05-05-2008 - Team BBNova showed up early Friday morning to a long line of trailers after a long ride.  We met and spent some time with Susie of Team Midnight.  We were excited and ready to go.  Our first race of the season, and perfect blue skies with 75 degree weather.  A few hours later, we made it to the gates and entered.  In that short time, the weather had taken a nasty turn for the worse.  While unloading Eric Kenward's new Mike Moran turbo motor, the skies had darkened, the wind picked up, and every one had to head for cover.  Tornado weather had rolled in with a quickness and a fury.  We headed to check in to the hotel and wait it out.  A few hours later we headed back to the track and teched in.  A few new stickers and we were ready to race, but the weather had different plans for everyone. After teching in, we took care of a few loose ends and drove back to the hotel.  All of team BBNova had red eyes from sleep deprivation, but a hungry appetite for the track.  After a frustrating 2007 year, we longed to be back on top.  With 11 hours of sleep, we were refreshed and eager to get racing.                                 

Let me paint a picture for you.  Two days of no showers, being trapped in a truck for hours, loading and unloading cars, equipment, sweating, dirt, food, smoke, etc, Team BBNova all took a much needed shower and were ready to go.  Breakfast was great and provided and Team Midnight.  Thanks guys!                                 

After heading back to Beach Bend raceway, it became clear that the track staff had a lot of work to do.  Two days of powerful rains had left everything soaked.  We knew we had a few hours to prep the car and get her ready for her 2008 debut pass. From pit to pit the intermittent rumble and roar of race engines, along with the sweet and crisp smell of racing fuel in the air, it was becoming apparent that after a long drive and bad weather, we were finally getting to get the car on the track and see the fruits of this winters modifications.                                 

Tucci was calling cars to the starting line class by class.  It's always a bit of a guessing game which class is called in next.  Team BBNova snapped into action and got the car ready to run for the first pass.                                 

Due to the amount of time it took to dry the track and prep it, the NMCA made the decision to limit Saturday to 1 test pass and 2 qualifying passes.  It became clear that we had to do what we do best and make each pass count.  We made the best tuning choices we could with the information that we had and towed the car up to the lanes for our first test pass of the season.                                 

After a big smoky burnout as Al Tucci would say, we staged the car. The car left a little lazy and finished the same way with a 7.82 @ 174mph. We towed the car back to our pit and I immediately got Hutch from Hutch's trans service on the phone to get some advice.                           

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After a long talk Hutch and I came to an agreement on what was needed. My crew and I made those changes and got ready for first round of qualifying.                                

The call was made for first round of qualifying and we were ready. This time, things went a little better 7.65 @ 177mph. This put us in the #2 qualifying spot. Looks like we were going in the right direction but still far from were we needed to be. We went the same direction as last time and waited for our call for our 2nd and final qualifier.                              

The call was made and it was dark by now. It was hard to see and we may have been lined up out of the grove a bit. I let go of the button and the car left hard. It also left to the right. I tried to get it back but it took nearly all the track to get it back without getting out of it. It ran a 7.61 @ 179.5 mph. Unfortunately someone had bested our #2 spot putting us in the #3 qualifying spot. We gathered all our info and made a couple changes for first round of eliminations for Sunday morning.                              

We showed up at the track early Sunday morning only to find out we didn’t run till noon. We also saw the ladder which showed us against Barb Nesbit. Barb has been running strong lately if you are not aware. We prepared the car for first round hoping for the best. The call was made and we towed up to the lanes. Barb and I hugged and wished each other well. So it was on, first round and against an opponent that was no slouch. He pulled around the corner and lined up in the burnout box. Barb started her burnout first and then me. Barb’s burnout took her to at least the 330’ mark while our Red Nova stopped around the 60’ mark. I backed up and waited for Barb to return. Once we were both back and ready we both start inching forward to find the first staging beam. I was first to light the top light. Barb bumped in and lit her top bulb. We both lit our top bulbs and waited for the tree to come down. I was the first to leave and that was a good thing as Barb ran just a tad faster than we did. We both charged down the track with Barb just on my heals. The finish line approached and we were the first to the stripe. It turns out barb went a 7.615 to our 7.616.                

That round win put us up against Mike Schmidt for round 2. We got the car back to the pits to make some adjustments and then we heard it, Nostalgia Pro Street to the lanes. I was in shock, as were the rest of the NPS Class. We hurried as fast as we could and got the car buttoned up and up to the staging lanes. We paired up with Mike and pulled up the front of staging. Mike and I got in our cars and fired them up. We pulled our cars into the water box and heated up the tires. After bringing the car back from the burnout and staging the cars, Mike and I were ready for this battle. We both left and the Nova charged down the track to its second round victory. The car was a bracket car, we ran a 7.601 to Mike’s 7.653. This win earned us a bye into the final round.                

We had a bye run which allowed us to try a  thing or two this round. The NMCA made the call for our class and we headed up to make our solo pass. Just before our pass, <img src ="http://www.bbnovaracing.com/gallery/photos/2008%20Race%20Season/Bowling%20Green%202008/DSC00282.JPG" width="200" height = 148>Jim Widener had taken out Billy Joe Gordon, which meant we were up against the #1 qualifier in the finals. We made our pass and gathered the info that we needed to prepare for the final round.           

We waited around for what seemed like forever; savoring the day and the fruits of our hard work. It was just getting dark and they made the call for all final round opponents to make their way to the staging lanes. We met up with Jim Widener and wished him well. Jim and I followed the Extreme Street class which had just ran. We fired up the cars and pulled up to the burnout box. Jim did a small burnout and I did my normal burnout. I backed up and my brother Chris opened up the NOS bottle.  I purged the remaining air from the supply line. The car shot NOS into the air snorting like a bull ready to charge.  Jim staged first and then I pulled in. Both bottom bulbs were lit and Jim bumped in to light his top bulb. I shortly followed and depressed my trans brake button. I pushed my accelerator foot to the floor; engine roaring I waited for the tree to come down. A short moment later it happened. The tree activated and I released the trans brake button. The motor rev’d and the car left strong! No Jim in sight. I thought to myself "cool, we put some tree on him", and from the times Jim was running we needed every advantage we could get. I pulled 2nd gear and then 3rd gear and still no Jim in sight. I thought "we have a chance here". I pushed my foot harder to the floor as if that would help and waited for the finish line to come. Here it came and I started to lift my arm to reach for the parachute lever while still looking out the side of the car for Jim. I reached the finish line first and pulled the chute.            

I couldn’t believe what just happened. We won and no Jim in sight. I pulled the car around the corner and brought it to a stop on the return road.                

I got out of the car after purging the remaining nitrous out of the supply line and started jumping up and down and yelling, “We did it!!!!”  I got a phone call from my crew informing me that Jim had a rear end failure on the starting line which made me glad that Scott Marrison of Scott’s Crap had built mine. My crew finally showed up to congratulate me, and me them. After doing the contingency thing, which we had done for too long, we loaded up and started to head out. We stopped by the Nesbit pit and celebrated with them for a moment. Charlie Harmon was there and asked if had been by the winners circle yet? Gee, I guess it had been too long since a first place finish,  because we completely forgot about the winners circle. We unloaded the car and got it to the winner’s circle and had our pictures taken. We loaded up again and headed out to get a victory meal. We all met up and had a couple drinks and some decent food. Having been a very long day, we decided to get some sleep in Bowling Green and head out Monday morning.                

I have to thank so many people for this victory….                

First, my lovely wife Colleen for being patient and understanding.                

Chris, my brother. He and I have become a lot closer because of racing.              

I wish I could have been able to afford to make my 2 boys Alex and Brandon part of it, you were missed all weekend.               

Hutch of Hutch’s trans service for a trans that just won’t break and tuning advice that gave us round and round wins                

Brian Mullaney, who couldn’t be there but is the man behind the scenes.                

My Uncle Alex and Duane for driving all the way down to help crew.                

My step daughters Alexis and Marissa for moral support and crewing.                

Team Midnight for all the support and food.                

And lastly my sponsors,       

Hutch's Trans Service        

Mickey Thompson        

NOS        

Pro-systems        

Scott’s crap custom rears        

Diamond pistons        

Dart        

Neal Chance Racing converters        

EC1 race cars        

Torco race fuels        

Isky lifters     

Moroso    

GRP   

MSD   

Powermaster 

Harlow Tires