Draglist.com Drag Racing

Dang it's cold out there - 4 below 0 this morning. That garage floor sure was cold last night...

Things are starting to progress. I got the new wheelie bar all done. The rear housing has the last 3 rear suspension mounts cleaned off and re-painted. I made a little push-bar hitch that hides underneath the chute mount - we decided we'd try pushing the car around this year rather than pulling it.

The only thing left on the chassis is re-assembly and some cleanup - there's still some oil here and there from the explosion.

I've got all the peices for the engine except the rods, rings and bearings.

It's always nice when things progress somewhat smoothly

I'm happy to hear things are moving along. The clean-up is unreal, I know.

Won't be long now Perry, she'll be running in no time. That's a cool idea, push it around. Saves the tow strap deal.

Yeah - we don't have any good place to tow it. We've got a hook on the front of the roll cage that we've been using, but you have to crank open the windshield to get to it. You can imagine the staging area commotion when I'm next to go and the tow driver is only concerned with getting me unhooked and getting the tow vehicle out of the way, and I'm strapped in the car waving my hand for someone to come crank the windshield closed since I can't reach the crank. Plus there's been several times when I've tried to get the attention of the tow person and they can't see me. Now I'll be in control of where I'm going.

Now if I can find a tow vehicle that we're all happy with I'll be all set...

I have a designated "Rapid" person. Ususally it is Laura, who's job it is to keep an eye on me if I need anything until the car is fired. After that I am on my own.

Too many times I needed something,,,and nobody would look. So we just made it a part of the deal.

yep even during our little bracket deal with Don and Bill's cars i'm always watching them in the cars, checking under the cars for leaks etc and making sure of dial-ins etc... hate to lose a round because of a mistake

Unfortunately we don't have too many crew members, so it ends up being Michele doing everything, which can get a bit crazy. My oldest son's getting to the age where he can be fairly helpful, but at 13, a lot of the tracks won't let him past the head of staging. The other 2 do a nice job of holding down the golf cart.

That reminds me of the time I was sitting in the head of the lane and Leon was up by the starting line waiting for me. Larry was supposed to be with me by the car and his grandson. The grandson wandered off and larry jumped on the four wheeler and went to the starting line too. The track guy gives me the fire up signal, and I just sat there with my hands up in the air. Everyone is sitting there looking at me going,...c'mon dummy start it!!! Finally Larry drives back and says, what's the deal? I said, no big deal, you want to reach back there and flip that little switch to "ON"??

gotta love them little switches...
same thing happened to me this summer - I was all strapped in at the head of the lane, Michele was worried about getting the cart out of the way so that I could start and go, turned on the ignition switch and no lights came on.... Finally one of the guys from another car a couple of pairs back saw me waving and came over and helped me out.