"Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight" (gizmoq)
01/13/2014 at 13:49 • Filed to: None
1
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"Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight" (gizmoq)
01/13/2014 at 13:49 • Filed to: None | 1
| 0 |
Less than a week to decide if I'll compete in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Registration opens January 19th. And if past history is any indication, all slots will be taken within 2 days and then the waiting list will fill up by the end of the week. My engine mods aren't done, my aero updates are unfinished and untested. Will my pit crew be able to take the time off? will everything be done in time? will real life get in the way? what else can go wrong? Did my last mishap shatter my confidence - a brief recap:
The Texas Mile Oct 2012, I made three runs already top speed was 158MPH at 80% throttle. It was time to turn everything on and go all out. As I start the run, my crew chief said I spun the tires in first thru third, but my half mile time was over 134 so easily would be over 160 (my goal) by the end. Unfortunately, at the 3/4 mile mark the supercharger pulley let go, power fell off, and the belt began to melt belching black smoke across the windshield from under the hood. Numerous thoughts were running thru my head at that instant: "What's my speed, can I still get 160 across the line? Am I still on the track in a straight line? What's my speed? 163MPH. Cool. Crap, how the hell am I gonna get this heap 1100 miles back home? What's my speed? 160MPH. Am I on fire? What's my speed? 156MPH. Why am I still trying to accelerate? Brakes. Not too hard. Brakes. What's my speed? Who cares. I gotta get outta here! " I pulled over off the return road, grabbed my fire extinguisher and popped the hood – nothing… no smoke, no fire, no visible damage just the belt off the pulley. I walked over to get my timeslip, crap, official time 159.5MPH. I creep back to the pits trying to remember where I stored my spare SC belt and feeling proud that I was prepared. I park in the pits and begin cutting off the burnt belt and as I make the final cut, Plop!, the pulley falls off the shaft. My weekend is done – no one anywhere close had a press to put it back on. 1100 miles to get home with no supercharger... no problem right (I felt like grandma on the way to church… it took forever and ever and ever to get home.)
Should I go or should I stay, actually the question needs to read: Should I race or should I spectate... cause I. Will. Be. There!