PINKS update============
 

Just spoke with Jack . All qualifying is over and they are down to 2 groups. There will be either an 11.90 or 9.90 class, ANNNNND Michael has been selected to the 9.90 class. Let's keep our fingers crossed they pick the 9.90's. After the first qualifying run this morning where Michael ran a 9.91 @ 133mph, the ET/mph boards were turned off so the racers could not see how there pass turned out. Jack said he had lowered Michaels boost a bit and took out a little timing to keep things around an 10.00, but it appears the car still ran into the 9's as is evident by Michael being pick with the top 16 9.90 cars. This is cool guys! Michael could not only show everyone how well TR's wil run, but he has a 50/50 shot @ running for $10,000. Let's not forget the Cotton team, and RPE for building this bad boy.:D

Pinks
 

It was nice to meet you michael at the show yesterday and the rest of the crew.To make it to the sweet 16 was quite a performance.You made all us Turbo Buick racer proud.Good job.

Tony
1983 T-Type Riviera
231 carbed turbo
NHRA National Record Holder

Thanks so much! It was also very nice to meet you also. To answer your question yesterday....I had plenty of wick left!;):D
I pm'd you.

I was lookin around and found a video of Mike's first qualifying run at Pinks. Here it is....http://youtube.com/watch?v=_HDYZJ1DBH8

OMG! Now looking at my pass, Jack, you were right I was all over the place! I did do a 9.91 in a half mile!!!!:D:D:D

I am sorry guys I haven't posted anything yet, it's been crazy at work. I am working on it tho!:)

Congrats on the 9's! Can't wait to hear the story.

The action was fast and furious down there. We actually had 2 customers there, one was a 9 second capable 109 stock block car that we had just finished building, but had yet to get much track time to tune in. The other was a new customer we had sold parts to that we were tuning in at the shop. So both cars were pretty unknown to us as to where they would run. We had hoped to run the 9 second, (Mike's) car around 10.0 since he didn't have a license or net yet. We did install a cage and had it certified though. The other was a total street car, (Harold Z's) with no cage, had to try and keep it at 11.50. Needless to say, their fiirst qualifying runs were 9.91 and 11.37..... WOOPS... tried to turn them down for the 2nd run but they still went too fast.. :eek!: Mike's 9.90's got him picked for the Sweet 16.. so the sweating began, as it turned out Etown safety tech was not happy with him in the staging lanes as they tech the cars for a 3rd time, this time after the cars were chosen and getting outfitted with cameras and sound equipment.. long story short, Mike ran 1st round against a newer trans am and pretty much pulled away in 1st before having trouble getting into 2nd gear... the trans am came around him and Mike was unable to run him down after banging off the rev limiter for several seconds.. he had a great wheels up launch with plenty left in the tank.. Mikes car has an RPE built 109 motor with ported Champion heads and a new Turbonetics GTK72-BB turbo, on 17-18lbs of boost he ran 9.91@133mph.. Me thinks he has a legitimate chance of running some serios numbers once we finish tuning and work his 60 fts down into the 1.30's... oh ya.. and turn up the boost about 10lbs...

To sum it up we had a fabulous weekend and thouroughly enjoyed the Pinks show.. one more tidbit, we left the track around 10:30 saturday nite and went to Red Lobster for some dinner and relaxation... who do you think walked in 10 minutes behind us.... Rich Christianson.... the Pinks host... it was cool, we spoke for a few minutes and enjoyed the rest of our meal while rehashing the weekend and how fortunate we were to have had the opportunity to particpate... and represent the Buick Community.

A big congrats to Mike and Harold for running so well....

Well the cats out of the bag, I was not prepared to run in the 9's. I was having boost issue's. I could not get over 17 pounds of boost no matter how much I was turning the boost up on the electronic boost controller. We finally fixed the problem that friday at the track. That 9.91 was only the 6th clean pass that I had on the car since we had gotten it back from Cotton's. It was just amazing! I can't thank Jack, Brian and Adam enough for all the hard work they put into this build for me. Jack was there with me by my side throughout the entire 2 days. Without his help we could never have done it! The car has a ton of potential left, Jack hasn't even really even touched the XFI much. Actually the last pass we took a pound of boost away and he took 2 degrees of timing out and the car launched harder then it ever did before and even if that "shifter malfunction" didn't happen I think I would have been disqualified for running to fast. It's crazy, it's not like we were even trying to sandbag or anything. We had just gotten the car together, we really had no idea that it was going to run that well!

All Out
 

Congrats Mike, Harold and Team Cotton. I wish I could have been there to see you all run. And just to say Hi to everyone. Maybe I'll have to catch up some time in the future.

Hey Boss, thanks, sorry I didn't respond yet to your email. I just been crazy here. We did some work on the suspension a few weeks ago..... pecking away at it.. I'll talk to you soon..

Congrats to you all. It is a ton of work to get into the 9's. All in all you are making about 3 horsepower per cubic inch, that aint to shabby. Bottom line is you have to have your $h!t together to do that!!

Also the pressure is more intense when the camera is on. The car looks great I bet you are addicted now and faster times are right around the corner.

The fact that you made the field is amazing, I can not wait to watch this episode on TV any idea when it will be on the air waves?

Thanks! It definetly was a pretty intense situation. I can't wait to get back to the track again. I just have to take care of a few things, like a window net and a competition license.:D I knew the car had it in it, I just didn't think it was going to happen then! There were a few insurpassable obstacles that we went through to get to that point and for me to actually race in the final 16, at least I thought so, but Jack just kept everything together. That's why he's the BIG DAWG!

I am not sure when it is going to air. As soon as I find out I will definetly post it up.

I want to Congratulate both Mike and Nicole on their Pinks All Out success. It was a fantastic weekend. Getting the car into the 9's, getting picked for the show, being at Englishtown with hundreds of other racer's (it was the most crowded I have ever seen it), eating at Arnold's steakhouse,
seeing Mike wear the Big Dawg's fire suit, (it was like a part of Jack was in the car), seeing all the TV people, cameras, support staff, and most of all spending time with Harold, Patti, Mike, Nicole N., Nicole G., Brian, Diana and friends, and the many people who stopped by the Cotton Compound to say hello and wish both Mike and Harold good luck. I feel so fortunate to have been there, it was a very special weekend. I think Jack and I might try to have a Pink's Party at the shop when it will be shown on TV....
Mike did an awesome job driving his car, staying calm when things cropped up, and keeping his sense of humor about all the pressure when he was one of the lucky ones picked for the final 16. Being the only 6, surrounded by full blown race cars with their 8 cylinders.....
Keep up the great work Mike!

Thanks Honey for filling in all the gaps I left out........ and properly completing my original post, you are the best!!! :D

Wow Lorrie, that was great! Both Nicole and I thank you very much! It truely was amazing the entire time, not just to participate in the event but to get to know yourself and Jack better and to meet new friends like Harold, Patti and Nicole G. We really felt like we were apart of a community and not just "going to the track to see what the car will do again". It was a milestone in our lives, actually a few. Getting into the 9's, and doing it on national t.v. representing the buick community and Cotton's Performance! Oh yeah and getting into the final 16! It doesn't get any better than that! It's funny that you said that about me, Lorrie, being calm under pressure and keeping my sense of humor. Guys at my work that were there said I should get the "Iceman" embroider on my fire suit when I get it! LOL! Does sound pretty catchy, and he is my favorite fighter (Chuck Liddel). Ok, again I can't stress enough with out Team Cotton there, who knows how far we would have gotten. A Pinks party is a fantastic idea.We would love to meet up with everyone again to relive that special day.

On a side note we were showing our daughter Alexis the video's of the weekend. Wouldn't you know that my daughter looked at the screen and said, "Hey, that's Jack". Yeah, she's 2. Were in trouble. Jack, I guess you leave a lasting impression with the ladies!:D

I have a video of that run against that TA from the final 16. You guys be the judge. Did I have him? If it was a clean pass (without the shifter malfunction):rolleyes:, would I have been disqualified for running too fast?!:eek::D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1shAz-opCL8

Mike, I watched the video. You certainly looked like you were going to check out.
Congrats . . .

Nice job getting as far as you did .... The launch looked good , You had a shot.... CONGRATS!!!!!

Thank's guys! I appreciate it! There is a great shot of my wheels up, here's the link to the post. http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/tur...ng-e-town.html

Well for some reason the video is off of youtube. It says the user deleted it.... but I didn't. I am trying to get it on again.:confused:

Ok, lets try this again.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0lSrPzlj3E

I was looking through some of the Utube videos , seems like there were a few Buicks representing . Sorry I missed it .

I was the transam that raced in the first round with the black GN. I knew something had to happen to the car, because the car was right there, then disappeared.

Awesome car, sounds like there's a ton left too! I'm sure we'll see one another @ LVD sooner then later :)

Hey!!!! Great to see you found us. Congrats on making the 16 car field, and making it past 1st round. as you may have read here, Mike really has a car capable of much more, unfortunately we were not quite NHRA legal for the 9 second class, turning everything back was a trip. We were trying to run 10.0 but ya know how that can be with limited test and tuning... If it ever stops raining, we will see you at LVD, when do you go there and where are you from? Also, whats your name?
Congrats again on making Pinks!!!

one more thing... what happened to you, did you hurt something...

Thanks! Your car was killer too! Yeah I have shifter issues. I tried to shift into second, thought I did but just bounced off the rev limiter!:mad:It's ok tho, I am happy to have gotten that far and especially not knowing what the car was going to run! I want a rematch!:D I hope to see you up at the Valley, but we usually go to Island dragway.

Jason Lambert, from New Britain CT. Long story short as to what happened in the semi final run.. bottle wasn't on :( The camera guys were putting a 2nd camera in and we were trying to change the bottle, got it in, pressure wa a little low, so the heater got turned on, no big deal. I got back in the car, the seatbelts were jammed under the camera equipment, and rich was rushing me to get going, by the time I got the seatbelt on he was at the window yelling let's go..... never turned the bottle on. My own fault, I even moved it into the passenger's seat so I could reach over and do it, which didn't seem to help any.

Car's been 9.6 @ 170 lbs heavier then it is now, so needless to say the 9.9 it ran on saturday, and teh 9.86 it ran on my one test run on friday aren't a real representation of what it's fully capable of. Just have to put the other jets back in the car and it should be back where it was if not faster with the plate kit that's on it now, but there's a directport fogger that will probably be on it pretty soon, which should bump it to a 9.4, faster if I want to hit it hard.


Your GN was a piece of art, I've always loved those cars, best part is you listen to one running, and ya can't tell if it's a 12 second car or an 8 second car, that to me is the best part. Noone ever thinks my transam is gonna run like it does, but the gn's still got me coverred in the sleeper department.

If you're aiming to get to a consistant 10.0, is there a class for that speed? I'm at the point that I could leave it turned back to run that type of class and never hurt anything, but I haven't heard of anything at that speed range. Epping has a 9.5 index which is what I want to run with the car, ya need a 9.4 car to really be competitive for the class so that's where I'm headed.


I'm up for a rematch if you are, but I know neither one of us is gonna leave the car's the way they were for the TV show. Sounds like you're got a solid 1/2 second left in that car, and I've got a bit left as well.

Hey Jason, it sounds like you have a handfull with that car! I always loved those cars. Especially the 3 rd generation. My wife has an 89 GTA hardtop that we will be working on next now that my car is "done";) That is crazy about your belts and your bottle! Hey it's awesome you made it that far tho. Who would have ever thought, right?!

Were not really aiming for the 10.0 range. We were trying to detune it to stay in that range due to I had no net in the car and I didn't have a competition license.(I am getting my physical tomorrow). Next time I go out I will be taking my license passes. After that I have 12 lbs of boost left, maybe more. The car is built to take it, I just don't know for how long tho. After all it is only a 109 block. I don't plan on running that much boost all the time. But I definelty want to know what she is capable of.

A rematch would be awesome. It does sound like both of our cars have alot left in them, I think that would make a great movie for youtube! Hope to see you in the pits!

Good to meet you Jason, you really have a nice looking car. I didn't get a chance to check it out, but certainly will next time we meet. It sounds like you and Mike should have a good run should you get a chance to run again. I have run the class up at NED before when it first started, enjoyed it but those big V8's didn't care to see me next to them at the starting line. If they were running close to the 8.90's they played games like you wouldn't believe, guess they didn't want to lose to a 6.... I could run that 9.50 class with mine, turn the boost down to about 15lbs and run it for a long time.. just have to cut the lite and not break out.. :)

Are you going up to LVD for the 1320X race the 16th... I'm looking at it but not sure if the classes really fit my car. I think they ran the same race at Etown when we there and didn't have enough 8.50 or faster cars to fill the field, I could have qualified had I known at number 2 or 3...

I may go to the 1320x, I signed up for it so I know I can get in, still debating it though. I could sign up for the bracket class but that's not really my thing, be cool to be there just with all the fast outlaw cars and whatnot, track should be good with all those guys there.

The class @ ned, really to do well you need a consistant 9.4 tuneup, so that way when ya get a good light the only way the other guy is ahead if you is if he's gonna really break out, ya just have to know where to let off so you don't break out yourself.

It's a fun class, I have a couple friends that run it all season so it would be good to be able to get up there and race with those guys.

Mike's car sounds like it probably has a 9.3 in it if it gets pushed to the max, I know with the DP on the car as a 2nd stage I probably can push mine to a few 8 second runs, but that's gonna be it I think. I'm only running a stock GM ls2 block, no lsx motor under the hood, at least as long as this one stays together there isn't :)

I never would have thought I was gonna get picked to be honest, I got selected as one of the 6 cars to race out for the last 2 spots last year @ mir, but the car was broken ( header fitting exited stage left) and with a 1 inch dia hole in a primary thatwas aiming at the fuel lines, I wasn't gonna take the chance.

If ya happen to see me @ the track, please stop by, always nice to meet other guys with clean fast stuff :) Hell, ya never know my next car might be a GN, or if you guys ever venture into a 4th gen f body, I might have some useful stuff to share :)

Maybe we'll catch ya up at NED too.... as for the GN.... we can definitely hook you up with one... :) We do work on other cars as well, always welcome to come up and check things out... Saturdays are like hobby days when we aren't out racing..

Sounds good. Maybe next weekend if I don't go to 1320x I'll take a ride up.

Welcome to the board! Sounds to me like you should be running Jack "The Pumpkin" heads up, and not Michaels little 109.

I don't think I'm keeping up with that without adding at least another 250 hp of spray to the car.

Even then I have my doubts.

Update!
 

I just got off the phone with someone from PULLIN TV confirming my name and vehicle for the show! He said it is scheduled to air 10/2/08! WOO HOO!:D

Dude, your a celeb! Don't settle for less than 50k for there right to have you on their show. "Good Morning America" pays that.

I got the same call, made sure the name was spelled right, car was right, etc.etc.

I know! Anyone know a good agent?:D

Awsome guys, congrats again, can't wait to see the show.....

Pictures!
 

I have been meaning to post up some pics! Here we go!


http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2815.jpg
I'm wearin' the Big Dawg's fire suit.
Jack noticed that I was bugged!;)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2822.jpg
I'm getting interviewed by the Pinks All Out crew while Brian watches over.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2843.jpg
Organized chaos.
We were thinking of a "solution" to a snag that came up before the final 16!
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2657.jpg
A work of art! Awesome job guys!
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2655.jpg
Another motor shot.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2837.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2841.jpg

More pics
 

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2860.jpg
Jack is helping me with my neck collar.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2780.jpg
Waiting in the lanes.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2890.jpg
Final 16 Burnout
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/P1020144.jpg
Final 16 meeting with Steve Pullin. I don't see anyone else's builders,tuners or friends with them! Jack is right next to me! It was truely awesome!
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2858.jpg
My wife, Nicole, Brian and Jack makin' sure I got everything.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2643.jpg
First real "clean" pass (even though I was all over the pace in the first 60')
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/IMG_2644.jpg
The result! I can't wait to this coming weekend!:D

I got more pics to come. I'll post up more later....