Well, I must say that I have been busy racing in 1997. My first day ever at the track was on July 25 and my last day for the year was December 10. I have 108 time slips total for that time! That's only 27 miles put on at the track! Seriously, since that is so much information, I have decided to only put the nightly averages and my personal bests up. Trying to put the best 3-4 runs of every night would no longer be practical.

I tried bracket racing early on and didn't do very well for two reasons; my 5-speed being soinconsistant (actually my shifts) and my lousy lights. I have vastly improved my driving and my car since then. Since November, I have run brackets on two nights and both times came home with cash! I survived to the Semi-Finals and Quarter-Finals respectively....the ONLY manual tranny car in both fields (70-80 cars each night). A boost to my ego to say the least! Needless to say, I now look forward to a new bracket season starting in 1998 and hope to earn a decent points-standing by next December.

The time slip to the right is the result of a lot of practice and a lot work on my car. This is my best run for 1997 and I am proud of the numbers that you see there (I am in the LEFT lane). Especially in light of the fact that that particular race was against a '95 Z28 6-speed with a lot of work (as seen by his ET). Compare our 60' times....I destroyed a 300+ HP RWD muscle car of the line! Also notice that I still beat him even though he ran .24 seconds faster than me!

In only 5 months time, I went from 16.3x's to 13.9x's. With a little more tweaking and practicing, I hope to run 13.8x's as the car is now. Later on, with the help of a real clutch, slicks, and back to the 75 HP jet, I hope to run 13.4x's-13.5x's.

Modifications: I have had the GReddy cat-back since my first day at the track. Most changes in my car came in the form of different intake setups and will be noted by each day. I have recently added the nitrous kit. Other than that, the car is completely stock, including the tires, the clutch, and the entire interior, plus the stereo system!

The car was weighed on Moroso's scale with full interior, 3/8 tank of gas, and the stereo system. It came to 2895 lbs. without me in it.

The track's weather equipment has been on the fritz forever so I have no real measurements. As a general rule, all runs have been made in 75°-90° weather and relative humidity is usually in the 65% and up range (South Florida).

This is a chart of my nightly averages. This means that it includes all of the runs....good or bad.

Personal Bests as of December, 1997:

Well, I haven't been back to the track much since the beginning of the year. My chronic clutch slippage has kept me from running any faster and I see no need to subject the car to racing knowing nothing is getting better. I did install a Broward Competition Clutch in March, however, it is barely drivable on the street (chatter), it's on/off at the track, and still slips when using NOS. We determined that although the clutch disc is one of the most agressive for the street/strip (full metallic both sides), the pressure plate is still too weak. Unfortunately, Broward does not yet make one any heavier, but plans are in the works for one similar to Clutchmaster's.

Being the reputable place that they are, they agreed to a 100% refund for the entire setup. I have since ordered an Adavanced Clutch Technologies (ACT) Stage 2 from Eddie (of course!). I have heard from many that ACT is comparable to Clutchmasters and is better than the Centerforce DF. I'll give my opinion on it as soon as I get it.

Check back soon for new time slips.....

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