Hello Dan and List,
Yes Dan, I enjoyed talking with you, many other old friends at El Mirage
this past weekend. I have reached a new plateau in my racing career, I'm
spending some time getting better acquainted with longtime associates. I
think that many of us tend to get so wrapped up in the task at hand that
relationships suffer. I know that has been true in my case. When I am
thrashing (most of the time) I'm off in another world, totally engulfed
in my problem solving efforts and don't present a very friendly
attitude. (With my mental capacity, I can't be distracted, its a total
effort.)
Our El Mirage trip was great. (The last organized event of the century.)
The weather cooperated. Cool mornings, not too hot days, and almost no
wind. Spent lots of time visiting with friends, witnessed some fast
times, "Fast Freddy" posted a 305 MPH run, Leggitt ran in the high
290's. However, our car didn't perform as planned, but that is the norm!
I have been humbled again. It is obvious that I have to learn, again,
how to run gasoline. We had trouble with loading up spark plugs and
spending too much time getting into the power range in high gear. At
least we have seven months to get something figured out. We were able to
coax only 182.67 MPH out of our ride.
Just wait until next year!!!
Tom (we hold the fuel records) Bryant
Daniel Warner wrote:
>
> Tom and list,
>
> Tom's reply is kinda what I had in mind when I looked at the Ferguson car on
> their web site. I thought that if an issue may exist with the aero on the
> car the team would have time to either get approval or fix it before
> running.
>
> Dan
>
> PS - Nice to see you at El Mirage Tom.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas E. Bryant <saltracer@awwwsome.com>
> To: Ferguson, Darrell <dfergus@bactc.com>
> Cc: 'Jim Dincau' <jdincau@qnet.com>; dferguso@ebmail.gdeb.com
> <dferguso@ebmail.gdeb.com>; land-speed@autox.team.net
> <land-speed@autox.team.net>
> Date: Monday, November 15, 1999 6:12 PM
> Subject: Re: Spoiler Rules
>
> >Darrell,
> >I'm not knocking your efforts to make inroads or push the boundaries. We
> >all prefer to live as close to the fence as is comfortable. Personally,
> >I'm not comfortable making waves, just don't like confrontations.
> >
> >When we first appeared on the Salt with our present car, at Speedweek ,
> >no problem, we didn't get noticed because we didn't go very fast. At the
> >World of Speed we started to get it sorted out and drew a little
> >attention I guess, because when we arrived at the World Finals I was
> >immediately told that our car was illegal because of the altered wheel
> >wells. (Someone had said that the wheel well is part of the quarter
> >panel, so altering the wheel well was altering the quarter panel which
> >was not allowable.) We could only run for time!
> >Here I did get confrontive. We had built the car with the rules and
> >present running cars in mind. (George Field's car was running wheels
> >tucked into the confines of the body.) After a bit of discussion it was
> >decided that I had a good argument, so I was allowed to run the class
> >and the next year the rules stated that it was an allowable
> >modification.
> >
> >You see, I am not against your trying something different. But, keep in
> >mind, on the Salt, the tech committee is God and the rule book is their
> >Holy Bible. It would be best to have this sorted out with them before
> >appearing in impound with much at stake. Good Luck!!
> >
> >Tom
> >
> >
> >
> >"Ferguson, Darrell" wrote:
> >>
> >> I'm just trying to figure out which way to go! I left drag racing to move
> to
> >> a less restrictive form of racing (SCTA). I have heard others on the list
> >> echo similar sentiments regarding the NHRA and how many racers despise
> what
> >> they have come to represent in the name of hot rodding. It all goes back
> to
> >> how the rules are interpreted. I have received at least 5 DIFFERENT
> personal
> >> interpretations of the rules regarding a rear spoiler in the altered
> class.
> >> Again, whenever there is a gray area, how does each person read the rule?
> >> For a competitor who already has a rear spoiler of a particular design,
> >> he'll read the rule in his favor. I get the impression that there will be
> a
> >> rule change, or clarification, in one direction or another, regarding
> >> Spoilers on both Altereds and Competition Coupes for the 2000 season. I
> have
> >> seen rules changed to allow competitors to try new ideas that were
> >> previously illegal for the altered class in the past. Many have suggested
> we
> >> take that approach, but again, our spoiler is not illegal as I see it and
> >> therefore didn't even think twice about lobbying for a rule change. We're
> >> not trying to cheat, or break the rules, and if I had something to hide,
> I
> >> certainly wouldn't have put pictures of anything questionable on the
> BLACK
> >> RADON ENGINEERING Homepage. We haven't even teched our car yet, and the
> >> controversy we're generating is only from a couple of pictures.
> >> Unfortunately I feel as though we're already off to a great start making
> >> friends with the SCTA Inspectors, and other members of this list. At the
> >> rate we're going here at BLACK RADON, we'll be racing with no rear
> spoiler
> >> at all, or be forced to run for time only. I guess my point is that the
> >> people that I idolize in the world of motorsports are those who
> consistently
> >> think outside the box, people who push the boundaries to break new
> ground.
> >> Along those lines, my brother, father and I want to bring that attitude
> with
> >> us to the salt and I get the impression it's already hurting us.
> >>
> >> Darrell Ferguson
> >> BLACK RADON ENGINEERING
> >> # 939 BBFALT
> >> http://my.cybersoup.com/blackradon <http://my.cybersoup.com/blackradon>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Thomas E. Bryant [SMTP:saltracer@awwwsome.com]
> >> Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 3:03 PM
> >> To: Ferguson, Darrell
> >> Cc: 'Jim Dincau'; dferguso@ebmail.gdeb.com;
> >> boogiewoogie12@hotmail.com; land-speed@autox.team.net
> >> Subject: Re: Rules
> >>
> >> I understand that a tag in an early NHRA Rule Book was: "If it
> >> doesn't
> >> say you can, you can't." Just another way of looking at the
> rules!
> >>
> >> Tom
> >
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