Subsequent to starting my Hambster with a cobbled up TH350 shifter and a 2000R4 transmission the car ran over me and roared down the driveway, out into the street and down into a ditch then up the other side to bang into a neighbor,s tree. This happened May 15th. Unworried, because the new Universal Health Car Plan had been signed by President Obama I submitted a claim to MEDICARE for: 1. Steam clean burning flesh from driveway pavement. 2. Blood and tear stain removal. 3.Environmental Impact study for frogs that may have been run over in ditch. 4. U.S. Forestry Study of damaged tree. 5. Pe***ion to NHRA for relief from any safety inspections as car has alredy been crashed. 6. Pe***ion DOT for refund of $700.00 worth of safety equipment that was of no use as I lay on the driveway and watched the safety equipment crash along with the rest of the car. Sad to report that Medicare has denied all claims except for actual medical work. Sheeeeee!
Hang in there Butch. The car can be repaired...take time to heal up before you worry about the rebuild. Don't tell too many folks about the tree...the environmentalist types will be wanting to come after you for tree abuse.
Time to heal, keep safe. Trust you cut down the tree.....that'll reduce the problem Anyhow, this will offer you a chance for a shorter wheelbase, trim off the damage, weld it back up, happy days As bad as it feels, it could have been alot worse, enjoy the chance for a rest, the car can wait. Cheers, Drewfus
You could apply for money from the Stimulus Package or start a non-profit business, "Butch's Dragster Repair" and get a government grant. Consider suing the tree. Get that ****er fixed & heal up. Get out on the drag strip where you will be safe!
Butch I see where the book is coming from. It looks like I guessed correct, it will be a collection of short stories. With that lead in, what else could it be. Jr. Clark "CrkInsp"
JR. The book is actually a novel set in 6 days in 1941.It is a Military/Espionage /Romance detailing how American Agents infiltrate the Nazi military hierarchy and alter do***ents to trick Adolph Hitler into making the wrong decision about declaring war on the US. It is called "War Starter"...The clandestine tale of how hard America fought to get INTO World War Two. I've been working on it for two and a half years and have a deal with Amazon to publish it in September . Butch N***au Author, Dragster Designer and Crash Test Dummy.
Ha ha, thats the funniest thing I've read all week. The claim part, not the actual malfunction. Good luck with healing and getting the bugs worked out. I loved watching those race at the Eagle Field Drags out here in the central valley.
Good one (the claim part). Drewfus, cut it down, why would he get rid of his "environmentally friendly" catch fence?
Moparsled, To a large extent you are correct about the metal failures. But, close inspection showed no torn welds, the metal tore about 1/4 inch outside of the weld in the parent metal. The radius rod mounts sheared off at the weld juncture to the frame. I don't think the car was going much over 15 mph when it hit the tree.
Butch You could You make this setback into a book. If you can make fun of your self as easy as you have so far, I don't see why you couldn't make a profit from it. You have a way with words that got our attention and caused us to smile at your misfortune by the way you wrote about it. I hope you sell a million copies of your work. Jr. Clark "CrkInsp"
Luckily there is an overriding tenant; Fools are responsible for their own injuries, as for the tree I hope it survives so it can drop a branch on you when it recovers. We have a universal medical care in Australia and I just do not understand why so many yanks feel it is immoral and a step away from communism to provide for one.
I don't get the rant against health care either. Seems to me you got run over by your HAMBster and got covered...by a Government run health care program. Good for you.
spooky that a 15mph impact could twist the front crossmember free of the side rails. Look at the areas where the metal tore-- do they appear "crystalline" like a rock broken open? or do they appear smooth, like a giant pair of scissors cut them? If they are grainy, you have an issue with your welding process, typically "too hot, too fast" The metal reacts just like a rock, snapping, rather than shearing/twisting/distorting
Jeeze, A little humor is all the post was about. Sit at home in a cast for a month and then you'll see that you will do almost anything to keep your mind occupied. Sorry if I offended anyone. As to the welds...they are probably not the world's greatest, however they are good welds. They were done with a 220 volt argon gas mig welder. What you cannot see from the pictures is that the engine, which is bolted into very sturdy uprights and uses 90 degree bent 1/4 inch steel plate, continued on after the impact for another two inches, bending the 1/4 inch plates, before wedging itself into the "v" of the frame rails The offsetting point is that the car did not hit something like a glancing blow off a guard rail. It hit a tree with a 44 inch cir***ference at the base. Essentially the car went from an 1,700 pound object moving at 15 mph to full stop in .004 inch. Something's gotta give.
Don't apologize, Butch. Three reasons; An internet post is by nature open to the world. Anyone in the world's free to respond. The gene pool's been needing chlorine for awhile. It's said that "ignorance rates only ignoring" ....... that works for me. So, is your frame salvable, or will you have to make a new one? How'd the various pieces fare? Where does the cast itch the most? Prying minds want to know.
What he said!! I know it's hard sitting and looking at the pieces laying there waiting to be fixed...had open heart surgery for a valve repair in January of '08 and spent a long time with a medically imposed 5lb limit on any activities watching our rali project sit and gather dust. Just use the down time to get all of the "engineering" done and catch up on all of the reading and lazy stuff ya never seem to have enough time for. As for the damages to the car...all things considered it looks pretty dang repairable. Some folks just don't understand kinetic energy and the effect of impact into immovable objects. Just look at the damage a small parking lot shunt can cause to a new car with their so called bumpers. Drive any one of them into that same tree at the same speed and compare the results.
Joined in '06 and this is one of the two most brilliant things you've contributed to The Hamb? And if you must, many of us 'yanks' are upset about HOW our .gov is taking over healthcare as a means to control us and not in an effort to provide the best/lowest cost care but even if they were, our .gov has yet to completely run a program/industry that's profitable or even sustainable. But let's leave that one alone, there are other forums to address these grievances. No reason to apologize, the way you worded your mistake into what you did shows creativity and humor. It wasn't all that long ago that I was laid up for a long time with a broken femur from a car accident...that's A LOT of spare time for an active, creative mind to be immobile!!
Amen to that thought...did a six month recovery for a shattered elbow back in '89. Lots of time for mental engineering when you can't get into the physical work.
The Jalopy Journal
