V. GAINES: NO LONGER A SURPRISE
Thu, 2009-02-19 12:30
There was a day that the element of surprise worked like a charm for Pro Stock racer Vieri Gaines.
Gaines, of Lakewood, Co., slipped into the 2008 NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, Az., like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and proceeded to slay the competition in a new Roger Holmgren-built Dodge Stratus that he contends Helen Keller could cut a light in.
Gaines pieced together four above average elapsed times with a string of reaction times that spanned as quickly as .007 to as slow as .02.
There was a day that the element of surprise worked like a charm for Pro Stock racer Vieri Gaines.
Gaines, of Lakewood, Co., slipped into the 2008 NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, Az., like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and proceeded to slay the competition in a new Roger Holmgren-built Dodge Stratus that he contends Helen Keller could cut a light in.
Gaines pieced together four above average elapsed times with a string of reaction times that spanned as quickly as .007 to as slow as .02.
He defeated a string of past world champions in Greg Stanfield, Greg Anderson and Jeg Coughlin Jr. before stopping Jason Line in the final round.
“That day was certainly one of the brightest moments in my career,” Gaines said. “We had one of those experiences where everything went right for us and not as right for our opponents. To go out and cut four lights like we did on race day was pretty awesome.”
“We had a brand new car and the opportunity was there to sneak up on the competition. Historically, before we came to that event, my reaction times were generally all over the place. The new car fixed that problem; consistency in reaction times was something I hadn’t really enjoyed until that day.”
“I believe that I had the lowest reaction time [average] in the class,” Gaines proudly admitted.
That wasn’t the whole story.
“I also had the most red-lights,” Gaines regretfully admitted.
If you’re going to screw up, do it wide open; that may not be the way Gaines sees it, but his actions would certainly lead one to draw that assumption.
“We just played too close to the edge too many times and if we had the ability to go back and erase those red-lights, we might have had a couple of more wins,” he explained. “That could have been another two or three spots in the championship chase. This is a game where performance is measured in tiny little measurements. Sometimes they work for you and sometimes they work against you.”
Those lessons of what works and doesn’t are the most positive byproduct of Gaines’ participation in arguably what has proven to be one of the toughest classes in drag racing.
“One of those things that I’m happiest about from the 2008 season, was our learning curve,” Gaines said, on a season where he finished ninth in the final standings.
“It has gotten to where we learn so much every time we go out to race. There are some weekends where we learn more than others, but we learn so much that it all evens out.
“I can tell you that we learned an awful lot in Pomona two weeks ago. Now we have to just figure out how to apply that knowledge to our combination and make them count to those miniscule differences which is what everyone out there is trying to do. You can’t run this class part-time.”
Gaines considers himself to be like a sponge, soaking up every ounce of data he can gather and that has been considerable since he first entered the Pro Stock division back in the 1990s. He, nor his longtime crew chief Clyde West, had any prior experience before accepting the challenge of Pro Stock fourteen years ago.
Unfortunately for him, one of the lessons he had to learn last season was how to race without West, sidelined several times in 2008 with a serious illness.
“Clyde and I came up in this class together,” Gaines said. “It was tough not having him out there. We had developed the kind of working relationship where he would do his thing and I would do mine; and we’d meet in the middle and find just the right combination. While he was gone, we [the crew] just banded together and tried not to screw anything up.”
Gaines has largely succeeded in not “screwing” anything up. But, for him, there’s one little tidbit of data he’d like to change.
His Phoenix triumph marked the first time in seven seasons that he’d scored a national event victory.
Seven years between victories, if history repeats itself, his next victory would come in 2016.
Gaines laughs at the notion, adding “I hope at that time, I’m still as enthusiastic about the sport as I am now. I hope in seven years I will feel like I have seven more years in me.”
In the meantime, Gaines will be studying his data gleaned from lessons taught him by the competition. Some of those lessons were taught verbally and others, as he puts it, “Were by a swift quick in the pants.
“Those guys we race against, they just don’t like to give those wins away,” Gaines said with a chuckle. “You have to just take them because they are stingy about giving them away. I don’t know what the deal is … I guess they want to win too.”
Gaines would too.
Gaines, of Lakewood, Co., slipped into the 2008 NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, Az., like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and proceeded to slay the competition in a new Roger Holmgren-built Dodge Stratus that he contends Helen Keller could cut a light in.
Gaines pieced together four above average elapsed times with a string of reaction times that spanned as quickly as .007 to as slow as .02.
Veteran Pro Stock Driver Hopes Last Victory Doesn't Start another Seven Year drought …
Gaines (right) poses with engine builder Larry Morgan.
Gaines, of Lakewood, Co., slipped into the 2008 NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, Az., like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and proceeded to slay the competition in a new Roger Holmgren-built Dodge Stratus that he contends Helen Keller could cut a light in.
Gaines pieced together four above average elapsed times with a string of reaction times that spanned as quickly as .007 to as slow as .02.
He defeated a string of past world champions in Greg Stanfield, Greg Anderson and Jeg Coughlin Jr. before stopping Jason Line in the final round.
“That day was certainly one of the brightest moments in my career,” Gaines said. “We had one of those experiences where everything went right for us and not as right for our opponents. To go out and cut four lights like we did on race day was pretty awesome.”
“We had a brand new car and the opportunity was there to sneak up on the competition. Historically, before we came to that event, my reaction times were generally all over the place. The new car fixed that problem; consistency in reaction times was something I hadn’t really enjoyed until that day.”
“I believe that I had the lowest reaction time [average] in the class,” Gaines proudly admitted.
That wasn’t the whole story.
“I also had the most red-lights,” Gaines regretfully admitted.
If you’re going to screw up, do it wide open; that may not be the way Gaines sees it, but his actions would certainly lead one to draw that assumption.
“We just played too close to the edge too many times and if we had the ability to go back and erase those red-lights, we might have had a couple of more wins,” he explained. “That could have been another two or three spots in the championship chase. This is a game where performance is measured in tiny little measurements. Sometimes they work for you and sometimes they work against you.”
Those lessons of what works and doesn’t are the most positive byproduct of Gaines’ participation in arguably what has proven to be one of the toughest classes in drag racing.
“One of those things that I’m happiest about from the 2008 season, was our learning curve,” Gaines said, on a season where he finished ninth in the final standings.“It has gotten to where we learn so much every time we go out to race. There are some weekends where we learn more than others, but we learn so much that it all evens out.
“I can tell you that we learned an awful lot in Pomona two weeks ago. Now we have to just figure out how to apply that knowledge to our combination and make them count to those miniscule differences which is what everyone out there is trying to do. You can’t run this class part-time.”
Gaines considers himself to be like a sponge, soaking up every ounce of data he can gather and that has been considerable since he first entered the Pro Stock division back in the 1990s. He, nor his longtime crew chief Clyde West, had any prior experience before accepting the challenge of Pro Stock fourteen years ago.
Unfortunately for him, one of the lessons he had to learn last season was how to race without West, sidelined several times in 2008 with a serious illness.
“Clyde and I came up in this class together,” Gaines said. “It was tough not having him out there. We had developed the kind of working relationship where he would do his thing and I would do mine; and we’d meet in the middle and find just the right combination. While he was gone, we [the crew] just banded together and tried not to screw anything up.”
Gaines has largely succeeded in not “screwing” anything up. But, for him, there’s one little tidbit of data he’d like to change.
His Phoenix triumph marked the first time in seven seasons that he’d scored a national event victory.
Seven years between victories, if history repeats itself, his next victory would come in 2016.
Gaines laughs at the notion, adding “I hope at that time, I’m still as enthusiastic about the sport as I am now. I hope in seven years I will feel like I have seven more years in me.”
In the meantime, Gaines will be studying his data gleaned from lessons taught him by the competition. Some of those lessons were taught verbally and others, as he puts it, “Were by a swift quick in the pants.
“Those guys we race against, they just don’t like to give those wins away,” Gaines said with a chuckle. “You have to just take them because they are stingy about giving them away. I don’t know what the deal is … I guess they want to win too.”
Gaines would too.
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