Thank you Ken Kraus

after two years of building a 68 charger body nostalgia alcohol BB/FC. I asked ken kraus to drive and help sort out some new car issues here at the spokane track. I only have acouple years driving and I wanted a more expierenced driver. That I got and more. we got it to run at 203mph. BUT, it was very ill handling. we are talking no down pressure on the rear. this thing started to doing a three wheel "wobble", once he got that settled down and pulled the chutes, it lifted the back wheels off the ground a foot. it was scary to watch. we tried afew changes, but no help. a lesser driver (me) would have wrecked. Im glad he was safe. and very proud to call him a friend. Thank you also to ken's wife; dawna, she knows her stuff at the track. now to build a rear spoiler system.

 

Three wheel wobble!!

WOW!! that would have scared the living SH*T out of me!!Both driving it and watching your car!!Glad he kept it off the wall,would have loved to see footage of it.

 

what a rush

It was late when I wrote that. lets say it was trying to go sideways,both directions, got out of shape and it was picking up a front wheel. seeing the side view of the car reading the stickers is not good. but Ken kept it from getting worse. The man can drive. Im sure after getting out of shape in a 5sec tafc this was tame to him. but it was enough for me to watch. Kim Parker was beside him, she got to see the backend come off the ground when he pulled the chutes. the car will not come back out till we put side plates and spoiler on the back for some down force. thank you to ken and randy parker for the input on what to do there. the rest of the show in spokane was one of the best. for a new track, first big race, bucky and jay put on a show. the track will be ready for the div6 race in june. come on up and see us guys. ok australia is alittle far.

 

div6 in june.

I'd love to come and watch!.......but......i got the winternationals in June in OZ.

 

Winter nationals in June? that just aint right

 

Winters' in June.

Yeah it is! Warm track temp,ice cold air with plenty of oxygen! That's the winters' down under.Perfect conditions for WORLD class performances.

 

Hey Mark, Good seeing you again,..here is a link to
the photos I took this past weekend from the Season Opener
there are three or four pics of your car.

Vic

http://www.classicfunnycarboard.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=1;t=9105

http://draglist.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3908



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thanks VIC for the pics taken. Its nice to see my car on some sites. and in one piece. again, Ken did a great job of saving an out of shape ride. now that my brain is working again let me also add a thank you to Carl Erwin, he is a long time friend of ken and his original crewchief. he helped me sort out and understand the new fuel and clutch system Im using. theres a story about the clutch stick I'll tell some day. also mike bann from lewiston Idaho. without these people I would still be in the pits. I just gotta make new friends. but the ones I have I think the world of. thank you all. and for the record, the track was in great shape for being so new. Jay did a pro job of preping it. the car was loose because of no down force. and I'm working on that.

 

Mark, its good to see you back out there again. I'm glad things worked out for you. I have to agree with you about Ken Kraus- he is pretty well the best Alcohol Funny Car driver I know. He would be the perfect guy to shake down a new car. Dave Germain

 

awww, that was nothin!!! i've watched him go thru some wild stuff in the tafc and save it without a scratch (stuck throttle, loose etc), carl and i were glad when we couldn't read the sides in his first funny car 20 yrs ago - that's what made him the driver he is today - we all had fun, carl is a whiz tuner, and we sucked him back in... wait til the sails are on and she can stick to the track!! wahoooooo.
dawna

 

Its a TEAM effort

I look forward to winning some races in this new bb/fc group. with ken at the wheel I feel very confident. having never been in this car he was pulling .030 lights once we get the bugs worked out on the down force it should run very well. I think I have put a TEAM together. I own it and can drive, but I enjoy the "crewchief" position. so many have egos that get in the way. good drivers can give aload of input that should be listened to. computors are atool to help. carl and mike anchor this team for me. they can do it all but respect me enough to ask first. and THE most important thing is driver safety. I look forward to testing now that I have new spills and a spoiler to work with. look out royce.

 

Wow Mark,....Got Spoiler,...
Just ran across this picture of Ken driving your car from Spokane
at the top end with the chutes out crossed up...whoa baby hang on.

nice driving Ken Kraus.

click for picture. then click on dodge charger picture to view larger
http://spokanecountyraceway.com/photo-gallery/drag-racing-photos/?album=1&gallery=17&nggpage=3


Vic


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