If a picture can say a thousand words, this is it! Yesterday's Year One F.A.S.T. race at Beaver Springs Dragway hosted what I consider to be one of the most closely contested F.A.S.T. events of all time. After qualifying 4th in the quick 8, Lane Carey and his Super Cobra Jet powered Torino GT prevailed in the Final round against the always tough Gessler Buick Stage 1. I don't have all of the et's to report at this moment, but let me tell you that round after round there were F.A.S.T. drivers winning by .01 second. I never saw anything like it. You'd think it was the NHRA Pro Stock qualifying. Don't quote me but in the Final, I think Lane went an 11.64 to Greg's 11.65. Lane actually got out first! This was taken earlier in the day during qualifying against Ed Cook's Six Pack Road Runner. Lane accepting his Year One award certificates. What a great day of racing and to see a Ford come out on top was a real treat for all. Congratulations Lane!
I pitted next to Lane and I don't think I seen anyone that happy in a long time. Congrats, Lane. Steve Hodges had that Hemi really singing, too. He was low qualifier after first round. That really was some great racing. My final run was also decided by .02 with almost identical r/t and 60 footers. Great racing except for that starting line. Automatics had a huge advantage as the stick cars kept rolling around after staging. Big boys have line loks, so not affected. Got some great help from Lanny holding my car from roling back. :beers2: Dual brackets of 8 without class distinction worked out OK. Only 5 F/S cars showed up. Think there were only 3 of us that weren't in the top 16.
Congrats to Lane Carey!!! If I had a cool pair of pants like you, maybe I could of won!:grin: Lane tree'd me on the light. I wasn't off or slow on the light, Lane was just VERY, Very fast on the tree. Great job Lane! Lots of close racing, every round in elimination that I was in was determined by less than .050. Close racing for the packed stands for sure. Thanks to YEAR ONE for putting F.A.S.T. at this event and again supplying GIFT :dollar: CERTIFICATES for the racers.
Congrats Grumpy!That was some tough stuff you had to fight through.Taking down Greg is something some only dream of. What a great event.Plenty of killer cars.You guys that said you were coming and didn't you really sh!t the bed.We had a good time.Maybe next year?
Beaver Bob probably couldn't contain himself being the Ford fan he is! Us "Buick" regulars up there will have to listen to him talk about how the Ford beat the Buick forever! Beaver Springs starting line has been like that forever. You definitely have to be able to heal and toe the pedals without a linelock.
Spoken as the driver of an automatic ...... Couldn't you stick guys set the E-brake ever so slightly just before staging, then release it when you're not so busy, like after the 1-2 shift? I bet you wouldn't lose more than a hundredth.
Here is a link to video of the event and car show in York. It even shows the first round of F.A.S.T. 16 chapters in all. Right click on the viewer to get the full screen. http://www.yourwaynetwork.com/
That was a qualification round shown. Lane raced Greg for the finals, not me. :laugh: Brian, to release the emergency brake, which would you let go, the steering wheel or the shifter? 1-2 comes up real quick. Enough things going on trying to drive a stick shift car without adding another one. Line Lok before next year for sure on my car. Much safer anyway with drum brakes. We talked about using Hodges hood prop rod on the brake pedal, but same problem. Not enough hands. Heel and toe would probably have worked, but that wasn't the time to learn a new driving technique. Lanny really helped all of us out on the starting line picking the best spots and in my case, holding it back from rolling. Thanks again.
WOW! CONGRATS MR. FAST LANE!:TU: You have got to be one happy son of a gun right now. You set a goal to put a Ford in the F.A.S.T. winners circle, then you went out and did it! I know this is going to make alot of Ford fans very happy, a Ford being First On Race Day. And putting the Ice Mans Buick on the trailer.:spank: Did you run the new motor, or was it still the old one?
With his fresh new Hemi, Steve ran terrifically at this race, but that number is incorrect because of burned out bulbs on the scoreboard in the right lane. I believe that run was actually an 11.66, but with great speed. After the first round of qualifying, he was in number one spot. Then in the second round of qualifying, Dave D uncorked a great 11.39 to take the top spot. Keep in mind it is July after all, and that Beaver Springs is slightly uphill [12 ft. gain from one end to the other I'm told]. Getting back to Steve, his first run off of the trailer was witnessed by many of the FAST racers and looked incredibly quick. Unfortunately, the clocks did not record anything and no one will ever know what that was would have been. :af: There's more great stuff to report, and I am waiting for the Y1 forum to turn back on so I write it up more thoroughly and upload the more of my pics. Our pal Murdock made an appearance as well. :grin:
Hats off to a great guy and a heck of a racer. Lane just kept dialing that Ford up a notch, before each pass. :beer Just a few questions though, where did you get those pants? Are they really good for a tenth?:grin: Don G.- my apologies for missing our consolation round, the tranny's out already and I'll be ready for you to take another swing at me in Virginia.
CONGRATS to F.A.S.T. Lane as well from me. Had a great time. Thanks to Year One for the free race:beer I was hoping for the Silver Slug to run better but only came close to my best mph, 105.95, w/ a Saturday pass of 105.22 otherwise I was .7 & 3mph off all weekend. BTW, HAPPY 49th BIRTHDAY to Hodgesgison:birthday:
I am glad someone was paying attention! Happy belated B-day to Hodges!:birthday: Sorry, I did not recognize it yesterday when we were on the phone, but you are probably so old that you forgot it anyway!!!ou: :moonu:
Happy Birthday, Steve. Big one next year. You're not over the hill yet, but peaking over the rise. :beers2: Actually it's a pretty nice valley on the other side of that hill, and gets better each year. This weekend relly added to that. Now on to Vermont for a week of golf, fishing, drinking beer, playing cards, etc. Rough life, but somebody's gotta do it. Then another week with the entire Heilala clan on same Lake in Vt. before we head back to Mich. 49, eh? That was a very good year for me. :bglasses:
I would like to tell you about the best trackside hamburgers I have ever tasted. While the wife and I were at Beaver Springs to watch the FAST Races, we wanted to get something tasty to eat. We decided to go to Williams Frys and see what they had. The guy was grilling hamburgers and they smelled so good we decided on that. Well, I was not let down as they were as good as I previously said. My wife is a very good cook and she doesn't mind telling people if their food is not as good as she expected. When she bragged on these burgers, I knew I had struck gold. The only thing that would have made the day better was for Greg Gessler to win the FAST Race. But, I understand that Lane is a good guy and has worked on his Ford for quite a while. The only thing is that Greg and I have been friends since the '80's and I was pulling for him... But it looks like a good guy won anyway. I was happy that I could see the first Ford pull off a win. Regards,
