Daniel Oliver TA/FC debut

Daniel Oliver cards a 5.89/245 while licensing in Goodwin TAFC

"Several years ago I made a promise to Daniel Oliver while working late one evening on my TA/FC," said Randy Goodwin. "I told him some day I would let him make a couple blasts in my car as kind of a Thank You for his hard work."
A few years after the promise was made Daniel and his dad, Greg, bought a super comp dragster. They ran the car in both the super comp and super eliminator series. Daniel did very well in the two super classes which boosted Randy's confidence in Daniel's driving abilities. However, a minor setback caused some concern. In 2005, Randy purchased a Tony Cart 125 CC shifter cart which he ran from time to time at Willow Springs and Adam's Cart Track in Riverside, CA, with his friend and former TA/D national event winner Russ Conroy.

Randy took Daniel with him on one of the first outings with the new cart. After warning Daniel by saying "This thing will eat you up," Daniel just shrugged his shoulders. In his first hot lap, Daniel nearly tore the front end off the cart when exiting the hair pin turn before the main straightaway at Adams. It happened when Daniel downshifted the cart as he exited the turn and nailed the throttle which hiked the front end. The cart drove straight into the hay bails at the end of the corner. The front end was damaged requiring several parts and pieces to fix it, so their day was done. Daniel made good on the repairs but Randy's confidence in Daniel was shaken for a while, for the cart was only a few races old and became damaged goods.

Fast forward to 2007 when Randy and his team took delivery of a new Monte Carlo body. "We saw some issues other teams were having with the Monte Carlo (structurally) so we decided to mount it ourselves and use some basic engineering to solve those issues. Daniel was an intregal part of the process. His welding expertise and after work commitment to get the body mounted before Pomona was the only reason we got it done on time. We also have to thank Grant Downing and Keith Clark. But if it wasn't for Daniel's persistant attitude it would never have been completed on time.

Monday, April 14, 2008. Las Vegas, Nevada. The day after the SummitRacing.com nationals. It was now Daniel Oliver's opportunity to jump into a TA/FC. He will tell you he and his dad want to put together an A/Fuel dragster, but his first love is still TA/FC. Daniel was so nervous during the pit warm up he tried downshifting the transmission by using the reverse lever. Other than that...well, he was still plenty nervous.

His first run was as expected. He fly swatted the throttle a few times while doing the burn out as he tried to get the feel for the throttle pedal. Once he did the burnout he couldn't get it in reverse to back it up. Finally, after getting back he pulled forward and moved very slowly to pre-stage. I'm beginning to think we need to see if it's almost out of fuel at this point. As he revved it up, his lauch RPM's crept downward as he tried to figure out how to get the car to move forward to stage. Suddenly he realized he had a death grip on the brake handle. Once he figured out what to do it still took him about 10 seconds to stage. At 2,000 RPM below the normal RPM he launched the car at first sign of ambers on the tree.

His first run was a total of 1.4 seconds on the throttle before he admitted he had enough as the car moved slightly to the left. His time was in the 11 seconds zone with a top speed somewhere near the legal speed limit on the nearby 15 Freeway.

Now with a time slip stuck in his pocket, Daniel had all the confidence in the world, for he had made passage in to the TA/FC world of drivers.

During the second pit warm up Daniel looked like a pro. A few encouraging words from Jack Beckman before his Daniel's first run (Jack was pitted right behind our trailer) continued to roll through Daniel's mind as he readied himself for his second chance in a TA/FC. The air temperature was now over 92 degrees with track temperatures nearing 140, but Daniel never sweated a drop.

Now it's time for run number two.

In the left lane back of the water box the signal goes out to fire it up. The engine comes to life, the body goes down, and all last minute instructions are done. As Daniel rolls into the waterbox he squeezes the shift buttons putting the transmission in to high gear. He continues forward another 7-8 yards before pushing on the throttle and swapping feet. He does a well controlled 7,700 RPM burnout well past the 60 foot mark, then rolls to a smokey stop at the 330 foot block.

Making his way back he needs very little coaxing as he sights the grove in front of him. Daniel stops 10 feet behind the starting line, makes some final adjustments to his belts, checks oil pressure, reassures himself that his arm restraints will allow him to reach the chute levers on the roof, gives both shifter buttons a tug, pushes forward on the fuel shut-off just to make sure and then turns on the fresh air bottle. Once satisfied, he pulls forward where his uncle, Matt Thornton, stops him 12 inches back of pre-stage. Looking through the windshield, Matt gives Daniel the thumbs up, two pats on the injector, and walks away. Now it's just Daniel, the tree, and 1,320 feet of race track.

This time Daniel is ready and takes no time pulling forward the last 12 inches. He lights the pre-stage light. With two wacks of the throttle, Daniel informs his imaginary competitor that he's ready to go, then it's 6,200 RPM on the nose. Daniel, in a very deliberate move bumps it in to stage, rocking the hinged taillights as he plants it in the beams. 3 ambers and...he's gone.

In low gear wheel speed looks good. The hot greasy track isn't going to be very forgiving. At the top of low gear the car makes a slight move to the left. Daniel quickly corrects it and brings it back in the grove just as the 9,800 RPM shift light comes on. In second gear the car seems to settle down. It has him planted in the seat like he's never felt before. Past half track the shift light once again hits and Daniel pushes the button into third gear. About this time Daniel is looking for the chute levers thinking he's got it made. Instead, the wind whips out from behind the grand stands and shoves him to the right toward the center line. Daniel manhandles the car and gets it back in the center of the groove as he crosses the finish line. He drives it in to the chutes, but the wind isn't done with him yet. Just after the chutes hit the car makes another hard move to the right and tries to push him over the center line once again. With this, Daniel finds out there is just no time to relax in a TA/FC.

The scoreboard reads "5.85/249 miles per hour." Not bad for a new kid on a hot greasy track.

So, yes, we are a little proud of Daniel. We were going to bust his chops when we arrived up the return road to get him. One of the guys wanted to tell him he ran *only* a 6.70 at 175 miles per hour, But John Lomardo, Jr. (who was with us) was as excited as we were. While collecting Daniel's time slip John beat us to Danlel on his scooter and gave him the great news.

I asked him what he thought of the run and he said. "Man, those chutes sure do hit hard, but they sure do feel good!"

Next.

Randy