We ran heads up as someone posted, eight quickest in the field, and made it to the semi finals knocking off one Shelby. Kind of hard to compete with 10 second cars. The championship we won was in 4 cyl slick class with those running 12.50 or quicker and brought the championship back to New England as I promised.
The Shelby's never showed for bracket as I would have loved kicking there asses on a level playing field. They stole the big prize money in heads up when the playing field wasen't level and ran. We had fun and it’s all good though.
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2005 Import Wars Slick Class Champ New England Dragway 2006 SRT Nationals Champ Heartland Park Topeka Kansas 2006 Class Winner Englishtown New Jersery 2006 Top Eliminator Englishtown New Jersery
2003 Flame-Red SRT-4 BEST TIME:11.51 Best MPH: 122 Best 60': 1.673 MODS: Darrell Cox Racing Built.
I find it amusing that people with cars that came from the factory with way more horsepower, have the ability to run up and touch 500 whp on a stock bottom end, are fuel injected, have better suspensions, and a fancy wing on the trunk are upset, rather than embarrassed by getting beat by a car from the 80s with technology to match....
four cylinders, and equal opportunity for tires... Some people just worked harder at going fast.
Maybe more pressure should be put on the fast SRT-4 folk to be there, but I enjoyed seeing 'regular people' making it to the final rounds...
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Street Ricers Unite! We've been persecuted too long.
Yeah where were all the "big boy" street SRTs at that talked about coming this year? Hopefully they will either get of their asses or get their car ready in time for next year because I'm ready to see a 10 second STREET SRT4 in person run down a track....
I find it amusing that people with cars that came from the factory with way more horsepower, have the ability to run up and touch 500 whp on a stock bottom end, are fuel injected, have better suspensions, and a fancy wing on the trunk are upset, rather than embarrassed by getting beat by a car from the 80s with technology to match....
four cylinders, and equal opportunity for tires... Some people just worked harder at going fast.
Maybe more pressure should be put on the fast SRT-4 folk to be there, but I enjoyed seeing 'regular people' making it to the final rounds...
Come on Dale, embarrassed not! If I recall, the fastest SRT in the country runs a 10.99. Sure, some of these guy's are putting down 500whp and more, but you got to put it to the ground and that is the lacking force right now with the SRT's. As far as better suspensions, well I can't compare it to the Shelby's because I don't know much about what they run, but the SRT4 suspension is nothing to write home about.
As far as being upset, not at all, as we had a lot of fun and totally enjoyed ourselves. On a level playing field, I know I could have kicked all of their asses. That's why we have bracket racing in the world of drag racing.
I've just been around to long and and try to keep the field level for the younger guy's so they have a chance too.
On a level playing field, I know I could have kicked all of their asses. That's why we have bracket racing in the world of drag racing.
I dunno. Angelo Taylor (old-school turbo Dodge guy who won the 12.5 and up class in his Omni, "Matchbox") is extremely tough to beat. He won the Car & Driver 50th Anniversary bracket drags last year: http://www.caranddriver.com/features...-us-page2.html (bottom of the page). That was worth some serious money, $5K I think.
Edit...I mention him, because he has an 11-second turbo Omni, in addition to "Matchbox," which is NA and carb'ed.
Yeah where were all the "big boy" street SRTs at that talked about coming this year? Hopefully they will either get of their asses or get their car ready in time for next year because I'm ready to see a 10 second STREET SRT4 in person run down a track....
Lon's (Dasmopar) car is in the 10's and drives it on the street. He was going to go this year but a issue with the car came up.
actually the shelby's wanted to bracket race too, but becuase of a track snafu or something when Rob and Warren (two fastest cars at the event) went to bracket race, they weren't allowed. (lucky too because Both Warren and Rob each ran several consectitive 10.73-10.77 on Thursday) I don't know the whole story, but I did talk to Rob and he wasn't happy about it. Frankly the drag racing section of the event was poorly organized. Thank god we didn't get he 200 cars that were planned. If we had, it would have been a real cluster-f.
It would also been nice to have all the speakers working at the track. No one in the stands could hear, nor could a lot of people in the pits. Kind of hard to know when you are suppose to run, if you can't hear instructions. I'm also suprised that so few SRT owners came by to talk with the Shelby guys. Those guys have the same issues, IE traction, boost, hp etc... and they are a wealth of information and many of them also own an SRT vehicle. Instead of bad mouthing, you should embrace them. Afterall, if it wasnt for the early shelby's, there may not have ever been an srt-4. These guys have been carrying the torch againest the imports for years with no respect, no factory support, and barely any aftermarket support yet they get faster every year. Also if you looked at these cars, many were VERY NICELY done in terms of workmanship, fabrication and resourcefulness. I own both an SRT-4 (my husband placed 2nd in the 12.50 slower bracket, losing to a Omni by .0014 sec. drining the SRT-4 but being an SDAC member), many shelby dodges, and we sell, and install parts for both kind of cars. You will find that we aren't so different afterall, and if some of you made time to talk to them, you would like each one you met. None of the guys racing were pretentious, egotistical or rude. They were a class bunch of guys and they would have been happy to help anyone out if just asked.
later,
Cindy
Yeah where were all the "big boy" street SRTs at that talked about coming this year? Hopefully they will either get of their asses or get their car ready in time for next year because I'm ready to see a 10 second STREET SRT4 in person run down a track....
Lon's (Dasmopar) car is in the 10's and drives it on the street. He was going to go this year but a issue with the car came up.
He's also on the NOS to make it to the 10's. That strictly boost 10.74 is very impressive.
And I agree, I wish some of the big boys were there to. As it was, my car with a 11.61 pass, and consistant 11.7's was the fastest SRT there. If you would have told me that before the event, I would have never believed it!!!
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Part of the Former SRT-4 Owners club. RIP evil red car.
Any "snafus" When it comes to speakers and the dragstrip should be brought to the attention of Bernie Schmidtlein.We had problems with the P.A. at the NHRA Nationals in May.We pissed NHRA off because we asked for him (local guy)and did not allow them to"fix" the problem.All it was a breaker that needed to be turned on.No one from NHRA knew where the breaker was.If I hadnt had to play "family" I wold have been out there.-Don
The Shelby's never showed for bracket as I would have loved kicking there asses on a level playing field. They stole the big prize money in heads up when the playing field wasen't level and ran. We had fun and it’s all good though.
Hmmm. Not a level playing field?..... Wasn't everybody running on the same 1320ft track?
Now where is that crybaby avatar.... somewhere...... ahh here it is.
I know it sucks getting beaten by your guests at your own event, but come on. Thats like the Frenchies saying "I know an American won the Tour De France again, but you should have given us a head start!"
Take a lesson from the French and learn to accept defeat.
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2004 Neon SRT-4
Mods: #2 Extra Power Combo with Fries (S2 w/toys)
1986 Plymouth Horizon "GLMF"
Mods: Super-50 trim, Spearco, Menegon head.
NEW Best ET: 11.51
NEW MPH: 117mph
Last edited by contraption22 : 07-26-2006 at 10:45 PM.
The Shelby's never showed for bracket as I would have loved kicking there asses on a level playing field. They stole the big prize money in heads up when the playing field wasen't level and ran. We had fun and it’s all good though.
Hmmm. Not a level playing field?..... Wasn't everybody running on the same 1320ft track?
Now where is that crybaby avatar.... somewhere...... ahh here it is.
I know it sucks getting beaten by your guests at your own event, but come on. Thats like the Frenchies saying "I know an American won the Tour De France again, but you should have given us a head start!"
Take a lesson from the French and learn to accept defeat.
I'm a big boy and I'm here . . . not in hiding or crying! I've been around drag racing and NASCAR for over 47 years and know quite well about level playing fields and it wasn’t level. Now would you consider you and John Force a fair heads up race?
I'm now in it for the younger guy's and want to make the playing field level. That's why there is such a thing in drag racing called Bracket Racing. It matches not only car against car, but the skill of the driver.
Hmmmm skill, maybe that’s something that was lacking on the other end, therefore the no show.
I don’t know where you’re from, but the NOPI Nationals are coming to New England Dragway in New Hampshire on the weekend of August 5th and I would welcome a challenge from you in the 14.99 and faster RB20 Bracket Class.
Just maybe you'll invite us as guests at your event.
What were your reaction times for the weekend, and how far was your ET spread? I would say that consistency is not one of our cars strong points. If you run against the real bracket racers at LVD on Sundays or NED you better be cutting 0.0-0.05 lights and running within 2-3 hundreths of your dial each run or it will be a very short day. The people who race at NOPI and Import Wars are for the most part novices. I wouldn't be talking to much #@$%^ until you test yourself against some real competition. People who cut 1 second lights and run 1/2 second off their dial are not competition.
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Last edited by TURBO FREAK : 07-27-2006 at 07:15 AM.
[ Now would you consider you and John Force a fair heads up race?[/font]
Yes, assuming his car was built to the class specs. He'd have to have a 4 cylinder engine and the proper tires to run in your class, but if he did that, it would be a fair race. John Force may be one of my role models, but he's just a man, and he can be beaten. Just because he's better at the game than I am does not mean it's not fair, it just means that I'm untalented and have not worked hard enough to make up for it.
Not everyone can be the winner, and usually the winner is the person who worked the hardest. That was "Quick-8" racing, expanded to "Quick-16" at the last minute to give more people more opportunity to race on Friday.
This year, the SDAC folks worked the hardest, actually, they've been working hard for a long time. They deserve the wins, they got down the 1320 fastest without redlighting. They should not be put into a 'different class' just because they are currently fastest. If you don't race the fast people, you'll never have the proper motivation to improve.
I have a box of unclaimed trophies. People who really need a $10 trophy to validate their effort only need to send me an email with their address and I'll send one out to you. That is an attempt, however weak, at humor...
Also, for the record, it was requested many months ago by the SDAC that they would not have to race against the SRT-4's. Not because they were concerned about losing to them (meaning they don't mind losing races to a faster car if it shows up), but because they wanted to run in the 10 Cylinder classes where the competition should be laying down times that they would have trouble matching without putting forth some effort. The SDAC did not choose to ruin the day for the SRT-4's, they just came to race.
Technically, Stephane and Darrel could have raced in 4 Cyl Slick if they wanted to....
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So Where Were The Shelby's At Bracket Racing
They stole the big prize money in heads up when the playing field wasen't level and ran. We had fun and it’s all good though.
Street Ricers Unite! We've been persecuted too long.
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