A WIN AT THE ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone,

What a great weekend we have had. Sandy has finally gotten the monkey off his back with a win at the Rock. He has a few runner-ups there and has even put a car on it's roof, but a brides maid no more.

The weekend did not start as we had planned. Our first qualifying run produced a 7.14 @ 191 mph. While doing routine maintenance we found a leaking head gasket. That required the removal of the cylinder head and replacing the gasket which took less than 30 minutes. The second and third qualifying runs were back to back 6.81's @ 199 and 203.06 mph, which put us in the 6 th position. This year IHRA shortened the field from 48 cars to 32. Sixth is not bad for a 432 cubic inch small block.

Sandy drove like a mad man this weekend with his worst reaction time being a .020. We were looking back at the runs and noticed the finals were the only time Sandy ran the car all out. The first round was our lucky round when Mike Westmoreland red lighted and we shook the tires. Second round we ran Stacy Hall and he had ignition problems just past half track. Third round was John Benoit who when into tire shake. Benoit was dialed 6.67. Crazy! In the semi's we ran our friend from Ohio, Glenn Butcher. Sandy was .008 to Glenn's .042, giving Sandy room at the finish line. And in the finals he ran Travis Harvey in Russ Farmer's Race Tech 68 Camaro. Sandy was .012 and Travis was -.003 red. Sandy ran it out to a 7.16 @ 191 mph. And the crowd went wild. I know myself, Lucien and Doug went wild.

Like I said, we had a great weekend. It seems like the race weekend takes forever to run, but once it's over the celebrating goes by to fast. Sandy's dad Lucien was able to come down for Sunday and he could not have been any more proud of his son. He took a boat load of pics that we will have up on the photo gallery in a day or two. This was Doug West's first national event helping us and I think Sandy may have spoiled him. This was also the first national event with the new race support transporter (Jeff :). Again, this is the best investment Sandy has made.

Sandy said his phone has been ringing off the hook with congratulations and he wants to thank everyone for that. We all had a blast and we can't wait until the next race. See you there.

Don

Runner Up @ Big Dog! Sort Of !!!

What's Up!

Our last blog was from the rain out at Mooresville. Since then we had an off weekend and prepared the car for the Big Dog at Piedmont Dragway. It is usually held on the first Thursday of every month, but it was postponed a week due to rain.

How about that runner up? Well, it was sort of in the consolation race. We ran a 4.35 on the shake down run. Then came back and ran a 4.35 on the first qualifying run. Going into the second and last qualifying run, the bump was a 4.31. Sandy tuned it up a little and it went straight down the groove with a 4.33. Unfortunately that did not get us in and the bump ended up being a 4.30.

In the consolation race Sandy out ran Jack Gaddy and Jason Harris with two more 4.35's. In the finals against Robbie Kiziah, Sandy ran his best number of the day. A 4.32 against Kiziah's 4.34. Hole shot loss. That will hurt your heart.

Well, that is sort of how we got runner up. We can say we made it to the finals of a race. Of course the pay wasn't as good and we didn't get any press on Piedmont Dragway's web sight. You still need to go to their sight and check out all the hot photos Van Abernathy took of Sandy's car.

That's it folks. Rockingham is this coming weekend. Hope to see you there!

Don

Love That Awning!!!!!!!!

It is Sunday evening and we are back at the house. The race at Mooresville was called off this morning at 10a.m. It was rescheduled for Saturday, April 26th , the week after Rockingham.

As the title says we love that awning. The thing is we were thinking of how nice it would be to have all that shade. Well, we have used it the last two races and it's main purpose is to keep us from getting wet. The other plus is the heated trailer. It has been extremely cold and windy these last couple of races. I am so glad Sandy stepped up.

Friday it was perfect. I believe it was around 78 degrees and no wind. Everyone had shorts on and we all sat around outside socializing. Jay Zimmerman was parked next door and these guys brought us breakfast each morning. Thanks Tommy! Keri hung out with us and helped entertain my son Logan. He will be six on April 2nd. He thinks Sandflea is the bomb!!! Sandy's friend Katie from Huntersville met us all at the Texas Roadhouse Saturday night. She was way cool but has never been to a drag race. Maybe next time. Rain, rain go away!

We are going to the Big Dog at Piedmont Dragway this Thursday, April 3rd. We qualify on Thursday and race on Saturday. Hopefully we will be their on Saturday. The competition is going to be tough this year. I have already heard of someone going 4.11 @ 182 mph in Big Dog trim. If you have never seen a Big Dog race, it would be well worth your time and money. The crowds are huge and cars are crazy. See you there!!

Don

Weekend at the Farm!

Hello everyone,

It is a rainy Thursday evening as I start this blog. I usually write on Mondays but I did not make it to Raleigh this week. This blog is hard to keep up with. If you put it off a day, it is Thursday before you know it.

The weekend at Farmington started off normal. We made two uneventful runs Friday. Saturday we made two great qualifying runs and then the rain set in. What we noticed was that the reaction times varied a little. If we have any doubt about our runs we usually enter the combo race to make sure ever thing is OK. Not today. Rain, rain go away.

Sunday we awoke to beautiful Carolina Blue skies with a slight head wind. We took three thousandths out of the delay box. In the other lane was Ronnie Procter in his beautiful Ford Mustang. I was introduced to Ronnie at the IHRA World Nationals in Norwalk Ohio in 2005, where Sandy defeated him in the finals. Large day for Wilkins Motorsports. But today Sandy goes .027 red. Where did that come from? The only thing Sandy could figure was that the front end was still set up tight from last year. He ran the Big Dog series at the end of last year on a pro tree. He had the car set up to react quickly. It was perfect at Rockingham. Any how, Ronnie Procter went on to get runner up in Top Sportsman. Congratulations goes out to Frank Teague on his win.

We tried out the new awning this weekend and it went up pretty quick. It is lowered in the pic because they were calling for high winds Saturday night. We will have it out next week at Mooresville. Sandy's sponsor, Signal Seals and Fasteners, is from that area and the owner Don Gray will have employees and family there. We want to look as good as possible. See you in Mooresville, NC.

Don Shuford

Monday Night in Benson!

Don again,

Good evening to everyone. I made it to Raleigh once again to help Sandy work on his race car. I always go by his shop when I get into town. He will usually close up early on Monday's so a bunch of us can go out to eat. We left the shop around 7 pm and headed to Outback Steakhouse. Tonight it was only myself, Sandy and Brian King.

After supper Sandy needed to run by one of his pro mod customers, Brian Williams, to help out with some routine maintenance. You may know Brian's name because he and his dad own The New Dunn-Benson Dragway in Benson, NC. These guys have a huge shop as you can see in the photo. Sandy not only works late at his shop, but also makes house (garage) calls.

We got back to the house around 10:15 and decided to relax a little tonight. All the other Monday nights have been super busy getting the truck, trailer, and race car ready. The car is still in the trailer from the Rockingham race and the few things needed for the hauler are completed. So I suppose Flea is ready to head to Farmington this Friday.

One last thing. I set up a comment page below each blog. Tell us what you think or what you would like us to post. Come by and see us at the Farm. The more the merrier!

Don

Thursday after the Rock! My bad!!

Hello again,

It is the Thursday after the first division 9 race at Rockingham. I know I said I would post the results Sunday night, but guess what! You know how it goes. After you lose, you are in a mad dash to load every thing up so you can get out of there and get home at a decent hour. I got home around 7 pm Sunday night. When I got home I had to make nice with the family and all that jazz. My excuse for not blogging is my job in outside sales that takes me down east everyday and an exhaust business I inherited due to my father's death. I get to do that every night. So their, I'm busy. But it is Friday. Yea!

So how did we do? As I posted in the Saturday blog, Sandy was on it this weekend. Two great runs Friday. Two great runs Saturday within two thousandth and .01 on the tree. First round we have Tracy Eddins in his 68 Camaro. Sandy is .01 and dead on, killing 6 mph if I might add. Great finish line driving. Second round we had to run the always tough Gary Bingham. And to make it even tougher, he always has his gorgeous daughter Lisa helping him. Focus Sandy. Well, Sandy is .o1 and one over on the breaks to barely get by the Binghams. That leads us to our last round of competition for the day. Round 3. We are running Mike White in his 63 Vette. Both guys are .01 on the tree and one over the dial with a .005 separation at the stripe. Not in our favor. It was good race, but looking back we might have let a round get by. The weather station told us it was going to run a 4.865 and we dialed an 86. We did not take in effect the sun on the track and it not getting any better. Should have held one. Regardless, congratulation goes out to Tim West on his win in Top Sportsman.

As you can see I posted one more pic of the race car transporter. (Happy Jeff?) It is kind of like here is the last pic because the new has worn off. Not! The trailer's hot. We were all hanging out Saturday night and when we finally ventured outside, we realized it was cold. Maybe not that extreme, but the trailer does have central heat and air and it was set on 65 degrees. Pretty sweet. The only trouble we had the entire weekend was the radiator hose on the generator busting. With the help of Jimmy Flint, Stacy Hall and IHRA starter Mr. Josh we were up and running in less than 30 minutes.

Over all I think it was a very successful weekend. The car ran flawless. I think Sandy has a good eighth mile combination and his driving was on with excellent finish line decisions. The trailer has turned out to be a very good investment and a great asset to the program.

We are looking forward to the next race which will be next weekend at Farmington Dragway near Winston Salem, NC. The dates are March 15 and 16. This is a great eighth mile track that Sandy got his first IHRA win on. We need to repeat that next weekend. The winner's circle is the only thing acceptable. We are looking forward to a lot of friends coming by. So make sure you stop by and hang out.

Later,

Don

P.S. Thanks to our new crew guy, Doug West, for his help this past weekend. Also thanks to our honorary crew member, Kari Arthur, for brightening up the pits!

Saturday at the Rock!

What's up everyone,

What a great way to start the 2008 racing season. It was a sunny 66 degree perfect day. It is Saturday evening at the Rock and we are finished for the day. It is about 8:45 and we are waiting for pizza to be delivered. The last thing Flea needs for his Big Dog program.

Sandy arrived Thursday night and did not have any trouble with the new big rig. I came down Friday around lunch and Sandy had the car out and ready to go. We made two test runs in the right lane and were within one hundreth. Everything looked good, so we loaded it up and headed to the Outback with the Jeff, Angie and Angel Miles and also Robert Holloway.

Saturday as I said turned out to be perfect. We had our new crew guy come down to help us this weekend. His name is Doug West. He is from the same town as Sandy. With the new trailer and all the extra work, his is a welcome addition. So we made two more runs today, lane to lane within two thousanths. His lights were .007 and .015, so we loaded everything up and hope those runs transfer over to tomorrow.

The cool part is we have had a ton of people come over to check out the truck and trailer. As you can see Angel Miles stopped by and Sandy said all girls get a free tour with three hugs. Of course tonight is supposed to ladies night here at club 660. I have a good story about the club 660 in the future.

We will try to let you know what happens tomorrow night after eliminations. Tomorrow is supposed to be another perfect day as far as the weather. We would love to have some winners circle pics for you to cap the perfect weekend. Talk to you soon.

Don