In the last pair of Pro Street\u2019s second qualifying session at PDRA ProFabrication DragWars, Nick Agostino and Bill Lutz made what is likely the quickest side-by-side pass in the class\u2019s history, with Agostino\u2019s 3.911-second blast topping Lutz\u2019s 3.919. Both drivers were eyeing record-setting passes in the 3.80s in the third session, but Agostino\u2019s tires broke loose around the 330-foot mark, sending him into the left retaining wall, then across the track into the right wall. Agostino walked away from the crash sore and disappointed, yet optimistic given the circumstances.<\/p>\n
Last season, Agostino qualified No. 1 at four of the five races he attended with his twin-turbocharged, small-block-powered \u201969 Camaro. But he struggled with parts failures and early exits as he pushed the combination to its limits, so this season he changed his approach. He promised his crew he\u2019d focus on charging hard in the front half of the track before applying more power past the 330-foot mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, you guys seen that thing go 210-212 [MPH],\u201d Agostino said. \u201cThat\u2019s when it runs hard out the back. We didn\u2019t do that this year. Because that\u2019s hard on parts. You\u2019re taking crankshafts out and rods and pistons. So, we said, \u2018You know what? Let\u2019s do the smart thing. Let\u2019s start the race instead of just going and seeing how fast we can go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n
With two full months between the last Pro Street race in Martin, Michigan, and DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park, Agostino and his team decided to go testing at their local track in Ontario, Canada. Testing produced results that gave Agostino the confidence to get aggressive out the back at GALOT.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found some of the things we were missing, and we went really fast at the home track, even though the home track was prepped a little different,\u201d Agostino said. \u201cBut we went like 1.00 [60-foot], 2.62 to the 330, which is probably .83 to .85 for us. So, when we got here, the track\u2019s a little different, and when I started putting the good runs together, we were pretty confident that this last one, I thought we\u2019d probably go like .85 or .86 on that last one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another change in Agostino\u2019s program this season was the subtraction of waste gates on his twin 88mm turbo combo. After showing promising numbers earlier in the weekend, including a 3.97 at 197.51 in the first session, Agostino gave it all <\/em>of the boost in Q3, and that\u2019s where things went wrong.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m actually controlling boost through just turbo speeds, and I\u2019ve got blow-off valves on the cold side,\u201d Agostino said. \u201cSo, what that means is I can have as much boost when I want it. So, now the trick was, as we\u2019re testing, finding out how we can use that, right? So, we figured it out until this run.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are 88s, but we were running 58 to 60 pounds of boost the first two runs,\u201d he continued. \u201cThat last run, I had it set up to run probably 65 or 66 [pounds of boost]. So, that\u2019s all they make. I just had it really early to go fast to the 330, and it kicked them just before 330.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Agostino was in good spirits in his pits late Friday night as the GALOT track crew and fellow racers helped his team move the crashed car from the rollback into his trailer. An early survey of the damage had Agostino optimistic that he can be back on track as soon as January.<\/p>\n \u201cThe chassis looks pretty good,\u201d said Agostino, who noted he already has a spare custom-built front end back at the shop. \u201cIt looks like more cosmetic than anything other than knocking the front struts and everything off the car. But the motor doesn\u2019t look like it\u2019s hurt at all. The front bars look pretty good, and the hoop inside the car, even though they took the tag off it, I got a good look at it. Without measuring it, nothing looks kinked or moved.\u201d<\/p>\n Agostino went into the weekend fourth in points after reaching the semifinals at three of the first five races. He was just three rounds and one point behind points leader Bill Riddle.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thought we actually had a shot at it in the points race,\u201d said Agostino. \u201cWe had a chance to win the last two races. I had the car. We just needed to do our thing. But moving ahead, we\u2019ll take our time now, and we won\u2019t have to do anything until maybe January. We\u2019ve got some time to get it apart, get it back on the jig, get it all sorted out, and come back out better than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n In closing, Agostino was grateful that he came away from the crash with little more than some bumps and bruises.<\/p>\n \u201cThe car really, really did its job,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the safety stuff that [John] Sears [tech director] and those guys check, and even Jennifer [Briggs], she was giving me a hard time, which is her job, which is making sure you got all your safety stuff. You\u2019ve got everything up to date. You\u2019ve got your fire suit. Your HANS is right. You\u2019ve got pads. If I didn\u2019t have that stuff in there, I\u2019ll tell you right now, there\u2019s no way I\u2019d be walking around talking to you. That was a hard enough hit that you\u2019re going to get in trouble, right? Shit happens. But if you can stay safe and still love the sport and move on to another day, that\u2019s all I can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Agostino also praised the safety team\u2019s quick response, as well as the outpouring of support he\u2019s received from fellow racers and fans since the crash.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were on me,\u201d Agostino said of the PDRA safety team. \u201cI just got out, and I was out quick, and they were already on me. Randy [Lee] was there, like holy shit, I thought, \u2018How fast is your bike?\u2019 But yeah, those guys did an amazing job.<\/p>\n \u201cMy crew, my team, all these guys, they\u2019re awesome, and everybody that helps us on the program,\u201d Agostino continued. \u201cYou\u2019ve got M&M Transmission, Mark Micke, and everybody that\u2019s been helping me with this program and kind of getting it to the next level. It\u2019s a goal of mine to compete at the top level and we\u2019re kind of there with the help of all these people. We\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Nick Agostino Talks PDRA Pro Street Crash: \u2018We\u2019ll Be Back Better Than Ever\u2019<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the last pair of Pro Street\u2019s second qualifying session at PDRA ProFabrication DragWars, Nick Agostino and Bill Lutz made what is likely the quickest side-by-side pass in the class\u2019s history, with Agostino\u2019s 3.911-second blast topping Lutz\u2019s 3.919. Both drivers were eyeing record-setting passes in the 3.80s in the third session, but Agostino\u2019s tires broke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}