Bad day at the track & some observations

[Guest Tom Scala]

After upgrading the fuel pump on my 78 turbo Z I was eager to do some high psi testing at test-n-tune night at Quaker City Raceway. When I got to the track I was suprised to see it was Sport Compact Night (Whoopee!). What that meant to me was I had to pay an extra $10 to run.

 

Once inside the usual group of testers was replaced by an unusual amount of posers who seemed to have no regard for anyone else there. There were a few really quick cars(mostly DSM) driven by really cool people but the majority were a bunch of slack jawed 16&17 second Cavalier,Neon,Civic pilots who seemed to think the pit area was an autocross course. I swear to God while I was approaching the starting line I was passed by some engine gunning savant in a Geo Storm Even more weird were the waves of people standing or walking across the staging lanes as cars were trying to get through to the starting line. Many of them would stop and give you a "what the $%^& are you looking at" stare as you waited for them to break it up & move on. The track personel had their hands full trying to keep order but it was a lost cause. Some peoples' attention spans aren't long enough to remember what someone told them 5 minutes ago.

 

I hate to sound like a old fart who doesn't get it(I'm 41), and I'm not disparaging the younger guys & girls on this site since they seem to have their stuff together, but in the 24 years since I first ran at a dragstrip I've never seen such a widespread display of ignorance. There are always one or 2 in a crowd old or young who are just jerks who live to ruin someone elses day, but on this night it was the majority. Has anyone else noticed this trend in a few of the younger street set? I was talking to a group of 17 & 18 year old guys who were as taken aback as I was but they said thats the way it is at the cruise spots they hang out in. I wish they would keep the attitude on the street and have some class when they come through the gates.

 

Rant over! Probably the reason I was in such a bad mood was the fuel pump I took out was apparently not nearly doing the job. I must have had the SDS tuned so rich to crutch the pump when I put the good one in (Walbro 255lph HP) the engine was choking on fuel. In 2 runs(staging lanes were PACKED) I couldn't do any better than 14.53 @ 95 bogging & sputtering down the track. It wouldn't boost past 10 psi or go over 4500-5000 rpm since it was missing so bad. No time to play with it there so on the ride home I kept myself amused by resloping the fuel curve on the fly & by the time I pulled in the driveway it was running like a champ up to redline @ 18psi. Oh well there's always next week

[RPMS]

Heya, Tom!

 

Sorry you had a bad night at the races. But a bad night racing is better than a good night at work, ain't it?

 

I think what you might have been seeing at the track wasn't specifically indifference or impertinence by the younger set, but rather massive ignorance. Remember that most of the sport/compact enthusiasts think that performance is measured by the number of accessories they can load a car up with. The minority of them that are truly performance oriented consider skidpad G's to be the yardstick of performance, not 1/4 mile times. They grew up in a time when it was much more difficult to make a car go fast than it was to make it handle well.

 

I think what I'm trying to say is, the quarter mile track is foreign ground to most of them, otherwise they'd be driving Camaros and Mustangs, rather than polite little compact cars. This means that they have no concept of what constitutes good behavior at the track. They clump up together like frightened lambs looking for safety in numbers, and don't understand why you're irritated with them for clogging the pits or the staging lanes. All they to do is huddle together and try desperately to look cool. To borrow a phrase from a well known book, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."

 

Of course I'm probably wrong, since I've been accused on any number of occasions of always trying to think the best of people, no matter how rotten they can be.

[BLKMGK]

I tend to think the best of people too but... I "cruise" alot with some of the street rod type folks. Our cruise spot is pretty nice and we get MANY cars out there a night. Some of them are imports, some pretty cool. As the night gets later the punks start showing up and if we're there late enough it can turn into a stereo thumping contest. Neon, fart cans, the works! The Supra gets a little respect at least but most of the older guys haven't any idea of it's performance. The kids swarm it and some of them know their stuff but more often it's idiots. Thinking back I probably wasn't much better than those guys are now - the difference is that I spent TONS of time learning all I could. I get the impression some of the younger set doesn't bother. (sigh) Some of the younger guys on the AEM BBS know their stuff - big time - but I'm afraid that this is an exception to the norm and that those guys are there drawn by the content...

 

P.S. Guy with a 77 Z was there tonight with a TPI in it. He'd never heard of our site but I expect he'll be here soon

[Guest Anonymous]

They just didn't get beat enough as kids thats all, give em a rod and spoil the child these days... haha..... Seriously though, respect has wanned over the years and I'm not saying all, the young folks on this board seem extremely polite and are great people and listen to advice or at least will consider it.

I do remember when I was a kid and around cars I for sure didn't get in the way and I asked questions and didn't interrupt the 'grown ups' as I respected they're property. Hell even now when I look in a rod I pull my hands behind my back so I don't scratch anything or touch it.

Respect I guess begins at home, many of the kids are latch key kids with two working parents, can't fault that, things have changed, but letting young kids get away with sassing or being obnoxious without doing anything about it is just IMHO neglecting the responsibility of parenting. I guess I was just raised old school and I learned respect because I wasn't allow to get away with disrespecting adults. Back in the day neighborhoods were more like extended families, if you sassed a neighbor or vandalized they're property, its a sure thing you WOULD'NT do it again thats for sure, at least in my neighborhood.

Oh well, sorry to rant, I guess I'm just getting old, but respect and simple manners are sometimes hard to find these days. Thank God for the parents that still make they're kids behave.

 

Regards,

 

Old Man Lone

[David K]

lone,

 

i am 22 and i was raised the old fashioned way by a father who was a few years older than me when i was born. i have never found myself particpating in these big groups of people my age because they are rude, ignorant, and plain stupid.

 

of course i was beat if i did anything wrong. it did good for me and i will beat the living hell out of my kids if it comes down to them acting like people my age today.

[SleeperZ]

Hey Tom, speaking of fuel pumps, I hope the bad one you had was not the one I sold you? (did I sell you one?) I am putting 260hp (14 psi at 5800' elevation) to the wheels with the junkyard Bosch pump, no fuel pressure or flow problems that I am aware of. I will soon find out what it is made of when I install my 370cc injectors...

[Lockjaw]

Ya ediquette at the Drag Strip stinks these days.

Usually when we go the ricers always go thru the waterbox, and then spread it all down the track.

 

They also get all over the staging area's too. I just get up there, rev it up a little and hammer down, and if I run over someone's foot, to bad for them.

 

It is pretty frustrating, and it is hard to control the masses. There are always fools doing burnouts in the line to stage, in the parking lot, etc.

 

It gets old, but until the track officials start kicking people out for acting like idiots, I think we are stuck.

[Guest Tom Scala]

SleeperZ,No your pump wasn't the bad one. I was running the Ford Van EFI pump & it's just not up to the job. The one I bought from you I "temporarily" lent out to a friend who,ahem,kind of forgot to give it back. He's running nitrous on a Mustang and is using it as a booster pump. It's still in his car and it's working good for him. Oh well,he paid for alot of beer back in the old days when I was broke so I figure I'll call it even.

[fl327]

i havent had the chance to run my turbo setup at the strip yet, and dont look forward to it, because i dont get to line up with chevelles and maros and blow their doors off anymore

instead the turbo 6 gets to fight dsms and hondas out here, im not that upset its the racing that counts anyways. 14's are pretty good, what kinda setup are you running? im hoping for a 14 w/o an ic and 8psi

ill be happy at this point with it. and yes the import guys have no manners at the track, and for the most part, no power and dont know how to race, ive rarely seen better reaction times than 1.00 and the average time is 17.1 or something like that. just sickening. and most of their clutches cant hold up to the waterbox and they get like one spin before you hear it slip, and then they go to the line and drag it down the track. sucks i tell ya, but in a couple weeks ill go kick some honda a$$

[Guest livewire23]

hey, being young is no excuse to be rude and stupid. Im 17,and im trying to absorb everything i can from those who know better. I think I spent the last 3 weeks talking to everyone who knows anything about a chevy. I have to be the most respected honda runner among the chevy crowds in my school. Although I still park with the ricers. But thats a pointless story. Domestics and imports are both cool, but domestic imports are the best All hail the wise, those who know, and those who teach.

[Trevor]

It isn't just the youngsters who need etiquette lessons these days. At the ZCAR show last Saturday there was a 50-ish guy leaning his elbows on a pristine 240Z front fender to get a long close look at the engine bay. (No, it Wasn't his car) Worse even, he had a COKE can in his hand!!! Dripping condensate on paint that has never seen rain, risking a scratch or a dent.

 

I was reminded of the overhead engine bay shot in the JTR book. You see feet standing on the fender - the caption says something like " don't do this - fenders dent easily".

[Guest zfan]

Those 240Z fenders dent very easily. I know because someone did it to mine after it left the body shop I have had people lean on my car and lay up against it, one kid spilled ice cream on it.

 

I sometimes hate car shows!

 

Mike

[t-tom]

Here in KC at the strip if you burn your tires anywhere on the property other than the box you are gone. Start a fight and you dont come back.