Parallelisms, Synchronicities,

and Other Unlikely Occurrences

Part One - Friday Morning 9:00 AM

©2003 Bill Ott

 

Cream by D. Hartley

Oct 2 thru 5, 2003

Famoso Raceway

Bakersfield, Ca.

Glen Ely and the rest of the ‘Dueler II’ crew were feeling pretty lucky this morning. The drive from Florida went well…here they are pitted right next to Tom Hanna’s area, across from King and Marshall, surrounded by some of the Top Fuel boys, and just a row or two away from the staging lanes. Lots of foot traffic here… and lots of noise. A good place to show off the recently rebuilt Dueler. Yesterday afternoon’s fire up went off without a hitch, and everyone got a good nights’ sleep.

Yes sir, this is gonna be fun! They’ll just fire up the two (that’s right two) injected small Chevys once more this morning, check for leaks, then button it all back up and wait for their first pass later in the day. Everyone might even get a chance to just kick back for a while and enjoy the show.

At the other end of the pit area… John ‘Mr. Flathead’ Bradley whacked the throttle on the ol' NITRO burning Ford engine once more as partner ‘Mad’ Max Romero gave John the ‘kill it’ sign. Unlike the Dueler team, J.B., Max (and the rest of the Flathead contingent) were pitted over in ‘South Purgatory’, which is just about as far away from the track one can get… while still remaining on the track property. But, it IS a big event with lots of cars entered (although exact figures are hard to come by) and if nothing else, it’s fairly quiet back here. None of those loud Hemi NITRO motors stealing the old flatmotor’s thunder.

The warm up went off without a hitch. Nothing to do now but make a few quick checks… refill the tank with 98% and report to the staging lanes in about one hour. All is well. It’s still nice and cool this morning so John won’t be spending his time all suited up in the heat (it gets warm here, ya know). I spent some time with them in the staging lanes a few years ago on a particularly hot Sunday afternoon and could barely stand the heat… all the while ‘ol J.B. sat suited up in the cramped confines of the digger never batting an eye.

John Ewald and crew made the tow from Brae, Ca., but spirits during the ride were anything but enthusiastic. The beautifully detailed BankAmericar was finished just days ago after a nine month thrash. The 392 Hemi fired flawlessly on it’s first ever start up, but on the second… tragedy struck. The entire left side of the old cast iron block blew away. Also damaging a body panel in the process. So, the boys made the trip to Bakersfield anyway, although the odds of getting the BankAmericar to ‘Cackle’ in this year’s Cacklefest seemed slim at best.

This morning found the digger pitted near the Reunion Headquarters Tent, stripped down to the bare John Buttera built chassis and in desperate need of a replacement ‘92 block. Word went out through the pits about the boys’ dilemma.

Back at the Dueler camp all went well with this mornings’ warm up, nothing broke, no leaks, and the fuel tanks’ been topped off. Just fasten the body panels down and kick back until race time. As one of the crew is fastening the nosepiece (and no doubt anticipating the up coming free time) a distinct “crack” is heard as the last Dzus fastener is tightened down. Another tragedy… one of the tabs that the fastener connects to has broken off from the frame. The answer seems simple enough… run it without the nosepiece. BUT, Glen refuses to run the Dueler without the full body attached… and the guys didn’t bring a welder… but they do have a generator (hey, at least there’s a place to plug a welder into...  that‘s a start!). Again word of the guys’ dilemma spreads through out the pits. Wonder if they’ll find a welder, and get it patched up before ‘first call’?

By now, John Bradley is all suited up, strapped in, and looking forward to being one of the first cars to make a pass down the track this morning. Last year J.B. was again one of the first down the track, and shocked all with an almost unheard of (for him) wheel stand. Yes sir, and what a wheelie it was too, damn near a back flip… came down so hard it broke the front end! Being as early in the morning as it was, most of the photographers were still half asleep (or maybe half awake?) and allowing for the fact no one expected those kind of shenanigans from a flathead powered digger not a single photo has appeared of the launch. Too bad.

Ah, but this morning… this time it’s different. Granted, it’s still early, but most around the starting line area (and trackside) are paying much closer attention as Max primes the injectors with gasoline using the unique system he designed and built himself. In just a few seconds we’ll all be listening to the vociferations (hey kids, there’s today’s mystery word… look it up) of a flathead on 98% NITRO. But instead, we’re listening to what sounds like a Briggs & Stratton with a bad connecting rod that’s ran out of gas.

Max and J.B. appear both puzzled and dejected as the digger is pushed back away from the starting line. While hooking up the digger to the pickup, J.B. was overheard to say “ Damn thing wouldn’t break while we’re whacking it over in the pits… nope, it’s gotta do it out here on the track. This is like, Embarrassment City!” They made it back to South Purgatory about the same time word of the Dueler crew’s problem reached Ron “Big Yohns” Johnson’s pit area. Which was pretty near the same time Don Green (of the Rat Trap Fuel Altered) sent word over to The BankAmericar gang that he had a spare Donovan block they were more than welcome to. Lots of good karma (perhaps the NITRO fumes help?) filling the California air now, in spite of a few setbacks here and there, and don’t forget… it’s still early. More old B.S. later.

Badco

badco@comcast.net

* © 1963 “Born Under A Bad Sign”

Words and music by B. T. Jones/W. Bell Irving Music Inc (BMI)

Performed by Cream on the 1968 Polygram album “Wheels of Fire”

THANKS BUD

Read Part Two HERE

Read Part Three HERE