[Greg Reimer 7376]

The 2004 Winternationals came along, and Tony Janes and I have two nearly identical cars, both red 68 chevelle 2 dr.hardtops, one a Malibu that ran L/SA, mine a 300 deluxe hardtop that runs K. Tony had his good motor in the Malibu, and asked me if I wanted to use his #2 motor, good for about .25 off the mule motor in my car.I took him up on it, put the #2 bullet in the car, fired it up and we went to Irwindale for a Thursday test and tune the Thursday night before Pomona.The car flew, but the water pump sprang a bad leak on the way back, ending the TnT. I put a new pump on it,but noticed that the oil pressure never exceeded 20 psi, and would drop off above idle. Oops, pull the engine, replace the oil pump.Back in the car,same thing. Chuck Norton called, asked what oil filter I used, I told him a Fram, he said"Get rid of it.Use a Delco 1218".I did,instant oil pressure. Great. I stalled the engine against the converter, the car made a bad noise, a big lurch, and wouldn't stall above 1200 rpm. Broke the converter. I called Tony and asked if he still had my spare converter. He said,"Yes,but it's in our wagon."I came down to his house,pulled the trans from the wagon,snatched the converter,went home,pulled the trans out of the Chevelle,swapped the converter,buttoned it up,put it on the trailer late Sunday afternoon, went to Pomona ,ran the car, and on pass#4, it fell off badly.Back in the pits, there's oil all over, blowby out the valve covers, there went the ring job. Tony says," Forget it, you're through, put it on the trailer,you're done". Wrong-o.I took the car home at noon on Friday, drove it around back, yanked the engine ,put the mule back in, and was back driving it around the Pomona pits by 3:30.Round one in the AM- what to dial? I used a number that sounded good,and drew a former world champoin in Stock some years back,and he had won several Pomonas.Right away,this didn't look good. Right at the burn out box, the thought hit me"I can do this.Don't beat yourself now".Sure enough, I got an .015 light,ran it right to the line,bombed the brakes and got a win light. I didn't see the red light in the other lane.There was my time trial. Round two, I broke out more than the other guy,ending the race of the stocker that thought it was a fueler, or the flog of the decade.