well, I just gotta step in and say something...
but, before I do, I gotta say, the pics look killer. Looks like you guys had alot of fun, wish I would have gone.
Now, on to the serious stuff. You may well have had a 14 going into gate 7, but all that means is that you did decent up to gate 7. Sounds to me like your tranny blowing up is just an excuse why you DNF'd it. I can see it now
*enter blurry vision*
Smart MR. ED. " Wow, these chisels, and this new chassis are awsome, I cant believe just how good they make me"
Evil MR. ED. " I'll bet we can destroy everyone here"
Smart MR. ED. "My score really isn't all that bad, I'm doing great. Those first 7 gates were super easy, heck, I'll bet even Darryl could have gotten through them"
Evil MR. ED. "No way Darryl could have ever made it through even those gates, that guy sucks"
Smart MR. ED. "Now that I look at this course I can clearly see that the next few gates are gonna be really, really difficult. I can already see that even with my great setup and killer new treads that I just dont have a chance of even clearing one more... whatever shall I do"
looooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg pause.
Smart MR. ED "If I dont win here, or at least finish in the top 3 I'm never gonna hear the end of it. Darryl will never let me live it down. Oh man... I know already that I'm just not good enough to make it.... this really sucks".
Evil MR. ED " You know Ed, you dont have to actually win here"
Smart MR. ED "Well Ed, I dont really know what your talking about"
Evil MR. ED " What I'm trying to say is that in this case, not finishing may well be better than not winning"
Smart Mr. ED " Ed, Your not saying that I should throw the comp are you"
Evil MR. ED " I'm not saying you should make it obvious that you purposely lost. I'm just saying that a huge mechanical failure could come in handy here"
Smart MR. ED " Ya know that really isnt a bad idea. I bet if I can get the front end to get bound up in that hole over there that everyone else has steered clear of, that I can break a drive shaft and call it a day. I could then walk out with my pride, and no-one would ever know"
Evil MR. ED " Smart ED, I'm so proud of you".
*End blurry vision*
There are only two problems with that, first, instead of your driveshaft giving up, your tranny did. And the second, and biggest flaw in the whole bit was thinking that I wouldn't know. I mean seriously. How could I not.
Darryl