'Just got back from a light-duty race evening at O'Reilly/Indianapolis Raceway Park's Street Stock "run-what-ya-brung" drag race event. Richard "R1" Poe e-mailed earlier in the day, saying he was planning to bring his charcoal R1/4-speed 1963 Lark Custom and Chuck Kern was going to attend with his 1963 R2/Powershift Avanti and Ted Harbit was coming down sans car (but Ted did drive his 1962 Cruiser anyway) in case I was available and wanted to wander over. It sounded like a fun evening only a few miles away, so I headed over about 5:30. Everyone was already there and had passed Tech Inspection, but no one had been permitted on the track. The drag strip opened only a few minutes later and we were off to the races.
Both Richard and Chuck competed. They both tickled the 13s but didn't quite make it, posting in the low to mid 14s all evening. (The evening was pure heads-up drag racing against whoever happened to be in the other lane, unless you made previous arrangements for a specific grudge match.)
Richard's three runs in his R1/4-speed Lark were memorable in that he soundly beat a good-running 1994-1997 vintage Mustang GT, sending the 'Stang packing by arriving at the end of the quarter a solid 1.5 seconds ahead of it. Later, I noticed a semi-offensive graphic in the Mustang's rear window, stating that, "In order to p*ss on it, you first have to catch it."
I asked Richard if he had seen that graphic and he replied, "How could I? It was in his rear window and the Lark was ahead from the green light to the finish line!" Good point; I hadn't thought of that!
Richard's second run scored a tighter win over a mid-80s vintage Monte Carlo Super Sport, also running well. It was hard to tell who was winning as we watched from the starting line and the cars seemed to disappear down the strip in a dead heat. But the WIN lights came on in Richard's lane [
] and he later reported being about three car lengths ahead at the finish line.
Richard's third run was a bummer. It was his best launch of the evening and he posted record (or near record; he wasn't sure) 330-foot and eighth-mile times and was certainly headed for a 13-something-second run. But as he went for fourth gear in the last third of the run, the clutch acted strange and wouldn't release! He power-shifted anyway and posted his best run of the evening: 14.066 seconds. Not bad for having a bum clutch and being an R1, eh?
Chuck Kern and his R2/Powershift Avanti ran consistently all evening. Chuck concentrated on his launch technique until he got down to an excellent .022 reaction time. That really puffed him up with a sense of accomplishment....too much, apparently; he red-lighted the last two races! Oops. Even so, Chuck remained solidly in the mid to low 14s all evening and had only a modest high-end power loss to contend with. More to sort out for the next Pure Stock Drags event.
Chuck's son John Kern joined us, as did his grandson Jerry, a Junior at Martinsville [IN] High School and a nice kid. Jerry again reminded me of our advancing ages. I engaged Jerry in conversation about the race cars in line and pointed out a sleek older pony car. Jerry agreed as to its attractiveness and asked me what it was. When I told him it was a 1973 Barracuda, he asked, quite seriously, "Who made them?"
Richard Poe's son Jeff also joined us. Jeff is older than Chuck's grandson Jerry, and is an excellent full-time mechanic at a south-side Indianapolis Firestone Service Center.
Ted Harbit spent a lot of time at the starting line, closely watching Richard and Chuck's rear axle movement on launch, to re
101st Airborne Div. 326 Engineers Ft Campbell Ky.
When you want to play sometimes you got to pay. In my dreams could I ever do a 2.03 60 foot.[^] 14.06 is unheard of from an R-1. Congrats Richard.
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