Official and in competition!

I am officially licensed again. When I originally licensed on my motorcycle in 2005, I was given the NHRA competition license number of ETMX 725. This time around, I was given ET 724X. Not too difficult to remember, thanks Rosa! ;) Upon receipt of my new NHRA competition license number and getting the chassis re-certified on the Jr. Comp car we talked about entering my first race. That happened to be the Spring Jam CMI race on April 15, 2012. Personally I really dislike CMI cars, but its a chance to race, right?

I unfortunately do not have any pics from the race but I can share with you the events of the day. We got to the track and were advised we may not be able to compete because we did not have doors. We talked to Tony and inquired about our ability to compete, he thought about it and decided to make an exception for us this "one time". Did I mention I am not a fan of CMI cars, ridiculous noise makers. Anyway, we got unloaded and ready for Q1. It's important to mention that this is the first race that I have EVER lined up against another car. I was thinking about everything all at once, except being in the car. Which was evident by the fact that I never got on the low rev, just smacked the throttle and went. How stupid. I had a reasonably bad reaction time at .163 and ended up running a 9.36 @ 133.6 with a 1.40 60' time. When Jason got down to pick me up, he said "did you forget something". And it dawned on me at that moment of how out of the game my head was. I was so mad at myself when we got back to the pits I had to go for a walk. Jason wasn't real happy with that decision as he wanted to talk about it, but I just needed time to get my thoughts together and pull my head out of my a$$. Q2 revealed I was at least pushing the tree (a bit too much) with a -.031 reaction. I had a 9.45 ET @ 134.0 with a 1.43 60' time. We got one final hit with Q3, where I again red lit with a -.043 reaction. Yay me, I get to qualify with a .163. My Q3 produced a 9.38 ET @ 135.2 and my best 60' so far at 1.37. At this point, we sat down and had a discussion about bracket racing. I am not too familiar with it in a car, since I have never raced a car. Aside from that when I rode a bike in competition, I won one bracket race out of luck and won another race running on my index.

Time for eliminations!
Round 1
I got paired against this little red Honda. It was sorta funny sitting in the car (all strapped in) and listening to the kid talk with his friends before we ran. The comments ranged from "you're racing that little dragster" to "you're racing a girl". Jason reminded me that I would be sitting...for awhile when the lights came down. His dial-in was a 14.68 to my 9.32...YEAH I sat for awhile! But it was a good first round for me. I could see him relatively clearly (due to his bright color). I ran a 9.67 @ 109.2 with a .130 reaction time and a 1.36 60' time to his 14.67 @ 91.0 with a .270 reaction time. I got lucky, but it felt good to get a first round win!! We had some motor problems at the line, but got the car down the lane.

Round 2
Well let's just say learning the bracket racing thing is tricky. I left my dial-in alone and was running against a guy who dialed a 13.90. Everything on my side of this run was off, I had a .293 reaction and ran a 9.83 @ 127.2 with a 1.38 60' time. I tried to judge how much room I had between the stripe and him... and ended up giving it back at the stripe. So frustrating, but that's how we learn, right? Once again, we had some problems with the motor, it kept stalling and boy did it mess with my head. No excuses though, I plain and simply lost.

Alas, I got the yellow slip and that was the end of our day.

I had a lot of fun and thanked the applicable people for allowing us to run despite the no door thing! ;) Doesn't look like I'll be back in the car until May but I'm looking forward to the next time!!! By the way... I still dislike CMI cars!! LOL! As usual, I owe my husband a huge thanks for his patience with me and teaching me how to be a driver. I love you babe, you're the best!!!

New Journey in 2012

2012 has been a whirlwind of new experiences and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings! We have been on the slow long process of building our bike. It will make it to the completion zone at some point. In the meantime a few (on the larger side) bills have been hanging over our heads. We should be ready to take the leap with that project as we near the end of the year or early 2013!! In the meantime, we were given a rare opportunity. Our amazing friends, The Harmons, gave us their blessing to run their Jr. Comp car for the season. So exciting!! We began ordering all my gear before we even had the car, I just couldn't wait. I ordered my fire suit (pants and jacket), harness, arm restraints, and gloves. I needed to re-order my pants, harness, and gloves because they were either too big or didn't work in the car. We eventually got everything we needed and then we waited on the weather. Wow that's frustrating!! We finally got our chance on Saturday April 1, we got the chance to make our Jr. Comp debut. It was licensing day and we were running 1/8 mile! My first time in the car (which was literally the first time I had ever raced a car down the race track) was so much fun! Ironically, my first time in the car I really wasn't nervous. I think I was more anxious than anything. We talked about our routine and what I needed to do off the line to start with. I just put the pedal to the floor and away I went. My first pass produced a 6.39 @ 109.19 in the 1/8th. Which equates out to approx. 9.97 in the 1/4. My next time out, Jason said I could leave on the low rev, so I would get to feel what it does off the line. That pass produced a 6.11 @ 114.65 which equates to a 9.54 in the 1/4. Talk about fun!! Now its important to remember I'm suppose to be licensing, Jason said I was going a bit quick for that. Oops!! We made four passes in total and the next two were nothing to write home about. My third pass just didn't feel good to me, she felt wiggly and weird, so I got out of it. Jason adjusted the shift light and off we went again. I was thinking of so many different things, I literally sat at the light and watched it turn green. Who does that?? Seriously, how dumb. Anyway, upon taking off we ran another 6.114 @ 111.97. Jason said she was starting to go through the clutch so we called it a day. At the end, I won't lie I was disappointed in myself. Especially for my (at best) meager performance the last two passes, but Jason reminds me I started out going quicker than I was suppose to! It's so different to drive a car, especially one that you practically lay down in to race. But it is so much fun to learn something new.







I can't wait to get back in the car!! Stay tuned!!!