May 24, 1998
We had a good turnout for racing at Pomona on Sunday the 24th--25 Impalas total, I believe. Almost everyone gave the brackets a try. A bunch of us did pretty well.
Ken Hunter stole the show in the first round with a perfect 0.500 R/T--good for a free t-shirt from Pomona Raceway and a win in that round. He was also the closest to his dial-in of any Impala and so won $75 in our side pot.
Ron Sowers made it all the way to the quarter finals this time. He finally lost to the driver who eventually won the Street Class (one of the very best racers at Pomona). It was great to see the big grin on Ron's face each time he drove back into the staging lanes. His great performance was made even better because his mother was out for a Memorial Day visit and got to see her son do good.
Several other SoCalSS cars did very well too. Victor Franco, Roger Ball, and Bob Shirley all added points to their total for the year.
Dave Stonefield ran a '70 Chevelle dialed in at a 16.58 to his 14.78. Dave had to wait almost 2 seconds as the other car disappeared down the track. Finally he's off. He was closing the gap when he ran out of track. The Chevelle ran a 16.60 (16.58 dial in) to his 14.95 (14.78 dial). The Chevelle's R/T was .559 to Dave's .621, which didn't help Dave's chances either. So Dave was on the trailer after round 1.
Vince Plaza red lit in the first round and also lost his race. His R/T was 0.382! He got an itchy foot when the other car left first and Vince left when the second yellow light came on instead of waiting for it to go off.
Again, for the second month in a row, Lori Hernandez wasn't able to drive her car at the track becuase her son Aaron was bracket racing in the HS class. Lori even got her own run card so she could run with the time only people at the end of the day, but to her surprise...Aaron made it all the way to the final round of the day.
Aaron's highlights were his 13.67 run (on the bottle) during time trials and a new personal best of 14.74 (off the bottle) in the final round. Unfortunatly, he broke out and lost, but came home with a really nice trophy and they took pictures of him and the winner with their cars and the track announcer after the final round.
Aaron's 60' time on the last run was 2.123. This was really awsome for him (and the car). His 60' times all day were in the 2.23-2.29 range, with the exception of one 2.818 (can you say MAJOR wheelspin!).
One of the great things about drag racing is that it is a family sport. Sunday we had two proud moms in our group by the tree.
Frank Halley had a good day. His car was running 0.15 seconds quicker all day, thanks to getting the front end aligned last week. "Best $30 I've spend on the car considering that's almost as much as I got from the head work over the winter" Frank said. In full race trim (full tank of gas and warm engine), Frank's car ran a best of 14.456 and a worst of 14.517.
Frank won three rounds and lost a squeeker in the fourth round by 0.030 seconds. One of those great "did I get there first soon enough" finishes. Hhe lost due to a ho-hum .608 R/T. The other car was dialed in 0.38 seconds slower than Frank's, which he claimed made concentrating on the tree more challenging than normal.
We do our best to be friendly to the Pomona and La Verne police that cruise the parking lot during the races. It's not unusual to find a patrol car under "our" tree when we come back from making a run at the track, which we appreciate because our stuff is always there when we get back. Expressing our appreciation to the officers at the track is always part of our routine at Pomona. Above, Joe Watring puts a shine on the "police" emblem on one of La Verne's black and whites.
Frank Halley, Lori Hernandez, Dave Stonefield, and Vince Plaza
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