A 30 year journey, and a 2nd chance.

[Cglrcng]

Yes if looking in salvage yards, but there are direct ways to find the gears that are hidden away by some that love the vehicles, and have parts rat holed away, if you know where to look, and today almost any gear can be cut if the right person you know has a mill, and you have deep pockets. The service manuals the dealers used list all the gears made, and installed in different year cars and vans..

I now own a set of those service manuals, and the info is nearly priceless if running a manual or auto for the 80's or 90's efi/carbed Mopar's to get the lowest gearing for the combo's.

[Cglrcng]

I won't go round by round but just back from the last LODRS Div 7 race, found out in the lanes during Q2 that there has been an issue w/ the new shifter cable I had installed just back in April 23', (I am now sure it happened in the Lanes during the Test and Tune evening of Sept 8th when the plastic lockout lever on the stock shifter T-handle broke internally locking the shifter and the transaxle in Park, many together attempted to help Rock The Car (because I originally thought it was transaxle related, when in reality it was locked in park at the shifter), and I was almost at the same exact spot in the lanes this last Friday morning lined up for Q2, and as everyone in front of me was pulling forward, sure enough as I went from Neutral to drive the cable let go of the grommet at the shifter and went freewheeling no longer even connected within and below the stock shifter console. Ohhhhh, Nooooo!

There I was again just 2 months later almost to the day, waving all those behind me to go around please (a few nice gentlemen offered after our lanes were empty and I had missed Q2 completely to help push the car back and beyond on the other side of the staging lanes barrier (a hearty THANK YOU ALL!!! to those very kind people, and then of course I called my great friends The Irving's (both John and Jon), and they came with pit vehicle and a tow rope, and towed my 2,845 lb slow sled back to their pit, where I had a brand new spare cable amongst all the hundreds of lbs. I take to the track within that packed hatchback, and a couple of hrs. later it was not only fixed correctly, but it was ready to run under index the following morning in Q3 (and it did).

The Indicator is now out (removed completely), as is the old shifter stick boot slide, so I may just look down now and see within the console and not only monitor the condition of that cable end, but reach it with fingers and or tools for the short period of time left before I receive the backordered aftermarket B& M ratchet shifter and the Tunnel Mount shifter stand I ordered last month (due to arrive this week).

The repair cable was smooth and straight...and shifts like a dream now. I cannot believe how badly the other 1 was bent up (see the 2 pics below).

The car from Q3 on was working like a dream, still short shifting it a lot 1-2, and a bit 2-3 (and still under once that repair was done)...The Q1 1-2 shift flat did not happen properly (now known why, but at the time hidden & unseen below the console so the first pass did not have a minus in front of it for the first time in 3 events, I was on the Q-sheet, but below where I needed to be....I would rather screw up 2 Q passes than 1 or more Elim. runs! (As long as the issues I find are fixed! And the overall car combo is improved).

Lots of changes/improves still to go this Winter off season.

Thank You GTX John Irving and The NV Missle Jon Irving...Without you guys and your deep hearts and compassion, friendship, and your never ending hospitality, we would never be this far along, in this mission of the 2nd chance in life return to class racing at this point My Brothers!

Our gratitude is endless, but thank you's can never be said enough times.

To the Emmon's Family of brothers and a few others, I had not seen in ages, have missed for so long, and have had a precious few minutes to visit with this week after almost 3 decades...It was fun to visit and allow me to invade your space, Gary, you found out exactly how stubborn this old man really is...You have been the only one that actually asked me "How I could possibly keep that car and not sell it for a quarter of a century?"

My answer was truthful...No mechanical entity is going to beat me, not a desktop or laptop computer (I am a 30 yr. IT Tech), and certainly not a vehicle, unless I get it fixed, or fix it myself...it will not go to another human being for their use, and this car will eventually be used by some younger person in the future than I.

But, it will go to them only after It is performing the best I can get it to do so. And it was plenty of time to educate myself to solve the issues that dinosaur of a rudimentary computerized one off oddball class car. It is getting there, slowly....A decade plus of Mentoring High School Robotics Teams (via the F.I.R.S.T. ROBOTICS PROGRAM), from 2011 (when our youngest of 3 sons was a High School Freshman), forward to the present day actually taught this old dog a few new tricks (by being surrounded by every imaginable Type of Engineer, Master Machinist, Mechanic, Teacher, Professor, Marketer, you name it by the bushel basket full at team shops, Meets, and Events all over the country (and those were Engineers from all over the WORLD, from NASA to what seemed like beyond The Moon to Mars and back), all very open to any decent human or mechanical discussion, but especially those not robot related, each more than willing to have dinner and talk race cars instead...I learned EVERY PROBLEM HAS A SOLUTION, you just must think "outside the box"...or build a new box...or reshape the box, and never be afraid to fail and try, try, try again, and again.

[Cglrcng]

Research avenues have increased highly since 1995, just mouse clicks and taps away there is boundless knowledge at your fingertips, technology has skyrocketed over the years, and solutions are endless today that did not even exist then...It was the perfect time to restart the never forgotten project parked just 14 feet away from where I sit and work in my own garage.

Is it an Oddball Stock Elim. Car....Why yes it certainly is, and I like that it is, and yes, as an older gentleman w/ ownership of a high dollar Alcohol Car Operation who actually took the time recently at Famoso asked me "So..., when I see a unique class car running in Stock or Super Stock, I am sure to always visit w/ the owner or driver and ask, as there usually is the same type of answer in common across the board"... "Is there a family link w/ that car? Has it been in the family since it was new?" (Yes, and I was with my late Mother the day she picked it up in Feb. 1995 from the dealership I told him). "And, I am sure there is an interesting back story involved too?!"...(There is, and he took the time to ask, and he certainly got the full story in parts and pieces over the next few days), and almost every time I ran, I would look up and he left his big dollar car operation after I left for a lane call, and he walked all the way down to the stands by the tower to watch that slow oddball car. It made me smile.

Ohhhh, and at least when the car was stuck this time in the lanes....It was not stuck in Park, it was in Neutral! (a whole lot easier to just push off w/ friendly help...)....and so thankful it was not on the track, or worse yet right in front of the water box where I pull around and back up. Always look at the bright side.


New, but Not straight anymore.

New and straight again.

Stuck with heroes coming to tow me back and I cannot thank the Irving's enough...again!



That is not FOG.

[David Lee]

Originally Posted by Cglrcng

Research avenues have increased highly since 1995, just mouse clicks and taps away there is boundless knowledge at your fingertips, technology has skyrocketed over the years, and solutions are endless today that did not even exist then...It was the perfect time to restart the never forgotten project parked just 14 feet away from where I sit and work in my own garage.

Is it an Oddball Stock Elim. Car....Why yes it certainly is, and I like that it is, and yes, as an older gentleman w/ ownership of a high dollar Alcohol Car Operation who actually took the time recently at Famoso asked me "So..., when I see a unique class car running in Stock or Super Stock, I am sure to always visit w/ the owner or driver and ask, as there usually is the same type of answer in common across the board"... "Is there a family link w/ that car? Has it been in the family since it was new?" (Yes, and I was with my late Mother the day she picked it up in Feb. 1995 from the dealership I told him). "And, I am sure there is an interesting back story involved too?!"...(There is, and he took the time to ask, and he certainly got the full story in parts and pieces over the next few days), and almost every time I ran, I would look up and he left his big dollar car operation after I left for a lane call, and he walked all the way down to the stands by the tower to watch that slow oddball car. It made me smile.

Ohhhh, and at least when the car was stuck this time in the lanes....It was not stuck in Park, it was in Neutral! (a whole lot easier to just push off w/ friendly help...)....and so thankful it was not on the track, or worse yet right in front of the water box where I pull around and back up. Always look at the bright side.


Attachment 68962 New, but Not straight anymore.

Attachment 68963 New and straight again.

Attachment 68964 Stuck with heroes coming to tow me back and I cannot thank the Irving's enough...again!



Attachment 68965 That is not FOG.

I am going to report you for having too much fun!!!

[Dick Nearhoof]

From -.15 under in Vegas to -.71 in Pomona Very impressive. I surely admire your philosophy to never give in to a problem!!

[Cglrcng]

Originally Posted by Dick Nearhoof

From -.15 under in Vegas to -.71 in Pomona Very impressive. I surely admire your philosophy to never give in to a problem!!

E1 it ran -.789 after -.008 to a -.005 lights in E1 (both going after trip zip), I knew he was as he was dialed hard and I knew we both had to go for it), These first 4 events have been a large learning curve for me, as of Sept. 2023 forward have been my only experience w/ the LED tree, all my other passes were 5 10ths 5 amber or 3 amber flood light lit trees and I knew it would take some time, still working hard experimenting w/ coffee and food intake to find the right early morning racing combo (I am too up on the wheel, and just a few thou on the wrong side of the tree so far...Thanks Dick!

The car though, is doing exactly what I have asked of it so far, zero complaints there. The air was great (fantastic), in Pomona, just as it was back in Feb 1995 the last time I ran it there it ran -.721 under in GF/SA, at same Index, and a little lighter.

Just about to start some further changes on the car this off season.

[Cglrcng]

Originally Posted by David Lee

I am going to report you for having too much fun!!!

My wife and 3 boys already know! And yes, after sitting out 26 years, I am flat having a blast! I feel like it is 1975 again, not yet my most successful season of 1984, but I hope that is coming (If I can just slow my leaves down a few thousanths, to as green as I have been red so far, I will load that tree up in the hatchback and steal it!)

Going fast was never really a part of my competition equation, but side by side in the lights is what excites me, and to do it with even much faster competition is more fun than I can even imagine attempting to bring it down to an inch! (David, to get to race with many of the best Stock racers in the country at Las Vegas & Pomona at season's end in only my 3rd and 4th event back in the saddle, was a dream come true, and it is beyond fun!)

It is a blast! (I just get at this late stage in life, to stay out there on the track doing it, every pass, quite a bit longer than anyone else does!) It is though too bad NHRA has that rule of not aiming a camera at the competition, because if they did not, I would mount a go-pro under my rear bumper so everyone could see the under chassis view I see in my rear view mirror of the competition when they go wheels up, usually when I am about to cross the 660' mark, it is to die for!

I don't know if anyone else noticed or not, but my last pass of the season, was -789 under, almost 4/10ths off the EF/S Record as far as E.T., but was 4/10ths of a mile an hr. faster than the MPH that was set at. When you pilot a slow heavy sled, the little things are big accomplishments.

That is only a tiny increment, but knowing the car like I do, I can switch to the front street tires, and run 2/10ths slower, but pump that up at least 1 MPH faster. Another small increment.

To see, and be with old friends again, all doing what we love to do...I am just getting started having fun!

[Billy Nees]

So Gary, any plans for this off-season?

[Cglrcng]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

So Gary, any plans for this off-season?

Billy, sorry to leave you hanging since November, but I had a ton of changes planned for the Winter when I left for Pomona, and all that changed when the car went as fast as it did w/zero changes including short shift points compared to Las Vegas.

I got home, after John Irving was kind enough to drop my car w/all support gear inside it packed to the gills at home before his heading back up to Boulder City, and for a month (outside of giving the car a much needed bath the next morning), was highly conflicted as to whether or not to even touch it!

[Chuck Weissberg]

I have been out since @ 1995...reading Yanko" and Nees's stories kinda is giving me the bug again. Making me forget the reasons I left NHRA stock racing/

Originally Posted by Cglrcng

My wife and 3 boys already know! And yes, after sitting out 26 years, I am flat having a blast! I feel like it is 1975 again, not yet my most successful season of 1984, but I hope that is coming (If I can just slow my leaves down a few thousanths, to as green as I have been red so far, I will load that tree up in the hatchback and steal it!)

Going fast was never really a part of my competition equation, but side by side in the lights is what excites me, and to do it with even much faster competition is more fun than I can even imagine attempting to bring it down to an inch! (David, to get to race with many of the best Stock racers in the country at Las Vegas & Pomona at season's end in only my 3rd and 4th event back in the saddle, was a dream come true, and it is beyond fun!)

It is a blast! (I just get at this late stage in life, to stay out there on the track doing it, every pass, quite a bit longer than anyone else does!) It is though too bad NHRA has that rule of not aiming a camera at the competition, because if they did not, I would mount a go-pro under my rear bumper so everyone could see the under chassis view I see in my rear view mirror of the competition when they go wheels up, usually when I am about to cross the 660' mark, it is to die for!

I don't know if anyone else noticed or not, but my last pass of the season, was -789 under, almost 4/10ths off the EF/S Record as far as E.T., but was 4/10ths of a mile an hr. faster than the MPH that was set at. When you pilot a slow heavy sled, the little things are big accomplishments.

That is only a tiny increment, but knowing the car like I do, I can switch to the front street tires, and run 2/10ths slower, but pump that up at least 1 MPH faster. Another small increment.

To see, and be with old friends again, all doing what we love to do...I am just getting started having fun!