Hi All,
 
If you fall into the group of "some like it hot" this weekend was definitely when you needed 
to be on the famous dry lakebed called El Mirage. At least 110 degrees on Saturday and I 
believe a bit cooler on Sunday (race day) but well over the century mark which made life 
pretty miserable for all but the "some like it hot group. I drank well over a gallon of water 
each of the two days. It just kept leaking out. We had 105 entries, down a little because of 
the upcoming Speedweek on the Bonneville salt flats in Utah. The upside to the weekend is 
that the race course was near perfect.
 
We had a # 13 starting position and it's my turn to drive to try to bump Steve's record set 
last month. We were running the same tune up as last month with the temperature at about 85 
degrees with a slight head wind. It was warm enough to cause some of that water to leak from 
the top of my head and run down my face while waiting for my turn down the 1.3 mile course. 
Gary Brauer was next to me in his red hot fuel roadster that set a record in June. I was to 
follow him but unfortunately he had some clutch linkage problems. I must confess that I was 
not mentally in gear for the run. The R's came up so quick in first gear that it took me by 
surprise and I moved the selector to 3rd which meant an early 2 to 3 shift. The motor was 
running hard and it was picking up pretty good. In fact it broke the tires loose what I 
thought was 3 times in some loose dirt. The data log showed 4 flares in the RPM in 4th gear. 
I ended up about a half MPH short of the record. We did that all of the 2005 season. Back to 
the pits.
 
Round one was going very smooth and it looked like a second run chance may be in the works. 
Steve decided he might as well take a "fun" ride so we packed the chute and made a few checks. 
We only had ice for the one run and it was so hot there is no way to set a record. A course 
check and it was a go. While waiting in line the announcer gave the weather numbers and stated 
"there is no air." We're OK with that, we have a tank of warm water for the intercooler. we 
even drained the ice chest into the tank. Off Steve went and the little 4 banger was pulling 
hard and really sounded great. Steve had his stuff together and laid down a perfect run with 
a speed of 160.023 bumping the record by almost 3 MPH. A big thank you goes to crew member 
John MacFarlane for enduring the dirt and heat to help us with the truck.
 
A special thanks to the SCTA volunteers that got everything together in the blistering heat 
to put this meet on. See you all on the SALT.
 
Jim Dunn