Woodburn: Chirp, crunch, whir

[Ralph Merwin <ralph@swmerc.europa.com>]

I went to the electric drags at Woodburn again this year.  There
were about the same small number of spectators, mostly EVers and
friends/family, but there were many more vehicles than last year.

I enjoyed wandering around the pit area, getting ideas for my
current reconversion project.  My nephew was with me too.  I was
hoping he'd like the Electrathon cars, but he was more interested
in the Vipers (although he did concede that Wilde EV's Mazda was
OK).

We enjoyed watching the morning runs, but had to leave before the
racing ended due to the heat and lack of shade.

I was waiting to see John Wayland take the White Zombie out.  When
it came up, and the light turned green, John punched the throttle,
the tires chirped, something went CLANK, and the Kostov spun way up.
The car barely moved 5 feet.

Otmar's electric couch good a workout towing the White Zombie back
to the pits (although he had some trouble getting a long enough rope,
having to settle for a 50' length).

The announcer made a point of talking about how nice it was to not
have oil all over the track when an EV broke.

5 minutes later Bill Dube' is on the line with his Wabbit.  The
light turned green, the tires chirped, something went CRUNCH, and
Bill coasted to a stop 20 feet down the track.  There was a wet
line following his tracks and a scattering of bits all over.  It
took the track workers 20 minutes to clean up the mess.

John Wayland brought out the Heavy Metal Garden Tractor for the
tow. The Tractor and the Wabbit were nicely color coordinated,
with bright red paint jobs and yellow detail.  Adding to the
color show, all of the helpers were wearing matching ensembles
of purple T-shirts, blue jeans and sneakers.

Later on, the two fastest Vipers faced off against Dennis Berube
and Rod Wilde.  Dennis jumped off the line, pulling out at least
20 feet in front of the Viper, and held the lead all the way down
the track.  The Viper was beaten more soundly than last year.

When Rod's turn came up, he also got a got start, nearly lifting
his front wheels off the track.  The race was closer than Dennis'
race, but the second Viper was also beaten.

Hopefully others will write up the afternoon's activities.

Ralph