Right after this happened (early May), I know that I did not want to ‘release’ it until the time felt right. Some close friends/family saw it, but that was about it.
The regular visitors of this forum are well aware of what’s going on in my life and the tragedies that I’ve suffered this year. To review, my Dad had an illness last September and it was a big ‘wake up call’ to me to start enjoying what time I had left with him…
So, our main common interest to say the least has always been racing. We raced RC cars (me driving him pitting) from the age of 7, until I graduated high school. We won our very last race.
Naturally, street cars came to me. I always dreamed of owning a C4 ZR1 in high school, and once I joined the military, I bought a 93 Z28. Previous to that, dad bought a stock 1979 Camaro, and I built the engine as my senior project in high school. When I was away in the military, my knowledge grew on the base that he gave me. When I came home with the turbo stuff, he was very impressed with what I had learned and loved learning about it himself.
We raced the Camaro on and off at the track. The first time, we drove it there and ran it on street tires. Mid 13’s at 107 as I recall. Some guys felt bad and let us borrow some slicks and I think that put it into the high 12’s. From that point on, the motor remained (and still does) remain untouched internally, but we did the nitrous (I got it for him Fathers Day 2005), drag wheels/tires, etc. Being a street/roll guy back then (and now lol), I never took into consideration the suspension, looking back it was really holding us back because the car never got off the line as good as it could. I think that is was the beginning of us letting the car sit for years.
Back to the wake up call. Last Oct, we cleaned the car up and knowing what I know now, I immediately started researching the suspension. We got a great deal on some Caltracks shocks/springs, and that is exactly what the car needed. We went to the track on closing day, ran 11.2 and got the car to launch better than ever. Plans were to improve the car over the Winter.
So, working around illness, we pulled the bumper beam, lightweight hood, a TON of cleanup/powdercoating, and I improved the nitrous system so it’s much, much safer. (a lot more details are in the build thread).
It looked like it might not ever happen, but we went to the track again April 7th. HUGE thanks to Will (toomanycamaros), he went and we would not of been able to go without his help. Without going into details, the car went 11.0@119ish and my Mother passed away at home when we were at the track.
Happy that we went together, but still wanting that 10 second pass, JDaniels, a local friend and I went back to the track in Early May. We visited my dad on the way, he was not doing well and that was just more fuel for the cause.
We made a lot of passes, learning a lot on each one. Eventually got the tire pressure and launch technique right. What do you know…another 11.0.
I was frustrated and it was getting towards the end of the day. We had an extended break, so without hesitation, I made the call to pull out the backseat/pass seat in an effort to reduce weight. I popped the hood and was thinking how to get anything else I could. I pulled the PS belt, buttoned it up and had one last shot.
Well, someone was with me (you can see his picture on the dash) on that last pass. The car got it’s best ever 60 foot (1.51 I think it was). As soon as I saw that on the scoreboard, I knew that if it was going to happen, it was going to happen now. I kept my foot in it and nothing was going to make me lift.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YB2OjyDPsA[/ame]
Again, thank everyone for the support.
-Travis