DragChamp Racer Blog with Kris Whitfield – Aug 2019
Catch up with Division 5 Super Gas/Comp racer Kris Whitfield as he covers his racing adventures on DragChamp.
Salutations Drag Champ readers! It’s been a little bit but I’m back for August in the Drag Champ sportsman blog series!
We’ve entered in the dog days of the 2019 season and there’s been no shortage of racing, parts breakage, trials, and triumphs over the last few weeks.
Last time you heard from me was during my Drag Champ social media takeover which coincided with the Dodge Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. At that event we took a bit of a beating and only managed a 3rd round appearance in the roadster.
From there we loaded up and traveled east for the double-header divisional in Topeka. Normally we avoid that race just due to the number of cars and down-time, and because the thought of being in that part of the country at the end of July sounds hot and humid enough to deter us without much consideration.
To my surprise, the weather was beautifully mild and we had a great weekend of racing. To back up the win in Super Gas at Bandimere, I put up a 5th and 4th round effort in the two races. Not wins, but solid points outings for divisional and Jegs Allstars standings.
In Super Comp I did not fair as well as I was on the receiving end of a .010 package second round of race one. In that round the engine lost oil pressure and had to be retired before race 2. For race 2 we brought out my dad’s dragster, but without any data I was handcuffed into holding what I figure was almost a full second. I was only able to win one round with that game plan.
It’s never good when the oil filter looks like this!
With mixed results and a hurt motor, we returned home from Topeka and set our sights on the next objective. We had to get the spare motor in my dragster and get some Super Comp numbers for that combination before the next local super comp race as I was the points leader in that.
We got the motor in during the week and hit the next Super Pro race to test. We actually had a competitive combination right away, dialing for the altitude-adjusted 9.50 index and making it to 4th round.
In between the motor swap on the dragster we had a huge workload on the roadster as well, as we were having issues with too much oil pressure in that car. We removed the oil pan, cleaned the pump and oil bypass, and buttoned it all back up but to no avail, as we still have too much oil pressure.
As I write this, it’s still an ongoing problem for us. We also had to pull the transmission to swap out a damaged flexplate. In between all of that, we finally got my wife’s dragster fired up for the first time which has been in the works for a couple years now. Needless to say, there have been many late nights in the shop for the Whitfield family lately.
Photo Credit : Steve Carlton
Fast forward to the next weekend at Bandimere Speedway, we had our second-to-last points meet of the year for Super Gas and Super Comp. Coming in to the event I was 2 rounds behind the leader and Super Gas and held the lead in Super Comp by two rounds.
A first round loss in the roadster and a win by the points leader all but ended my hopes of a title in that class. On the flip side, I took home the win in Super Comp to extend my points lead to 5 rounds with the final race remaining.
Looking forward, we have some races coming up with huge points implications on our bid for divisional and Jegs Allstars titles. Our next stop will be the division 5 points meet in Earlville, IA followed by Great Bend, Kansas. See you there!
About the Author: Born and raised in Colorado, Kris Whitfield began racing juniors at age 8 and currently pilots a 2004 Undercover dragster and a ’27 T Super Gas roadster. He has 16 track championships as well as 2 NHRA national event wins. With seven years experience working race-operations at Bandimere Speedway and with a life spent in the sportsman pits, Kris offers DragChamp readers a unique and relatable perspective.
For the 2019 season, Kris will represent sponsors Go Fast Energy, Phantom Racing Graphics, DJ Safety, DMP Awnings, Nationwide Productions, Armed Forces Racing, NGK, Precision Specialties, Premier Diversified Insurance, and This is Bracket Racing Elite.
You can connect with Kris on Facebook @Whitfieldfamilyracing or email at Kris@dragchamp.com
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