A 30 year journey, and a 2nd chance.

[Cglrcng]

Originally Posted by David Lee

north or south of lions?

Actually West of (229th and Dolores Street), just over the border in Carson, CA not far from Carson High School (and a block from where I went to Delores elementary school). We were so close, we could hear the cars run at home, so we were there a lot when I was small. And I did not need to beg much to get my step-dad (or my High School Hot Rodding Uncle w/ a Black/Black 56 Chevy), to go as they were fans too!

lol, I was a kid and didn't drive back then, I just looked it up (we would go south to 223rd, east on 223rd and across to the track). Closed in 1972, by then i lived in Long Beach on the East side, and the place to go was O.C.I.R. in the 64 Funny Car Saturday Night Heyday, where pre-race they lined em' up on the track diagonally all the way down both guard rails.

[David Lee]

Originally Posted by Cglrcng

Actually West of (229th and Dolores Street), just over the border in Carson, CA not far from Carson High School (and a block from where I went to Delores elementary school). We were so close, we could hear the cars run at home, so we were there a lot when I was small. And I did not need to beg much to get my step-dad (or my High School Hot Rodding Uncle w/ a Black/Black 56 Chevy), to go as they were fans too!

lol, I was a kid and didn't drive back then, I just looked it up (we would go south to 223rd, east on 223rd and across to the track). Closed in 1972, by then i lived in Long Beach on the East side, and the place to go was O.C.I.R. in the 64 Funny Car Saturday Night Heyday, where pre-race they lined em' up on the track diagonally all the way down both guard rails.

Carson and hawthorne and worked at service center on hawthorne

[Cglrcng]

Just testing my resized pics so I can continue.

Through the years...

1993 Day of Purchase, no...we bought the whole car, but the only pic I could find from the beginning.

Spring 1995 GatorNats, FL

This last May 20th, 2023 (Shakedown ring seating Pass 2-1/8th Mile Kingman, AZ Legal Street Drags on Rt. 66 on the Slicks) (An annual full track setup right on Andy Devine 3 miles from home, and a timely finish of a 15 month project. Short Block was in the machine shop a full yr. and 3 weeks.

(Now ready to run first quarter mile passes this go around, as soon as NHRA hopefully re-assigns the same numbers...fingers crossed, paperwork and fees are in now). Yeah the G's went away yesterday, now EF/S is on it. Looking to first quarter mile T-N-T Vegas on the 8th of Sept. (Sportsman Brackets same weekend? Maybe)

I think I have the aspect ratio on resized pics correct if they post so I can get back to the build and changes over time. We shall see.

[Cglrcng]

Yeah. (Every part ever removed except the recently replaced pistons I have on the shelf or floor in my garage).

Ok back to 1993, first thing to go The A/C Compressor hoses/dryer off, Save the A/C and Alt. mount (combo weight box/torque strap is mounted in the A/C bracket under hood and in front of R.F. spindle). Box is steel and weighs 14 lbs empty holds 30 plus lbs lead.

Deleted the Cast Iron Exhaust Manifold, CA, EGR smog stuff and a certain Item 3 letter item I will not mention, Replaced with a Chrysler Ramcharger style Hooker 2.2L Long primary tube Header, added O2 Bung and Bosch 1 wire O2 Sensor back.

Cracked open in those days the Direct Connection Catalog and they still had then lotsa go faster a little at a time dealer orderable pcs....For the A-413 Transaxle (lowest set of side case gears avail. at the time, a great trans builder friend of mine in Torrance, CA did miracles reworking the 1st and 2nd gearsets to lower the final gear ratio (it takes time to figure out what is available, and what is best to use with each other (and the complete 3 book Service Manual Set that the Dealers used back then is the best place to start, I did not have a set then, but do now), but not enough to tear up the unequal half shafts.(I have damaged a couple of smaller front axles or boots over time, but recently learned to rebuild/reboot my own).

I bought the D.C. Forward pattern valve body shift kit and also did the modifications myself with a little help to improve it greatly. Another Racer by the name of Lee sold me a barely used set of 20" tall X 6" W X 14" Rim sized M.T. E.T Slicks with plenty of rubber still on them (it is not the rubber, I rarely even drive through the water at all, it is all about the gearing lower of the final gear ratio the slow sled needs.

(Someone back then I think, either Bill O'Connor or Lee brought me a full set of damaged equal length half shafts w/ a broken Carrier Bearing from a turbo edition, still in a box on the lower shelf, never repaired it yet, but if I ever get it to go really fast, might be worth doing).

Also think If I remember correctly in Phoenix in 95, that Bill O'Connor gave me a pretty much stock slider cam in great shape and a little bit more lift than the 1 I had and I tried it once in Houston during a rainout, I dialed it in and tested it a few passes on a T-N-T day playing both adv. and ret., and switched back the morning the National event resumed.

I also picked up from D.C.all the necessary tools to get the cam correct, solid adj. lifter, an adj. TDC finder that screws into the #1 spark plug hole, Made my own degree wheel pointer, 8 Moroso lightweight checking springs, Degree wheel and adapter and addl. Crank Bolt, the correct tool to adjust the timing belt that is counterweighted, and of course carry with me all the measuring instruments to use head on or head off the block.

Next up was to remove the cold air box completely, just removing the element does not improve it much on the Single Point TBI edition.

Those minor items netted me about 4/10ths to about .500 under the 17.45 Index.

[Cglrcng]

The $400.00 bucks won at the 1st bracket race at Carlsbad was just about enough a month or 2 after we bought it to get the car a really cheap (Earl Scheib, believe it...), paint job in blue. They screwed up everything, painted it, pulled it out into the shop, and some fool stripped another car next to it, we showed up to pick it up and little pcs and balls of butcher paper were stuck to the whole car...everywhere!

Needless to say they sanded it all down again and repainted it. They ended up not charging us for the paint job.

1994 The economy sucked in CA, then the Northridge Earthquake hit us from 1 direction early morning, and the same day from the opposite direction in Twenty Nine Palms another quake hit (we decided within a couple of weeks to move to N.W., AZ), so I moved the race car, other vehicles, family and household to AZ...I still had a few employees we had not laid off yet in our struggling at the time Landscape Construction business, but at least 6 months worth of contracts and jobs to finish up, so I travelled back and forth and started racing the car E.T. brackets and Div. events in Stk. to gain grade points in 94 for 95 Nat. Event entries.

I bracket raced the car and started to do well with it at Vegas (long before the 4 wide existed), Speedworld, Chandler, Bakersfield, and a few other places. Even claimed a Runner Up in a S/SS Combo Shootout Race at Surprise put on by Petre C.P..

First Div. Event was at Las Vegas, NV in 94, got to the track with pump gas in it, drained, added a couple gals of VP C12, and promptly failed a pre-race fuel ck. nice tech guy called on the radio to the tower, and he asked for a maint. guy, who he requested a single gallon of red offroad diesel from 1 of the temporary lights way out at the far end of the track, and when he brought it by, he said pay the man...I did. He taught me what I needed to know and do...Wash the oxygenators' out of my fuel system using diesel.

Including this process (because nobody wants to do it if they do not have to), it is a pain, but I got good at it over the next year or 2.

Pumped out the race gas (saved it in same container I had recently drained my pump gas in), made sure not to start the car so no diesel makes it through the injector, just circulates tank, filter(s), up to throttle body and back through return line, and also bounce the rear of the car to splash that 1 gallon all over the inside of the tank, drain diesel and save it in a different container. Add 1-2 gals race gas, wash system to remove the diesel. Save that too. Then fill tank with desired (no more than 2 gals expensive race gas, retest at fuel ck. (yeahhhhh I passed, and I learned what to do, never failed another fuel ck again).

I drove the car on cheap unleaded pump gas from event to event, always arrived early & ready, and took after a few times doing it about a half hour to complete the process before I had the pre-race fuel ck. done...And I sold a lot of unused pre-tested fresh race gas to a lot of friends over the next 2 yrs., at the end of every event.

While I did it driving to events coast to coast and back, it is a pain, so I would not suggest anyone else attempt it unless they have to, and my new rebuilt engine today, no way is Diesel getting anywhere near those combustion chambers again. A 5 gal cell is now installed, it is not a drag and drive car anymore.

Next change I made was calling TCI and having a great torque converter made (Winter of 1994). That is still in the car now in 2023.

At this point in time (i had collected enough grade points to enter Nat. Events), it is just about time for The 1995 WinterNats by the time I got that converter in the car. My first National event will be a test event for that lone chg. pc, but it feels good and while not a whole world of difference it is looser, it flashes and stalls a bunch higher than the prior stock 1.

First 3 Q passes are much improved. And I have always loved Pomona! (My Grandfather went with me and we towed it there). By this time, I had completed all my contracts, and finished up business in CA, sold off our company, filed our last tax return, put our State Contractors Lic. back in the hands of the CA Contractors board, waved goodby and moved the balance of business equipment to N.W., AZ...My wife was happy, life was happy, and she said go racing for a while if you want, you had a rough year in 94! 1995 was going to be spent driving the budget stocker to Nat. and Div. Events and Bracket Racing in between full time travelling, me, the car, and about 1,500 lbs of tools, supplies, clothes, luggage, etc. in the budget drag and drive Class Car.

[Cglrcng]

Ok, first National Event Ever Class Racing ...At least for me, first time towing this car too. And I made a big mistake as I often washed the car at a hand spray wash near the track (incl. carefully in the engine bay), but then would drive it immediately always. We did the same except on the trailer, and that mistake will show up later (at just the wrong time!).

Feb 2nd., 1995 Pomona, CA (air is crisp, cool out, but dry, snow on the San Gabriel Mnts., air is good, but no mine shaft conditions, too many water grains in the air. And 11:34 A.M., track is not yet right for Q-1, and I have a fresh converter installed and no tests but a dry hop or 4 in front of the house at home on a poor chip sealed road.

I will take it easy and feel out the staging, stall, flash and leave and adjust for Q-2...Light ok, needs adjusting down earlier though or a higher stall on the leave or both...leave shift 1-2 at 5700 and the car is in Drive. And it goes through and It shifted itself 2-3 at too early. (my log book shows an X). Q-1 17.074 -376 under on 17.45 GF/SA index.

Feb 3 Q-2 8:00 AM Adjustment time. (Both Tree and Stall Speed get after that light and manually shift the car and find out what it will really run).
Ok, that is a lot better, but red by a bunch -.069 Red (have not eaten yet today, and I need some food & less coffee...because Q-3 is a hot lap in like 17 mins), but the car is right it just ran a personal best 16.736 -.714 Under, and the best MPH so far. (It is not a Rocket by any means yet, but it was worth the money for the converter), and Q-3 is coming right up. And in middle of the pack, best Q position at that point in time for me so far, I am happy.

I have nothing to do but eat, car is maint. free budget car I can hot lap all day, and in less than an hr. our race day is over, until tomorrow at 8:00 AM.

I eat and ready at 8:17 AM Q-3 (light is nothing to write home about...I'll adjust that tomorrow, as I mainly wanted to repeat the pass or see if I can)...I stalled 100 RPM higher though 16.730 -.720 Under....Now we are getting somewhere at least with the car, if it will repeat like that I can work on me. Still not a rocket, but a reliable mid packer, but still know I am on the bottom half and will get a tough draw tomorrow.

We prepare the car up on jackstands, so I can warm up the car in the morning and at least warm up the transaxle, because there is flat no driving around the pits Sunday AM before first round and rain and fog are both in the forecast overnight and AM hrs. (our 1st Rnd call is for 8:00 AM), ladders are not ready yet when we leave to get lunch hit the motel, swim a bit and rest up).

Feb. 4, 1995- Get to the track, wipe car down as it rained earlier, still foggy out, quite cool and humid. Start warming up the car after checking the R-1 Ladder...Yup tough company I have Gary Emmons 1st round.

Car is up on stands front tires spinning in low gear we have about a half hour before the call, and just as the car reaches decent temperature, it just out of the blue shuts off.....and my grandfather is pointing under the car (and I am dumbfounded), why did the car lose fire?

I look up and he is standing there shaking his head and holding a 1 pc timing belt and it is in a line not a circle! Awwwww, crap. I am dejected, and he asked do you have another 1? I am worried about bent valves, he is asking if I have another Timing belt...I do, but....He says get it and I am thrashing already, looking for it and tools to do the work.

I changed to a new belt about a yr. ago, when I purchased the adjustable Cam Sprocket and offset keys, but did not do that in a hurry (I did save the old belt just in case though...that is the 1 I found in my spares box.

I do not have a lot of time, and am going to be really rushed to unbolt the right mount jack up the engine, slide belt over the mount, realign the Cam sprocket, Crank sprocket, the Intermediate sprocket all in the right points get that belt on (not off a single 12 degree tooth), no time to break out the books, just the tools, and pray....as he tells me no worries, it is a non-interference engine, the valves cannot touch those flat top pistons, so let's get this belt on now. (It hit me, while I had never had the head off the engine at this point, I had read everything I could about a 2.2L that I could get my hands on)...Books in mid 90's, no real internet yet folks, no youtube. And he was right, it can happen at full throttle and you only lose fire in the holes.

I relax and we thrash, we get the belt on, I think it is right, no time to warm it up again ,it fires up and sounds ok I am late but get there just in time, dialed a 16.72...and I am late on the tree, and Jerry flat drills me (I never had a chance), I can probably find the time slip somewhere, but my log book in the whole column just says the time, the dial in, and in bold letters -BROKE TIMING BELT AFTER PAIRING 1ST ROUND- and in small print at the bottom. G. Emmons 1st. rnd. loss I am (LATE). -First Rnd. Duck-

Crap happens, it was a long 6 hr tow home, looking at that belt later, it looked like it sat in a pool of water overnight right at the break point, and then I remembered that car wash, and the timing belt cover snout pools water there evidentially unless you fire it up and kick the water out and heat the block properly to dry everything out, so soap, water, and the degreasing chemicals weakened the belt.

Hey PHX Nats is in 2 weeks, then I am headed out for months of the best road trip of Nats, Div's., and Bracket racing ever, so head home nd get the car packed and prepped to head South and East, racing along the way!

[Cglrcng]

Once home, when we put the belt on that morning at the track in a thrash, it was a tooth off, retarded a full 12 degrees (which is not hard to do, if you do not have everything marked just right ahead of time, and recent marks that are not faded, and do not hold your head in just the right spot and angle when aligning the crank and intermediate sprocket(s) marks (you get (0_) instead of (o-) and that is exactly 1 tooth as there used to be a lot more in the way than there is today. (On the bright side though, my normal install on that particular cam is 3 degrees adv. using the D.C. adj. cam sprocket and a 3 degree offset key, so...In the end it was really worse than a tooth off and it kills the bottom end on this car, but helps the top. So that helped make that light even worse than it really was.

But, I knew to check it immediately once we arrived home. That is not the worst part, there is about a dollar sized spot of tranny fluid on the steel deck of the trailer right below the inspection plate on the transaxle bellhousing, but I have time to pull that converter out and find out what's up (12 days to fix things and Chandler is only 3.5 hrs Southeast). I hope it is just the Converter to pump seal..T.C.I is in Jacksonville, FL and I need to drive this car there via PHX- Nat., Ennis, TX,- Div. Houston, TX-Div. then Gainsville, FL-Nat., and I have family in JAX I will be visiting. Then Baton Rouge, LA-Div......Springtime Rains are in store though in a big way.

Car is fast enough for now, and so far (just a couple of passes consistent), an after a thrash, a pass like that sucks, but I can throw that out...this time. It is not much of a build thread yet, but things get progressively worse before they get better.

Rain, Bugs, and a long road trip, some improves along the way...later ok.

[Cglrcng]

Ok in hindsight I went and looked up that time slip, It was a bad light, but the ET was not as bad as the light made me feel, but anytime you line up against someone from the Emmons Clan from Pasadena, TX, expect to get a workout. I know now, what I did not know then (I had yet to meet them yet other than through a glass window in the other lane my first National Event competing, and I was paying more attention to myself and my car, than I was who was in the other lane), as I had raced up till then all over SoCal, NorCal, the Western Div. 7, a couple of deep southern 1/8th mile tracks (that I could not today even find on a map if I tried), when travelling to and from CA to to FL for 3 Winter Bracket Series in the mid 80's...83, 84, and 85...then when I went again not racing, but as a Contingency sponsor and distributor of Nathan's Wax in 88 I think, via Missouri, and always just drove straight through that 24 hr loooong drive across the Great State of Texas and never had raced in Div. 4...only had a season under my belt in Stk. Elim thus far.

But I did recognize those Black and Yellow Pyroil/Valvoline Cars (there was a bunch of em, so they were very hard to miss), and Valvoline/Pyroil was also the fluid Mfg/Dist. Sponsor that year (Every National Event you were entered in, you went to the Mfg. Midway and chose your products, A case of oil, another trans fluid, and other products like brake fluid, injector cleaner, etc., I never changed my oil so much in my whole life as that year.

I had nothing but time between events but to drive (find a track with a bracket event), and attempt to pick up some cash along the way in what I was a lot better at than class racing yet, so it was find a track racing along the way, change oil and compete until you reached the next Div. or Nat. event on my schedule or sit in a motel/hotel room and be bored. the car was ok, as was I at slow roll bracket racing...But, I learned I really don't like 1/8 mile racing in a snail. The Deep South was full of those then.

Back at home I pulled out the Transaxle for the second time in a week, 3rd time ever, and all 3 times on the ground car up on jackstands and not on a lift. Tody would rather pull the engine out completely with it attached then just the transaxle alone, but what did I know, I was a lot younger and stupid (I pulled the converter out), checked the converter to pump seal, no issue there, but found a tiny pinhole leak in the weld around the balloon weld, it was leaking, wasn't a bad leak, but it left a quarter inch wide band of fluid around the center of the inside of the bell housing that was sealed up on the bottom by an inspection plate w/ a single bolt, and running it would put out a drop a minute or two. (This was a very tiny leak, but a leak all the same. And I'm leaving on nearly a 3,000 mile trip before I will arrive in Jacksonville, FL.

[Cglrcng]

So, I called T.C.I. (and he said no way is there a pinhole in that converter), and I was running out of time (it is brand new under warranty, not going to have anyone else rework it...weld it, the converter works well, I had just run the 2 fastest passes back to back ever in the car in Q2/Q3, I need TCI to fix it only), I sealed the pinhole with epoxy (they can wire brush that off later), got a small loaf pan (like a tiny banana nut bread loaf), drilled a hole in it where the inspection plate bolt is located, stuck a sham wow shammy folded over in the bottom of that pan inside to soak up anything if it were to leak, and bolted on protection. And hit the road after loading up, headed for Chandler and Nat. Event #2.

Arrived and prepped the car and headed to tech. then a pre-race fuel ck after doing my thing, and sure enough they saw it in tech and asked (I told them what was up, and he said can you pull it off for me?). Sure...It took me a min and a 10mm wrench. He looked in the pan, and there was only a dime sized drop on the shammy material, asked how far I drove it and I said 3.5 hrs., and he handed it back and said put it back on, we would rather you not even leak a drop, and it appears to not be performance enhancing. Nobody ever even looked at that pan again at a National or Divisional event until after the Gainsville event...I think the word travelled to the east coast before I got there amongst Tech Inspectors.

But, after Gainsville, later when I got to Commerce, GA, the same Tech inspector from PHX was there, and he looked up underneath, laughed and said, ahhhh you got it fixed (that pan was gone). There is more to that story later.

I will not bore you with all the PHX. race details, let it suffice to say I received an arse whoopin from Jerry Emmons Round #1 (Emmons Brother 2 so far through 2 events 1st round(s), and Dad Harver ll ,and 1994's National Champ Harvey lll is wearing the #1 on his car is still out there, and guess where I am headed next? Div. 4 Ennis, TX and their home turf for The 1st Div. race of the trip, then Houston, TX for a Nat. Event. (Phx did require a coil replacement after Q-2, and I picked up some parts to add a New Autometer Fuel Pressure Gauge, a fuel petcock for easy sampling and Earls fittings and braided lines. Additions to be done along the way during long waits). The weather was great in PHX, hotel issues though I would not bore anyone with, and while My stuff was in my pit, under a tarp and blanket at Wild Horse (called Firebird Raceway in those days), in the middle of the night, right next to a friend's motorhome bedroom window, someone local (not necessarily a racer, as it had happened there a year before also), went through my stuff...only a couple of minor items missing, I had taken all really valuable stuff with me to the motel (including the car).

But, that will set a stage for the next installment.

[Cglrcng]

I leave PHX (after attempting to sell 5 gals of fresh VP C-12 in 1 of my fuel jugs, no takers @ $7.50 a gal it is going with me), heading south and east, next race Ennis, Tx, and about 20 miles from the Ft. Worth Outerplex on I think it was I-20 one of Texas DPS's finest is sitting in the center in the grass, I look down, I'm cool right on the speed limit, but he whips out anyway and pretty much just wants to ck. the vehicle for any illegal substances or contraband.

Parking at the track is tonight, still a ways to go, and just before sunset now, He would like me to unload everything on the side of the road, I have zero worries (ok, except the 5 gals of race gas in that fuel jug, but he already looked at that, smelled it and capped it back up satisfied it was only gasoline in a red jug), and he just wants his buddy's dog to do a walk around.

As I am unloading all of a sudden this feeling comes over me...I AM OK...but, someone went through much of my stuff 2 nights ago, crap...What if?

The dog shows up, sniffs around, and does not alert to anything of course, they left and let me load it aall back up. Guess who was working the event the next few days? Yup, same 2 Texas DPS Officer, we talked and I related what happened to me in PHX, and my momentary thoughts the night before, and they both laughed and simply said, yeah...That could have been bad.

He said you were cool and I knew it the minute you said ok and started unloading while I watched you. It's just our job, and we knew where you were heading.

Ennis (4 days 2/23-2/26), incl. a test and tune day before was great, until it rained us out just before 1st round, delayed to 3/11-3/12 (at first, then again after Houston, the Ennis Div. 4-1 was resched. for June something, and I will never make it back, they eventually refunded my entry for the race without issue and only charged me for the Test day!. (Heeeey I escaped a race without being slaughtered by an Emmons boy!) LMAO

Of course I didn't go any rounds, but had a total of 10 passes at the Texas Motorplex, the car is ok, but nowhere near a fast in TX as it was in CA, but the lights were better, just not in competition. (At least I truly met the Emmons Clan Of Texas, all of them), and they made me feel right at home, a great group of people, it was fun and relaxed until the skies opened up and poured buckets like you would not believe.

I leave Dallas heading for Houston and can barely see the road ahead as I am heading south on the Interstate, not 20 or so miles from the track, and Blue lights flashing in the rear view mirror. Crap what now, I was only doing like 35 mph, as was everyone else, and a different DPS officer again comes to my window in his smokey hat, and full on rain slicker, it is flat pouring out, just opening my window a crack and I am getting soaked inside the car, and he asks me If I would mind unloading everything on the side of the road in a deluge!

My eyes are huge, and I say are you serious? Then he smiles and says "as a heart attack"..."which is what you almost just had", then I hear this roar of laughter and sure enough the same 2 officer's from the track were standing at the rear of the car, laughing like crazy, while he explains they put him up to it and I could merrily go on my way now.

3/2-3/6/95 First Q- pass at Houston was a 16.90 -.550 Under with a .004 light (.504) in those days, but you know, things change...And, some things don't, as I was qualified #23 after Q-1, the highest so far to date, and in came the rain and washed all the fun out. The race will be entirely re-run (because the grass spectator parking lot was a mud pit and it will take 2 days just to pull all the cars and trucks out), We will re-run the entire event next week 3/9-3/12/95! (There goes that ok #23 Q Spot!) I cannot win for losing. 2 event dates in a row though and I have not be whacked by another Emmons! (in fact...NHRA transferred my rained out Ennis entry to the upcoming Baton Rouge Div., and The Emmons clan (Family), invited me to stay near them and set me up at the Pasadena Motor Inn near them (arranged a decent rate for me through local friends & invited me to the house for a few BBQ's and I had a great time visiting w/ new friends!

When I wasn't having a great time over the next 10 days I was playing with and testing 3 different cams, and actually picked up a crew chief for the Re-Sched. Houston race from Liberty Chrysler Plymouth who had parts and sponsor help. (Dad) Harvey, Jr. introduced us.

That 10 days was really a blurr, but I have notes, and had a great time while I was luckily marooned amongst new friends in South Texas! (The boys house at that time had as many Wally's, other Trophies and awards as Don Garlits Musuem in Ocala, FL!

I really appreciated my time with them, their hospitality was amazing, and cannot wait to see the men (cannot call them boys any more), again in the near future and was really sry and sad to hear they lost their Dad not too long ago.