Wild Cherry Racing : Test And Tune

This post's for David White

admin@wildcherryracing.com — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:12:48 GMT

This last Saturday I stopped in at Buccee�s down the street for a cold beer. I noticed a caravan of pick-ups and race cars on trailers in the parking lot, as one of them was gassing up. I recognized them as I got closer and went over to say hello. Then the chastising began�.�WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, MAN??!!?? What�d you do, quit racing?? You don�t even post anymore on your website!!��.. I didn�t have a leg to stand on. So David, this post�s for you.

Catching up��.
March 10th � Our niece Bonnie became Mrs. Marcus Keesler. They had a nice wedding at Varner-Hogg plantation and a reception in Freeport, and partied in Las Vegas for their honeymoon.

March 23rd � finally put the N20 into our lil� pony at HMP. The first pass was a 6.40 w/1.41 60� time, but the car popped and crackled all the way down the track. I adjusted the fuel pressure up, and as I was checking the plugs, I pulled the clip off the end of the %#@(*&!!! #8 plug wire. Repairing the wire took some time & by the time I got it fixed it was around 9PM. I wasn�t aware that 9PM is when the rice burners come out of the wood work, so I got in line to make a 2nd pass. The rice burners drug burn-out water up on the launch pad, which made it slicker than a flounder�s belly. As I launched the car, I broke the tires loose with a 100HP initial nitrous shot. I peddled the car out of the gate, and ran a 6.52. Knowing that things weren�t going to improve that night, we loaded up and headed for home.

March 25th � Veronica & I added a new toy to our toy box. We purchased a 19� ProMaster center console fishing boat! We�ve been having a lot of fun with it�.And yes, I�ll admit it, my racing hobby is diluted to some extent.

April 27th � We made a trip to HRP to do some practicing for the upcoming Fun Ford Weekend. Again we got busted by all the rice burners about dark. It was however, both Beth & Carrisa�s first drag race to attend, and they both seemed to enjoy it!

April 30th � Naphtha fire at work�. Burned up a process area that had significant impact on Dow Chemical��. Lots and lots of recovery work, lots & lots of overtime that kept us out of Fun Ford Weekend.

May 19th � We had a crawfish boil at our house for my birthday. We cooked up somewhere around 320 lbs of �Mud Bugs� and hardly any were left. We had a great time with family and friends. Thanx to Dwight Cahanin for cooking!

Well, that�s about it. Joey finished his training and is now in Tendall AFB in Florida for about a month.

He & Loni will be coming to visit on the 21st and stay a few days, whereupon they�ll go back home, pack up, & and move to Seymour Johnson AFB, Goldsboro, NC where he�s been permanently assigned. We�ve been doing a little fishing now & then, but after talking to David White & Chris Hurta, we plan on participating in the S&S Index race, held on every 2nd Saturday of the month (hopefully beginning 7/14).

Happy Gas

admin@wildcherryracing.com — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:11:36 GMT

We�ve been foolin� w/the nitrous system a little lately, and are on the verge of debuting the �happy gas pass�.
It isn�t because we haven�t tried in the recent past, but we�ve been plagued with electronic problems�.WOT switches out of adjustment, burnt up RPM window switches, & defective fuel pressure safety switches to name a few. These are all necessary evils in a nitrous system ( at least to me), and when one�s not happy, ain�t nobody happy.
Hence, you pucker yer butt up to get slammed in the seat and instead make a leisurely motor pass down the track.

I�ve been doing a little �homework� lately, and have come to understand that a lil� shot isn�t necessarily nicer to the engine than a big shot. The lil� shot tends to have unequal fuel/nitrous distribution to each cylinder, and the fuel pressure is sometimes difficult to manage. However, a bigger shot can burn up pistons and create a �highly technicolor hood removing experience�, if not tuned right��not to mention blowing the back tires off at the hit.

Sooooo, the man in the brown truck dropped off a lil� package yesterday�..a NOS Mini Progressive 2 Stage Controller. This little jewel allows you to program a portion of a big hit to come in on the launch (or delay to some time after), and then bring in a portion or all of the remainder over a programmed ramp time. It also has a second separate channel for a 2nd nitrous kit (future) w/the same features. I already have a similar controller, but it won�t control due to the high amp load requirements of the Cold Fusion Nitrous solenoids. The only problem I see w/the new one is the fact that it has a remote hand held programming module about the size of a match box, so I�ll wind up losing it in about a week. Nevertheless, I�ve pilled our lil� pony up to a 250 HP shot, and it�s time to do some tweekin�. Now all we�ve got to do is find an open day to do this��looking at our calendar, I�m looking at March 23rd. I'd better write it in there quick.......

"Mini" Catch-up Post

admin@wildcherryracing.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 01:10:33 GMT

It's only been a couple of weeks since we posted last, but a lot seems to have happened in a short period of time. On February 24th, our grand daughter celebrated her 1st birthday! It seems like only a week or two that she was a newborn! She's now walking, and mom & dad seem to have thier hands full keeping her out of stuff. We attended her birthday party where she recieved all sorts of goodies. She blew out her candle and when dad gave her a bite of cake, she gave us a subtle hint that cream cheese icing wasn't at the top of her list.....

This last weekend, she went to her first rodeo. I "leveraged" (that's what we say at work instead of "stole") a pic from T&J's website, but you should go visit that site (Travisandjonda.com/blog) for more pics & videos of Carissa.

While Carissa & crew were at the rodeo, Veronica & I & our friends Jim Johnston & Laurie Montgomery went to a different kind of rodeo... we went to the anual ADRL "Dragapalooza" at HMP, where we watched Pro-Mods, Pro-Extreme, & Pro-Nitrous class cars zip down the track. We got to see the track record set with a 3.85 second pass at just under 200mph! This is in a 1/8 mile (660'), folks! We spent a lot of time on our feet and on Sunday, my body was telling me that I'm too old to play that hard, as my back was killing me. It still hurt this morning, so a day of work was missed and a heat pad & couch was utilized for the majority of the day.
The last pic is what Jed & Granny Clampet drug down the road to Houston a couple of weeks ago.....I NEED a box trailer, Veronica!

"Snowed Out"

admin@wildcherryracing.com — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:55:26 GMT

�Went to the track this weekend. We were set up to race in the �Clobberthon 34�, but our nitrous electronics had other ideas. We loaded everything up (golf cart in the bed of the truck and the �Stang on the trailer) and we looked like the Clampets en route to Beverly Hills. Once there at Houston Motorsports Park, we tech�ed in, added a little fuel, & set out to make a pass. Veronica & I thought we had all of the bugs worked out of the NOS, as we ensured continuity with the WOT switch, and all was a �go�. Under the advise of Mike Hurta, I increased the shot of spray from a 150 shot to a 200 HP shot, so I don�t mind telling you that I had some minor anxieties prior to the run, especially being back in the car for the 1st time since late July of '06. I was unsure how the car was going to react to the extra power. The lites came down, I released the trans-brake, and the car & I went straight down the track. The pass felt like good one, but the time slip on the other end revealed just another motor pass (less nitrous boost)�� back to the nitrous drawing board. I attempted to TS the problem, but had neglected to bring along my wiring diagrams and I was a little short handed on trouble shooting resources�..long story short, the car went back on the trailer, we became spectators in lieu of participants, & the #5 Street King (6.20 index) was safe again from the wrath of WCR. It�s probably just as well, as we found out later that after we had left, a fight broke out between some disgruntled racers. I awoke at 3AM, trying to mentally trouble shoot the car there in the dark in bed. Sunday AM I unloaded the car off the trailer, jumpered some safeties, yanked the defective RPM switch out of the loop, and had all 4 solenoids clickin� up a storm! We�ll test again real soon, but based on the calendar, I�m unsure when. This Saturday is Carrisa�s 1st birthday and Veronica has declared this weekend a �YARD WEEKEND��.at least for me.

As I write this post, Veronica & I have just returned from the funeral of Buster Rice. Buster , the father of my close friends Donnie & Dennis Rice, went to see the Lord last Friday morning. Buster was a good man, who put himself second to the needs of others and always put a smile on your face. Buster was one of a kind�.no, I�ll take that back � there were 2 of them. My dad was one of those rare people, too.

Last Thursday morning it snowed at my office building at Stratton Ridge��That�s right, two different 15 minute �flurries� about twenty minutes apart. We almost �snowed out�, just so we could say we did.

Catching up .....again

admin@wildcherryracing.com — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:14:34 GMT

It�s been forever & a day since we�ve posted, so we�ve got some considerable �catching up� to do�..so much that I�m not really sure where to even start! Our last post was some time in October, and lots of water has passed under the bridge since then. So much that, I may be inaccurate in posting dates and times�. But here goes nothing: The last time we had the car on the track was some time in July, partially because I didn�t want to deal with the heat, but mostly because of other irons in the fire. These �irons� ranged from flower bed projects to significant events like graduating from boot camp of the United States Air Force. Add in a few rained out race weekends, deer season, Silver Anniversaries, our grand daughter�s first Christmas, and a major career change, and you�ve got one mighty dusty Mustang just sitting there in �Pop�s Garage�. I�m gonna make a feeble attempt to chronologically catch up, so this will be a fairly lengthy post. Sooooo, go get a cold one and some kind of snack, kick your shoes off, and enjoy the ride.

��. In October, Veronica & I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. The kids (ALL THREE!) came down & threw us quite the back-yard Hawaiian luau. We had a yard full of friends & family, and afterwards, they chased us off to a rented beach house to spend the nite while they cleaned up the aftermath of the party. They joined us the next day as they had rented the beach house for the whole week, and we had a great family vacation. It had been a long time since we had all three of our kids and their spouses together at the same time, and it was a hoot! We played dominoes, caught fish, drank beer, and cooked and ate like pigs.

Moving on, our actual anniversary wasn�t until October 22nd, but we had partied and �anniversaried� so much prior to then, that it was almost just another day. So much so, that Veronica enjoyed her Sunday afternoon on the couch w/a good book, while I went out to my deer stand to do a little pre-season scouting. I�d done this a couple of times already, and had some film of some pretty good deer, but I was still looking for a big buck that I�d seen the previous year. That evening, just before dark, I saw him��...

I made up my mind that this was the deer I wanted to take and would let every thing else walk. That was the last time I saw him. I mistakenly shot his little brother one evening, thinking it was him. I kept telling myself, �That�s not him. His brow times aren�t the same.� But Mr. Miller whispered in my ear, �That�s him! That�s him! Shoot! SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!� BANG!!...........whoops��Oh well, he�ll be even better next year. This is his lil� bro:

About the time I started the hunt for �Ol Snort�, Veronica had a major milestone in her life��She has had a career in sales for the last twenty years��.in particular, instrumentation sales. Through the years, she has developed skill sets that enable her to make intelligent decisions based on operating parameters, materials of construction, most effective technology, etc. ( yes I know all the buzz words - I work for Dow) of industrial instrumentation items. In July she asked for help after working an extended period of long hour weeks, and was turned down pretty abruptly. So abrupt, that she was told to be more productive with her time. This pissed her off (and unbelievably, me too), to the point that we both discussed her seeking other employment. Sometime in November, she resigned and accepted a position with S&B engineering as an �Instrument Spec Writer�. This job has her scoping out instrument items for quotes on projects. This folks, puts her on the opposite side of the fence from where she�s been for the last 2 decades. It was a little scary at first, but she�s doing well and quite happy with her new job. It was a bold move and I�m very proud or her. She likes her job so much that she�s trying to talk me into retiring and dusting off my piping design skills, and going to work for S&B!.....that�s another story that I�ll save for another post.

Later in early December, we traveled to Dallas, where we celebrated an early Christmas/birthday with Joey & Loni before he headed off to boot camp. Joey had resigned at Penske, and we took his large tool box back to Angletown with us for storage. Joey followed us home and he had one last visit with family and friends, before heading off to boot camp on 12/19. We tried to deer hunt but got rained out, but we did get a round of golf in. Folks, I can do some things well, some things kind of mediocre well, & some things I just plain suck at doing��. I suck at golf. There, I said it.

Santa Claus came to WCR headquarters with a bag full of goodies for our grand daughter Carissa�s first Christmas. At only 10 months of age at the time, it didn�t take long to figure out what to do with all that pretty wrapping paper. We had a blast watching her open her presents�
she was precious(and folks, I don't use that word very often)!
Christmas time also opened a new door for Travis, as he too accepted a new job with an Energy Trading Company in Sugarland. On new years weekend, we all traveled to East Texas to have Christmas with Veronica�s folks, where Pops taught Carissa to boogie dance & make funny noises with her tongue. We also found out that she�s not fond of fireworks. Not only did she not want to be around them, she didn�t want Dad around them either.

In the month of January, we went to the Boat Show with Travis and Jonda, and they also went with us on our annual goose hunting weekend in El Campo with Paul & Sonja Blinka. I�ll say this: They are PROUD of those boats! We came across a booth at the boat show that sells novelty "street signs", & Veronica found one that says "POP'S GARAGE". As this is what I've been deemed to be called by my grand kid(s), I proudly display it over the shop door.

Up to date: We returned from San Antonio yesterday, after spending the weekend watching Joey graduate from boot camp. Through the whole adventure, we received letters from the time he started thru the end, with the first one stating that it seemed impossible, and each letter progressively making it sound easier as time went by. He left this morning to go to Sheppard AFB (Wichita Falls, TX.) where he will be in tech school, training to crew chief F-15 fighter jets. I believe this will be a 19 week deal, and then he goes to Florida for more training. As we were with Travis, we�re proud of our Airman!

Coming soon, is Carissa�s first birthday! She�s already walking and terrorizing the house! We were supposed to do the Super-Bowl with them, but Gramma Ronnie developed a serious cold and was scared to get around her. She sure wanted to see her too!

OK��the carpal tunnel�s kicking in �..but I�ve caught us up (I hope). In the future, I hope to put out shorter and more frequent posts. Seeya at the track!