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Adding it here with 2023!
Recap video!
Day 0
We left Amarillo about mid-morning. The trip to Great Bend is a little over 5.5 hours, so we didn't want to get there too early and have nothing to do. The trip is largely uneventful except for the fact the AC clutch decided to not do AC clutch stuff a few miles North of Amarillo. It wasn't terribly hot outside so we just opened the wing windows and dealt with the wind noise. The dually did well. It really needs a little more power for big hills with a headwind, but it did ok. This was the heaviest load we have ever towed with it. It was happiest running around 65 mph, which i was fine with. It was nice having the big rear tank, we didn't have to stop for gas on the drive up at all.
We arrived at Great Bend and went directly to the track to unload. We found a pit spot, unloaded all our stuff, took the big trailer to the impound area and unhitched it. We decided to go check in a the hotel, cool off and then go to the block party in the downtown area. The block party was pretty cool. Saw some friends (milner351!!) there and shot the bull with them for a while. We went to a local pizza place that was near and chowed on some pepperoni's. Went back to the hotel to chill out and prepare for Day 1
Day 1
We get up and go eat biscuits and gravy at Braum's with the requisite small town group of old guy coffee drinkers. Haha. Upon arrival at the track, we go ahead and swap tire and go get in the tech lines. RMRW runs 2 tech lines. 1 is a regular tech line (car - trailer - NHRA/safety), and the other is express tech, just the NHRA/safety if you submitted a video tech before arriving. We did the express tech, so were through the line pretty quickly. We got our goodie bags, stickers, shirts, and arm bands and went back to set up the pit area.
After the driver's meeting they start calling cars to the lanes. Judd goes up makes a pass, 14.30 @ 95. That's about what we expected, but were hoping for a 14.0x or 13.9x. The elevation at Great Bend is pretty low but you wouldn't know it by the density altitude. The tower goofed up the car numbers so Judd didn't get a slip. Great.
Judd's best friend from USAFA was headed home to Indiana with his brother so they made a detour to Great Bend. They had never been to something like this and were blown away by it all. Judd had a good time showing them all the cars and hanging out.
Day 1 being like all Day 1's, things moved kinda slow. We finally get back up to the lanes and Judd improves a little to a 14.24 @ 96. We'll take it. We pack up and head to the hotel for the short-ish drive to Kearney.
Day 2
Get up, get some breakfast in us and we hit the road. The first highway drive is always a high-stress endeavor. You feel like everything will be ok-ish, but it takes a bit to feel out what the car likes and how it is going to run fully loaded with the trailer. Car runs good and I start making notes on what I need to change in the trans controller. The drive is really uneventful (whoo hoo) and roll into town, grab some lunch and head to the track. The pit area at Kearney is smallish so you are cozy'd up to your pit neighbors. No biggie, At least we didn't have someone checking their 2 step every 5 minutes. Haha. It was breezy and not terribly hot. We had lower expectations in Kearney because the elevation is a bit higher. We end up making three passes with the first being the quickest. A trend that will continue throughout the week. Haha. Car runs 14.12 @ 97 and our hopes of a 13.99 are kinda renewed.
We chow on some excellent walking tacos, make the other two slower passes and head to the hotel. Day 3 is going to be a drive day and is certain to be a punch in the gut.
Day 3
Kearney to Pueblo. Holy cow. Day three had it all. Flat land, torrential rain (as in pull over because you can't see the road stripes), blue skies, 10k elevation mountains, stop and go, and interstate blasts. Car ran good. We did stop during one loooooooong mountain climb to let it cool off with some other Raceweek cars. There were 6 check points for a total of 582 miles. It took us 14+ hours to make that drive. That is way longer than I ever wanted to be in that car. Haha. 582 miles is longer than some drag-n-drive events TOTAL mileage..Car got warm after 45 miles on I-25 and stop & go in Pueblo. We dumped the trailer at the track and let the car cool. We noticed an oil leak at the back of the block by the oil pressure gauge adapter. We cleaned it off and made a plan to fix it in the morning.
Day 4
We get to the track and set up the pit. On the way, we stopped and picked up the parts we needed to fix the leak. We take care of that and Judd starts monkeying with the driver's side window that has always been janky. Much to his surprise, the problem all along was a loose adjustment bolt. He tightened it up and bingo-boingo, the window was mint. Haha.
While we are waiting for the track to go hot, a dust storm blows through and KO's our canopy. Boo. We had it tied down pretty good, but the sides flexed in and down she went. After the wind died down we invoked our Cub Scout first aid training and applied splints to the broken pars of the canopy, thus salvaging our life preserving shade! As was the trend, the first pass was the best of the day. 14.59 @ 95 Density altitude was somewhere around 8400' so that was no surprise at all. We finish out the day, running slightly slower each time despite the air temp dropping. Whatever. Since we will be back here for Day 5, we secure the pit and trailer, and head to the hotel. Day 5 drive will be 115 miles up into the mountains.
Day 5
To avoid the heat, we get up early. There are only two check points today and one is Bishop Castle. Pretty cool place and it was a check point when Jake and I did RW back in 2023. There are only 2 other cars there when we arrive so it was nice to explore without a gazillion people around. We complete the drive, head back to the hotel, rest for a bit, then grab a good lunch at The Cracker Barrel. We head out to the track and swing by Walmart to pick up a new canopy. It's toasty today. The old canopy is hanging in there, so we decide to just let it ride and save the new one for Great Bend.
We made 3 passes, again with increasing ET's each time. All week the wideband has been telling us it is running rich. We start to doubt it's accuracy because it is saying the car is running in the 10.5's afr, but there is no noticeable black smoke when making a pass. At 10.5 it should be rolling black smoke. We turn in our first pass and head to the hotel. The current thought is maybe we got some bad gas because we've changed nothing. Day 6 will be a 335 mile drive back to Great Bend.
Day 6
We wanted to get an early start, but wanted to pick up a set of plugs and change them to see if they are part of the problem. We hang out until AutoZone opened at 7:30 (only store that said they had them in stock) only to find "in stock" means they have 2. Great. Plan B is a NAPA right next door to the first checkpoint. We roll out and the car runs fine just like the last few days. Wideband says 12.8-13.2 at cruise just about like it has all week. We hit the NAPA, get the plugs, but since it is working fine, we decided to wait until morning to swap them out.
The drive was uneventful and the Galaxie just melted the miles away. They pretty much ran us on one highway all the way which was nice. Since Raceweek works differently than most D-N-D's, we were allowed to access our tow rigs upon return to Great Bend. We find a suitable pit spot, park the Galaxie for the night and hop in the dually. I feel like I am driving a 2 story building after being in the Galaxie all week. Haha. We check into the hotel and then fiddle with the F350's AC. Turns out to just be a broken wire. We feex and have AC again! Great Bend does not have a huge selection of restaurants, so we settled on Applebees. It was actually pretty good. Judd immediately started going through his list of Galaxie upgrades he has been working on all week and made a few strategic orders with Summit, Jegs and Speedway Motors. Haha. Afterwards we head to the hotel and crash for the night.
Day 7
Final day. Raceweek locks in your averages after Day 5 and runs a real race on the final day. They have 3 heads up classes for the fastest 32 cars and also a bracket race for everybody else. I think there were 118 cars in the bracket race.
Since the driver's meeting was set for noon, we decided to get to the track fairly early and go over the car, change plugs and clean the carb for good measure. We pull the plugs and to our surprise, they indicated the engine was actually running on the lean side. Well, all of them except #1. It was dark and looked like it was firing intermittently. That may be the reason the O2 was reading wonky. We checked the timing in Pueblo and I did notice that the timing light would flash then wouldn't, then would. I thought it was just the light being weird. Guess not. Anyway, we robbed a plug wire off the dually, put the jetting back to stock and went up for our time trial. Bam. Best pass of the week. 14.08 @ 96 .
Judd dials a 14.00 for the bracket race just for kicks and get annihilated by the bracket race ninja in the other lane. And runs slower than his first pass. Figures. Our week is officially done. We hang out for a while in hopes they open the lanes for test-n-tune, but after some track problems and the EMS crew having to attend to someone in the staging lanes, we gave up and loaded everything up. We had had enough being at the track and being hot so we left and again, had a nice dinner at Applebees. Crashed for the night with big ole smiles on our faces.
Day 8
Go up, grabbed a donut and drove home. With AC. Whoo hoo!
Overall a fantastic week with minimal trouble. Car didn't leak, and only used a tiny bit of oil. The trans was GREAT. Shifted hard and quick all week.
Judd built a fine automobile.
Recap video!
Day 0
We left Amarillo about mid-morning. The trip to Great Bend is a little over 5.5 hours, so we didn't want to get there too early and have nothing to do. The trip is largely uneventful except for the fact the AC clutch decided to not do AC clutch stuff a few miles North of Amarillo. It wasn't terribly hot outside so we just opened the wing windows and dealt with the wind noise. The dually did well. It really needs a little more power for big hills with a headwind, but it did ok. This was the heaviest load we have ever towed with it. It was happiest running around 65 mph, which i was fine with. It was nice having the big rear tank, we didn't have to stop for gas on the drive up at all.
We arrived at Great Bend and went directly to the track to unload. We found a pit spot, unloaded all our stuff, took the big trailer to the impound area and unhitched it. We decided to go check in a the hotel, cool off and then go to the block party in the downtown area. The block party was pretty cool. Saw some friends (milner351!!) there and shot the bull with them for a while. We went to a local pizza place that was near and chowed on some pepperoni's. Went back to the hotel to chill out and prepare for Day 1
Day 1
We get up and go eat biscuits and gravy at Braum's with the requisite small town group of old guy coffee drinkers. Haha. Upon arrival at the track, we go ahead and swap tire and go get in the tech lines. RMRW runs 2 tech lines. 1 is a regular tech line (car - trailer - NHRA/safety), and the other is express tech, just the NHRA/safety if you submitted a video tech before arriving. We did the express tech, so were through the line pretty quickly. We got our goodie bags, stickers, shirts, and arm bands and went back to set up the pit area.
After the driver's meeting they start calling cars to the lanes. Judd goes up makes a pass, 14.30 @ 95. That's about what we expected, but were hoping for a 14.0x or 13.9x. The elevation at Great Bend is pretty low but you wouldn't know it by the density altitude. The tower goofed up the car numbers so Judd didn't get a slip. Great.
Judd's best friend from USAFA was headed home to Indiana with his brother so they made a detour to Great Bend. They had never been to something like this and were blown away by it all. Judd had a good time showing them all the cars and hanging out.
Day 1 being like all Day 1's, things moved kinda slow. We finally get back up to the lanes and Judd improves a little to a 14.24 @ 96. We'll take it. We pack up and head to the hotel for the short-ish drive to Kearney.
Day 2
Get up, get some breakfast in us and we hit the road. The first highway drive is always a high-stress endeavor. You feel like everything will be ok-ish, but it takes a bit to feel out what the car likes and how it is going to run fully loaded with the trailer. Car runs good and I start making notes on what I need to change in the trans controller. The drive is really uneventful (whoo hoo) and roll into town, grab some lunch and head to the track. The pit area at Kearney is smallish so you are cozy'd up to your pit neighbors. No biggie, At least we didn't have someone checking their 2 step every 5 minutes. Haha. It was breezy and not terribly hot. We had lower expectations in Kearney because the elevation is a bit higher. We end up making three passes with the first being the quickest. A trend that will continue throughout the week. Haha. Car runs 14.12 @ 97 and our hopes of a 13.99 are kinda renewed.
We chow on some excellent walking tacos, make the other two slower passes and head to the hotel. Day 3 is going to be a drive day and is certain to be a punch in the gut.
Day 3
Kearney to Pueblo. Holy cow. Day three had it all. Flat land, torrential rain (as in pull over because you can't see the road stripes), blue skies, 10k elevation mountains, stop and go, and interstate blasts. Car ran good. We did stop during one loooooooong mountain climb to let it cool off with some other Raceweek cars. There were 6 check points for a total of 582 miles. It took us 14+ hours to make that drive. That is way longer than I ever wanted to be in that car. Haha. 582 miles is longer than some drag-n-drive events TOTAL mileage..Car got warm after 45 miles on I-25 and stop & go in Pueblo. We dumped the trailer at the track and let the car cool. We noticed an oil leak at the back of the block by the oil pressure gauge adapter. We cleaned it off and made a plan to fix it in the morning.
Day 4
We get to the track and set up the pit. On the way, we stopped and picked up the parts we needed to fix the leak. We take care of that and Judd starts monkeying with the driver's side window that has always been janky. Much to his surprise, the problem all along was a loose adjustment bolt. He tightened it up and bingo-boingo, the window was mint. Haha.
While we are waiting for the track to go hot, a dust storm blows through and KO's our canopy. Boo. We had it tied down pretty good, but the sides flexed in and down she went. After the wind died down we invoked our Cub Scout first aid training and applied splints to the broken pars of the canopy, thus salvaging our life preserving shade! As was the trend, the first pass was the best of the day. 14.59 @ 95 Density altitude was somewhere around 8400' so that was no surprise at all. We finish out the day, running slightly slower each time despite the air temp dropping. Whatever. Since we will be back here for Day 5, we secure the pit and trailer, and head to the hotel. Day 5 drive will be 115 miles up into the mountains.
Day 5
To avoid the heat, we get up early. There are only two check points today and one is Bishop Castle. Pretty cool place and it was a check point when Jake and I did RW back in 2023. There are only 2 other cars there when we arrive so it was nice to explore without a gazillion people around. We complete the drive, head back to the hotel, rest for a bit, then grab a good lunch at The Cracker Barrel. We head out to the track and swing by Walmart to pick up a new canopy. It's toasty today. The old canopy is hanging in there, so we decide to just let it ride and save the new one for Great Bend.
We made 3 passes, again with increasing ET's each time. All week the wideband has been telling us it is running rich. We start to doubt it's accuracy because it is saying the car is running in the 10.5's afr, but there is no noticeable black smoke when making a pass. At 10.5 it should be rolling black smoke. We turn in our first pass and head to the hotel. The current thought is maybe we got some bad gas because we've changed nothing. Day 6 will be a 335 mile drive back to Great Bend.
Day 6
We wanted to get an early start, but wanted to pick up a set of plugs and change them to see if they are part of the problem. We hang out until AutoZone opened at 7:30 (only store that said they had them in stock) only to find "in stock" means they have 2. Great. Plan B is a NAPA right next door to the first checkpoint. We roll out and the car runs fine just like the last few days. Wideband says 12.8-13.2 at cruise just about like it has all week. We hit the NAPA, get the plugs, but since it is working fine, we decided to wait until morning to swap them out.
The drive was uneventful and the Galaxie just melted the miles away. They pretty much ran us on one highway all the way which was nice. Since Raceweek works differently than most D-N-D's, we were allowed to access our tow rigs upon return to Great Bend. We find a suitable pit spot, park the Galaxie for the night and hop in the dually. I feel like I am driving a 2 story building after being in the Galaxie all week. Haha. We check into the hotel and then fiddle with the F350's AC. Turns out to just be a broken wire. We feex and have AC again! Great Bend does not have a huge selection of restaurants, so we settled on Applebees. It was actually pretty good. Judd immediately started going through his list of Galaxie upgrades he has been working on all week and made a few strategic orders with Summit, Jegs and Speedway Motors. Haha. Afterwards we head to the hotel and crash for the night.
Day 7
Final day. Raceweek locks in your averages after Day 5 and runs a real race on the final day. They have 3 heads up classes for the fastest 32 cars and also a bracket race for everybody else. I think there were 118 cars in the bracket race.
Since the driver's meeting was set for noon, we decided to get to the track fairly early and go over the car, change plugs and clean the carb for good measure. We pull the plugs and to our surprise, they indicated the engine was actually running on the lean side. Well, all of them except #1. It was dark and looked like it was firing intermittently. That may be the reason the O2 was reading wonky. We checked the timing in Pueblo and I did notice that the timing light would flash then wouldn't, then would. I thought it was just the light being weird. Guess not. Anyway, we robbed a plug wire off the dually, put the jetting back to stock and went up for our time trial. Bam. Best pass of the week. 14.08 @ 96 .
Judd dials a 14.00 for the bracket race just for kicks and get annihilated by the bracket race ninja in the other lane. And runs slower than his first pass. Figures. Our week is officially done. We hang out for a while in hopes they open the lanes for test-n-tune, but after some track problems and the EMS crew having to attend to someone in the staging lanes, we gave up and loaded everything up. We had had enough being at the track and being hot so we left and again, had a nice dinner at Applebees. Crashed for the night with big ole smiles on our faces.
Day 8
Go up, grabbed a donut and drove home. With AC. Whoo hoo!
Overall a fantastic week with minimal trouble. Car didn't leak, and only used a tiny bit of oil. The trans was GREAT. Shifted hard and quick all week.
Judd built a fine automobile.