We made a p*** it was the first time out and we took it very easy on it. Developed an oil leak, so that was the end of the day for us. We will have it fixed and be at Norwalk! It ran a 17 but was only under power to the 60 ft mark then coasted.
thompson was a blast!!heres some pics. of me don and jason.the last one is the motorhome that didnt like two 150+lbs kids sleeping in the upper bunk!!!{LOL}
heres acouple more.my son was SOOOOOOO scared to back me up.after he did it he loved it though!!!{IM PROUD!!!!!!}the other one is herb from the pistons.also J-BIRD doing some more work on my car.
Im bummed I didnt see the Falconstein car.. I have been wanting to see that in person. Was that on saturday?
we were there...took our 65 chevy truck,and towed a 32 Bantam Roadster (Phantom Bantam) down from Ontario.. Left the car at the track Saturday night..well covered..Arrived Sunday and all that was still on it was a blanket.. We left around 10;00 on Sunday, in the rain... Rick
Those are some cool photos especially the one of Don Moyer. KICK ***! As far as I know it's always held the first weekend in June.
Drove 3 hours up from Columbus yesterday, called at around 11:00 and they said racing would start at 12:00. The rest is a live and learn, should have gone up on Saturday! And boy was it cold up there! P.S. we had to work Saturday.
I am looking for a picture of my Model A Truck spilling its guts all over the track during my one and only burnout on saturday..........I know their has to be one out their or maybe video?.......Need it so I can hang it up on my wall....Thanks I found 8 major cracks in the block so far...just came in from extracting it from the Truck and placed it on a stand.....not pretty...........Littleman
Can't help ya there ,I was next to run in that lane... Rick ==========================================
Another Thompson event and another great time...The weather always seems to be an issue for this event, and I think only once in 9 years did the weather win. So if you didn't come because of the forcast, shame on you. Hey, the Cleveland weather guy was there racing if that tells you anything! THe crew at Thompson did a great job again and are really a huge part of why this show is so good. I would like to add some differences that I did notice this year without G***er Magazine there. First off there was no event shirt, no big deal to me, but did hear some whining. They did have 2 different dash plaques that are way cool. I also liked that they had a gamblers race on Friday night too this year and opened the lanes for test and tune after the first round, so there was racing past 5pm on friday. There was a ton of 409 cars there and I got to meet and talk to Hayden Profit (highlight of my weekend). I would have to say that they (409) are more hard core than the G***er crowd as they were there bad forcast and all....The g***er cound was down this year, but there were some really nice new cars there. My soap box statement is again it is too bad that the Geezer G***ers and East Coast G***ers and other such organizations do not make this event....sad to see their cool cars turned into profit motivated vehicles...ok, off the box. One change that Thompson did do is they went from index to dial in format for the g***ers. I am really apposed to this. I understand that dial in makes if fair for all racers involved, but as far as the show, if your going to a nostalgia meet, you want to see the cars race heads up, leaving the line at the same time! So time trials are my favorite part.....I made so many p***es I really did not have time to check out the swap meet, show cars, or even the Green Monster....I did have time to let kids sit in the Rebel Reaper for pictures tho! I made 13 p***es on Friday and another 10 on Saturday and was in the box when it started to rain on Saturday. Was a bummer that Dave's truck lost the motor, and Steve (Blew By You) also had motor troubles all weekend. I was also happy that my dad cam for the weekend an brought his bus. Ken (track owner) wanted to run his bus against my dad and dad was thinking about it, I may get him into racing yet! Thanks again everybody!
John, nice meeting you and your buddies too...glad you enjoyed the show. The guys and gals at Thompson make it all possible!
Always the first weekend of June, but it is not too late this year as there is G***er Reunion #9 at Norwalk on July 4th weekend and the G***er Nationals back at Thompson in September!
Actually, Art won that race...The launch was a little too violent that time and my internal comp*** told me I was getting too close to the wall, so I had to let off which I hate to do, and then I got into it and it went pretty squirly after that, but still managed to almost get him! That coupe is really starting to run good and is one of my favorites with the Olds and six 2 set up. He is starting to run faster and faster, plus, I think he was competing with me for the most p***es in the weekend
Man Don I was on the fence on going, I made the call late Thursday to p*** on it, with cash not flowing like years past I guess I just wanted a better forcast and should have went for it. I am glad it was not a total wash out for you guys. Will be back next year for it. I am going to hold on Norwalk this year to see how it does go, I am all for having more races around, but the 4th July weekend makes it a little bit tougher for me. How did Martin do with the Opel? The pictures I have seen so far looks like it was running good. Hope to catch up with you guys this summer somewhere. Jon
Well, Mr. Swade41.........while Don did do the fantastic wheels up, I got the white time slip! Yea, it was only time trials but it was the only race I won all weekend! LOL Maybe I'll frame that time slip.
Thanks to all that posted pictures. The weather forecast didn't look good but Friday and Saturday turned out fine. It just wouldn't stop drizzling on Sunday though. Here's some pictures from the 409 eliminations...
it was running good all weekend.the new ladder bars and anti-roll bar helped alot.every p*** was about 20'' under the front tires and even!!!!same times as before 11.50-70s.at 115.sad to hear your not going to norwalk.i would like to race you again.what races do you plan on running?
This was our third showing at this event and thanks to all who came. The weather is always a concern but it held out. A special thanks to the 409 guys, if you are a fan of the 409 this has got to be one of the best gatherings for 409 race and street cars. How about an early T-bird with a 409 or a Trike! The attendance was off on Friday but picked up on Saturday. There was a lot going on in the Pa. region this weekend, Ford Carlisle, Maple Grove Musclecar shootout, York Street Rods, but we came from Md. to the best event. A quick story. We went out after the racing and dinner looking for a local car hangout. We were told to go to Geneva on the Lake, wow it was like a trip back in time with a lot of shops, cottages, bars and eateries. Too cool right on the lake. Ok, after talking to a gal at the antique shop she told me she worked in the tower at Thompson while in high school and her brother was the flagman in early sixties, she also just picked up a Thunderbird that she wants to race! Another shop owner showed me an old garage that was closed that was once a build garage for early railers and that Shirley Muldowney would hang out there. Being a first timer at this town I thought it was cool car history. There was also a Saloon there that posted a lot of big bands on the outside wall, my uncle played with Bill Haley and the Comets and I noticed they had played there. This whole trip was great for us and will return next year, hopefully with our cars to participate. Thanks to all involved.
Martin, glad to hear that the Opel is running good. I would like to run with you again, I think now that I have the car broke in and the combination working good we would have some good races. I went 11.18 @ 121 this year in good air and went 11.50's @ 118 in the heat. I need to lean the carbs a little for the hot days and i think it would maybe run in the 30's. I am looking at what we have going and it looks like Marion again in August and maybe Thompson for the G***er Nationals if it does not conflict with our race at Martin or Milan Michigan. Things are a little bit tighter this year so I am planning a little bit different. Hope to catch up with you guys this year. Jon
I guess you weren't lieing since Moyer told his side of the story...lol You should hang that white slip next to your pink one in the closet though.
Here's one more picture one of the 409 guys took just before noon on Sunday. As you can see, we got a lot of rain Saturday night.
I understand the simplicity of heads up racing, Don, but lest we take part in revisionist history, handicap starts are nearly as old as drag racing itself. Sure, preliminary rounds used to be run to determine cl*** winners on a heads up basis (many of which were one-car-cl*** single runs - boy, talk about BORING!) but then cars were bunched up into categories like Little, Middle, and Top Eliminators. Handicapped starts included spotting car lengths, spots off of the national records, or cl*** indexes. With such a big diversity of nostalgic vehicles being run today from many different eras, racing on a bracket basis makes sense. Here's some food for thought Don: There's no drama in watching two heads-up cars roll into the beams that are obviously mismatched from a performance standpoint. Let's ***ume that your Willys' weight break is the same as, say, Bob Sarkesian's 8-second Anglia. How much fun would it be to watch that matchup? It was good to see you again - your car is awesome. And thanks to your Dad for the tour of his vintage RV. 6re6
I totally agree...but in index racing I would line up with someone that is within my index. I would run in an 11.00 to 11.49 group. Don't take this the wrong way, I am not complaining, just saying as a spectator at a nostalgia event, it think the beginning of the race is more the focus than the end. I also think that me leaving 3 seconds before Bob Sarkesian would be painful to watch. That being said, I would still like to line up next to him I lined up next to Ed's FED on Saturday and knew he was going to spank me, but at least I got to watch him as he pulled away! Maybe I should think about and organize my own event and see how it works out! Either way, my take is this should be all about fun, and it was great seeing you and thanks for the kind words....
Hey Swade; Bob Wenzelburger sent this photo; The zoomies and slicks are off the old FED .. Rick ===================================
The Jalopy Journal
