Nova

2020 was a decent year for Chris & I racing the Nova, besides all this Covid Crap we all want to forget about. We runnered up and won a race in go figure, Outlaw 10.5 this year. X275, well we didn't do so well in that class but I think we learned a few things and had a great time going to many tracks racing. This year we raced at HRP at Baytown, Texas, Tulsa Raceway Park, WWT / Gateway in Saint Louis, Ozark Raceway Park in Springfield MO, Mid America Dragway in Winfield, KS, MoKan Dragway in Asbury, MO and XRP in Ferris, Texas. That's not bad considering the first of the year we didn't know if we were going to get to race at all!

Last race of the year at the Titan's of 10.5 race at Ozark we ran a 4.49 in the final for the win in Outlaw 10.5.  It was a great way to finish the season to finally break through that 4.40 barrier.  We almost did it last year, and several times during the 2020 season, but could never quite get the front and back half to come together. It's pretty frustrating when you know the car can go a mid 4.40 based on it's best front and back splits but something always goes wrong. Speaking of that, the Nova went a wheels up 1.051 60' at Baytown, something I was a bit surprised it could do, but now I think we can go 1.04X with a little work and some good prep.

The biggest problem is we are just not able to keep up the pace in X275, we improve every year a little, but not as much as the fast guys. This year saw X275 with multiple cars in the 4 teens and a number of teams solidly in the 4.20's - yeah they are beating them up doing that, but that is what it takes to run those numbers. We're down to 15-20 passes before we kill the rings in the car as it is, and killing pistons from one thing or the other is starting to become common.  Next year we have some changes to the engine we hope will help out, but not too many changes overall this winter.

That next step, running a 4.3X is our next goal, hopefully we can meet it in 2021!

2019 was a decent year for us. While we didn't win a single race, we did go some rounds, got to the final round (rain out) and made some improvements. The Nova finally got out of the 60's this year gaining over a tenth improvement down to a 4.50 flat, a new 1.06 60' time which frankly surprised me a bit and we gained 5-6 mph over last year. Looking back at data and combining best front half and back half runs, I have no doubt in my mind on a perfect pass it could go a 4.48, we just didn't quite get the time to get it put together this year. Due to an emergency appendectomy, I wasn't able to race the entire season and missed a few races but on a positive note I lost over 10lbs after surgery! My Crew Chief Chris talked me into doing a bit more travelling this year, we put quite a few miles on the rig with trips to Texas Motorplex, Bowling Green, Denton, Ozark Raceway Park, Tulsa, Wichita, Ark City and Holly Springs. Luckily after over 80 passes, we only killed some rings and screwed a head up pedaling/traction control doing no prep at Wichita - oh and one front tire lost due to chat at Ozark. I also broke my 1st Round Loser Curse at Denton... the last few years I've red lite every 1st round. This year for a change we actually went to the semi's where I lost in a pedalfest against JD Campbell. Best run of the year was the last X275 race at Holly during 1st round of eliminations. We got oh so close to a pass in the 40's with a 50 flat, -