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| Our trip started at 2pm on Thursday, we spent over 2 hours in bay area traffic. Most fun you can have in a muscle car...86 degree weather out side, vinal seats with the heater on full blast so the car stays at 210 and that's pushing it. After stopping for gas, food and potty brakes we got to our hotel in Reno at about 8pm. We then had to spend the next hour arguing with 4 different people about the crappy one parking permit per room rule that was never explained at the time of booking. There were no swear words but a whole lot of making the Sand's employee's feel dumb. But it's 'ok' because they're "sorry." Once we finally got to the room there was a flickering light by the bathroom that Chris decided to fix/break. We called for reinforcements, requested a fuse fix and more towels...considering there was 6 of us and 3 towels. They brought 2 towels, how kind, I only asked for 4 I guess they can't add either. Starving and in need of mindless joking we went down to Mel's Diner and had dinner. Their burgers were super good. We then went out to the trailer parking lot where we had temporary passes until the next morning. We spent the rest of the night preparing the cars for the drags the next day. |
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| Kevin's 1964 gray Nova parked in front of Mel's Diner. |
| 8-8-02 |
| Our first of 3 trips to Summit was for Chris' Mustang, the fuel pump stopped working...might have been the metal shavings spilled in it when the car was being tubbed. Then it was off to Kragen for parts for the Nova's alignment. We thought HomeDepot or any hardware store, might have some grade 8 bolts, no such luck...Reno sucks for anything other than Hookers and Summit Racing. While the boys worked on their cars I went Kinko's to photo copy us an additional parking pass and got us lunch to go...the waitresses at Mel's Dinner were wonderful!...finally we got all the cars ready and headed to the track at 2:30pm. The open test and tune was from 10:30-2:30pm and the burnout contest was supposed to begin at 2:30pm. We got to the freeway and it was closed due to an accident? So we had to take a round about way to get up to the Stead Airport...thank god we had a navigator there, she lived up in Reno for a year while attending the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). So she was our map. When we got there we didn't have enough time to change into the burnout tires so I decided to just give it a try on my T/A radials. Boy did I embaras myself, in Reno there is a real lack of air flowing into the motor and I basically didn't have the power to spin my tires...good for racing bad for burnouts. I could have tuned the carb to |
| 8-9-02 |
| Once the bracket racing started we hadn't even practiced starts on the tree or what to dial for 1/8 mile times. So when in Reno, gamble. We dialed in what we thought we would do and went for it. I ended up beating everyone I raced and moving on to the finals where I was up against a chevy with at 9.00 dial who had just matched his 9.00 dial the last race...my dial was a 9.7 and the best I did was a 9.79. I was nervous. So I staged shallow and cut a 5.10 light (new best) he ran a 9.03 to my 9.9 and never caught me. While he was closer to his dial, his reaction was in the 8xx. I may have a slow car but I do my best in it. They gave me a trophy and took my picture. Earlier that day a reporter interviewed me for the Reno Gazette and promised it would be in the paper. That night, after dinner at Mel's...again...we attempted to check out the street racing scene...it was a big bust and my car woudn't start at the gas station on the way home. New problem to work on tomorrow morning. |
| Reno's atmosphere but then I'd have to re-tune it when I got home. |
| 8-10-02 |
| Only 4 hours of sleep again...off to Kragen, this time it's me who needs the ride/car parts. We picked up an altinator from Summit and installed it; woke the rest of the gang up and got going to the track...late again. We got to the track and EVERYONE in Reno decided to race. I had my track buddies from the day before come up and make room for us. That took a good 45min if not more. Once in the pits we took our 'test-n-tune' runs so we could see what the cars were running. After that the boys changed their tires to prepare for the burnout copmetition. I opted to sit this one out. |
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| Kevin went first with the contest and showed off his new fender-well exhaust, shooting smoke out the sides. His burnout was so big that he couldn't see in front of him. The wind was blowing the smoke down the track as apposed to the normal head winds that blow the smoke behind the track. As he rode out his burnout the street tires hooked and sent him into the wall. He tapped it and the damage was mininal. With the fender digging into the wheel he drove the Nova off the track. An El Camino went next and did worse than I did, if that's possible, then Chris was up. He used a very old pair of T/A radials that he painted white for extra tackyness and spunn 'em until you couldn't see his car. When he rode out his 10sec burnout he too went vearing for the wall (signs of good burnouts apparently) but just missed by inches...his door flew open and he backed it up |
| and proceeded to smoke the tires down the remainder of the track. The applause from the audience was overwhelming. As I raced around to get the official to let Kevin's Nova back out on the track for judging, Kevin pulled his fender away from the wheel. There was no damage to the engine compartment and nothing leaking so the official let him back out. As he pulled up the crowd went nuts. The cheering went to Chris and Kevin and in the end Kevin won with Chris' burnout landing him in 2nd place. The other cars didn't have a chance, these two dominated. After the break, the bracket racing started. Chris took off the supercharger and raced all motor in my class and made it further than I did that day. He made it to the finals. Knowing Kevin won the Burnout and I won the Brackets the day before Chris needed something better than 2nd place. So he lined up with the primer purple 69 Camaro and let the kid red light...pumping his right fist in victory down the track, Chris managed his one shift (in the 1/8th mile) and coasted to victory as we all celebrated the minute the red light came on. Brother and Sister victory...look out Reno. We celebrated that night with Pizza Hut from the 'restaraunt' in the hotel. |
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| We got up after a whopping 5 hours of sleep for the 'good-bye' cruise down Virginia St. We scored passes from a good friend that had to leave early and hid the 'vehicle type' under the the windshield wipers as we placed them on the window just above the dash. I was a "1964 Pontiac GTO" With the shoe polish I wrote "BURNOUT contest WINNER 8/10" on the back of the Nova and "BURNOUT contest RUNNER UP 8/10" on the back window of the Mustang. As Chris lead the way, Kevin following and me taking up the rear the three cars with the worst paint (no paint just primer for the two of them) got the most attention of the whole car show. With their hoods off and a whole lot of motor showing they reved back and forth showing Reno that power is where it's at and paint is boring. |
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| 8-11-02 |
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| 2002 |
| 2002 |