The Greatest Racing Story (that I have to tell)

[jjamros]

My name is Kenneth Watson. I’m a 22-year-old college student currently getting my associate’s degree in computer aided drafting for mechanical engineering. The car I race started out as my mom’s daily driver – a 1978 Malibu. My mom blew the engine in it and its life as a drag car began.

Kenneth Watson and the Malibu on the big night

My story starts out late one May morning, as my father and I hook up to the trailer, loading the car, the slicks, ten gallons of race gas and the extra blower pulleys. We leave Salina, Kansas, and head south-bound to Wichita International Raceway in Wichita, Kansas. I’m nervous the entire trip. Why? Because I’m only 19-years-old and I have never raced on a track before, let alone in a 9-second street car. I had driven it a few times with my dad on the street but never got crazy with it – just putted around. We pull up to the gate to pay our registration fees at the 2nd annual Midnight Street Drags (all heads up racing). We’re running slicks and power adder class, which is a tough class as is. So we get in, park the trailer and unload the car. We put the slicks on, uncork the exhaust, adjust the timing and set the launch controller rev limiter.

I get in the tech line and the guy asks me what I think the car will run. I said I don’t know because we had the overdriven pulleys on the blower, and we pulled some timing out of it so I would go slow ... first time at the strip ya know? So they run through the usual tech stuff and say you’re good to go. At this point, my mind is running a million miles an hour, my palms are sweating and I can’t sit still. Guys are looking at the car and vice-versa. So my dad sits me down and tells me to calm down. He sits me in the car and runs me through the steps of the burnout, how to set the line lock for the burnout, transbreak procedures and whatnot.

I get in the staging lanes strapped in but with the door open so I can breathe. My knees are just shaking. It’s finally my turn to make my first test and tune pass. I get in the water box, I set the line lock and do my burnout. My dad is out front guiding me to the lights. I hit the transbrake and set on the pedal. We’re on a pro tree. Lights flash. I just let go of the button and boom! It feels like I just got smacked in the rear end by a semi truck doing 50. And all I see is air. It settles down, the shift light comes on and I slam into second, then drive and it’s all over.

I coast back to our trailer and my dad has the biggest shit eating grin on his face. He said, “What you think you ran?”

I said, “Who knows it all happened so fast.”

The Malibu Today

He said he thought that it was 12s. I was kind of heart broken. If that was what 12s feels like, I don’t want to know what 9s feels like. I looked at the time slip and it said 10.19 at 133 mph. I was amazed. We checked the car out, made sure everything was intact and avoided the tech guys.

This is an elimination round with a $100 single buy back if you want it. So we get in the staging lanes and I’m looking at the car next to me – a Mustang Fox Body. We pull into the water box, and I just start shaking again. We set the lights. I let the transbrake go again and I’m off, never looking at the other lane to see if I had won or not. I had! So we go a few more rounds and I’m blowing them away left and right. We finally get to the final round. This alone is an achievement in itself for me. In my mind, I have already won. My dad was proud of me and I was happy.

All the finalists stage for separate classes. Next to me I see 1974 Nova. It’s got a 9 second index sticker on the window, and I see the nitrous bottle sitting next to him in the car. He comes over to me and shakes my hand. He asks about the car, what I have been running and we just talk. While the class in front of us finishes up, I ask what he’s been running. He says that he’s had some jetting issues but it’s been going 9.90s and 10.0s tonight. I have yet to break 10.10.

A work in progress

The air is cooler so I know we’re both going to run quicker. As soon as he told us what he was running, my dad goes and grabs some tools, and we swap the pulleys out right there. We play with the timing and let a few more pounds out of the slicks. They call us up and I strap in. I say my prayers and hit the water box.

This was the very moment that changed my life forever. I took the far lane. When pulling into the water box the car was yanking itself as if it couldn’t wait, the throttle burping itself under the load. I smile just thinking of this moment.

I get in the water box, start to warm ‘em up and roll out, this time rolling out past the lights. I roll back and wait for him to get deep staged before I trip the second light. It trips; I hit the break and bring the revs up. The light changes and all hell breaks loose. I leave hard! The front end comes up and the shift light comes on. I rip the shifter into second, and as the car gets out of the groove it tries walking into the wall. I throttle it and don’t stop. Almost as if nothing else matters, I get back in it and yank drive. And I pull him on the big end. I couldn’t tell who won; we were side by side.

I’m pulling down the return road and I don’t see anyone at the time booth. So I pull on around to the trailer where I see everyone with smiles. I had won. I won my first race that I had ever run. I won a plaque, $300 and the story of a lifetime. We loaded up and went home. On the way, we stopped to eat and the old boy I had raced was there eating as well. We talked and are now friends. He has a new setup and is running 8s now. Our car hasn’t changed much, as we are building two new cars. They are, of course, loaded with only the best in competition valve trains: COMP Cams®.


1978 Malibu

Back halved with a Competitive Engineering fab 9 inch, full spool, 4 linked, 12 way adjustable Competitive Engineering Coil Overs 10 Point Cage Fiberglass Deck Lid, Hood, Lexan Windows 2" Drop Spindles up front with, Competitive Engineering Drag Shocks and Moroso Trick Springs 388 ci SBC 4 Bolt Main Block Eagle Forged Stroker Crank Eagle Forged Rods JE 8:5:1 Forged Slugs COMP Cams® Custom Hydraulic Roller Cam COMP Cams® Valve Springs, Retainers, Locks COMP Cams® Gold Roller Rockers COMP Cams® Pushrods COMP Cams® Belt Drive Dart Pro 1 CNC Heads Weiand 6-71 Teflon Stripped Roots Style Blower 2 Holley 850 CFM Boost Referenced Carbs MSD Pro Billet Distributor Transmission: GM th-400 with a TCI® Manual Valve Body, TCI® Transbreak, TCI® Torque Converter with 4,800 stall

Kenneth Watson and the his future Malibu