Anyone have any news from the NMRA event at Atco?

 

Was there friday night. Seen Sal and Johnny Lightning. Sal was in the 12's JL was in the 13's. Got there late today. The only one I saw was JL. The weather here today was horrible. It was so humid, you had to move to get a breeze. so you can just imagine how everybody ran.

 

Here are the standings as of Saturday's Qualifying:

http://www.thefordmall.com/frameset.html?section&home

Looks like JL is running strong even in the heat and humidity.

 

I Just got back from Atco around 7:00 pm. The DiabloSport Truck did good this weekend considering the temps.and humidity. I had all kinds of traction problems myself.last week i was getting 1.72's. @ atco the best i could do was a 1.81 and as bad as a 1.98. The best i ran was a 12.35 @ 110.75 also i ran 12.37 @ 110.93,12.38 @ 110.11 my highest mph was a 111.16 i did all these runs during test & tune Before the Qualifying rounds, the reason i did this is because when i qualify i don't want to run my quickest. incase during eliminations i cut a bad light or have a bad 60ft. i qualified at 12.56 @ 111.16 this was at full weight and with my 130# lid on.(those of you who bracket race understand why i did this) I was tied for 1st in the point standings So therefore i didn't what to take the chance of messing that up! However i redlighted in the 2nd round (.374) light I fell back to 2nd because of that.I guess i was a little to anxious .. I did acomplish to be the Quickest & Fastest Gen 2 Lightning @ the event. There's no doubt if i would have gotten to hook up and got my 1.72's 60ft's back like i got the week before while testing. i would have run some 12.1's. but i'm happy and well pleased how good we did! A Big thanx to PATRICK STAJDEL @ DiabloSort! For spending Countless Hrs. of fine tuning my program for my truck! JL

 

Atco was interesting to say the least. Lots of good running trucks there, and we all pretty much hung out together and had fun. I showed up on Friday so I could tech early and do some test and tune. Johnny and a few of his customers joined us, as well as several other Gen 1 and Gen 2 trucks. Saturday was qualifing and time runs. Johnny ran several 12.3xs in time runs, and added some weight to help traction for qualifing. Pete Minsky had his truck going good too, he made a few 12.3xs as well, and I believe he was the fastest Gen 2 in qualifing. The biggest problem we all had the entire weekend was traction. Out of every truck there, not one truck made a clean pass, all weekend. Most of us were over 2.00 60fts including myself. I also was suffering from a hot running motor for some reason. The best I could muster with my poor 60fts was a 12.72, and that was with the motor temp over 200 degrees. And since I was the only one not using ice or a power cooler, I had no outside cooling help. After a few rounds, I figured it out, the thermostat was stuck closed. The radiator was ice cold, but the motor was red hot. So I pulled it out and gutted it, and put the shell back in, and bamm, normal 170-180 temps. Unfortunately my three qualifing passes were on the hot motor, the best of which was a 12.86. But we got to make a few time runs today before elimiations, and with the fixed thermostat, she wen't 108 mph (couldn't go by ETs, because 60fts were all over 2.0). But now I couldn't run it full blast for eliminations, or I would have broken out. I still lost first round, but it was a GREAT race, as myself and the other guy both ran .14 over our dials, but I had a .573 light and he had a 5.34 light. Talk about a close one!!! Anyway, with the hot motor problem and no icing, our 01 was only .2 behind the other guys so I was happy, and they were pretty impressed as well, which is always good. Great to meet the new faces also

 

I was there Sat. and I was very impressed with the Gen 2 Lightnings. It has got me so excited to start modding my truck once I hit the 3000 mile mark (only at 2000 right now. I know, I am a wuss for waiting, but thats the way I am.)
I was able to talk to Jim from JDM, and the guy from Metco, both of whome were very nice and helpful. I also checked out all the trucks in the JL and PSP makeshift "camp." I am very partial to the Bassani catback now after seeing and hearing it. Awesome quality and great sound once the truck goes by and you don't hear the wonderful blower whine.
Saw a few 12.3's which impressed me for the temp and humidity. There was a stock down to the air filter black '01 L there that was turning 13.4's also. The owner said at 400 miles, it was turning 14.2 or something, so that goes to prove that the L's certainly do get more powerful w/ mileage. All in all, Sat was a wonderful day.

 

Well I just got home at 10:30 a.m. 1300 miles total. What a blast we had this weekend. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate a little better. I made it all the way to the finals from being the 14th fastest in a field of 19. Ended up against the #1 qualifier and screwed up at the tree (damned pro tree). It was definately worth the long journey. My family had a great time as usual hanging out with JL and the rest of the Lightning brothers. Finally got to meet Sal too! I also want to thank Jim D'more for not showing up on Sunday. He was my 1st round opponent. I did get to knock out the Gen 1 that Sal lost to in the 1st round. I also want to thank Johnny and his wife Sue for hanging out till the end to cheer me on. I hope I didn't let them down too much on that last run. My family can't wait till Bowling Green. Only 500 miles one way!

 

Mike, it was great to meet you and hang out, I think we all had a good time this weekend. Sorry I could not stay till the end, but I had a long trip to get home. Glad to hear you made it to the finals, nice job!!

 

Mike was cutting that tree down all day, and Sal and Johnny were running great. If you guys could have gotten any traction the times would have been outstanding for the temps, humidity, and location.
Mike needs to give you guys lessons on Pro Trees

 

Sorry I missed such a great day, but my first day off in three weeks and first two day weekend in two months, I had to do what I had to do. Sit/Lay on the sofa in the a/c and suck down mass quantites of alcohol beverages

 

Fast Gator: Too Bad you couldn't make it. considering the conditions we were running pretty good...JL