I AM OFFICIALLY LICENSED!

This past weekend was one of the best of my life I'm sure.  There has been so many years of hard work leading up to this and finally it happened.  The recap is that we made one run on Friday after the Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying session.  I went to about 1000 ft before lifting to get a 6.27 @ 185mph.  I was excited that I jumped from a 6.98 to a 6.27 but at the same time I was disappointed that what I needed to make it count toward my license was 6.20 @ 205.  It was just 7 hundreths off.  ugh!  When we took the engine apart there was a small amount of damage that we would need to fix the next morning before running again for the Burndown at Sundown show.

The Burndown at Sundown was so much fun to be a part of.  I got to make two runs on Saturday night after qualifying again.  A ton of family and friends came out to see us run.  We made a few different tune up changes and went out there and I was able to make my first full quarter mile pass!  The pass turned out to be 5.84 @ 223 mph.  It felt so good to turn off the track and have NHRA officials tell me "I think they said a 5...80something"  my response was "WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING?!"  I definitely miss the excitement of watching the car go down the track and seeing the board light up with the numbers.  I've realized this weekend that you don't get that part when you're the driver.  I was so excited that the car improved from a 6.27 to a 5.84 I was just in shock and all smiles.  Many people know that this isn't good enough usually in the TAD class but for us in this car that I built it was a huge accomplishment to finally have a 5 second ET.

The celebration literally didn't last because my only focus was going out there and getting another good full pass to finish my license.  We had a couple hours to turn around the car and we decided to make a couple safe tuning changes and go out there to see what it would do on the second run of the night.  The run felt good, faster than the last one in the beginning but it nosed over a little and I corrected an drove through it to the finish line.  I pulled off the track and here comes the NHRA official on the scooter saying "You did it!".  I finished my license runs with a 5.63 @ 232!! Another huge improvement for the team.  This time actually would have put us in the number 9 out of 11 qualifying position in an 8 car field.  It all still feels like a dream.  Everyone is asking what is next now that I'm licensed.  We are looking at possible races and funding.  Martin, MI ADRL race and St. Louis NHRA division race are both on our radar.

There are so many people that have helped us get to this point that I can't even name them all but thank you to you all.  The other teams that are rooting for us and pointing us in the right direction or selling us parts.  The new and the old sponsors that believe in our team.  My family and my friends that are all so supportive. & Definitely my team who has been working on this for 7 years with me from fabrication to 5 seconds. THANK YOU!

Marina