Jamie had to hustle to get the car ready to race in the NMRA Bradenton opener. "Two weeks before Bradenton, the car was basically a shell with half of everything done," he says. "On March 2 the car finally ran, but it was four dif- ferent colors." On March 3 the car went back to Dave Bergman's to get it all one color--primer gray, to be specific. At least with the car in primer, Jamie could get a paint waiver for Bradenton. He'd have the car painted before the NMRA's second stop at Reynolds, Georgia.
When it came time to race at Bradenton, Jamie discovered something binding up the car, keeping it from transferring the weight necessary to get a good launch. Even so,he ran an off-the-trailer 112 mph, which was top speed for the Factory Stock class at Bradenton. Jamie faced Michael Washington in the second round, but he was unable to extinguish the NYC firefighter and keep him from repeating as a Bradenton Factory Stock winner.
For the Reynolds race, Jamie swapped in a set of used adjustable shocks and struts, but the car still wasn't transferring the weight. Nevertheless, during the second round of qualifying, Jamie became the newest member of the Factory Stock 11-second club. "Justin Burcham was the first to congratulate me and give me an official Factory Stock 11-second sticker," he says. Jamie was not able to repeat those times until Robin and his crew helped him get ready for the finals against Michael. "We removed the extra weight, readjusted the shocks and struts, and installed fresh plugs," Jamie says. Michael tree'd him in the final, and although Jamie gained ground, he still came up about 6 inches short at the finish. He ran an 11.98 at 112 mph, but Michael's reaction time and 12.02 at a matching 112 mph was a little too much.
Jamie tried another set of shocks and struts at Columbus, and the car began to come around--almost into the Christmas Tree, that is. The problem was with the bumpsteer, so Jamie chained down the front end of the car. He ran an 11.91 with a 1.64 60-foot time, which is considered good in Factory Stock.
Jamie usually backs out of the gas at the top end if he doesn't have to run it out the back door, but in the semifinals at Columbus the car hooked fairly well (1.639 60-foot), so he stayed in it and ran his best time so far with an 11.84 at 116 mph. On Sunday, however, Michael had lane choice for the final round. He put Jamie in the left lane. As Jamie had chosen the right lane up to that point, he didn't get out of the hole as well and was unable to turn the tide in his favor.
Troubles continued at the NMRA's Texas event. Having just added Aerospace Components brakes on the front of his car, Jamie didn't quite have a feel for them. He used the Line-Loc to stage, but because of the new brakes, the brake pressure wasn't high enough and the car rolled through the lights. He has since added an Auto Meter brake pressure gauge to keep that from happening again. "The gauge makes it a lot easier to stage the car," Jamie says. Now he simply prestages the car, pumps up the brakes, sets the Line-Loc, hits the two-step, and bumps into the stage lights. "Then I'm ready to go," he says.
It turns out Jamie and his rival Michael have something in common. They both turned to proven combos for instant success. It's similar to the rivalry that Justin and Robin had in 2002, although both of them moved to Real Street for 2003. In a way, though, they're still battling each other--Jamie has Robin's old combination and Michael runs Justin's previous combination under the Justin's Performance Center banner. "We had both been anticipating a continuing rivalry between powerplants," Jamie says. "And we were both ready to get it on. After Bradenton, we knew it was going to be a long year." While as of press time Michael has had the upper hand, Jamie should reap big returns on his Factory Stock investment soon enough. 5.0
 Since Robin Lawrence was moving...  Since Robin Lawrence was moving up to Real Street and selling his provenFactory Stock combination, Jamie jumped on it faster than a sumowrestler at a Chinese buffet. He bought everything that Robin had usedto make the car competitive, and he added a pressure plate, a shifter,and an MSD ignition system. Everything from the air filter to thetransmission is from Robin's car. Jamie even purchased Robin's AndersonFord Motorsport PMS with the preloaded tune-up. |
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 To become NHRA-legal, Jamie...  To become NHRA-legal, Jamie traded out a C4 transmission in return forhaving Dan Moore of Moore's Performance weld in an Applied RacingTechnology eight-point rollbar. Kirkey race buckets signal the car'spurpose even further, as does an Auto Meter Playback tachometer andbrake-pressure gauge (added after rolling through the lights at theDallas NMRA finals). Speaking of brakes, a Hurst Line-Loc is used tohold the car in place while heating up the Factory Stock-specified dragradials--BFGoodrich Drag Radials, in Jamie's case. W&W Upholstery inApopka, Florida, custom-made the tweed door panels with a flame design. |
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