Krenik & the Desert Dawgs take the

Pro Mod #1 Qualifying Spot

but find out, “You can’t Win them all!”

October 19, 2009, Rockingham, NC – The anticipation of the final race of the AHDRA 2009 season was huge for the Desert Dawgs. Greg was going to try and get the #2 National position and try and reset the ¼ mile National ET record. The idea was to give Steve Allstaedt the #1 & #2 bikes for this 2009 season plus all the Pro Mod wins. To accomplish this, a lot of things had to fall into place at “The Rock”. After all, this was going to be Greg’s final race and he wanted to go for it all!

Friday’s Test n’ Tune didn’t quite go as planned. Conditions were no where near as favorable as last year, when Greg set the National ET records. He ran an 8.69 on his first pass. Then after making changes to the fuel and rear sprocket he ran two 8.59’s to finish the TnT session. “There are just too many water grains in the air and the barometric pressure is low.” said Krenik. “We’re going to really have to dig deep to get the speed we want.” he added.

Karen lining Greg up.                                                                                Raw Edge Photo

Saturday, Greg’s last qualifying day and ‘the day’ to try and reset the record. On his first run Greg spun the tire pretty bad and clocked an 8.72…way off his pace. “We put a bunch of clutch in it based on last nights track conditions, but today is way different, we just spun the tire. I guess we will take it back out and try again.” said Greg. His second pass was only an 8.60 and the final pass was an 8.55 which was good enough to be the #1 Qualifier, in fact all three passes were better than the #2 Qualifier. “We just couldn’t get the bike to run the number we wanted, which was anything below 8.430. I really thought we could break & set the National record today and then tomorrow we could just concentrate on going rounds and try to win the event. The humidity was over 60% and the adjusted altitude around 3000’, with those conditions we’re going to really have to wind the bike tight to get the speed, I hope conditions change tomorrow.” said Greg.

Greg preparing for one of his final passes.                                                             Raffa photo

Greg’s good buddy, Scott Furber and his daughter Katie joined the Dawgs once again to cheer them on. “It’s great when they come out to the races, we always win when they attend, no pressure there. HA!” said Greg. In the evening, the Dawgs celebrated ‘Doc’ Goodwin’s PM Championship with the traditional Steak & Shrimp dinner and of course the passing of the #1 Plate from Greg to the new PM Champion. In 2008, Greg was given the plate from Randy Borho and Steven Galati had passed it to Randy in 2007. Steve Allstaedt was Crew Chief for Doc this year since Greg was only doing a couple races, so they split Steve’s tuning services at this race. Coming into this event, between Greg & Doc they had won all the events so far this season and were trying to make it a sweep for Steve.

Sunday, Greg joined all of the #1 Qualifiers for the starting line ceremonies. Conditions looked better with the adjusted altitude around 1400’ but the humidity was still at 60%. In the first round of eliminations Greg ran an 8.45, just 0.02 seconds off the national record. The competitor Greg was chasing for the #2 plate, Shane Pendergrast, went out in the first round. All Greg would have to do now to get the #2 National spot is win the event, very possible if the last pass was an indicator of things to come. After changing sprockets he ran an 8.49 in the second round turning on the win light over his opponents 8.89. In the semi’s he ran an 8.49 to his opponents 8.67 after making jet changes to turn the win light on. “We don’t get it, it’s like we hit a wall or something. For the finals we’re taking jet out, the pipe is darker than normal so we think we’re too rich.” said Greg. “This is probably going to be my last run down a Dragstrip; the air seems to be coming around with the humidity going down. I’m going for everything on this run. We’re dropping the kill time to the minimum, the chain seemed a bit tight so I took 1/12^th of a turn out of it, so it shifts with the short kill time and we will pray it all works. In other words, we’re doing what we usually do, going for it all, the win and the record!” he added.

Greg trying for the National ET record.                                                    Raw Edge Photo

In the finals, Greg was racing Tommy Hannum, the #2 Qualifier. They have almost identical reaction times, 0.036 for Hannum to Greg’s 0.039. Then, the unthinkable happens, the inside of Greg’s velocity stack ‘flies off’ (the intake to the carburetor) while he is shifting into 2^nd gear. Then the bike does not shift, Greg has to double tap all the gears, Greg loses his final race, 8.65 to 8.72.

“I can’t believe it!” said Greg. “It was the worst run since my bike didn’t shift in the Vegas semi’s for the Championship in ’07. When I hit the button to shift and it didn’t…my heart stopped, I pushed it again and it shifted but I had to push it twice for each gear, by the time I got in 5^th I was behind him. I kept trying, I was pulling up on him once I got into 5th…but I ran out of track. With each push of the button I could feel the adrenaline leaving my body… I guess you can’t win them all, can you? We sure as hell tried; we hadn’t lost a race since Commerce, GA, Memorial Day weekend of ’08. When Steve got to the top end to get me he said “I guess when you run on the edge long enough it will come back to bite you…..take a look at your carburetor.” I looked down and the inside stack was missing, when I looked up he was handing me the missing part.” he added.

Steve added, “Right when Greg went to shift into 2^nd or just before, the inside stack of the ‘Twin Stack’ came off, the welds gave up. What happened next was the motor lost most of its air and was starting to run real rich. I guess that little bit of tension Greg took out of the chain is what kept it shifting, Greg had the kill time down to a minimum and it looks like we needed to keep it real tight. I think he still could have pulled off the win if it didn’t shift going into one gear but not all of them, that was too much to overcome, you can’t kill the motor eight times and still win! The good part of this (you always have to look for a good part) is we made the Finals and it’s an easy fix…increase the kill time and just re-weld the stack back together or just replace it…no harm done...except, not winning.”

A personal note from Greg – “It’s been so much fun and also really tough being an AHDRA Western Racer this season. This year we only were able to attend three races. Did that suck or what? Our closest race being Kansas City, 14 hours each way, then Woodburn, 24 hours each way and finishing up in Rockingham, a 30 hour ride each way, it’s always a long ride for us to get to a race. We are thrilled to have accomplished what we did in 2008…the Pro Mod Championship…and 12 points out of 1^st place in the Pro Stock Class…but having to take 40 days off from work made it very difficult. Then this year, my boss did NOT want me to do any racing, he said “work or race, pick one”. Even with the three events we raced this year, we almost got the #2 plate. So, my forced retirement begins, I am having to quit racing and hopefully pass/sell my Champion Pro Mod Bike to a new rider to have as much fun as we have had these past few seasons. We will miss our sponsors & friends and the people we shared laughs, parts and meals with.

I want to thank all the people who made these past couple years as great as they were: Wayne Pugh, my team mate who got me started doing this drag racing thing, Chick Hancock, former owner and John Greene, owner of Thunderbird HD who stuck with us even though Wayne ‘retired’, Steve Allstaedt (SA Racing), who built two of the fastest legal motors I know of, I’m really going to miss all the thrashing in the pits to try and figure out how to go faster the next round, Brian Langwell (Unique Services) for believing in us and making my ideas real, all the last minute repairs and for making THE best PM frame in the world, Erin McGonagle (Custom Coating) for introducing me to ‘Hot Rod Red’ and for giving me the killer powder coating, Dave Micklevitz (Leading Edge) for giving me the best ‘rabid’ Desert Dawg paint on both the bikes and helmet, Snake Calvert (CP Pistons) for working with us and giving us the ‘lightest & fastest’ pistons, Carl Robinson (Mickey Thompson) for giving us great tires and all the info on how to hook up, Mike Hager (Regina Chain) for giving us chains to hold it all together, Paul Kitrell (Lyndall Racing Brakes) for giving us the lightest rotors and pads to stop us at the top end, Dave Conforti (Worldwide Bearings) for giving us the lightest and slickest bearings to reduce all friction in the motor, tranny and wheels, Ray Corral (MSD) for putting up with my endless calls and setting me straight on the MC-4 and Allen and Deb Bridges (Simpson Racing) making sure I had all the right visors for my helmet.  Plus our never-ending support from family and friends was so cool!  Finally, Karen, my wife, my team mate, co-driver, planner, spotter, cook, videographer, photographer, she kept me focused and insisted I ‘Have FUN’…and we sure did!

Karen and I are not very good spectators at any sport, so I am sure we will be found doing some kind of competing in the years to come. Be safe out there and we will watch you on the internet, where we have learned to be very patient this past year. Have a great re-building winter and FAST 2010 race season!”

See you all later!                                                                                    Raw Edge Photo

THANK YOU to OUR Supporting sponsors and friends…the people who made it possible:

Thunderbird Harley-Davidson: www.thunderbirdhd.com John Greene & Wayne Pugh

Unique Services Inc.: www.uniquesvcs.com Brian Langwell

Custom Coating: 505-626-2605 Erin McGonagle

Mickey Thompson Tires: www.mickeythompsontires.com Carl Robinson

SA Racing Inc.:  828-674-6225 Steve Allstaedt

CP Pistons: www.cppistons.com Snake Calvert

Lyndall Racing Brakes: www.lyndallracingbrakes.com Paul & Ariana Kitrell

Regina Chain USA: www.reginausa.com Mike Hager

Worldwide Bearing: www.worldwidebearings.com Dave Conforti

Simpson Race Helmets: www.simpsonraceproducts.com Al & Deb Bridges

Greg Krenik

2008 AHDRA Pro Modified National Champion

¼ Mile National Record Holder at 8.430 sec

1/8 Mile National Record Holder at 5.331 sec

greg@...