The IDRC Summer Slam Nationals was a BIG event. Over 30,000 people came to see import drag's fastest cars. Import drag's biggest names came in from every part of the country to compete in the biggest IDRC event ever. With the likes of Abel Ibarra, Craig Paisley, Stephan Papadakis, Lisa Kubo, Kenny Tran, and RX7.COM - to name a few - in attendance, the Summer Slam was an event nobody should have missed.

Saturday, July 1 - Test & Tune

We arrived in Englishtown with just enough time to freshen up and head out to the track. The night we should have left Garland we opted instead to replace the car's motor. While tuning the car earlier in the evening, the decision was made to replace the current motor with a refreshed motor. The team worked quickly to swap the motors, tune the car, and ready the pulled motor to be taken with us - just in case. Swapping the motors set us back an evening, but it was definitely worth it.

Once at the track on Saturday we quickly unloaded the car and began a long day of testing & tuning. Throughout the day our ETs got better and better. Our first run of the day was a 10.94 @ 118.03 mph. At the end of the day our last pass was a 9.917 @ 134.10 mph. Satisfied with our set up, we packed it up and headed to the hotel to rest for the next day.

Sunday, July 2 - Race Day

Qualifying
We made it to the track bright and early to get ready for the qualifying round. The 9 second run the day before left us eager to get out and do it again. After some last minute adjustments, we headed to the staging lanes. Our reaction time, a .924 wasn't as fast as usual, but by the 1/8th mile it looked like Ari had recovered and we were going to have a good pass. Then, all of a sudden, at the far end of the track a giant puff of smoke came out of the exhaust. The car began to slow down and we crossed the line at 11.83 seconds with a trap speed of 86.40 mph. Things did not look good.

We quickly made our way back to the pit area to diagnose what had happened. Apparently, during a tuning mishap one of the rev limiters was set incorrectly causing a nitrous backfire. The motor was hurt. It was still viable, but we knew we would hurt the motor even more if we continued. It seemed as though the day would be over before it even began.

This is every race team's nightmare - driving over 1,400 miles to an event, having a great test & tune the day before the event, to end up hurting the motor on race day before the races even really start. What were we to do? The team analyzed the situation carefully. It was still early in the day, around 10:30 am. Despite the detonation on the track that slowed our ET, we were still the number 4 qualifier. We had at least 3 hours before eliminations began. In the trailer was the motor we pulled Thursday night that had been refreshed, and we had a more than capable team that could swap the motor. We had come too far and done too well to just pack it up and watch other people race all day. There really was no other solution but to attempt to swap the motors in time for eliminations.

The team started working on the motor around 11 am. Chris, Ari, and Demetrios began the process of removal, while Kerry began assembling the engine hoist we borrowed from Venom Racing. At noon, the bad motor was on the hoist being lifted out of the car. At 1:15 pm, the refreshed motor was on the hoist being inserted into the car. At this point, an ESPN TV crew came by to interrupt us for a quick spot. By 2:00 PM we were finished - five minutes before last call for the Street Class eliminations. The race time on the timeslip for the elimination round is 2:24 pm. If you do the math, we completely replaced the motors, did a quick TV interview, and were back at the launch line in 3 hours and 24 minutes. Quite impressive.

Eliminations
We were anxious to see how the car would perform after having just replaced the motor. We were up against Joseph Bianco's Mitsubishi Eclipse. Joseph ran an 11.85 @ 114.14 mph, but that wasn't fast enough to beat RX7.COM's 10.97 @ 106.06 mph. The team was elated! Our efforts had not been in vain. To have replaced the motor only to go on to lose the elimation round would have been horrible; however, with the team's hard work and Ari's driving, we were back in the race.

Semi-Finals
In the semi-finals we were up against David Primus and his yellow '93 RX7. David had a good run with his 11.24 @ 121.99 mph, but RX7.COM once again prevailed with a 10.68 @ 120.41 mph.

Finals
The finals paired us up against a '77 Porsche 911 owned by Felix Medina, Eddie Bello's cousin. Eddie and Felix were set up right next to us in the pits so over the past two days we had developed a friendly rapport. As the fates would have it, we were racing each other in the finals. There's nothing like good ol' friendly competition.

Shortly after the launch it was evident that the Porsche experienced some sort of mechanical failure as it slowly made its way down the track to a final ET of 15.94 @ 71.03 mph. Ari and the RX7.COM car, however, made it to the finish line in 10.37 @ 135.77 mph.

What a comeback! From hurting the motor in the qualifying round to winning in the finals, team RX7.COM demonstrated exactly what makes us such a great team.

Other event news . . . Abel Ibarra won the Pro Class finals with a 8.03 second ET against Falito Rafaelito's 13.03. David Fernandez beat Craig Paisley in the Outlaw finals. Quick Class was won by Eric Plebani and Kenny Tran took second place. All Motor was won by Norris Prayoonto.

RX7.COM sends a great big thank you to everyone who helped us out while we were swapping the motors. We especially thank Venom Racing for the "extended use" of their engine hoist. We thank Demetrios and Kerry for driving up from Washington to see us race and for being on hand to help us. We'd also like to thank the IDRC for their support during our crisis and for putting on a truly awesome event. Last but not least, we'd like to thank Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for hosting such a grand event.