Ben Harold: haroldbr@muohio.edu	Tom Harold: harold2@iquest.net

The Project	Car History	Engine	Vortec Heads	Transmission
Differential	Suspension	Steering	Interior	Racing
Street Machine Nationals		Dyno Test

August 15, 2001 9:42 PM • Muncie Dragway • Muncie, Indiana

It was a Wednesday evening at Muncie Dragway. We'd already been eliminated from the trophy race because I broke out. I cut a .502 light, let off the gas at the top end, and still broke out...go figure. On top of that, the guy working the burnout box didn't water it down before my burnout and I ended up smoking the clutch instead of the tires. We'll have pictures of the fried flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate online soon. Even though the clutch was stinking up the entire pit area, we figured we'd give it one more go around to see if I could beat our previous best of 13.13 at 104 MPH. I ran a 13.038 with ease. We've not raced since, as the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate all needed replacement after this day. Hopefully we'll be back before the end of this season to post a few 12s.

Pictures from Muncie Dragway • Summer 2001

Muncie Dragway is the coolest track that we've had the opportunity to visit. While IRP is closer to us, we enjoy the atmosphere at Muncie much more. There are far too many rice burners and just too many cars in general at IRP's Tuesday night street legal drags. They make you cap your headers after 8:00 too. How lame. Muncie, on the other hand, is less crowded. We typically see and race against older, faster, and cooler cars at Muncie. They don't have any lame rules about closing the exhaust up either. As of right now, our fastest time was posted at Muncie Dragway.

Click on a thumbnail for a larger image

Pictures from Indianapolis Raceway Park • Summer 2001

Indianapolis Raceway Park is about a half an hour from where Tom and the Chevelle live. We got our start there, and continue to visit on occasion. Their rule about closing exhaust after 8:00 is way lame, but their paved pits are definately a plus. The good news and bad news is that there are often a lot of people there. While we do run into some cool people at IRP, we also run into morons like the one who claimed that our dad or grandfater must have stolen his toolbox ten years earlier. His argument was based on the fact that we had a VP Racing Fuels sticker on the side of the toolbox. We didn't bother to tell him that our grandfather has been deceased for well over ten years.

First Time Out • Bunker Hill • Kokomo, Indiana

On this beautiful morning we headed to Indianapolis Raceway Park only to find out that we were not allowed to race because neither of us were in high school. Unhindered in our quest to go racing, we called up Bunker Hill of Kokomo from a gas station. We got up there about an hour and a half later. After we passed tech, we pitted, got some food, and unhooked the exhaust. It being the first time I'd been drag racing, I decided beforehand that I would screw everything up possible. After overstaging, I pulled a 1.5 second reaction, shifted too early, and let of the gas before even getting down the track. Nevertheless the car did the 1/8 in 9.04 sec at 74 mph. We only got one more run in because of a dinner we had to attend. The second run was a little better, but a little worse. Determined to leave the line on time, I had the engine reved somewhere between 2500 and 3000. When the lights turned green I spun the tires like crazy (street tires). I didn't get good traction for about a hundred feet or so. Once it hooked up I totally wailed on it. Though the time was considerably worse (9.48) I was going 78 by the time I got to the end.