Hemi Shootout Update from Bradenton Florida by Todd Wilson
Okay it’s time to post the Bradenton Racing trip outcome. Without going into the details of the winter work performed on the car the plan was to take it easy by means of increasing my launch technique each run so that I got used to the new tires and tune. After the 3rd run of the day we had a 10.111 time which placed us in the top 3 of the qualifying rounds. The car felt great the first three runs. The 4th run of the day was my first elimination run in the “Index” category. I listed my time at a 10.000 and told myself that if I broke out all is good because I would then be in the 9′s which is our 2012 goal. I made a decision that I was going to get on this thing at the launch for the 4th run. I wanted to see if we could plant the new tires and get the front end off the ground. As it turned out I busted the yoke on the two-part drive shaft. We just got the thing up in the air and there is no other damage. I’ve been contacted by Arrington Performance and they informed me that the drive shaft will be covered under warranty. This is great news. I’m now looking at possible other options to include having a single tube drive shaft custom made. I do not want this to happen again. All in all we had a great trip. My friend John Lewis had the fastest qualifying time and he too broke his car. It would have been great to race John head to head but unless I add the NOS it will be tough to catch him. ~ Todd Wilson