There's yur problem...
Tuesday, May 31, 2005, 11:53 AM
...Pulled the motor out of the car yesterday. At this point we're in the parts clean-up mode, but we did find our problem. We spun 2 cam bearings. The block doesn't appear damaged and neither does the camshaft, but it's all going under the microscope starting this evening.

Additionally, we spent a lil' $$ yesterday. There will be a new & improved pony hit the track when the motor goes back in, but we're keeping the details behind closed doors for a while on this one.

I'll put it this way... there will be "N/T" on the windshield for a couple of passes.

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Whats a WOOKIE???
Thursday, May 26, 2005, 10:22 PM
We've been so busy, that I haven't made a post lately... Last weekend was a good one, even with all that bad luck at the track. What made it great was that we got to see our daughter Beth, who's been attending Parsons University in NYC, chasing down her MFA in computer graphics.
The last time we got to see each other was 19 months ago when our oldest son Travis got married.
The weekend started Friday nite, as we watched the new Star Wars movie. On Saturday, Beth went to her grandparents (my ex-in-laws) golden wedding anniversary (Congrats, Johnye & Tommy Slaughter!), and we went to ADW for the "heat-fest". On Sunday, we all loaded up and spent the day in Galveston (Strand, Sea Wall, Willie Gee's, etc.). We had a lotta fun & a lotta laffs, as we enjoyed our time with her. She's got one more year of school left, and maybe then we can see each other more. Below is Beth & I on one of those short sea wall jetties.



Oh yeah, we got the car running againTuesday evening. We had to replace the sticking float valve.

Back to the Star Wars movie... I'm not a big Star Wars addict, but I've watched most of them and they were pretty entertaining. The one we watched Friday was dissapointing. There was too much of that little green guy fighting big guys with a light sabre. I heard something on the radio the other morning.... do you know what a WOOKIE is?...
A WOOKIE is what Elmer Fudd calls a first year athlete... I crack myself up.

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That's Racing.....
Sunday, May 22, 2005, 11:01 AM
When things go south at WCR, they go all the way south. We had been looking forward all week to making the ADW benefit on Saturday. I posted flyers, and invited several friends & family members out for the fun. Joey was planning on giving Loni a ride down the track. This was also gonna be our last outing for a while, as we had decided the motor was coming out of the car for a little "mandatory" freshen-up.

We loaded everything up but the kitchen sink & headed for ADW about 11 AM. When we got there, we backed the car off the trailer and discovered we had no fuel pressure. After some electrical trouble-shoooting, we found the motor had failed in our Holley Black fuel pump. We had no choice but to swap pumps w/our nitrous pump(Holley Blue). This wouldn't have been a big deal, except it was HOT AS HELL, and the asphalt that we were laying on was twice that hot!! We felt like a couple of fried eggs cooking in a dry skillet.

The pumps got swapped and we had fuel pressure, so Joey headed for the lanes. He did a big burn-out, rolled out to the staging lites, and the car died.... some serious flooding problems kept us from making a pass. We towed the car back to the pits & jerked the carb apart. The primary float had somehow lost all adjustment and was allowing fuel in at garden hose flow rates. We fixed the problem, set the bowl levels, and Joey suited up for another pass (attempt). This time, the car didn't even make it thru the staging lanes before flooding out. Something was seriously wrong and it was turning into a head scratcher. As we pushed the car back into the pits, the announcer closed the lanes for the day. That's right, it was 4 PM, and we never made a pass all day. We took 4 packages of hot dogs out to cook for everybody, & never lit the pit. We had the dominoe table and our shade up and never played the first round. I sweated my ass off as we winched the car on the trailer. As far as the benefit went, the attendance seemed to be low, the band was no-show, the funny cars were no-shows, Eugene's car that he was giving $50 rides broke, and the swap meet was scattered all over the pits. We've had some great days and some not so great days at the track, and yesterday was one of those close to the bottom of the great day chart. But hey.....that's racing.

One good thing... the pool was cold and the beer was colder when we got home.

[ 3 comments ] ( 43 views )
'NUFF SAID... BE THERE!!!
Sunday, May 15, 2005, 05:44 PM


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Friday NIte Fights
Saturday, May 14, 2005, 04:14 PM
We went to ADW last nite for the Jackpot bracket race. After last weekend, I decided NO redlites, if it meant seeing the green before leaving. That got me a couple of .650 & .670 lites (snore) before dialing into some .520's and .550's. We went 4 rounds into the semi-finals before defeat (yea, that's right -- the round before you win any $$$), & I guess I was satisfied w/that, 'cause the guys that went ahead deserved it as they were some pretty stiff competition. Congrats go out to Bruce Sizemore (W) and Bill Turnipseed (RU) on the money pass!

I found a new strategy to eliminate the competition. As I was strapped in the car in the staging lanes that were dimly lit, I felt the car jolt, & looked around to see Jay Robinson hopping around on one leg. Before I could ask him what was going on, I felt another jolt and saw another guy doing the same dance. Jay said, "I tripped over your %$#@*% wheelie bars out here in the dark!" I guess these guys were too busy rubbing their shins to concentrate on the race as neither made it any further than I did (at least they had an excuse). Seriously, I hope those guys didn't wake up with bruises this morning. I guess I ought to get some glow-in-the dark paint for 'em......

[ 2 comments ] ( 37 views )

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