.
Don Bruemmer then took out Steve Glubke in a race of the hemi powered Mopars. Steve's red bulb did him in and put him in line for the gamblers race. Don ran his car out the back and ran a steamy 9.70 on 9.75 index. No engine looks better in an engine bay than a hemi, but only one car goes on to round two.
Jerry Stellrecht took out Brad Wentland in a 11.75 "heads up" index race. Brad's .009 red put him in line for the gamblers race, and Jerry goes on to round two.
In the last pair to go down the track in round one, Kevin Czajkowski took out Greg Deaton when Greg's red bulb turned on. As I was coming down the return road, I witnessed these two racing, and not knowing Greg had red lit, I was yelling to myself "hit the brakes Deaton, you are 5 cars ahead!!!!!!" But, as Greg said "I lost on both ends of the track" after breaking out as well.
Round two
Bruce Lang's .032 light was certainly enough to put up a good race, but Kevin Czajkowski's red sealed up the race for Bruce. This was a "heads up" index race in the 9.75 index, and Bruce was on the number as well.
Next it was Bob Westhoff's much better light than Dustin Christensen's light and it gave Bob enough room to take the stripe and waltz on to the third round, and on his way to eventual event runner up.
Then, Jerry Stellrecht, having a pretty good day, ended Don Bruemmer's day when Don got the red bulb deal from his reaction to the end of a rather hot day.
Next, Dalton Bruemmer, got to go on to the third round when Jim Kroeger ended his own day with that dreaded bulb when the red color came on. This was as the evening sun set towards the end of the track, in a beautiful sunset.
Dennis Spurgeon, got the ladder bye as a result of the number one qual position, and he made a full pass to check out his dial as the temps slightly faded, but the humidity came up.
Round 3
Round three was all really decided by the lights on the tree. In this round, if you had a good light, you were the winner.
Bob Westhoff took out Dalton Bruemmer when Dalton went red.
Dennis Spurgeon took out Jerry Stellrecht when Jerry was caught off guard when the tree came down. Jerry had some pretty good lights as the day went on, but this round was the exception.
Semi finals
In this round, Bruce Lang matched up with last year's champ Dennis Spurgeon. Bruce was on a roll from the previous rounds and he wasn't going to go easy on Dennis, because he knew he couldn't. Bruce was going to win this round, coming out on top on both ends of the track.
With Bob Westhoff's ladder bye, he ran down the track to test his index in this slightly cooler evening air, and made weight adjustments accordingly for his final pass.
I might also add that as the night came on, there was "bleed over" at the tree from one side to the other. That is, when the tree came down for the slower side, this bleed over came around the blinder and actually gave the illusion that the faster side lights were coming down as well. It was not good for the faster car. (I was in the gamblers race at this point, and as the tree came down for Dustin Christensen's 11.50 car against my 10.75, I actually didn't know what was going on and truly guessed at the tree).
Bruce Lang got the ladder bye into the semi finals.
Final
Bruce was on a roll through out the day with a series of great raceable lights, but so was Bobby Westhoff. Well, except for this round. Bobby made sure he wasn't red, and that was the cause for runner up. But, when you make the finals in Victory NSS, you've had a pretty good day in anybody's book, and both racers agreed to that. $1000 win for Bruce, against a "not too shabby" $600 runner up for Bob.
Gamblers Race
10 racers took part in this race and that gave us another chance to put on a show in front of a very large crowd. With folks standing along the fence and in the stands, it is very cool to race under the lights. And with the current nationwide circumstances, this was a very sizeable crowd in anybody's book.
In the end, this writer came out on top of a "heads up index race" with Greg Deaton. Greg had been fighting a miss all day long, but managed great lights, and his car to win the first two rounds of gamblers, and got the ladder bye into the finals. But with the "miss" returning, this allowed me to get around him at the top end and take the stripe in the final round.
A great week end of bench racing, visiting, and all around racing down the track with the best looking cars in NSS world! With the race concluded an "after race review" was held by all staying at the track, well into the night. As I drove from the track into the night, the flash of the jet vehicles at the line, lit up sky in an interesting display of what looked like lightening in the dark night. What a great week end. See ya next race.