Organization: NMRA
Track: Los Angeles County Raceway
Location: Palmdale, CA
Date: March 29, 2003
First round loss. Karen is still adjusting to the
new Sporty and broke out! One the up side, she had her first 10-second pass on the new bike.
Runner up - loss in finals. Ok, ok, so there were only
2 bikes in this class, so I made it to the finals by default.
2nd round loss.
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Organization: Outlaw Bracket Series
Track: Carlsbad Raceway
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Date: March 30, 2003
Did not compete.
1st round loss.
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Karen was the #1 qualifier in her class! Her 10.35
2nd round qualifying run earned her the #1 qualifying spot! She had a bye in the first round.
In the second round she broke out, running a 10.25 ET on a 10.30 index and lost. A *great*
performance!
1st round loss. Could not get used to the tree. Red lit
3 out of 4 passes.
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Karen was the #1 qualifier in her class for the
second AHDRA event in a row! Her 10.34 3rd round qualifying run earned her the #1 qualifying
spot! She had a bye in the first round. She won her second round sending her to the semi-finals.
She lost in the 3rd round, the semi-finals. Another *great* performance!
Jack had a pretty consistent day of qualifying running
12.27, 12.28 and 13.28 ETs. In the elimination rounds, he won his first 2 rounds getting him in
the top 16-bike ladder. He won his 3rd round by .009 seconds, which sent him to the semi-finals
where he had a bye run to put him in the finals. In the finals, he had his best run of the
weekend running a 12.21 ET. Unfortunaltely he broke out of a 12.27 dial-in and with a slow
.883 second reaction time lost in the finals to take the runner-up spot.
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Karen took the runner up in the Pro ET class! She
probably would have won, but there was a problem with the wheelie bar that sent her
towards the center line. I'll remember to check that out before each round.
Jack had a pretty consistent day and won the Street
ET Class! We had the only Harleys out there and we both were in the finals. A good day
for our team!
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Organization: Outlaw Bracket Series
Track: Carlsbad Raceway
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Date: May 25, 2003
First round draw pitted Karen and Jack together.
Karen red lit and lost on the starting line. In the buy-back round, Karen let up at the big
end of the track to avoid a break out and gave up the win.
1st round win due to Karen's red light. In the second
round Jack ran a 11.96 on an 11.90 dial-in but lost due to a poor reaction time.
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Organization: AHDRA
Track: Bandimere Raceway
Location: Denver, CO
Date: June 14-15, 2003
The 5800 foot elevation was killing everone's
ET in Denver. Add the fact that is was very warm and we had a hard time figuring out the
track. Karen would either get too much tire spin off the line or would bog. In the second
qualifying round, Karen did a great pass that put her in the #3 qualifying position with
a 10.720 ET. Same story on race day with tire spin/bog. In the second round (quarter
finals), Karen lost due to a bog on the starting line - crew chief bike setup problem.
The elevation didn't really come in to play for
Jack, since a low ET isn't important in bracket racing. Jack won his first elimination
round, but lost in the second due to a major break out - about .3 seconds. I knew I had
a good run and slowed down, but not enough to avoid a break out.
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Organization: AHDRA
Track: Texas Motorplex
Location: Ennis, TX
Date: June 21-22, 2003
Back down to sea level in Ennis, TX (near
Dallas) with hot and humid weather conditions. The bike ran great and Karen had to slow
it down to run the 10.30 index. Karen advanced to the semi-finals where she lost due
to a break out.
I had some very consitent qualifying runs
on Saturday and I was very confident on race day. In the first round, I was surprised by
a little wheelie on the starting line and backed off the throttle just slightly. It was
enough to cause me to miss my dial-in by about .2 and lose.
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Organization: AHDRA
Track: Pacific Raceways
Location: Seattle, WA
Date: June 28-29, 2003
At sea level again and the bike continued to
run great and Karen had to slow it down to run the 10.30 index. In the third qualifying
round, Karen was able to slow it down enough to be the #2 qualifier. On race day, Karen
won each round convincingly and advanced to the finals. She ran a 10.404 to WIN! This was
Karen's first AHDRA win.
I ran ok on qualifying day, but not great. My
ETs were fairly consistent. In the first round, I dialed in a 12.20 which I knew I could
easily run. In the morning on race day, we were allowed a couple of time-only runs and
my reaction times were excellent: a .007 and a .003. I knew I had to be a bit more
conservative in the eliminations to avoid a red light. In my first round, I waited way too
long at the light. I knew I had to make up time and ended up breaking out despite reaching
the finish line only .05 seconds before my opponent. Argh!!! Another first round loss.
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Organization: Outlaw Bracket Series
Track: Carlsbad Raceway
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Date: July 27, 2003
First round draw pitted Karen against a really slow
guy with an 18.xx
dial-in. That gave the guy more than 8 seconds head start! Karen red lit and lost. In the
buy-back round, Karen got paired with another slow racer and had to wait over 4 seconds.
Another red light loss.
1st round loss. Lost in the buy-back round too.
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Organization: AHDRA
Track: Heartland Park Topeka
Location: Topeka, KS
Date: August 21-23, 2003
Can it get any hotter? Jeez, it was 100+ degrees with lots of humidity in Kansas.
Gee who would have thought of that in August? Anyway, the bike ran great and Karen was
too fast for the 10.30 index. She qualified 9th out of 10 racers in her class. Karen did
well in each round advancing to the finals where she took the win for the second straight
event!
I ran the test-n-tune session in the morning and was fairly consistent.
After the second qualifying round, I parked my Springer to watch Karen's pass. When I
went back to it it wouldn't turn over. Looked at it for a while without finding the culprit.
Decided to just put it back in the trailer and root for Karen. Turned out that a couple
of the screws that secure the air cleaner backplate to the carburetor worked themselves
loose and into the rear head!
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Organization: AHDRA
Track: Woodburn Dragstrip
Location: Woodburn, OR
Date: September 5-7, 2003
Finally we thought we would get some cool weather, but Friday it was in the
90s! It cooled off nicely for Saturday and Sunday. During qualifying Karen had lots of
tire spin on her launches resulting is slow ETs. She qualified 8th of 9 racers. She won her
first 2 rounds easily advancing to the semi-finals with Susie Wevodau. It was a great race
with both racers breaking out (going faster than the 10.30 index). Since Susie was closer
to the index by about 0.04 seconds, she won. Karen's semi-final performance earned her
enough points to take over the #1 spot in the AHDRA National and Western Division points
standings!
I ran Karen's street bike in the ET class since my Springer is still broke.
I was running very consistently around the 14.0 second mark. In the first elimination round
I dialed a 14.00 and ran a 14.04 for a win. In the second round I kept the same 14.0 second
dial-in and ran a 13.96. Broke out by 0.04 seconds and lost even though I was off the
throttle in the traps. Crap. But I was very satisfied with my consistency and glad to
win the first round. I'm currently 5th in the AHDRA Western Division points and 12th Nationally.
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Organization: AHDRA
Track: Indianapolis Raceway Park
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Date: September 20-21, 2003
Indianapolis is a long way from our home near San Diego,
but we decided to make the long trip to try to keep Karen in the points standings. Special thanks
to Drenda Coon for coming along and helping out with driving and pit crew duties.
Karen qualified 4th out of a 20 bike field with a 10.343 in
her second qualifying pass. ESPN2 was on hand and interviewed both Karen and I. They also filmed
Karen on the track for an upcoming episode of "Inside Drag Racing". In the eliminations, Karen's
first round opponent was a no-show; in the second round she won with a 10.475. Third round draw
was Julian Seaman and it was close all the way down the track. It was a double break-out and
Karen was a wee bit faster and lost. It was a good performance and well worth the trip.
I ran Karen's street bike in the ET class again. I
did fairly well winning my first three rounds. In my fourth round I ran a 13.83 on a 13.90 dial-in,
so I lost on a break out. It was a good race for me and I piled up some good points.
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Organization: AHDRA
Track: Rockingham Dragway
Location: Rockingham, NC
Date: October 4-5, 2003
We decided that we needed to make another long trip to
keep Karen in the points standings so off we went to The Rock. Karen and Drenda drove the truck
and trailer and I flew in due to work obligations. Karen made some good qualifying passes on
Saturday. Her second round run of 10.392 netted her the 4th qualifying spot in a field of about
20 bikes. In her first elimination round she had a lot of tire spin but was able to recover in
time to take the win. In the second round she had a beautiful pass but forgot to slow down at the
end of the track. She broke out big time running a 10.071 vs her opponent who ran a 10.5xx.
I was on Karen's street bike again since mine was still
down. My qualifying times weren't very consistent but I did manage to win my first round and make
some much needed points.
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The Super Sport National Championship will be decided
in this the final race of the AHDRA season. Karen is in the lead by just one point over Dave
Ostrowske. Not far behind are Wanda Poff, Susie Wevodau, Julian Seaman, Tony Chicchirichi, and JR
Bickmore. Susie Wevodau qualified extremely well in the #2 spot. Karen qualified in the 4th spot
on her third qualifying pass with a 10.361. In the biggest surprise of the weekend, Susie Wevodau
lost in the first round to Julian Seaman. In the second round Wanda Poff beat Dave Ostrowske to
take him out of contention for the national championship. In doing so she broke her bike. Since
Karen won her first and seconds rounds, she would have to win only one more round to win the national
championship. She was up against Mike Huffaker who qualified in the #1 spot. Mike got a wee bit early
start and red lit. Karen won that round and the National Championship!
I was still on Karen's street bike. My qualifying times
weren't too erratic, but not as consistent as I wanted. I did manage to win my first round, but
was dissapointed with a second round break-out loss. I ended up ninth in the National points standings
and fifth in the western division.
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Organization: Outlaw Bracket Series
Track: Carlsbad Raceway
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Date: November 23, 2003
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