I would like to personally thank all of those who have been so supportive and kind throughout the whole New Hemi Racing saga.
No, we are not done yet. The end will come some day, but for now we are simply on a bit of a sabbatical.
My health is as good as it has been. No worries there.
Right now I am dealing with what I see as an incredibly unfair action by the NHRA.
First of all I will explain that when a car runs too fast, typically 1.20 seconds or more under their assigned index, the NHRA automatically increases the rated horsepower for your car. This generally results in you needed to add weight to compensate for the increase in horsepower, which usually slows you down.
Prior to the end of last year, we were told, by someone who has a hand in these things, that we would NOT get horsepower at the end of the year, if we didn't run 1.20 under, which is an automatic trigger for horsepower. We were told that "they" knew that we were running fast, and being pretty honest about it. So they would take care of us. And we didn't run 1.20 under. We ever garnered a National Record for A/SA, and the National Class Performer Win for Stock/Automatic, and still did not run 1.20 under.
But guess what at year end? We got horsepower, in spite of what we had previously been told.
If I had know that we would be getting more horsepower, I would have petitioned the NHRA earlier for a reduction in horsepower for our combination, due to at least 2, and more likely 3, horsepower hits we took due to runs made by a car with an illegal engine. The illegality was identified when that car was torn down, and he admitted that he had always run that way.
So how is this fair? After I learned that we did horsepower, I wrote a letter to NHRA to the group responsible for the horsepower, and asked that the horsepower for those illegal runs be lifted. But since it was after the end of the year, it was too late. Therefore my request, in spite of the unfairness of the additional horsepower, would not be considered until the next cycle of change in six months.
Not at all fair, and I am really wondering if the NHRA cares about fair.
We are waiting to get a resolution on this issue. Until then, whether or not we even race again in the NHRA, is an open question.
But once again my friends, I appreciate you support, and prayers.
God Bless, and Safe Racing.
David
Monday, March 5, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Today... As Chris would would said, It was like Herding Cats...
Today was an interesting day.
Chris' oldest son David was with me, and we went to see Chris' younger son Max play basketball in a local Church league.
Max is now eight years old, and is an aggressive (in a good way) and competetive little guy.
His little sister Bella, now 6 1/2 is a cheerleader for Max's team, so it was like a double header.
At one time, there two short basket ball courts with two opposing teams competing on each. Additionally the stands were full on both sides, and the cheerleaders were cheering.
Max and Belle actually got the Church after David and I had arrived, and she informed her mother that Grandpa is here, there is his car. She knows my Hemi Orange Challenger and often to refers to me as Grandpa with the car.
Well, when the courts were filled with kids with absolutely no basketball skills, and the crowds were cheering, and little brothers and little sisters running amuck around the court and in the stands...
I loved Max's energy and competiveness, he actually scored twice. And Bella was terrific as she waved the Pom Poms and jumped and cheered....
But the whole experience, which Chris would have loved to see, because he loved his kids so much, would have quickly been labled by him, as Herding Cats...... a term he often used when the kids being ........kids.
David and I are spending the evening playing around wth the same computers, that Chris and I played around with back in the late 70s, a old S100 computer called an IMSAI, with a Lear Seigler ADM - 3A connected to it. And just like when Chris was young, and I was younger, it is not at all without adventure...
I just wanted to share that picture with you, and my son would have used to characterize the situation...and I always enjoyed his colorful descriptions of situations...maybe because he got a lot of that from me.
It is new year.. and who knows what it holds?
But I thank God for life, and for time with my grandchildren. And today was a particularly rich experience.
Good Bless, and Race Safely
David
Chris' oldest son David was with me, and we went to see Chris' younger son Max play basketball in a local Church league.
Max is now eight years old, and is an aggressive (in a good way) and competetive little guy.
His little sister Bella, now 6 1/2 is a cheerleader for Max's team, so it was like a double header.
At one time, there two short basket ball courts with two opposing teams competing on each. Additionally the stands were full on both sides, and the cheerleaders were cheering.
Max and Belle actually got the Church after David and I had arrived, and she informed her mother that Grandpa is here, there is his car. She knows my Hemi Orange Challenger and often to refers to me as Grandpa with the car.
Well, when the courts were filled with kids with absolutely no basketball skills, and the crowds were cheering, and little brothers and little sisters running amuck around the court and in the stands...
I loved Max's energy and competiveness, he actually scored twice. And Bella was terrific as she waved the Pom Poms and jumped and cheered....
But the whole experience, which Chris would have loved to see, because he loved his kids so much, would have quickly been labled by him, as Herding Cats...... a term he often used when the kids being ........kids.
David and I are spending the evening playing around wth the same computers, that Chris and I played around with back in the late 70s, a old S100 computer called an IMSAI, with a Lear Seigler ADM - 3A connected to it. And just like when Chris was young, and I was younger, it is not at all without adventure...
I just wanted to share that picture with you, and my son would have used to characterize the situation...and I always enjoyed his colorful descriptions of situations...maybe because he got a lot of that from me.
It is new year.. and who knows what it holds?
But I thank God for life, and for time with my grandchildren. And today was a particularly rich experience.
Good Bless, and Race Safely
David
Friday, December 30, 2011
New Year's Eve... Happy New Year
I just wanted to say Happy New Year to you all.
And to say THANKS for all of your encouragement and support.
A couple of the other contingency sponsors have stepped up.. I had previously forgotten to acknowledge VP, and I have also received payment from Moser for the National Performer award.
There still are a lot of folks who owe for Columbus, and and even more who stiffed me for wins last year, when Class was supposed to be paid.
Once again, Happy New Year to all!
David
And to say THANKS for all of your encouragement and support.
A couple of the other contingency sponsors have stepped up.. I had previously forgotten to acknowledge VP, and I have also received payment from Moser for the National Performer award.
There still are a lot of folks who owe for Columbus, and and even more who stiffed me for wins last year, when Class was supposed to be paid.
Once again, Happy New Year to all!
David
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Merry Christmas
In my last post, full of anticipation, I said I would report on the Indianapolis Banquet and our awards.
Initially, when the award was annouced, and we all started chasing it, there were several things that we were told.
So we spent a lot of money and won a lot of races, and ultimately won the award.
But guess what, the really big championship sized trophy, wasn't all that big. In fact it was a standard Class winning sized trophy. But I have it now. I was also told that I would get our Class trophy from Vegas at teh Banquet, but nobody there had a clue about that.
Initially, we heard that a Gold Card came with the win, but later heard it would be a Jacket, and that was apparently later to changed to .....absolutely nothing.
There were other promises and to date, they are still unrealized. But who knows...
Well at least we would get the Program card for the Banquet to keep as a souvenir. The only problem with that, is there is no mention of our award in the Program. I don't t think this was the fault of the Division people, as they just didn't get the news in time.
So it was all of the Junior dragster winners that got their awards, and spoke their thanks, and a bunch of other awards as well, and then... they called the three winners, Super Stock Automatic, Stock Stick, and Stock Automatic, handed them their trophies, and that was that.. Wham bam, thank you maam.
At least we got a free dinner. We had two tickets, one from Division, one from NHRA, and the kind folks at Milan Drag Strip gave me one too. Thanks friends.
The food was quite a bit below average, and they ran out of the chicken, and and other stuff too... we stopped at a restaurant afterwards, to get some real food.
So, all in all, the whole thing was pretty much disappointing all the way around.
The only good part was seeing a couple of old friends, and meeting a couple of new ones.
I would have posted a picture of the trophy, but it same as the others, and if you have seen one, you seen them all.
As you can tell, I was more than a bit disappointed about the way the whole program was handled. That last trip West cost as much as we won from the Contingency Sponsors, so now I can only hope that the Contingency Sponsors actually pay up. Mopar, and Comp Cams are the only one to pay so far, and quite frankly I am still owed by many for the Columbus Sports Nationals win. It is sad that when you support a product, and win, these contingency sponsors are either very slow pay, or no pay at all, except for a couple.
Next year, my car will have a lot fewer stickers on it. No, I will leave them on but put a big red NO in a circle over them so folks know they don't pay.
To everyone who follows the blog, even the competitors, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas, and happy New Year.
God Bless, and Safe Racing.
David
Initially, when the award was annouced, and we all started chasing it, there were several things that we were told.
So we spent a lot of money and won a lot of races, and ultimately won the award.
But guess what, the really big championship sized trophy, wasn't all that big. In fact it was a standard Class winning sized trophy. But I have it now. I was also told that I would get our Class trophy from Vegas at teh Banquet, but nobody there had a clue about that.
Initially, we heard that a Gold Card came with the win, but later heard it would be a Jacket, and that was apparently later to changed to .....absolutely nothing.
There were other promises and to date, they are still unrealized. But who knows...
Well at least we would get the Program card for the Banquet to keep as a souvenir. The only problem with that, is there is no mention of our award in the Program. I don't t think this was the fault of the Division people, as they just didn't get the news in time.
So it was all of the Junior dragster winners that got their awards, and spoke their thanks, and a bunch of other awards as well, and then... they called the three winners, Super Stock Automatic, Stock Stick, and Stock Automatic, handed them their trophies, and that was that.. Wham bam, thank you maam.
At least we got a free dinner. We had two tickets, one from Division, one from NHRA, and the kind folks at Milan Drag Strip gave me one too. Thanks friends.
The food was quite a bit below average, and they ran out of the chicken, and and other stuff too... we stopped at a restaurant afterwards, to get some real food.
So, all in all, the whole thing was pretty much disappointing all the way around.
The only good part was seeing a couple of old friends, and meeting a couple of new ones.
I would have posted a picture of the trophy, but it same as the others, and if you have seen one, you seen them all.
As you can tell, I was more than a bit disappointed about the way the whole program was handled. That last trip West cost as much as we won from the Contingency Sponsors, so now I can only hope that the Contingency Sponsors actually pay up. Mopar, and Comp Cams are the only one to pay so far, and quite frankly I am still owed by many for the Columbus Sports Nationals win. It is sad that when you support a product, and win, these contingency sponsors are either very slow pay, or no pay at all, except for a couple.
Next year, my car will have a lot fewer stickers on it. No, I will leave them on but put a big red NO in a circle over them so folks know they don't pay.
To everyone who follows the blog, even the competitors, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas, and happy New Year.
God Bless, and Safe Racing.
David
Friday, December 9, 2011
Innovations list...
I have repeatedly said that Drag Pak #24, the Mega Maniac has more innovations than any other Drag Pak. Well, the list is pretty well complete now, although I am sure that when I talk to Keith again, he will be able to add one or two more, but the number is well over 40.
I had previously said that I would post the list here, after redacting (a political term for hiding things I don't want anyone else to know) the Secret Squirrel items.
But frankly, I am finding so many things on the list, that really are Secret Squirrel items, and so many others that simply are the things that give us our edge. So, I just can't do it. At this time.
If this list were public, and people realized how different my car is from all of the others, I am sure that we would be awarded the "Best Engineered" award.
Even members of the Drag Pak #24 Secret Squirrel Club are not able to implement all of these innovations. However they are able to benefit from quite a few of these of them.
You might ask why they can't implement all of these changes. And that would be a pretty good question. I am impressed that you are so insightful!
Drag Pak cars are built by several different chassis builders. The is the original one, Mike Pustelney at MPR Race Cars did the prototypes for Chysler (and for Ford with Mustangs, and also now for GM with the COPO Camaro) and there are other less well known chassis builders.
So the Drag Pak cars, although they all have to "fit the mold" of a Drag Pak as approved by the NHRA are not all the same.
So, some of our innovations simply won't fit on some Drag Pak cars. Does that mean they don't need them, you ask? No. It just means that someone who has a 727 transmission can not do exactly what we have done in my 904. And if someone's chassis is not set up exactly the same as mine, those innovations would not necessarily apply.
So, you ask, is there something Secret Squirrel about your 904, and your chassis?
Yes, I answer emphatically! But I am not telling you.
More later after the Division 3 Banquet/awards ceremony.
God Bless, and Race Safely
David
I had previously said that I would post the list here, after redacting (a political term for hiding things I don't want anyone else to know) the Secret Squirrel items.
But frankly, I am finding so many things on the list, that really are Secret Squirrel items, and so many others that simply are the things that give us our edge. So, I just can't do it. At this time.
If this list were public, and people realized how different my car is from all of the others, I am sure that we would be awarded the "Best Engineered" award.
Even members of the Drag Pak #24 Secret Squirrel Club are not able to implement all of these innovations. However they are able to benefit from quite a few of these of them.
You might ask why they can't implement all of these changes. And that would be a pretty good question. I am impressed that you are so insightful!
Drag Pak cars are built by several different chassis builders. The is the original one, Mike Pustelney at MPR Race Cars did the prototypes for Chysler (and for Ford with Mustangs, and also now for GM with the COPO Camaro) and there are other less well known chassis builders.
So the Drag Pak cars, although they all have to "fit the mold" of a Drag Pak as approved by the NHRA are not all the same.
So, some of our innovations simply won't fit on some Drag Pak cars. Does that mean they don't need them, you ask? No. It just means that someone who has a 727 transmission can not do exactly what we have done in my 904. And if someone's chassis is not set up exactly the same as mine, those innovations would not necessarily apply.
So, you ask, is there something Secret Squirrel about your 904, and your chassis?
Yes, I answer emphatically! But I am not telling you.
More later after the Division 3 Banquet/awards ceremony.
God Bless, and Race Safely
David
Friday, November 25, 2011
Innovations.....
Just a quick thought about innovations:
I have, on a couple of ocassions, said that Drag Pak #24 has more innovations than any other Drag Pak car. And I stand by that statement. But I thought it only fair to expalin what I mean.
Innovations are ways of doing something, that are different from the way others do them. And they provide some kind of convenience, performance, or appearance advantage. Or, at least that is my definition of it.
What motivates innovation? Innovation is often the answer to a gnawing problem, or it is simply something that nobody else has yet seen the need to do.
So, some of our innovations are the result of addressing problems, and some are simply a better way to do something, which we think gives us some kind of advantage.
Better, is only "better" if there is some kind of an advantage provided by it. Doing something just to be different, while it might stroke your ego, is no better if it doenst present an advantage.
After my last posting, I opened a spreadsheet and started tabulating (counting) the number of things that we did, either before anyone else, in spite of everyone else, or that others have not yet done.
My list of innovations totals around 40 individual items.
A few of these items are the result of decisions that we made to save weight, or because we couldn't get something within our timeframe, so we went a different direction. And some others have now made some of those same decisions, so they are no longer unique to us. But that doesn't mean that they still aren't innovations by us. And there are some items where our decisions solved a problem. And then, there are the Secret Squirrel innovations. And it seems that we have at least 10 of those.
Once I reorganize the innovation list, I will also redact the Secret Squirrel entries, and then publish the entire list here.
God Bless and Race Safely
David
I have, on a couple of ocassions, said that Drag Pak #24 has more innovations than any other Drag Pak car. And I stand by that statement. But I thought it only fair to expalin what I mean.
Innovations are ways of doing something, that are different from the way others do them. And they provide some kind of convenience, performance, or appearance advantage. Or, at least that is my definition of it.
What motivates innovation? Innovation is often the answer to a gnawing problem, or it is simply something that nobody else has yet seen the need to do.
So, some of our innovations are the result of addressing problems, and some are simply a better way to do something, which we think gives us some kind of advantage.
Better, is only "better" if there is some kind of an advantage provided by it. Doing something just to be different, while it might stroke your ego, is no better if it doenst present an advantage.
After my last posting, I opened a spreadsheet and started tabulating (counting) the number of things that we did, either before anyone else, in spite of everyone else, or that others have not yet done.
My list of innovations totals around 40 individual items.
A few of these items are the result of decisions that we made to save weight, or because we couldn't get something within our timeframe, so we went a different direction. And some others have now made some of those same decisions, so they are no longer unique to us. But that doesn't mean that they still aren't innovations by us. And there are some items where our decisions solved a problem. And then, there are the Secret Squirrel innovations. And it seems that we have at least 10 of those.
Once I reorganize the innovation list, I will also redact the Secret Squirrel entries, and then publish the entire list here.
God Bless and Race Safely
David
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving..
Today, I am going to hoodwink you...just kidding....
Actually, I am just going to go back into the past and explain our hood issues, and solutions..
First the problem with the dzus fasteners was obvious from the beginning. They were difficult to attach, tough to release, and you often slid the tool off of the fastener and scratched the hood. So they were a pain in the tail, from day one. When you needed a fuel check, or had other reason to pull the hood after a race, you had to make sure that the driver had help. Lining the hood back up after taking it off, often led to just attaching 3 o4 of the fasteners until you got the car back to the pit area. So Chris and I both hated those fasteners right from the start.
But sometimes you have enough to do, that you don't fix a problem, until you have no choice. And that was last year in Las Vegas. It is hard to believe that it has already been more than a year. But we were going through the traps at 135 mph, and it happened. Our hood left the car, went up into the air about 40 feet, fluttered around, and fell to the side of the track. I caught it on video, but unless you know what it was, it would be hard to know that is was our hood. And it was lucky indeed that the hood lifted clear of the windshield and really didn't strike the car.
Yes, it did tear out the Dzus fasteners that didn't release, and broke a couple of brackets. And when it hit the ground, the scoop separated from the rest of the hood. But all in all, it could have been a lot worse. The only damage to the car came when we tried to push the inner fender back down, and dented the fender on top.
And we caught another break too. Because we had time, since we had the lousy Division 7 stock schedule of starting our first run at around 6:00 in the evening, but this time, we could use the extra time to try to get the hood back reattached.
First thing in the morning, we made a couple of stops. One was was at a body shop supply house to get epoxy to re glue the lousy glue job Rousch had done on the scoop. Their bead didn't even go all of the way around. So it is no wonder that another Drag Pak also lost his scoop. that day. Chrysler committed that we would get a new hood. But for now, we needed this one to work. We were in Vegas, still racing, and had Pomona the next week.And we went to Lowes for Pop rivets.
Then, we hustled, drilled, epoxied, and pop riveted the scoop in place, and we repaired the torn out Dzus fastener locations and pop riveted washers over all of the holes to reinforce them, and we installed traditional hood pins to replace the dzus fasteners. Here are Keith and Jim Marshall installing the washers.
And the hood went back on, and looked like this:
Not too bad. It was funtional, and for a little while, it was fun pulling pins, lifting the hood. Sitting it back down, and having it center easily on the pins.
But then it became an issue. Where are the pins? Do we have them all? What do you do with them while the hood is off?
In Indianapolis, a guy came though the pits, and showed me the Qwik-Latch connectors. I was impressed, but we had just put the hood pins in, so I thought we had a good solution. But in time, the Qwik -Latch pins looked better and better.
So I called them, got all of the info needed, springs for pins, 10 mini latches. So I ordered them, and they sat in the tool box.
Until, we had to rebuild the engine on the car. And I drove down to Dayton to help on the engine. Once we got the engine back together, I turned to the hood. I only had to remake a couple of brackets, and before we knew it, we had the new latches in, and they worked like a charm. We didn't need to leave the large washers in place, but it was just easier that way.
Just push the buttons, and the springs under them push the hood up, and off comes the hood. It can even be done by just one person.
But then, what do you do with the hood?
We added dense foam blocks to the underside of the hood, so you can sit it on the top of the car, and it sits nicely without scratching the top...
Innovations upon innovations. Once again, I will say it unapologetically. Drag Pak #24 is the most innovative Drag Pak in existence. We have done more things to make this car faster, easier to drive, and more convenient to race than anyone else has done. And we have won awards to prove it, from the Best Appearing Car, to Class wins, to Stock Eliminator Winner, to Stock Automatic Champion, to holding the National A/SA record.
Do I have a lot to be thankful for? Yes, I do. I got tospend more quality time with Chris because of this car, than I would ever have been able to spend previously. And we have accomplished everything we set out to accomplish.
So I thank God for absolutely everything!
OK, now back to turkey day football....
God Bless, and Race Safely
David
Actually, I am just going to go back into the past and explain our hood issues, and solutions..
First the problem with the dzus fasteners was obvious from the beginning. They were difficult to attach, tough to release, and you often slid the tool off of the fastener and scratched the hood. So they were a pain in the tail, from day one. When you needed a fuel check, or had other reason to pull the hood after a race, you had to make sure that the driver had help. Lining the hood back up after taking it off, often led to just attaching 3 o4 of the fasteners until you got the car back to the pit area. So Chris and I both hated those fasteners right from the start.
But sometimes you have enough to do, that you don't fix a problem, until you have no choice. And that was last year in Las Vegas. It is hard to believe that it has already been more than a year. But we were going through the traps at 135 mph, and it happened. Our hood left the car, went up into the air about 40 feet, fluttered around, and fell to the side of the track. I caught it on video, but unless you know what it was, it would be hard to know that is was our hood. And it was lucky indeed that the hood lifted clear of the windshield and really didn't strike the car.
Yes, it did tear out the Dzus fasteners that didn't release, and broke a couple of brackets. And when it hit the ground, the scoop separated from the rest of the hood. But all in all, it could have been a lot worse. The only damage to the car came when we tried to push the inner fender back down, and dented the fender on top.
And we caught another break too. Because we had time, since we had the lousy Division 7 stock schedule of starting our first run at around 6:00 in the evening, but this time, we could use the extra time to try to get the hood back reattached.
First thing in the morning, we made a couple of stops. One was was at a body shop supply house to get epoxy to re glue the lousy glue job Rousch had done on the scoop. Their bead didn't even go all of the way around. So it is no wonder that another Drag Pak also lost his scoop. that day. Chrysler committed that we would get a new hood. But for now, we needed this one to work. We were in Vegas, still racing, and had Pomona the next week.And we went to Lowes for Pop rivets.
Then, we hustled, drilled, epoxied, and pop riveted the scoop in place, and we repaired the torn out Dzus fastener locations and pop riveted washers over all of the holes to reinforce them, and we installed traditional hood pins to replace the dzus fasteners. Here are Keith and Jim Marshall installing the washers.
And the hood went back on, and looked like this:
Not too bad. It was funtional, and for a little while, it was fun pulling pins, lifting the hood. Sitting it back down, and having it center easily on the pins.
But then it became an issue. Where are the pins? Do we have them all? What do you do with them while the hood is off?
In Indianapolis, a guy came though the pits, and showed me the Qwik-Latch connectors. I was impressed, but we had just put the hood pins in, so I thought we had a good solution. But in time, the Qwik -Latch pins looked better and better.
So I called them, got all of the info needed, springs for pins, 10 mini latches. So I ordered them, and they sat in the tool box.
Until, we had to rebuild the engine on the car. And I drove down to Dayton to help on the engine. Once we got the engine back together, I turned to the hood. I only had to remake a couple of brackets, and before we knew it, we had the new latches in, and they worked like a charm. We didn't need to leave the large washers in place, but it was just easier that way.
But then, what do you do with the hood?
We added dense foam blocks to the underside of the hood, so you can sit it on the top of the car, and it sits nicely without scratching the top...
Innovations upon innovations. Once again, I will say it unapologetically. Drag Pak #24 is the most innovative Drag Pak in existence. We have done more things to make this car faster, easier to drive, and more convenient to race than anyone else has done. And we have won awards to prove it, from the Best Appearing Car, to Class wins, to Stock Eliminator Winner, to Stock Automatic Champion, to holding the National A/SA record.
Do I have a lot to be thankful for? Yes, I do. I got tospend more quality time with Chris because of this car, than I would ever have been able to spend previously. And we have accomplished everything we set out to accomplish.
So I thank God for absolutely everything!
OK, now back to turkey day football....
God Bless, and Race Safely
David
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