( September 18, 2010 )

SO!, We make our way out to Gimli for another fun-filled day of Test 'N Tuning/Drag Racing with the Omega.

Upon the arrival of the Pit Car, we empty out the car of tools and begin to get our cars ready to race! Shelly has joined us this time, bringing out her 13 second-73 Chevelle SS.

Once again, Uncle Bob has come out for the day bringing his camera equipement along with him to take pictures of our adventures. Uncle Bob is one of our OFFICIAL photographers of 'Slomega Racing Sports!' ... hahah, guess we have a name now for our racing team. My mom is the other official photographer of the race team. Mom has taken up 'photography' as of late and will taking pictures along side my uncle.

Quickly get the cars thru 'Tech Inspection' and Shelly & I are the first ones up and READY TO RACE!!

Dad goes through his list, about when to shift, what to launch at ... he's LOVING this! After my brief lesson, he walks over to Shelly to conversate with her.

Shelly and I were lucky enough to line up several times through out morning. Had a good launch off the light and the car felt good. HOW GOOD? Good enough to lose my title as 'Loser' and '#2' as I would beat my dads BEST ET from the previous outting of 14.21. I believe this past was a 14.08, I was pretty excited ...

Informing my dad of what I'm gonna try on this ride, RPMs at launch and my planned shift-points as he makes some notes.

There's my Dad again, going over his notes and going through the Time slips, as I'm sitting in line, waiting another pass! ...

Shelly's Chevelle continues to run constanting in the low 13s ... Upon her return to the pit area, her and my dad are discussing strategy :)

Dad comes to check on Shelly and I, as we wait in line to run again ...

Dad's turn to take the car down the track a few times, and see if he can beat my best of 14.08 :). On his next lap, I thought I could hear something funny. The car didn't show right, but before I could alert him ... he had already lined up. After his next run, I ran out to the lineup/staging area and waved him over to our pit area. There was a loud howling coming from the car.

Upon a quick inspection, I noticed the powersteering pump is hanging at the front of the motor. Missing one bolt and the other one just hanging in by a few threads. Noticing that in my little 'track tool kit', I never thought to bring spare bolts.

With some quick thinking, I pull a bolt out of the alternator bracket where it bolts to the waterpump and use it to attach the powersteering pump back onto the pump bracket. Owwww, that was close!

Paul from WILLY'S GARAGE comes up to say Hi and chit-chat, wondering how the car is running. Paul has seen this car come together over the past few cruisin' seasons :) BEST ET of the day ... 14.0096 @ 97.89MPH - Oh my goodness, I'm on the doorstop of breaking into the 13s ......

Shelly & I got to line up against each other again. I was happy about this, as all my best ETs were coming when racing against her. Like previous launches, the car feels good .... shift into 2nd, and then into 3rd and it doesn't feel right. I stay on it tho and still cut a mid-14 second time. At the end of the track, I give it a little step on the gas and the car feels weak and I can hear a rattling, like a knocking noise. Limping down the return lane, behind Shelly ... get my time slip and eventually shut it down and coast to the pit area. Something broke!

With my Dad & Uncle looking on, I started the car quickly for my dad to hear it. It's something in the bottom end. Yup - we're done! Dad blames me for the engine failure, as a way to keep him from beating my 14.00ET. He wanted to break into the 13s himself :) Sorry Dad!. Just before this pass, my dad & I decided to let my Uncle take the car down the track, but my uncle passed. hahaha ...

While Slomega is done for the day, we all stick around to watch Shelly race her Chevelle.

Just after lunch while Shelly was still racing, I was able to get ahold of Justin and informed him of the bad news. Justin was kind enough to arrange his schedule so once he's finished fixing his truck, he would drive out to Gimli to haul the Omega home. As the race day is over, and we're all packed up ... we wait for Justin's arrival. Shelly decided to stick around and keep my dad & I company.

A few hours later, Justin arrived. Turns out he had some truck troubles, then trailer troubles which delayed him. Delayed or not, I was VERY happy to see him. We get the Omega onto the trailer and Justin hooks everything up.

Poor 'Slomega' ...

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