Day Zero of Hot Rod Drag Week is just a dress rehearsal, Day One is when racers are doing it for real and everything counts. The goal for most of the competitors is to get one good pass in right away, turn in their time slip, and hit the road for the Indy. Why would they do that? It’s much easier to get help at 2:00 PM if something goes wrong on the journey than at 2:00 AM.
Before racing started, everyone had to attend the driver's meeting. While there are plenty of Drag Week veterans in attendance, there's a large contingent of new drag and drive competitors that need to learn the run of show for the week.
Alex Taylor ran into some issues during Day Zero testing. The fuel tank on her '55 Chevy cracked and needed to be repaired. Thankfully, she was able to go to a local racer's shop to get the tank welded up and make some passes during Day One.
Jack Brooks is working through a new 540 cubic-inch combination in his 1964 Nova. The big-block is fed boost thanks to a pair of 88mm turbos. Day One was just a data collection exercise for Jack to see what the new combo would like. The Nova made a nice A-to-B rip and lit the boards with an eight-second elapsed time. That was exactly what Jack wanted to see, so he and his navigator packed up the car and made their way west towards Indy.
Glenn Hunter is no stranger to Drag Week, so he wanted to make a solid first run. Well, Glenn made some changes to his stunning 1956 Chevy and the car decided it wanted to put on a show for the crowd. The massive wheel stand may have looked cool, but it nearly ended in disaster. Thankfully, Glenn saved the car and was able to make a clean pass later in the session.
Leroy Edwards has one of the most interesting rides at Drag Week. This vehicle is based on a custom chassis that Leroy built himself. The 572 cubic-inch big-block features a World Product block, Crower crank and rods with JE Pistons. Oh, and Leroy added a ProCharger supercharger for good measure. Leroy claims his ride has ripped into the nine-second zone, but since he didn't finish his license passes, he'll be limited to running 10.00 this week.
Ned Dunphy came out swinging on Day One. The SMX-powered Viper laid down a booming 6.19 pass after a lengthy clean up. While the pass was great, there were some issues at the top end of the track. The Viper's street-mode gas tank breather came off and spilled gas on the hot brake rotors at the top end. This resulted in a quick flash fire that toasted the Viper's parachutes. Drag Week officials did allow Ned to go to his trailer and get a spare set of chutes since this was a safety issue. Ned and his co-pilot got the snake turned around and hit the road for Indy after repairs were made.
