2010 Ground Zro Racing News

October 7 - Rockingham, NC - On October 7th the team headed North for the final race of the season. This race is always special as it is named after the legendary Top Fuel racer Jim McClure.
The Jim McClure Nitro Nationals are in Rockingham, NC & the weather was just great. We knew the way the weather was that records would be broke in a lot of classes. The team had a few extras along for the weekend. Brother Jimmy did the video chores & my nephew Bruen was our chauffeur in the pits. Mom & Dad Swegheimer & Matt Perry came down from Ohio along with Pete Moffitt & Steve Nicolson who rode down. The weekend started out with a bang during the test & tune session on Friday. The team wanted to see what it would do right off the trailer & we ran an 8.43. A good number to get some needed data.

Saturday was ok; we had some good passes & managed to qualify 3rd with an 8.30. Sparks got some good data & did some fine tuning. The Pro Stock dinner was a Pro Mod & Pro Stock combo held by the RED DRAGON team. Great Bar B Que! Thanks again. Congratulations! to Bruce Chandler for the National Championship in the Pro Mod division.
On Sunday we drew the number 6 qualifier Mark Vienna & had high hopes to get a few rounds in. As OJ went to the line the light went green & then things went wrong. We have no idea but the bike went flat & pulled to the left causing OJ to get off the throttle. We still are looking at the video to find out what happened. It was a BIG disappointment for OJ & the team. The team finished the season in 4th place & we are happy for that.
It is now time to thank some great folks for the help & support. Ace Cycles, Supreme Leather, Sinclair Design Studio, Shawn & Ricky with the Headblade team, Gerald Poorman, John Peters for the tuneup & PeeWee for the clutch set ups, my wife Bonnie for the support and everyone who asks “How’s the team doing” throughout the year THANK YOU ALL!!!!
We are now looking for some SUPPORT for the new season which starts in Orlando during “2011 BIKE WEEK” so mark your calendars. We will also be having T-shirts for sale this year, so look on-line in the near future - may be ready for a Christmas Gift!

September 11-12 - San Antonio, TX - The team took off early Sept 10th for a LONG ride to San Antonio Texas for the Texas Nitro Nationals. We had high hopes for a great weekend. But things just didn’t work out that way.
Saturday round 1 qualifying: we ran a 8.49 60 ft 1.2484 so we were pretty happy with that, got good information. OJ was early on all shift points and it was too lean and static pressure was a little heavy. We made the changes and got ready for round 2.
Round 2: We ran an 8.54 60 ft 123.9. OJ hit all his shift points and everything looked good, except the egts, and we were trying to find out why it slowed down. So Sparks goes to change the jets and the front jet is not coming out. We pulled the bowl and the emulsion tube was broke off where it threads in the carb. We fought to get it out and finally got it fixed, so we had everything set for a good pass.
On to round 3: The bike left strong, had 1.21 60 ft ET 22.31. OJ sits up down track and we were wondering what went wrong. I had visions of rods hanging out the side of the motor or something like that, as I got closer to the end of the track he was holding up the primary belt. What a relief, we could fix that no sweat. Now based on the information from round 3 pass we got ready for round 1 of the finals.
Sunday was really HOT & the track was really prepared for some fast times. Round 1. We drew KW in round one, as they staged, KW went red and OJ leaves, and we win the round---but he sits up at about the 1000 ft. mark and when he goes through the traps we run an 8.87, and as I got closer to pick him up he was holding up that new belt in his hands. Broke another belt, now we were looking at why we broke two belts in a row, nothing looked out of wack, so we dressed a few little things and put on another belt. Now we were waiting for the next round and there came a knock on our door and it was Craig Tharpe, the owner of the AHDRA, and he told us that we had been disqualified because KW left before the tree was activated and that OJ went red. The same thing happened to Jay Turner & Joe Sternoti in Top Fuel. We have always thought that the first person that left was the one to get disqualified. Well, needless to say, we were disappointed, but rules are rules. It was a long trip home & a lot of questions as to what needs to be done to change the rules. Thanks to ALL who follow the team & to Jerry for the help to get to Texas. One more race - THE FINALS - are in Rockingham, NC October 8, 9 & 10. We are hoping to finish in 3rd but we already have 4th place for the year.
- Pee Wee, OJ, Ground Zro racing – “Support Harley Drag Racing"

August 7 & 8 - Bristol, TN - The team headed to the beautiful hills of Tennessee for the "Thunder in the Valley" Nationals in Bristol. The team missed the Ohio Nationals due to engine problems that we found in Pennsylvania. The team had high hopes for a great weekend. The new heads & pistons were to meet the team on Friday. Sparks & PeeWee had their job cut out for them to reassemble the engine & get some practice passes on Friday. Well, we got the engine together, but NO passes.
Virginia John rode over to help the team for the weekend. On Saturday morning quilifying rounds started & the bike sounded great. On the first pass we did an 8.7, which wasn't what we wanted, but we made it down the track. The second pass wasn't all that great either, so we started to look for something & we found it in the oil pump. It was not doing it's job so we started to take that apart only to find out it was SHOT. No one had a spare, but THANKS to Dick Fisher with Bison Racing they had one for their Pro Gas bike that they thought was bad. We ask if we could borrow it & sure enough it worked! OJ managed to qualify the bike in 3rd place, so that put us up against the #2 bike & Kevin Seneca. We were not far off from Kevin's time of 8.5. At the line OJ treed Kevin by .019 to Kevins .130 to take that round. So by getting that win we made it into the finals. It turned out to be our weekend after all. Saturday night we were all ready to pack up & head south. We need to send a BIG THANKS to Shawn Reno for taking the time out to help us set the timing & jetting.
On the final run OJ had Shawn as he was the #1 qualifier. The light came down & OJ treed Shawn .019 to .177 & we thought this was the weekend only to get disappointed by the bike not shifting into 3rd. So we took the runner-up trophy & money for a great weekend that was a long time coming. It sure felt good to go to the winners circle to get the contingency paper work done for the runner-up win. Thanks to everyone who are still following the team & all those that helped get us to the races. We have 3 points races left this year Oregon, Texas & the finals in Rockingham, NC in October. We will make Texas & the ROCK. If you can help the team get in touch with PeeWee or OJ & support your local racers!!!!! THANKS to ALL

May - Numidia, PA - The team headed for the long haul up North to Numedia, Pa for the Liberty Nitro Nationals. We had a plan to do some test & tuning on Friday night to get more data. The bike came out of the hole great & OJ hit all his shift points but fell off at the big end. We brought the bike back in & did a leak down, only to find we had 80% leakage. Now we started to figure where it was at. Sparks & PeeWee started with the heads & found the intake valve had a chip on the edge. We managed to get a new valve & lapped it in & reinstalled new valve springs. We still had a leak! This time we decided it was the rings & we had no new ones on board & none in the pits. We decided to get some qualifying rounds in on Saturday.
The track is located in the country & a nice location. It was close to my wife's sister who came down to watch qualifying along with my nephew & friends. That was the first time Barb & friends had seen all Harleys run. They were thrilled! We managed to get an 8.5 out of the hurt bike & got some points for getting into the semi finals. We drew Andy again & managed to beat him off the line but he took it in the end. Shawn & Andy were in the finals with Shawn taking the win!
We sent the heads & cylinders back to the shop to have them gone over so we will miss OHIO! We will be ready for Bristol, Tennessee the first week of August. Stay tuned for further updates! THANKS to everyone for their support!

May - Commerce, GA - The team headed to Atlanta Dragway on May 1st & 2nd for the Southern Nitro Nationals. We had a good handle on the performance of the bike but we needed more input. In Atlanta we got some good passes so Sparks could get some good data. The bike performed well, but OJ was missing his shift points.We managed to qualify with an 8.6 & drew Andy Simon in the semi round. Andy ran an 8.2 to take the win. We are losing power & have not figured that out yet. Next race will be in PA on May 22nd & 23rd.

February & March - The team had their first outing of the year at Daytona Bike Week at Orlando Speed World. It sure was nice to only drive 20 miles, but the weather was terrible. We really felt bad for all the racers that traveled a long distance; it sure wasn't the normal Florida weather. The weekend was cut short due to the rain out we had on Saturday. AHDRA decided to run all classes on Sunday & no one got any passes. You qualified as you finished the season last year. The team finished 6th last year so we got the #2 finisher Andy Simmon. The bike & OJ performed well & we finished 4th for the weekend. Not a huge crowd but it was nice to see a lot of the oldtimers at the track!

On March 26th the team headed west to the Cajun Nitro Nationals in Belle Rosa, Louisiana. It was a pretty nice trip to an outstanding track just 65 mikes west of New Orleans. The weather was excellent & the team was ready for some great racing. Sparks was doing his tune ups & collecting some good data. We qualified # 4 and that put us in the semifinals with Andy Simmon. Sparks & PeeWee had a good package set up with the clutch & timing. The air was really good so we were hoping for a good pass. As the light turned green OJ cut a .02 light to Andy’s .01 & the margin of victory for Andy was 9 one hundredths of a second. Things are finally coming together. We are traveling to Atlanta, Georgia May 1st & 2nd. We are still looking for some support so if you can help give us a call. If you're in the Atlanta area come out to Commerce & watch some good ALL HARLEY DRAG RACING!!! THANKS to all that support Harley drag racing.

January - Sanford, FL - Well another year & the weather did it again. The "Mission Impossible Run" got rained out. All week long we had our fingers crossed for some good weather. It wasn't in the stars. I want to especially THANK EVERYONE who made the effort to show up; you are real troopers. My family & friends that have helped do this for the last 9 years & a BIG Thank you to Doug & Paul for the great food. Van, DJ & Donna, George, Dale, my mother-in-law Evelyn, Brenda for taking charge & my wife for the support. Thanks to Cindy for the jello shots, Jeannie & Shelly for your help. We managed to get about 50 or so on the ride, but the rain hampered everything else.
Jimmy & Stacy McMillan came out for the day in hopes for a good turn out. Thanks!
Well, mark your calendars; we will be racing on Feb.27th & 28th at Orlando Speed World off Hwy. 50 in beautiful Bithlo, Fl. Show your support for ALL HARLEY DRAG RACING!! Stop by the trailer & say Hi!