Zauskycop

A Week in the Life of a One Lapper - Day 5
First, an apology. I know I am a day late posting this but I anticipate, that after reading this, you will understand. Little did we know what a roller coaster of a day Wednesday would bring us.
We started out our day about 25 miles north of Cressen.
Waking bright and early so we could get our track walk in at Motorsports Ranch Cressen. We had spent much of the evening before looking at video, but I assure you that video gives no justice to this little playpen of a track. Much like the Autobahn in Joliet, this is a "country club" course that can be two separate courses (1.3 and 1.7 mile) or combined into one course that would be 3.1 miles long. Brock had somehow gotten us the ability to run all three!
Jason suggested, and I agreed, that a single driver should drive all three configurations as each separate track would "build" into the longer course. So we walked the courses in the morning and were just awed by the compact nature, and elevation changes in the short 1.3 mile course. There would be no rest driving on this side! Moving over to the 1.7 course, we noted more of a traditional straight and sweeper type course, which was very different from the short course. This side would probably be more demanding physically from the G load going through all the fast sweepers.
The morning session was actually two sessions as we started on the short course, and immediately after finishing, drove over to the long course and ran that. Then we had a break for lunch and finished with an afternoon session on the combined course.
This was the first time on the track for almost everyone, so it was a pretty fair battle for times that would test the driver's ability to learn a course quickly and apply that knowledge. Strapping on the helmet, Tracy took to the short course.
I felt that the Z was handling pretty well here and once the tires heated up and brought up pressures, it was a really fun time driving around that track. One uphill, second gear turnaround I was actually spinning the tires almost all the way up the hill and couldn't stop smiling the whole time. Finishing up that track, hot and exhausted, I headed over to the long course after a quick stop for a tire pressure check.
This was the course where I thought our main competitors would have a leg up on us with all the straightaways. I tried to pedal the Z as fast as I could through the sweepers to make up for the deficit of acceleration to the Mustang and Corvette. This course also had a small VERY technical (think autocross) section called "rattlesnake". I enjoyed driving this side also and was now looking forward to the combined course. It was going to be exhausting driving that one!
By now the course being new to everyone brought out some VERY interesting lines, and all the blind apexes, hills, and speed brought on the breakages. We lost THREE cars from the event this day to various issues, and almost lost a few more.
The long course was a hoot! Raw speed and high G sweepers followed by that bullring on the short course, and transition back and forth. It really tested the drivers AND the cars, as many people complained about cars getting too hot, or just overheating. Even with the oil cooler, the Z was running at 240 degrees on the oil temp!
Well, long story short, we had a banner day! We won class all three sessions, and finished 16th on the short course, 17th on the long, and 16th on the combined! It also vaulted us into the lead in class as Jim Bob racing had quite a few issues on the course and dropped back to third in class behind Gas Monkey.
A quick pack, and side trip to Gas Monkey Grill (event sponsor), the actual Gas Monkey Garage (they were all gone on vacation, just the souvenier shop open), and then we headed to North Star Dragway...a 1/8 mile strip north of Dallas.
Since Tracy drove all of Cressen, Jason was going to get his initiation into drag racing! We talked at length about starts (He had been practicing all week!) and Low ET, and how bracket racing works. We were both VERY worried about his event because, simply put...we were missing two cylinders from all those big V8's. Our goal was to NOT finish last in the low ET, and get a few rounds into the bracket racing. How things changed...
Jason ripped out a darn nice 9.29 in the 1/8 mile which was good enough for 4th place of 8 in class...and actually beat the Gas Monkey 700 hp Mustang! That car basically had a diff hopping, wheel spinning, 1/8 mile burnout. Not pretty, but it enabled us to gain points. Next were the brackets. Jason went up, staged, blinked and opened his eyes to a green light already on. Those who drag race know that this is NOT the fast way, and it spelled an early retirement to us on the brackets.
Jason was a bit upset at himself but having done the same thing myself, I consoled him and let him sit and relax a bit as we loaded up and headed to Stillwater.
There are many stories out there of people detouring, stopping, driving through and around that weather that hit Oklahoma City that night. I won't go into all the details but you can read about it on the Team Blenderblaster Facebook page. I will summarize it by we decided on an early detour east, and JUST ran around the front side of the weather as we went through Shawnee, which 10 minutes later got hit by a tornado. We made it through with some rain and a great lightning show, and arrived in Stillwater and welcomed the rest of the drivers, as they arrived behind us, with a cold beer. Not one person turned that one down!
Once again sorry to be late on this update, and I am posting this and heading right into Day 6! We came out of this day with a 50 point lead in class, and in 16th place in the overall standings. All that is left is 2 sessions at Hallett, 2 sessions at NCM in Bowling Green, and then the dry (hopefully) skid pad challenge at the Tirerack on Saturday. Don't forget to visit our page for updates through the day, and summaries (mostly) daily!