JULY 19, 2025

I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. GONNA TAKE A FEW WEEKS OFF TO GET THE CAR BACK IN SHAPE, A LITTLE TRAILER AND TRUCK WORK, AND A BIT OF NON RACING RELATED THINGS TO TAKE CARE OF. BACK TO IT AUGUST 16 AT CEDAR.

JULY 12, 2025

I HAVE HAD PRETTIER NIGHTS AT A RACE TRACK. SPUN ER OUT, DID A COMPLETE 360 AND KEPT GOING, ALTHOUGH I LOST A FEW SPOTS, BUT NO YELLOW FLAG. GOT CAUGHT UP IN A BIG WRECK ON THE BACKSTRETCH THAT INVOVLED HALF THE FIELD. JUST NO WHERE TO GO AND COULDN’T GET STOPPED SOON ENOUGH. I THOUGHT I MAYBE HAD ROOM BETWEEN THE WRECK AND THE WALL, BUT THAT HOLE WASN’T QUITE BIG ENOUGH. WE GET GOING AGAIN, AND I SPUN ER OUT AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME I BROUGHT OUT THE YELLOW FLAG.

FINISHED THE RACE ON THE LEAD LAP, MOVED UP 8 SPOTS FROM STARTING 22ND OF 25 CARS TO FINISH 14TH. THE CAR IS A LITTLE BENT UP, BUT ALL IN ALL I AM HAPPY WITH HOW THE NIGHT WENT. EVEN IF IT WAS’T PRETTY.

MAY 23, 2025

MORE CONFUSION… SATURDAY THE 19TH WE WERE AT CEDAR. HOTTER THAN HELL AND PLENTY HUMID. IT STARTED IN THE HEAT RACE, THE CAR KEPT GETTING SLOWER AND SLOWER, THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN IT JUST DARTS RIGHT GOING DOWN THE BACK STRETCH. I WAS ABLE TO FINISH THE RACE, BUT SOMETHING WAS CLEARLY WRONG WITH THE STEERING. FIGURING I KISSED THE WALL AND BENT OR BROKE SOMETHING, I LIMPED BACK TO THE TRAILER ONLY TO DISCOVER THE RIGHT FRONT BRAKE WAS LOCKED UP SOLID. I DON’T KNOW HOW AS IT HAS A MANUAL SHUT OFF VALVE. I WAS TOLD THEY WILL LEAK I LITTLE IN, BUT THE LINE PRESSURE CANT GET BACK OUT, AND EVENTUALLY THE BRAKE LOCKS UP. LEARNED A LESSON ABOUT THESE CARS.

BRAKE FIXED, WE GO OUT FOR THE FEATURE. ALL IS GOING PRETTY GOOD FOR A WHILE, THEN JUST AS I WAS GETTING TO TURN 1, ALL THE LIGHTS ON THE DASH COME ON, AND HALF WAY THROUGH THE CORNER THE CAR GOES SIDEWAYS AND STRAIGHT TO THE INFIELD. IT CHUGGED A FEW TIMES AND STOPPED. I COULDN’T GET IT OUT OF GEAR OR START IT. SO, A FIRST FOR ME, ON THE HOOK BACKWARDS TO THE TRAILER. A LITTLE INVESTIGATING AND WE DECIDE THE TRANNY BROKE.

TODAY AFTER WORK, I PULLED THE TRANSMISSION OUT OF THE CAR AND OPEN IT UP. ONLY I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT! OH NOOOOO, THE MOTOR MUST HAVE JUNKED UP, RIGHT? AFTER TWO RACES, THAT’S IT, I’M DONE. NOT PLAYING THIS GO BROKE ON 350 CHEVY ENGINES LIKE THE SPRINT CAR. EVERYTHING’S FOR SALE, I’M OUT.

OK, CALM DOWN MR. DRAMA QUEEN. TAKE A FIVER, AND HIT THE STARTER BUTTON. MOTOR TURNS OVER. AND STARTS. WHEW, SO IT MUST BE THE REAR END. MIKEY COMES OVER, WE CHECK THE REAR END AND ALL IS GOOD. HE LOOKS OVER THE TRANNY AND ALL IS GOOD, HEARS THE ENGINE RUN AND ALL IS GOOD. SO THE MYSTERY IS WHAT IN YOUR GODS NAME HAPPENED? MUST BE YOUR GOD BECAUSE MY GOD WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO ME. I DON’T KNOW, WERE GONNA PUT ALL BACK TOGETHER, WASH THE CAR, LUBE IT UP AND HEAD TO CEDAR IN A COUPLE WEEKS. TILL NEXT TIME!

APRIL 26, 2025

After spending the week fixing the door, etc and getting the spare gears and gear box labels figured out, I find the list of what gears we have. You know, the one I made a few years ago when I got this car. Only know I am confused about what rear end is in the car. See my memory is not as good as it used to be, so what I thing and what is wrote down ain’t always the same, which is why I write stuff down in the first place. But sometimes I second guess myself. So, Friday night, under the car I go. Mark the tire and spin the driveshaft and find out what rear end it is, cause god forbid there be a tag on it….. as I’m scooting out from under I notice the right rear brake disk is like hanging low. Pull the tire off, and sure enough, the brake disk is broken off the hub and both are junk. How two of us didn’t catch this sooner is beyond me but we didn’t. So no racing this weekend. Oh - as it turned out the gear box labels were correct in the first place, so that was all for nothing. Deep breath.

APRIL 19,2025

First race of the season. The night started rough and kinda stayed there. It started when I found a bolt on the trailer floor after unloading the car. Not able to find out where it was from, I tossed in the tool box. Then Bob went to jack the car up to change tires, and we found out where the stray bolt was from. It was one of the bolts that hold the front roller on the jack. Easy fix, problem solved. As I’m getting my gear ready, I see one of my arm restraints is missing. Time to qualify, and discover one of the ear bud tips for the raceiver is missing. First time I have ever lost one. Qualified 16, which was better than I thought because the car just didn’t feel right to me. We chalked it up to a me problem, not the car. We decide to try a little deeper gear for the feature. Only to discover the gears were somehow all mixed up in the boxes and labeled wrong. Found what I was looking for and change it. Next on the trouble list is I poured the gear lube in to fast and spilled it all over the car and eventually the ground. While cleaning up my mess, I find the missing arm restraint hanging down under the car through the hole in the cockpit for the seat belt.

Feature time, start 16, lost a spot, got it back. Finished 16. Car is a little bent (I sorta got in the way of the leader and we rubbed doors.) So, we’re loading up the car, and the winch cable somehow hooked the car lift and was lifting it up into the chassis. Again, this has never happened before, but luckily I saw it before there was any damage to anything. Back the car out a little, unhook the winch cable from the car lift, and start pulling the car back in. Wait for it….. the winch stops. the side id the spool that the cable wraps around broke off with pieces and chunks all wrapped up in the cable jamming the whole operation. Back the car out a little, again, dig the pieces and chunks out and pull the car in, all the way this time. YAY, we can close the doors, have a cold one and forget this night! To say I have had better nights at the track is really quite an understatement. On to next week!