Back On Track

Hello and welcome back to the blog with Brandon this week. As you know and have seen we FINALLY got back to the race track last weekend and it was so good to be in our Motorhome once again rolling down the highway and doing burnouts in the dragsters.

The weather forecast heading into the weekend was not great for Sunday so the race promoters took the total weekend purse and doubled it up for Saturday’s event. This could have been really good or really bad depending on how your day went. Being the first race of the year and most people (including us) did not get a chance to go out testing. So, we were all working the bugs out of our equipment and trying to remember how to drive our cars with $10,000 on the line to win. Fortunate for myself I was driving both mine and my brothers dragsters and did not have any major malfunctions. We had some spongy brakes on my dragster but after a few good bleeds they were better. As for driving the cars I had spent the last few weeks rehearsing my whole routine in my head for what to do and I spent a good amount of time in the morning sitting in both cars and getting used to them again. It was almost like riding a bike getting back into the groove of going down the track.

Saturday was hot. In the morning we talked about the key to winning the event would be whoever was able to withstand the conditions the best since this was our first day back wearing our fire suits and driving the cars again in 6 months. I am not saying I was the best conditioned for the weather but we were able to combat the heat all day with lots of water and drinks as well as some well timed snacks throughout the day. Mid way through the race I started to lose the fight in the heat but had some recommendations for different snacks and drinks to try to stay energized. Rachel bringing a cold towel to put around my neck definitely helped as well.

The final round came up fast as we were trying to get the event done before the cruise night began and the street cars took over. I was confident in my game plan heading into the final round looking to start the season off with a big win. Unfortunately it did not work out that way as when I pressed the button for the transmission brake to get ready to launch, the button had failed and did not make a connection to tell any of the timers or solenoids to begin working and my car rolled forward before the green light came on and ended my race day.

This was still a ridiculously good way to start out the season and hopefully is a sign for what is to come for the rest of 2022. It felt so good to be back out. We are headed to Luskville this upcoming weekend and I am going to do everything I can to keep this momentum rolling!

Thanks everyone for keeping up with the Blog and for following Rachel and I. If all goes well we will have a great race weekend success story from Rachel soon!

See you next time, 

Brandon Barker