Memphis in the meantime

        The 2014 racing season is officially under way with the Cuda Beast's appearance at the PDRA event in Memphis this past weekend, and the first outing of the year lands on the positive side for the team. Paul and the gang decided to go to West Tennessee after canceling the second Scenic City Thunder race when another track scheduled a race right on top of them at the last minute. It was a good move, and a vastly better outcome than the team's last trip to Memphis in 2009.
       Paul ran the Pro Boost category -- no screw blowers -- and qualified 15th out of 15 entries with a 4.25, put down on Friday. The team had made a bunch of changes right near the end of last season but couldn't get that one last race in to test them. The normal winter hiatus was unfortunately extended a couple of months after Paul's workplace accident that broke his back, so the Beast was idle for about seven months. (Paul's back is healing well -- some stiffness still, but Paul said he survived some nasty tire shake on one run with no ill effects.) A couple of test runs told them that the torque converter still did not have the right configuration, so the team tried some computer tweaks to the various engine controls to compensate, and did pretty well.
      With 15 cars running in a 16-car bracket, Paul drew No. 2 qualifier Joe Baker in the first round. Paul said he expected Baker to go a bit easy on the tree, but the start of the race was a stunner -- I'm embarrassed to admit that I missed snapping a picture of it. Paul cut a good light while Baker was nearly unconscious. Paul still had him at 330 feet, but Baker caught him on the big end, with a difference of .12 at the finish.

     The Beast ran straight and true; one bobble and Baker's day would have ended (he went on to the final, and lost). It was an exciting race, and ended the weekend on an upbeat note.  Now attention will turn to getting the right torque converter setup. The next outing for Paul and the team will be the third race on the SCT schedule, Saturday, June 28.
     The Memphis track is nearby for me, so I got to visit Paul and the team and finally see the car make a full pass. I mentioned the 2009 trip to Memphis; that was an ADRL race and the first time I met Paul. It was a Saturday morning and the Beast was done for the weekend, having made a hard left turn into the wall on a qualifying run the night before. Some nifty driving by Paul kept the damage from being a lot worse. I made a Huntsville race in 2010, but the Beast shook the tires at the start in the first round. Here are a few pictures from Saturday's race; they don't begin to capture all the work the team put in during a long, hot weekend.

    Back from the last qualifying run ---

Time to check the engine ---

Heart of the Beast ---

Doc and Paul talk tuneup, after having analyzed and noted all the computer data ---

Young fans stop by for some Cuda Beast stickers ---

Getting ready to go -- programming the engine control systems and cleaning the windshield ---

Cuda Beast to staging ---

This is after the burnout; at this point in the race, the positions were reversed ---

The finish line ---

Back to the pits ---

"Tell us all about it' ---

Timeslip details ---

Change of plans

       Hey! Isn't the second Scenic City Thunder race this coming weekend? Well, yes, it was supposed to be, staked out for weeks on the southern promod race calendar painstakingly assembled by Brian C. on promodifieds.us. But another track just a week or so ago decided to hold a race right on top of the SCT. That, and some other stuff left Paul no choice but to cancel the event. However, when life presents you with jerks, you make jerky-- something like that -- so Paul and the Cuda Beast team are heading to the PDRA event in Memphis.
     It will be the first 2014 race for Paul and the Beast. The window for healing of his broken back will have passed, so it's time to hit the track. Paul will be running in the Pro Boost class -- down from the Extreme cars -- no screws -- but with plenty of cars and action. Pro Boost drew 22 entries at the last race, at South Georgia Motorsports Park, and a 16-car field spanned 3.89 to about 4.15. "We can get in this," Paul said. "It's a nice track, and it will have the best track prep (the Traction Twins) in the world. We'll be able to throw some horsepower at it."
     At the track, Paul will make a new form-fit carbon-fiber seat. A form is placed in the car, and covered with a bag that is filled with the composite material. Paul, wearing all of his driving gear except his helmet and neck device, will sit in place for 20 minutes or so while the material sets up. Another 4-5 hours later, and it's ready for racing. Paul says the custom-fit seat will be a lot safer because it will serve to better keep him from moving around in the car. As tight as all the safety belts are, movement happens. The more you can reduce it, the safer you'll be. Though he doesn't need his back brace any longer, Paul said he's going to wear it while racing.
     Seems like it has been eons since the Beast has raced. Weather of this writing looks good. We'll keep our fingers crossed. As usual, check promodifieds.us for any coverage. Not sure if Brian C. will be there, or whether there will be online streaming.

Scenic City Thunder -- Race 1

         The inaugural race of the Scenic City Thunder pro-mod series is in the books,  and the winner was Alabama racer Rick Murray. His 1953 Vette was the top qualifier with a 4.23, and made the quickest pass of the day, a 4.19, to beat Keith Baker in a blower v. nitrous final.
       Paul, who is continuing to make good progress recovering from a compression fracture in his back, said he was pleased with the race -- fans turned out, things went smoothly after a slow start, and they got done before the curfew.
       Every new undertaking comes with a learning curve, and the SCT is on one for the next race, on May 24. The next event will go with just two rounds of qualifying, eliminating the morning round and starting the first round at 3 p.m., second at 5 p.m., and racing at 7. Track prep will get attention, too, particularly in seeing that the starting line area is scraped of old rubber a couple of weeks before the race, allowing a couple of meets to put down new rubber on the track.
      Car count was down from expectations. Paul said at least four racers didn't get their cars finished in time to make it. The Dixie Nitrous gang had a good contingent. If his recuperation continues well, Paul expects to have the Cuda Beast on the starting line next month.
     So, a lot was learned on Saturday to make the next race better, and that's everyone's focus. Here's one more shot of Murray's team (sorry, I don't know who took it). Rick Murray is second from right.

Let's get it going

      Saturday, this new promod series will debut, culminating a lot of hard work by racer Paul Gibbs and the folks at Brainerd Optimist Dragstrip, just outside Chattanooga. As detailed in the previous post, Paul is recuperating from a broken back suffered in a workplace fall and won't be able to race the Cuda Beast, but he is planning to be there with the Beast to welcome fans and racers, and maybe do a burnout (my .02: I'd forgo that).
    A big hurdle for this series has been sponsorship. One sponsor has apparently bailed on the series, and most other possible sponsors have already committed what sponsorship dollars they have to other races. So this series, at least for now, is launching without sponsors, but the track says it will increase the payout if spectator support enables that.  It's a bit of a Catch-22, but if you like good promod racing, this should be a good show. Paul said he had a tough decision on the payout -- whether to make the purse levels as big as possible, or guarantee $500 for qualifying for the 8-car field. The qualifying guarantee won out.
     It has been awhile since these cars have run at Brainerd, so it should be a treat for fans. The track has new management, and has made a series of improvements, as shown in the before/after pics below to the racing surface, guardrails (that old one had seen too much use), and shutoff area (they are real low-res screenshots, but will give you the idea). The weather is looking good, just a slight chance of precip Saturday night, but it looks like, at this writing, the only thunder should be on the track.
     The Fantastic Brian C from promodifieds.us will be in the house, providing his usual peerless race coverage. Here's hoping for a harmonic convergence of fans and racers for a fast, fun, safe event.

'Better than I was'

     That was Paul Gibbs' assessment of his condition Monday after last week's worksite accident that has put his 2014 racing season on hold.
    As you may already know, Paul suffered a broken back last week when a ladder slid out from under him while he was working on a house. As bad as it was, it could have been much, much worse.
    I talked to him yesterday, after he had been released Friday from a Chattanooga hospital, where he had been taken after the accident last Wednesday. Paul said he dropped about 10 feet to the ground, landing on his feet, which resulted in a compression fracture of his spine.
      The pain, of course, was excruciating, but Paul said doctors at the Fannin County hospital were really alarmed by bone fragments they feared could move into and damage his spinal cord. So he was taken to the trauma center of Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. After a couple of days of observation, doctors there determined that the fragments were moving away from the spine, thus averting the need for surgery.
     Paul is back home in Mineral Bluff with a back brace that he will have to wear for six to eight weeks. In subsequent rechecks, doctors expect to see the fragments become encased in scar tissue -- sort of a natural protective response by the body -- which will neutralize them. Paul was also fortunate that no discs were dislodged; time and rest will let them heal.
    All this occurred less than three weeks from the start of the 2014 racing season and the launch of the  Scenic City Thunder pro-mod series at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip in Chattanooga, a no-screw-blowers competition Paul has created. That inaugural race is April 25, and Paul said he plans to be there with the Cuda Beast, to welcome fans and racers, do an invocation and maybe a burnout. If all goes well with the doctors, Paul said he hopes to be back on the track for the series' second race, on May 24.
    Details are still being hashed out for the first race. One big sponsor has suddenly gone incommunicado, so the structure of the race payout is not yet finalized.
    "It's a real big disappointment," Paul said of his setback on the cusp of a new racing season, one that carries extra anticipation at being able to race at his home track and pride in a fast, fairer series he has developed. A race preview and coverage of the first event will be here, and I hope fans and racers turn out in big numbers for a real grass-roots, local racer-focused event. 
     

Ready for his close-up

     Here's a bit of fun to get you in the mood for the upcoming race season. This action movie, about a cross-country auto race/chase, made a stop in Blue Ridge, Ga., last year to film at a drive-in movie theater there. The locals were asked to bring their cars out, and Paul obliged, with his pro street Dart. It was filmed, along with Paul giving a fist bump to star Aaron Paul. Now, it just remains to be seen what made it into the final cut. At 2 hours and 10 minutes, the movie would seem to have plenty of time for lots of footage from north Georgia. Anyway, look for this Dart

     Progress continues on the new Scenic City Thunder pro-mod series that Paul has organized this year at the Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip just outside Chattanooga. A flier for the first race, April 25-26, should be ready soon. Though races are starting to turn up on the March calendar, at Montgomery and elsewhere, Paul said the six-race Chattanooga program will fill his season this year. Plenty of racing, without a lot of travel logistics. Chattanooga is less than 90 minutes from his home, and qualifying and racing will be confined to one day. That, and the ban on screw blowers, promise a great event for local pro-mod teams and drag fans alike. Paul said the Optimist strip has already run two regular events this year, and the new surface is providing lots of grip.  
     Paul is getting his blower refurbished, which will let him run less overdrive while boosting power, and the Cuda Beast is all set with a new torque converter configuration. Paul hopes to test at Chattanooga between now and the Scenic City Thunder opener.

New racing series for 2014

 

    The 2014 season for Paul Gibbs and the Cuda Beast is starting to take shape, anchored by six races in a new promod series Paul envisioned and has brought to fruition, called Scenic City Thunder. The "Scenic City of the Southland" is a nickname for Chattanooga, Tenn., and  the racing will take place at the strip run by the Brainerd Optimist Club of Chattanooga. It's Paul's home track, less than two hours from his home in Mineral Bluff, Ga. "It's like a dream come true to race locally," Paul said.
     The track, which is just over the state line in Georgia, has been operated by the club since the late 1960s, first as a quarter mile. It was refurbished last year with a new surface and guardrails. Paul said the improvements led him to start pursuing the track to host a promod series. He said promods have raced there before, but not in a while. The last race there Paul remembers (he was sidelined with back problems and didn't enter) had David Elsberry beating Bil Clanton. He said the promod track record is 4.15, which should fall quickly.
     The structure of the series, Paul said, is as follows:  Quick 8 format, paying $3,000 to win, $1,500 for runnerup, $750 for quarterfinals, and $500 to qualify. If there are at least six cars that don't qualify, they can run in a consolation race for $1,000, winner take all. The races will be held the fourth weekend of the month, starting in April and ending in September. The track will open Friday for parking and testing, with all qualifying and racing on Saturday. Paul said the racing will unfold in two-hour intervals: three rounds of qualifying -- 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., first round at 5 p.m., second round at 7 p.m., and finals around 9 p.m. The three rounds of qualifying should give Saturday arrivers at least a couple of shots at making the field, and shooting for a 9 p.m. final would get everyone loaded up and headed back home at a decent hour.
    The big distinction for this series, and what Paul says will be a big part of its appeal, is a ban on screw blowers. Paul said this will give teams without sponsors or deep pockets a much better shot at winning. Scenic City Thunder is in a good position to fill a void created when a no-screws series in the Carolinas ended its run last year.
     The Beast is ready to go, set up for a late-December race in Florida that didn't work out. Paul said he has one valve in the engine he wants to replace, but that's it. The Beast's first definite appearance will be the Scenic City opener April 25-26, but there is a no-screws race in the Carolinas in March that is a possibility.
     It's shaping up to be an interesting year. The race fliers should be ready soon.