Huntsville recap

       This time last weekend, Paul and the Cuda Beast were at Huntsville, with a drivetrain all at 100 percent, a good feel for the tuneup and high hopes for some 3-second passes.  Alas, it was more time spent on the learning curve, and the realization that the torque converter, though mechanically fit, lacked the right configuration.
     The first qualifying run, a 4.49 at only 135 mph, was because the car wasn't shifting into high gear. The team went through the drivetrain and found the Lenco out of adjustment. Subsequent passes, the computer data revealed weak 60-foot times, Paul said, a best of .101 when the ideal would be down in the .0990s. Plus, the .101s couldn't even be repeated. "We had tried all the starting line procedures we could try -- more aggressive, less aggressive," Paul said, with no improvement, which all pointed to the torque converter. "We were driving right through it."
    Strong 60-foot times usually yield strong runs, so the converter is going back to PTC for a makeover, and the Beast will be back at Huntsville in two weeks for the Bama Nationals (eight-car field), and then the weekend after that at Montgomery.
    Still, the 4.49 got Paul into the race at the 16th spot, apparently when a quicker car had mechanical problems. That put him against No. 1 qualifier and new Huntsville track record-holder Dwayne Watkins, who had a new hemi engine under the hood and ran 3.70s at more than 200 mph. Paul got him at the line and the Beast ran a 4.36, but Watkins took over quickly, shutting off early for a 3.91. He went on to win the event. Paul said Watkins' new motor was a proven 3.60s piece bought from ADRL hitter Bubba Stanton, who sold it with just a 3.80s tuneup, leaving Watkins to figure out the rest of it. Looks like he's on his way.
    Paul said the growing presence of "screw" blowers may force him to evaluate his setup for next year. As currently configured, the Beast easily has sub-4-sec. potential, even high 3.80s, but the expensive screw setups are bringing 3.70s to the southern outlaw arena, so 3.90s likely won't get it done. This equipment escalation may have lots of teams trying to figure out what to do, and whether, lacking sponsorhip, they can afford it.
      We'll be back before the next race in two weeks with info on the torque converter situation.  

Cuda Beast to staging

   That's right -- finally, there will be racing this weekend. Huntsville Dragway is the site -- historically one of the Beast's best tracks -- with 16 cars going for $5,000. The field of competitors will likely be huge, and could include cars that run occasionally, if not regularly, in ADRL. The weather is looking good, though it will be hot, and the track record is in definite jeopardy.
   (FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: Got a call from Paul, passing through Chattanooga en route to Huntsville. The plan is to try to make a test run this evening -- testing is open from 5-11 p.m.-- which would be useful for the first two rounds of qualifying on Saturday night. Paul said if he looks like he's solidly in the field after rounds one and two, he'll forgo the final qualifying round Sunday morning.)
    Paul has the transmission/torque converter back in proper working order, and is ready for his first 3-second pass. He has just one race on his new Mickey Thompson tires, but says they are by far the best he's ever run.
   After this race, here is the rest of the Beast's 2013 schedule:
   

September

Sat 14 & Sunday 15 - Bama Nationals @ Huntsville  

Fri 20 & Sat 21 - Montgomery SOT  

October

Fri 11, Sat 12 & Sun 13 - Huntsville Rocket City Nationals 

Fri 25 & Sat 26 - Montgomery SOT  
   
    September will be busy with back-to-back weekends, but they are both excellent tracks and promise exciting racing. As for this weekend, you can find the complete flier for the race on the message board at www.promodifieds.us with all of the information you need to know. Also, Brian C. should be there to provide his sterling coverage, so check the message board for updates if you can't make the race.
    Be safe, and be fast.

Next race

    The Cuda Beast is parked this weekend, and will not race until Huntsville, in two weeks. Paul said he's glad to have a bit of a break to recharge and catch up on work. If he still had a shot at the Central Alabama Pro Mod Series points title, he probably would be racing next weekend at Lassiter Mountain and Holiday Beach, but Tim Segars pretty much has that locked up.
    We'll preview Huntsville closer to the race date. Meanwhile, Brian C. of  www.promodifieds.us is at today's U.S. 43 race in middle Tennessee, so can go to that site's message board and follow his peerless coverage and some of the Cuda Beast's competition. 

The craziness continues

     This year’s unpredictable season found new tangents on and off the track in the past couple of weeks. Paul and the Cuda Beast team had to forgo last week’s Central Alabama Pro Mod Series races while the transmission was getting sorted out to try to fix the problem of the car rolling through the starting beams. Paul was in second place, just three points behind Tim Segars, who at the time wasn’t expected to be racing that weekend, either.
    Well, Segars did race and won both events, pretty much locking up the points title. Paul is conceding as much, and doesn’t plan to run the series’ last dates next month. (A possible driving job for Ron Stokes didn’t pan out, either, as Stokes’ regular driver was at the wheel.) Paul said the Beast’s remaining races will take place at Huntsville and Montgomery, where the team was headed this weekend.
    When I talked to Paul on Tuesday, he was checking the bottom end of the motor and awaiting receipt of  his repaired transmission on Wednesday. As suspected, the bands were bad, which meant the line lock wouldn’t work properly, but a pump on the front of the transmission was also found to have failed, possibly due to exposure to excessive heat. With the pump not working, that meant the torque converter was also not working as it should.
    After we hung up, Paul kept rolling the transmission woes around in his mind and thought to look at the torque converter, and saw that it looked like it had suffered some damage. He called PTC in Muscle Shoals, and they said they’d be in the shop at 6 a.m. Wednesday to take care of things, so Paul was immediately en route to Alabama.  I  got all this from Paul Wednesday as he was driving back from PTC, getting ready to put all the new pieces back in the car and head to Montgomery.
      While this was going on, Mother Nature, who has rained out events all summer long, hit the Montgomery area with a severe storm, and a lightning strike at the track fried most of the wiring and timing equipment, postponing the race yet again. Track owner Jim Howard says he hopes to have things fixed by the middle of next week, but no new race date has been set. The next outing for the Beast could be Aug. 24 at Huntsville, though there are other possibilities in between.
      Needless to say, Paul was really looking forward to Montgomery. The car has run more consistently this year, in the 4.20s even with the sick drivetrain, and Paul is confident that he’s dialed in on the engine tuneups. With the trans and torque converter both healthy, and the new Mickey Thompson tires that he says are the best he’s ever run, Paul says he wants to hit the 3-second zone “now.”
     When the race schedule firms up, we’ll be back.

Huntsville recap: "A lot of fun"

      That's how Paul Gibbs summed up the weekend for the Cuda Beast team at Huntsville's Rocket City Nationals. The car delivered a big run, loves its new Mickey Thompson tires, but got bit again by the line lock problem. But Paul and the team learned a lot, and will be ready for the next race, which will likely be at Montgomery Motorsports Park in two weeks.
      Paul went 4.26 at 165 in round one qualifying and didn't beat that, which left him about ninth fastest. The race was split into blower and nitrous classes, with an "all run" format. The eliminations were on a 16-car bracket for the dozen or so cars, and the four fastest got byes. That created a tight bunch racing for the next round, and Paul was right in the middle, running Jim Kyle, who qualified just a few hundredths faster. Paul says he doesn't try to max out his tuneup for every race, but rather goes for what he thinks he'll need to win. Kyle surprised him by running his best of the meet, but the Beast also improved. Though slower than Kyle, Paul's big holeshot (above), got the win.
     With the fastest qualifiers back in the mix for the next round, Paul drew a tough match in top qualifier Dwayne Watkins, who has been on a tear lately.  The Beast had been blowing burst panels all weekend, and the culprit turned out to be a clogged fuel filter. Paul said he put in a "3.97-4.02 tuneup" in the car for Watkins and hoped to beat him off the line, but the Beast rolled through the beams, and Watkins went 3.89.
     Still, it was a good weekend. "I love the new tires. They're unbelievable," Paul said of his first outing on the new Mickey Thompsons. "The stability on them is better than any tire I've ever run." Paul said he's really confident on the tuneups now, so the next thing to figure out is the linelock problem. The car was rock steady on the line until the Watkins race, and Paul suspects something's amiss inside the transmission.
     Digging into the transmission and making the usual postrace engine inspections will sideline the Beast this coming weekend, even though it's a Central Alabama Pro Mod series points weekend. Paul is second with 11, three behind Tim Segars and three ahead of several other drivers. Segars won't be racing this weekend, either, while he fixes his car, so Paul figures not to give up too much ground. However, Paul may be driving in the series this weekend for Ron Stokes. We'll be offline this weekend, so check the message board at promodifieds.us for any race info this Friday and Saturday.

     

Race weekend: Huntsville

    Paul and the Cuda Beast team will be on their way to Huntsville tomorrow for this weekend's Rocket City Nationals, and Paul is excited about the race because it's the first time he has been there since the track surface was redone. He said he's heard nothing but good things about the new surface, so he's looking to break into the 3's. On the old surface a couple of years ago, and with a clutch setup, the Beast ran a 4.07, its best ever, matching the number also put down at Montgomery.
    New for this race will be new tires from sponsor Mickey Thompson. The size (not as tall, and a tick wider) and construction are different, so Paul is hoping for better handling and less shake. He has been fine-tuning the different computer management systems on the car to help with the launch (in picture below, hazing the tires just into a run at Montgomery). He has also installed a new line-lock system to hold the car in the starting beams and put an end to a mini-plague of red lights that has cropped up recently.
    The Beast should be on the track for some testing on Friday, plus round one of qualifying. There will be two more rounds of qualifying on Saturday, with eliminations set for 3 p.m. The weather is looking better than it has in many weekends, and Brian C. of www.promodifieds.us says he should be on hand, so check that site's message board for Brian's peerless coverage.
    The following weekend, the Central Alabama Promod Series that runs back-to-back races at Lassiter Mountain on Friday nights and Holiday Beach on Saturdays, is scheduled to resume. Paul is second in points for the series with 11, three behind Tim Segars and three ahead of a gaggle of cars tied for third.
    Be fast, be safe, everyone.

Montgomery . . . ? (Yes) (No)

     5:30 p.m. Saturday UPDATE: Mother Nature strikes again during this racing season. Rain interrupted first round of qualifying. Stopped long enough to resume, then more rain, and the race was cancelled. Too bad. It's been a nice day here, 300 miles to the west.
     It's the second no-go for this SOT event. I don't know whether Paul tested Friday night or Saturday, but his first qualifying pass was an off-the-pace 6.25. Photo looked like he might have smoked the tires after launching. Looks like it will be Lassiter Mountain on July 3rd for another make-up race, for the Central Alabama Pro Mod Series. Sorry to say, but the weather looks iffy again.    

7:00 p.m. UPDATE: Just got Paul on the phone at Montgomery. Weather has cancelled a round of qualifying for tonight, but racers can test, and Paul is getting ready to make a pass. The team is shorthanded this week as Keith Dockery is out with injured ribs, but they will give it their best. The race is on for tomorrow -- 2 qualifying rounds and then eliminations. Will be a 16-car field if the car count is high enough.
    Last time I talked with Paul, he said the Cuda Beast team was planning to make this weekend's SOT race at Montgomery. However, I haven't been able to contact him the past couple of days, so I don't know if that's still the plan. There will be race info on the message board at www.promodifieds.us , so you can check there, as I'll be doing. The weather looks a bit iffy, but this is a makeup of an earlier race, so I'm betting that anything short of a monsoon, the race is on. The racers and promoters are eager to get things going, that's for sure.
    If I hear anything, I'll post it. Paul and the team also have a July 3 makeup event for the Central Alabama Pro Mod series. Haven't seen a points standing lately, but I'm guessing Paul is probably second. Hope there's lots of safe, fast racing this weekend.