Norwalk, OH -- On Friday May 26, the Pelech Bros. Racing squad (minus Todd Betts - Slacker!) went to Norwalk Raceway Park for an exorcism. Voo Doo Guru tuner Jeff Prock of Applied Nitrous Technologies presided over the ritual. After much struggle to do just a burn-out, Jeff engaged in mortal combat with the demons that had an iron grip on our ill-running car. To make a longer story short, as predicted, Prock came out victorious. The trouble was traced backed to a minor wiring problem. It's no wonder our so-called electrical expert, Todd Betts, did not attend the test session. Just kidding... It was NOT Todd's fault, it was...um... er... Mike Flosky's fault! Just kidding again... It was my fault. I was the one who directed, or misdirected, Todd on the wiring. But hey, that's all behind us now.
The outcome of our testing... Through out the day we got progressively faster at a rapid rate. The end result was a 8.12 second / 175.22 MPH pass that was backed up with a couple 8.14's.
We are thrilled with these numbers, especially considering the problems we'd been having. What made this closed test session even sweeter, was the fact that these numbers were produced by relatively mild tune-ups and a chassis that wasn't quite in agreement with what we were doing. We'll be getting after the chassis set-up next. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, there is a lot of potential still left in this car and we're just getting started!
An interesting side note... While at Norwalk, we were fortunate to test with the IHRA Mountain Motor Pro-Stock team of Charlie Taylor Motorsports and their driver Tom Lee. The CTM team was there to stretch the legs of their brand-new 2000 Mustang. The Jon Kaase powered, Jerry Haas built car is a metal-master piece. Mrs. Taylor told us that they hoped to debut the car at the Grand Bend, Canada IHRA National event. I checked the IHRA website for results and it showed Tom Lee in a Probe. I guess they didn't feel they were ready. That's too bad. I guess the world will have to wait to see the first Mountain Motored Mustang.
Or will they???
I don't know if we can get in trouble for this or not, but we'll worry about that when and if it happens.
Anyhow... After our successful test session we hurried Prock back to the airport for his plane ride home to Tampa. From there we went back the shop to do a little post test maintenance and pre-race preparation. Early Saturday afternoon we headed across international borders to compete in the Pro Fuel Super Street Shoot-out at the Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada. That afternoon, we set up our pit area and finished a couple of last minute items for the Sunday race. After that we watched Johnny Rocca and his driver Troy Critchley, along with Canadian Pro Mod standout Al Billes make a few passes in preparation for the upcoming IHRA Canadian Nationals. The testing obviously paid off for Rocca's Iron Horse team, they runner-upped at this past weekend's event.
Sunday morning we awoke to bitterly cold temperatures and a stiff wind. Of course the wind was blowing straight up the track! In consideration of the conditions, we passed on the open time trials in the hope that the weatherman would be right and the conditions would improve before qualifying. Luckily they did. When qualifying concluded, we found ourselves in the #2 slot with another 8.14 at 171 MPH, only .02 behind #1. Not bad considering the strong head wind and the fact that the car consistently baked the tires through the top of first gear. Just when you think things are finally going your way... They aren't. Our weekend came to a pre-mature end in the first round when our competitor found the tune up combination that they had been looking for. I got the jump at the light and we ran yet another 8.14, but it wasn't enough. So home we went, at least we didn't have to drive for 15 hours.
Here we are at the start of June, still looking for our first round win. We're certainly not discouraged though. The car is running respectably and we are not hurting parts. We've definitely turned the corner. As the old saying goes, "You have to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run." Our start has undoubtedly been a crawl, and we're now walking... So look out because we are getting ready to RUN!
As a result of our testing and competition, we are currently making some necessary changes to our car and combination. Our upcoming schedule is a hectic one. We'll be heading off on a "3 races in 3 weekends" excursion that starts at the end of June in Bowling Green, KY and ends in Jake and Elwood Blues old stomping grounds, Joliet, IL.
Wish us luck...
Ted & Tim Pelech
Pelech Bros. Racing
