New shoes for the Beast

Good luck, Blaine. For reference, the all-time low ET for a Pantera is around 10.2 sec, set back in the '90s. And that car was an all-steel, CA- licensed '71 with nitrous and a modded Cleveland. Some of the plastic-panteras or big-block conversions might have been a touch lower.

Thanks Jack. That gives me a goal to shoot for. Any idea what the trap speeds were?

Good Luck Blaine!! Keep us posted.

Will do. I did some tuning tonight and the beast has never ran better. Made a new top HP of 811 HP. It should be a great weekend.

Well, first day done and the tires and the car worked great. Unfortunately the driver sucked. I missed my shift to third and did not make it into gear. This was my first and only time trial of the day as we got there late because the other car we brought had some issues. I had a horrible light which put the other guy ahead of me by about .4 right off the bat. I was realing him in as well until I missed my shift. I literally could not get it into gear. After coasting through the lights I did a 13.3 at 69 MPH. Sixty foot time was a 1.78. The other lane ran an 11 even. We will likely get one more time trial tomorrow morning then on to eliminations.

So what happened?

We're all sitting here waiting for some hot times!

And I wish I could give them to you. It turns out that I am completely incapable of shifting gears. My best 60 foot time was a 1.556 which was awesome but the ZF did not want to go into any gear. I dont know if it just doesnt like shifting at 7000 RPM or if it was driver error. Suffice it to say that my previous comments about mechanical sympathy went right out the window. I guess once the adrenaline gets pumping things change as I was launching at 4000 RPM. Anyhow, I will be doing much adjustment and cleanup to my linkage to see if I can get it feeling a bit better. I got eliminated in the first round but next year we will be a bit better prepared. You can check out my pathetic shifts at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3UZYmlO6oQ . The rapid increases in RPM in the top gears is my clutch slipping. I also managed to clip my brake pedal with my foot a couple of times on this run. Here is another of my launch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOgs_W8EO9g . Enjoy.

Too bad. I'm sure you'll get it done for the next one. I guess we'll have to wait for that sweet 10 second run.

Love the announcer!!!

Yeah he was pretty funny. I dont think he pronounced my name or the car right all weekend even though he changed it every time.

Your car sounds awesome Blaine! Loved the in-car video. Felt like I was right there; got my adrenalin going! Good luck with your shifter issues.

I can't wait to see what kind of time you can run. I am also glad to see the beating the trans-axle took. I babied mine. I didn't even push the gas until the clutch began disengaging.

Your daddy was from Alabama body shop... Blane with 800 plus... jeezz just start in third, and boost it. I donna know, maybe shift at a lower rpm.... I was tought,.. "If your gonna mis time the shift... shift early... Jam it at 5250... thanks for the video! Bill 1362

I had every intention of short shifting on my last run but once adrenaline gets going its tough to stay focused. We are going back again this year as well. This time we will bring the Meteor with the new 5.0. Not sure how im gonna manage two cars. Janis will have to drive the big red one.