Iolan is Heartland Park’s top 2012 driver

Before Cody Michael hits the road he checks the weather — temperature, barometric pressure, humidity.
All three bear on how well his car will run.
“The track is about 906 feet above sea level. So if the barometric pressure is low, that’s the equivalent of being at an altitude of 3,500 feet,” Michael said.
“Now if the humidity is high, that’s tough on a car. An engine can’t burn water. Also, warmer weather is easier for the engine to breathe.”
From this information Michael then adjusts the fuel intake of his racecar to operate at maximum capacity.
“You don’t want it too rich — more air than the car needs — because then the car will outperform what you have dialed in.”
This is racecar talk for guessing what you think your time will be to travel 1,320 feet. For Michael, it’s about 9.3 seconds, give or take a tenth of a second.
Michael, 28, is on the heels of a record-winning year in the field of drag racing. He won three Pro Class finals and came in second in two other races at Heartland Park in Topeka.
He earned the most points in  Pro Class and was named the 2012 Driver of the Year, meaning he had the highest overall points of all divisions after a season of 12 races of which the top 10 were tallied.

MICHAEL’s easygoing manner helps keep his passion for cars in check. At the starting line his focus is on a set of five lights that blink in descending order yellow, yellow, yellow, green, and red, if a false start occurs. A perfect reaction time has his car crossing through the radar’s beam just as the light turns green. In less than 10 seconds he has his Chevy Monza up to 147 mph.
In drag racing, two cars are paired against each other. If Michael’s estimate, called a “dial in” of how fast he’ll accomplish the race is closer than his competitor’s dial in of his own race, then Michael is declared the winner.
 “It’s a numbers game,” he said. “You figure your reaction time to the light turning green is about two-tenths of a second, plus another two- to three-tenths of a second for the car to react. Add that to the speed you can gain going down the track and you come up with your dial-in.”
Races are often decided within hundredths of a second, a few inches apart.
On a typical race night, Michael will compete is six to seven elimination runs.

MICHAEL RECEIVED an associate’s degree in automotive technology from the program at Pittsburg State University. He also attended one year at Allen Community College. He’s worked as a mechanic for six years at Colt Energy where he maintains its fleet of vehicles used in the oil drilling business.
His drag racing car is a 1977 model that he and his dad, Bruce, and brother, Derek, built from scratch.
It weighs about 2,600 pounds, “with me in it,” and has 650 horsepower. The average four-cylinder car has 200 hp; a six-cylinder, 250 hp. Professional dragsters have cars equipped with 10,000 hp.
Michael began drag racing in earnest in 2004.
Ever since he was child, however, Michael felt the lure of drag racing.
“I remember as a kid we’d pass the Mo-Kan (drag strip) in Joplin, and I’d always want to stop, but we never did,” he said with a dig to his mother, Tricia, who was present at this interview, and is her son’s biggest fan.
“I got to see my first race when I was 7. Then in fourth grade we saw the Nationals at the Heartland.
“By the time I was 12 I began tinkering on cars with my brothers.”
Besides Derek, 34, Cody also had an older brother, Matt, who died in 2000 at age 20.
Michael bought his first car, a 1966 Impala, for $300 when he was 12.
“Don’t tell anyone, but we’d let him drive it along our road,” Tricia said. The Michaels live northwest of town on 1000 Street.
Though that first car was little more than a rust heap, the Michael crew got it running. There’s little Michael can’t do to make a car sing. He’s adept at breaking down and rebuilding carburetors, engines, transmissions and the rear-end distributor, if needed.
Tricia says she never has to take her car to a professional mechanic. Her husband, Bruce, is a salesman at Twin Motors Ford.

MICHAEL’S LOVE for racing goes deep. He doesn’t dare put a price tag on it and doesn’t bother to try.
Is it expensive? “Oh, yeah,” is his reply.
Methanol at $2.63 a gallon is the fuel of choice for his racecar. On a given race day, he’ll average one mile per gallon. He buys the fuel in 55-gallon drums and averages five a season.
Then there’s diesel for the generator.
And then Michael shrugs. What’s the use?
It’s a passion that uses his skills to their utmost.
Priceless.