[B][SIZE="5"]No Shift Light, No Problem. But, No Spark, That’s a Problem[/SIZE][/B]

Discussion in 'Alcohol Racing News' started by Bob Perkins, Mar 3, 2008.

  1. Bob Perkins

    Bob Perkins New Member

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    No Shift Light, No Problem, but, No Spark, Problem

    Cody “The Flash” Perkins had a real rollercoaster weekend at the Lucas Oil series event in Pheonix, Arizona this past weekend. Having not made a single pass for four months prior to the event, the team expected to need a few runs to work the bugs out of the car and driver. This showed in qualifying, which landed the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation dragster on the bump spot after failing to keep the tires stuck to the track on two out of the three qualifying attempts.

    This laddered Perkins against one of the best the western division has to offer in the form of number one qualifier Duane Shields. Shields had shown good consistency in qualifying. Cody and his dad, Bob Perkins, made multiple adjustments to the car to quell the tire smoke issue that plagued them in qualifying. The summation of those adjustments yielded low ET of eliminations against Shields, who fell victim to tire smoke in the opening stanza. Perkins expanded on the run, “As I turned on the power right before we fired the car for the first round, I noticed the shift light had no power to it. I knew I was in for a challenge to not only navigate the tricky track, but also hit those important shift points. I was really lucky that we got the setup right and was able to focus on holding the shifts.”

    The second round held another formidable opponent in Larry Miersch. Miersch had qualified his nitro powered machine in the top half of the field, and always performs well at the starting line. Perkins’ 5.41 got the better of Miersch’s 5.47 in the fastest side by side race of the day.

    This set up a final round against Brandon Johnson, who had run a 5.41 in the opening round. After Johnson lit both stage beams before Perkins had even lit one, Cody got a starting line advantage of four hundredths but that was the last thing that went right. The car slowed nearly a tenth in the first 60 feet due to a lack of spark in the number two hole. “I saw Brandon just jump way out in front and it really surprised me, our car is always really good early. I thought that I had screwed up by hitting the gears early, but as we analyzed the run we saw number two just go ice cold right at the hit.”

    Perkins’ car is still wearing the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation colors to help the charity reach a wide audience. If you or someone you know have been affected by Type I diabetes, or if you would like to find ways you can help those who fight the disease each day, please check out: www.jdrf.org

    Courtesy of Blown Chances Productions
     
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