My 1st NHRA "Experience"

[luckydog]

SUCKED!!! I should start off by saying all of the NHRA officials and staff I encountered this past weekend were very polite and treated me with respect. Tech was a breese, even though Rock tried to set me up, and it only took 15 mins to get our credentials. The rest of the weekend, however, sucked! This may get long, so you may want to throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave. It all started before we ever got to the track. We were running down the turnpike and was sideswipped by a man driving a Budget rental truck, intentionally (long story). Luckily all he did was take off the passenger side mirror. Of course he kept right on driving so we got his liscense plate number, called the state patrol, pulled off the road and waited a hour for the patrol officer to show up. Thursday as I was heading to the lanes for my 2nd TT the pump in the trans decided to break, and of course I don't carry a spare. After much deliberation and a little encouragement from the wife I decided to pull the trans and see if I could fix it. While trying to pull the convertor (it was bound in by the pump gear) the trans slipped on me and landed on my wifes knee leaving one hell of a big bruise. I took the trans and convertor to Jim Hughes (very nice guy) and he fixed me up with a new pump, band, and dressed up the convertor. I reinstalled everything (at this time about 4 hours into it), started the car and within 15 seconds broke the new pump. I think the combination of Jim rounding the edges on the convertor to make it work and my dumb arse not shimming between the flexplate and convertor, the convertor wasn't into the pump far enough. At this point I threw in the towel and called it a weekend!! It don't stop here. Friday night we were out riding around on the 4-wheeler after the rain. I guess I turned a little too sharp for Sara (my wife) who was holding both of our beverages and she slid off the back of the bike. Luckily she didn't get hurt, just scrapped up a little. Saturday, tornadoes on the ground 3 miles from the track!!! Sunday, after FINALLY getting home, Sara was unpacking the motorhome, stepped out, and rolled her ankle pretty badly. So needless to say I was glad to return to work today!!
I did get to meet some new people this weekend. Thanks to Gary Federico for showing me where everything was Wed. BIG thanks to Jim Hughes and Kevin for all your help. Jim is a really good guy who will go out of his way to help someone out, he was even under my car with me. He most definately got the shaft in Topeka and has every reason to be pissed off!! Thanks to Rudy Matthews for the use of some of his tools and offering his convertor and trans (although in my car probably would have stalled somewhere around 2000rpm). Thanks to Mark Sanders for the convertor bolts and offering his trans and convertor (again around 2000 rpm), and Lee "the doughboy" for offering your stuff. You guys are great.

After this I'm ready for a few weekends off.
Entry and Crew: $330
Deisel fuel: $300
3 Days off work: :$350
new pump and band: $320
Beer and food: $100
Watching you wife sliding on her stomach acrossed the blacktop and not spilling a drop of beer: PRICELESS 1
Driving 250 miles home with the worst hangover of my life: PRICELESS 2

[Dice]

great story. thanks for sharing. just remember that when you are old and tired, all you have is the memories that you made. now get that tranny fixed and kick some tail next week-end...

[SSTRACER323]

Hey Dog...

Sorry about your luck and thanks for the comments.... I will offer help to any one that needs it. I hope we will see you at Columbus Div race.

[Ruth]

Originally Posted by luckydog

SUCKED!!! I should start off by saying all of the NHRA officials and staff I encountered this past weekend were very polite and treated me with respect. Tech was a breese, even though Rock tried to set me up, and it only took 15 mins to get our credentials. The rest of the weekend, however, sucked! This may get long, so you may want to throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave. It all started before we ever got to the track. We were running down the turnpike and was sideswipped by a man driving a Budget rental truck, intentionally (long story). Luckily all he did was take off the passenger side mirror. Of course he kept right on driving so we got his liscense plate number, called the state patrol, pulled off the road and waited a hour for the patrol officer to show up. Thursday as I was heading to the lanes for my 2nd TT the pump in the trans decided to break, and of course I don't carry a spare. After much deliberation and a little encouragement from the wife I decided to pull the trans and see if I could fix it. While trying to pull the convertor (it was bound in by the pump gear) the trans slipped on me and landed on my wifes knee leaving one hell of a big bruise. I took the trans and convertor to Jim Hughes (very nice guy) and he fixed me up with a new pump, band, and dressed up the convertor. I reinstalled everything (at this time about 4 hours into it), started the car and within 15 seconds broke the new pump. I think the combination of Jim rounding the edges on the convertor to make it work and my dumb arse not shimming between the flexplate and convertor, the convertor wasn't into the pump far enough. At this point I threw in the towel and called it a weekend!! It don't stop here. Friday night we were out riding around on the 4-wheeler after the rain. I guess I turned a little too sharp for Sara (my wife) who was holding both of our beverages and she slid off the back of the bike. Luckily she didn't get hurt, just scrapped up a little. Saturday, tornadoes on the ground 3 miles from the track!!! Sunday, after FINALLY getting home, Sara was unpacking the motorhome, stepped out, and rolled her ankle pretty badly. So needless to say I was glad to return to work today!!
I did get to meet some new people this weekend. Thanks to Gary Federico for showing me where everything was Wed. BIG thanks to Jim Hughes and Kevin for all your help. Jim is a really good guy who will go out of his way to help someone out, he was even under my car with me. He most definately got the shaft in Topeka and has every reason to be pissed off!! Thanks to Rudy Matthews for the use of some of his tools and offering his convertor and trans (although in my car probably would have stalled somewhere around 2000rpm). Thanks to Mark Sanders for the convertor bolts and offering his trans and convertor (again around 2000 rpm), and Lee "the doughboy" for offering your stuff. You guys are great.

After this I'm ready for a few weekends off.
Entry and Crew: $330
Deisel fuel: $300
3 Days off work: :$350
new pump and band: $320
Beer and food: $100
Watching you wife sliding on her stomach acrossed the blacktop and not spilling a drop of beer: PRICELESS 1
Driving 250 miles home with the worst hangover of my life: PRICELESS 2

Great story Damien thanks for sharing.

I was getting into it ……I was picturing the wifey like she was sliding into third on her belly hold that beer up not spilling a drop and the ump going………”SAFE!” .....and her with a schitt eating grin on her face saying: “howd ya like that one honey” and you saying " Thats my girl" but in reality it was probably more like ……” you frickin idiot”

She’s a keeper a keeper for sure Damien , glad to hear that she didn’t get seriously hurt.

Jim Hughes and crew ?.......top shelf to say the least just like their products......and the other company you were in? simply the best for sure.

Yea sure….the weekend could have been better for sure, but I always look for the “ silver lining”.

Mechanical damage….all in all was at a minimum…….some minor physical damage to the wifey you can deal with. Because as we all know that you can get seriously injured in this game in a heart beat.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your weekend…….ya gota luv drag racin …..try having that much fun at the local K.O.A. campground.

Ps: a great story about the wifey track accidents? …..maybe B’Mac can chime in about the time he was at the track showing off his “ Little E.” driving moves and he put his golf cart up on two wheels and while doing so fliped his beautiful bride off and broke her arm in the wee hours of the morning and she had to be taken to the hospital……but before doing so had to run back to his motor home first.

Why you ask?
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Because being the polite gentlemen that he is
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to tell his IN-LAWS who were at their first Drag Racing event with them and sound asleep in the moho what was going on of coarse.

Regards

[Bob Verwold]

With a hangover that bad you must have spent the night at Mark and Lefty's trailer....................Been there and done that................

[SST 3728]

Damien,
Yea I saw the comment on the other thread about what to do and not do. haha. Dad and I were wondering what happened when we saw the round results and couldnt find your name anywhere. Great story. If you need anything for the trans give me a call. 4195433315.

[CBS]

ouch......I knew I should have rolled under that car....

[luckydog]

"but in reality it was probably more like ……” you frickin idiot”.

Yeah, I guess you could say it wasn't completely a "priceless" moment!!

Thanks again Lee and I will be seeing you at the Columbus divisional. And yeah Rock, next time just go ahead

[dannyw]

My wife fell off the golf cart one time. The first thing that came to my mind was "Honey, are you alright???". Then she looked up at me and said, "After you get done making sure that BEVERAGE is ok, how about helping my ***** up!". My wife is a keeper too.

Sorry to hear about the crappy weekend, I know you'll get all the troubles worked out. Hope to see ya at the National in Martin.

Danny Waters Jr

[THE LEGEND]

1) Dropping Tranny on wife's knee
2) Kicking wife off Pitbike
3) Pushing wife out the RV
4) Oh yea hitting budget truck with passenger side of RV which one can assume is where wife was sitting.

My question is would you like to take my wife with you sometime?LOL
Chip