Down by the school house,...
Down by the school house, early in the morning, see the little dragsters, all in a row ... four of Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School diggers lined up early on a July morning for the Mr. Gasket Media Challenge, wherein 12 journalists raced for fun and glory. I liked the No. 4 dragster, far left.
The best man won. National Dragster editor Todd Veney had his game plan and it worked. Eleven others, me included, didn't.
Veney, a writer and senior editor on NHRA's Dragster staff, emerged as the winner in the first Mr. Gasket Media Challenge, a one-day race for 12 media types, me included, at the Fairplex quarter-mile in Pomona, California, home of Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, held on July 15.
Veney's plan was so simple it should have been obvious. He deep-staged. The rest of us didn't, and that made all the difference.
The score sheet told the tale: of the 12 racers, only Veney had reaction times solidly in the fours. My .488 was the best of the 11 and the only other winning Tree in the fours, while Veney, son of Top Fuel Dragster tuner and racer Ken Veney, hit a .492, a .470 (against me), a .419 and a .422 during competition.
The Mr. Gasket Media Challenge format was seemingly simple. The 12 of us, representing the media that most covered drag racing, would share four of Hawley's school dragsters in a three-hour shootout. But how do you get 12 racers to share four dragsters? That's where the race got complicated.
It's time to go. I talk things...
It's time to go. I talk things over with Hawley's crewman, Dave Castanon, just before a run.
Not only would we be going off a shaded, Pro-start Christmas Tree, we'd get to choose our particular car based on the luck of the draw; in this case, numbers out of a hat. A-1 obviously got his choice of race car, while A-4 had to settle for one that he was maybe unfamiliar with. B-1 got a good choice, B-4 didn't. The same went for C-1 and C-4. Pairings were based on reaction times garnered in the day's two time trials. And we'd be dialing 'em in.
Okay, fine. So what about me in the No. 4 dragster, who weighs 175 pounds, and what about Popular Hot Rodding's Randy Fish, who weighs 145 sopping wet? What about Drag Racer's Steve Cochran, who weighs more than 250? That's got to affect ET, right? That's where wife Fran and B&M Racing and Performance Products' John Spar, who happened to drop by just to watch (so did fuel Funny Car great John Force, and the lovely Linda Vaughn, among others), came in. For all of the time trials and all of eliminations, Fran and Spar kept copious notes on who ran what and what react they hit in what car. They watched each run, from burnout to launch to the thread all the way through the course, and recorded it all. Come race time at 1 p.m., I figured I was set. So did others who looked over their shoulders.
Todd Veney (middle) gets the...
Todd Veney (middle) gets the congrats from Michael Simpson of Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School and Professor Frank Hawley. On the right are Linda Vaughn and Mr. Gasket's Mike Roth.
Unknown to us, although Drag Racing Monthly's Steve Collison had talked about the deep-staging equation all summer, Veney had his plan. Since Hawley's 8-second, 160-mph dragsters weren't set up with a Pro Tree brake or a "big" high-side chip, the very best you could expect in the reaction time department was a .5-oh, a .490, or .480 if you tried real hard. They were school cars, not Super Compers. They weren't that quick off the line.
So Veney, who got runner-up at an IHRA alcohol Funny Car race at Bristol a couple of years ago-in his own car, yet-figured out that the only way he could win was to knock the top staging bulb out. It worked.
First round, he took care of Collison, .492 to .510. He dialed an 8.46 and ran 8.571 at 157.56 mph to Steve's losing 8.534 at 158.81 off an 8.56. I beat Car & Driver's Steve Smith with a .502 and an 8.605 at 150.93 mph to his .519 and 8.630 at 157.28 off an 8.53 dial. That was in the No. 4 school car, to me, the best of the lot. I stayed in that car all day-so did Veney, except in one round.
Round two, he got me. The "deep" factor did it. "Hey, Dale, I'm going in deep, so don't be alarmed," Veney said. The numbers tell the story. Veney: .470 reaction time and an 8.523 at 157.61 mph off an 8.57. Mine: .488 and an 8.540 at 158.06 mph off an 8.60. Todd crossed .005 in front of me and took the light by .013. I didn't lift.