JULY 5, 2008 - The 2nd race of the PRA Season was Bugorama 61, May 25th & 26th in Sacramento Ca.
The weather in Southern Ca. was cold and raining like crazy with the occasional tornado!
Getting out of town was supposed to be exactly what we needed. When arriving in Sacramento, we concluded that we must have brought the weather with us (minus the tornado). It was cold and rained Fri. night, but lucky for us the rain stopped early enough on Sat. morning to allow the track to dry in time for our first two rounds of qualifying.
I found out quickly how much my aspirated car likes the cold air, as on my first pass the car spun the tires, got out of shape, and I lifted 30’ before the stripe only to run a 11.60 0n a 11.90 index class. This was a problem all weekend. The slowest I ran all weekend was a 11.894. I still managed to make the field due to there only being 15 cars signed up for Super Gas. In the first round I faced local driver Jim Martin. Jim cut a .001 light against me pretty much ending my day. It was a great trip all in all as I got to visit with my sponsors; Stewart from RedRum, and Don from Jamar Performance Products.
Up next… the VW Classic
June 8th
The weekend of the largest VW show of the year, my family and I took the opportunity to enjoy the weekend festivities of the VW Classic. Friday the 6th, I took the car down to Vee-Dub parts open house and was treated to some amazing Bar B Que from the guys at CB Performance. Thanks to Jeff and the guys at Vee-Dub Parts for inviting me down for the afternoon. After the open house we left for the famous DKP Cruise at Nicks Burgers in Fullerton. We were able to hang out and talk with great friend while looking at some of the most beautiful and fastest “street cars” around. On Saturday the family and I loaded up our 63’ and ran in the Berg Rally. This year’s course was much harder than last years in my opinion, but just as much fun as always. We managed to take Second place in the rally, but more importantly had a BLAST! Thank you to the Berg family, Ron Fleming and all the volunteers that helped run the event. Sunday came too early for us but we managed to load back up the race car and head out to Irvine for the Classic. Once in the show we met up with teammates Lance Gregory and Jon Schweers and got the cars ready for display. This to me was one of the best Classics in recent memory since a lot of our racing friends were there to hang out and relax with for the afternoon. The PRA had arranged to have all of its member cars front and center at the main stage to promote the organization, and even got a little “cackle fest” of sorts for the crowd. Great Job in the promotion PRA.
Our next event will be Clyde Berg’s Drag In, July 20th at the Auto Club Drag way in Fontana Ca. Make sure and add this one to your schedule. It is definitely one that you don’t want to miss!
Thanks,
Rich Grise’
MAY 3, 2008 - My name is Rich Grise' and I am the driver of the Silver Bugget Racing, 65’ RedRum bug.
I race for the Pro Racing Association in the 11.90 index Super Gas class. After ending what I consider a dream season where we finished 2nd in the season championship, we decided to tear the car apart and start from scratch. This is where having some of the best friends/team mates any one could ask for really is a blessing. Lance, Jon Shawn and Steve were always there with help and support. We also had some new sponsors come on board like Reflections Auto Trendz, for the paint, Lance Gregory, to do the tin work, and KCR Transmissions to rebuild the tranny. Bad Bergie Performance made new Lexan for the car and made the final chassis modifications as well as motor tune up for the 08' Season.
Once these were done, I took the car to Tim Bartee at Designs in Lines for the Flames, Graphics and numbers.
The first race of the season was The Hot VW's Drag Day. I was planning on using this as a TnT session to get the car and suspension dialed in. The car took off and launched hard on the first pass, so there wasn't a lot of adjustments to be made. The best run on the day was a 7.20 @ 97 mph (1/8 mile). I went out to run first round, just to see how far we could go but lit the red bulb. All in all it was a great day.
The next race was the Bug In 33 at AAA Speedway in Fontana Ca.. The Wednesday before the event, friend and sponsor Clyde Berg invited myself and team mate Lance Gregory down to FAT Performance where one of the local TV morning shows was doing a live broadcast to promote the event. We unloaded the car and even got to do a small burnout on camera. Thanks again to Clyde, and Ron Fleming for the invite and the hospitality. As Saturday rolled around, we got the car and trailer loaded and headed out to the track for Sunday’s race. The team wives put out quite the BB-Q spread for us in the pits. There was definitely no shortage of food. Thank Yous go out to all the team wives for doing this at EVERY race. Sunday came around and we got the car to the staging lanes. On my first pass we destroyed the ring and pinion at the line thus ending our race day. We took the car back to the pits, pulled the motor out ( to prepare for a quick trans. removal ) and put the car on display to promote our new sponsor RedRum / 3-D Spirits.
Once home, I got the tranny out and got it to Kevin at KCR that Monday night. Kevin did a incredible job of getting everything back to me on Wednesday night (A @ DAY TURNAROUND! ). Thursday, Shawn at Bad Bergie Performance was over helping get everything back in the car and adjusted. On Friday night we once again had the car and trailer loaded to leave for the Phoenix Bug-O-Rama the following morning. Saturday night at the host hotel, we were treated to BB-Q and birthday cake to celebrate friend and fellow racer John Meade aka Buzz. We had a great time hanging out with all the racers and old friends. We even got a chance to make some new ones. Thanks to John, Nancy and Chris, for the party and food. Sunday we got to the track and excellent weather for racing.
Phoenix can be a bit windy at times, but not this year. On our first pass, the car spun the wheels real bad and then got stuck in second gear after thinking my day was going to be done, something on the tow back to the pit loosened up the shift fork (we believe) and the car started shifting fine again. On our second pass I ran a 12.11, letting off a little too much but it was still in the field. On our third an final Qualifying pass, the car launched hard and we ran a 11.92 and qualified 3. In the first round, I was paired up with David Bendig. I staged the car a little deeper than normal, and was not patient enough at the light resulting in a -.011 red light.
I would like to thank all of my Sponsors and companies that provide support . . . RedRum, Lamb Larkin and Associates, KCR Transmissions, Bad Bergie Performance, Clyde Berg Heads and Motors, Designs in Lines, Jamar, Winegard Satellites, Jeff at Vee-Dub Parts Unlimited, Relic Parts Warehouse, and recently added Bugpack Products.
I would like to thank my team and all of their families for the support and friendship. I'd also like to thank my Mom, Dad, Brothers and families for the support and love they have given me. Last but not least to my Wife Margo and my right hand man, My son Steve-o for all the help and for always going along with these “great ideas” that I have.
This first entry was long but needed to be to give all the thanks and credit due.
Thank you for reading,
Rich Grise'
If you are interested in sharing your drag racing experiences contact us at jculley@acdrm.com for further information.
