Charlie Booze Jr HS 3398 from Joliet

Getting ready for the race was a bit of a chore. We had no issues with the car, but I had just come back from a family weeks vacation on Saturday night the 12th. We had a RAM race on Sunday the 13th at Maple Grove, PA which we won and then turned right around the added the weight back and checked over the engine for the trip to Rte 66. The engine had over 100 passes on it going into this race, so I was concerned for every little detail.

Myself & Perky left for the race on Wednesday morning July 16th about 10am from Marion, PA. Met Bruce Michale, 2007 NMCA Pro Stock Champ, on the PA turnpike to run tandem all the way to Joliet. The trip gave us no issues for either rig, but it was kind of hot all day. We stopped only twice for food & fuel for about two hours total. The trip for Perky & I only took a total of 13 hours. We go straight out I-70 to Indy and then north on I-65 to exit 201 where we pick up US Rte 24 to US Rte 52. That runs us up under Joliet by way of I-57, just to avoid the Chicago traffic & all of the perpetual construction that it seems to have up there. We get to the track to get in line for the night at around 10pm Joliet time. We dumped our rigs and got our room at the MOTEL 6 over in town.

THURSDAY-
We arrive around 7:30 am and wait for the gates to open to let us in. We then proceeded in to get our spot. We found a good one and unloaded our stuff. We made it through Extended tech with no problems and handed in all of our paperwork. Got back to the trailer, warmed the car, and went to make a test hit right around noon. The track was a little soft still and we made a pretty good 8.83 pass. Perky told me what it was on the radio and before I could make the turn to come back, I had decided that one run was enough. Put this thing under a blanket and wait until qualifying. We were pitting with the Baskin bunch, so we helped them try to figure out some issues that they were working through. For once in a long time, I actually got to enjoy watching some racing instead of thrashing all day. It seemed to intimidate & or aggrevate some of the other compe titors and crew members seeing us up there watching them go down the track instead of testing our own car, but it was cool, I enjoy that part of it very much too. We hung out at the track all day and made our way back to the room around 11pm that night. We did our fair share of pit grazing because it seemed like everyone was cooking something.

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FRIDAY-
Qualifying got underway and we made our way up there to the staging lanes. For some reason, they were running cars through pretty fast and Perky & I had to push the length of the staging lane ourselves and then jump right into the car. I made a small misjudgement call on the starting line and went ugly early. We totally botched that run, which probably made the other guys smile, but I knew all we needed was a clean pass and we would be in good shape. No panic. We made some adjustments and were confident for the next hit. We got up there and were first in line. We lined up against Mike D. Jr. because he was in the middle of that marathon he set up for himself by running both cars. It was a preview for Sunday as we blasted a 1.22 sixty foot on a 120 degree track and went to the top with an 8.80@153. Several guys came back by and told me after that run that Mr. Roush himslef even got to enjoy that run from the 50 yard line(so to speak). That run would wind up holding up as we lost the third round of qualifying due to rain on Saturday morning. There were some things that I was interested in trying with rear gear, so after that run we decided to go get some free Pizza and Beer.(Thanks Darryl Bassani & Motive Gear) and hob knob with the folks, then came back to swap out the gear in the trailer. We got that done and came back to our room. Andy Schmidt and his better half Shelly Hively were doing the roughing it thing in their tents, but asked if they could come back and take showers at our motel room. I said no problem, so that was our nitely routine Thursday, Friday & Saturday night.

SATURDAY-
We get up Saturday morning and saw that it was pouring, but the radar, (thanks to Perky’s Blackberry) showed that it was a fast mover and that we were on the back side of it. We moved leisurely over to Bob Evans for B-fast and had a good time with that knowing that we would not be in danger of missing any racing activities. We arrived at the track around 10am in Jim Kuntz’s Toyota Tundra that he let us borrow while he traveled back and forth with the Swanson Family Mean Street racing team. Kuntz has taken a lot of greif for buying that Toyota by some of the Ford racers and Lenny Croteau of UCC Converters & I had a little inside joke with one another as I passed him driving through the pits in his own Tundra. I personally would not go out and buy a Toyota truck, but I have to say that they are nice trucks and run very well.&nbs p; Aft er we arrived at the track, I left the car in the trailer for a while until we realized that it was gonig to quit. It was kind of crazy for a while that morning. At first we had heard that the third round was scratched and then that we were going to get the third round and then that only the faster classes were going to get a third. For a while I did not know whether I was coming or going.

We had to deal with a couple of passing showers, but everything went smoothly after the mid part of the afternoon. The hi-light by far of Saturday’s activities was the Grand Marshall of the event, Vic Edelbrock and Rick Roberts stopping by our pit to chat with Jim Kuntz & I. That was pretty cool. Mr E. is an Icon of this sport & industry and we really appreciated him thinking enough of us to stop by and look in on our team. Late Saturday afternoon, we were finally called up for our first round of eliminations. We had the b ye, so our gear experiment was on a freebee. We made a pretty good hit, but was not terribly positive that we should leave the car that way. Once we got back to the trailer, we immediately to swapped it all back. That did not take long and once we were done, Perky & I hopped in the loaner Tundra and followed the TRZ boys (Mike & Todd) to a local Pizzeria for some great pizza. We had fun hanging out with those guys, who have helped us out a ton, and headed back to the room. On our way back, we got our shower date set up with Andy & Shelly and met them back in Joliet at the Motel 6. It was nice to talk with both of them in a calmer setting, but I remember being so shot from the heat and sun that night that I almost fell asleep in the middle of talking to Andy. I am sure he got a chuckle out of it.

SUNDAY-
Perk & I both got up early that morning and headed to the track. I was feeling pretty good about our chances and casually got the car out to ready it for battle. I drove the car down to the scales to warm it up and check the weight. We were slated to run Mike D. in the Evil 89 but we were running in reverse order. I remember thinking that I may have to wait for him to come back after running his Pro Stock car, but that all went down pretty smooth. Once we were called and got up there. I was sitting under the tower behind Robbie B. and seeing Mike and his crew scramble into action tossing his butt in the car from the 4-wheeler he rode back from tech after racing his NMCA Pro Stocker. It was kind of entertaining if I must admit. Mike was just about ready as Robbie was finished making his second round bye to the final. I rememb er som e team members from other racers coming back giving us feedback on the lanes and saying that they were not sure that we should be in the lane that we had chosen. I radioed to Perk and told him what they were saying and to take one last look and that the decision was his. His response was great.

He threw a couple of choice words out describing the two lanes and said bring that mother up that we were GOOD!!! He was right, because we again went up there on a 120 degree track and tossed out another 1.22 sixty footer and went on to take the round over Mike Jr. in a pretty fair old drag race. MOV was .015. We always seem to bring it out in one another. All the crap aside that you find in every class that you race in, we have a lot of fun racing these guys. That round win set up a final between us (BBR & Kuntz) versus them (Robbie Blankenship & Roush). Just what you want in a final. I was uncharacteristically calm for that race for one, you are in the fi nal, and two, I have been there several times and I consider Route 66 to be my House if I may!!! We got up there and I have to say that Robbie threw it all on the track. He cut a light and tossed the nose in there air while we drove right on down for the win. It was our third win in a row at 66 and 5 out of 6 since we have raced Hot Street at Joliet.

That win gave us back the points lead and set us up for a great race to be had with our buddies, the Schmidt gang, led by driver Andy Schmidt. Some time had gone by with True street being run and a serious oil down, but we finally made our way up. The track had cooled a ton, so to be safe we made some adjustments to compensate. The Schmidt boys were reeling from their victory in NMCA Pro Stock and I could not have been happier for them. We were all pretty relaxed with some slight anticipation of running eachother once again. Andy & I have met in many semis & finals in Hot Street over the past several years and this was so rt of like old times. We have not had the pleasure much this year as they made the jump over to Pro Stock and changed their car all around to take full advantage of what that class & combo has offered them. As the timing would have it, by the time we got to run, the sun was off the track passed the 60 foot, but the sun was still blaring over the tower directly into the bulbs of the tree. We both did our burnouts and after pulling up to the beams and staring at the tree for several seconds, I was trying to figure out how I was going to see the lights of the tree flash on. I gave myself a couple of extra seconds to adjust to the situation and then pulled it in. I studied the bulbs pretty good and it evidently worked as it netted me a .025 light. Not out of the park by any means, but good enough as Andy struggled with it and had a poor light. We took the stripe and won our third shootout ring in a row. I felt a little sorry for Andy struggling with the lights, but he wa s not alone, as several racers actually stunk it up pretty big on the tree that last round. For the first time in the three years that the NMCA & NMRA met at this race for the Super Bowl, NMCA throttled us NMRA guys 8 to 3, with of course myself, Urist and Akins taking the shootout wins for the NMRA. It was ok. Those guys needed to catch up to us. We will see what happens next year, but for this year, I have to say I was very pleased with our performance and hope to carry this momentum out the rest of the next three races.

We finally got all of our stuff together and got out of there at a fairly decent time, just before dark and traveled as far as we could before we were both too shot to drive anymore. We stopped just east of Indy for some sleep and then made our way the rest of the way home arriving at around 6pm Monday night. Of course my mother had placed a special sign right in front of where the truck gets parked at the shop congratulating us on our Third Super Bowl win and Diamond Tree Ring.(Thanks NITTO Tires).  Hope you all enjoyed reading about this very special race from one racers perspective, Mine!!!

Thanks, Charlie Booze Jr. HS-3398 3x Hot Street Champ, 3x Super Bowl Shootout Champ.

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