<VV> Iowa report 4

[AeroNed at aol.com]

Now the best and worst part of the week. On Thursday night, while bench  
racing in the hotel parking lot, Michael offered me the opportunity to drive his  
car for a fun run. Of course I accepted. Michael took the engine out of his  
yellow racecar and put it in his Stinger to try to beat his Dad in the Roe car. 
 The engine is a 10.5 to 1 with lots of internal mods and a 4 barrel sitting 
on a  6 runner intake. At one point, Michael did have FTD, but Warren just 
couldn't  let that stand. Anyhow, I didn't want to pester Michael about the ride 
and was  having fun driving my car, when he came up to me on the starting line 
and asked  if I still wanted to drive his car. OK, I guess he was serious. 
His car is a  racecar in street car clothing. Michael rode along with me. I 
accelerated off  the starting line with way more acceleration than my car could 
even dream of. I  decided to drive the course in third to keep the speed down. I 
lifted a little  as we entered turn 1. I was a little worried because the 
speed was much higher  than my car. The car stuck like it was glued to the track. 
I added more throttle  as we went through the turn to get a feel for the 
cornering capability of the  car. It just went where I wanted it to go. I enter 
turn 3 turn much faster than  turn 1. Once again I added throttle as we went 
through the turn. The car felt  very well balanced. Next up was the quarter mile 
track. These turns are much  tighter than the half and I entered the turn 
still faster than I did on the  half. The car did start to drift a little. After 
the run, Michael said he  thought we were going to spin and complimented me on 
keeping the car under  control. The run wasn't timed but Michael said I did 
very well for my first  time. I'm making plans to get rid of my Azeinas and get 
some tires that are  stickier.
 
Now for the worse part of the week. Just about the same time we crossed the  
finish line, the engine blew up. Nothing came out and it kept running, but it  
didn't sound good. Most of the people said it could be that a valve guide 
came  loose and holed a piston. I felt horrible, but Michael tried to assure me 
that  it wasn't due to anything that I did, since he was running it much 
harder. I was  filled with mixed emotions as I just had the most fun I ever had in a 
car ever,  followed immediately by the worst feeling. Talk about extremes. I 
know the guys  in Kansas and I'd bet that everyone else will not let me forget 
the time I blew  up Michael's engine. I know I'll never forget the great time 
I had right before  that.
 
I put Michael in for the hard luck award and so did someone else,  which 
Michael won. As I was heading out, Dennis Pleau said my nick name  changed from 
"The Deer Hunter" to "The Engine Terminator"
 
Ned