Super Chevy Weekend, Maple Grove Raceway, Mohnton Pa., July 16-17-18, 2010

Last Updated (Monday, 26 July 2010 22:47) Written by Derrick Townes Monday, 26 July 2010 19:13

The Derrick Townes Motorsports hauler pulled into Maple Grove Raceway late Thursday night after a day spent putting the motor back into the car,

loading the truck and trailer with all the things needed for a race weekend. We geared up for the three day event and since this was a local race for Derrick, we aimed to put our best forward, not only for his friends and family that would attend the two day race but for potential sponsors and guests as well. Among the supporters were Derrick's father Moses, who attends most of his races, Cornelius Griffin, or Griff, as he prefers to be called, his lovely wife Kim and his friends Carlos and Carl. We also welcomed Dale, a marketing professional who hails from Alabama, into the pits.

 The car was unloaded Friday morning but it was far from ready. This would be the first race with the new clutch set-up. It was decided that the converter would be replaced with a 2 disc clutch for a variety of reasons. One of which is that Chris is very adept at tuning a clutch car. He has tuned a car to a 5.92 second run. A lot of the magic in making a car go is done inside the bell housing right there in that clutch. All the power in the world is useless if you can’t put it down on the track. Another upside is that it’s a lot cleaner. A torque converter uses fluid and whenever the transmission has to be serviced, be it under normal or thrash conditions, the fluid gets everywhere. It can turn the pit into an ice rink…very slippery and smelly. In changing the car over we encountered some unforeseen obstacles. We knew we would need a different drive shaft and bell housing and we also knew we would have to re-configure the transmission. What we did not know was that our mid-plate (integral to holding the rear of the motor and mating the motor to the transmission) was not going to work. This was not something fixed by a quick trip to the local auto parts store as this is a highly specialized component car; everything must fit just right to work properly. We went to work putting the clutch in the car so that we could be ready for a shakedown run scheduled for 2 o’clock. We patiently awaited the arrival of the UPS truck to deliver a part needed for the completion of the switch and guess what…WRONG PART!  Luckily, Bryon, a first rate motor man/fabricator, was able to make the necessary modifications.  In goes the clutch, on goes the can, and in goes the transmission. We button the car up and we were getting ready to warm it up when we discovered that the starter would not engage.  It used to be a running joke it would be more efficient to put the transmission in with Velcro because it was in and out so much with the converter. We thought having the clutch in the car would make jokes about velcro a thing of the past. We had not considered that the bigger flywheel needed for the clutch changes the position the starter. It needs to be in to engage it therefore requiring another dance with it.  So we undid the Velcro once again and pulled everything apart. We were rescued by Bryon who did an excellent job of assessing the problem then executing the tasks to put us on the starting line for the qualifying round. We pulled to the staging lanes early in the evening to make our first run with the clutch. As luck would have it this would also be the first round of qualifying and the first run for the day. That’s how it usually goes in drag racing, baptism by fire…just jump in with both feet. Unfortunately, the car did not get down the track and Derrick ended up coasting to a 13.002 at 88 mph. We towed the car back and put the car to bed for the evening. The rest of that night was spent socializing with club members, old friends and getting to know new ones. And as an added treat our racing partner Fifi Montrond brought live lobsters as he hails from the New England area. Fifi and his guys are a mainstay on the Northeast Outlaw circuit and are a great bunch of guys. 

 The sun rose on day 2 of the event. There would be two more qualifying attempts today.   We went through our normal set-up and prepared the car while interacting with friends and guests. We towed to the staging lanes for the first run of the day (2nd round of qualifying). We fired the car; Derrick did his burnout, staged the car, and made an attempt at a pass. Unfortunately, this pass resulted in another aborted run as his ET was 8.691@120. Back in the pits we readied the car for the last round of qualifying. We were qualified in the 6th position.  It had been a busy day so far and none of us had taken the time to eat. That’s where Derrick’s girlfriend Kim, proves her worth. Besides being a lovely, smart professional woman she is excellent in food preparation and cooking. She was being helped by her sister Sophia and he friend Elvina so we were well cared for. Again the car was serviced and readied for the third and last round of qualifying. We towed up to the lanes without a baseline for our clutch setup yet.  We knew it wouldn’t be long before we had it though. Derrick’s next run would serve to drive that point home. The car was fired, the burnout was completed, and the car was staged.  Derrick launched the car and headed down the track on what seemed to be a full pass under power…as he reached the top end (approx. The 1000’ mark) the car started spinning the tires. It made a slight move left followed by a HUGE move right. We can tell you that a move such as that car made at that point in the race track and at that kind of speed is off the charts on what is acceptable to keep the car off the wall or off of its roof. The luck and downright SKILL that Derrick used in saving the car is inestimable. Another driver with less skill or a less cool demeanor would have crashed. At 220 mph things happen very fast. A driver has to be aware of everything going on around him…listening to the motor, looking out the windshield around that blower, seat-of-the-pants feel of the car, etc. More than can be conveyed in just this writing. Derrick felt and heard his race car do something he knew it shouldn’t have been doing, anticipated what was coming and took the appropriate action to save the car. In this case that entailed lifting his foot off the throttle and getting the ‘chutes' out. As the ‘chutes deployed they pulled the car straight. And, believe me, that car was VERY sideways. Even going across the finish line sideways we ended up qualifying fourth at 6.561@222.22mph. It was a masterful job of driving by Derrick Townes.  The bad news was that we would have to race our buddy Fifi in the first round. As the sun set, the car was put to bed and we spent another evening engaging with our friends.
 
Race day was extremely hot but we were used to it since we had been braving the sweltering heat since we arrived. First round did not begin until one o’clock so we spent the morning servicing the car and just getting ready in general. We towed to staging just after 12, we pulled to the line, burnouts complete, cars staged.  As the cars motored down the track Fifi’s car made a hard move to the right and towards Derrick’s lane. As Derrick lifted to avoid him the blower popped.  The guys at the line didn’t know it at the time. We thought he just lifted.  Well, what would race day be without at least one thrash. We won the round by virtue of Fifi crossing the centerline.  We hustled back to the pits to see what needed to perform routine maintenance. We took the blower off (no easy task when you’re under time constraints) and Bryon assessed the damage.  He concluded that the blower was unusable. The next question was answered before it was even asked. Fifi Montrond, the gentleman that he is, not only offered us his blower but his parts and his team services as well. We all set to work taking Fifi’s blower off so we could put it on Derrick’s car for the first round. As was said before, these are highly specialized component cars and therefore the parts are not made to be interchangeable.  There would have to be much work done just to get it to work on our car. You know, there are benefits to having a person the size of Griff in your pits.  The blower is a heavy item and has to be manhandled when you’re thrashing.  There’s no time to be delicate or deliberate. You still have to be careful but you have to be fast.  Griff’s size and strength proved itself valuable in that capacity. But make no mistake, along with being a potential sponsor who’s no stranger to a hostile(read: pressurized) environment like a thrash and he showed us that not only could he work on a car but he could work on the car with a lot of other guys hurrying around doing the same thing…a LOT of other guys. The true beauty of that is when they join our operation; we have the ancillary benefit of a guy who is qualified to be a full-on crew member. We made the call and were there for the next round. We would be racing the No. 1 qualifier. The cars lined up and staged for the run. As the light went green Derrick got the Holeshot and pulled out to an early lead.  But it wasn’t to be…his opponent was able to drive around him and take the win This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to Derrick’s This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . A pretty respectable number considering that blower was not built for that engine and there was no time to make sure it would work with our motor. This was not a victory on the track but we were victorious. We suffered a catastrophic parts failure that would send most teams packing. Not us.  Not only did we acquire the parts but we made them work with the help of Fifi, his guys, Griff and James Montana. Kudos to those guys. We spent the rest of the evening tearing the car down for a motor rebuild. It was taken out of the car and hoisted into the back of Derrick’s pickup truck. Again, made easier by Griff’s strength. We ate thanks not only to Kim and Sophia, but Kim Griffin as well. This was her first experience in a professional race environment and when she was asked about it she said simply “exciting”. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.  Our new friends from Alabama made it clear that they were participant’s not just guests. They will always be welcome whenever they choose to show up. One other thing...we were joined in the pits by a true media professional, Phil who is working in conjunction with Derrick and the team to promote us as a whole.  The quality of his ability through his years of experience and professional equipment far exceeds anything we could produce. He is a definite plus. Work was completed, rigs were packed up and good-byes were said. All in all a great weekend. As usual we made some new friends and hung out with old ones.

 Special thanks to Kim, Griff, Carlos, Carl, Kim, Elvina and Sophia.