Hey Everyone,
I guess I should introduce myself first. My name is Meaghan, and I am the girlfriend of Joe, one of Follow a Dream's crew members. This past weekend, I went with the team to their race at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania. It was a great weekend, although weather conditions kept everything slow.
After about a 7 hour ride, Joe and I arrived at the track on Thursday night around 8. The body of the car had been wrapped, and looked much better than when I had seen it the week before. There was still a lot of work to do though. The pit area looked great with a brand new mat, and we were pitted next to some of the top fuel guys. We worked on setting up some tents and lights so the crew could work in the dark. They put the car away and focused on getting the body ready for the race. Eventually, we had some dinner, and then Joe, Rich and I headed off to the hotel.
Friday morning, we got up early and after a quick stop for an iced coffee for me, we were off to the track. They were planning on having their first pass around 1:30, so there was plenty of time, but they had some last minute things to do. It was so hot and humid out, we tried to stay cool. We all just kept complaining about the heat and how much we were sweating. Family members and friends came, and we watched them warm up the car and prepare for the race. I helped Rich with some English muffin toasting for breakfast. We all knew a storm was in the forecast, Marty was checking the radar on his phone, and we all hoped it would hold off.
Finally, it was time for their first qualifying pass. We piled into the tow vehicle and onto the golf cart and headed for the staging lanes. Pam and I walked towards the starting line to watch some of the other cars make their passes. The darkest, most ominious looking clouds covered the track. The temperature seemed to drop about 20 degrees and it got really windy. We watched as 4 pairs made their passes, and then it started rain. We walked over to the car; they had placed a cover over it, but it started to downpour. I managed to get completely drenched, and I was cold the rest of the day. Hard to believe that we had all been complaining about being too hot that morning.
The guys did some things with the car, but mostly we just all sat around waiting fot the rain to stop and for them to dry the track. Jay decided that ice cream was a good idea, and a few of us headed off for a golf cart ride and some ice cream cones in the rain. It was great! Eventually, we realized that we were not going to get our first qualifying pass that day, and we had dinner and relaxed. The rumors were that the weather on Saturday was going to be even worse. Some speculated that we wouldn't get a qualifying pass in at all. It was being said that the eight cars that had qualified would be the top 8, and the bottom 8 would be based on our rank in points. If this were the case, then we would qualify unlike some other teams who would not be able to race at all. Everything was up in the air.
When we left the track that night, there was still no schedule or plan for Saturday. We weren't sure if there was going to be any racing. Joe, Rich and I decided to spend the night at the club at our hotel, which was a lot of fun. We woke up the next morning and called Jay, but he said nothing was established yet, so we got brunch and then took a nap. Then Jay called back and said that we should head down, they were hoping to run some races soon. We went to Walmart, where we literally spent half an hour in line because we didn't know the zip code for the credit card. We thought we would never make it.
Turns out, there was no cause to be alarmed. We did race on Saturday, but not until about after 5pm. It was another hot, muggy day, but the track was wet. After every couple of runs, they would have to stop to dry the track. It seemed like we would never race. I sat around reading my book like I usually do. Everyone was just talking and walking around. We spent some time watching the fuel car crews work on their cars. I was impressed.
Eventually, we headed to the staging lanes. We found out that they were going to consider this the 2nd qualifying pass. If you had raced the day before, then you would have 2 times, they would go by your better time. If this was your only pass, then you would have to use this time. I didn't think it was very fair, but someone has to make the hard decisions. I went to the starting line to watch the Top Fuel Funny Cars, and there was a bit of a delay when Ashley Force Hood's car exploded at the end of the track. Luckily, everyone was okay, and we sat around waiting some more. That is the theme of drag racing, "Hurry Up and Wait."
Then we were up. This was going to be our first run since the mishap in Englishtown. The car had been tested the weekend before at New England Dragway, but this was the big comeback. It didn't go quite as well as everyone had planned, and we ran a 5.93. I walked down to the finish line, where I watched that 5.93 light up the board in huge red numbers as the bump spot. Luckily, we were able to hold on and qualified 16. I walked back to the pit to hear what I already assumed: we would be up against Frank Manzo. The guys were servicing the car really quickly, and I thought we were planning to race again that night, but we weren't. Rich, Pam and I took a trip to the store, and we all had a relaxing night. The guys took their time servicing the car. The main thing we knew was that we had to get to bed early because we were racing Sunday morning at 9:30.
Sunday morning, we got there bright and early; the track was pretty much empty. People that hadn't qualified had already left. I walked around, got myself a cappuccino, and then I sat in the stands to watch some of the stock cars. Then, we once again piled into the golf cart for Round 1.
Soon our first round of eliminations were underway, and I watched as car after car were elimated from the competition. Next, we were up against Frank Manzo. We certainly gave him a good race. We ran a 5.66 to his 5.56. Unfortunately, we had lost. On a more optimistic note, this was the 3rd fastest time in this round. If it had only been our second qaulifying pass like it should have been.....
After that, we spent some time packing up the trailer. Everyone had agreed that although the run hadn't been enough to win, it had still been a great run. It put everyone in high hopes for Englishtown in just a few weeks. We will see! Thanks for taking to the time to read about my experience at the race. Hopefully, you'll be hearing from me again soon.
Best,
Meaghan
