Doug Mill

Hi Craig -

As you know, we ran the ol' '57 this past week-end at the Hot Rod Nationals ... this time, letting my younger son, Brian, do the chauffeuring. Not sure if you stuck around for the finals, but the damn kid WON the "HR-2" class! As you can imagine, he's a pretty happy kid, as is the ol' man!

I couldn't be happier the way the car is running ... thanks to YOU with all the help on the carb tuning, the rear-end work, plus the rebuild of the front suspension (plus Dale Green built a super 408 short block).

I put together a couple of emails summarizing Saturday's and Sunday's results that I thought you'd like to see ...

Thanks again!

Doug Mill

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Saturday, 9/4/2004:

I let son, Brian, run the '57 today at the strip at Pacific Raceways ... Leave it to the kid to get the best 60-foot in (it seems) ANY car he drives. (He did it with his brother's 10-second Nova also.) My previous best was a 1.64 to the short mark ... Brian just clicked off a 1.633 today! Check out these time slips:

... and he got in the 11's doing only one manual shift, from 2nd to 3rd at 5800. Letting it automatically shift from 1st to 2nd, it shifts at or just below 5000 rpm! Probably would've run a low 11.80 if he manually shifted it from 1st to 2nd. GOOD air today, that's for sure. He beat a open exhaust with slicks Mach 1 in the 1st time trial. Bet he was surprised my the '57. In the 2nd time trial, he said he was so far ahead it was as if he had a single pass. A big crowd, too ... Brian said he got some whistles as he came back down the return road. I love it.

For those that don't know, the car is not NHRA legal to run 11's 'cuz of no cage ... but Brian said they never said anything to him. He'll still have to dial 12-flat, since ET bracket he's running in is 12-flat and up.

Regarding his reaction times, a .07 and a .12 are "average" ... He says he'll do better on his lights during elims tomorrow. Hope so!

The ol' Chevy ... runnin' hard.

Doug

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Sunday, 9/5/2004:

What a great day for son, Brian! He won his class at Pacific Raceways today, picking up a really nice plaque and a not too shabby sum of $350. The '57 continued it's 11-second charge from yesterday's 11.97 and 11.94, cutting an amazing 11.86 secs at 113.8 mph and setting another best of 1.62 secs 60-foot ET in his one and only time trial in this morning's cool air. Again, this is doing only one manual shift, from 2nd to 3rd ... If he'd manually shifted from 1st to 2nd, that pass may have beaten the car's best ever of 11.79, which I did way back in July 2000. Again, 'cuz the car is not legal to run in the 11' due to not having a roll cage, Brian still had to dial-in at a 12-flat. He knew he was going to have to play some serious "bumper-tag" and catch some decent lights (reaction times) to stay in the game.

Well ... It was one of those days when everything was goin' right. In his 5 rounds of racing, all his reaction times were "point-oh" something, his worse being a .09 to a best of .03. I also think the '57 was putting the scare into its opponents 'cuz of the 12-flat dial, as 3 cars red-lit (that's taking off too soon, for you non-drag racers), giving Brian the automatic win. In the other two rounds that he won, the other cars broke out; that is, they went quicker than their posted dial-in times. Brian ran a very nice 12.04 on one of those passes and he went an 11.997 on the other one, breaking out by only 3-thousandths, but the other guy breaking out by more, 2-tenths. That was in the semi's. Two of the officials came over to talk to Brian after that pass to warn him that if he ran another 11, even if he won in the final, that he would be disqualified.

Well, no worry in the final, 'cuz the opponent with a slower 12.63 dial, red-lighted the win to Brian!

The moment of victory!

The victory smile ... and "loot":

So, a FUN day. Brian did his job and the Chevy's small block 408ci has never run stronger ... and of of course, Dad and Mom are proud. Now ... Brian's thinking of approaching his boss at Superior Bag and get sponsored! (Hey JohnC ... How 'bout it?! J)

Doug