posted 09-16-2005 08:10 AM         

I learned that my Rocket is poorly set up for drag racing. With the floor boards I installed, it was impossible for me to get my boot under the shifter, so I was forced to heel kick it. This caused numerous missed shifts due to the poor location of the shifter and the interference of the floorboard. In addition to that, I just couldn't keep myself from hitting the rev limiter on a lot of runs, again causing poor shifts due to fuel shutdown. This was just my lack of coordination, timing, and experience.

None the less, I pulled hole shots on the kid all day long, beating him to the 1/8 mile marker in just about every run. At that point he blew by me every time. My reaction time average about .25 seconds. Not great, but better than the kid, who avaraged about .3 seconds. His little Jap scooter really runs once it hits the high revs, but mine clearly shines in the torque department. I'll have to stick to traffic light hole shots.

Best time for me was just under 12 seconds, at 108 MPH. Kevin's best was 11.5 seconds at 120MPH.

Glad I did it, but don't think I'll ever do it again. I'm too old for that kind of thing.