Driver's Seat
And.... We're Back!!!
- Details
After a very long off-season of over 18 months as Maui Raceway Park gets a face lift, we are back to racing! MRP Shut down at the end of the 2017 season in order to get a new surface, concrete guard rails, and more. What was supposed to be a 3-4 month project turned into an 18 month layoff. With that, the track has a new concrete launch pad which now goes out to 300' past the start line, new asphalt all of the way down including the shutdown area, new concrete guard rails replaced the steel barriers, upgraded sound system, new timing system, new power lines and electrical, and more! We were a part of all of the work and through it all have now also become the Portatree Technical Representative for the central and west Pacific regions.
Now, on to our racing... During the off time, we made a couple of upgrades to the car and did some much needed maintenance. We installed an auto-shifter as I found out I am not supposed to do my burnouts in second gear only and since my line lock is next to the shifter, it would be hard to shift the car while on the line-lock. We also re-arranged the gauges in the car so they are easier to see while I am driving. Finally, we had the transmission. spare transmission. and torque converter rebuilt. During the rebuild, we found that the 3rd gear clutch plates were very badly worn.
So, in our first night out during test-n-tune earlier this year, we discovered that the front brakes were not releasing and were dragging. This drastically affected our elapsed times and our MPH. We also thought that it is what caused the car acting really weird on the launch. So between then and our next race, we rebuilt the brake system and that seemed to fix the releasing issue. However, during our next event, we found that the person that rebuilt our transmissions completely screwed them up! When we would load up the car on the launch (running it up to 3600 RPM) it would cause the transmission to lock up. When we let go of the brake, the car would fall on it's face until the transmission unlocked itself and then it would go. So after all of this work, we had to do it all over again! This was after our Labor Day 3-day race.
Once we got all of the work finished, we were ready to go racing again and some fire bug on Maui decided to light various brush fires and even though the track didn't burn, the dust and ash from the fires and afterward since there was no wind break, would constantly dump dust and ash on the track, we were shut down. With that down time, it was finally time to change the look of the car. So, we stripped off the old vinyl wrap and put on our new wrap.
A special thanks goes out to our vinyl sponsor, e-sign and design of Maui. Kevin and Zach knocked it out of the park on the printing of the vinyl. Also a big thank you to Tony and Mike of Tony's Auto Repair and Performance for the use of their shop to do the major vinyl install, and finally to Kathy and Elliott for their help installing the vinyl.
Now we had the car fixed, the new vinyl installed, and nowhere to race! Well, the folks at Garden Isle Racing in Kauai pitched in along with an unnamed group from Maui and sponsored shipping the car and trailer over to Kauai for their Labor Day races. Mary and Jessie Kealoha of Kealoha Transfer picked the car up and John Ishibashi of Kauai Vehicle Service Center stored the car until we could get there. Thank you everyone for your awesome help!
So Greg Howeth and I went over for the race weekend. After many years of crewing for Greg, it was his turn. Our first night of racing went OK with a #5 qualifying position and a first round win. However, I guess I didn't use enough Visine and got some red on the next round. (-.010). That ended our night and our chance at the Wally. So while we were licking our wounds, Greg came up with some ideas and more importantly, some coaching advise for the next day.
Day 2 started out bad. In our first and only round of qualifying, we cut a miserable .138 light and I figured I would be clawing my way up from the very bottom of the ladder. I guess others struggled as well and we ended up in the top half of the ladder in 7th. As 2nd round of qualifying started, so did the rain. It rained for about two hours and everyone thought we were done for. But, when the rain started letting up around 6pm, everyone including the fans pitched in to dry the track and in 3 hours not only was the track dry, but it was prepped and we later found out it was actually was better than when we started the day.
Here we go, into the first round of eliminations with all of the environmental conditions totally out of whack. I had no idea how the car was going to react so I just went up there and trusted myself and the fact that the car can handle almost any track condition. We staged up and cut a .001149 light (.00000 is a perfect light) and went on down. I didn't know we cut that good of a light and was now thinking about the other end. The car felt like it was on the pass of its life and it was. We ended up getting the win! First round nerves be damned, we are going rounds.
Second round I was paired up against a dragster. I have never run against a dragster, nor have a run against someone that is 3.5 seconds faster than I am. I have to admit, I was a little nervous and anxious about that. Can I see him, will he just be a blur coming at me, how can I judge the stripe? Again, we had to be on our game and we were. We cut an .040 light and sent it off to the other end and ran our numbers. We are still going rounds.
Third round, I was paired up against an altered, which again I have never run against as well. Also Wendell is an excellent racer so I knew I had to really be on my game. I cut an .013 light to his .071 light and put it out there. I saw him coming but also knew now what the car was going to run that night and was confident on my dial in. We ran a 10.508 on a 10.49 dial and beat him at the stripe by seven thousands of a second. We just won the semi-final and are now in the final round!
In the final round, I am now paired up with the winner of the coveted Wally Parks trophy from the night before. Now keep in mind, I am the ONLY Maui boy running this weekend and the ONLY Mopar in any of the lanes. No pressure, right? At least I knew I was on the podium and in the money so I had nothing to lose. I also knew the car was deadly consistent so I rolled into the beams dialed in with an 11.49 again to his 11.30 dial in. The tree drops and I guess I used too much Visine because I cut an .069 light to his .053 light. I could see he cut a good light and was coming. I also knew that the air got a lot heavier so I will probably be running a solid 11.50 or slightly slower. When we got to the stripe, I could hear him blipping the throttle and hitting the brakes but he was still ahead. I started to worry that I was way slower than my dial as we passed the stripe. After a moment or two, Greg comes on the radio and informs me that I just won a sh*tload of money!! I had won the final round! I ran an 11.51 on an 11.49 dial and he ran an 11.25 on an 11.30 dial and broke out. After hooping and hollering and praising the man above I pulled back into the pits with a lot of the drivers not only from my class but many others coming over and congratulating us.
Greg was instrumental in making this happen. Despite having to deal with the new computers for the timing system, helping dry and prep the track, along with a lot of other stuff, I knew the car was ready, checked, set, cocked, and ready to fire every time I strapped into the car. I had no doubts about the car and could focus on my job once I strapped into my office and fired it up. I could not have done this without you Greg and I owe you big time!
A special thank you goes out to Garden Isle Racing, the friends and fans of Kauai Raceway Park, Mary and Jessie Kealoha and John Ishibashi. Without all of you this would not have happened. Also a big Mahalo to everyone that came out and helped to dry and prep the track. If that didn't happen, then I would not have had a chance at the win.