Hi! My name's Jeff McVey, and I live in Boise, Idaho. I first visited the Salt at Speedweek in 2007, and contracted The Disease immediately. I returned just a month later for 2007 WOS, and learned about the 130MPH Club. So, I twisted my son, Darrell's arm (it didn't take much), and convinced him that we needed to run his near-stock Nissan 350Z for the 130 Club in 2008. After much SCCA autocrossing of it and my little Mazda 3, we made our way back for WOS 2008.
In order to get a little lower gear ratio, we actually installed the tires (W-rated Dunlop's) and wheels from my Mazda (same bolt pattern, and they cleared the brakes) on the Nissan. They're 17-inch, vice the 18's on the Z-car. Anyway, it seemed to work, and we got in the 130 Club on just two runs each.
As The Disease progressed, we wanted more, so it was in with the cage, seat, belts, purchased a fire suit, etc. and back to WOS 2009. The one-day rain delay was a bummer, but at least the meet was on! Darrell was up first (with the 18-inch wheels this time) on Thursday, and ran a 151+, but despite 12 hours on the Salt, that was the only run that day. We left the car in the staging lane, where it was second in line (after the record runs). With the favorable D.A. of early Friday morning, Darrell ran a 154+ so he was in the 150 Club.
Back to Tech for a cursory re-inspection for me, and after getting my green wristband, I got in line. Darrell gave me some pointers, including the fact that we'd start off in second gear, and not use sixth. When my turn came, it got a bit sideways in the upper end of second gear, but 3rd, 4th, and 5th were fine. I saw 150 on the auxiliary LED speedo read-out just before I got to the 2-mile marker, so I knew I was in good shape. The timing slip said 152.7, so I was pleased, and put the car back in line for run number two.
All seemed fine until I blew it by missing a shift. I only had a total of maybe 30 minutes seat time in Darrell's car (including last year at Bonneville), and when I went to make the third-fourth shift, I ended up in sixth. I did my best to correct the mistake quickly, but ended up running just 148.6. So,, it was back to the end of the line again, in hopes of getting in another run on Friday. I lucked out when they decided to run the six cars that were still in line when the normal end time arrived. So, I was next-to-last, and I didn't miss any shifts this time. I ran a 151+, so both my son and I had made the 150MPH Club! And we did it in his daily driver!
Darrell wants to get a F125 shifter cart for SCCA autocross in 2009, and further mods to the Z-car for the SCTA-type classes probably won't happen. So, I don't know what we'll do for an encore, but I know that I'm still afflicted with The Disease, and will have to come back to the Salt and run something! I've got a car I'm thinking about putting together (combination street rod/autocrosser/LSR car?), but if nothing else, I'll run my little Mazda in the 130-Club just so I can run on the Salt again in 2010. Hopefully, we'll have the other car ready for the long course in 2011. Time will tell.
And thanks to you, SSS, for the excellent coverage of The Shootout! It was fun following the exploits of the teams from the Mormon Meteor, the Buckeye Bullet, and Speed Demon (plus Blowfish) who we had the opportunity to meet the previous week in the staging lanes at WOS - plus all the others, too.
I hope things go well this coming week for the WF, but the weather doesn't look good. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed, and will follow these forums to see what transpires!
Topic: Introduce Yourself (Read 2276989 times)