Seven weeks after my brother died my 98 year old mother followed him. Not so bad , she still was very clear headed. Just finished a 1200 page book on John Adams. She died 4 hours after we visited her As I was packing up to race this Sunday at Rock Falls we received a call that my wife's sister, who is also her best friend died suddenly Friday morning. She was 74. Was going to take part in an exhibition with some of the Meltdown Drags guys that were coming up from southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. My wife is going to need a ton of support as she and her sister were very close. I, myself was in ER a couple times the last 2 weeks. I was retaining a certain fluid and almost suffered kidney failure. I now have a take home kit that I have to use 4 times a day to get rid of said fluid. That ain't gonna slow me down however.
Bob, My condolences to you and your family. Sorry for your losses. Take care of yourself. I just realized I was going to be in the the Midwest the weekend of the Meltdown drags, Wish I would have planned better, would have loved to go while I was back there.
You certainly have had more than your share of trials lately. I hope that your wife weathers the loss of her sister with a minimum of heart ache. When things happen like this in seemingly endless streams, it can really try our resolve. I understand about the fluid retention thing, I ended up at Mayo several years ago with suspected congestive heart failure that turned out to be just fluid retention caused by a drug reaction. I hope to see you at Byron this year. I already have my motel reservations. 300racr, If there is any way to modify your trip schedule in order to see Meltdown, you will not regret it. You will want to get a couple of friends, borrow a large car hauler, and come back next year to participate. Illinois is a big state but the Meltdown is not hard to get to. It is within two or three hours of everything in the northern half of the state.
Thanks guys. Waiting for my bladder to get back in the game. If I can't run the dragster maybe a friend will take it to the Meltdown.
The end of August is s fine time to run my first race. It was free racing at Brainerd,Mn. one week after the big boys were there. I had two cars there, the Crosley and the dragster. My friend Dave drove the Crosley. After Dave nearly crashed it at the Meltdown drags in July (I wasn't there), I tried to figure out why the evil handling happened. I replaced the urethane rod ends in the four link with Heim joints and replaced the positraction unit with a spool. The car ran straight to a 10.60 @126. Whew!, that was a relief. The dragster sat in the woods on the trailer all covered up for a full year. I unwrapped it, gave it a quickie clean up and headed out at 6:00 this morning for the 150 mile drive to Brainerd.. My driving skills needed awakening too as the first run was 12.74 @103. By the fourth run, I really punished the car to a record 11.70 @ 117, with a reaction time of .006. My goal this year was to get in the 11's. I'm a happy little old man.
The Chevelle has gone an 11:39...So I couldn't catch the Crosley...I wasn't there..I'm working on Putting an Olds 215 in 75 Astre right now.
It was nice talking to you Saturday at BRI. Nice to see your 11.70 run with that .006 reaction time. Crosley handled nice, Dave knows how to drive it. See you at the Falls in Oct, hope it don't rain.
OK Bob, you hit your mark that you set with a fine 11.70 @ 117 with a bracket racer .006 light. How about new Fall goal of 11.20 @ 120. What say? Keep hitting those .00 lights. Think what you could do if you ran the dragster more than once a year.
Thank you Tom, and everyone for the enthusiastic support. My starting line technique is to hold it a idle (approx.900rpm) and floor it on the last yellow. Or, almost floor it; it's a long reach with a short leg to the floor. I have a trans brake and will try that Oct. 1st. It stalled in the driveway at 2,900 rpm so that should be not too much under peak torque
2900 should be all you need to leave on. You are going to get a big surprise on the leave when you use the trans brake. 60' time will be much better. Wish I could be there to watch. Trans brake leave will be a good test to see if the pie crust will hold on the start.
Tom, they're not pie crusts. I don't think traction will be an issue unless the track is really cold. If I can gain a tenth or more in 60' that could translate into a pretty good run. Next I'll build a header with collectors and put lighter tires and wheels on the front. Not this season though.
Ya Bob, I thought you had went to the pie crust slicks. I re-checked the picture and see that you have regular slicks. They should hook up good. That trans brake leave should get you .2 - .4 tenth better 60' time. Headers & collectors later will help reach your new goal. I love your front rims but I know what you mean about weight as they were the same as I ran on mine. You get that big 6 making some HP and hooking up like you want and those front rims may not look so bad.
Been talking to friends that were at the last race and I now realize I have never floored the dragster off the line. My last run I sensed it wasn't floored and shifted in my seat to push the pedal to wide open throttle. Today I moved the gas pedal 3" closer to my foot. Should be able to mat it without thinking about it now. Hey millelacsrick, I don't know by your HAMB name. Looking forward to talking to you at Rock Falls
The First Annual (we all hope) Meltdown Fallout Drags is over. For me it was a Boom and a Bust. The Crosley ran a best ever 10.41 @ 126. I made some changes to the gas pedal and linkage in the dragster in hopes of making it easier to floor. The opposite happened. It was so messed up I couldn't control it at all. Somehow my foot would wedge at quarter throttle unless I pushed it with my toe, like a ballet dancer. I was so distracted by it that I forgot how to shift a Powerglide. Besides, the pressure was on as I lined up against Bob Huberty with his fine mid-11's alcohol injected flathead ex-Hamb dragster. Needless to say, I got schooled. The track had an overflow crowd and we pitted well beyond the quarter mile. Only got two runs in Saturday due to oil downs and lots of racers. The Meltdown crew provided free a catered BBQ dinner after the races. In spite of my self inflicted woes, it was a great time and a fitting end to the season for the Lone Ranger Racing Team.
Bob, that's a great pass on the old Crosley, was your buddy Dave at the wheel? Just glad the weather held out and you got a few passes in with the dragster. Now you have all winter to redo the "go peddle", you'll get it sorted out. need to make a few more driveway check out passes.
Tom, the dragster is already stored for the winter. Too bad because my street was repaved yesterday and would make a heck of a drag strip.
At the last meet of the year a couple of the guy had Schwinn Sting Rays for pit bikes. It looked like a good idea so I bought a vintage Japanese folding bike. I call it my Stling Lay
I have two 20" pit bikes - with hi-rise bars and bannana seat - one that comes apart to throw in my trunk for swap meets and flea mkts. Very handy and a lot less work than a golf cart, ATV or mini bike.
Picked up a pair of vintage International slot wheels off of craigslist today. They should look a lot better than the steel wheels on it now.
Hey Bob, You still planning on going to the "Melt Down"? The weather is supposed to be decent (low '80's). Hope to see you there.
I should get there before noon Friday. Will be staying two nights and heading for home Sunday sometime. My Crosley won't be there because the driver has his 50th wedding anniversary. Not a valid excuse if you ask me. It'll be the first time out for the dragster and me. Looking forward to seeing you Roy.
First, I am severely pissed off that Photo Bucket has removed all my pictures from my HAMB threads. They are screwing everybody. I attended my first race of the year, the Meltdown Drags in Byron, Ill. This my friends is drag racing like it used to be. There were 500 cars all older than 1967. I'm sure there will be ample coverage elsewhere on the HAMB. I don't know how to post pics without Photo Bucket. I made my first three runs of the year. Gosh, I wish I could squeeze out the performance that is in this car. First run was 11.73 @ 114. Second run the car stuttered off the line and went 12.08 @ 113. Last run was 11.91 @ 113. My Bantam is getting close to being done so I'm thinking of selling the dragster...
Ha Bob, wish I was closer that dragster would be in my garage/shop and I would have two 300 motor to play with.
Hey Bob, Have you given any thought to running at the Fallout in Eau Claire, WI the end of September? It's run by the Meltdown folks.