AJ Powell Pro 10.5 Bradenton Recap

I’m sorry it has taken me this long to write this, I’m still trying to get some rest and catch up on business. I bought a new car at the end of December and started working on it in mid January. Needless to say we left SSO and are now a Pro Outlaw 10.5 team! I took my powerplant out of the SSO coupe and put it in the 05 body. We got done and loaded the car in the truck and trailer on Sunday before the race and Monday was spent making sure we had everything we needed for the trip.

Florida is always a tough race to go to, you have to make sure that you have everything food, sheets, utensils and everything that goes along with not leaving the race track for 4-5 days. So we had everything loaded and rolled out Tuesday morning, after the 20 hour straight through trip we got in the race track late Wednsday. Unloaded the car and I had some last minute things to get ironed out before we wen’t through tech and down the track!

Thursday we got up and got after it we were one of the first cars down the track and all I can say is that this new car is a heck of a lot different to drive! Dwayne James told me it is like driving down the track inside a beer can! Now that I have driven it I know what he meant, it is not the same at all – its loud, smoky, full of fumes, and it all rattles as you go down the track! But as you let the trans brake out for the first time it puts your ass in the seat as it stands up on the wheelie bars and is a heck of a ride! After the first couple of hits the car was going straight but we were having some issues with the car wanting to climb the wheelie bars. I talked with Jerry Morgano and Randy Auwater and they came over on Friday night and we made some changes in the 4-link to try and keep the wheelies down.

Saturday morning I made a hit and it still wheelied so I made a slight change in the computer. Finally, in the 3rd round of qualifying we made a successful hit and the short numbers made me pretty happy, as it went 1.13, 3.06, 4.68 and 7.25 at only 188mph. We checked the car over and put it away for the night and we qualified 3rd in our first Outlaw race. We got up Sunday morning and warmed the car up, put new plugs in it and got ready for first round. Right as I was rolling in to the water box Dwayne caught on fire and we had a lengthy cleanup and it was warm out.

Anyway they got the lane cleaned up we fired the car up and did our burnout, staged and when the tree dropped I left had a good reaction time and the car was moving well it went out and dropped a cylinder so I shut it off and lost. But we had a great time and we are making headway with the tuneup and chassis tuneup. On a side note the turnout for the race was pretty good and everyone walked away from the incidents that happened last weekend. Just remember that cars can be replaced and that friends can’t. Stay tuned for more numbers on the car!!! When we get this heap figured out it should fly!!!

Thank you to all my friends and family that have helped getting the new car ready!!!
AJ Powell
Pro 10.5 #1397

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