No broken parts, but carnage, and I mentioned this a little elsewhere on the site. This weekend was the last race at El Mirage. Wife forced me to drive the roadster on Sunday after she made a p*** on Saturday. Got up the line and the wind had started blowing across the track. The blowing dirt obscured the track to the point of not being able to see the finish line a mile away. The starter asked if I was OK going with a 20 mile an hour cross-wind, of course I said 'sure'. In a momentary break in the wind the course cleared and the starter sent me on the way. With the push start I waited until about 30 miles an hour to dump the clutch. And of course just as I hit the throttle and moved down the course, instant brown out with dirt and dust. I tried to drive through it hoping to reach clear air but at about 120 I saw a row of orange cones in front of me, time to hit the chute and pull over, not until I took out four cones. I was given the option to get right back in line if I wanted, of course I did. Got the chute repacked in record time . Belted in and pointed down the course and started another run. Great run 139+ but at the finish line a little more dust and I missed seeing two more cones, so a total of 6 cones, one head light (King bee of course) and a dented Moon disk, sorry Kevin, on loaner wheels. What a blast, and would I do it again? HELL YES!
Or Dr Hook long before that, "She was only sixteen, only sixteen But I loved her so But she was too young to fall in love And I was too young to know"
You are in fine company on this one. Besides you did it the smart way, at your house at the end of the season. That is what I call project planning 101. The main difference between a hot rod and a street rod is that you fix hot rods and you put street rods back on the trailer. The term 'one last drive' usually turns out to be just that in my experience. Good luck with your trans and give it hell next spring!
A while back when I was in high school auto shop I was "encouraged" to spin the tires while pulling out of the auto shop building. When I got back there was a bucket of soapy water and a brush sitting next to the tire marks. What did I learn? Studded snow tires make nasty grooves in the concrete.
Didn't think of it at the time, but I remember doing something like this a long time ago. I had a cool custom '64 ElCamino stepside (yes, that's what I said) that was built from a rusty POS. It was awesome from 50ft. Scary up close. Leaving work, I yelled to my buddy, "Hey, Mickey! watch this!" Revved it up in neutral, dropped into gear, & the trailing arms removed themselves from the rusty frame. Mickey laughed, but was nice enough to give me a ride home. Obviously, I had forgotten that...
On a Sunday morning in the 60's hanging out with a bunch of friends, my buddy thought it would be cool to jump a hill behind the local carwash just like we had seen the night before while watching the movie Bullet. I had my Dad's 68 Fury and did get the front wheels off the ground . My buddy had a 60 Chevy with the twist in coil spring lifters he bought at Western Auto. Yup, he got the body to lift but the wheels never came off the ground. All of us watching had to dodge the spring lifters as they shot out in all direction. Never did find them all so he had to buy another set just to get the car to set level again. Stupid move on our part but looking back it sure was fun. My kids got me this shirt last year that says it all. I wear it proudly.
The Jalopy Journal
