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June
25, 2005
UDRA Thunderfest
Toronto, Canada
On June25th 2005,
Team Reflexions participated in the Toronto Motorsports Park
"THUNDERFEST" UDRA funny car race. The track was
superb and the fans even better…!! The car was prepped and
ready to race. We were hopeful for a good outcome. Our plan
for this season is to reduce breakage and make small changes
to the car to gain a baseline. If we make a small change and
see good results than make another and so on. Better to go
lapps and learn than to fly and buy (parts$$$). After the
improvements made, we are sure the car has the potential for
good runs soon.
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| Driver
Jody Gucwa at Autograph session. |
Next
Generation Racers! |
Ken
with a big grin. |
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any photo to enlarge]
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| Mike
Bice and Arn Kashino, the men behind "Nerves of
Steel" |
J
Antel and Family pose with Reflexions. |
Mr.
Bill Bater and Jody Joke durring parade
introductions. |
Qualifying in the # 2
slot with a 6.36 @ 224.77 mph. Round one we received a win 6.395 @223.95
mph During our normal turn around maintenance there were no engine
problems, we decided to run the car with no tune changes and let the
cooling weather help us just a little. Final round paired us with Mike
Etters "Nerves of Steel" Firebird. Mike was the #1 qualifier with
6.29 @223 mph. Mike put a hole shot on us and Jody drove his tail off to
try to catch him, but did not quite get him. Mike ran a 6.54 @222.16 to
defeat us, even with our quicker 6.35 @225.22 mph. Mike and his crew have
been friends with Jody for years and I have had that same pleasure knowing
Mike the last 2 years and so if I had to lose, there is no one better than
those great guys from Canada.
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| Jody,
Randy, and Ken. |
Jody
during the parade lap. |
Fellow
Racer Jeff Lancaster and Crew talk with Ken before
the race. |
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any
photo to enlarge]
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Great
Canadian fans Mike and Mandy. |
Race
Fan Mike Garden gets pointers from George. |
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July
9, 2005
WAR (World Alcohol Racers)
Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada
Qualifying well, we
again went into the eliminations with high hopes. In the semi-finals we
were to run in the second pairing. Mike Etter ran in the first pairing and
midway through the run he got out of shape, hit the wall almost head on
seriously damaging the car. Mike although badly banged up and sore was ok.
The track was cleaned and re-prepped. We had alot of concerns about track
conditions due to the delay. Finally, it's time to run. We lined up
against Paul Nokes - should be a very good run. The track was prepped and
very sticky. Leaving the starting line, the whole car leapt in the air and
shook out a parachute. Jody shut the motor off just as Nokes also hooked
up hard rolling a transmission sprag (we think) and blew up his engine.
The race was determined as Nokes out-coasted us to the finish line.
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| George
and Fred Yeager talk and laugh about old times. |
Jody
heating the tires. |
Jody
and Paul Nokes Team Member chat before the
semi-final. |
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any photo to enlarge]
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| Wane
Mellinger and Kevin Lennon head to staging. |
Jody
Getting Suited Up. |
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July
15-17, 2005
IHRA Motor City Nationals
Milan Michigan
Our first time
competing nationally with the IHRA (International Hot Rod Association).
Our first pass in qualifying was a 6.18 ET capturing the attention of our
peers. Viewing our download showed a transmission problem with second
gear. After resurfacing the clutch and replacing the trans clutch pack our
second pass netted a 6.12 ET. This time placed us just off the bubble for
competition eliminations. Back in the pits, our hopes for qualifying were
dashed by a throttle-sticking problem. Broken uprights in the injector had
prevented us from making our third pass in qualifying. We placed #10 out
of 18 entries which wasn't bad for our first time racing this sanctioning
body and only missing the eliminations by two one hundredth's of a second.
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| Don
Smith and Ken wait for Jody to arrive. |
In
line for first qualifying pass. |
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any photo to enlarge]
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| Dan
Richards and Mike Wenzler show support. |
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July
29-31, 2005
IHRA
Cayuga, Ontario, Canada
Returning to Cayuga
Ontario this time running our 2nd IHRA event. Track prep was very good and
we shook the tires on the first pass in qualifying. The second pass saw
the car getting out of shape and Jody had to lift. We broke a blower belt
on the final pass thus eliminating our hopes of competing. Needless to say
we were very disappointed.
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to Enlarge |
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August
11-13, 2005
IHRA Northern Nationals
Martin, Michigan
Our third outing
with the IHRA. Expectations high as we thought we were going
to do well here. First qualifying pass was disappointing as
we still experienced tire shake. Regrouping for round two
qualifying, we were no longer plagued with tire shake. The
run looked awesome until the 330 foot mark. We saw a puff of
oil smoke. This was the telltale sign of a blown engine; the
problem resulting from the intermediate shaft of the
transmission breaking alowing the engine to over rev. If it
weren't for bad luck ---- well, you know.
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Good
Friend Art Caball with John and Jody |
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any photo to enlarge]
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Special
Friends, and ole top fuel racers Donnie Smith and
Arnie Knack came to help out. |
Young
racer Sam Kaston gets the feel of the controls. |
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September
3, 2005
UDRA
Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada
Here again but,
with the UDRA this time. Based on consistently increasing our performance
level and our lower ET's we hoped this might be our first win. With one
shot at qualifying again, we were struck by fate. The tires started to
shake so Jody peddled the car and drove through it. But as the speed and
wind increased the plastic screws holding the burst panel on the hood
broke. The panel held to the car with the required cable and it flew up
banging the window. Jody thinking something on the engine had broken made
the right call and shut the car off. So unable to make it to the
eliminations, even though we felt we had the better car, our day was done.
Racing is like a crapshoot -- anything can happen!
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| This
is where we spent the weekend. |
Ken
gets a bite to eat. |
Don
and George. |
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any photo to enlarge]
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| Young
Greg Hartman made the trip with us. His first time
since we ran the cuda funny car. We will see more of
Greg in 2006. |
Even
"Wild Man" Dave Hedges stopped bye. |
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September
18, 2005
US Funny Car Nationals
Martin, Michigan
Our last race of
the season. This race was a reload from a rain out earlier
in the season. There were four out of eight teams seated
from previous qualifications. Some nationally known teams
were also attempting to qualify for the remaining positions.
We knew we had to step it up and perform in order to make
the field. Posting a 6.07 ET in qualifying, placed us in the
#3 position. Round one of the eliminations, we defeated the
Torco Fuels funny car of Tim Stevens. Round two pitted us
against Terry McMillan. We dodged a bullet when McMillan
fouled (said to of been one of only three in his career-
sorry but thanks Terry :-). We actually made it to the
finals competing against Mike Comella. Mike is a consistent
performer and we looked for a close race. However, Mike cut
a better light and Jody was unable to catch up. Interesting
enough the times were virtually the same for 60 foot and 330
until we lost traction just before the eighth mile marker.
Runner-up was a very enjoyable way to conclude our season.
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Wow!
Bill Ivens wearing an original speed world shirt
next to Mike and his son. |
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any photo to enlarge]
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| Members
of the Angus family joined us for the night. The
also often help us out at the shop. Thanks! |
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