BSB/West Coast Bonneville Fest at Woodburn Dragstrip
#1
07-26-2009, 05:33 PM
PDXCGP Big Summer Bash/West Coast Bonneville Fest at Woodburn Dragstrip
My car club (Portland Club Grand Prix or PDXCGP) duked it out with the Pontiac Bonneville Club yesterday at the Woodburn Dragstrip during the Chevy Showdown. Woodburn Dragstrip has accommodated PDXCGP and The Bonneville Club for the last 5 years by giving us our own two lanes to hold our own small event in their large event. The Monte performed very well as I did not have any problems with breaking or any serious leaks (my valve cover gasket needs replacing as it is spraying a little oil on the intake). I ran consistantly between 15.01 and 15.10, slowing down about 1/100th of a second on each pass as the temperature heated up.
We worked it differently this year than previous years because the Bonnie Club only gets to race once or twice per year while PDXCGP has around 8 to 10 bracket races per year. Our two clubs decided to do the pairings a bit different this year. In past years it was always Bonneville Club vs PDXCGP but this year we made a change on how the brackets were run. This year we raced PDXCGP vs PDXCGP and Bonnie vs Bonnie. That way we could each eliminate our own group. After the PDXCGP group had a winner, and the Bonnie group had a winner those two raced each other for "king of the hill" so to speak.
Since it was suppose to be in the 90's, Woodburn Dragstrip decided to rush things along and get the event over as quickly as possible. We had 4 time trials in total. The Bonnie club had 9 Bonneville's and 1 Grand Prix GTP. PDXCGP had 8 cars: My 76 Monte Carlo, one 90's F-body V6 Camaro, and six Grand Prix's (5 GTPs and 1 GT with a supercharged 3800). I'll use names so I can't confuse anyone. Steve in the Camaro, Ken in a Black GTP, Thomas in a black GTP, Clint in a black GTP, Dan in the Red GT and Joe in the silver GTP. I do not remember one of the guys racing for us.
My first pass resulted in a 15.04, second pass was a 15.01, third pass was a 15.05, and my last time trial was a 15.06. I set my dial in at a 15.05 and it was on to round one. PDXCGP paired up in eliminations by drawing numbers. In the first pairing was a white GTP vs Steve, me vs Dan, Joe (the driver that won the event last year) vs Thomas (the driver that was driving for the Bonnie Club and lost the event last year) and Ken vs. Clint.
First up was me vs. Dan. I took off first because I had the slower dial-in, then Dan took off after me. He came up on me fast (he has a 12-second GT) and as we crossed the finish line, the win light came on for me with a 15.07. Dan broke out by 5/100ths of a second. I went onto round two. Clint and Ken were next, but Clint lit up the red light giving Ken the automatic win. Next, the grudge match (so to speak) between Joe and Thomas resulted in Joe sleeping at the tree and Thomas taking the win. Unfortunately, the white GTP had to back out of the race because of a bad engine knock. Steve got a bye run and went on to round two.
In round two, numbers were drawn again for pairing. Steve vs Ken and me vs Thomas. I dialed in at a 15.06. We were brought out and were about to do our "burn outs" when one of the racers for the Bonnie Club started leaking coolant when he was staging his car. It was later discovered that his radiator cap was giving the coolant system too much pressure and was starting to push an engine plug out of the block. Me and Thomas had to wait for about 5 minutes for them to clean up the mess. As I had the slower time I took off first again, but Thomas was gaining fast on me (he has a 12-second GTP). Right before we hit the finish, he let off the gas, but it did him no good as I took the win light. When we got our time slips, we both discovered that we broke out, only I was way closer to my dial in as I ran a 15.02. He ran a 12.75 on a 12.83 dial in. Next it was Ken vs Steve. Not sure what happened here, but Ken took the win.
In round three it was down to me and Ken. I dialed in at a 15.05 because I broke out in that last round, but it did me no good as I ran a 15.10. I was 5/100ths slower for whatever reason giving Ken the win.
In the final round it finally was Bonnie Club vs. PDXCGP. The prize for winning the round was $100 cash and a plaque. So the race commenced and the winner of the PDXCGP Big Summer Bash/West Coast Bonneville Fest bracket race was......
PDXCGP for the fourth year in a row! WOOOOO WHOOOO!!!!!
We worked it differently this year than previous years because the Bonnie Club only gets to race once or twice per year while PDXCGP has around 8 to 10 bracket races per year. Our two clubs decided to do the pairings a bit different this year. In past years it was always Bonneville Club vs PDXCGP but this year we made a change on how the brackets were run. This year we raced PDXCGP vs PDXCGP and Bonnie vs Bonnie. That way we could each eliminate our own group. After the PDXCGP group had a winner, and the Bonnie group had a winner those two raced each other for "king of the hill" so to speak.
Since it was suppose to be in the 90's, Woodburn Dragstrip decided to rush things along and get the event over as quickly as possible. We had 4 time trials in total. The Bonnie club had 9 Bonneville's and 1 Grand Prix GTP. PDXCGP had 8 cars: My 76 Monte Carlo, one 90's F-body V6 Camaro, and six Grand Prix's (5 GTPs and 1 GT with a supercharged 3800). I'll use names so I can't confuse anyone. Steve in the Camaro, Ken in a Black GTP, Thomas in a black GTP, Clint in a black GTP, Dan in the Red GT and Joe in the silver GTP. I do not remember one of the guys racing for us.
My first pass resulted in a 15.04, second pass was a 15.01, third pass was a 15.05, and my last time trial was a 15.06. I set my dial in at a 15.05 and it was on to round one. PDXCGP paired up in eliminations by drawing numbers. In the first pairing was a white GTP vs Steve, me vs Dan, Joe (the driver that won the event last year) vs Thomas (the driver that was driving for the Bonnie Club and lost the event last year) and Ken vs. Clint.
First up was me vs. Dan. I took off first because I had the slower dial-in, then Dan took off after me. He came up on me fast (he has a 12-second GT) and as we crossed the finish line, the win light came on for me with a 15.07. Dan broke out by 5/100ths of a second. I went onto round two. Clint and Ken were next, but Clint lit up the red light giving Ken the automatic win. Next, the grudge match (so to speak) between Joe and Thomas resulted in Joe sleeping at the tree and Thomas taking the win. Unfortunately, the white GTP had to back out of the race because of a bad engine knock. Steve got a bye run and went on to round two.
In round two, numbers were drawn again for pairing. Steve vs Ken and me vs Thomas. I dialed in at a 15.06. We were brought out and were about to do our "burn outs" when one of the racers for the Bonnie Club started leaking coolant when he was staging his car. It was later discovered that his radiator cap was giving the coolant system too much pressure and was starting to push an engine plug out of the block. Me and Thomas had to wait for about 5 minutes for them to clean up the mess. As I had the slower time I took off first again, but Thomas was gaining fast on me (he has a 12-second GTP). Right before we hit the finish, he let off the gas, but it did him no good as I took the win light. When we got our time slips, we both discovered that we broke out, only I was way closer to my dial in as I ran a 15.02. He ran a 12.75 on a 12.83 dial in. Next it was Ken vs Steve. Not sure what happened here, but Ken took the win.
In round three it was down to me and Ken. I dialed in at a 15.05 because I broke out in that last round, but it did me no good as I ran a 15.10. I was 5/100ths slower for whatever reason giving Ken the win.
In the final round it finally was Bonnie Club vs. PDXCGP. The prize for winning the round was $100 cash and a plaque. So the race commenced and the winner of the PDXCGP Big Summer Bash/West Coast Bonneville Fest bracket race was......
PDXCGP for the fourth year in a row! WOOOOO WHOOOO!!!!!
Last edited by 76MonteMan; 07-26-2009 at 07:00 PM.
#2
07-26-2009, 05:41 PM
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 11,978
great write up, sounded like you had a great time, thanks for sharing!
Last edited by monte carlo 3831; 07-26-2009 at 05:44 PM.
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