rebuilding after the crash

Think I’m all caught up! Congrats on the tag

 

Is there anyone in the enis/Dallas area that can give me a update on the motor plex? A tornado went through. It killed a track employee and ripped the roof off the hotel across the street.

 

I've read somewhere that many of the racing sanctioning bodies' safety rules have been written in someone's blood.
Kind of a downer but it does help you understand the reasoning behind them.
Stay safe!

 

Motorplex had some wind damage, but the show goes on - the TX2K25 race started today and runs thru the week. Looks like the track will stay open.

Bad deal about their track prep guru, TJ Bailey,they say he was one of the best in the U.S.. His wife and kids were in the RV also, all hurt but not critical.

Great video on the tracks Facebook page, also info on a benevolent fund for his family that has been setup thru the drag racers benevolent fund.

I'm about 1.5 hrs away, but have my tickets for chaos, look forward to seeing and hopefully meeting you.

Bill

 

yes you are correct at least for the SCTA rules on safety we had a engine fire that happened at el mirage no was hurt other than the owners wallet and the SCTA done a full investigation of what caused it right there in the pits which it was a fuel line that had been rerouted from where it used to be due to changes on the car but even though it passed tech and was well within the rules it got hot and melted then sprayed on the header and well the rest is history we didn’t get banned or anything else but the next year there was a rule change due to that incident thankfully nothing was terribly hurt but when you use the extinguisher system that is required it sure made a big mess of things and required some serious cleanup but it could have been far worse but all the safety systems worked as they should an that is priceless safety is there for a reason don’t skimp on it

 

They said it was microbursts, this is my barn, I sold the place about 10 years ago luckily for me.

 

Looks like they are racing this weekend.

 

The car is set for next week. The final piece of the puzzle was finished this morning. That being the race pack data logger. The sensors need to be entered and assigned a value. They also need to be assigned a location in the computer to identify them. We set it up to start recording as soon as the engine reaches 2500 rpm. That way I don't need a crew man standing at the back of the car flipping a switch. It's also fool proof. You can't forget to turn it on.
The trailer projects are complete. Things like greasing wheel bearings; tire pressure including spares; bathroom cleaned; new linens on the bed; water tank filled; fuel jugs filled; oil jugs filled; gas jugs filled; tools restocked; spare parts added; extra batteries for everything needing them; complete reorganisation of the cabinets; generator serviced; welder added for this year. This is just a small list of things. There's alot of moving parts to just get on the road.

 

After a run the chip is pulled from the race pack. It's plugged into the lap top for viewing. The large monitor makes it much easier to view the data. Jerry Newman the tuner on the team will have a dedicated area set up in the trailer to go over the data. This whole deal has suddenly gotten more serious.

 

Seriously serious. Good luck this season, there are many strangers on the internet rooting for you!

 

I will do my best.

 

Still working. The Bruno got hot several times last year. At the end of a run I could smell it. Like rotten eggs. I always ran a trans cooler on the street. I took it off last year for several reasons. Well it's back on. Re purposed on the new front frame section. New mounts needed to be made along with new braided line. I figure it can't hurt to have it back on.

 

Good luck Brian I’m rooting for you wish I could make it down but it’s just not in the cards this time I have several friends running at this event I will see you for sure at mokan

 

The weather for next week is not looking good. Five days of rain. They will decide be Tuesday if they will run. The make up date should it cancel will be may 2-3rd.

 

They moved the Ennis event to May 1-3;

The Texas Motorplex and Funny Car Chaos & Nitro Chaos are in agreement that the safest and most responsible move is to postpone the Funny Car Chaos Classic due to severe thunderstorms in the forecast from Wednesday through Saturday of this week in the DFW area.

The event will now be held May 1-3rd. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause and appreciate your support in this tough decision. Thank you and we'll see you...at the CHAOS!

 

Just saw that. We had a goal last fall to have the car ready for this weekend. It was a huge thrash to get all of the updates completed. Some jobs were very big. The rear-end narrowing with the new wheel tubs was the biggest. The new cam and data logger were big to. The car and trailer are ready to race. We hit our goal.
So moving forward we might go to union grove for some test hits. It snowed over night. That's not unusual around here. The track can't handle full quarter passes this early in the year. Half track hits would be the way to go. Fingers crossed.

 

Shame the event was postponed. Good luck with the test passes - look forward to some video.

Cheers,
Harv

 

With the recent death of a track employee killed from bad weather i can see why they are cautious. A full pit area and lots of fans walking around could be a disaster if severe weather came through. It was the right decision to post pone the event.

 

With the race canceled i had a full week of vacation to burn up. I locked myself in the shop for a huge cleaning and organizing project. Five days later it's mostly done. The lathe is working again. The tooling is organized. Everything has its place. Four and a half bags of garbage later it's clean. Just watching the weather now for a possible date to go testing. Looks like two weeks.

 

As busy as you've been, that shop will get ahead of ya quick! Feels tons better all straightened, repaired and cleaned up. Look forward to your test runs, thanks for this thread!

 

After the 57 vette job and two 67 gto jobs things got out of hand. The trick now is to maintain it.

 

I'm so organized now it's not funny. I mounted a shop light over the lathe. I also added a rack to hold the T wrench; crescent wrench; deburring tool and caliper.

 

I purchased this hand held weather station. It provides all the important information needed to tune the engine. Temp; water grains; elevation etc are used to make adjustments as the day progresses. Staying on top of the weather allows you to be safe with the tune up.

 

FYI, it's critical safety practice to NEVER leave your lathe chuck T handle in the chuck! Ever!
Several shops I've worked at would fire you on the spot for that and for good reason.
Seen a guy get nailed in the noggin because he forgot and hit the start switch.
It wasn't pretty and he was out of a job as well.

 

You are so correct. It s a new handle and I needed to massage it a little to make it fit. I stepped back and took a pic. I don't store it like that.
I drilled two holes into the bed and attached a peg board five ring bracket onto the bed. It holds my t handle; caliper; de burring tool; cresent wrench; blow gun. It's real handy. Pic coming soon.

 

I kinda figured you were top of it with all the fantastic stuff I've seen you do....
but, I had to say something, just because that handle glared at me in your pic!

 

I just did it yesterday. Been running my lathe for 30+ years and never done it before.
Luckily it hit the splash pan below the chuck and landed on the floor.
I was in a hurry and was more concerned about getting the piece in the chuck centered.

 

Same Here , Seen T ,& No lose clothes !

 

This is better. Light in place. Tool holder in place.

 

We are looking at next weekend going to moorocco Indians us 41 for testing. It's a ways south so it should be warmer. Around here the high is only going to be mid 50s.