A week off and it’s on to the fifth race of the 2008 NHRA season. We brought our Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus to Las Vegas without any testing except that we were there in January at the Pro Stock shoot out. Vegas is a tough track at over 2,000 ft in elevation and usually with very little humidity, which makes it unlike almost any other track we race on. Before we arrive, Larry Morgan, who supplies our engines, called to tell us that he may have discovered a break thru bolt on that could be worth as much as 30 horsepower. Needless to say, we also got very excited as 30 horsepower is hard to accumulate over a year’s period of time much less this quick. We have been down a little on horsepower this year and this is just what the doctor ordered.
On Friday, we readied the Kendall Dodge with the updates that Larry sent and we ran a miserable 14th best for the session run. In looking at the data, we determined that our particular engine didn’t like the updates and we quickly changed back to the old parts. Fridays afternoon’s session was a loss as the engine made so much more power after reinstalling the old parts that we failed to adequately compensate for them and virtually blew the tires (spun) off the minute we left the line. Again we were reminded why we don’t try to test new things at National events, but save those testing times for when we are truly testing. We sadly broke our own rule again.
Saturday, full of confidence, we loaded the Kendall Dodge for a conservative run as we wanted to be sure to qualify rather than risk a run that might result in another mistake. Well, we ran sixth best for the session with that combination but it only put us into the 12th spot. That’s better than not qualifying, but going into Sunday’s race we really wanted to be in the top half so that we could have lane choice as this track was showing signs of being a one lane race track in the heat of the day. The second session on Saturday was equally as good but once again the session wasn’t as good in the heat. Once again, we were reminded why it’s so important to start out strong on Friday, avoiding playing catch up on Saturday.
Sunday we put in a fresh batch of Kendall oil and knew we were going to have a tough opponent with Allen Johnson. Allen was number five in points coming into the race and we were number six, so the winner would take the lead for the week. Unfortunately, the Kendall Dodge got defeated by a lane that was very inferior to the better left lane. We beat Allen out of the hole for a decisive advantage until the car encountered the poor track conditions and lost all traction sending us straight into the wall. We were quickly able to shut it down and watch as Allen streaked by for the win.
We have a few days off, then we will do some testing on our way to Atlanta Georgia for the sixth stop on the circuit and hopefully a better turnout for the Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus.