Tuesday 6/24/08
The June 7th race at Kennedale Texas was hot and fun for a lot of people......just not us. We thought we were having a fuel pick up problem with the new fuel tank but as it turns out, we were having a fuel pressure problem. Apparently when the engine shut off at Ennis this May in the waterbox it caused damage to the fuel pump. This wasn't discovered until we tried to go down the track at Kennedale.
The bike would leave the line great and run out about 200' and shut off. A few seconds later it would start idling again. Not the way to race your way in to an event. We got to watch this one from the sidelines.
Wednesday 5/28/08
Bennett Racing is proud to sponsor the June 7th Texas Motorcycle Drag Racing event at Kennedale Texas. We hope everyone will come have some fun and show the folks at Texas Raceway in Kennedale that motorcycle drag racing is alive and well. Should be a great show!
Tuesday 5/13/08
The AHDRA Nationals in Ennis Texas on May 3 & 4th were interesting to say the least. We had to race our way in the field during qualifying Saturday and made it on the last attempt with a 5.04. Bumped our way in by 1/100th. This pass put us in the number 8 qualifying spot. We had to race John Breckenridge for the first round in Sundays race day.
Being as how John had signed off on my license 3 years ago I was excited about running a friend for first round. As we got ready to go I pulled the bike up in the water box and twisted the throttle. It ran for a couple of seconds and then shut off. We were the victim of vibration as the fuel shut off closed and killed the motor. We were done before we ever got down the track. Out in the first round.
A big thanks to the crew for keeping us in the race as Paul had did his usual "keep us in the race" repair job on a very serious cracked fuel tank. How this thing held after seeing it I'll never know but it got us in the race for Sunday! Good job Paul!
I would also like to thank Dale Nungesser of Nungesser Engineering for his track side assistance! Dales tuning work was a huge help as we are working to get our 60 foots down to a reasonable number.
A huge thanks to Bonnie Truett, Jimbo, Russell, Eric, Sara and Craig for all your help. We were having major problems with our starter Saturday but with everyones efforts we were able to make the show! I appreciate all of you!!
Scott
Tuesday 4/29/08
We made some changes for the AHDRA Nationals on May 3 & 4 and hopefully this will get us in the field and be in the chase. We hope to see all of our local and out of town friends at this event. Stay tuned for the results.
Tuesday 4/15/08
We made the TMDR race in San Antonio Texas this weekend to see how the new set up worked. As everyone else in Top Fuel was having troubles we were getting down the track. We didn't run the numbers we were looking for as the concentration was more on chassis tuning to prepare for the rest of the season. At the end of the day we had won this one and were still looking for a full throttle pass.
More testing to come before the AHDRA Race in Ennis Texas on May 3 & 4.
Monday 3/3/08
This weekend the bike was picked up from the Trinity Frame and Fab shop owned by Steve Triplett. Steve did his magic on the rear section of our frame and it now looks better then it did when new! Better reinforcement, new axle sliders and some new tubing to replace the damaged section and we are back in business. We will be testing soon and will get a chance to see how everything is going to work. We hope to have a good race season! Stay tuned!
Tuesday 12/11/07
Most all of the parts to make our repairs are now in so now it's just a matter of getting everything ready to go. A lot of preparation goes in to repairing these bikes as everything has to be perfect for the right results come track time. We will be ready to go come the first race of 2008.
Enjoy the Holidays!!
Bennett Racing
Tuesday 11/6/07
Well, when you go to a Halloween fest I guess it suppose to get scary and that's certainly what it turned out to be in Belle Rose Louisiana. First of all let me say that No Problem Raceway is a GREAT track. Smooth as a pool table top, plenty of shut off and great traction. What more could you want? How about a good finish?
That wasn't to be as we found out. Our first qualifying pass should have been a good one but I guess "should have" doesn't count. The air was great. Right at 300 hundred feet corrected and about 73 degrees. It doesn't get much better. After the startup the bike sounded great. We were making some serious horse power and were ready for a good pass. The down side was we found a weak spot in our chassis.
At the hit of the throttle, the drive side of the axle slammed forward snapping off the bolt that helps hold the axle back. This also caused the rear axle adjuster to snap and drive what was left of it up in to the frame. As that was going on it also threw the chain off too so it was busy tearing up everything that got in it's way. And if that wasn't bad enough there was one more problem to come. Once one side of the axle is two inches different then the other, the bike is going to follow where the rear slick is pointed. This is bad. In our case, the slick is now pointed to the left, which is exactly where the rear of the bike went. HARD left!
Once you realize that things are not right, it's too late. As the rear of the bike went left I let off the throttle immediatley but it's too late at that point as these large slicks, once spun up hard, don't just stop once the power is gone. They keeping spinning.
The bike bounced back to the right, HARD! It jumped right off the ground with the bottom of the bike facing down the track. Not good when your supposed to be on top of it! As I landed on my left side, the bike went spinning on down the track on it's foot peg. Other then the frame damage from the launch, nothing was hurt. The bike had set up on the front brake lever and the foot peg so nothing else touched the ground. We got lucky on this one as it could have been worse.
We'll get the chassis repaired and get back out there. You can bet the chassis will be reworked with some serious re-enforcement in several areas. We don't want to try this again as we got lucky on this little incident.
Ah yes, Nitro racing. If it were easy every one would be doing it!!
Scott
Friday 9/7/07
Labor day weekend didn't go quite as well as we had planned. We had a slick track to deal with, of course, so did everyone else. Saturdays qualifying left us in 3rd place with a 7.79 at 166mph. Sundays race put us in the first round against Mark Blackmer on Mark Cox's old Bojangles bike. A 186 inch high gear bike. Nice. The downside was a slick track. We were hoping he would have a little trouble getting that big motor hooked up to that track.
Once we fired our bike and started for the waterbox we knew we were in trouble. The clutch was engaging at an rpm that was way too high. We went ahead and went through the water box and hoped for the best. Then problem number 2 showed up. As we went to stage the bike up we noticed the oil pressure starting to fall. By the time we we turned on the first bulb we were down to about 30 pounds of oil pressure. Not good. The tree fell and we were off, the downside was we really weren't going any where fast. The clutch hat moved and kept us from locking the clutch up. We were done. The bummer was Mark wasn't going any where either! He was at half track spinning the rear tire hard. A sitting duck and there was nothing we could do about it.
Talk about the DRAG part of drag racing. Out in the first round.
Monday 8/6/07
This weekends exhibition at Kennedale, Texas went great. The track prep was as perfect as it gets and traction was not an issue. We rolled off the trailer and got to try our new adjustments. With Dale Nungessers advice and Paul Jones and Craig working their tail off in between rounds, we have a new personal best 1/8 mile time of 4.69!! We were happy to say the least. The bike ran strait down the middle and carried the front wheel all the way. It doesn't get much better then that. We should be good for the next race at Shreveport, Louisiana on Labor Day weekend.
Thursday 8/2/07
The rain date for the July 28th TMDR race is this weekend August 4th. Bennett Racing unfortunatley will not be able to attend due to a prior comittment but is encouraging everyone down in south Texas to make sure you attend this first TMDR race as it will be a good one! Anyone in North Texas is invited to come out to the Texas Raceway in Kennedale, Texas on August 4th for a special event. Here is the link to Texas Raceway.
Monday 7/23/07
The race bike was fired up this Saturday for the first time since we had the top end of the motor apart and things went well. The motor sounded great so other then some fine tuning at the TMDR race this weekend we should be in the hunt. Stay tuned and we'll post the results from the weekend next Monday.
Thursday 6/21/07
After the race at Ennis Texas we discovered that the engine needed a little work also so it has been apart ever since waiting on parts. As soon as we get our cylinders, new pistons and rings back we will putting it back together for another try. Hopefully this will get us back in the numbers we need to be running. We will keep you posted on the progress.
Saturday 5/5/07
This was qualifying day for the AHDRA Nationals at Ennis Texas and Bennett Racing was teched in and ready to go. The weather was warm, cloudy, extremely humid and very windy. The wind was strong enough that AHDRA cut the race back to an 1/8 mile race.
Our first pass down the track was not exactly what we were looking for. The bike left the line well, never wiggled and went right down the middle as planned. The downside was about 200 feet before the finish line it suddenly stopped pulling. After getting the bike back to the pits the problem was found. The bolts holding the front pulley on the engine decided to shear off. Paul was able to get the remainder of the bolts out of the pulley and replaced them with some others and we were back in the saddle once again.
Our second qualifying attempt went a little better. Once again the bike ran smooth and strait carrying the front wheel down the 1/8 mile for an ET of 4.93 at 156 mph. Not bad but was not going to stand in this very fast Pro Fuel field. Our older style clutch hat was not cooperating with us and was causing our 60 foot times to suffer.
Our third and final qualifying attempt didn't improve us at all as it was an ET of 4.98 at 149 mph. Our adjustments didn't help and we were not in the field for Sundays race.
Some major clutch hat work will be done before our next outing to make sure we are in the hunt on the next race. We'll keep you posted.
Sunday 4/22/07
Bennett Racing took the bike for the second test session this weekend. We went to Kennedale, Texas, a track known for it's excellent track surface and preparation. As usual, we were not disappointed. It was overcast and about 75 degrees, perfect. The track owners had this entire track surface really prepped well. It is an 1/8 mile track with plenty of shutoff area for a fuel bike. Just what the doctor ordered!
The was the first hard pass the bike has made since last Labor Day weekend. The first pass the bike moved hard to the right and had to be shut off early. Time to make some adjustments and try it again. On the second pass things were going good, straight and right down the middle of the track right up until the drive chain decided to leave the bike. We ran a 5.62 after shutting off with 200 foot left in the run. On the 3rd and final pass of the day the bike left well and was on a good pass. We were carrying the front wheel all the way down the track and was on a real nice pass but once again had to lift just a little for it moving around some and ran a ET 5.04.
Thats was the fastest pass by a motorcycle all day and we quit on that one. We gained a lot of information that was well needed for our first race of the season at the AHDRA National Event at Ennis, Texas on May 5 & 6th. We hope to see everyone there!
