Houston Raceway Park "PINKS" Results from Last Night

Spoiler at bottom of page.

What a crowd! I didn't get there until noon. If the car numbers meant anything, there were around 500 entries.

The weather and wind direction was near perfect. I also had the '74 in the "little" car show - I purposely parked it away from the other cars - it is a maverick, you know. Plus it put my cooler the closest to me.

Word of advice to anyone you know running the event in the future - run as close to 10.000 as possible. That is where they chose the 16 contestants from.

There were around fifty cars in the 9's, four in the 8's, a LOT in the 10's.

Also, they seemed to prefer the '70's era cars on this particular stop anyway.

I had an "acquaintance" that got down to the final four and lost out by a couple of THOUSANDTHS.

Also, if anyone has the ability to EASILY record the show on DVD, I'd pay your for your troubles for a copy of it (I can't get SPEED TV on my Cable Package :wah: ). I'd be much obliged.

There was good news and bad news for my buddy with the Turbo'd 408 SB Fox Body Mustang Coupe. He was even faster than their "Exhibition Truck" which was supposed to run an 8.5.

Out of all the cars, and as far as we know, he turned in the lowest E.T. ; 8.37 @165mph - a new personal best for him. His cage is only certified to go 8.5 but, oh well, them things happen.

Now for the spoiler - see waaaaaay below.
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Womack wins the $10,000
My acquantence is Kelvin (they kept pronouncing it "Kevin" in his orange Gremlin, lost out to Womack.
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I can send you a DVD. Any idea when it will air?

 

Thanks, Terry.

I was told (incorrectly) that it was to air tonight. I found out that they are going to email the 16 contestants and inform them when it will air. Word will get out and I'll know when.

I'll shoot you a PM when I do found out when it's going to be.

Thankya much!

 

Sounds like it was fun. I have 4 freinds that are in the 365 to try at the maple grove race to make the 16. They want me to come and hang out the two days incase they need a hand with anything. There all 9 second street cars.

 

you going ? ill be there, and at MIR in June both fields are full

 

Good luck, and if you can, have your buddy's slow their cars down to be right around 10.000.

They'll be given two qualifying runs. 16 cars will be chosen from that group (again, at least in this case).

Also, they will probably have a NAPA sponsored car make it to the selected 16 (that's a given as NAPA is a sponsor of PINKS). If the same scenario unfolds,they'll line it up so the NAPA car wins the first round and then gets beat during the final 8, so it's really just 15 cars and a mullet that they'll be choosing.

Good luck to you and your pals.

 

Howdy Rick, How did that '62 Ford truck do? Was she even there? I would also like any info as to when it airs. Thanks !

 

We were parked very near that truck. I didn't get to see it run, however, it sounded like it hauled buttocks!

There were so many cars that I couldn't keep up with.


Also, there were 3 Mavericks that ran. I spoke to (edit) Daryl Patton who has his son, Derric, driving his Big Block, but they were running well below the 10.00's.




pic source: Doug Baur's site, texasgrabber.com

 

dumb question, but is the whole "pinks" thing set up for TV, or can you really loose your car, I don't think I could ever think about loosing my project because of a bad day at the track

 

They are going around the nation promoting the show by holding a $10,000 winner-take-all type program. They are NOT doing the "title-for-title" on these particular type events.

The entry fee is $10, Zero dollars to race (must pass Tech).

So, the spectator gets to see some all out, back-to-back racing for $10.

In this case, there were only a few down-times (a Lexus hit the wall, a Cheby lost an axle (I think) and maybe one or two other incidents (hood flying off). But the crew at Houston Raceway Park are VERY fast at cleanup - unlike some other tracks I go to.

I heard that they are finally getting their "shtuff" together by teching a lot of cars the Friday night before the races. As I understand it, this event was their best so far (as far as "being on schedule" is concerned).

 

Chris, when's the maple grove race, I could probably drag some people out to watch and wrench

 

June 9th 8th? that weekend

 

Other way around. Daryl is the dad and Derrick is the kiddo. The kid shows damn good promise as a driver......Daryl just has his hands full keeping the boys ego and mouth in check.

 

Sounds like alot of fun Rick...thx for the info. I'll be in Rockingham the Friday before they tape the show to get the car teched and get some practice 1/4 mile passes in (rear end is being re-geared just for this).
It should go a flat 9 with no NOS...I am gonna make one practice pass on the bottle just to see if I can break 8.5.
What kind of tree are they running on?
Any other info you can offer would be appreciated....
If they choose all 10 second cars then so be it...I'm running ALL OUT

 

Rick, they used the Sportsman tree during Qualifying. The "Instant Green" was used on the second round (I'm pretty sure).

However, the MC, "Rich whoever" of the show did his "dropping of the hands" when it got down to the final 16. (side note: I understand he was in one of the suites "practicing" his hand drops before he actually got out there and flagged the starts. Ha!).

Good luck on getting passed the 8.5 barrier, HOWEVER, , and personally, I would slow my car down and have a chance to bring home $10,000.00. They really seemed to like the early '70's cars. You would stand a pretty chance of being selected based on that info.

You can always run "all out" during the Test and Tune they allow between the eliminations if you don't get selected to be one of the 16 "chosen". You do have to have been in the original 300+ cars to T&T, btw.

Good luck whichever method you chose to race.