July 27, 2007

Last Friday morning, because we were pushed for time, we left Will Bodley's shop without the new oil containment device installed as required by NHRA's new rule that goes into effect January 1st. The rule allows dragsters to use a 2" deep pan rather than a diaper. An engine diaper in a dragster is a physical nightmare. The concept is to catch any oil that may leak and have an oil absorbent material in the pan to soak it up, keeping it off of the track and your rear tires. Actually, this is an excellent rule and a great safety device.

This evening we took the car back over to Will's to have it put in with new tabs and have the wing adjusted to a 1° forward rake. Just enough to offer a little down force and stability on the top end but not enough to slow the car down. We are now race ready for next Wednesday night at Sunshine.

July 22, 2007

It's Sunday, but there is still more to be done in order to have everything ready for the beginning of the fall racing season that begins on August first. I forgot to mention that when we arrived in Lakeland last Friday morning, we found a big bulge in the sidewall of one of our trailer tires. Seeing that it was a disaster just waiting to happen, we bought a new tire and wheel that would eventually be used as a spare and changed the tire while some of the graphics were being applied. Today however, we needed to put a new tire on the Alcoa rim (so they would all match) so we went down to our local friendly Goodyear store and bought one then mounted the new spare tire in the trailer for any potential future emergencies.

We've had an electric jack on the trailer and it was wired directly to the motorhome. Well, for some reason, sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. We had reached the end of our rope so we hooked up the spare battery as a full time trailer battery, then wired the jack to the circuit. Now the jack always works and we can save all of that hand cranking. Whew!!

July 21, 2007

Today we cleaned our trailer. In the past we had washed it with soap and water and even pressure washed it but it still had these black streaks that we just couldn't get off. When in Lakeland yesterday, Mike Scott gave me some Streak-B Gone and Wow! It really did the job as you can see from the photo. The trailer now looks like it's brand new however, doing this job which takes a few hours in 95° heat can really take it's toll on you. Whew!!

July 20, 2007

Today we signed our sponsorship contract with Michael Scott at Right Trailers in Lakeland, Fl. The deal is for most of the 2007 racing season with and option in late 2007 as well as options for the entire season in 2008 and beyond. This morning we took the race car and trailer to Dixie Signs in Lakeland and had the new graphics applied. To say that today was exciting would be a gross understatement.

July, 19, 2007

What a day. Right after work I went to pick up the motor home and trailer to take to Will's shop as we must complete the car tonight in order for us to be in Lakeland on Friday. Well, the battery in the motor home is dead as a door nail so I have to take the spare out of the trailer and put it into the motor home. By the time I get to Will's shop, he has the motor and transmission bolted in the chassis. Now we have to add all of the accessories, complete all of the wiring and plumbing, prime the motor and button up all of the odds and ends. During this, Will's shop is a metal building and the temperature had soared to 104°. We pushed on and finally fired the motor at 2:00am. No neighbors and no cops showed up (thank goodness) so we loaded up the car and came home. It's done!!!!! After a 45 minute drive home I finally hit the sack at 4:00am and oh...I have to be in Lakeland at 9:00am. The price we pay for success.

July 18, 2007

Chris Nelson delivers the motor to us at Will Bodley's shop at 9:00 PM and it's almost too late do anything with it tonight so we give up.

Going Through The Rebuild

Going through a major repair or rebuild is not an easy task. This project started in the end of April and should be finally finished this Thursday (July 19th). We are in the process of having the motor freshened up by Nelson Performance in Pinellas Park. It includes new rings, bearings, valve seals, springs and a new set of shaft mounted rockers on top of correcting all of the little things that were wrong.



Seventy percent of the engine work done by Nelson Performance is developmental, monster cubic inch motors for NMCA or Pro Mod racers and they are typically very backlogged. We were lucky to have been able to be squeezed into their schedule. But, waiting is a big part of it and that's the price you have to pay for quality. We're hoping for 400 passes from this motor. All of the chassis work was done by Bodley Racing and Fabrication in Clearwater. The car also needed a more professional look so we enlisted the help of American Powder Coating in Tampa to add a little Candy Apple Red color to the car, just to spruce it up.One of the big projects was to move the fuel cell to the nose of the car to allow easier access to the entire fuel system and then to move the batteries to the rear of the car to lighten up the front end and get all that weight under the rear tires. This should help our consistency greatly on a slick race track. We also had Will Bodley ( on the right in the grey shirt ) redesign the deflector shield to allow more room between the front of the motor and the back of the roll cage.

When we bought the car, the rear wing came with it but wasn't installed. We wanted to put the wing back on the car just to add some stability on the top end when running quarter mile tracks. We also thought that while we had the car in the chassis shop that now was a good time to go ahead and have an oil catch pan installed to meet the new 2008 NHRA rules requirement. We have a commitment from Chris Nelson to have the motor back tomorrow night so with about four hours of buttoning it up and with a little polish, she should be ready to take to Lakeland on Friday for new graphics. Now, it's starting to get exciting