Back on track

     It seems like an eternity (more than 3 months, anyway) since Paul thought about making a race with the Cuda Beast. Mechanical problems and simply the scorching summer heat combined to make racing more or less impossible. But that time has come again,  this weekend at the series finale at Rockingham Dragway. The car has received a thorough going-over and all of the engine issues have been addressed.
     It's going to be a tough field full of big-name nitrous racers, but Paul is hoping to crash their party. Last time out, the Beast ran a career best of 3.94, and Paul said he's looking for 80s this weekend. He said he was going to leave early on Friday in hopes of getting to the track in time to make a few test passes. I don't know how coverage of this race will shake out. The series has a facebook page, and the track may have some info, too. Not sure if there is any live streaming. We'll have to see.
     Anyway, racing is back.

Not enough hours in the day

    
    Paul is getting some well-deserved R&R this weekend after deciding to forgo the trip to Montgomery to race in the Southern Outlaw Tour today. Earlier in the week, he was still aiming to give it a go, but on Thursday night realized that "this is not happening."
   Since his Darlington breakthrough earlier this year, Paul has been building houses during the day and working on the Beast late into the night. "A lot of stuff" was damaged in the engine at Darlington, and Paul has been busy getting everything right again. Most of the work he can do in the shop, but he needed to farm some head work out, and got the job done by James Lyle, one of the guys who prepped engines for Bill Elliott during Elliott's domination of NASCAR. The engine is back, albeit with a slightly different camshaft that may require some tuneup adjustments at the track.
    Beyond the mechanicals, Paul has also addressed the front end of the car where it has been deforming under the Beast's newfound top end speed. As you can see from the pictures, the Beast has been getting a going-over from front to back.

     The Carolina Xtreme ProMod series that Paul and the Beast team are racing in this season is taking the summer off until September, when the weather has hopefully cooled off some. Paul understands that completely, and readily admits he doesn't like racing in the heat either. But with the Beast poised to really break out, Paul said, "I'm on a mission with this car now. I don't care about the heat. We'll go to the next available race, wherever it is." That next race will be in the PDRA series June 27-29 at South Georgia Motorsports Park at Valdosta, Ga.
    We'll preview that race, which should be live-streamed. We'll wrap this up with a feature on James Lyle from his 2015 induction into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.

Idle this weekend

          This weekend the Carolina Xtreme Pro Mod series resumes with a race at Darlington Dragway, but Paul and the Cuda Beast won't be on hand. He's awaiting a part for the engine (camshaft, maybe -- our cell connection wasn't the best today). Also, it's going to be scorching weather at the track, which really makes a race weekend much more difficult than it already is.
     This follows a couple of rainouts that kept the team home after they recorded their first sub-4-second pass at the first CXPM race in March. The above picture is a screen grab from a video of that pass (you can see it on Paul's FB page).  The Beast stood up on the tires and was straight as a string down the track. You can see how the front end is distorting a bit from the speed. An impressive run.
    Eager to get back to racing, Paul said his next race may be a foray into the land of the Southern Outlaw Tour, at Montgomery Raceway Park June14-15.  It's where the screw-blower cars hang out, and Paul is confident the Beast has something for them. We'll have an update closer to race weekend.
    

Don't mess with Mother Nature

 

   Paul and the Cuda Beast team had hoped to be racing this weekend in the second event of  the Carolina Xtreme Pro Mods series, but officials looked at the weather forecast for the area around the Union, S.C., track and decided  to postpone the race until May 11. The decision was based on the likelihood of rain Friday night and a high temp of only 60 on Saturday. Safe conditions for the racers and track conditions conducive to good racing for the fans were the bottom line.
   I don't know if Paul will now seek out another race between now and May 11, but you can bet he's champing at  the bit to get back on the track after the Beast's first 3-second pass. I'll try to catch him at the shop for an update on his plans.

Breakthrough

        What a difference a year makes.
        Yes, it has been nearly a year since the last Cuda Beast news. To sum up the largely missing 2018, it was virtually all testing and no racing. But with so much new about the car, particularly the engine and the need to get its much greater horsepower applied to the track, devotion to testing turned out to be a wise plan that is paying dividends.
       Paul called me last week, just a few days after he and the Cuda Beast team went to Darlington Dragway for the season-opening event of the Carolina Xtreme Pro Mod series. It's a tough group, with big names such as Chris Rini, Rickie Smith, Tommy Mauney, Charles Carpenter, Jeremy Ray and Doug Winters, who would win the race. The races are 16 cars, a mix of nitrous and blowers (no screws), and a sub-4 pass is almost a requirement to make the field.
     The team's testing included taking lots of video of the car to get a close understanding of what was happening on the starting line. Paul said the video revealed that the Beast was going left right at the hit. He bounced the information off leading chassis and parts builder Tim McAmis, who suggested more rear steer (one wheel is slightly ahead of the other). On the Beast, the passenger slick was an eighth of an inch ahead of the other one. McAmis suggested another one-eighth increase, plus some other changes to get the car to launch.
      Paul made a few test runs at Darlington the day before the race, and was ready for the car to go left as he lined up for round one of qualifying on Saturday. Instead, it went dead straight, forcing Paul to pedal before finishing with a 4.02  -- the best run of the Beast's 12-year life. The previous bests were a pair of 4.07s at different races, with a different motor and a clutch instead of an automatic. Confident that they had the Beast dialed in, Paul and computer ace Keith Dockery punched in a stouter tuneup for Q2. They were rewarded with a 3.94 at 184 mph, good enough for the 12th spot in the field.

      Paul said his first sub-4 pass was straight as an arrow and fast, so fast that he ran past the finish line, hitting about 240 before he popped the chutes as the quarter mile finish line approached. In this photo, the front bodywork where a repair had been made is distorted by the high speed.

         Paul's first-round opponent would be pro mod legend Charles Carpenter, now running a Camaro instead of his famous '55 Chevy. Carpenter had also qualified at a career best of 3.77. Paul and Keith bulked up the tuning to a 3.79-3.82 range, and Paul was hoping to beat Carpenter on the line and steal a win. What the team didn't know was that the Q2 pass hurt the engine, and Paul managed only a 4.33 against Carpenter.
       From his shop last week, Paul said he was busy repairing the engine and front body work to get the Beast ready for the next Carolina Xtreme race, April 20 at Union County Dragway in Union, S.C. Now that it looks like he has a handle on the car now, Paul is expecting more out of the Beast. The new engine ran a 3.86 for its previous owner, but Paul is confident it will exceed that, particularly thanks to  the Fowler supercharger, which is delivering huge amounts of boost.
      I'll try to have a preview of the Union race. If there is any live streaming, I'll let you know. Otherwise, CXPM is on Facebook and appears to do a decent job of race coverage. The Beast team is getting help from a couple of new companies this year -- Farrow Motorsports in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Motorsports Unlimited out of Ohio. 
     
       

MoParty time

    As this is being written, Paul and the Cuda Beast team are on their way to Brainerd Motorsports Park outside Chattanooga, Tenn., to participate in the Southeast MoParty Picnic event today. Paul and the Beast will be on hand to make exhibition runs as part of the show. It's a win-win deal -- picking up a few bucks while getting to test. Looks like a great time for MoPar fans.
   This will be the third test session at BMP this year for the Beast, and the second testing weekend in a row, and the track time is starting to pay off.

Paul said the team has discovered that the rear shocks were bad, a problem that was likely cropping up before last year. The car is sporting new Penske nitrogen filled shocks, and Paul said the Beast's tire-shake gremlins appear to be gone.
    The team made two runs last Friday, getting all the way down more or less on one of them. On test one, Paul said the car basically overpowered the track prep about halfway down after a good launch. For the second run, Paul said he let his right foot be the traction controller instead of the electronic box, and slapped the throttle when the Beast started to spin the tires after another strong start. The front wheels lifted when the power came back in, the car got loose and the front lifted again after more throttle manipulating. In what was basically a shutdown run, the Beast carded a 4.60 at about 100 mph.
    Paul said he has his eye on the track's 3.92 promod record. If you can't make the MoParty event in person, BMP has a pretty good Facebook page that can offer information.

Idle this weekend

   Paul Gibbs and the Cuda Beast team had hoped to be racing this weekend just down the road at the NMCA meet at Atlanta Dragway, but Paul decided to stay home in the face of a rainy forecast. When I spoke with him Friday, he said he was expecting the race to be cancelled, but the race is trying to move ahead today despite some rain delays.
   Paul did say that he tested again last weekend at Brainerd Motorsports Park, and one test pass was encouraging -- a 4.29 after a 0.95 60-foot time and shutting off at midtrack when the car shook. Paul said that indicated the car was overpowering the track setup.
   Paul said he is looking at renting the Chattanooga track for a testing day, which would give the team total freedom to run without affecting other racing. We'll let you know if that happens.

Test hit

 
     (UPDATE, MARCH 24: RACE CANCELLED BECAUSE OF RAIN. I think Paul will try the last week of March to test, before  the Atlanta race the first weekend in April.)
    After what must have seemed like an eternity, Paul Gibbs finally got the updated Cuda Beast onto a racetrack, testing last Saturday at Brainerd Motorsports Park outside Chattanooga. In two test attempts, the pumped-up Beast succeeded in destroying its Lenco transmission. Paul said he suspects an air pocket in the transmission cooler led to the loss of a couple of quarts of trans fluid, and on to the eventual end of the Lenco.
     But when I got Paul on the phone this week, he was on his way home from Holbrook's in Chattanooga with a fresh Lenco in the truck bed. He said he expects to test again at BMP this weekend, with an eye on resetting the track's 3.92 pro mod record.
     I recommend checking the track's Facebook page, which does a fine job of covering the racing. Here's video of Paul's first test attempt last Saturday. The sound of  the new drivetrain is incredible.

Cuda Beast test

No racing this weekend

    Paul and the Cuda Beast team will delay the start of their 2018 season for another month as Paul is moving into a new house this weekend. He had hoped  to race this weekend at the NMCA meet in Bradenton, Fla. The new opener for the team will be the NMCA race in Commerce, Ga., in early April. In the meantime, Paul said he hopes to get in a test session or two at the Brainerd Motorsports Park in Chattanooga (I think that's the facility's new name).

Weather delay

    Paul Gibbs and the Cuda Beast team hoped  to be starting their 2018 season this weekend in Bradenton, Fla., but bad weather and a few loose ends related to the racing effort will keep the new-look Cuda in the garage -- but not for too much longer.

    Paul, who is a homebuilder, said the recent spate of bad weather has put his work way behind schedule, so he couldn't spare the time to race this weekend. Also, he is getting some work done on his two duallies that will move car and team to the races this year -- one to pull the trailer and the other to pull a camper that will provide sleeping quarters for the team.

   Still, the Bradenton track remains the target for the season's first race, as Paul has been invited to run the NMCA (National Muscle Car Association) promod series this year.

    The first NMCA race is scheduled for March 8-11 in Florida. That is followed with a race just down the road from Paul's shop, at Atlanta Dragway April 5-8. A likely third race would come May 17-20 at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Ky.  Depending on how he stands in points after the early races, Paul said he might run the entire six-race NMCA series.
    There is a lot of anticipation for this season, as the Beast is packing several new upgrades that should put it in the upper tier of pro boost cars. The visual differences include Hoosier tires (actually, Paul switched for last year's abbreviated season), and a sleek new Bohr/Hammer blower hat.

  
      The new hat creates a vastly lower profile for the Beast, apparent in the top photo. As Paul put it, "The car looks two feet longer." The hat sits atop a new Fowler supercharger,

the company's  latest offering, which in turn sits atop the BAE hemi that has seen just minimal track time since it was installed.  All of those upgrades are being handled by the latest torque converter from PTC.
     The mechanical state of the Beast has never been higher. The test now will be transferring all of that potential onto the track. That should come in a few weeks.

'17 Wrap, '18 Preview: Fowler Play

        It would be gross understatement to say that 2017 was difficult for Paul Gibbs and the Cuda Beast team. Paul's mother died early in the year, and then Paul was involved in a serious traffic accident that put him in the hospital. Any thoughts of racing went to the back burner quickly.
       After a lengthy recuperation, Paul got the Beast out in July for a race at Chattanooga, but did not make the field. In August the Beast went to Steele, Ala. (above), and again did not qualify, but there Paul sensed that something was not right with the new engine. Back home, he started going through the engine and found bad valve springs. Fortunately, there was no damage and all the cylinders checked out at 100 percent.
      But when Paul cranked the car, it wouldn't idle, reaction to the throttle was slow, and then it just didn't sound healthy. Back into the engine, Paul found oil in some of the cylinders. He hooked up the computer to get some fuel usage data and cranked the engine a few more times. The data indicated that there was no fuel boost -- in fact, the car was idling with negative boost, which got worse as the RPMs went up.
      The next day, after a night of poring over the engine data, Paul removed the blower belt and started to turn the blower pulley by hand. He said that if all is good inside the blower, the pulley is hard to turn. This time, it turned easily with one hand. That indicated serious problems inside the case, which Paul subsequently found. It's a lot of technical stuff, but is basically this: A real important gear inside had all of its teeth sheared off. Hence, no boost.
     When he learned that it would take four months to get a replacement part, Paul changed course and bought the latest Roots-style blower from Fowler Engines of Columbus, Ohio. Fowler has long been respected for the performance of its superchargers, and Paul is excited by the change. It's a win-win in every respect -- more boost, less weight, etc.  In fact, Paul said the Beast should be lighter, as the new engine weighs less than the old one. The injector hat will also be new, which means I might have to change the picture of the car on the website masthead.
       So, when will this new combination hit the track? How about this month?

     Plans are to make this race at Bradenton, Fla. Right now, it's in the 40s, 50s and 60s, down there, so we hope the "Outlaw Winter Warmup" will truly live up to its name. I'll be back closer to race day with another post.
    
      

Racing, at last

    The Cuda Beast's 2017 racing season is one that stopped before it could get started, as Paul Gibbs was involved in a serious traffic accident in the spring that hospitalized him with broken bones and a punctured lung. Doctors said a full recovery would take four months; it has been three, and Paul said this week he's feeling pretty good and is back working full time.
    This Saturday, there is racing 90 minutes away, up the road at Brainerd Motorsports Park, and Paul is ready to get back on the track for the first time in about nine months. Formerly known as Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, BMP is sort of the home track for Paul, and the track where Paul tried to establish a promod series in 2014. The effort got off to a late start, which led to problems getting enough sponsors to ensure good payouts, and the track management situation was less than ideal. The circumstances were tough, and series ran one time while Paul was healing from a broken back after a fall from a ladder. The racers put on a good show despite horrible track conditions, and the winner went about 4.20 to take the race.
    Paul said BMP is looking at having several promod races, and this one should be good as the track has seen multiple improvements since 2014 under new management, and the payout is the customary purse for a quick 8.  The only bad part will be the scorching mid-July heat, tough on the racing crews and spectators, and tough to race in. Paul said he's planning on getting to the track Friday night to make a couple of test runs -- good strategy since car and driver have been idle since October. Paul has had a new engine in the Beast that has run in the 3s, but the new drivetrain has just one pass on it.
   I have to admit that I don't know anything about this season's racing -- who's been doing what -- since the promodifieds.us website ceased operation at the end of last year. I don't know who might show up; the race flier features Bil Clanton, and Paul said Tim Segars is another big name that is looking to be there. I'm hoping that the BMP Facebook page will have some results.   The Beast team mainstays will be on hand, including Keith Dockery, who has been fighting serious medical problems for a couple of years.
  

2017 season: Let's test

       Paul and the Cuda Beast team had this weekend circled on their calendar as the start of their 2017 season with the PDRA series opener at South Georgia Motorsports Park. However, a lot of wet weather has put Paul's home construction work behind schedule, so he stayed home to try to get caught up. (The PDRA race is nuts -- 3.68 to 3.88 for the 16 Pro Boost qualifiers).
      When I called Paul Thursday, he was on a roof, but did say a test session is in the offing, in north Georgia at what he considers his home track -- Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, now known as Brainerd Motorsports Park. It's the track where Paul tried to establish a promod series in 2014. The effort got off to a late start, which led to problems getting enough sponsors to ensure good payouts, and the track management situation was less than ideal. The circumstances were tough, and series ran one time while Paul was healing from a broken back after a fall from a ladder.
    Since then, apparently, things have changed at the track, just over the state line from Chattanooga, Tenn., and for the better, if online comments are any indication. It looks like racers are running the place now and are making improvements.
    The main improvement, Paul told me in our 45-second conversation, is the switch to concrete walls (top photo) after nearly 50 years of relying on guardrails (and not even that in the track's earliest days). Racers hate guardrails, which can impale a car or send it flying during a crash. The walls are a huge (and expensive) safety upgrade.
    The test session could come as early as next weekend. The Beast's new motor got one full run on it last yea at a PDRA race in Virginia, a multiple-pedal job that hinted at good things to come. Paul had traction problems early on, but stayed on the throttle all the way to get some engine data. The ET was 4.28 at nearly 170 miles per hour. With all of the pedaling, Paul said the speed with the old engine would have been a good 10 mph less.
    We'll report any testing news. This year's racing will be strange without the coverage by the late, lamented promodifieds.us site. Paul said he hopes to run a lot of PDRA events, which is good because they are usually streamed live and covered in detail at dragracecentral.com.
    Here are more pictures of Brainerd -- the guardrails coming down, a panorama from a big race last year (what a crowd!), and a shot I took around 1970.

PDRA update -- Q2 run

    Paul and the Beast finished their Q2 run about 30 minutes ago, running a 4.28 that left them way back in a crowded, tough Pro Boost field. The car sounded good on its first run with the new engine, and looked to be on a strong pass until it started to get loose. Paul did a good job to save it and get back on the gas.

   

     The team has one more shot to make the field, and hopefully they can climb the learning curve quickly with this new motor. They will need to find almost 0.4 to make the race. I'm betting Paul would say that the seat of his pants tells him that this new Beast is a different animal. The live feed is good. You can go back to about 1:36 or so -- whatever that means -- and see it.

PDRA update -- Long day Friday

 
     Friday was a long day apparently for Paul and the Beast, as the car was pulled off the starting line during Q1, and didn't get back the rest of the day as rain and huge car counts in most of the classes combined to slow things down (Top Sportsman has more than 70 cars).
    For Paul's class, 27 cars made a qualifying run, and at least two other cars besides the Beast had no time for the round. The entire 16-car field will be under 4 seconds. That is tough racing.
    I'm betting they'll spill over to Sunday to get finished. Paul should have three more chances to qualify if they run all of them. Live streaming by MotormaniaTV worked pretty well today. I'm checking early and often. Fast and safe racing for all.

The race is on

        Yes, it's the PDRA World Finals, and it's this weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park, near Petersburg. It's a long haul for Paul and the Beast, and the team will be heading out Thursday. There will be three qualifying rounds Friday and one more Saturday morning, four shots to try to get the new drivetrain dialed in..
       As this is a PDRA event, it will be live-streamed so you can watch the action wherever you are.Paul's class, Pro Boost, is scheduled to follow Outlaw 10.5, so if you tune in and see Outlaw 10.5 cars running, you'll know the Beast will be up soon. The message board at www.promodifieds.usually has the links to the streaming and to Drag Race Central, which breaks down each round of qualifying. 
      Paul is excited to hit the track again, as his new engine makes the Beast an entirely different animal. Paul had to come up with a work-around to get the car to start, as his starter couldn't crank the new engine because of its higher compression.
     Paul had planned to race last weekend at Darlington, S.C., in the Carolina Xtreme Pro Mods series, but ran out of time. He said the crew finished everything on the car about two hours before they would have to leave for the track. Everyone was already worn out at that point, so Paul decided to stay home.
    There is potentially one more race before the season ends, at Shadyside in November.
    Check the promodifieds.us message board for links to race coverage. I've had pretty good luck catching the Beast on live streaming. Be fast and safe, everyone.

Idle this weekend

  
   If you have followed this race this past weekend, you know that Paul and the Beast weren't on hand.
Paul said a combination of too much construction work and not enough time to get the car fully ready  -- plus the 11-hour drive down there -- persuaded him to keep the Beast parked.
    However, the new engine and refurbished transmission are in the car, and he's close to being able to fire it up. Though the season is winding down, big races remain on the calendar  -- all at place where Paul has run.
First is the Southern Shootout series finale at Montgomery in two weeks, followed by the PDRA finals in Virginia and another race in the Carolinas, that I think is at Shadyside.
     We'll have an update closer to the Montgomery race.

At Atmore? (update -- no)

     (Update, about 5 minutes after I made the post below: I did get Paul on the phone, and he said they ran out of time to get the car ready. The engine is in, but the transmission is still off, getting some needed refurbishing. So the plan now is for next week, at the PDRA race in Bradenton, Fla.
Even though the Beast isn't racing, Atmore should be a great event to follow.)

    When I talked with Paul last week, he said he was aiming to be at this race right now. I haven't had an update, and a call to his cell just now went straight to voicemail. I'm taking that as a sign that he's at the track, busy getting ready to run the car and dial in the new engine
     I haven't seen any updates for the race on the message board at promodifieds.us, but that will be the place to go today and tonight for information. It's a Southern Shootout event, and the fantastic Brian C, the creator of the series, will be there to provide his peerless coverage. He posts video now, too. It's all great stuff.
     Fast and safe racing, everyone.

Post-Shadyside: A clean break

    
     The qualifying info from Shadyside over the Labor Day weekend didn't look good -- an 11.99 in Q1 that didn't change. It seemed like something in the drivetrain broke and was beyond repair, and that's what happened.
     Paul called today with a ton of news: The engine blew at Shadyside -- broken crank and a couple of trashed rods. It was a mess, but nothing put a hole in the block (Paul said he'll rebuild it and sell it). He got wind of an engine being available from Tim Tindle, so he started crunching some numbers to make his case for such a big purchase. Paul, who builds houses, said he has work lined up for the next two years, and is working on 4-5 houses now (sounds like encouraging anecdotal economic information).  That helped to seal the deal, so he was in Florida last weekend to make the purchase, a BAE fathead that is a proven 3.9 runner.
   It is more advanced in pretty much all respects than the engine that blew up. Paul could spin the old one about 8,500, and had been pushing it a bit to 8,800 when it failed. The new one can go to 10,000.
    A lot of work is going on to get the new drivetrain ready for the Southern Shootout event at Atmore Dragway next weekend, which is intended as a test session, but if the Beast happens to make the field against the screw blowers, Paul said "of course we'll race." The torque converter is off to PTC for a checkup just to make sure it wasn't damaged in the engine failure.
    So, Paul will be at Atmore, a new track for him, with some Tindle tuners to help get the car dialed in with the new engine. It's a huge step up in the power department. I forgot to ask if the blower hat will be different. I could lose a bunch of pictures of the car if it is. That's a small sacrifice for some sub-4 runs.
    I'll be back before the race, hopefully with a pic of the new motor in the car.

Racing day weekend

   This Labor Day weekend, Paul and the Beast team will return to Shadyside Dragway in North Carolina for another Carolina Xtreme Pro Mod event. Paul was there back on Memorial Day weekend, his first time there, and liked the quirky track.

 

   It's the first outing for the car in a while, though they did go to the CXPM race at Farmington, N.C., last month, but didn't arrive in time to try to qualify.  This will be the first race with a magneto in the car that is working, which should mean that tuning changes will occur and show up on the track.
    There will be two rounds of qualifying on Sunday, and a couple more on Monday before the racing. It's a quick 8 field, and this series is home to lots of fast cars. Check the message board at promodifieds.us for updates or links to the action. I'm hoping to find a live stream somewhere. I'll link it if I do.
    Fast and safe racing for all.