[tommygold]

All,

Dan ran a few times yesterday. His best two were 11.96 and (I think) 12.05. There were some other times in there that were, um, not as good. On the other hand, he only needs to win 1.

He reports a 60' time of 2.01 and a trap speed of under 120. So to my surprise, thus far we're basically starting out together (my 60' of around 1.91) and the Ferrari is pulling away some (my trap speed of 132+). I'm really hoping to bring my 60' time down.

Reports from the front are that his tires make it incredibly scary and dangerous. He's headed back to the drag strip today to give it another run.

I offered to let him stand on 11.96, and just apply his best time against me, but he declined. He's going for the brass ring, folks.

Note as well that the comparison of my time in Maryland to his in Vegas is misleading, and biased some towards me. He's on a much better prepped track, and with warmth tires grip better; those factors will help my time. But on the other hand, the effect of that elevation, and the fact that I ran on such a cold clear day, means that my times were probably artificially reduced. My best bet is that the times I ran in Maryland would be around .25 seconds slower in LV. Specifically, I think I'm going to lose 40-ish HP, and I'm going to not be as able to pull away.

If you begin with my worst time (other than one screw up of 12.25) of 11.55, add the .25 seconds for the different tracks, and add the .2 seconds I spotted Blitz, then I'm at 12.0 and he's at 11.96! That of course is my worst time compared to his best time, but those two opposites could line up. So a lot of who wins this thing depends on how much we each improve at this point.

I've mentioned several things that I believe will get me .3 to .4 in improvement. No doubt, Dan can do better as get gets more comfortable. We'll see!

In terms of the date we run the race, we're still working to find a date in March that works.

-Tom