The first few points races of the year were a whirlwind of activity in Las Vegas, NV last month. We went to the Motor Speedway a little early to get some practice with our newly set up Magnum on the track because we hadn’t raced there in quite a while. It wasn’t long before my crew chief Richard got the set up just right and we were able to get consistent traction lap after lap. A red light in the early rounds took us out of competition on Sunday though, and we moved onto the second race in the three week swing.
The PSCA Magnafuel Las Vegas Nationals took place the following weekend. I handed out the number one qualifier awards with my Liquid Glow Car Care Products to all of the winners on Sunday morning. Of course, opening ceremonies occurred just before first round of the heads-up classes, and I finished the ceremony with my performance of the National Anthem. The racing at PSCA went well. The Bracket-1 class was a tough one this time, because it was heavily populated with dragsters and door cars equipped with electronics. In the Street Muscle class we went to the third round and lost to last year’s champion, Larry Pittenger. It was a close race, a double breakout but we ended up on the wrong side of the slim margin of victory. Though we were out of competition for the day, we were in great shape for the last of the 3 races in this three week swing in Vegas.
The Mopars At The Strip race is always one of the most fun events of the year for me. There were thousands of people there, including Dodge themselves. The folks from the Dodge Chrysler world brought out lots of cars on display and had free “drag and drift” thrill rides in Hellcats and Vipers running all day. It was amazing to see so many Mopar branded cars both in and out of the staging lanes.
We had the most success in the Modern Muscle class, which is just for late model HEMI cars. Maggie was the fastest running car in the class, so I had the advantage of launching second for all of the competition rounds that day. After 5 rounds of competition, we made it to the final against a 14 second Charger. Unfortunately, I lost my edge on the tree and the race was lost by a couple of hundredths. It was a great event and I can’t wait to come back next year. Thanks to Phil and Jill Painter for putting on this awesome spectacle year after year.
The next racing for me is coming up this weekend in Las Vegas again. I will be attending the Toyota Nationals as a journalist representing MoparMax Magazine. Look to www.MoparMax.com for info about race results in the next week or so. I will also be racing the Divisional the following weekend in the Altered car in the Super Comp class. The pro tree is new for me, but I am looking forward to some variety in the racing style that Super Comp brings.
Check back for racing updates soon!!
