Norwalk 2014 Sponsor Report
NHRA Wally for Dallas
August 28, 2014
Dave Schultz
Still on a high of again racing my wagon and winning a NHRA Wally last month in Joliet, Tuesday we loaded the rig and left on the two day (and 1300 mile) trip to Norwalk, Ohio. We arrived at the track late Wednesday night. Thursday we were parked, set up our pit, established credentials, and teched our cars in.
Because there were so many cars for the event, we had a maximum of two Time Trials — if we could get them in by 11:30 Friday morning — which we did. Rain was expected for the entire weekend, and the adjusted altitude was high — so all of the 24 cars in NSS index were running slower. Many had to change their indexes to one slower.
In the 1st of 4 rounds of Qualifying — I ran a .004 off my Index — but Skippy bumped me from Top Qualifier to 2nd with his .001 by the 4th round. Dallas was having an issue getting an handle on his car until the 4th round — but did still wind up on the Top half of the Qualifying Roster.
Barry Dorn is 50 points ahead of me for the Championship — but qualified on the bottom half, so his lead has been narrowed.
Eliminations started early Saturday morning – and I screwed up in the first round with a .004 Red light. Fortunately (for my chance for the Championship Ring) Barry Dorn also lost in his first round.
Just as fortunately, Dallas was able to win his 1st round against Fred Rader .
Dallas met Doug Wright (who had just defeated Barry Dorn) in the 2nd round and won. In the 3rd round, Dallas won over Joe Midile, who I’d red lit against in the 1st and had a broke bye in the 2nd.
Dallas earned a bye in the Semis from Midile, who had won it from my 2nd place Qualifying. He ran a 9.746 on his 9.75 index in the bye. In the Finals Dallas was paired with Newmeyer. If you know these racers that he ran — you’ll know all are very good racers. Newmeyer had an excellent (.00 something) light and Dallas realized his light (turned out to be a .070) was not so good — so he decided he needed to push Newmeyer out if he was to have any chance to win. Newmeyer did take the stripe, which had him break out by .001 – handing Dallas win his first ever NHRA Wally.
While I was disappointed with my .004 red — seeing Dallas get his first Wally more than made up for it.
I think technically I’m now in first place — by virtue of the small points on my 2nd place Qualifying. We will have to throw out our worse race at the end of the season, and mine is going to be 75 points higher than Dorn’s — so I’ll need to go one round more than him at Indy to get the 2014 Championship. Dallas and I would like to thank Fuelabs, Royal Purple, TTI Exhaust, and Mancini Racing for their product sponsorship. Running two cars with the average race 1200 miles away is very expensive. We don’t do this for the money. If we won and runnered up every race on the schedule — we’d still lose money — so we very much appreciate the help while we’re living the dream of father and son racing together while we have the chance.
NHRA Wally for Dallas
August 28, 2014
Dave Schultz
Still on a high of again racing my wagon and winning a NHRA Wally last month in Joliet, Tuesday we loaded the rig and left on the two day (and 1300 mile) trip to Norwalk, Ohio. We arrived at the track late Wednesday night. Thursday we were parked, set up our pit, established credentials, and teched our cars in.
Because there were so many cars for the event, we had a maximum of two Time Trials — if we could get them in by 11:30 Friday morning — which we did. Rain was expected for the entire weekend, and the adjusted altitude was high — so all of the 24 cars in NSS index were running slower. Many had to change their indexes to one slower.
In the 1st of 4 rounds of Qualifying — I ran a .004 off my Index — but Skippy bumped me from Top Qualifier to 2nd with his .001 by the 4th round. Dallas was having an issue getting an handle on his car until the 4th round — but did still wind up on the Top half of the Qualifying Roster.
Barry Dorn is 50 points ahead of me for the Championship — but qualified on the bottom half, so his lead has been narrowed.
Eliminations started early Saturday morning – and I screwed up in the first round with a .004 Red light. Fortunately (for my chance for the Championship Ring) Barry Dorn also lost in his first round.
Just as fortunately, Dallas was able to win his 1st round against Fred Rader .
Dallas met Doug Wright (who had just defeated Barry Dorn) in the 2nd round and won. In the 3rd round, Dallas won over Joe Midile, who I’d red lit against in the 1st and had a broke bye in the 2nd.
Dallas earned a bye in the Semis from Midile, who had won it from my 2nd place Qualifying. He ran a 9.746 on his 9.75 index in the bye. In the Finals Dallas was paired with Newmeyer. If you know these racers that he ran — you’ll know all are very good racers. Newmeyer had an excellent (.00 something) light and Dallas realized his light (turned out to be a .070) was not so good — so he decided he needed to push Newmeyer out if he was to have any chance to win. Newmeyer did take the stripe, which had him break out by .001 – handing Dallas win his first ever NHRA Wally.
While I was disappointed with my .004 red — seeing Dallas get his first Wally more than made up for it.
I think technically I’m now in first place — by virtue of the small points on my 2nd place Qualifying. We will have to throw out our worse race at the end of the season, and mine is going to be 75 points higher than Dorn’s — so I’ll need to go one round more than him at Indy to get the 2014 Championship. Dallas and I would like to thank Fuelabs, Royal Purple, TTI Exhaust, and Mancini Racing for their product sponsorship. Running two cars with the average race 1200 miles away is very expensive. We don’t do this for the money. If we won and runnered up every race on the schedule — we’d still lose money — so we very much appreciate the help while we’re living the dream of father and son racing together while we have the chance.
