I took the car to SCR for Friday night T&T. I got there very early in order to take advantage of the daylight. I had planned to make three easy passes, two very mild, and one 1/8 mile hard pass.

It is amazing how much you forget in three years. There is a big difference in being at the track and sitting in the workshop. Everything worked as it should have during the run. I had the shift point set at 5000 rpm, but I never let the rpm get that high so I shifted by hand.

I did a pro-stock type burn-out, through the lights, across the line, and came back to the line and turned on the top bulb. I was suppose to make a slow pass, but when the bottom bulb lit, I pressed the button and jammed the accelerator to the floor. The top bulb came on and I left with a .045 green light! The car took off with a roar and I got out of it almost immediately. The engine noise and the G force scared me! When the car left, it headed for the right hand wall (people that were watching said it went straight, maybe it was just my excitement), so I got out of it right away, before the 60′ light. My sixty foot was only, 1.758 sec.. I had 10 lbs. of air in the new tires and Houston Hawkins, who was on the line, said I had a lot of spin when I left. I got back in it around the 1/8 and crossed at 12.178 @ 110 mph. The most exciting 12 second run I have ever made. I did find out one thing, this engine is awesome!

When the car left, the alternator mandrel broke due to insufficient bolt thread engagement. Houston, who came out for moral support, and Reggie Jackson, who helped me load up at the house earlier in the day, picked up all the parts off the track as I proceeded down the track to complete the run, not knowing what had happened.

When I got to the end of the track and started to turn right to get off the track, the car would not turn right. I unstraped, removed the hood and found a piece of the alternator drive jammed in the steering linkage. We removed the obstruction and drove the car back to the pits and put it on the trailer.

I need a new mandrel and a longer bolt before I can go back out, or just abandon the alternator for now and put a damper bolt in the front of the crank and go back to racing.

Many of my friends came over to see the car after the pass and many of them had some very nice comments.
PHOTOS By Lizzie Herbert.