Sshs4

[Flyin'A II]

I can't remember if I've posted about this before, but the date for the 4th Southern Super Heavyweight Shootout is Nov.6, 2004 at the Atlanta Dragway. I went donw last year and had a blast. Great bunch of guys, even if they do drive Chevies LOL. I know some of the NE dudes make the show, so if you're interested and can make your ride weigh 3800 lbs. they'd love to have you. The other thing, this will be the final SSHS, so if you have a burning desire to attend one, you better get there. www.sshs4.com

[Flyin'A II]

It's just a couple weeks away now. I know it's a long way, but there are some NE guys coming down. I'm already down here, well close, Chattanooga TN, so it looks like I'm in.

[Flyin'A II]

Almost forgot, there should be an 800 hp Marauder there in the big dog class!

[MikeOD]

I'll be there. I'm actually leaving my Caprice at a friends house in CT and driving another friends 502 powered 94 Impala SS down for the weekend. Whats the tag on your Marauder say, I'll be looking for you. I know just about every one of the chevy guys and they are a good bunch.

Jorge's 9 second Impala SS from Florida will be there this year, as will a few other big dogs.

[Flyin'A II]

I'll look around for you. I should be with several other Marauders, mine will have Rhode Island tags on it. We have a "pit crew" coming from Team Ford in Atlanta, so we will be parking/pitting together. Stop by and say hey.

[Flyin'A II]

Mike, see you next week. I should be the only Marauder with RI tags on it.

[MikeOD]

Sounds good man...I guess we're bringing a different Impala instead...not the 502 car (he's got 3...has to take his pic lol).

I'll say hi if I see you. I'm leaving Worcester thursday morning, staying over thursday night in Virginia and then finishing up the drive friday morning. Are you staying at the host hotel? When are you coming in?

[Flyin'A II]

I'm currently working in Chattanooga, TN, so I'll just drive down early Saturday morning. The Marauder gang is supposed to meet for breakfast somewhere nearby, but I may skip that. I'll look around, see if I can find an Impala.

[Flyin'A II]

Well, it was a blast!! Sorry I couldn't find Mike, but I think I saw him run. Also saw a CT Impala in the pits. I won a few, but redlighted against an 18.5 second Dodge (lack of patience, 4 seconds is too long.) Some pretty awesome bow tie iron in the Big Dog class. It's not everyday you get to see a 2 ton car go wheels up! Our Secret Project Marauder broke (blower belt, fuel pump) but we did get a win in the class C event. Fellow from Minnesota drove down, had to buy back in, and won the rest of the day. All in all, if you get a chance to attend one of these events, do so. Race all day, $20, excitement of the track with good people, priceless!

[MikeOD]

Yeah, sorry I didn't get to meet you. I was running the scales for morning, but after like noon or so someone else took over for me.

The Impala from CT was my friend Pauls, he ran a new personal best of 11.2...just a little old 383 LT1.

Were you at the host hotel (hampton inn) or somewhere else...we had some fun over there? The silver Marauder was impressive.

How about when Disneys nitrous backfired and set off some car alarms lol. I had a great time down there, I hope they have it again next year.

[Flyin'A II]

Mike, I didn't stay in Commerce, drove down from Chattanooga in the a.m., teched, and went right to the track hot. That silver car is going to cost me some money. I've started the research phase of superchargers. He's running a Trilogy setup, with headers, tune by Lidio Iocobella (probably spelled his name wrong) and street (stock BFG's) tires. He was a little nervous. On his final run, he did a "reverse" burnout. Forgot to put it back in drive after backing into the waterbox, lit them up, backwards, and slammed it into drive to complete it. We also had a guy running in class A at 14.05 to 14.08 all day on a 14.00 dial in. He made it to the semis before bowing out. I got beat by that silver box of a Dodge (the rental) on a red light. Just could force myself to wait for 4 and a half seconds at the light. They (the GaSSit guys) may be re-thinking not having another run next year. If not, we (the Mercury gang) have a big active group in the Atlanta area who may pick up the slack. The only disappointment was the "Bull" (a purpose built Marauder Big Dog) breaking a blower belt then fuel pump during qualifying. Upside to that though, I can still tell him I ran faster and quicker than he did at the shootout. Maybe we can hook up when I return to New England. Take care and keep those Impalas going.

[MikeOD]

Yeah, I'm friends with the GASSIT guys...Scott Barnes, who popped a head gasket on his first run after going 11.3 the night before and I have been talking a lot, so I'm pretty informed of what may or may not happen next november...lets just say I'm planning on heading down, and getting VIP treatment (because I ran the scaled for the first 2 hours of the day this time).

See if you can get those Mercury guys in Atlanta to offer to help...maybe run the event in conjunction with the GASSIT guys. The biggest reason this was going to be the final one, is they spend $12K to rent the track for a day and all sorts of time organizing the entire event...I think it's just too much work for the amount of people it winds up coming down too...so maybe if the local Marauder club wanted to help out, it'd be a little better for everybody.