It was a short trip with some laughs, letdowns, and an overall memorable experience. I mainly just want to write it down before I forget it so I'll be able to come back and read it again someday for the memories.
Backstory for a little context: I went 8.9s with the car in November 2019 and then covid happened. Made a couple passes in 2020 then decided to make a bunch of changes (new motor, dual fuel, went from single to twins, rewire, more cage, couple transmission upgrades, etc) and I just got the car back together, running and driving like a month or two ago.
My good friend Matt Happel (sloppy mechanics) came down and we drove up the PRI (in another car, also a crown Vic) and when we got back, he got the idle and driveability dialed in, then we just needed to do some rolling into it to get the booost settings dialed in but we ran out of time and weather was trash.
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Anyway, after some last minute checks/fixes, I BACKED the car out of the shop and loaded it on the trailer to get to the Christmas tree race. The race WAS Thursday the 22nd, but it looked like rain that day so they moved it to Wednesday the 21st, and I found this out Monday. Lol. It's a 12-13 hour drive for me, so we left as soon as we could Tuesday.
After a mostly uneventful trip, we made it to the hotel at like 3am, the girl behind the desk told us we could park in "the field right over there". After minimal sleep the night before and 14 hours on the road, I promptly backed into a small dry drainage pond and stopped right when I noticed my car disappearing out of my mirrors, almost dunking half the trailer into the huge culvert opening, and successfully backed one of the trailer tires into something sharp/metal creating a slow leak.
(drainage pond/culvert over my left shoulder)
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Then we went up to the FIRST room, opened it up, looked like someone was actually staying there, drinks on counters, beds dirty, TV on, we were like oh shit, went back down, got another room, luckily the second one was in proper form. Got some sleep, ate crappy hotel breakfast, and killed some time waiting for the gates to open.
I never actually signed up for the race, I just asked Garrett if I could be in the race and he said sure come on down! I knew I'd need some kinda tech card, so I signed up for test and tune (Christmas tree race tech cards were closed) right before coming down, and bought two tickets to get in.
The gate was like "uh you're not in the Christmas tree race" and I was like I promise I am, then showed them this and the they were like "ok you're in the race!"
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So we parked, and started getting ready. We drove through a bunch of rain on the way down so I didn't want to start the car right away, we wanted to get the turbo filters off and make sure the turbos (right in the grill) weren't filled with water so we just pushed it off the trailer and started mounting the Christmas tree and getting the car setup.
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Justin swanstrom pitted right next to me so there was a constant flow of fans coming to see them, but they weren't bothering me so that was cool. We exchanged a few pleasantries, nice people.
Long story longer, they called the drivers/cars up to the meeting, hopped in, and sometime on the 800 mile trip between middle tn and central florida, i lost reverse/trans brake. Talk about supreme fucking irony, I build transmissions professionally, reverse worked 24 hours ago, and now doesn't.
I had no time to try and troubleshoot anything, my car was completely untested anyway, so we went into this knowing we were basically driving 800 miles for some test and tune passes with a Christmas tree on the top of my car. I drew a bottom 8 second LS swapped Miata for the first round, and knew I would get decimated with or without a trans brake working so it didn't really bother me at all.
I have a habit of getting really anxious/tense before passes, not afraid to admit it. Not sure if it's a good thing because that means I'm not complacent, or a bad thing, idk. Maybe it's because I'm a dad with 2 daughters, business to run, lots to lose, etc. It all goes away the INSTANT I let off the button though.
Well we staged right behind LS George in his blown blazer. He did an enormous wheelie, came down, musta damaged something because something started leaking so they had to do a little cleanup.
As I was strapped in, I was in the left lane and happened to glance up at the tower and could see a perfect reflection of my car in the big tower windows. I looked at the huge crowd on both sides of the track, and a calm came over me. For the last 2+ years, me and my friends put 100s of hours into making the car safer (8.50 cert cage, window net, closed every hole in firewall and trunk partition, fire suppression system, etc) and I realized that we did everything "right", and I reminded myself of something I've read here before, "the drive to the track is more dangerous than the passes you'll make". I was no longer tense at all, I knew it was gonna be alright.
Finally we were ready to go. I didn't even press the trans brake button because I knew it didn't work, but forgot the boost controller wasn't active until the trans brake was released, so I made a foot brake pass, on wastegate (4psi), for the first pass in 2+ years, in a completely new setup.
It went as predicted, slow AF. I think it was a mid 12 at barely 100, the Miata gave me a front row seat to a bottom 8@170+. The good news was, I got a data log, for the first time since early 2020, I made a full pass under power, didn't blow up, didn't oil track down, didn't need a push off the track, and drove back my truck/trailer.
Then I borrowed a test light and did some troubleshooting, it acted like the trans brake solenoids had a ground problem. Pulled the pan, ground was not loose, put pan back on, and filled trans. Got in line to make a test and tune pass, this time I'd press the brake button to activate the boost controller and get some actual boost data. So I did that, and in like 1.5 seconds, it went straight to 25psi (overboost ignition cut). But once again, got some data, for that split second between 0 and overboost, it felt REALLY strong, so that was good!
Went to the stands to watch the semis and finals, met Sam, super nice, genuine, awesome guy!
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Loaded up, went to the hotel, got some sleep, then got on the road as we new shit weather was coming to TN. I grew up in St. Pete just over the skyway so I stopped by my uncles house on the way back, then got on the road again. Stopped by the Don Garlits museum (see other thread) for a little, then really got to hustling. Made it through all the cities in Georgia (Valdosta, tifton, ATL) without too much effort, watching the radar like hawks.
We wanted to get through chattanooga and the mountain at least before hitting the shit. All the time my friends/family were texting me pics and news of single digits and snow back home. Just after we got through Chatanooga, we stopped for fuel one last time and while getting back on I24, hit the throttle a little and the ass end of my dually came out a little, then it felt like a 50psi cross wind blew me half way into the break down lane, and I knew then the rest of the trip was gonna suck ass. Went about 40mph the entire mountain.
From the mountain to Murfreesboro it looked like this mostly, but luckily the snow was no longer falling so visibility was decent! Most of the traffic was going 50ish, the occasional awd German car would come flying by at 75, so that was exciting
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As we got into Nashville, that's when shit started to get real. Keep in mind I grew up in Florida and live in middle TN. Single digits and ice isn't my area of expertise. My friend/passenger is from Delaware so he was advising me/keeping me chilled out.
Anyway, when we got to the I24/I40 split around 1230am, and saw the road, we immediately realized it was a 6 lane wide ice sheet. Semis in front and behind us, I instantly felt how terrible the roads were, flicked my truck into 4x4, and saw what looked like everyone hit the brakes. My buddy was like "you need to get out from behind this semi because if he starts sliding backwards, there's nothing we can do"
Changed lanes, kept calm, and reminded myself we were within 60 miles of home. I always stop at this one gas station just outside of Nashville, so we stopped there for drinks and snacks and a pic.
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Hindsight it was a big risk to turn my truck off here, I believe it was zero with the wind chill. Made it 30 miles up the interstate, crested a hill and saw a mile+ of brake lights and totally stopped cars.
![Image]()
Looked at waze and saw it was 7-8 miles of that shit and said F this, and made a u turn in the median just past that mile marker and a bunch of people started following me. The old Clarksville highway parallels this section of I24 so we just had to backtrack 6 miles to an exit, then get on the old Clarksville highway for the last 15-20 mile stretch.
Made it home, got some sleep, and woke up to my water lines being frozen because I'm an idiot and forgot to close my vents.
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took 3-4 hours to get that fixed. Then tried to take my truck/trailer/car back to the shop and my truck wouldn't stay running, died leaving the neighborhood and had to limp it back home.
The trip went to hell just after getting there, but all we could do was laugh, I couldn't even get mad because is was just so fucking ironic.
Being a drag racer takes a special kinda person I think. You can't have quit in you. It's trying at times, but it's worth it, even when nothing goes my way. Maybe it's Stockholm syndrome, or maybe it's just that I love challenges and the fulfilament that comes from accomplishing new goals. Anyway, if you made it this far, thank you for reading, I hope it was entertaining, and I hope even more that I have a better story after the next year's Christmas tree race!
Backstory for a little context: I went 8.9s with the car in November 2019 and then covid happened. Made a couple passes in 2020 then decided to make a bunch of changes (new motor, dual fuel, went from single to twins, rewire, more cage, couple transmission upgrades, etc) and I just got the car back together, running and driving like a month or two ago.
My good friend Matt Happel (sloppy mechanics) came down and we drove up the PRI (in another car, also a crown Vic) and when we got back, he got the idle and driveability dialed in, then we just needed to do some rolling into it to get the booost settings dialed in but we ran out of time and weather was trash.
Anyway, after some last minute checks/fixes, I BACKED the car out of the shop and loaded it on the trailer to get to the Christmas tree race. The race WAS Thursday the 22nd, but it looked like rain that day so they moved it to Wednesday the 21st, and I found this out Monday. Lol. It's a 12-13 hour drive for me, so we left as soon as we could Tuesday.
After a mostly uneventful trip, we made it to the hotel at like 3am, the girl behind the desk told us we could park in "the field right over there". After minimal sleep the night before and 14 hours on the road, I promptly backed into a small dry drainage pond and stopped right when I noticed my car disappearing out of my mirrors, almost dunking half the trailer into the huge culvert opening, and successfully backed one of the trailer tires into something sharp/metal creating a slow leak.
(drainage pond/culvert over my left shoulder)
Then we went up to the FIRST room, opened it up, looked like someone was actually staying there, drinks on counters, beds dirty, TV on, we were like oh shit, went back down, got another room, luckily the second one was in proper form. Got some sleep, ate crappy hotel breakfast, and killed some time waiting for the gates to open.
I never actually signed up for the race, I just asked Garrett if I could be in the race and he said sure come on down! I knew I'd need some kinda tech card, so I signed up for test and tune (Christmas tree race tech cards were closed) right before coming down, and bought two tickets to get in.
The gate was like "uh you're not in the Christmas tree race" and I was like I promise I am, then showed them this and the they were like "ok you're in the race!"
So we parked, and started getting ready. We drove through a bunch of rain on the way down so I didn't want to start the car right away, we wanted to get the turbo filters off and make sure the turbos (right in the grill) weren't filled with water so we just pushed it off the trailer and started mounting the Christmas tree and getting the car setup.
Justin swanstrom pitted right next to me so there was a constant flow of fans coming to see them, but they weren't bothering me so that was cool. We exchanged a few pleasantries, nice people.
Long story longer, they called the drivers/cars up to the meeting, hopped in, and sometime on the 800 mile trip between middle tn and central florida, i lost reverse/trans brake. Talk about supreme fucking irony, I build transmissions professionally, reverse worked 24 hours ago, and now doesn't.
I had no time to try and troubleshoot anything, my car was completely untested anyway, so we went into this knowing we were basically driving 800 miles for some test and tune passes with a Christmas tree on the top of my car. I drew a bottom 8 second LS swapped Miata for the first round, and knew I would get decimated with or without a trans brake working so it didn't really bother me at all.
I have a habit of getting really anxious/tense before passes, not afraid to admit it. Not sure if it's a good thing because that means I'm not complacent, or a bad thing, idk. Maybe it's because I'm a dad with 2 daughters, business to run, lots to lose, etc. It all goes away the INSTANT I let off the button though.
Well we staged right behind LS George in his blown blazer. He did an enormous wheelie, came down, musta damaged something because something started leaking so they had to do a little cleanup.
As I was strapped in, I was in the left lane and happened to glance up at the tower and could see a perfect reflection of my car in the big tower windows. I looked at the huge crowd on both sides of the track, and a calm came over me. For the last 2+ years, me and my friends put 100s of hours into making the car safer (8.50 cert cage, window net, closed every hole in firewall and trunk partition, fire suppression system, etc) and I realized that we did everything "right", and I reminded myself of something I've read here before, "the drive to the track is more dangerous than the passes you'll make". I was no longer tense at all, I knew it was gonna be alright.
Finally we were ready to go. I didn't even press the trans brake button because I knew it didn't work, but forgot the boost controller wasn't active until the trans brake was released, so I made a foot brake pass, on wastegate (4psi), for the first pass in 2+ years, in a completely new setup.
It went as predicted, slow AF. I think it was a mid 12 at barely 100, the Miata gave me a front row seat to a bottom 8@170+. The good news was, I got a data log, for the first time since early 2020, I made a full pass under power, didn't blow up, didn't oil track down, didn't need a push off the track, and drove back my truck/trailer.
Then I borrowed a test light and did some troubleshooting, it acted like the trans brake solenoids had a ground problem. Pulled the pan, ground was not loose, put pan back on, and filled trans. Got in line to make a test and tune pass, this time I'd press the brake button to activate the boost controller and get some actual boost data. So I did that, and in like 1.5 seconds, it went straight to 25psi (overboost ignition cut). But once again, got some data, for that split second between 0 and overboost, it felt REALLY strong, so that was good!
Went to the stands to watch the semis and finals, met Sam, super nice, genuine, awesome guy!
Loaded up, went to the hotel, got some sleep, then got on the road as we new shit weather was coming to TN. I grew up in St. Pete just over the skyway so I stopped by my uncles house on the way back, then got on the road again. Stopped by the Don Garlits museum (see other thread) for a little, then really got to hustling. Made it through all the cities in Georgia (Valdosta, tifton, ATL) without too much effort, watching the radar like hawks.
We wanted to get through chattanooga and the mountain at least before hitting the shit. All the time my friends/family were texting me pics and news of single digits and snow back home. Just after we got through Chatanooga, we stopped for fuel one last time and while getting back on I24, hit the throttle a little and the ass end of my dually came out a little, then it felt like a 50psi cross wind blew me half way into the break down lane, and I knew then the rest of the trip was gonna suck ass. Went about 40mph the entire mountain.
From the mountain to Murfreesboro it looked like this mostly, but luckily the snow was no longer falling so visibility was decent! Most of the traffic was going 50ish, the occasional awd German car would come flying by at 75, so that was exciting
As we got into Nashville, that's when shit started to get real. Keep in mind I grew up in Florida and live in middle TN. Single digits and ice isn't my area of expertise. My friend/passenger is from Delaware so he was advising me/keeping me chilled out.
Anyway, when we got to the I24/I40 split around 1230am, and saw the road, we immediately realized it was a 6 lane wide ice sheet. Semis in front and behind us, I instantly felt how terrible the roads were, flicked my truck into 4x4, and saw what looked like everyone hit the brakes. My buddy was like "you need to get out from behind this semi because if he starts sliding backwards, there's nothing we can do"
Changed lanes, kept calm, and reminded myself we were within 60 miles of home. I always stop at this one gas station just outside of Nashville, so we stopped there for drinks and snacks and a pic.
Hindsight it was a big risk to turn my truck off here, I believe it was zero with the wind chill. Made it 30 miles up the interstate, crested a hill and saw a mile+ of brake lights and totally stopped cars.
Looked at waze and saw it was 7-8 miles of that shit and said F this, and made a u turn in the median just past that mile marker and a bunch of people started following me. The old Clarksville highway parallels this section of I24 so we just had to backtrack 6 miles to an exit, then get on the old Clarksville highway for the last 15-20 mile stretch.
Made it home, got some sleep, and woke up to my water lines being frozen because I'm an idiot and forgot to close my vents.
took 3-4 hours to get that fixed. Then tried to take my truck/trailer/car back to the shop and my truck wouldn't stay running, died leaving the neighborhood and had to limp it back home.
The trip went to hell just after getting there, but all we could do was laugh, I couldn't even get mad because is was just so fucking ironic.
Being a drag racer takes a special kinda person I think. You can't have quit in you. It's trying at times, but it's worth it, even when nothing goes my way. Maybe it's Stockholm syndrome, or maybe it's just that I love challenges and the fulfilament that comes from accomplishing new goals. Anyway, if you made it this far, thank you for reading, I hope it was entertaining, and I hope even more that I have a better story after the next year's Christmas tree race!
