Brief summary of the PSMCDR

[Chicken Hawk]

Dead tired but will give a quick summary.

Had seven Studes there: Allen Anderson-R 2 Hawk, Dave Warren-'55 (the only '55 to ever participate and the oldest car allowed to participate and the smallest engine; therefore, is the fastest and oldest '55 to participate), Peter Sant-R 2 Avanti, Nimesh Solanki-R 3 Avanti, Steve Doerschlag-R 3 Challenger, George Krem-R3 Challenger, me-Tomato.

The traction was the best George and I ever had for some reason. Everyone else we asked said there traction and 60' times were no better than before.??

Five of the Studes won their shoot outs and two lost. The two that lost were Steve and the Tomato.

The times between the Wrapper and Tomato were too close for me to drive both so we drafted John Kern to drive the Tomato.

The qualifying time for the Wrapper was 12.690 and 13.05 for the Tomato. (I'm sure Bob P. will fill in all the details later.

The wrapper drew a Yenko Deuce Nove and Wrapper won all three and on the last run set a new all time record ET of 12.617. Best before was 12.66. The Wrapper ran eight races and won all eight.

The Tomato drew a '64 Plymouth Wedge 426 (dual carbs cross ram type). The Tomato lost the first round with a 13.009; second run lost due to break out. Fastest allowed to go was 12.76 without breaking out and turned a 12.74, fastest time ever at Stanton. All time fastest has been 12.62 at Muncie. So the breakout cost the shoot out but on the third run turned 12.871 @ 111.0 mph. John did a great job driving for the first time in a shoot out.

Peter won his shoot out with a 428 Pontiac Grand Prix. Each had a red light and Peter won the third round.

Nimesh drew a Buick and lost the first round but won the second. This was the first time on the strip for his new R 3 and was having a tough time hooking up. He lost the first round due to a lot of spinning but won the next two with times in the low 13's, like 13.1? and almost 112 mph.

This is all I can remember and goint to bed. Bob has all the info and should be posting when he recovers from the week end.

Ted

[Roscomacaw]

Thanks Ted! Thanks to ALL the Studebaker contenders. Doin' the marque SO damned proud!

[BobPalma]

Thanks, Ted. I'll try to get a few photos and a little more material up on the Racing Studebakers site Monday, and will provide a link here. (Crashed in bed at 1:15 AM after pulling the empty trailer in the drive; what a long day now that they have the track all day, eh?)

I believe the car Peter beat was Micheal Lane's gorgeous, soft yellow 1965 Pontiac Catalina 2+2 hardtop; 421 with automatic. The fact that Peter was able to beat him with a 3.07 axle in Peter's Avanti is amazing.

John Kern did a remarkable job driving The Stude Tomato in the shootouts...Consider: John ran so fast that he broke out of the low ET Ted Harbit himself had posted in the car the previous day! 'Talk about stepping on Superman's Cape, eh? BP

[BobPalma]

OK, Preliminary Report and a few photos here:

http://racingstudebakers.com/foo/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2910&p=34635#p34635

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

Bob's copy from the Racing Studebaker's Site.

Re: 2013 PSMCDR Info by Bob PalmaMonday morning, September 16, 2013. I've put together a few photos and have some preliminary figures from the 2013 Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race.

At this time, I'm able to supply the best performance of each car during the all-day Friday and Saturday morning practice sessions. I did not attempt to record the times and speeds during the shootouts because those will be in the Official Results I'll get in a few weeks, from which to prepare the annual report on the event for Turning Wheels.

Rather, I wanted to go to the extreme end of the track, near the finish line, to capture a few photos of the cars in the shootouts, since that is where the Studebakers are normally ahead! Anyone who has ever photographed cars at speed knows it is difficult if you don't know what you are doing, but I gave it a good enough shot that we'll have some neat pictures to show.

In no particular order:

First up is the newest car at the event, Dave Warren's 1955 Commander hardtop, 259 Power Kit / Automatic Drive. Dave didn't come to set the world on fire, but he did warm things up with a best of 18.046 @ 76.34 MPH during practice. Dave's car is the first 1955 model year car of any make to ever compete in the 19 years the event has run, and the only 6-volt car to ever compete. Now that is some serious trivia! Good going, Dave:



Brothers Nemish and Depish Solanki finally got Nemish' gorgeous Avanti Red R3, 4-speed Avanti to the event. They won their shootout against one of the best and most experienced PSMCDR competitors, Roberta Vasilow. Roberta beat Nemish in Shootout Round One, but Nemish came back strong to win Rounds 2 and 3 and, thus, the shootout. Here they are in one of Nemish' victory rounds, about 100 feet from the finish line with Nemish pulling strong:



('Give me some slack on the photography, please; both cars were doing about 100 MPH when the above photo was snapped!) Nemish posted a best of 13.122 and 111.91 during practice.

Peter Sant returned with his pretty maroonish 1963 R2 Avanti. He drives it to the event, so he has elected to run 3.07 rear gears in the drags! Remarkably, he still turned a best of 14.100 and 100.01 during practice, but I believe he did a hair better during the shootouts. He won his shootout by winning Rounds 2 and 3 against a 1965 Catalina 2+2 421.

The Stude Tomato did admirably regardless of driver! Ted Harbit brought the car and practiced and qualified with a 13.051 and 111.99 best during practice. But since The Tomato and The Plain Brown Wrapper were so close together in the shootout pairings, it was impossible for Ted to drive both cars in the shootouts.

"No problem," as Team Studebaker had an ace lurking in the hole in the form of youngster (hey, he's only 49!) John Kern. John took a short tutorial and then whacked off a best of 13.056 and 110.48 during two practice runs Saturday morning before the shootouts. John lost Round One of the shootouts fair & square against Steve Hodges' gorgeous red 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury 426 max wedge. John was so determined to win Round Two he kept the pedal to the metal even though he was ahead and broke out, posting an astonishing 12.740, the best time The Tomato has ever turned at the event!

Too astonishing, actually, since Ted had qualified the car at 13.051. That meant it could run as fast as 12.751 in the shootouts but no faster or it would "confess" to having sandbagged during qualifications Friday. Because John broke out, The Tomato automatically lost the shootout to Steve. What a way to go, though, being too fast! Congrats, John.

Here, John pushes The Tomato over 100 mph about 150 feet from the finish line in Round Two, well ahead of Steve's 426 MoPar:



Ted Harbit qualified The Plain Brown Wrapper at 12.690 and a best of 111.74 MPH during practice and qualifications. It did a little better but did not break out during the shootouts, posting a best of 12.617, the car's all-time low anywhere as to ET. In so doing, he beat Owen Simpson's 1970 Yenko Nova LT-1 in all three rounds. Here they are maybe 150 feet from the finish line in one round, with Ted and the R3 pulling hard:



Steve Doerschlag brought his fastest car this year, The Silver Streak, his 1964 Challenger R3 clone. He did a best of 13.175 and 108.06 MPH during practice and qualifications; his best-ever figures at this event the three years he has brought it. Sadly, he lost his shootout by losing Rounds 1 and 3 outright, and red-lighting Round #2.

Allen Anderson returned his 1964 R2 Super Hawk with a vengeance, posting a best of 14.654 and 94.83 MPH, both his best figures ever here with the car. He drew a 1971 Ford Torino 351 / 285 HP for the shootouts and lost Round One outright. But he came back to win Rounds 2 and 3 outright and, thus, his shootout. 'Way to go, Allen!

Here, Allen and the R2 pull ahead of the Torino in Round Two, again, about 150 feet from the end of the quarter:



Overall, this was a wonderful year. Gorgeous weather after the chilly overcast cleared Friday morning. (It was so cold early Friday morning The Stude Tomato wouldn't start because it didn't have enough choke...'had to pop the carb bonnet and give it some manual choke to get it to light!)

More details and photos in the annual Turning Wheels report, of course. Again, do not take the above figures to be the best any car did this year. Most did better during the shootouts, and those official figures will be in Turning Wheels. BP
Bob Palma
Technical Editor
Turning Wheels



Thanks for posting this Bob on the Racing Studebaker site.


Allen