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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