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Mike Lawless
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« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2011, 10:47:04 am » |
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March Meet Race Report
Sunday’s eliminations may have been “winded” out (30-40 mph gusts with 80mph forecasted for later), but good times were still on tap. John & Troy Palmer, Richie Webb, Jo Clifford and us were able to secure an easy to find “corner lot” for the 53rd running of the historic March Meet. Paul Miller also ran.
Troy’s friend Danny, (sorry, didn’t get the last name) was our chef for the weekend, and let me tell you, the man knows how to cook meat with very rudimentary utensils! Friday night, he brings out a burner stand and on top of that he placed a “wok” made out of a plow disc! In this unique vessel, he fried up pork short ribs or “Carnitas” using pork fat for the frying medium. Along with that, there all kinds of fixins’ for making tacos or just eatin’ ‘em with your fingers. Everyone overindulged. It was incredible.
Saturday night’s feast was just as unique. Danny pulls out an empty 55 gallon drum that had some air holes in the bottom and some steel rods poking horizontally through the top. In this drum, he put down some charcoal and lit that up. On top of that he put in some damp wood that gave off a lot of smoke. He hung a bunch of tri-tip roasts from the rods, put the lid on the drum, and let it do it’s thing. Smoked tri-tip, redneck style! Let me tell you something. I’ve had tri-tip cooked lots of different ways in lots of different situations, and THIS tri-ip, cooked in an old 55 drum, and shared with good friends on a sea of asphalt, surrounded by hot rods of all different configurations, ranks among the best dining experiences I’ve ever had. Danny efforts truly made the weekend for everyone. Thanks Danny!
Attendance was a bit down. I think mostly because of the ominous weather reports. But there was still plenty of action on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, we got our first and only run of the day at about 9:30am. The sun was out, and the conditions were incredible. Troy was in the 11.70 zone, we were at 11.60 and Jo ran 12.20. She was a little disappointed that she didn’t get an 11 second timeslip, but we all assured her that she would before the weekend was out.
We then used the rest of the day to shop the swap meet, watch nitro qualifying, and taking in the entire March Meet experience. Danny's Carnitas dinner put a cap on the day, and after dark, we all went on “walkabout” in the nitro pits hoping to get a face full of nitro when those guys do test firing to be ready for the next day.
What we found in the pits almost defies description. Mounted to a small trailer on a stand was a fully outfitted blown hemi running on nitro. Not a little “Cackler,” but a 426 style hemi, BIG supercharger, Brad Anderson heads, twin magnetos….in other words, a “Big Show” style nitro motor! At the business end was biggest dang margarita mixer you have ever seen. Three containers of about 5 gallons each, and Ron Capps at the controls.
On Saturday Morning, the “HotRod” class (us) were once again up first. I ran 11.52, Troy 11.78 and Jo was rewarded with her official 11 second time slip showing an 11.91! She was very happy!
The rest of the day we watched more nitro qualifying, then the first rounds of nitro eliminations. Just about all the qualifiers were solidly in the 5 second zone and the track was holding everything they could throw at it. The new concrete surface is smooth as glass, and the Famoso crew did an incredible job with the prep.
We were scheduled to run our first round of eliminations that night, and I was really hoping we’d get it off. However a few delays pushed things back and they finally announced we would do eliminations on Sunday morning. I was really hoping for Saturday night since the weather outlook for Sunday looked very bad.
With that announcement, the drinking lamp was lit, and we overindulged on Danny’s tri-tip. It was also Cindy's birthday and a lot of people stopped by to wish her a happy birthday! It was pretty cool!
After the meal, I said that no matter what happens on Sunday, it’s still been an incredible experience, and I was so happy to share it with my friends! It just doesn't get much better.
As it turned out, the winds kicked up at night and the gusts were reported to be in the 70mph range. Dozen of twisted canopies littered the pits and Manufacturers Midway took a pretty big hit. As such, the balance of the event is postponed till this weekend, Saturday the 26th.
Even so, it was still a fun weekend! We wish you coulda been there!
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