Archive for July 2015

Phillip Ivester and James Caserio Drag Racing: By Roger Ivester

July 25, 2015

Phillip Ivester has had excellent success in drag racing, winning “an amazing” 164 events.  He has also built many race engines and helped others into the world of drag racing.  It’s been more than five years now when he began working with Dr. James Caserio, MD from Hendersonville.

Dr C. as he’s known by had been racing for years earlier, and now no one can drive his 1350 horsepower Hellcat Challenger as well as he can. His fastest time has been 6.00 seconds at 120 miles per hour in only 1/8 mile, or 660 feet. The car with driver and fuel weighs in at a very heavy, 4650 pounds! With this amount of horsepower and weight, breakage of critical parts have and are bound to happen on occasion.

It should be noted that Dr. Caserio has “most likely” saved the lives of at least two Pro Motorcyclist, at Shady Side Drag Strip. This drag strip is located only a few miles south of Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Back to the motorcyclists crashes:

Dr. C. knew exactly how to best treat the traumatic injuries sustained by the crashes at well over 100 MPH. His many years as a doctor and emergency room physician, served him well for these two horrific and critical injuries. And this was on site at the drag strip, providing life saving treatment on the ground…not in an emergency room!

Following photo: This is not just a Hellcat, but a (Demonized Hellcat) which indicates the car has received  performance modifications, and now has well over 1,140 horsepower (at the rear wheels). The engine has 1,350 HP!    

Below photo:  Whipple Supercharger….not your standard supercharger!   

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Thursday night, March 31st 2022 at Shady Side Dragway in Boiling Springs, North Carolina:

Dr. C and Phillip work together to insure that the Hellcat is always ready to race…  

Phillip and Dr. C

Phillip Ivester

Phillip Photo

Dr. C with white-coat

Dr. C and his Hellcat with Phillip and both of his race cars.

Three Cars
Screenshot 2020-07-08 at 5.27.40 PM

Heating up the rear tires for better traction…

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NGC 6503 – Galaxy in Draco

July 17, 2015

Observer’s Challenge link:  JULY 2015 OBSERVERS CHALLENGE – NGC-6503

NGC 6503 – Galaxy in Draco – Magnitude 10.2

Telescope: 10-inch f/4.5 reflector Magnification: 183x FOV: 0.38º Transparency: Fair to poor Temperature: 85º Humidity: 55% Dew Point: 67º NELM: 5.0 A surprisingly clear sky summer sky for the foothills of North Carolina.

However, the humidity was very high, reducing the transparency considerably. Very easy to locate and see at low power, but lacking detail. The seeing was good, therefore allowing the use of 183x. The galaxy is well concentrated, but appeared fairly dim due to the poor transparency. Highly elongated with the NW being much brighter than the SE. When using averted vision, the texture is uneven with mottling. A very subtle elongated brightening in the central region, but no core. A semi-circle of five faint stars lies just south, making a curve toward the west and going well beyond the galaxy.

The following is a “rough field sketch” using a No. 2 pencil and a blank 5 x 8 notecard.  Colors inverted via computer. 

Rogers NGC-6503

M83 – Galaxy in Hydra – Difficult Due Only to its Southerly Location

July 3, 2015

M83, NGC 5236:  Galaxy in Hyra

Observer’s Challenge Report:  JUNE 2015 OBSERVERS CHALLENGE – M-083

Telescope: 10-inch f/4.5 Newtonian reflector

Sketch magnification: 57x;  FOV: 0.50º – 30 arc minutes 

Conditions:  Poor transparency at ~4.5 NELM. 

April 9th 1997:  Very bright, stellar nucleus, brighter elongated central region, oriented NNE-SSW, with a faint mostly round halo. With patience and averted vision, a very subtle curving arm, ESE of the core. This was very surprising considering the sky glow and southerly location of this galaxy from my backyard. Despite the light pollution, and haze, this galaxy was fairly easy to locate using my 10-inch reflector at 57x.

May 1992:  10-inch reflector @ 57x:  Faint, mostly round, but with a subtle elongated shape when using averted vision. Very difficult due to unshielded street lights in very close proximity to my backyard.  

The following pencil sketch was made using a No. 2 pencil, blank note card with the colors inverted: 

Rogers M-083 A