Sun, rain, hail ,wind even a twister on the horizon were thrown at us yesterday. Arrived at the track at 0930 with wife riding shotgun on her first trip to a dragstrip we,ve only been married 18 years and she now decides she wants to see what we get up to

. Pull up to scrutineering behind a racer with a 80,s Camaro on a trailer who does a sharp u turn and drives back out apparantley back to Wales as he had just been told he wouldnt be racing with a wheel stud missing from each wheel

, naughty. Passed scrute and parked up and emptied the car, went and signed on ,had a chat and a nod to the usual S/S suspects. Met Doug for the first time. Then came back and kicked the missus out of the car and in to our kids truck, im off playing. Did a practice run with the hood on , but its only pinned on 4 corners and it nearly took off at the bottom of the strip, better run it without. Back to the pits to take it off and Mrs Chip says she,ll go and watch by the track with our kid. Off i go to put another run in only to get in the lanes and Qualifying is called for S/S. Pull up in the right hand lane Green light, GO. halfway down thers Mrs Chip sat on the banking on her own , brother , friends nowhere to be seen. Second qualifying and everybodys sat together, halfway through the field of cars the heavens open and everythings on stop. We all watch the twister, i have a chat with Ash ( Gold GTX) and Boz. Then were back on, down the strip , job done , wait for elims, called into lanes and heavens open with hail storm, clears, drys ,then an oil down . Sat for an hour with beloved in the car saying she,s bored never coming again, its crap, had a chat with Doug , Scott Billadeau. Then elims, first run i think im binned untill there running up the pits with a slip off paper is my lovely wife with a grin a mile wide, your through to the next round ,she rides back down the stage lane with me and jumps out at the end to watch again, down the strip again , must be out now the other car beat me to the line by miles, back to the pits, deja vu , there she is again, your through again, the other car broke out. Times pushing on and there rushing to wrap things up, Dave Bill is waving and shouting us down ,were straight on again , this time it really is it out, still made it to round 3 with no grip and with one wheel drive, time for home. The conversation in the car turn s to grip and Suregrips , slicks , she,s all excited sayiong if it needs one lets get one, Mrs Chips vocabularys all changed ,shes saying words like dial in times , break out , slicks, grip, wheelspin,

RESULT, converted. Perfect end to what could have been a disasterous day

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