30th Annual Buschur Shootout 2023 - RECAP

We've made a few small changes to RDV2 with the suspension and turbo, and we wanted to use the time at The Shootout to help test and prepare the car for World Cup Finals in Maryland in a few weeks.

We went into Qualifier #2 making a nice easy A-B pass, with no nitrous and a moderate tune-up in the car. With a 7.12 @ 202mph, that put us as the #1 Qualifier in the Quick 32 class. We were completely surprised with how fast the car went on that pass, and how well the track prep was.

In the quarter semi's we were up against Bianca H in her Subaru Crossover. We launched the car and took it thru three gears and lifted in the top of third gear, well before the 1/8th, coasting to a 4.80 at 140mph (in the 1/8th). We took the W and headed into the semi-finals with some data on the track conditions. 

In the semi's we were up against a local racer and friend, Jonathan P in his K Series AWD Civic. Knowing the consistency of this car, we knew this was going to be a good race! Right off the line, Jonathan unfortunately broke, hitting the wall and giving us the win. We had luck on our side as we broke 2 rear axles on this pass.

When we got back to the pits, we quickly realized we did not have the parts needed to fix both rear axles. So, we salvaged parts from a set of front axles. We completely disassembled the spare front axle outer cups in hopes of salvaging the stub shaft that goes thru the wheel bearing. The problem is….those are welded to the cups themselves, so we had to grind the weld which was a tedious process. Especially when you have the announcer calling you to the lanes in the background.  

In the finals, we were up against Chris D in his Honda powered pickup, known as El Hombre. Knowing that we just broke a set of rear axles, we wanted to tame the launch down and pour the power in on the top end. Devin launched nice and smooth, hit 2nd and 3rd gear, and was closing the gap when 4th gear said no more and turned into neutral. (It completely stripped 4th gear on the shift!)

We cannot thank our crew enough for all of their hard work. If you were in the pits, you saw our team giving it their all to get RDV2 ready between rounds, while also trying to help put on a show that we thought the community would want. Unfortunately, parts breaking is part of racing. It's never stopped our team before, and it certainly won't stop their determination as we prepare RDV2 and 2 other Boostin cars competing at Import vs Domestic in Maryland. We’ve got some upgraded parts on the way that will be beneficial for the whole community, so keep an eye out for that info soon.

Photos courtesy of Boostin Photography, Troy Gundrum & Jessica Fletcher