So in my last post, I was racing in Atlanta – and there was a rain delay. When we resumed and I completed the third of three Qualifying passes — I had qualified 4th of 25. On the ladder that put me up against Jim Netherland in the first round. A little humor was Jim wearing my T-Shirt.

Jim was gracious enough to give me lane choice and I took the Left as I swear the roll out on the Right lane was quicker and had me red-lighting. Jim runs a 10.5 Index and I run the 9.50 — so Jim got a 1-second head start. I caught Jim too Quick meaning I must have had a much better light, even though I had bagged a couple of numbers. I blipped at the MPH cone and took the stripe by a few feet. I saw my win light come on and when I got the ticket it was a RT win – .039 to .110. Jim Broke out with a 10.497 and I had a 9.550 at a slow 133mph.

In Round two I had the points leader Mike DiChicco. We both wanted the left lane — so we flipped – and I lost. The weather turned on us hard, and I had to take any extra weight out of the car. I removed a battery, the weight box lids and the passenger seat — to shake about 80 pounds.

Neither of us would lift at the stripe and we had a double breakout when Mike took the stripe by three feet.

For the next round I had Kurt Neighbor. With just having a .028 light in the right lane — I felt I’d figured out how to wait — and now wanted it. So did Kurt — so we flipped – and I again lost the flip. The weather was really getting tough and I had nothing else to take out. While Kurt didn’t have a great light (.05X) — mine truly sucked (.090). There wasn’t enough steam left in the Thug to catch Kurt and my time was 9.58 to Kurt’s 9.55 on the brakes.

It was 7:30pm Sunday night and I wanted to get on the other side of Atlanta while it was still Sunday — so I rushed to load up and get on the road at 9PM. At about 11:30 I stopped about 50 miles west of Atlanta to spend the night. Up at 6 and back at the Shop in Beasley, TX at 9PM. Tim Frees won the next round against Kurt, and then against Corky Bumpus in the Final. Congrats to Timmy.

Back At The Shop

• The trailer was unloaded
• The seats of the 64 Imperial are now finished, with the exception of one last coat of semi-gloss clear, which is on order.

Here’s a before pick

• Engine and transmission stabbed into the Petty Tribute car.
  • motor mounts made and welded in
  • transmission mount made
  • clutch master cylinder mounted
  • clutch Z-Bar modified
  • drivetrain yanked back out

• On the Screamin’ Woody
  • Front end metal put on the car – although the red lights need to go inboard
  • The grey seats have 8 oz of red dye on them — but I had to order another 8oz to finish
  • The roll cage is being painted a hammered gold

So that’s going to be it for a while. Deb’s and my 40th anniversary is coming up — so we’ll be leaving for a couple of weeks in Europe, only to return just in time to make it to the Memphis race.