Mansfield Nov 15 2004

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Rob Mansfield’s
Rookie IHRA Pro
Stock Season Diary

The IHRA racing season has ended. As I write this final journal article for my rookie year as an IHRA Sunoco Pro Stock driver for the Wilson Manifolds / Dingman Racing Grand AM, we are actively planning for next season.

This has been a great year. We finished the season 14th in the points race after having attended only eight of the 12 National events, which is not bad considering the top 19 racers all attended many more, most getting 31 bonus points for racing in all 12 events. We finished the season first in the points for the 2005 Sunoco Pro Stock Shootout with seven races to come. We still hold the MPH national record for 216.62 and our 6.425 e.t. run at Epping remains the quickest Pro Stock pass ever. We remain the quickest entry in the now full Quarter Max 6.40’s club. We were the number one qualifier for three national events.

The team has been working together to handle all that comes our way. The motor, suspension and clutch programs have come together as we expected. As with many past projects, the collaboration of research and development ideas shared between WILSON MANIFOLDS and Hutter Racing Engines have helped with our early success.

Billy Dingman’s understanding of chassis tuning, acquired from other forms of professional motor sports, have allowed us to make huge gains in a relatively short period of time. The comprehension of clutch data can be attributed to Justin Elkes’ (a co-worker at Wilson Manifolds) hours of studying, as well as, to some help from a few un-named sources. Understanding what the car wants has been simplified by the feedback we get from Bob Birchmeier and his analysis of the data acquisition program. Keith Wilson has assisted Richard Bertleff with the between round engine maintenance along with Mike Baker and my wife, Denise, who handle balancing the tasks to get us ready between rounds.

In the time since the last journal we have gone to three races. The President’s Cup Nationals at Budds Creek passed with more excitement for the WILSON MANIFOLDS / Dingman Racing Pro Stock Grand Am team. Qualifying went like clock work. We were able to secure the top qualifier position for our third consecutive national event in the fastest Pro Stock field ever with a bump of 6.539. We did this on Friday night with our first pass, running a 6.480 at a track record-setting 216.06. Although this number would have stood for the event we were actually able to better the e.t. Saturday night with a 6.465 at 216.03. The next closest qualifier was two hundredths behind with a 6.485.

Some new experiences at this event were the increased presence of the media and fans in the pit. Thank God for both but their presence demands an increased ability to focus on the tasks at hand. Another distraction for us at the President’s Cup Nationals on Saturday and Sunday was that our families, homes and businesses in Florida were under attack by the fourth hurricane since mid-August. Hurricane Jeanne unexpectedly made a turn towards Florida after we left for Budds Creek. Thanks to all our friends and neighbors who prepared our homes and businesses in our absence (without even being asked)!

An additional new experience at this event, my first red light in Pro eliminations, happened in the semi-final round. That sucked but I look at it like this. In professional racing, to be on top and run in the front of the pack you need to ride the ragged edge. This includes your motor package, your clutch program and yes, your driving. If you look at the events of the President’s Cup Nationals seven of the 16 competitors had red light starts during eliminations. In fact, Frank Gugliotta, who eventually runnered-up for the event actually had a red light in the first round; however, he had the lesser red light which allowed him to advance. Additionally, four of the top ten points runners went out on a red light.

What’s the cause? How about eight elimination racers posting reaction times in the teens and single digits! There’s not a lot of room between that and a red light. Enough said.

Our next race was a return to Norwalk to compete in the rain-delayed World Nationals. We had high hopes of winning that one but all the great horsepower we brought went into twisting our drive shaft in half at the start. The car never even broke the beam, which resulted in an anticlimactic first round loss for us.

Finally, we went to the World Finals at Rockingham. This was going to be our race. We felt we were well positioned for a win. On Friday we ran a solid 6.459 at 214.72 placing us 5th in the field. It is always a great feeling to know you are in after first round qualifying and being able to drill down on your race day tune up for the next two rounds. Saturday’s qualifying went well with us running a 6.495 at 214.72 in the heat of the day and a 6.454 at 214.42 that evening. The numbers improved that round but we actually lost a few positions and finished qualifying in the top half of the field with the seventh spot.

Prior to eliminations, the SpeedVision TV crew approached us about putting an in-car camera in our car. I was excited to be a part of giving the fans some insight about our team along with some great in-car action footage. I want to thank SpeedVision for the opportunity and the additional exposure they gave us.

Race day came and we had a tough line up on our side of the ladder. First round: John Montecalvo. John went into that race second in the points so prior to the race I was approached repeatedly about my possible impact on the championship. We beat Montecalvo. He went faster and quicker but we treed him, winning with a 6.482 at 213.70 to his 6.479 at 213.74. At the end of that race, John Nobile was named the 2004 World Champion.

Sunday, Keith’s cell phone constantly rang from the teams we work with in the NASCAR community telling us of the tragic news that a Hendrick Motorsports plane had been lost. This obviously created a very emotional distraction for us, but we wanted more than anything to win the event in their memory.

For second round, we had Frank Gugliotta. He had a great reaction time but shook and we advanced to the semis running a 6.477 at 213.87 and earning lane choice against Brian Gahm. In the semi against Gahm, our car shook. I tried to drive through it to no avail and had to lift, sending Gahm to the finals and on to win the event. That wasn’t the season end we wanted. Watch for the SpeedVision event coverage and see what it’s like to experience the tire shake from inside the car during our semi-final match up.

When the season ended we'd attended eight events, qualified for four and taken the pole for three of those. We'd gone to the semis twice, the final once and sacrificed one first round loss to a drive shaft failure. Not a bad rookie year but we want more.

In closing my online rookie journal, I want to take the time to say thanks! Thank you to Jeff Burk and Drag Racing Online for giving me the opportunity to tell our story. Thanks to the IHRA for a great competitive series to participate in and to Clay Millican and Jason Line for their mentoring. Thanks to all of our fans for their support, especially those in Winter Park, FL. I also would like to thank Hutter Racing Engines for the hard work and dedication they have shown our team, not to mention the horsepower they supply us with, and to the crew at Wilson Manifolds for keeping things running smoothly at the shop while we’re out racing. Finally, I’d like to thank Billy Dingman and Keith Wilson who have used their business-minded strategies to assemble the best team of crew members, consultants and manufacturers a driver could ask for.

It was a great season and we are fired up to come back in 2005. We will have a new car and a couple of new engines. We plan on testing over the winter and coming back stronger next year. I guess the Prom Queen will just have to wait for next season!