The 2015 Annual Buick versus Ford Shootout at Noble

[mrstage1]

As far as the lack of competitiveness on team Buick's part it falls on our team to organize and have the will to win. For years the real answer was the turbo Buick had a performance advantage. Easy mods netted 12's when it took real work to get a 5 liter to run that number. The average hobbyist could go out and buy the. Bad boy GN, crank the boost and decimate the same type guy in a stang. It took a racer to make a Stang competitve. Well. 20 odd years on and times have changed. GN's are older and pretty much still run those same times but Mustangs have eveoled in stock trim and the tables have turned. Now stock Stangs are capable of low 13's and faster and bolt ons gets you 11s easily. It now takes more for a GN to run witha bolt on Stang. Probably more than the hobbyist is willing to do with his ever more valuable Turbobuick.

Couple that with the Ford team having a larger pool of modded cars and organizing to actually get their fast guys to come play and the results we got this year are easily accounted for.

Answer is we need to either include more of our brethren in the GM stable or get the will to win and convince our Buick racers with FAST Buicks to actually want to put the smackdown on another brand as it should be instead of placing so much priority on cannibalizing ourselves racing another Buick all the time.

 

[Limited T]

It was pretty disappointing to have 1 race to run and the car I get paired with was an all out race car, 65 Mustang. These guys were pushing their car to the starting line, all over it checking tire pressures all the way up till they had to run. Safe to say his 11.19 beat my 12.51. Nice Pairing !. Don't want to sound like a whiner or cry baby, I had an awesome time meeting new Buick and Ford guys, but I won't go back to this event.

 

[mrstage1]

It was pretty disappointing to have 1 race to run and the car I get paired with was an all out race car, 65 Mustang. These guys were pushing their car to the starting line, all over it checking tire pressures all the way up till they had to run. Safe to say his 11.19 beat my 12.51. Nice Pairing !. Don't want to sound like a whiner or cry baby, I had an awesome time meeting new Buick and Ford guys, but I won't go back to this event.

I understand this.

The answer to that dilemma is still the same. More Buick racers need to show up and move the slower guys down the ladder to a more appropriate position relative to the Fords. I know several times I've raced Fords significantly slower than me in the past. Just defends on the strength of the team overall.

 

[73 Apollo]

Fast is fast and we cant blame the Fords for throwing everything they have at it. We need to entice some more fast Buick's to show up to equalize the ladder. If the rules were changed to pair cars with like times that would only result in the Fords sand bagging and running much faster in the final round. There are plenty of real fast BOP cars around the country and when we see one run we should invite them to participate next year. Personally I have seen many low 8 second and a couple of high 7 second BOP cars at races in the past year and sorry to say I did not promote this race. You can bet that will change. I ran the blue Buick Apollo this year and qualified with a 8.19 and yes the Fords were faster so we threw all we had at it which just resulted in almost crashing our car. We will be back next year with a 7 second car.

 

[Major Nutz]

Your car looked great. Good job keeping it off the wall.

 

[charlief1]

I'm going to get bitched at here, but how about a .3 rule? What I mean is that if the car breaks out .3 over qualifying time then it means the driver was sandbagging and looses the race.

 

[turboplow]

I'm going to get bitched at here, but how about a .3 rule? What I mean is that if the car breaks out .3 over qualifying time then it means the driver was sandbagging and looses the race.

That won't change nothing. We need faster cars plain and simple. A street car is not beating a drag car. Maybe if Buick race cars showed up to this Buick event we could be more competitive. It's not fun for anyone . I think it was really pathetic and makes Buick 's look terrible. IMO. Hopefully it will change because more and more Buicks are getting turned off for the event.

 

[fast86gn]

I know I didn't help the Buick cause at all, I fought the gremlins all day. I should be known as pop & sputter rather than Fast86GN lol. I found I had a frozen puck on the waste gate, got that fixed, I had the tune changed a couple of time (lean pop) I did finally get the car to run a 12.30 and then lost 3rd gear. But 3rd gear was fading on couple of early passes. And the car never would sixty ft, I need another converter as well. So in about 3K I'll have the car where it should be 10.80-11.20.

Of course even if the car had been right the Ford still had me covered...he was a 9 sec car coasting to a low 10. And everyone is right we need more cars period. We can beat them we just have to outnumber them.

 

[Eticket]

Well.. Thank you Blake for putting on a GOOD and FUN event.

There's a reason why this event is 20 years old and there are ways it can go on for another few more, but participation is the key- as John said it - without that.. it is dead.

Blake, I will plead to you to leave the event as is or kill it and rename it to something else if Buicks aren't going to lead the attendence for our side. I do have personal equity in this I saved the event from death about 10 years ago just as you recently revived it. Call me if you need to.

 

[LSTTYPE]

I've been attending since 98. I've always loved the event and it's really sad that Buick heavy hitters won't attend like they used to. It sickens me that buick racers would rather just go to bowling green and race other Buicks in some point series IMO. We had a couple show up and thanks to you guys that did come. That being said the ford camp has evolved and is a much faster breed of cars than in the past. I am very impressed with the coyote powered cars. For this event to remain at ALL relevant, we need to field a minimum of 25 to 30 more 9 second cars. I'm not sure if that's possible.

 

[Eticket]

That's not what we need. We do need some of those, but about 50 12 and 11 sec cars will do it.

 

[turboplow]

That's not what we need. We do need some of those, but about 50 12 and 11 sec cars will do it.

Sorry but I disagree. Ford brings more cars in 9's and faster and they do not bring a lot of slower cars where it would matter. Seemed like every thing they have been bringing lately have been gutted fox body drag cars. Hardly any fords with bolt ons show up either.

 

[fast86gn]

That's not what we need. We do need some of those, but about 50 12 and 11 sec cars will do it.

That can be done and it has happened... I believe the last time we won this event? We lost all but one in the top 10 but we beat them so bad in the high 10 to mid 12 range they could not catch up. Of course this means outnumbering them. They did to us on Saturday what we have have done to them in the past. I think the last time we won was something like 59-17 and that was losing all of the top 10 except one.

 

[Eticket]

Thank you David, you are correct.

This is a team event where actually the fastest guys end up being the sacrificial lamb. The topic has been debated forever;

This year was weird but in a normal year there would have been plenty of slower fords to slaughter; only thing is now a slower ford is not a 14 sec car but a 12 sec coyote mustang.

 

[turboplow]

Well I have noticed that they bring a lot faster cars the past couple of years. It's like they advertise if you have a car that runs 13's or slower, please don't bring your ford to the event. Bringing more 11 and 12 cars worked in the past but not anymore. We need faster cars to show. We need a faster team. Period.

 

[2toneNV]

From watching all of the races and being an embarrassed Team Buick spectator. The days of bringing 11 and 12 second Buick are gone. With the advances of the 5.0 coyote the Ford boys can easily turn a stock coyote into a high 10 second car. The slowest Ford was a F150 FX4 ecoboost that still clicked off a mid 15 second pass. Team Buick had more than a handful of cars that ran the same number as the FX4. The next slowest Ford's were in the 12's and they got considerably faster from there. I think to make this event inticing to any of the fast Buick here are some requirements:
1. Higher payout (more sponsors)
2. Disqualification for breakout over .5 second
3. Pairings set by qualifying times not number of cars.
4. Date at least 3 weeks or more earlier than BG.
Last.....but not least 10 or more cars as quick as Bones!
The Mustang pro-stock should not even have been allowed. I think that is who J. Plog went up against. John hauls the mail with his TSM car, but would have needed to be in a TSO car to even push that dumb pro-stock 'Stang.

 

[hottrawd]

Last.....but not least 10 or more cars as quick as Bones!
The Mustang pro-stock should not even have been allowed. I think that is who J. Plog went up against. John hauls the mail with his TSM car, but would have needed to be in a TSO car to even push that dumb pro-stock 'Stang.

How did Bones run by the way, I was unable to make it due to work issues. That is, I couldn't leave work.

 

[LSTTYPE]

Sorry but the days of winning by outnumbering the Fords or by bringing 12 and 11 second cars are over. The event is over unless we field 30 or more nine second and faster cars to our current field. I'm against a breakout rule because it hurts Buicks too. Some people fight gremlins all day and finally get there cars sorted out to make a good final run. Sandbagging is just part of the event. I'm not sure where a bunch of Midwest nine second cars would even come from but that is what it would take period.

 

[johnplogii]

I was very surprised with the guy I got paired up with. He ran 8.80-9.0 in qualifying, I ran 8.99-9.03. I knew I had to cut a light and red lit. I did however beat him to the stripe. Very close race.

I might add that he was a class act.

 

[BBR]

Landslides are bound to happen once in a while. It's just the nature of the beast. Blake did an awesome job this year and to say you're not coming back because of one bad year is just ridiculous. Team Buick needs more cars in the <9 second range! I qualified with a 10.41 and was the #35 Ford! I ran a 10.42 in eliminations with my n/a BBF street car. No sandbaggin here! I may have to put the hose on it next year if the LSX huns come rushing over the hill though! I love this event, win or lose and will definitely be there again next year.