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Courtesy of ADRL Communications

It didn’t translate into next-day success, but Spiro Pappas is hoping the 3.98-second pass that earned him the top qualifying spot in Extreme 10.5 at the ADRL Hardee’s Gateway Drags III is a sign of things to come.

After all, it’s been a process that’s consumed the better part of the 2010 season. Trading possible immediate success for long-term triumphs and eye-popping records, Pappas and his team changed a significant amount on his car that earned him a 2009 ADRL World Championship.

But Pappas didn’t allow that accomplishment serve as a reason to stay comfortable. Instead, it’s been the extreme opposite, even if it hasn’t meant any 2010 wins or it’s brought about some mid-summer struggles. Pappas simply has some big goals in mind over the next two months. “A lot of our guys wanted to go back to where we were, but I said we’re going to work at this and get it figured out so by the end of the year we can get a 3.79,” Pappas said.

It’s bold, but Pappas said it with extreme confidence and with the conviction of a driver who sees it all coming into place. He holds the XTF world record with a run of 3.92, but 3.79 is a huge jump. Getting there, however, has been the goal all along and Pappas has stayed true to reaching that mark.

“We made some changes after the beginning of the season to be able to run in the 3.70s and by doing that we sacrificed part of the season during the heat,” Pappas said. “We’ve learned a lot.”

Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 August 2010 23:08

Our return to South Georgia Motorsports Park marked the 1 year anniversary of the debut of our Jerry Bickle prepped Pontiac GXP. We had tested earlier in the month at SGMP and learned the car really likes the good air of South Georgia. We had an earlier shutoff run of 3.93 that did cause some minor damage to the motor, however the numbers showed we were still on the right track to reproduce the 3.88 performance of the rained out ADRL season opener in Houston. Our main focus for the test session was not to replicate our Baytown performance, but to test a newly assembled rear end that would help push the car deeper into the 3.8 second zone. With minor engine damage and several good, straight runs on the new suspension components, we declared victory and headed north to prepare for the Georgia Hardees Drags VI in 2 short weeks.

After returning to Chicago, Graham Jones (crew chief for the operation) repaired the engine and installed new brakes on the car. We’ve been experiencing some difficulties with the brakes holding back the power of the Don Bailey tuned motor, so looked to use a different brake set up to see if we could cure the problem. Unfortunately it did not help with this minor annoyance. However, the car went straight and true with no further engine problems. We reconfigured the brake system and readied the rig for our trip south.

We arrived at SGMP with high expectations. The car and crew were ready, the track was prepped and the air was decent. Qualifier #1 was an off pace 4.31. The track just could not hold the power. We regrouped and had similar difficulties with qualifier #2. The crew elected to back the car down to ‘get it down the track’ in the cool air of Friday night qualifying. We made a great 4.008 pass to qualify #2.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 18 May 2010 20:08