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.

Helen Marie Gibbs (Jan. 19, 1936-Feb. 10, 2017)

      The Cuda Beast family is mourning the death of Helen Gibbs, mother of car owner and driver Paul Gibbs and crew member Louise Dockery. As the following obituary details, Mrs. Gibbs was an eager participant in the drag racing endeavors of her late husband, Reece Gibbs. I met her officially at a Huntsville promod race in 2010. Two years earlier, while driving around north Georgia looking for information for the old Double H Drag Strip website with the late Ronnie Evans, one of the site's essential contributors, we decided to stop by Paul's shop to see if he was around. He wasn't, but Mrs. Gibbs graciously came out to chat for a couple of minutes with the two strangers who had just driven up into her yard. She also helped me fill in some blanks in the history of the famous Strip Teaser Ford Thunderbolt that passed through the family's hands in the 1960s.
     Here is Mrs. Gibbs' obituary, with funeral arrangement information. Please keep the Gibbs family in your thoughts and prayers.

Helen Marie Gibbs

( January 19, 1936 - February 10, 2017 )

Mrs. Helen Marie Gibbs, age 81, of Mineral Bluff, Ga., passed away on February 10, 2017, in the Fannin Regional Hospital. Born in Blue Ridge, Ga., she was the daughter of the late William and Velvia Lewis White. She was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. Helen was known for her kindness, gentleness and tender hearted. She endured many hardships in her life both physically and emotionally due to illness and the loss of loved ones. She had worked very hard for many years at Levi Strauss and in later years she worked at her Late husbands' side, Reece Gibbs. Whether it was under the hood of a car, at the flea Market or being his care giver, she remained a constant presence. She loved traveling with Reece in all his years of drag racing endeavors. Helen was also preceded in death by her son, Jackie Edward Gibbs; siblings, Wendell White, Clarence White and Frances White.

Survivors include her loving children and their spouses, Paul J. and Karen Gibbs of Mineral Bluff, Louise Gibbs Dockery and Keith E. Dockery of Stone Mountain, Ga., and Gloria Jean Gibbs and John M. McBride of Canton, Ga.,; brothers and sister-in-laws, Tommy and Annie White of Atlanta, Kimsey and Lula White and Junior and Pauline White all of Blue Ridge; sister and brother and laws, Geraldine White and Robert Bruce of Ellijay; grandson, Anthony Paul Gibbs of Mineral Bluff, and a host of other relatives and friends also survive.

Funeral services will be conducted on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. from the Akins Funeral Home Chapel with Min. Sammy Ledford and Min. Ronnie Merrell officiating. Music will be provided by the Shepherd's Trio and Alan Davenport. Interment will follow in the Hot House Baptist Church Cemetery with the following gentlemen serving as pallbearers: Paul Gibbs, Charles Lewis, Eddie Price, Rodney White, David Messer and Junior White. Serving as honorary pallbearers will be Keith Dockery, John McBride, Tommy White and Kimsey White. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday evening from 4-8 p.m. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.akinsfuneralhome.com. Akins Funeral Home of Blue Ridge, Ga., is in charge of the arrangements.

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.