US-1
Banned
So going into the Epping race I had four wins and one runner up in seven races. Not bad.....not great but not bad. Saturday morning I roll the car out of the box and go get tech'd in. Once I sign the form the tech guy smiles and says, "Congratulations." Uhhhh.....ok. For what? "You'll see," is all I get. Weirdo.
Sunday morning as I'm rolling into the water box for the first round I hear, "And in the right lane we have SD Wheeler from Crosby, Texas. SD has officially locked up the 2008 Ultra Stang championship right here this weekend." Oh...now they tell me. Hell Yeah!!!!!
So it seems the tech points were enough to lock it all up. I didn't get the ending I was looking for out of the Epping race due to the starter fucking up the works in the final round but we did manage to claim the championship with two races left in the series. I sure as hell didn't expect to win the title with a twin turbo system but this thing is a dream come true. We did have some screw ups along the way (like Orlando and Virginia) but everything has come along really well with the power of the Team Performance Heritage GT Twin Turbo System and the tuning expertise of Doug Studdard at BamaChips.
Now...for the thank you's and this is pretty damn long so bear with me. Naturally, I have to begin with Team Performance Products and Exile Turbo Systems. These two entities were solely responsible for me being able to attend every race in the FFW series and that by itself is a huge deal. The time and money spent just traveling to and from these races can kill just about anyone's hopes for a championship. The performance of this twin turbo system is also nothing short of awe-inspiring. For a stock engine car to be able to run consistent 11.20's-11.40's at over 124 mph....that is something impressive. Tom & Yvonne Nelson, Heath & Jennifer Nelson, Jessica Nelson, Paul Bartlett, Rick Head, Eric Rycus, Josh, Travis, Terry, and everyone at the many Team Performance Group businesses are the ones who have made all this possible. Everyone jumped in and did whatever they needed to do in order for this deal to work.
Strictly Performance.....Richard, Matt, and the whole damn crew have given me just about anything I needed in order to win. From shop time, to parts, to doing installs when I couldn't spare the time, to entry fees, to help just getting things I need. Their technical expertise in the Ford business is well known and simply can't be beat.
Doug Studdard at BamaChips Custom Tuning. You, sir, are THE MAN!!!! The tuning done to this combination is the absolute best in the business. This car is deadly consistent and very reliable. Example: Atco NMRA race on Friday's T&T session: 11.347, 11.350, 11.353, 11.349, and 11.359. Each one at 124 mph. It just doesn't get any better than that and Doug is solely responsible for that consistency.
Ron Leonard of Leonard Racing Products. The best damn driveshaft on the market for our cars. Thank you for your support this year and for an outstanding product. You are really one of the "good guys" in the Mustang aftermarket.
Metco Motorsports....thank you again for the rear suspension pieces and the continued support. Metco does not get a lot of press when people discuss rear suspension components on the S197 cars. I'm here to tell you that their stuff just flat WORKS. When the turbos come up on boost right at the 1-2 gear change you can find out pretty fast what works and what does not work. Metco billet lower arms and their killer upper arm and mount are head and shoulders above anything out there.
Danny and Suzanne Towe. Not many of you guys know this couple but they are likely responsible for me eating and surviving the various fits of anger I tend to throw at the races. Suzanne is the '05 Open Comp champ from FFW and Danny is a perennial top five finisher in Mod Comp. Without you two.....I'd starve and end up posting bail all over the eastern seaboard. Thanks again for a great season.
Keith Keplinger of Keplinger Designs. My unofficial ad agency and one of the best people in the business. Keith is the one person who convinced me to attend the PRI show last December. It was there that I met the Team Performance gang and secured their sponsorship so I can honestly say that without Keith's input I would not have this title. Keith.....you are a tremendous help in my racing career and a damn good friend.
S197forums.com. The single best source of performance and technical information for the S197 Mustang on the web. This site is a great help to me and countless other enthusiasts. Technical knowledge, information, ideas, parts sources, vendors, humor, and all around great people. The moderators took a chance in even letting me on this board so I hope that I have done what I can to earn your trust and support. You guys are the best!!!
Harland Sharp. Even though they don't make anything for the modular engines these guys have supported the Ultra Stang class all year long and are great people to work with. We do have plenty of their stuff on our pushrod engines at the shop and each part is outstanding. From roller rockers to shaft rockers to stud girdles. We solved plenty of valvetrain issues by switching to Harland Sharp and by doing so saved a ton of money. If you have a performance pushrod engine you really do need to check into Harland Sharp. Tell them I sent you there.
In no particular order here..........
My Dad who is my greatest inspiration and driving force. He is there to push me, commend me, lecture me, and even rip on me if necessary. If at some point in my life I can become half as good a man as my father then I will consider my life to be a resounding success. He is what is best in men.
My sons, Mikey and Sean. They believe in me like nobody else and I do the best I can at each race just to back up their faith. Thank you, boys!
My current employer, Energy Management & Services, for putting up with this gawd-awful racing schedule and not running my ass off. Yes, I put in a ton of time when I'm at the office but they are extremely cooperative and fully support my racing.
Fun Ford Weekend staff for giving up part of their lives so we can have a place to race. The original Ford-only racing series is still alive and kicking. Thank you for putting up with my tantrums, loud mouth, over-zealous personality, and generally being a pain in the butt.
Austin Craig, Rod Short, Evan Smith, Jason Reiss, Huw Evans, Francis Butler, Mark and Jeremy at UPR, Ronnie and Gina Wilson, Jesse Kershaw at Ford Racing Performance Parts, RPM Outlet, April Bryant, Linda Stacey, Paula and Cherish at Wachovia Bank, Brett "Maverick" Barrett, Chris Matters, Chris Parisi, David Perkins, Kenny Klinger, Liz Henley, Lonny Pennington, Chip Havemann, Kyle "Mo-D" Drennan, Peter Del Pino, Shane Hill, Shane Williams, Tom Conrad and crew, and I'm sure I have forgotten someone so I hope whomever you are you understand.
Sunday morning as I'm rolling into the water box for the first round I hear, "And in the right lane we have SD Wheeler from Crosby, Texas. SD has officially locked up the 2008 Ultra Stang championship right here this weekend." Oh...now they tell me. Hell Yeah!!!!!
So it seems the tech points were enough to lock it all up. I didn't get the ending I was looking for out of the Epping race due to the starter fucking up the works in the final round but we did manage to claim the championship with two races left in the series. I sure as hell didn't expect to win the title with a twin turbo system but this thing is a dream come true. We did have some screw ups along the way (like Orlando and Virginia) but everything has come along really well with the power of the Team Performance Heritage GT Twin Turbo System and the tuning expertise of Doug Studdard at BamaChips.
Now...for the thank you's and this is pretty damn long so bear with me. Naturally, I have to begin with Team Performance Products and Exile Turbo Systems. These two entities were solely responsible for me being able to attend every race in the FFW series and that by itself is a huge deal. The time and money spent just traveling to and from these races can kill just about anyone's hopes for a championship. The performance of this twin turbo system is also nothing short of awe-inspiring. For a stock engine car to be able to run consistent 11.20's-11.40's at over 124 mph....that is something impressive. Tom & Yvonne Nelson, Heath & Jennifer Nelson, Jessica Nelson, Paul Bartlett, Rick Head, Eric Rycus, Josh, Travis, Terry, and everyone at the many Team Performance Group businesses are the ones who have made all this possible. Everyone jumped in and did whatever they needed to do in order for this deal to work.
Strictly Performance.....Richard, Matt, and the whole damn crew have given me just about anything I needed in order to win. From shop time, to parts, to doing installs when I couldn't spare the time, to entry fees, to help just getting things I need. Their technical expertise in the Ford business is well known and simply can't be beat.
Doug Studdard at BamaChips Custom Tuning. You, sir, are THE MAN!!!! The tuning done to this combination is the absolute best in the business. This car is deadly consistent and very reliable. Example: Atco NMRA race on Friday's T&T session: 11.347, 11.350, 11.353, 11.349, and 11.359. Each one at 124 mph. It just doesn't get any better than that and Doug is solely responsible for that consistency.
Ron Leonard of Leonard Racing Products. The best damn driveshaft on the market for our cars. Thank you for your support this year and for an outstanding product. You are really one of the "good guys" in the Mustang aftermarket.
Metco Motorsports....thank you again for the rear suspension pieces and the continued support. Metco does not get a lot of press when people discuss rear suspension components on the S197 cars. I'm here to tell you that their stuff just flat WORKS. When the turbos come up on boost right at the 1-2 gear change you can find out pretty fast what works and what does not work. Metco billet lower arms and their killer upper arm and mount are head and shoulders above anything out there.
Danny and Suzanne Towe. Not many of you guys know this couple but they are likely responsible for me eating and surviving the various fits of anger I tend to throw at the races. Suzanne is the '05 Open Comp champ from FFW and Danny is a perennial top five finisher in Mod Comp. Without you two.....I'd starve and end up posting bail all over the eastern seaboard. Thanks again for a great season.
Keith Keplinger of Keplinger Designs. My unofficial ad agency and one of the best people in the business. Keith is the one person who convinced me to attend the PRI show last December. It was there that I met the Team Performance gang and secured their sponsorship so I can honestly say that without Keith's input I would not have this title. Keith.....you are a tremendous help in my racing career and a damn good friend.
S197forums.com. The single best source of performance and technical information for the S197 Mustang on the web. This site is a great help to me and countless other enthusiasts. Technical knowledge, information, ideas, parts sources, vendors, humor, and all around great people. The moderators took a chance in even letting me on this board so I hope that I have done what I can to earn your trust and support. You guys are the best!!!
Harland Sharp. Even though they don't make anything for the modular engines these guys have supported the Ultra Stang class all year long and are great people to work with. We do have plenty of their stuff on our pushrod engines at the shop and each part is outstanding. From roller rockers to shaft rockers to stud girdles. We solved plenty of valvetrain issues by switching to Harland Sharp and by doing so saved a ton of money. If you have a performance pushrod engine you really do need to check into Harland Sharp. Tell them I sent you there.
In no particular order here..........
My Dad who is my greatest inspiration and driving force. He is there to push me, commend me, lecture me, and even rip on me if necessary. If at some point in my life I can become half as good a man as my father then I will consider my life to be a resounding success. He is what is best in men.
My sons, Mikey and Sean. They believe in me like nobody else and I do the best I can at each race just to back up their faith. Thank you, boys!
My current employer, Energy Management & Services, for putting up with this gawd-awful racing schedule and not running my ass off. Yes, I put in a ton of time when I'm at the office but they are extremely cooperative and fully support my racing.
Fun Ford Weekend staff for giving up part of their lives so we can have a place to race. The original Ford-only racing series is still alive and kicking. Thank you for putting up with my tantrums, loud mouth, over-zealous personality, and generally being a pain in the butt.
Austin Craig, Rod Short, Evan Smith, Jason Reiss, Huw Evans, Francis Butler, Mark and Jeremy at UPR, Ronnie and Gina Wilson, Jesse Kershaw at Ford Racing Performance Parts, RPM Outlet, April Bryant, Linda Stacey, Paula and Cherish at Wachovia Bank, Brett "Maverick" Barrett, Chris Matters, Chris Parisi, David Perkins, Kenny Klinger, Liz Henley, Lonny Pennington, Chip Havemann, Kyle "Mo-D" Drennan, Peter Del Pino, Shane Hill, Shane Williams, Tom Conrad and crew, and I'm sure I have forgotten someone so I hope whomever you are you understand.
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...You earned it
