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- Smyrna
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- 2019 Charger Hellcat
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Recap of 2023:
So blessed to find Nicolas Performance. Got the car to Nicolas and fixed all the existing problems, upgraded A LOT and got us testing and tuning. Then we found out the transmission was so damaged and had to be replaced.
Now we’ve got everything fixed….
Now we’re off to the track for testing, dialed in the 60’ and then going to the 1/8th mile. Good day testing and I learned how to setup and launch a three step, trans brake and bump box car. Good day.
Then Nicolas wanted to upgrade a few small things. Then went to four more 1/8 mile testing days before our first event. Then we go to Street Car Takeover – Alabama International. Btw, we have ZERO ¼ mile passes. Don’t ask…yes I was worried.
First test pass lined up with the second fastest CTSV in the world (Mike Kelley).
I told Nicolas, “Not going to try to cut a good light. Just want an A to B pass.” Nicolas smiled and said ok.
Green light go…I cut a .500 light and Mike cuts a .200 light…now he’s out on us by three cars and now I’m pulling on Mike, 1/8 mile he’s only one car length, then the car shifts into 3rd. This car is screaming at me, and it’s pissed off. Was thinking about lifting because I got scared..never went past the 1/8, but we’re reeling him in and then right at the ¼ mile strip, we clip him at the finish line. My win light goes off in my lane!! Hell yeah…OH CRAP, pull the parachute. Mike pulls his parachute, and my chute did not come out…. Now oh shit….pumping the brakes, brakes getting hot…here comes the turn off. I’m in the right lane and swerve into the left because Mike gets away from me because he knows I’m in trouble. Take the huge right turn at 60+ mph..car was almost on two wheels exiting the track.
Then pull over and chute never deployed! I didn’t flip the C02 switch for the chute to deploy. That was a close one. If Mike would not have been watching me and hung me out to dry. I would have gone into the grass and then trees.
Go get my timeslip and to the pits and my friends mauled me!! Jumping up and down. Did you look at your timeslip?!?!? I said, “Hell no, I almost wrecked!” Everyone said, look at it…
..… 7.76 sec at 182.5 mph…are you kidding me?!?! First ¼ mile pass and we ran our first 7 second pass!! I was on cloud 9. My buddy Travis Tucker drove all the way from west Texas to support me. When I hugged my wife, yes…I might have teared up. <maybe> lol
Then I looked at Nicolas and he says, “We don’t do no A to B passes in this car!” I might have now shed a tear…. Just all the time, money and testing we spent and 1.5 years building this car. We are back to racing. So thankful.
Here’s the video of that pass:
That was the high and now the kick in the gut. LOL! First round, good setup, good light .082 and we spun. We’ll dang… then we get the car back to Nicolas and reading the log and watching the videos. We tore up the LSD in the diff. smh
Next day, called Devin at Innovation Machining Solutions (IMS) and he overnighted us a free upgraded LSD. So grateful to Devin! Guys only buy his billet diffs because of his quality & price. He’s a great guy and he’ll work with you.
https://www.innovativemachiningsolutions.com/mopar/billet-hellcat-differential
Repaired the car and went to a couple ¼ mile track test days and all 7 second passes. Then got the car ready for the next race. Street Car Braggin Rights. What a day. All the Heavy Weight hitters were there. Zdung and George Benson, Mike Kelley and a whole bunch of killers. Vengeance Racing had CTSV, Corvettes, and Cameros. We had our hands full.
First round: get a competition buy. I looked at Nicolas, he looked at me…watcha want to do? I said, turn this #$%#^ up and let’s shoot for the world record. Guess what? We did it… 7.61 at 181. So jacked up!
Go to the finals and race George Benson:
That was the high of the high. On Flo Racing network and live, World Record Holder and won the biggest race of the year. Got a Wally, check and huge trophy
Gut punch. Get back to Nicholas’ and find out we almost exploded the converter. We had a small-bore converter in the car..not Nicolas’ fault. I called Marty Chase and talked to Neal….he got us hooked up with a big bore convertor.
Back to testing. Then we went to Z-Max and it rained three days before the event. Water was coming through the track. Sat in the staging lanes for SIX HOURS, then they shut down the ¼ mile and only raced 1/8. I was like, nah, not safe and we wanted to reset the world record.
Came back and tested some more and went to a couple of Daily Driver events, to show off the car and play around at the track. Just having fun.
Next race was in Dallas, TX Street Car Takeover. First round, reset the world record again 7.50 at 184.8!
Gut punch lost in the second round. It was 2:30am and I had the car in 2nd gear and tried to spoil up….didn’t work in a turbo car. LoL
All that being said: In 2020 we tested & raced 35 weekends, won 7 events, 6 second places, 1 third place and thought that was our best year of racing.
2023 Wrap up: Got the best shop and tuner on the planet. Tons of testing days, went to a couple of fun events and had a great time and raced in three major events. Reset the world record three times and won the biggest event of the year. Was featured in six articles and then to top that off… on the cover and featured car in RPM Magazine December edition with a 25-page spread and then won Hellcat of the month on this forum. Signed up five new sponsors and made tons of vendor connections at PRI.
Summary: 2023 is the best year of racing ever!!! Learned a lot, took huge steps in the racing community, and made tons of friends.
Question: Which year would you take 2020 or 2023?
So blessed to find Nicolas Performance. Got the car to Nicolas and fixed all the existing problems, upgraded A LOT and got us testing and tuning. Then we found out the transmission was so damaged and had to be replaced.
Now we’ve got everything fixed….
Now we’re off to the track for testing, dialed in the 60’ and then going to the 1/8th mile. Good day testing and I learned how to setup and launch a three step, trans brake and bump box car. Good day.
Then Nicolas wanted to upgrade a few small things. Then went to four more 1/8 mile testing days before our first event. Then we go to Street Car Takeover – Alabama International. Btw, we have ZERO ¼ mile passes. Don’t ask…yes I was worried.
First test pass lined up with the second fastest CTSV in the world (Mike Kelley).
I told Nicolas, “Not going to try to cut a good light. Just want an A to B pass.” Nicolas smiled and said ok.
Green light go…I cut a .500 light and Mike cuts a .200 light…now he’s out on us by three cars and now I’m pulling on Mike, 1/8 mile he’s only one car length, then the car shifts into 3rd. This car is screaming at me, and it’s pissed off. Was thinking about lifting because I got scared..never went past the 1/8, but we’re reeling him in and then right at the ¼ mile strip, we clip him at the finish line. My win light goes off in my lane!! Hell yeah…OH CRAP, pull the parachute. Mike pulls his parachute, and my chute did not come out…. Now oh shit….pumping the brakes, brakes getting hot…here comes the turn off. I’m in the right lane and swerve into the left because Mike gets away from me because he knows I’m in trouble. Take the huge right turn at 60+ mph..car was almost on two wheels exiting the track.
Then pull over and chute never deployed! I didn’t flip the C02 switch for the chute to deploy. That was a close one. If Mike would not have been watching me and hung me out to dry. I would have gone into the grass and then trees.
Go get my timeslip and to the pits and my friends mauled me!! Jumping up and down. Did you look at your timeslip?!?!? I said, “Hell no, I almost wrecked!” Everyone said, look at it…
..… 7.76 sec at 182.5 mph…are you kidding me?!?! First ¼ mile pass and we ran our first 7 second pass!! I was on cloud 9. My buddy Travis Tucker drove all the way from west Texas to support me. When I hugged my wife, yes…I might have teared up. <maybe> lol
Then I looked at Nicolas and he says, “We don’t do no A to B passes in this car!” I might have now shed a tear…. Just all the time, money and testing we spent and 1.5 years building this car. We are back to racing. So thankful.
Here’s the video of that pass:
That was the high and now the kick in the gut. LOL! First round, good setup, good light .082 and we spun. We’ll dang… then we get the car back to Nicolas and reading the log and watching the videos. We tore up the LSD in the diff. smh
Next day, called Devin at Innovation Machining Solutions (IMS) and he overnighted us a free upgraded LSD. So grateful to Devin! Guys only buy his billet diffs because of his quality & price. He’s a great guy and he’ll work with you.
https://www.innovativemachiningsolutions.com/mopar/billet-hellcat-differential
Repaired the car and went to a couple ¼ mile track test days and all 7 second passes. Then got the car ready for the next race. Street Car Braggin Rights. What a day. All the Heavy Weight hitters were there. Zdung and George Benson, Mike Kelley and a whole bunch of killers. Vengeance Racing had CTSV, Corvettes, and Cameros. We had our hands full.
First round: get a competition buy. I looked at Nicolas, he looked at me…watcha want to do? I said, turn this #$%#^ up and let’s shoot for the world record. Guess what? We did it… 7.61 at 181. So jacked up!
Go to the finals and race George Benson:
Gut punch. Get back to Nicholas’ and find out we almost exploded the converter. We had a small-bore converter in the car..not Nicolas’ fault. I called Marty Chase and talked to Neal….he got us hooked up with a big bore convertor.
Back to testing. Then we went to Z-Max and it rained three days before the event. Water was coming through the track. Sat in the staging lanes for SIX HOURS, then they shut down the ¼ mile and only raced 1/8. I was like, nah, not safe and we wanted to reset the world record.
Came back and tested some more and went to a couple of Daily Driver events, to show off the car and play around at the track. Just having fun.
Next race was in Dallas, TX Street Car Takeover. First round, reset the world record again 7.50 at 184.8!
Gut punch lost in the second round. It was 2:30am and I had the car in 2nd gear and tried to spoil up….didn’t work in a turbo car. LoL
All that being said: In 2020 we tested & raced 35 weekends, won 7 events, 6 second places, 1 third place and thought that was our best year of racing.
2023 Wrap up: Got the best shop and tuner on the planet. Tons of testing days, went to a couple of fun events and had a great time and raced in three major events. Reset the world record three times and won the biggest event of the year. Was featured in six articles and then to top that off… on the cover and featured car in RPM Magazine December edition with a 25-page spread and then won Hellcat of the month on this forum. Signed up five new sponsors and made tons of vendor connections at PRI.
Summary: 2023 is the best year of racing ever!!! Learned a lot, took huge steps in the racing community, and made tons of friends.
Question: Which year would you take 2020 or 2023?
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