Bad Penny runs the standing mile and other Sandhills frivolity..

[Steve1968LS2]

Great event again, so thanks to Optima for the chance to go again! (long ass drive though!)

24 hours to drive the 1350 miles there.. 72 hours in town and then 24 hours to drive home..

So, last year we ran the standing half mile and turned in 149mph.. the mail problem was that I had to shift to fifth right before the lights.. I'm sure they cost me a couple of mph.

This year I was tech'd in for the full standing mile. The first pass I missed a shift and ran a 168.2 mph.. car felt great.

Got my act together and ran a 170.9 on my next pass.. on the last pass I took off the sideview mirrors and ran 172.4 mph.

Now, this was only a few mph slower than a tweeked ZL1 Vette running.. and faster than many other cars, give the aerobrick I was in I was pretty damn happy. Car got a bit floaty around 155 but then settled down and felt good at 170.

My main problem now is that I'm out of gear.. I'm in 5th gear and the car is hitting fuel cutoff right at (and on the last run before) the mile.. so, even if I had more power I wouldn't be any faster. I need to move down to 3.50 gears (have 3.90s now) if I want to go faster.

In any event, I was very happy with the result.

Here's a video of the 170 mph run.. notice how much the side glass is sucked out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFlGR8lVhBI

Oh, and they had a burn out contest.. none the racers do it since it's sorta hard on tires, but I had an extra set of worn R888s so I thought "what the hell".. the crowd liked seeing a nice car do it for once. Made two passes, on the second one I started in third and wound it to 6000 rpm.



Video of burnout taken by Jim at Optima Batteries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC8lAFaqTZc



Now to convert her to a drag car for my trip to Pomona raceway next weekend.

[Gordz32]

Pretty sweet, nice job Steve!

[DFRESH]

Awesome event---I will hope to tow out with you next year if you are going. Looks like a blast!

D

[gearheads78]

Sweet. I am getting the itch to go see one of these events. My friend Keith went 195 in his 69 Camaro at the Texas Mile. Its got me really wanting to see it in person.

[89 RS]

Great to hear Steve, I'd say you had some serious seat time with all that driving. Way to represent.

[Vegas69]

That's flying Steve.