FINALLY !!

[BIG E]

Tomorrow afternoon 4 or 5 of us regular Monday night HO drag racers are going to give it a go for the first time since early March. We're usually there on Monday nights running bracket and index classes, starting around 7 pm until sometimes after 2 am! Fortunately, this beautiful TKO full digital drag strip is located in a nice clean garage, so we can have flow through fresh air in from the back door and out the front roll up door. And of course, plenty of space between our pit box setups. Masks (at least I'm wearing one) and personal controllers will be used, no sharing (I've always used my own, anyway). I'm not gonna share in the pizza, either, I'll be bringing my own munchies and refreshments. If it was just me, I might operate a little differently, but at home I've got two 90 somethings that are VERY susceptible to this damn virus, so I can't be careless on the health front.
Have FUN out there - stay safe, stay healthy. Enjoy the weekend! -- Ernie :>)

[ourwayband]

Have fun Ernie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[slothead]

Ernie - I applaud your approach. Being safe is all about not becoming a carrier to put others at risk. There's nothing wimpy about being part of the solution rather than the problem.

[BIG E]

Well, as it turned out, three of our usual five HO racing group at TKO Dragway forgot their families had Father's Day plans for Saturday and Sunday. So we ended up running on our usual Monday night for the first time since the health shutdown in March. Thing was, the weather had gotten about 10 degrees warmer and a bit stickier, so we tried out our host's newly installed garage A/C unit - nice cool, clean air! He had also added some more LED lighting strips and removed a shelving unit, giving us even more space to move around in, and an even brighter place to race. Masked up, sanitizer pump bottle in the middle of the largest pit table, and we were all socially responsible, only retrieving our own cars from the top end, and touching only our own controllers and tools. And, we'll have plenty of other nice Saturday afternoons to race before the leaves fall.
We got in a good six hours of index and bracket racing, and surprisingly enough none of us were rusty on the tree. I was proud to be the only driver that night to have a triple zero (000.0) reaction time. Just once, but it happened when it counted, during the finals for the .550 index class, on a "Pro" tree. It was the first time out with my new build, an older TYCOPRO Pinto F/C body mounted on a modified AFX Super G+ chassis. I love those VIPER body mount adapter clips! The Pinto ran .555 or .556 in either lane, on pickup shoes, too -- no braid. My other class win came with my just freshened up original Aurora Thunderjet 500 '68 Dodge Charger, molded in Lime Green. The body came to me years ago with just the rear wheel wells cleanly radiused, so I decided to add a nice MoPar to my mostly FORD drag racer fleet. Yeah, it's still worth money because of the color (I've turned away offers), but I'm racin' it! The Charger rolls on original aj's aluminum thread on wheels at all four corners, O rings in front and the 3/16" wide bonded silicones in the rear. The lever from a roller rocker micro switch provides the wheelie bar, and this baby runs smooth and true, turning low to mid 11s (1.1 seconds) in either lane. Won the Super Stock bracket class with that car, dialing in around 1.120 to 1.130. Almost had the Gasser T Jet bracket with an Aurora powered Willys, running one of those beautifully finished candy red Auto World Big John Mazmanian bodies. I had just replaced the rear axle assembly with a set up from the old AFX Hop Up Kit. I love those threaded aluminum wheels, and the newer Super Tires .474 AFX rear replacement tires run true. Too bad in the finals I was asleep at the switch and got treed by my buddy for the win!
A really FUN night of racing, it was good to get together with the guys again, and now we know how we'll proceed with our health safety protocols moving forward.
Stay safe, stay healthy, and... Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)

[BIG E]

Monday June 29 - another 6 hours of FUN HO drag racing at TKO Dragway on Long Island. We had our same 5 members running index and brackets all evening. We've decided to hold off on the few new members that will be invited to the club until the viral pandemic is not an issue. Once again we operated with the new A/C unit at full song, as the temperature outside at 6 pm was still in the mid 80s, and the humidity was still hangin' there, too. Not oppressive, but not quite comfortable enough to run with the garage door open. A small A/C exhaust leak was discovered after the first week which was allowing some warm air to bleed back inside. Once fixed, there was definitely a difference in the comfort level. Plus, as we all know, the humidity does change the track conditions a bit. The cooler, more dry air was definitely the ticket!
I had good luck with two of my new builds. First up, a TYCO 440X2 drag style VW beetle (the one without the chrome motor stuck on the front) with Stinger tube and rear engine cover scoops. Factory finished in hot pink, I fabricated translucent blue front and rear windows, and added a few drag decals to compliment the TYCO chrome wheels rolling fat silicones on the rear. The bug was running .820 - .845 ETs and I was able to win the .810 index class. Second was an original Aurora Torino in yellow with black side stripes. MEV chrome reverse wheels all around had standard Aurora TJet tires in front with Super Tires .378 silicones in the rear. A stock OEM Aurora TJ 500 chassis with Wizzard motor brushes turned mid 1.700 ETs, perfect for our slower street stock bracket. We try to run cars no faster than 1.500 in this class, and the races are fun to watch as you have a bit more time to follow the cars down the track for some exciting finishes! I made the final, but the car slowed down a bit to a low 1.800 ET. Luckily, my opponent broke out and gave me the class win. Just two wins out of who knows how many classes we ran (gotta start keeping count of that), but every car I ran was a blast to race! Always FUN... Stay safe, stay healthy, and... Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)

[BIG E]

Monday July 5 - Another 6 hours of HO drag racing FUN at TKO Dragway on Long Island, during which we ran time trials, index, and bracket races. 11 different classes were run during the evening, finishing with a new experiment - turning the power supply down to 10 volts produced some very entertaining and realistic races, with most of the cars running 2 seconds or slower. Two of the cars were worm gear driven!
During regular 20 volt powered runs, the highlight of the night for me was winning a super stock bracket class (1.200 or slower dial in) with an Aurora Thunderjet 500 powered, "triple red" 1963 Galaxie hardtop (Dash Motorsports body). Rolling MEV chrome reverse wheels all around, Aurora T Jet tires up front and skinny Super Tires in the rear, yielded runs in the 1.270 ET range. One of my favorites in that big wooden box, for sure! My TYCO 440X2 powered '32 Ford sedan just missed the 8.00 index win, breaking out in the final with a 7.99 ET! A few new builds still on the table, hope to have them ready for next week. Just five of us for now, but we're all havin' a blast!
Stay safe, stay healthy, and... Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)

[BIG E]

No drag racing for the last few Mondays, our host has been very busy with his Corvette aftermarket business.
Hoping we can get back at it this coming Monday night. Don't forget your mask and sanitizer! Keep smilin' -- Ernie :>)

[BIG E]

Well, we got about 6 or 8 weeks of good HO drag racing in, then two weeks ago we decided to suspend operations once again.
Hoping to get back to the "tree" before Super Bowl Sunday. Looking forward to building more straight line machines during the layoff.
Stay safe and healthy. -- Ernie

[BIG E]

This past Monday night (4/12/21), three of us got together at TKO Dragway for the first time since last December. Just some test and tune runs, then later in the evening we ran some index and bracket races. It was FUN to get back at it! I was very surprised that there were NO red light starts and some pretty good reaction times on the tree, too. We have another two or three racers that will be joining us soon, and everyone has been immunized. Really looking forward to this... maybe the road racing guys will be able to get together soon after.
HO racing is alive and well again here on Long Island! Enjoy! -- Ernie