[Charlie Ford]

"Many" years ago, when I raced my old '68 CJ car, we weren't allowed weight boxes, fuel cells, etc., so I had to run the car full of fuel to make weight. If you don't know, the gas tank had a short snout with a 90 degree neck that turned out between the tail lights. When the car would leave, it would dump a little fuel out. After the starter complained several times, at different races, I tried a shop rag, and other ingenious applications to stop the flow. Nothing seemed to work, so I had come to the point where I needed to come up with a logical solution or cheat by hiding weight somewhere in the car. After consulting the rule book I decided to do this. I took the 90 degree fitting off and put a short straight piece of radiator hose and another gas neck and cap on that. In other words, you opened the trunk and there was a gas cap and filler so you could put the fuel in. Problem solved. No more dumping fuel. At my first Div. race following my new invention, the tech person was shocked when he told me to open my trunk. His words were something like "Charlie, are you crazy? You can't do that" I didn't panic, I just asked him to show me in the rule book where it wasn't allowed. He left and returned quickly with a rule book. He turned to a certain page and pointed out the part that stated "Gas tank outlet must be in stock location". I pointed out that area we were discussing is where you put the gas in, therefore it would be the inlet, and there was no mention of the gas tank inlet in the rule book. A short time later they made me put a sheet metal partition between the car interior and the trunk for safety reasons.