Phew! Quite a night.
Before I get started, I want to thank Kerry and Kathy for coming out to root me on. Kerry provided some helpful suggestions on driving and guns.
I arrived about 5:10 but my first run wasn't until 6:30. Gateway is running everything but golf carts on Tuesday nights. I staged in my usual left lane against a 70? Torino. My 60' of 1.769 was slightly faster than his, but he hit the 1/8 mile a full 2/10ths ahead of me. Somewhere along the line I fumbled the 2nd to 3rd shift. He hit the traps 33 /100ths ahead of me. Our top speed was a virtual tie at 117.89 for me. 117.87 for him. My time was 12.006. Ho hum.
Now the fun began. I got back into line and managed to get within about 10 cars of the tree and It turns out I've managed to get mixed in with the guys running slicks. So now I have to pull out and go to the back of the line.
Due to the large # of street cars they put us in 4 lanes instead of 2. While we wait, motorcycles and eight second cars are running. Lanes 1 and 2 begin moving as those of us in 3 and 4 sit. This goes on for a while. What kind of cluster f*** was happening I don't know. Finally someone starts complaining to the workers and we start to move.
At this point they're running cars with slicks in the left lane, street cars in the right. I get to the water box, do my burnout and get staged. Now the 70? Nova next to me starts his burnout and he is LOUD. He blasts past the staging lights and makes a hard left into the wall.
So here I am, staged, with an ambulance and workers in the lane next to me making sure the driver was OK (he was) and cleaning up the debris. This goes on for about 15 minutes. Finally they ask me if I want to do my burnout again, I do, so a quick repeat and I'm staged all by my lonesome.
At 9:08 I jump the light, but make what feels like an OK run. At the ticket booth I get my time slip and Yeehaa! I've run an 11.73. Kerry meets me in the parking lot and congratulates me on the run.
Tim and I have had a friendly rivalry going on regarding ETs. He was holding an 11.93 and I was sitting on an 11.94. Needless to say I had to give him a call. After some quick pleasantries I turned the phone over to Kerry so that he could give Tim the bad news. Being the good sport he is Tim also congratulated me.
Here are the specifics.
------- Run 1 ----- Run 2
60' ---- 1.769 ---- 1.770
330' --- 4.983 ---- 4.931
1/8 ---- 7.764 ---- 7.526
mph --- 93.03 ---- 94.93
1/4 ---- 12.006 ---- 11.731
mph --- 117.89 ---- 118.00
Steve
Scary in there isn't it. 
I called Danny & he's supposed to call me back. Last time I went we went up to Joe & Cathy's suite in the tower & they had snacks set out. Yummie. Hope to see ya tonight.
No need to be nervous. This is going to be the best place for novices to lose their virginity. You'll get more runs in that one day than 4 or 5 here at Gateway.