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!!!