The below is a report we give to the good people who sponsor (or we hope to some day sponsor) product for The Texas Whale and Big Red Ram.

Dave Schultz

October 16, 2013

We spent the weekend and Monday getting Big Red Ram, the Vitamin C and the rig ready and loaded for the final points race of the Year. The virtually new engine for the Texas whale had blown in Qualifying for the second time this year back at Joliet, this time fatally and forever (as in barely enough left of it for burial rights) and the engine from the new engine builder wasn’t ready yet — so I was relegated to the backup car (Vitamin C).

Dallas was third in points for the chase, and I was way back in eighth after the two engine failures had me miss 1st round Eliminations in 1/3 of the Points Races. It was my worst year in all of the years I’ve been racing. Doug Duell had First Place locked in after winning the first three races (Bradenton, Atlanta & Joliet) — and making the Semis in a 6 round race at Bowling Green. Dallas had a shot at 2nd place and all I could do was to try to improve my standings a little.

We left early Tuesday morning and arrived in Evansville, IN Wednesday afternoon — so I could drive a truck and trailer with Doug Duell’s Drag Pack to Indy for him. We arrived in the motorhome staging area Wednesday night and set up our pits (including bringing in 00Joe’s second car) Thursday morning.

After setting up the pits, establishing credentials, and taking the cars to be teched in, we took took the engine pulled from the black Coronet (being completely rebuilt to be the backup car) to our new engine builder to be inspected and freshened, and picked up a totally brand new bullet (about $25K) making 909hp @ 6500 and 806TQ. This new engine had been built to the same specs (and by the same builder) as the motor we’ve run in the Big Red Ram for the last two seasons. Duell also has run this engine for four years.

This race made for a very long week. NMCA/NHRA Unleashed had a LSX class racing — and the majority of those racers were not very experienced. It took them a very long time to stage — and there was at least a half dozen full track oil downs as they haven’t yet learned to pull to the wall and stop as soon as safely possible.

Friday night, the Duell’s and Schultz’ threw a little NSS Driver’s Soirée in our pits — attended by most of the NSS teams. 40 Photos can be Found on the “Live At Indy” thread at NSS-Racing.com.

Cutting to the chase, I qualified 5th of 28 and Dallas 13th.

Despite a better light, I lost in the second round when Bates ran a 10.501 on his 10.50 Index. Dallas won three rounds but lost in the semis when he had to lift on a track that had gone away — and just seen a major accident in his lane a few cars ahead of him. However, his competitor (Jimmy Ray) ran a great race and wound up winning the Wally for the event – just before midnight Monday morning. Always easier to take a loss when the competitor runs a good race.

We left the track Monday Morning and arrived back at our shop in Richmond, TX on Tuesday afternoon.

Dallas was able to manage a solid 2nd Place for the year in the Championship Points Race — and I was able to improve one or two positions (official points haven’t been released yet). I can promise a much better showing next year with going a different route on my motors.

Dallas and I would like to thank Fuelab, Royal Purple and TTI for their sponsorship of their Best of Class products — and we sure hope we can add a couple more to help us with product over the winter.

Finally, go to www.OldHippiesGiftShop.com for a big selection of NSS Wall Calendars featuring the Mopars, Fords, and GMs of NSS racing for 30% off what the Cafe Press Marketplace sells them.

If you had problems seeing any of the photos in this report — please go to the Big Red Ram web site.

Dave Schultz – August 5, 2013

The Dave Duell Classic is the biggest and bestist of all NSS Races — or at least that’s my opinion. Dave Duell organized and administered to this race for many years when it ran during the Monster Mopar Weekend in St. Louis. In 2005, Dave passed away and his son Doug took over the administering of it. In 2006 we had the first Dave Duell Classic. When Gateway closed its track three years ago, The Classic found a new home with the NMCA during it’s Bowling Green Race. I try to help where I can with creating and running the DaveDuellClassic.com web site.

We loaded up on Tuesday and Dallas took the rig to get washed so we could leave in the morning. On the way back he called to say that there was a large air leak coming from the dash. After we tore the dash out (a huge jigsaw puzzle) – we found the culprit to be a air sensor switch — only available at Freightliner.

Freightliner is about 55 miles away, so I fought 3 hours of Houston evening rush-hour traffic, I was back to the shop and had the Coronado back together by late night, so we could still leave in the morning.

We (four of us with my wife and youngest daughter PLUS 4 dogs!) left the shop at 9AM and arrived at our usual overnight stopping point in Jackson, TN at about 11PM. After an early start Thursday morning we were at the track at noon. I had to bring a 60 Plymouth fender for someone who was meeting me at the track — and he was there waiting on us — so we dealt with taking that to him before setting up the pits.

Also waiting for us was another trailer flat. I buy a new set of Load Rated G Goodyears every year for about two grand, but still have more than my share of the tires loosing their tread cap. This year I tried a set of Gladiators — but two have so far developed bubbles. This bubble was on the inside and we didn’t see it until it popped. It looks like I need to spring $5000 for a set of seven 17.5″ HD wheels and H-Rated tires.

For some reason, the NMCA forgot to send in their people to Kentucky for establishing credentials or tech in cars on Thursday — for the first time in the six years I’ve raced with them. I kinda thought that’s what the extra $45 a person they bend you over for on Thursday was suppose to cover. So after setting up the pits there was nothing to do, but Friday we had extremely long lines for both Credentials and having the car teched in, which limited the Time Trials of many people waitng in the lines. It could have been worse (IE: Even Slower) as although NSS had 57 cars — every other class was smaller than I’ve ever seen. Even though the weather was great — I’ve never seen such a small turnout at a Bowling Green race. Money is tight, diesel and race fuel is more expensive — and I guess fewer people are able to go racing. I know my personal out of pocket is at an all time high since Bowling Green’s 900 miles in my closest race.

The “Newly Freshened” engine in my Wagon blew up in qualifying at the last two NMCA races — the last time destroying the block and crank. So my backup car “Vitamin C” was pressed into action. Dallas has two years on his motor without issue (knock on wood — so I bought all of the parts and pieces to the people that built his engine to see what it will cost to get an engine like his, which is a clone of Doug Duell’s.

Speaking of Doug, he won all three of the first NMCA races (and runnered up in this one) so the rest of this year is relegated to getting the best position we can, and tweaking the cars, as the Championship is in the Bag for Doug.

I also have a new engine in the Vitamin C, but I had a little bit of consistency issues with the car this weekend. It was all over the map, and the weather station couldn’t accurately predict what I’d run based on my previous run. I’m not sure if it is the engine of maybe the converter — but I’ll get it ironed out before the next race in Norwalk — which is at the end of this month. Dallas’ car was dead nuts on all weekend — even though we made a rear shock change from QA1 to AFCO.

Saturday we had a Class race — with Dallas in FX and I in NSS/C running in the two largest classes. I turned on the Stupid bulb on in the second round. Dallas however won the FX class and the $1000 for the second year in a Row.

One of the other benefits of the Dave Duell Classic is a Driver’s Dinner — with a lot of sponsors giving some pretty good swag for the Driver’s Only raffle. Sure wish I would have won the convertor. Need to find a good convertor sponsor!

Sunday I had Duell on the tree in the second round by a pretty good margin, but took too much stripe when the car out of no where ran a tenth faster than the computer said it would. Dallas went four rounds, but after a .004 light in second round and .008 in the third round — he turned on the stupid bulb against Duell in the fourth – having to settle for the semi-final cash. Duell went to the finals and he too red lit. Actually there were a heck of a lot of red lights all weekend long — and the ratio of red lights in the right lane seemed like it was 5:1. Weird.

That’s my story — and I’m sticking to it!

Sometimes you’re the bug — and sometimes the windshield. So far this year, I’ve been the bug.

We left for the shop early Tuesday morning with the Texas Whale and Big Red Ram, and drove to a truck parking lot on the AR/MO state line. Wednesday morning we woke up to a flat on the stacker.

We put on a spare and heading to a truck stop to fix the tire. It was found that the wheel actually had the leak — and so we’d be without a spare until we got back home. On the road an hour late, we finally arrived at the racer staging area at about 6PM — the 17th in line. Thursday we entered the pits at about 11AM, unloaded the cars, set up the pit, established credentials, and teched in the cars. When we returned we noticed the air bags on the street side of the trailer was flat. A look underneath found that the control valve was broke off. Fortunately I carry a spare so an hour later that problem was resolved. Dallas needed a new set of slicks on the Big Red Ram — and so we spent about four hours dealing with that as Mickey Thompson’s generator and air compressor was broken.

Friday we were given two Time Trials in the morning and then two qualifying in the evening. The third qualifying was scheduled for Saturday, as was the 1st round of Eliminations. Dallas’ car ran dead nuts on his 9.50 index all week end long. My car had a new bullet with 4 passes on it. It ran 9.65 off the trailer without weight on the first pass – which was what I was expecting.

For the second Qualifying my Weather Station & Crew Chief Software said that based on the last run I’d run a 9.75 (my Index) if I bolted on 100 pounds. When I picked up the slip I was a 1/2 a 1/10 faster than expected and my 60′ was off 2 numbers. I guess I attributed that inconsistency to my rings starting to seat.

For the first round of qualifying, I like to run a number slower (9.76) to get into the show — then I press it on the remaining qualifying runs. The computer said I needed to add 68 pounds to the empty weight box to hit that number. I was both disappointed and confused when the time slip said I ran a 9.78 — but that was only 2 numbers off and had me as the #7 of 21 racers in NSS. Later in the evening, the computer said that based on the 9.78 pass, I’d run a 9.752 with the same weight. I was shocked when the slip said 9.888 with a horrible 60′.

The car felt good, wasn’t making any noises, and I good oil pressure — but the inconsistency was indicating a bad thing. In the morning we warmed up the car and ran the valves — and there wasn’t any issues there, so we checked the timing — dead on at 34 degrees. I guess I felt that I must have spun worst than I’d thought the night before. On the third qualifying run the car was lazy off the line affecting my RT and 60′ but was going down the track well. I had an opportunity to glance at the oil pressure at about the 1000′ and it was on the right area (too fast to look at exact number) of the gauge. Then between the MPH cone and the Finish line there was an explosion that about lifted the hood off the car and it felt like I had a front flat (the starter beating against the tire and control arm). When I saw that I still had control I flicked off the ignition and looked in my mirror to see a big cloud of smoke. I moved over to the wall and applied brakes when I was down to about 50mph (as my slicks were oiled up). I hopped out of the car and opened the hood (as I thought I had a fire) while a track member jumped the wall to slide a tray under the motor. Back at the line, many thought I’d wrecked because all they saw was flashing lights through the smoke, and my car against the wall when it started to clear. Track guys started bring me pieces on my aluminum block. I was put on a flat bed and taken to the pits.

I picked up the above slip on the way back. In my pit, I found a hole big enough to put your fist through, with a piston-less rod.

Dallas qualified well and was matched up with Mike Sanders in the first round of eliminations. We had the car set up to run a 9.50 on the money — but Dallas broke out 2/1000 second too fast with a 9.498.

We loaded up that night and got to bed at about 1AM. We were up at 5AM — but were blocked in until about 7AM. 1100 miles and 17 hours later and we pulled into the shop. Unloaded the cars and yanked the motor out.

The bottom line is that there was a rod bolt or bearing failure and the engine is now a $25,000 paperweight, as is the transmission case. I’ll be in the Vitamin C for the next couple of races.

A couple of the track photos:

 

Sponsor Report

The Barry Nats

Dave Schultz – May 20, 2013

This was a first time Nostalgia race & show held last weekend in Memphis, TN. The NSS racers refer to it as the "Barry Nats" because Barry Camp was responsible for the NSS Class of the race — but a shout out should go to Jimmy Ray for all of his involvement with details, sponsor, and the Driver's Dinner on Friday night.

My wagon was still waiting for another head gasket to finish putting the engine together after a freshen up following a issue during qualifying in Atlanta — so the Vitamin C (our backup car) was again pressed into action for this non-points race. Dallas was driving the Big Red Ram.

We left Thursday at 6Am and drove through the remnants of a bad storm that tore up the Fort Worth area the night before. We arrived at the track at 6PM. It rained all night and until about noon Friday. The track was dried and went hot at about 3PM, and we were able to make a Time Trial and a pair of Qualifying passes. Saturday we made two more Qualifying hits at noon and 2PM, and then went into Eliminations at 4:30.

 

Dallas Qualified 8 and I qualified 11 of 22 cars. Dallas won his first two rounds, but Barry Camp has his number this year — and took him out in the third. My guy was running too fast — so my plan was to push him to break out and give him the stripe at the last minute. It was a good plan, and I gave him 5' — but my light sucked worse than his (by.020) and I should have given him 7'-8'. We had a double break out with his 10.967 to  my 10.961 on a 11.0 Index. I'd been chopping the tree down on Friday, but couldn't cut a good light on Saturday. It turns out my slicks on the backup car were bald and each 60' was worse than the one before, which I'm sure had a little to do with it — but I really was just having one of those days on the tree when you need .025 or less to win against these guys.

Below are some photos I took on my cell phone of the event. They're far from good quality — but you might enjoy seeing what was at the event just the same.

 

The following is a recap of the most recent race that we send to our sponsors, and prospective sponsors.

 

The second race in the NMCA’s Championship series is the NMCA/NMRA/NHRA combined race at Atlanta International Dragway, in Commerce, GA.

Dallas and I left the shop at 9AM (Central) on Wednesday and arrived at the track’s motorhome staging area 900 miles away at 2:30AM (Eastern) on Thursday. The trip was relatively uneventful other than driving through very high winds, which caused the 11′ corner trim on the stacker to come loose — having Dallas on the roof in 40MPH winds to cut it loose for me.

We set up the pits (high winds — so there were no awnings or banners this week), established credentials, and took the cars to get teched in. While teching in we looked at the track, which was was yellow/green from a thick coating of pollen. In fact we’d use a California duster on the cars three times a day for the whole weekend — and the below photos are about 4-5 hours worth of pollen on cars. It also was all over the inside of our trailer, in the tool box, in the motorhome, on the weather station computer — all over!

A bad storm was due to hit Commerce Thursday night, and so we put everything up for the night. The storm had strong winds with driving rain during the night — rocking the coach pretty good. In the Morning we got the cars out and set up the pits again.

Friday morning was off to a late start for the track. The Atlanta track crew has to be the worse at a NHRA track. They’re slow, arrogant, and inept — and they were about as bad this year as they’ve been in years past. Frankly I hate going to this track — and have the worse luck there.

Time trials were suppose to be from noon to 3PM, but they called us to the lanes an hour late. We waited in the staging lanes for 2 hours before being able to make the first of the three passes we had hoped for. Dallas and I were able to be fast enough (for any extreme weather change during the weekend) when we made our base run.

I (7601)  wanted to run the C/FX (9.75) Index, and Dallas (7602) wanted to run B/FX (9.50 seconds), so we were in good shape. It was to be the only Time Trial we were to make as 84-year-old Willard Kinsler flipped his car at the 330′ cone — and it took hours to get that all squared away.

The first Qualifying runs were to have been at 3PM — but wound up being at closer to 6PM. I always try to set my car to be 2/100 a second slower (9.77) than the index, so I can get in the show immediately — then use the next two qualifying passes to get closer to #1 Qualifying position. We do the same for Dallas’ car.

Dallas and I ran each other in the 1st qualifying pass, the photo of which is the top photo. My car felt good, and the time slip with a 9.769 showed that I had my car right to within 1/1000 a second of the planned 9.77. Dallas was 32/1000 a second off his — which we consider good for a first round. It was good enough for me to be the #3 Qualifier and Dallas #5 out of 15 NSS cars.

The saying is that your car always runs best before the engine blows — and as I was coming back from the pits the engine started to not sound right. A quick look showed a broken lifter, a broken pushrod, two bent pushrods, and a pair of hosed rollers. We carry 11 tubs of parts — but not enough to fix this — plus I was certain we’d find more damage. So I was out, but at least I got qualifying points.

After three qualifying passes — my single pass held up for a #5 Qualifier and I believe Dallas was #6. Dallas won his first round — but had a minor mechanical problem while moving into the burnout box — and so he lost his second round.

The rain came after the second round — and so the Semis and Final will take place in Joliet this July.

We left the track and 3PM Sunday and arrived home at 4AM Monday. My engine has since been torn down (other issues found), parts ordered and it will be ready for the Hot Rod Reunion in June. We have a pair of non-points races in Ennis and Memphis before then — that I will run in the back up car – Vitamin C.

MoparStyle Racing is very pleased to announce that Fuelabs has selected our Texas Whale and Big Red Ram as two of the Nostalgia Super Stock Cars that they will sponsor their fuel systems on.

Fuelab is the fuel system of choice for NMCA champions Doug Duell and Andy Warren, and we’re very please to be able to have such high end equipment on our race cars. If you’ve been experiencing reliability problems with you current fuel pump, filter, or regulator; or it is getting a little long on the tooth — you owe it to yourself to check out the Fuelabs systems. They have a digital fuel pump for virtually every fuel and virtually every need.

March 2013 Sponsor Report

NMCA’s First Points Series Race – Bradenton, Fl

or how some events you’re the pigeon, and some events you’re the statue

Dave Schultz in the Texas Whale – Dallas Schultz in the Big Red Ram

March 26, 2013 – Dave Schultz

Bradenton, Florida is the first NMCA six Point’s Races for 2013. Not only is it a long haul for us Texans — but for some reason weird stuff always happens when we go to this race. Last year it was the Generator of the coach going out as soon as we pulled in. In other year’s past we’ve had the rig stuck in the sandy pits; a blown engine, events held over to Monday, and one year a farmer was plowing at the top of the track in a 45mph headwind — creating dunes on the track. The Tampa area being the Tampa area — means daily rain.

First a quick recap of 2012. Dallas was in the Top 10, and I was in the lead for the Championship going into the final Points (Double Points) race at Indy in October. I lost the Championship by one round, when I didn’t cut a good enough light against 00-Joe at 2AM. I did manage to win a NHRA Wally in Houston in November, and was chosen by fellow NMCA racers as “Ambassador of the Year” at the PRI convention in December.

During the winter of 2011, we’d spent $50,000 making Big Red Ram ready for Dallas – so it was good to go for 2013 with very little work required. The winter of 2012 was time to make the Texas Whale right. It’s engine was pulled for the team’s spare and the Coronet’s previous engine was freshened and modified for the Whale. The car also received shocks all of the way around, a new converter, new custom headers, a gear change from 4.68 to 4.34. There were also some 4-link and other upgrades made.

A lot of work was performed on the Whale over the winter

We never got a chance to T&T the car before the race — just make two light passes at a local track to ensure all of the changes held together. Wound up getting a front flat that couldn’t be repaired. New tires were ordered and mounted just before loading up for Bradenton.

On Tuesday March 19th we loaded the rig with the cars, parts, and supplies to last a week away from home. Just as we were to knock off for the day a leak was discovered in the air tank that supplies the stacker’s air bags. Dallas got it slowed down to 1 pound a minute without air from the truck — but maintaining the proper air when the truck was running. There was no way to get a replacement tank quickly.

We left at 6AM and were to meet our Pit Buddy Doug Duell at a Walmart in Lake City, Fl for the night; then we’d leave at 8AM to convoy the last 225 miles to Bradenton. However, while running at about 70 on I-10 in the Panhandle, I saw a cloud of black smoke explode in my right mirror and the trailer starting to jacknife to the right. I got her straighten and stopped on the the narrow right shoulder.

Blew two relatively new G-Rated tires. 3 hours and $250 lighter we got back on the road

I put new 6 new trailer tires on every other year at the cost of over $2500, and we always have 110 pounds in the tires before we leave home. So after consulting Google and making some phone calls, I found a tire service willing to come out and put my two spares on the trailer. Three hours and $250 lighter to Mountain Man’s twin brother, the spares were on the trailer, and a cheap (wrong size and wrong rating — but only available) spare was mounted on my 7th rim. We got to the Walmart at 1AM — and caught 5 hours sleep.

In the morning all showered up and ready to go — we see that one of the tires on the other side had lost its entire tread. Fortunately there was a truck tire place fairly close by that had 6 new G-Rated 235/80-16 14-ply trailer tires of a different brand than Goodyear — who I’ve lost all patience with. Doug left for the track to get a decent pit for both rigs and we headed to the tire dealer.

another couple of hours and couple thousand dollars and we again were on the road

As we got back on the road — Doug called to say that I-75 was at a standstill because of a truck fire. So we plot a scenic route, which is always interesting for a 82′ rig, and head to the track the long way. We get to the track at 2; had the pit set up, established credentials and teched the cars by 4; and headed to the lanes before they closed them at 5.

quick pit set up then head to the lanes for a TT before they Closed. First pass had a perfect light.

First pass off the trailer I cut a .000 light and ran the fastest pass that car had ever made. I made three TT passes with a .000 light, -.002 light, and .011 light. I wanted to run the 9.50 Index, but the wind was picking up to where we had to take down all the banners and awnings, and the air was getting bad. Friday was bad, but it got worse Saturday, and even worst Sunday — where the head/cross wind was 40mph. To make a long story short — I declared for the 9.75 index and qualified 6th of the 12 racers entered in the NSS Class. Dallas did better with a #3 Qualifying. I was chopping down the tree in Qualifying with a .014, -.011, and .020 lights.

Dallas and I both won our first rounds, as did Duell, Camp, Sanders, and Stansbury. The bad news was Dallas and I were on the bad side of the ladder and had to meet each other in the next round. I had both cars tuned (with weight using the Chew Chief 7 Predictor) to dead on, so that we would leave it to our lights. Dallas had also been having good lights. However, I screwed up and went -.008 red at the same time Dallas was napping a little.

Father and son show down. Father goes .008 Red!

The other winners were Duell, who would get the bye in the next round; and Camp — who’d go up against Dallas. Dallas had a better light than Barry — but took too much of the stripe in a Double-breakout — putting Barry in the finals against Doug. Doug won the event in a close race.

I’d like to take a minute to thank Randy at Royal Purple, Sam at TTI Exhaust, and Don at Crew Chief for sponsoring us with their best of class products — and promise them we’ll do better in Atlanta.

I’d also like to thank new sponsor Brian at Fuelabs; for sponsoring us with the the fuels pumps, filters and regulators that champions like Doug Duell and Andy Warren have on their cars.

Looky who is in the far lane

Thanx for those who voted. You can vote once per day, and the friends of the Top Five are doing it. Please help keep the Texas Whale in First.

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