Racing Corner

By: Bruce Carter
August 2009

SHCC Spring Drag Racing Championships, 26 June 2009

This was a short term notice, almost impromptu meet. We’ve had difficulty in organizing these competitions long enough in advance so we can book a date and have it announced in the Corvetter. We did notify many of the members that we knew usually come out to compete but we had a somewhat light club turnout supplemented by some other friends who came along to race and /or watch.

As usual, Davis and I squared off for head to head runs. It was extremely hot and track conditions were not good but we were able to have some reasonable passes. Davis and I both had new combinations to baseline so we both set new personal bests and a few new club records were set as well (more on this later). I was able to hold him off on our head to head runs but he had some good reaction times and launches to make it interesting.

I pride myself on usually having good and consistent reaction times. In every previous competition I have set the quickset reaction times except for once when Walt Lojuk was really on. In fact, that night Walt set the club overall quickest reaction time record and has held it for over two years at .017. That is, until this time. Walt falls to third on the list. In one of our head to head runs, Davis popped a .015 and left me sitting at the tree. I was able to overtake him but I was astonished that it happened in the first place. Both of us continued to have traction problems which limited our overall ETs but even considering that, you can win a lot of drag races against quicker cars if you can cut a good reaction time. That is the famous “hole shot” that makes drag racing a lot of fun and often unpredictable. It can be the great equalizer.

I thought that Davis’s time would stand as a new club record for a long while but I was wrong. Later on, Roger blasted off with a stunning .002! Just to show it was for real he backed it up with a .042 on another pass. After bragging about my long years of experience at drag racing I now find myself fourth on the club record list for reaction times. I admit I was somewhat off and only had one good reaction time the whole night. I like to needle the racers in the club about reaction times and overall drag racing skill mostly for fun and to heighten the competition intensity but I think I may have gone too far. Some of the club members are getting too good at this! Davis’s new record didn’t even last an hour. To beat Roger’s time will take truly outstanding timing and almost perfect reaction. When you get down this low, .00 something, it takes extraordinary skill, and some luck, not to red light. On my last pass I went for a quick reaction time and red lighted anyway. A good standard for reaction times is .050 or better.

Davis eventually got down to a 12.008 ET, a new personal best and tantalizingly close to the elevens but not quite enough to unseat Tom Bracker for second in the club standings. Incidentally, Tom didn’t compete this time since he is building a new motor for his C5 Z06. From what I know so far, he and I will continue to be closely matched. I’m looking forward to the competition; it’s lonely up here on the mountain…

Davis retains his position of third in ¼ mile ET. He will easily be in the elevens with better track conditions.

Davis also set a new personal best ¼ mile speed of 122.6 MPH which, although an improvement, keeps him behind Rick DiGiovanni. The only difference is that Rick used to be first but is now second. This is because I lowered my own club ET record to 11.30 and set a new club speed record of 127.53 which vaulted me from fourth to first; just enough to get by Rick’s 125.6. How sweet it is!

We also had good performances from Ron Polk, who breaks into the record book in fine style with his modified C5 deep in the 12’s at over 115 MPH. Ron, you need to provide me some details on your car.

I am still a long way from having my new combination sorted out. It has so much power I will have to upgrade tires and other aspects of my set-up. Although I had my best 1/8 mile time (barely), I’ve had quicker 60’and 330’times previously with much less power. This was a consequence of the traction problems. I also ran into a strange problem at the top end; the rev limiter was kicking in just before the finish line in fourth gear on my first pass where I had my best speed! On my second pass I shifted to fifth and actually had a slower speed with a better ET but my split time from 1,000’to the ¼ mile was slower. Shifting into fifth was not a good idea since it cost me both speed and ET. Since I ran quicker than 11.49 on that second pass the track staff told me I had to shut down after 1,000’since I don’t have a roll bar and safety jacket. So that was the end of my full ¼ mile passes. I had two more passes with better 60’times and one better 330’time but poorer 1/8 and 1,000’times as traction continued to be a problem even that far down the track. If I put together my best split times from the night I would have run an 11.07! When I get the new combination sorted out I should be able to go deep into the tens at well over 130 MPH but that remains to be proven.

Listed below are club members’ best performances:

Name	Car	Reaction Time (.500 Tree)	60'	ET	MPH
Bruce Carter	’02 Z06	0.049	1.681	11.309	127.53
Davis Jones	’05 Conv.	0.015	1.88	12.008	122.6
Ron Polk	C5	0.102		12.61	115.07
Roger Willingham	’96 LT4	0.002		13.585	102.71
Joe Garcia	’06 Coupe	0.696	2.330	13.785	105.60

If I didn’t get every participants’ performances please let me know so I can update my records.

Listed below are the current club standings:
SHCC Drag Racing Championships (Current Standings)

Overall Head to Head Competition

1/4 mile – Bruce Carter (Houston Raceway Park (HRP), 19 March 2006)

1/8 mile – Bruce Carter (Houston Motorsports Park (HMP), 12 March 2005)

Reaction Time (shown as delta seconds above .500 red light standard)

Roger Willingham, .002 (HRP, 26 June 2009)
Davis Jones, .015 (HRP, 26 June 2009)
Walt Lojuk, .017 (HMP, 4 March 2007)
Bruce Carter, .020 & .022 (HMP, 12 March 2005 & HRP, 4 March 2007)
Tommy Barcelona, .093 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Ron Polk, .102 (HRP, 26 June 2009)
Tom Bracker, .115 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Kassie Johnson, .211 (HRP, 9 November 2007)
Scottie Williams, .255 (HRP, 9 November 2007)
Rick DiGiovanni, .272 (HRP, 19 March 2006)
Dutch Van Volkenburgh, .398 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Stephen Plunk, .428 (HMP 12 March 2005)
Bill Schmidt, .429 (HMP 19 March 2006)
Don Housley, .4?? (HMP 19 March 2006)
Gary Shutes, .514 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Joe Garcia. .696 (HRP, 26 June 2009)
David Johnson, .742 (HRP, 4 March 2007)

Elapsed Time (ET)
(¼ mile ET, seconds):

Bruce Carter, 11.309 (HRP, 26 June 2009, C5 Z06, modified LS7)
Tom Bracker, 11.926 (HRP, 4 March 2007, C5 Z06, modified LS6)
Davis Jones, 12.008 (HRP, 26 June 2009, C6 conv., 6-spd manual, modified LS2)
Rick DiGiovanni, 12.29 (HRP, 19 Mar 2006, C5 conv., auto, supercharged LS1)
Tommy Barcelona, 12.446 (HRP, 4 Mar 2007, C6 coupe, manual, s’charged LS2)
Ron Polk, 12.61 (HRP, 26 June 2009, modified C5)
Bill Schmidt, 12.65 (HRP, 19 March 2006, C5 Z06, cam / heads LS6)
Scottie Williams, 12.948 (HRP, 9 Nov 2007, C5 coupe, manual, cam, LS1)
Dutch Van Volkenburgh, 13.010 (HRP, 4 March 2007, stock C6 LS2)
David Johnson, 13.346 (HRP, 4 March 2007, stock C5 LS1)
Gary Shutes, 13.474 (HRP, 4 March 2007, stock C5 LS1)
Don Housley, 13.56 (HRP, 19 March 2006, stock C5 LS1)
Joe Garcia, 13.785 (HRP, 26 June 2009, Stock C6 LS2)
Walt Lojuk, 13.855 (HRP, 4 March 2007, C5 Z06, slightly modified LS6)
Kassie Johnson, 13.86 (HRP, 9 Nov 2007, C5 conv., automatic, twin-turbo LS1)
Rick Henry, 13.9 (?) (HRP, 4 March 2007, stock C5 LS1)

(1/8 mile ET, seconds):

Bruce Carter, 7.387 & 7.401 (HRP, 26 June 2009 & HMP, 2 November 2008)
Hank Wrenn, 7.781 (HMP, 2 November 2008, C6 Z06 LS7)
Davis Jones, 7.788 (HMP, 2 November 2008, C6 6-speed manual, N2O, LS2)
Roger Willingham, 8.57 (HMP, 12 March 2005, C4 6-speed, LT-4)

Trap Speed (MPH)

(¼ mile trap speed, MPH):

Bruce Carter, 127.53 (HRP, 26 June 2009)
Rick DiGiovanni, 125.6 (HRP, 9 Nov 2007, C6 conv., auto, supercharged LS2)
Davis Jones, 122.6 (HRP, 26 June 2009)
Tom Bracker, 120.67 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Tommy Barcelona, 119.77 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Ron Polk, 115.07 (HRP, 26 June 2007)
Bill Schmidt, 115 (HRP, 19 March 2006)
Scottie Williams, 111.57 (HRP, 9 November 2007)
Walt Lojuk, 107.27 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Dutch Van Volkenburgh, 107.08 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
David Johnson, 106.29 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Joe Garcia, 105.60 (HRP, 26 June 2009)
Rick Henry, 105 (?) (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Gary Shutes, 104.97 (HRP, 4 March 2007)
Kassie Johnson, 103.06 (HRP, 9 November 2007)

(1/8 mile trap speed, MPH):

Bruce Carter, 100.22 & 97.13 (HRP, 26 June 2009 & HMP, 2 November 2008)
Davis Jones, 96.86 (HMP, 2 November 2008, C6 6-speed manual, N2O, LS2)
Hank Wrenn, 93.77 (HMP, 2 November 2008, C6 Z06)
Roger Willingham, 83.61 (HMP, 12 March 2005, C4 6-speed, LT-4)

Until next time, remember, you can never have too much horsepower…

Racing Corner

SHCC Spring Drag Racing Championships, 26 June 2009

Listed below are club members’ best performances:

Listed below are the current club standings: SHCC Drag Racing Championships (Current Standings)

Listed below are the current club standings:
SHCC Drag Racing Championships (Current Standings)