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It’s day two of the Shakedown At The Summit and class calls are about to begin for the day. The weather looks to be better than yesterday so you can expect some fast times for sure.
After a full day of thrashing Mark Woodruff and his team are ready for qualifying today in Radial vs The World. The engine broke a camshaft and their engine builder flew in from Florida yesterday to help get the car ready for action.
Chris Cadotto had some major struggles yesterday during qualifying. During Q1 the truck spun the tires and didn’t make a clean hit. For Q2 the Dodge wouldn’t start due to a bad starter wire. The team came back up to make a test hit but had an electrical fire in the lanes due to the previous wiring issue. They got everything fixed and are ready to move forward today in Q3 of Outlaw 10.5.
Mike Decker Jr. is working on dialing in his C7 Corvette this weekend even more during Outlaw 10.5 action. "Right now we're just trying to creep up on the tune and get this thing rolling. It's been a slow process but I think the car will be running in the three-second zone before the weekend is up," Decker said.
John Cipolla brought his Mustang out to the Shakedown with a whole new combination and is already seeing improvements on the track. “We have a brand new engine from BES with a Rossler transmission and Pro Torque converter in the car. It ran a 4.65 just stepping it up and trying to get from A to B. Today should be a 4.60 pass if all goes well. BP racing built the car and Greg Myaletti is doing the tuning now and we’re starting to move forward,” Cipolla said.
Bill Lutz is the current front-runner for the hard luck award this weekend. The team spent all day yesterday fighting issues with their transmission due to a bell housing issue and converter problems. After a long night of no sleep, the team was able to get the car back together and make a pass. They plan on turning the car up for the final qualifying round.
Frank Soldridge has started to find the sweet spot with his new 481x engine. Last night he blasted off a 3.95 pass at over 200mph and backed it up with a stout 4.05 pass in Q3.
Ray Litz has been on a hot streak in the month of September winning a race in the NMCA and a DADs series event last weekend. For the Shakedown Litz put his Camaro in x275 trim and ran a best 4.60 during Q3.
Ron Rhodes has been struggling with the front half of the track as he tries to sort out his new engine. So far he’s only been able to crack in the 4.50s with very soft 60-foot times.
Tyler Crossnoe has been slowly working on his car's tune-up this weekend and it paid off in Q3. Crossnone was able to translate the data gathered from the first two sessions into 4.75 to take over the top spot. The team still has more to play with and will lean on the car even more in the night session.
The surface at Summit Motorsports Park is on point this weekend with many cars nearly ending up on the bumper during Q3 in the radial tire classes.
Brian Goldstone didn't make either of the first two qualifying sessions in Pro Street Friday in his Javelin. For Q3 he was able to rocket to the number three spot with a 4.38 pass and has a lot more on tap.
Marin Conley made the switch to turbo combo from his tried and true nitrous setup, and so far the switch is paying off for him. “We only have been out 3 or 4 times and are learning more each time. Went a 4.58 and that’s the fasted pass we’ve made with a Precision Pro Mod 85mm on a small block Ford engine. We are going to be working on the 60 foot and see if we can pick up more during eliminations,” Conley says.
Radial vs The World is filled with cars that are nearly Pro Mods at the Shakedown, and then you have Shawn Gilbert. Bringing something different to the table. Gilbert entered his 1977 Cadilac with a twin turbo, 377 cubic inch LSX based engine this weekend to have some fun with the big dogs. “We entered it to be different and stir things up a bit in the class. The car is still a street car and has run 5.60s in the 1/8th mile, but it makes it down the track almost every pass. We could go some rounds Sunday since the car is so consistent and will give it a shot,” Gilbert says.
Shawn Pevlor has been battling chassis issues where the car has wanted to go into wheelies more than usual. The team thinks they have figured out where the issue is and will be turning the car up more from the number two spot.
Mo Alfaqih wasn’t in the Pro Street field so his final qualifier was filled with drama. Much to his team’s relief, he was able to make a clean pass and get in to race on Sunday. “We ended up pulling a lot of power out of the car on the front half just to make the field. We are going to try and turn it up in the second half of the track for eliminations to go some rounds,” Alfaqih says.
Robert Cox made a big jump to number three in the Pro Street class in the final qualifying session. “Patrick Barnhill tuned the car up and helped us with some adjustments. We also made a few adjustments in the lanes because there was a lot less heat in the track for that qualifier. There’s a lot more left in the car and we’re going to add a lot more for eliminations,” Cox said
John Clement went number 1 in Pro street with a huge pass. “We started working on the tune to stop the shaking the tire. After we made an adjustment to the boost controller and it seemed to like it. Going into eliminations the plan is to just leave it as is and get after it each round,” Clement explained.
Melanie Salemi stepped up big in her final qualifying pass to take the number one spot back. Her team took advantage of the great track conditions and went a 5.70 to end the night.
