The teams are back, the cars are ready and PINKS has film in the cameras. It's time for Episode Two to get going!
As the car arrives, it doesn't take long to get things rolling.
There were still a few finishing touches needed. Here, Team Lo' Cash, John, Mike and myself are putting on the new Blitzkrieg Racing sticker.
As all the final stickers were being applied, Jason was getting the camera in position for his "close-up"!
Once evrything is ready, both teams are called to the staging lanes. Everyone hustled to do anything needed on the car. The moment of truth was only minutes away.
A few minutes before show time, John and Jason are posing for the cameras.
Negotiation #1; we loose the NOS, so it's turbo to turbo and heads up! Rich Christensen, the shows host, is excited about it. There is hardly never a heads up first race on the show.
Let's get down to racing! The drivers strap in and do their first burnout of the day.
Race #1 goes down without a hitch. The Hasport Honda gets us by mere inches at the stripe.
Negotiation #2; heads up, nothing changes.
Race #2 and we pull out a win! Jason takes it by a length or so.
Negotiation #3 is under way. After race one, we found our wheelie bars came loose. Race two we win by a length, so Brian from Hasport goes for the bars. We end up going heads up but without our wheelie bars.
Race #3 doesn't go as planned. After Jason launches the car, the carburator comes loose from the turbo. Needless to say without fuel, car goes nowhere. We loose the race by a lot.
Negotiation #4 and were in the hot seat. Down two races to one, we opt for a two car head start and keep the wheelie bars off.
Race #4 goes down just as it started. Jason takes the win by two car lengths.
Down to the final negotiation. Since we won the race handily the Hasport team went for a one car lead and no wheelie bars. We ended up giving them a 1/2 car lead and still no bars. This is it, as Jason would tell me, it's "Hero or Zero Time!"
Both cars burn the hides and then stage.
On the launch, the Honda gets a jump as our car bogs a little.
A little past the 60' mark, Jason is a length or so behind but charging strong. The only problem is he is fighting to keep the car in the groove.
At 1/2 track Jason is gaining ground but starting to get out of shape.
At 3/4 track Jason is still on the gas but getting way out of the groove now.
Just before the stripe, the unthinkable happens. Jason gets out of shape bad and ends up taking a hard left across the other lane and hits the retaining wall.
When the car hit the wall, practically everyone ran down the track. Once we got there, only directly involved people were able to get close to the car. My only thoughts were of Jason. Thankfully, he was sitting on the guard rail catching his breath. It was great to see him ok and out of the car.
Once we knew Jason was ok, the next order of business was to get the car off the track. We ended up putting it halfway on the back of a flat bed trailer.
The fiberglass front end waiting to be picked up.
All things considered, the car and driver got away with minor damage. Jason was a little stiff but not bad for what had happened. The car needs the header to be fixed, two new wheels and tires, a new glass front end and some front cage work. I would hate to wonder how bad this could have come out if we wouldn't of had 407 Speed Shack re-enforce the car with a new cage. Thanks Mike!
After the events of the day, Brian from Hasport announced that the proceedes from both cars would be split 33/66 to the respective charities. John offered that we would fix the car if the split would be 50/50. Hasport agreeded, so the bruised Bug headed back to VW Paradise for another round of work.