Division 7 TAFC racers?

This came in reply to Clint's post on congratulating Sean for locking up the Division 7 championship. I didn't want to derail that thread or diminish Sean's accomplishment, so I created this one...

Clint

I've always enjoyed watching you race. Seeing you bump into the field last year on your last shot at Indy was sweet... I was coming back up the return road at the time and the excitement on your crews faces was priceless... It looked like they just won Indy...

I do have a couple of questions for you though... And any of your Division 7 brotheren are more than welcome to chime in...

It seems that over the year, many Division 7 TAFC racers are always ripping on Manzo for winning in Division One, saying that the car count was low and the quality of cars wasn't as great...

Well here we are in 2007 and people are still saying that???

Wasn't it just two years ago where every National Event that had a Division 1 car in attendance was won by a Division 1 car except for one and at that race David Ray was the runner up...

What does Division One have to do to get the respect from Division 7 folks that it deserves??? Win every race that they attend???

I've seen Manzo make many trips out to the west coast to put a little whip ass on your folks...

How come many of you rarely come back east to try and return the favor???

How many of "The Division" 7 TAFC's have a 5.4x second time slip???

How about that Division where Manzo plies his trade???

Come back east some time, the water is fine...

Just wondering...
Dan

 

I don't think Clint meant that as a "slam" to the TAFC competitors in any other division. To me it spoke of the sheer volume of TAFCs that run in division 7 that Sean and the gang had to wade through to get the title.
Bakersfield had 17 cars for 8 spots - which other than Tuscon (10 cars) was the fewest number of cars to show up for an event in TAFC in division 7.
As far as respect - I do respect the competition in all the divisions. If the budget allowed I would love to hit some races back east.

 

Manzo is a gracious winner, no doubt about it.

If he decided to pull up stakes and move to Disneyland and make Division 7 his home he'd still be the champ. I don't think the geography has anything to do with his amazing performance, except to say no one has run 5.40's in Division 7 including Manzo on his trips out here. Mine shaft conditions are rare here in the west.

RG

 

I think a 5.500 is close enough.

Good post, Dan. Division 1 has some stout cars in TAFC nowadays. I'd take Manzo, Tasca, Ferro, Gill, Ray, and White over the Top 6 from any other division, but D7 still has more quality cars than any other division. But, one has to beat Manzo to win races in D1. If Newberry didn't move to Florida, it would be even tougher.

 

Was it a mine shaft at Indy when he went 5.49 @ 264 in the last Qualifying shot?

How about Brainerd when he also went 5.49 @ 264?

I believe that the pro stockers are a pretty good barometer of whether the conditions warrant them being called a mine shaft... Low et at Brainerd for the PSers was 6.65 and at Indy it was 6.64... That is over a tenth off of the all time best of 6.53...

So does this mean that Manzo will break into the 5.30s soon?

Dan

 

If next season he gets the right conditions i would bet on it. Franks always thinking about the next run the next season the next way he can crush us all,
that mind never stops, He's already planning on trying some things that will eventually get him to that next milestone. We are all still trying to catch up to this years bag of tricks.. 5.30's yes sir..

 

Yea Dan. I have to agree. Division 7 sucks. Heck, the whole west coast sucks including Division 6. Clint Thompson included, right Clint?

For sale:

36 west coast TA/FC's, turn key. These are second rate race cars run by a bunch of wanna-be's who just today found out they suck. Great for the local 5.50-5.60 circuit but you better not head east or you are in for an a$$whipping. No tuning assistance needed to run this slow. Make offer.

Call Dan Lynch

(900) I Love D-1

PS: Rick Jackson says his car is not for sale. Von Smith out ran most of the east guys in his last attempt but a red light kept him from beating Tasca in the final.

All in fun.

Love,
RG

 

You guys on the coasts got it tough.(JUST KIDDING) D5 race at Earlville, IA.....18 TAFC cars all fresh back from Indy....Snider, Wilkerson, Bateman, Kraus, Paul Anderson, Moats, Andy Bohl, Kirk Williams,Chesterman..... That's about 6 division champs.....oh yea and a hot greasy track. Yep D1 and D7 have all the cars......... there are a lot of good cars all over the place. Some are better than others but all come to play and play hard.
That's why TAFC RULES !!!
No animals were harmed in this posting.
All hate mail should be addressed to some one else please.
Thanks

 

Well our division (2) doesn't even have full counts at our events... I'd take 18 struggling cars over 5 coasters any day... We are the only division that still doesn't have enough cars to fill the top ten board in the ND.. I don't care what division you are from though, there is a heavy hitter in all of them...

CJ Curtsinger

 

you may see a change at the next two D2 races though (divisionals)

Lot's of cars expected in Atlanta, and Reynolds may have a few surprises in store.

Noble D-4 is going to be a packed house as well from all divisions, that's going to be very fun!!!!

 

oops!!!



Dan,

Thanks for the kind words. I apologize to you and anyone else I might have stirred up or offended. I guess that is why I so rarely post on this site. Russ is right, in no way was my comment meant as a slam to any racer in any division. I was merely alluding to the large number of high quality cars in D-7. For the record, I am in D-6 which I guess means I could have also been slamming Brian Hough, Bucky Austin, Hank Coolidge, Ken Kraus and the other racers in my own division. I have the utmost respect for anyone with the patience, perserverance, desire, and money to compete in this class (and to avoid possibly offending anyone else, ALL DRAG RACERS). Anyone who knows me would tell you that I am not about minimizing anyones efforts at pursuing thier dreams. All that said, I do think Manzo is the best there is and have never felt that he wins races because of a lack of good competition. Even when he has a single he hauls ass. You are right D-1 has a bunch of very fast cars and good drivers and there are a bunch more all over the country.

And for the record, my car is not for sale whether I suck or not. We do this for fun and we're having a bunch. LMAO good post randy!

 

Will:

Yea, we have problems with the air here on the west coast. The EPA says all that smog won't burn. Here it's not measured in grains, it's measured in sacks full.

I have to be careful here because Frank and Pat are my pals, but how many years did Pat take to win 70+ national events? How many years and beyond Pat's retirement did it take Frank to catch him even though Frank started racing when Pat was 9 years old. I think the competition is tighter now than ever before because of the rules stability and the amount of quality cars. Frank will tell you it ain't easy staying on top.

I remember hearing John Force say one of the reasons he wanted to run funny car was so he could take out the champ, Kenny Bernstein. But when Force went full time funny car racing, Kenny switched to Top Fuel. When John started winning he felt like he really wasn't because the champ wasn't there for him to beat.

Point is, Pat hasn't been racing. His uncle Bucky was on a 5.40 run in Chicago 2 years ago based on 1/2 track times but a push rod let go at the high gear shift. Uncle Bucky would have been the proud owner of the first 5.40 time slip if it weren't for a little bad luck. Woulda shoulda coulda.

I guess I don't get caught up in this division rivalry. Why? Because the guy on top lives in New Jersey and runs parts made in Ontario, CA. The guy driving for Rick Jackson from the Santa Clarita Valley, CA, lives in Tennessee and is tuned by Boggs who lives in a cave somewhere back east. The clutch is made in San Diego. The blower is made in Tempe, Arizona, the transmission is made in San Diego. The frame is made in (insert your here). The crank is made in Anaheim. The block is made in Santa Maria. The heads are made in Ontario and so are the valve covers, intake manifolds and rocker assemblies. The ignition is made in El Paso. The body is from Florida or wherever Roush is. The trailer from Hersher, Illinois. The fuel is from Michigan. The tires from Ohio. The wheels from Santa Fe Springs, CA. The NHRA is located in Glendora and on and on. It takes a village to run a TA/FC, paraphrasing Hillary.

Where one happens to live has nothing to do with how fast you run. It comes down to dedication, hard work, money, hard work, time, hard work, smarts, hard work and hard work. Then you need to have a driver that gets the job done. Manzo enjoys the benefit of all of the above.

RG

 

Randy........Hillary??? You had me feeling all warm and fuzzy for everyone and you had to toss her name in. What a shot blocker that was. Now I am really bummed, back to whittling at my throat with a spork from KFC. Dave Germain

 

Dave:

I didn't have the nerve to type her last name. Getting too close to dinner time and I didn't want to spoil my appetite.

Reminds me of a couple stories I heard.

Hillary Clinton was out jogging one morning along the parkway when she tripped, fell over the bridge railing and landed in the creek below.

Before the Secret Service guys could get to her 3 kids who were fishing pulled her out of the water. She was so grateful she offered the kids whatever they wanted.

The first kid says, "I want to go to Disneyland." Hillary says, "No problem. I'll send you there in my private jet. Bill and I have a condo in Maui and it's all yours for 3 weeks."

The second kid says, "I want a new pair of Nike Air Jordan's," Hillary says, "I'll get them for you and even have Michael sign them!!"

The third kid says, "I want a motorized wheelchair with a plug in for my Ipod so I can listen to music when I travel down the sidewalks."

Hillary is a little perplexed by this and says, "But you don't look like you're handicapped." The kid says, "When my dad finds out I saved you from drowning he'll kick my butt so hard I won't be able to walk for at least a year!!!"

##########################

When Bill and Hillary first got married Bill said, I am putting a box under the bed. You must promise never to look in it." In all their 30 years of marriage Hillary never looked.

However, on the afternoon of their 30th anniversary, curiosity got the best of her and she lifted the lid and peeked inside. In the box were 3 empty beer cans and $81,874.25 in cash.

She closed the box and put it back under the bed. Now that she knew what was in the box, she was doubly curious as to why. That evening they were out for a special dinner. After dinner Hillary could no longer contain her curiosity and she confessed, saying, "I am so sorry. For all these years I kept my promise and never looked into the box under our bed. However, today the temptation was too much and I gave in. But now I need to know, why do you keep the cans in the box?"

Bill thought for a while and said, "I guess after all these years you deserve to know the truth.

Whenever I was unfaithful to you I put an empty beer can in the box under the bed to remind myself not to do it again."

Hillary was shocked, but said, "Hmmm, Jennifer, Paula and Monica. I am very disappointed and saddened but temptation does happen and I guess that 3 times is not that bad considering 30 years."

They hugged and made their peace.

A little while later Hillary asked Bill, "So why do you have all that money in the box?"

Bill answered, "Well, whenever the box filled up with empty cans, I took them to the recycling center and redeemed them for cash."