Dixie Garage: Home of Dixie Racing

My 1916 Buick is For Sale

2011-09-28T10:06:00.005-05:00

- Engine: inline OHV six cylinder, 224 cu in, 45 BHP
- Speedster body on 115 in wheelbase
- Three speed transmission (no over-drive), shaft drive
- Rear only brakes
- Electrical is 6v+12v (Two 6v batteries are wired in series and parallel so the 6v stuff can run and the 12v stuff can run too)
- Both regular plate windshield and monocle screen too.
- This car ran 1995 Canada to Mexico Great Race and finished
- Car does 55+ mph

Here is a link with 40+ pics: http://dixieracing.shutterfly.com/

Items repaired/upgraded while I've owned her: rear diff, pressure check radiator, rebuilt water pump, updated to 6v/12v system , upgraded gauges (water temp), upgraded speedo to timewise - the car is wired for a timewise (car comes with sensor, bracket, magnets, wires, etc.), but the speedo does not come with the car). Fenders are back on the car.

I have $29,500 in the car an would like to get as much of that back as I can. Call/email me questions. Cheers, Bryan info@aerotac.com 214.454.7417

International Fame

2011-08-10T20:53:00.002-05:00

What do George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Dixie Racing have in common? Magazine covers baby! Check out the September 2011 issue of Hemmings Motor News:

Now those are some good looking guys! Yeah, I know we're wearing goggles and helmets and you can't really see our faces but.....

The car looks good though, eh!?!?!?!? And NO, we did not pay off Jim Menneto in any way. He and the staff at Hemmings just have impeccable taste.

Thanks Jim!!!

Great Race 2011 - Epilogue

2011-06-19T20:51:00.017-05:00

Sunday, June 19th

So after a 30 hour drive from Vermont, I finally made it home. A few post race thoughts, ponderings, and pics. The rumor going around for next year's race is Dollywood to Hollywood - but that is about as firm as jello.

Here is a picture of the finish-line in Bennington, VT. Lots of people turned out to greet us and that always makes for a nice conclusion. Corky and Jim did an excellent job of making the 2011 event first-class. Thanks to everyone: Wes, Jeff, Tommy, and the list goes on and on....

Below, a couple of pictures of Howard and Doug Sharp's winning 1911 Velie. Boy, that's a BIG chicken!! They run oil in the radiator in lieu of water - this allows them to run higher temps and not worry about boiling out the fluid. Rumor has it that this car will now be retired - nice to go out on top, eh!?!?!

Here's our 2nd place plaque for Sportsman. Like I said before, since we finished 14th overall, we don't move up to Expert. Whew! It's humbling to see some of these teams in action - I'm happy to stay in Sportsman for awhile!

Here's a nice picture of the stress crack in my speedster's bodywork - that welded seam just split. I wonder if I can send the repair bill to the NY dept of Transportation????

Here's another good example of Southern Engineering: I had to zip-tie the alternator back to prevent the belt from squealing. What's funny about this is if you look at May's blog and the race in Grove, OK, you will see this same alternator zip-tied in a different direction. Ahhh, my engineering professor would be proud of me now.....

Here's a nice pic of the lunch stop in Chambersburg, PA. It's a beautiful city and lots of nice people!

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The Babe Ruth display was my personal favorite.

this is the one I wanted to take home from the Saratoga Automobile Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY. Very cool....

I saved the best for last. Here's Bud with the truck and trailer. Now one might ask, "If you're racing cross country, how does your truck and trailer get to the finish?" the answer: Bud. For the first time, Joe and I needed help and Bud was there. He was a combination crew-chief, man-Friday, party-planner, and logistics whiz. Plus he dealt with everything from looking for my lost wallet (which wasn't) to buying beer for rookies. Thanks Bud. We quite literally could not have done this race without you! Thanks.

(Editor's note: now that I think about it, I was a history major. So I never really had an engineering professor. But I did DATE an engineering major so I suppose that close enough....)

Great Race 2011 - Stage 7

2011-06-19T20:05:00.003-05:00

Friday, June 17th

This is it! The last day - and everything counts!!!! I felt like I was in a cheesy Hollywood movie.... after a week of nice weather, it rained today. I mean it rained ALL day. And the problems started early - we got behind a school bus (school is still in session??!?!) and had a series of stop-and-go delays. Honestly, I lost count of the time we had to make up. Good thing Joe is on the ball. And then we ran into Vermont State Utility workers..... At an intersection that required us to make a 15 second stop (at a stop sign) and turn right, the VSU guys had a truck, chipper, and crane all crammed into the intersection to do a little tree/brush removal. I saw the #37 car go around the truck and so followed suit. Apparently that wasn't the right answer. A nice VSU workers threw his helmet to the ground and started making threatening gestures.... so I went around him. It was at this point that the crane swung his arm around, blocking the road ahead - and the truck backed up, blocking the road behind. We were boxed in; no place to go. After a few minutes (2? 3? 4?), the crane let us through - but we had no idea how many minutes to make up!!!

I figured the day was shot, so we might as well enjoy the drive up to Stratton Mountain Ski resort. I relaxed a bit, tried to keep the speedo close, and enjoyed myself. The run up the mountain was okay - no overheating problems. The tram ride was nice (boy, that's a LONG way to ski down the mountain!!!). And the drive into Hemming's was nice too. I had abandoned all hope at this point and resigned myself to a none-paying finish.... Oh well.

Turns out we did okay - not great; not bad; just okay

Leg 1: 2 sec late

Leg 2: 7 sec early

Leg 3: 3 sec early

Leg 4: 4 sec late

Leg 5: 5 sec early

Leg 6: 4 sec early

Leg 7: 6 sec early (Thanks again VSU!!!)

A score of 31 seconds adjusted to 24.18. Ho hum.

So we made our way from Hemmings head-quarters to downtown Bennington for the finish-line and finale. The winner and Grand Champion was the 1911 Velie driven by Howard and Doug Sharp (congrats guys!!!). This car deserves to win considering the insurmountable obstacles it has faced over the years (IE: they fixed a leaky radiator with cement - no, that's not a typo - I said cement!) and Howard has been chasing the dream since 1993 with this car so I couldn't be happier for them. Nice job guys!

Oh yeah, when they announced the Sportsman Class winners, turns out we came in 2nd place!! YGTBSM!!!! A podium finish after all!!!! I couldn't be happier. And the icing on the cake - we finished 14th overall out of 64 cars, so we stay in Sportman next year and don't move up to Expert!!! My goal is to never compete with the Jason's, Caldwell's, or Feeney's!! They're all REALLY good. :-)

Great Race 2011 - Stage 6

2011-06-19T19:52:00.002-05:00

Thursday, June 16

After a quick breakfast we departed Binghamton, NY and made our way to Cooperstown for lunch. The weather was picture-perfect and the Baseball hall of fame was pretty cool. We ran into some trouble early in the day, so we weren't too sure about our results. In fact, Dante's phrase, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here" entered my mind once or twice. Poor leg scores are thrown out for stages 1-5, but you get what you get for stages 6 & 7. Turns out, the day wasn't all bad:

Leg 1: 14 sec early

Leg 2: 7 sec late

Leg 3: 1 sec early

Leg 4: 2 sec early

Leg 5: 2 sec late

Good enough for 3rd in class.....

We pulled into Saratoga Springs for dinner at the Saratoga Automobile Museum. They currently have a beautiful display of Italian cars; worth seeing! The only mechanical work was replacing a bolt on the alternator. The radiator is holding up just fine (Thanks again Doc and Gary!!!!). But man the roads are KILLING my car.

Great Race 2011 - Stage 5

2011-06-15T21:34:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, June 15th

We took off from Hershey and made our way to Hazleton, PA for lunch. It was a beautiful morning - clear skies, cool weather, and no radiator leak!!!! :-) WARNING!! If you don't want to hear me gripe about East-Coast roads, skip this paragraph!!! East-Coast roads SUCK!!!! No. Wait. They REALLY suck. My poor little car was literally shaken apart today. Its not just PA or NY. Virginia, Maryland, it doesn't matter. The winter weather takes a toll and we paid the price today. The car shook so bad that my rear-view mirror came off, the (fake) radiator hood ornament came loose and had to be taken off, and the bolts holding down the right side of the hood all shook loose and came out. I had to zip-tie the hood down. Aaarrrggghhhhh! Its driving me crazy!

The next time someone asks you, "How long does it take to change in tire on a 1928 Ford Model A Speedster on the side of I-81?" Tell them, "about 7 minutes." Yep - we got a flat tire. The change went surprisingly smooth. Our over-night stop was Binghamton, NY. We did some light maintenance on the car since we had nothing broke. Just to recap, our maintenance effort to date: Replaced fuel pump, fixed squeaky alternator belt, leaky radiator, changed flat tire, and tightened loose bolts/hardware. Hopefully that's it.

Lastly, we got caught behind some horrible traffic and had to made up time. Unfortunately, we didn't made up enough and had a terrible Leg 3 score.

Today's performance was neither good nor horrible. It was just ho-hum:

Leg 1: 6 late

Leg 2: 8 late

Leg 3: 23 late

Leg 4: 2 early

We're 3rd in class. Tomorrow and Friday are the deal makers. No legs are thrown out, so you get what you score for the final two days. Plenty of teams have fallen the last two days and plenty of teams have risen to greatness based upon not screwing the pooch in the final stages. Say a prayer and wish us luck - we need it!

Great Race 2011 - Stage 4

2011-06-15T21:23:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, June 14th - Day 4

Today's route departed Cumberland, MD and ended in Hershey, PA with a lunch stop in Chambersburg PA. I heard the Antique Automobile Club of America's museum in Hershey was AWESOME. I don't actually know because as we were coming into the over-night stop, my water temp shot through the roof. I pulled over and - yep - radiator problems. I filled it up with water and we limped into Hershey. An announcement was made and that's when I met Gary and Doc from Middletown Radiator. Bottomline: they saved us! We topped the radiator and drove to their shop. I started disassembly at 7:00 PM and by 9:00 PM I had a fixed radiator. Turns out the vibration from the crappy roads we've been on created a stress fracture in the bottom of the radiator. I can't thank Gary, Doc and the rest of the crew enough. If not for them I'd have the car in the trailer and be on my way home by now. Check them out at: 717.944.3823 - 148 (Rear) Geyer's Church Road, Middletown, PA 17057.

The rest of our day was okay:

Leg 1: 1 sec late

Leg 2: 9 sec early

Leg 3: 1 sec early

Leg 4: 12 sec early

Leg 5: 3 sec late

Good enough for second in class.

Great Race 2011 - Stage 3

2011-06-13T21:44:00.005-05:00

Monday, June 13th
I'm grouchy tonight and not in the mood to blog.... We didn't have a good day. Scores are below, but the reality is we had a rough morning. Hey, at least it didn't rain today...
Here's a picture of our lunch stop:
Here is Jim and Mari in a very nice Ford speedster:

And here is the Hubbard family. I met then at our night stop in Maryland - thanks for making my evening so enjoyable. Great family!

Leg 1: 23 sec late

Leg 2: 39 sec early (YGTBSM!!!!)

Leg 3: 2 sec late

Leg 4: 1 sec late

Leg 5: 9 sec late

Total adjusted score 56.94 sec :-(

We're 3rd in class so far. Say a prayer - we need it!!!

Great Race 2011 - Stage 2

2011-06-12T20:14:00.003-05:00

Sunday, June 12th - Day 2

Today's course started in Ashville, NC and ended in Salem, VA with a stop in Galax, VA for lunch at the Old s Motorcar Museum. The route followed the Smokey Mountain Parkway for most of the day - lots of twists and turns; lots of hills; and lots of scenic beauty........and one wild turkey.... who we almost hit. Rain came later in the afternoon, but wasn't too bad. The car ran fine thanks to our Southern engineering (IE: zip-ties and duct-tape). All in all, it felt like a pretty good day. And then we got our scores:

Leg 1: 10 seconds late
Leg 2: 6 seconds early
Leg 3: 12 seconds late
Leg 4: 18 seconds late

Total score 35.88 seconds (raw = 46 seconds) uuuggggghhhhhh!! That's HORRIBLE! But apparently everyone else did poorly too because for the day we're 7th overall, 3rd in class. And for the rally to date (thru 2 stages) we're 5th overall and 2nd in class. Hmmm, go figure.

Great Race 2011 - Stage 1

2011-06-12T19:56:00.013-05:00

Saturday, June 11: Day 1
Today was the official start of the 2011 Great Race. Today's course began in Chattanooga, TN at the Coker Tire World Headquarters and ended in Ashville, NC with stops in Athens, TN for lunch and Maggie Valley, NC for dinner. Today's route was the Tail of the Dragon which is considered one of the best driving roads in the US - very scenic! The only issue for the day, driving back from dinner to the hotel, the car died. Turns out the rain shorted out the fuel pump. I brought a spare fuel pump and after a little repair work in the parking lot (Thanks BUD!) we were back in action. Of course, we didn't finish until midnight - so that's the reason this post is a day late.

Here is a picture of the starting grid at Coker Tires. We started 25th, so we're way, way in the back!!

The official starting gate:
Here's a great story. These guys are high school buddies - the driver is 16 and the navigator 15. They're driving a 1920's era Ford A... AND they're dressed the part!
So we had no rain during the timed portion of the rally. But twenty seconds after we were off the clock - BOOM! It started raining cats-n-dogs. yes, we got wet. Very wet...
The rain gears works better if you put it on BEFORE you're wet.... So after the first day of competition, we were pleased:

Leg 1: 1 sec late

Leg 2: 2 sec late

Leg 3: 4 sec late

Leg 4: 5 sec late

A total raw score of 12 seconds; adjusted for age factor to 9.36 - we're 3rd in class and 3rd overall.

Great Race 2011 - Stage 0

2011-06-10T16:46:00.012-05:00

Friday, June 10th: This morning was rally school - which is just a meeting for the drivers and navigators to learn about new rules, course instructions, and the day's events. At noon we took off for a "practice" rally. It was more like a one-day separate competitive rally sponsored by Hagerty insurance. First place in each division took home some cash and a trophy. We came in fourth in our class so no scratch for Dixie Racing today. :(

Sorry hon.

Just for the record, a "leg" is the period from check point to check point. And a "stage" is a day's events. So each Stage consists of multiple legs - and you get a score for each leg. Clear as mud? I thought so...

Here is our car getting tech inspected and stickers put on it.

Number 73 is reserved for only the best team. Okay, that's a lie. It was actually the previous owner's graduation year from high school.

Thanks to Honest Charlie's Speed Shop for getting us ready....

Here is Coker Tire's replica of the 1911 Indy 500 winning Marmon Wasp. Now THIS is a cool car! I'm not sure how they painted it, but it looks like a nicely maintained 100 year old car.

When your name is Coker and the company's named Coker too, you get to have a few perks... like having your own city. Corkyville. That reminds me, have you ever seen the SNL Cork Soaking skit? FUNNY!

Here's Joe (Naviguesser) and Bud (Crew Chief) hard at work on something very, very important!

Here's my view out the Sopwith Pup just before a time-of-day restart. See that sign up ahead on the right? We have to depart at exactly the right time and right speed....

So today's efforts were just okay. We had a few good leg scores, but weren't very competitive. The first place finisher (Jim Menneto) in our class had a whopping 6.48 second day! Wow, nice job Jim. Our scores:

Leg 1: 1 sec late

Leg 2: 5 sec late

Leg 3: 10 sec late

Leg 4: 13 sec late

Leg 5: 6 sec late

Total: 27.30 sec which put us 4th in class and 23 out of 59 cars overall.

Great Race 2011 - Prelude

2011-06-09T19:45:00.004-05:00

Wednesday, 8 June: It has started! For those of you just tuning-in, Joe and I are racing a 1928 Ford Model A speedster cross-country this summer. The course is shown below, it goes from Chattanooga, TN to Bennington, VT and will last over a week. The car has no roof - so if it rains, more like - when it rains, we'll get wet. On the other hand, we get to directly commune with mother nature all week! The sights, the smells, cow manure.... yuck!

My plan was to leave home around 8 AM and drive for 12-13 hours or until tired. The best laid plans of mice and men.... I didn't get out of town until noon. So the revised plan was to drive 2/3 to 3/4 of the way, stop, rest, and have a leisurely drive into Chattanooga this morning. Sure enough, about midnight, I had enough and decided to stop... whoosh... darn... that was a really nice rest stop I just passed. Should I turn around? Naw, there will be another.... not so much.

Thursday, 9 June: Arrive at Coker Tire World Headquarters about 1:00 AM. I parked and jumped into the backseat of the truck for a few hours rest. The rest of the day was spent going through tech inspection, filling out paperwork, getting settled into the hotel room, and seeing old friends. Joe and Bud arrived mid-afternoon - the stage is set. Bud, a new character in the tales of Dixie Racing, is a mild-mannered Virginian who graciously agreed to help out with support crew duties (IE: drive the truck + trailer cross country).

A little bird told me today that there are some fifth graders out there tracking our exploits cross-country. Hang-on kids, it's going to be a wild ride!!!!

PS- To: HD + Bobo.... xoxo

Post Script

2011-05-11T18:26:00.013-05:00

Here are a few pictures from the rally. Here is where the work gets done. If the cockpit looks cramped, it's not. We're actually very comfortable (as long as it's not raining...)

After we discovered the loose alternator Day 2, the solution was to zip-tie it to the engine and frame. Hard to believe this worked, eh!?!?!

Hmmmm, those clouds look dark....

We had some awesome BBQ at the Dave Kane Route 66 Museum in Afton, OK. Thanks Dave. The car collection is worth checking out. I totally "get" buying an old gas station/car dealership and making a museum out of it.

The museum boasts the oldest known RV in existence - from 1916.

Here is one of the starting positions. It's usually a sign with a good stretch of shoulder to run on in case of traffic.

Two days after the race I had the speedster apart - fixed the alternator, radiator, and few other odds -n- ends. June, here we come!

DAY 3 - The Agony of Defeat...

2011-05-04T21:49:00.007-05:00

Sunday, 1 May 2011

Boy, things went downhill pretty fast. First, the weather finally hit. Rain. And more rain. The car slid through corners; the driver kept wiping the speedo so he could see it; and the naviguesser battled wet instructions. Second, the semi-permanent fix for the alternator didn't hold - and the belt slipped off, causing a nauseating 18 minute and 21 second delay. Any chance of a good showing evaporated at that moment. I've said it before - in a sport that measures success in seconds, minutes are a killer! Lastly, no ACES. :-(

On the bright side: we finished the race and did not DNF. Our Henri Lloyd foul weather gear kept us dry (it's made for yacht racing!). We did manage 3 ACES for the weekend (the top-ACE award went to a team with 4 ACES).

Leg 1: 19 sec late

Leg 2: 2 min (18 min 21 sec late!)

Leg 3: 3 sec early

Leg 4: 7 sec late

Leg 5: 5 sec late

Leg 6: 10 sec late

Our final position for the rally was 16th place out of 23 cars. Sigh. There's always June!!

PS- As soon as I can get more photos downloaded, I'll post them.

PPS- Thanks Rex for a fun weekend - we're looking forward to San Marcos next year!!!

Day 2: VCRA Rally - All Stars for Autism

2011-04-30T20:34:00.003-05:00

Day 2: Saturday, 30 Apr

Remember the old ABC Sports tagline, "Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat?" That's kinda how the day went. We started off well enough but a spike in the water temp meant trouble. Sure enough, we stopped for the first break and found our alternator flopping around and the fan belt completely off. YIKES! It looked like the day might be over! Closer inspection showed that nothing was broke; so we zip-tied the alternator to the block and crossed our fingers. It held. It held ALL DAY! Unbelievable. Our luck continued to hold - the only rain today was a slight sprinkle that hardly mattered.

We felt pretty good all day, but you never know. Some days you feel like you've been spot-on and you windup sucking. Other days seem horrible, and you windup with an ACE. Who knows?

Today, we felt pretty good - but the results were mixed:

Led 1: 5 sec late

Led 2: CNX

Led 3: 1 sec late

Led 4: 7 sec late

Led 5: ACE

Led 6: 2 sec early

Led 7: 18 sec late (dropped)

Total: 11.7 seconds

Our Day 2 results weren't very impressive; but it beats a DNF (Did Not Finish). For the rally overall standings - we dropped to 4th place overall. They say The Masters doesn't start until Sunday afternoon on the 10th hole. . . . The Rally really begins tomorrow!

VCRA Rally - All Stars for Autism

2011-04-29T20:45:00.008-05:00

Greetings! The vintage rally season is underway and this year's kick-off event is VCRA's All Stars for Autism in Grove, OK. Thursday, Apr 28th - Joe and I left Texas and drove the six hours up to Grove. We checked in and went through technical inspection, ran the speedometer check, and got settled into the hotel. Here are the Cajun Boys off-loading their sweet Model A Speedster. This is a nice car!

This nice lady wanted our autograph and tried to sell us rice-balls. Dixie Racing has a pretty fanatical fan base.... they come from all over the world - even Asia!!!

DAY 1: Friday, 29 April - The day started with mandatory meetings and prep for the first day of competition. There are 23 competitors - all of whom are veterans..... no rookies.... no touring.... just hardcore racers, some with 25+ years experience. Yikes! Dixie Racing started 17th, so we were mid-pack. Here is our 1928 Ford Model A Speedster ready for action:

Here are a few of our friends - including Gary and JeanAnn, Jim and Maury.

The weather was beautiful. The course was challenging. The roads took us through Oklahoma and Missouri. We missed a left turn at sign PP and had to make up some time. But in the end, it all worked out. Our raw scores were:

Leg 1: 18 sec early

Leg 2: 2 sec early

Leg 3: 3 sec early

Leg 4: ACE

Leg 5: ACE

Leg 6: 1 sec late

For a total of 24 seconds. But wait. There's more!....

The worst leg is thrown out and 1928 gives us an age factor of .78, sooooooooo

Our adjusted score was 4.68 seconds, which was good enough for 1st Place (Day One)!!!!!!! Yeeeaaahhhhh! It may be short lived, but it is nice to do well. I'm addicted all over again..... kinda like hitting a jack-pot at the casino. I'll play for another five years just to have another day like today. Katy Bar the Door! Check in tomorrow for Day 2....

VCRA Season Opener next weekend!!

2011-04-20T20:30:00.002-05:00

The first race of the season is coming up. Check back on this blog beginning Friday, April 29th to track our results. See you on the road!

World's Best Car Wash Gets It's Own Site

2011-03-14T22:06:00.002-05:00

Just to keep things neat, "World's Best Car Wash" gets it's own site:

www.worldsbestcarwash.blogspot.com

This way I can blog about rallying and old cars and not bore you with soap sud and vacuum stories.....

:-)

Dixie Garage News

2011-03-13T20:59:00.004-05:00

Okay. I suck. I haven't posted since January and it's March. I realize the point of blogging is to update frequently. My apologies - I'll try harder....

Now, on to some news:

Go to www.greatrace.com and click the Great Race Video. It's AWESOME! If you are a Greatracer, it will put you in the mood for June. If not, it will make you want to rally. Nice work Corky.....

And now for the real reason I've been a bad blogger for the last few months; I bought a car wash! It has 6-self serve bays and 1-auto touchless drive through bay. See for yourself:

I've owned it for 13 days and talk about a fire hose!! Lots to learn... I'll blog about the car wash for a little while just to keep the three people who read this site up-to-date. But eventually I'll move to another site and just use this for rallying. I haven't decided yet if we need to have a website, blog page, Twitter account, Facebook page, LinkedIn site, etc. or all of the above. Jeez, I remember when social media meant thumbing through the phone book to look up a number so you could call somebody. Yeah, I know. I'm a dinosaur. Actually, I prefer to think of myself as an Analog Man living in a Digital World. Nice, eh!?!?!

Back to the car wash. I'm calling it the "World's Best Car Wash." I figure we should Aim High (insert Air Force joke here). I'm working on the logo and should have new signage, business cards, etc. soon. If you're in Denton, Texas and need to wash your car, look us up at 1611 McKinney.

That all for now....

Happy New Years! Welcome 2011!!!

2011-01-15T09:08:00.002-06:00

Ya gotta love the English....
There is no better way to ring in the new year than with a little spotted dick. A staple of Anglo fare for centuries (??), okay maybe just decades (I'm really not sure), this stuff is great. Next holiday season, give a can to your boss and for the next year you can walk around saying, "Yep, I gave the old man a little spotted dick for Christmas!" Eh, eh, eh, eh. That just never gets old. I gave my wife some spotted dick... AND SHE LOVED IT!

2011 Vintage Rallying Season

2010-12-15T17:38:00.004-06:00

Well sportsfans there's lots to blog about:

Looks like the Official Dixie Racing season for 2011 will be:

April 28: VCRA's "All Stars for Autism" in Grove, OK
June 11: The "New" Greatrace - Chattanooga, TN to Bennington, VT

Joe and I will be driving the #73 '28 Ford Speedster (pic is from this year's Roughneck Rally):To find out more about the "New" Greatrace, goto www.greatrace.com and read Corky's letter, page through the photo galleries, dream a little dream, etc. The highlights so far include: Hemmings is title sponsor (Thanks Jim!), it will be a week long rally, entry fee is $3,000 (discounted $250) if you get your check in quick, plus other info. The pictures say it all - FUN times! Plus, you get to hang out with JA.

Speaking of video's, if you have 32 minutes to kill, go to www.fsignitions.com and click the RUFFNECK Rally tab. Lots of cool pics from this year's rally (and the music is nice too).

Since I'm plugging websites, I'll include VCRA's: www.vintagecarrally.com. Rex and the boys have kept the flame alive for several years and they put on fantastic events. If you have ever thought about vintage rallying, you really should check out a VCRA event.

1973 VW Camper - The Finale

2010-11-16T19:05:00.010-06:00

At last! The big day arrived! We took the Campermobile camping!!!!! After 8 months of on-again-off-again work, the VW was ready for it's maiden "voyage." I'll cut to the punch-line: we had a BLAST! I originally planned on Friday night being mom and dad only (IE: a little romance) with the kids joining us Saturday morning. Then all of us could enjoy a day together and spend Saturday night by the campfire, roasting marshmallows, etc. Well the best laid plans of mice and men.... it rained Friday night..... hard. We ended up staying home. So no romance. I ended up changing the battery Saturday morning and we all finally made it out to the campsite Saturday afternoon. Then it was smooth sailing. A nice campfire. Long walks by the lake. We all had a great time.

Here we are unpacking. Notice there are no hub-caps. I removed them in order to paint the wheels but never got around to it. Then I forgot to put them back on for the weekend. Oh well..

Here's the interior. Notice the nice blue and white gingham curtains. I bought the material myself and had a friend sew them for me. The ugly brown comforter is from 1976!!! It was my bed spread in junior high..... The bed was actually comfortable except it got down to about 40 degrees so we FROZE! Next time I'm bringing my space heater. I used Liquid Gold on the wood panelling and it worked okay. I really need to remove all of the panelling and recondition then reinstall.

Notice the blue carpet. I bought an area rug and cut it down to fit. It goes nicely with the blue curtains. I still have quite a bit to do in the front (IE: recover seats, new rubber mats, new front kick boards, etc.) But for now, it is perfect for family camping.

Texas isn't New England in Fall, but there is a little color. Unfortunately Autumn is a short season. Texas goes from hot to cold pretty quickly. Anyway, the plan is to get out every month if only for a day. I'm going to keep the Campermobile packed with everything we need except food, drinks, wood, and ice. That should make the prep time quick.

1973 VW Camper Part III

2010-10-05T19:28:00.005-05:00

Fresh from the paint booth!!! I went with solid white on top. So the concessions one makes with a $2,900 paint job: sanding vs media blasting, windows in vs out, door jams sprayed vs not sprayed, complete dis-assembly vs partial, etc. Like I said before, the main objective here is to go camping. In Texas, it is too hot to camp with a VW in summer (no A/C) and not super fun in winter, so fall and spring are it. It's Late Sept/early Oct and I want to camp before winter gets here so good 'nuff. The bus still needs buffing and final assembly, but MAN OH MAN am I happy.
Bay window still out. Dash still needs a coat of black.

Sa-weet! I can hardly wait to put it all together!!!! Next: Final chapter - back on the road.

1973 VW Camper Part II

2010-10-05T19:24:00.004-05:00

Here we are at the "work" stage. I bought the parts and dropped them by as they arrived at the post office, so I had plenty of excuses to stop by the shop. I've always discounted Maaco, but I have to say the guys in Denton (TX) have been great to work with. The only real rust issue was below the bay window...

The dash will get a fresh coat of black while the window is out.

The only hole: driver's side front. Lots of cars rust here (IE: Porsche 911s, etc) because of the way the seal keeps water trapped.

1973 VW Camper Part I

2010-10-05T19:15:00.003-05:00

So I finally am getting around to fixing my 1973 VW Camper. I bought it last March and haven't done much to it. First project: paint. The short story goes like this..... Guy #1 wanted $10,000 to do a "less than car show- just don't want to be embarrassed" job. Nope. Guy #2 wanted $7,500 for the same thing. Nope. Guy #3 wanted $6,000. Nope. Guy #4 wanted $4,500 and understood when I declined. His suggestion was Maaco. And I'm proud to say, for $2,900 I got EXACTLY what I wanted: a paint job that isn't embarrassing. (Insert plug for Maaco here). It's not perfect, but hey - I'm going to use it for camping anyway..... Here are some prep pics:
Lots of surface rust below the bay window.

The side cover is rusted in place... yikes!

Th only glass coming out is the front bay window - everything else stays put.

Great Race Lives Again!!

2010-09-24T22:05:00.002-05:00

Corky Coker announced at the conclusion of the Coker Challenge Rally in September, that he has successfully purchased the rights and assets of GREATRACE and will merge with the VCRA to form a new GREATRACE rally schedule for 2011.

The 2011 GREATRACE event is tentatively scheduled for June 11-17 and will go from Chattanooga, TN (home of Coker Tire) to Bennington, VT (home of Hemmings Motor News).

Yaaaa Hoooo! I can hardly wait!

Speedsters, Rallys, and Mr. Toad

2010-08-15T21:47:00.008-05:00

I was rereading old blog entries last night. In the past, I've compared rallying old speedsters to flying old World War I aircraft - goggles, leather helmet, wind, noise, bugs, glory, etc. And while there are similarities, a better way to describe it: It's like living the life of Mr. Toad from Toad Hall. If you are not familiar with the character of Mr. Toad from Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" weeeeeeell....... you should be. He's compulsive, passionate, good-hearted, and simply CRAZY about cars (especially red ones!). He's the same character found at Disneyland - Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Grahame describes him best: "As if in a dream he found himself, somehow, seated in the driver's seat; as if in a dream, he pulled the lever and swung the car round the yard and out through the archway; and, as if in a dream, all sense of right and wrong, all fear of obvious consequences, seemed temporarily suspended. He increased his pace, and as the car devoured the street and leapt forth on the high road through the open country, he was only conscious that he was Toad once more, Toad at his best and highest, Toad the terror, the traffic-queller, the Lord of the lone trail, before whom all must give way or be smitten into nothingness and everlasting night. He chanted as he flew, and the car responded with sonorous drone; the miles were eaten up under him as he sped he knew not wither, fulfilling his instincts, living his hour, reckless of what might come to him."

That's what its like driving a 1916 Buick at 50 mph down the road to the next check-point...

2010 Hemmings Challenge

2010-07-26T16:01:00.003-05:00

This week is the 2010 Hemmings Challenge road rally hosted by VCRA. I should be there but was unable to attend due to family matters. Best of luck to all my friends - stay safe and keep the shiny side up!!! See ya'll next year.....

Things You Won't See In Texas

2010-07-25T14:46:00.003-05:00

I love England. It's the only place where you can see a Humped Zebra (think Hunchback of Notre Dame meets Lion King.....)

Father's Day Present

2010-06-10T08:30:00.002-05:00

Father's Day is coming up. On eBay right now is a perfect gift! Just about every father would love a 1913 Stutz Bearcat. (Honey, are you listening??) Item # is 260612601782. Bidding has stalled out at $235,200 so someone may be able to swoop in and get a GREAT deal.

Sugar Valley Rally 2010

2010-06-08T21:20:00.007-05:00

Okay, I know blogging is supposed to be a daily event, but I got behind this week and just couldn't catch-up, so this is more of a recap of the 2010 Sugar Valley Rally

Thursday, 3 June: I goofed up the mission planning. I thought Scottsbluff was 10 hours away, so my plan was to leave about 7 AM and get there in plenty of time to pass tech inspection, etc. Turns out it was 15 hours away - Uuggh! I left the house at 2 AM. Drove 15 hours. Arrived at the hotel by 4 PM (hour time zone difference) and had plenty of time to check-in, pass tech, then pass -out! CHANGE 1: Instead of the Buick, I brought the Ford Speedster. Basically, I wanted one more rally to sort out the Ford before the BIG race in July. And for those of you who have never been to western Nebraska, its beautiful!

Friday, 4 June: Today was Stage 0. Today's scores don't count toward the overall competition. As I mentioned, we showed up with a different car - but stayed in the same division: Limited-Pro. This means we're limited to a max speed of 30 mph and we raced with highly skilled, veteran drivers (pro). The day went pretty well - no major screw ups. There were an AMAZING 69 cars entered in the race (nine in Limited-Pro Div.). Our car number was 62 which also equated to our starting position (IE: 62nd car in line). The Good News: we get an extra hour of sleep since we leave a whopping hour and two minutes after the first car. The Bad News: There's no food left at the lunch stops! (yeah, I know- I can afford to skip a meal...) The weather was beautiful. The car was flawless. And the two lug-nuts in the seats had a pretty good day:

Leg #1: 2 sec early***
Leg #2: 1 sec early
Leg #3: 4 sec late***
Leg #4: 2 sec early

Total stage raw score was 9 seconds; with old-car factor adjustment: 7.16 seconds! Good enough for a 1st place overall in Limited-Pro division!!

More beautiful scenary.

Saturday, 5 June: Stage 1 and today started the competition. Things got scary early - I pulled into a private driveway to turn around and two big, huge, man-eating monsterous dogs came charging at us. I thought we were goners! The weather couldn't have been more beautiful. Let me tell you a little story about life at 30 mph.....

Boy things were slow!!! I was doing my normal driver thing (staring at the speedo) and occasionally looking around. Joe was navigating and I think, getting a little bored. It felt like we could get out a walk faster than we were moving down the road. I think we got passed by a turtle at one point. This class is designed for cars that were never designed to go more then 30/35 mph like Model T's. Its a good opportunity for these cars to participate when they normally could not. It was relaxing and in retrospect, I enjoyed it quite a lot.

The small towns of Nebraska were picturesque. In the end we did alright. No ACES which was disappointing. Also, we're not sure why we scored sixes in the final two legs. The funny thing is how your perspective changes. It wasn't too long ago that we PRAYED for single digit leg scores. Now we're upset by a 6 second leg. Hmmmm, maybe I need to just chill out and relax.

Leg #1: 2 sec late

Leg #2: 3 sec early

Leg#3: 2 sec early

Leg #4: 1 sec late***

Leg #5: 6 sec late

Leg #6: 6 sec late

Total stage score was 20 seconds with factor adjustment: 15.90 seconds - good for 4th place in class. More beautiful landscapes.....

Sunday, 6 June: Stage 2. After dialing in the scores on Friday and then scoring a couple of sixes on Saturday, we were hoping for a nice, tight finish. Nothing but 1's, 2's, and 3's for us please. A few ACES would be nice too. Well I'm sad to say the ACE-fairy was nowhere to be seen this weekend. ('Cmon ACE-fairy....... where are you??!!) We did see a roadrunner. And cows. Boy did we see cows. Apparently Texas isn't the only state with beef roaming around. We got caught behind a tractor. Stopped by a train. We managed to stay on course and not get lost. But sadly, we couldn't get the 'ol mojo working. At one point Joe said, "we're at mile marker 21 and the next instruction is mile marker 45." Hey, wait a minute. . . at 30 mph that's.... uuhhh... hell that's. . . forty-something.. . . let's see, carry the one.... HELL THAT'S 48 MINUTES. So I did what every good driver does. I started day-dreaming. :-) My best dream was my acceptance speech after being called to the podium in recognition of a perfect day - something that's never been done. The best Stage score I've ever seen was in 2007 a .9 sec FOR THE DAY! I believe their leg scores were Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace, and 1 sec. Their factor was .9 so their Stage score was .9. Wow. But today, Joe and I had a PERFECT day. Nothing but Aces. A stage score of zero. Zip. Nada. We were heros. I approached the mike, began my speech (something about the convergence of luck, skill, and dashing good looks) when RAAAAP, RAAAP, RAAAP - I hit the rumble strip and woke up.... Damn.

So at the end of the day we had no rain. Our scores weren't great but they weren't bad - just alright

Leg #1: 4 sec late***

Leg#2: 3 sec early

Leg #3: 1 sec early

Leg#4: CNX

Leg #5: 4 sec early

Total: 12 adjusted to 9.54 seconds (Sigh) :-(

We were sure these scores took us out of the competition. Too bad. It was a fun weekend. As I've said before, rallying is fun - it's even more fun when you win. But alas, it was not to be.....

Until they called out second place in Limited-Pro division: Dixie racing!!!! Hey, we didn't do bad after all!!!! So we went home with a little cash and a nice plaque and decided we liked the Sugar Valley Rally. Good people. Good roads. good fun! The (***) denotes legs on which we were awarded cash.

The only real blemish on an otherwise outstanding weekend was how our friends JeanAnn and Gary finished their race. Ouch!

(just kidding.......) :-)

Sugar Valley Rally

2010-05-26T16:15:00.003-05:00

If you happen to be near Scotts Bluff, Nebraska the weekend of June 4-6, come on by and see us. We'll be easy to spot, just look for all the old cars!!!

The Old Gulf Station Part II

2010-05-15T20:13:00.008-05:00

Here are some more pictures of the Gulf Station renovation.

B&O used to stack oil cans 4-3-2-1 in the window, so as a nod to them, I found some repro cans on eBay and stacked them in the window. Mr. Owens was pretty pleased...

New roof and supports. I think they took off about 5 layers of roofing before they hit the base- yikes!!!

I gutted the "store room" where the HVAC and compressor were kept.

We moved the electrical box and HVAC and totally removed wall you see just on the left of this photo above. Note the Texaco sign. . . yes, I moved out of the Gulf station. Mustn't mix brands...

And the results are below - my new office. I moved my home office to the station (so I can search eBay in peace....) Just kidding.

The Old Gulf Station

2010-05-14T20:30:00.008-05:00

So I'm migrating stuff from my website to this blog. One of the first items is the bit on the old Gulf station....

For those of you who are interested, here is some information on the Gulf station we bought in 2005. The earliest documentation shows that Gulf Oil Corporation bought land on the corner of Locust and McKinney in 1923. As shown below, the original building was 20 by 14 feet:

Gas stations evolved from the 1920's to 1930's from being "filling" stations to being "service" stations. Accordingly, in April 1939 the station was updated by Gulf Oil Corp with bathrooms and service bays. This allowed the station operator to generate revenue in ways other than simply selling gas, oil, etc. Here is a picture of the station taken in the 1940's:

By the 1950's, oil company began standardizing stations in the "modern" style. In August 1955, Gulf Oil updated this station, covering the exterior with porcelain enamel tiles. The porcelain remains today:

In October 1971, the station was sold to long-time operators Barringer & Owens (B&O). B&O ran the gas station from the 1950's to the late 1980's. Today the station remains in its 1950's configuration. It is used as private storage. Actually, I tell people that its my "tree house." When you're 10 years old, you have a tree house in which to hang out. . . .but when you're 46, you get an old gas station! Maybe someday the station will be a bar or restaurant, but for now, it holds my junk....

Ruffneck Rally Day 3 + Epilogue

2010-04-27T14:29:00.011-05:00

Sunday, April 25 - Day 3

More rookie mistakes. We got lost again. I missed more shifts. It rained. A huge buzzard tried to land on the car. You name it, it happened. Our final position for the rally was 21st out of 29th....Uugghhh! So why am I not that upset? Because we know EXACTLY what we did wrong. But rather than bloviate, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Here's the car. We're at a rest stop on Sunday. I just finished filling the gas tank up and Joe is "meetin' wid da govna" if you know what I mean. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge....

Corky and Greg's pickup had some issues, so this is what they drove for the weekend. Cool, eh?!?! They finished just fine.

I don't know who this nice lady is, but she kept trying to share her ice cream with me....

The video was taken during the rally. I'm staring at the speedo (which is wrapped in plastic because it rained). Notice we're doing 50 mph. . . Git Some!! Yep, the exhaust is a straight pipe - nice and loud.

So our final day looked like this:

Leg #1: 1 sec late

Leg #2: 2 sec late

Leg #3: 1 min 31 sec late

Leg #4: 1 sec late

Leg #5: 1 sec late

So about leg three- we missed a stopsign and the restart after the morning break. We were more than 10 minutes behind and almost made it all up. As we came over a hill, we saw the check point and knew we were sunk. We could see the car ahead of us and knew we needed to be 60 seconds in FRONT of it to make perfect time. The amazing part is we calculated we were 1 min 30 sec off...... which means if you're an optimist, leg three was REALLY a 1 sec late (after you subtract our 1 min 30 sec correction). You can't submit a time delay for bone-headedness, so we sucked up the penalty and ended the day in 24th place. But we know what we did wrong. We know how to correct it. And we're keeping hope alive for the next rally.... TTFN!

Ruffneck Rally Day 2

2010-04-24T19:04:00.003-05:00

Saturday, 24 April, Day 2 - The theme of the day was, "Hey, It coulda been worse!" Let's start with the rain. . . Yep. It rained. Murphy's Law states that if the sky is clear to the North, South, and East, the Course Instructions will take you West - STRAIGHT to the dark-and-stormy weather. And so it happened. We got rained on in an open car with no roof or windows. Rooster-tails kicked up from the four tires, rain drops collected on my goggles, and the Course Instructions got wet. BUT, all in all - It coulda been worse! The showers lasted less than 15 minutes and our new rain gear worked as advertised. So not too bad.

Now let's move to getting lost..... Yep we took a few wrong turns today. Twice we had to just stop and wait for a fellow rallyist to pass us so we could figure out how to get back on course. Once on course, you know how far behind you are based on who you're following (we have a list of competitors in order of start). The only thing left to do is to blast down the road until you're back in your proper place. So we did that today.... not once, but twice. But hey, it coulda been worse. We ended up with a 16 sec leg (which will be dropped) and a 5 sec leg. Once again, not too bad.

Finally, the car worked perfect. Every racers' fear is to go home on the trailer, and a few fellow competitors have. So we have that going for us - a car that needs nothing.

Connie from Midland writes, "Hey Sugar - love ur blog!! But exactly which car are ya'll racing this weekend?" Thanks Connie. We are in fact racing the 1928 Ford Model A Speedster you see pictured to the right. I would have actual photos of the rally to share with you, but they will have to wait because I brought the wrong cable to connect my camera to the computer. Sigh....

To recap:

Leg 1: 16 sec late
Leg 2: 2 sec late
Leg 3: 17 sec late
Leg 4: 3 sec late
Leg 5: 1 sec late
Leg 6: 5 sec late
Leg 7: 2 sec early
Leg 8: 5 sec early

We ended 18 out of 29 for the day and are currently 14th overall (This sounds sucky, but remember, this is our shakedown weekend...) TTFN

Ruffneck Rally Day 1

2010-04-23T20:32:00.005-05:00

Friday, April 23, Day 1: The excitement began today. It was mostly good news: no rain, good lunch (thanks Ponca City!), and a healthy car. We were the number two car out, so not a lot of waiting around. We blasted through the North Oklahoma countryside and enjoyed the scenery. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of road-kill, so no weird smells. Bonus! The car performed flawlessly. My downshifts won't win any awards, but all in all it was a good first "shakedown" for the new car. Dinner was provided by HGH Museum & First Street Restorations (thanks guys) - the highlight was the kettle baked blackberry cobbler...... aaaahhhhhhhh! In the end, our scores were okay and we finished top ten for the day:
Leg 1: 4 sec late
Leg 2: 6 sec late
Leg 3: 4 sec early
Leg 4: 2 sec late
Total after age factor: 12.72 seconds - good for 9th place out of 29 cars

PS- Our friends JeanAnn and Gary finished with a 5 second day. I'm pretty sure they bribed the judges or something....

VCRA Ruffneck Rally 2010

2010-04-22T21:28:00.001-05:00

Thursday, April 22 - Well we made it to Ponca City, Oklahoma. The trip was uneventful, which is the way I like 'em. Today was tech inspection and registeration. It's good to see old friends (like you JeanAnn!). This is the maiden race for our new (to me) car, a 1928 Ford Model A Speedster. I'm confident the car will do alright this weekend, I'm just not sure about the lug-nut behind the wheel. Rallying isn't exactly like riding a bike - you DO get rusty; at least I do. But we'll see. So long as the rain holds off and we aviod any fender-benders, the weekend will be a success. The competition starts tomorrow (Friday). Stay tuned, there's more to come....

Flashforward 2010

2010-03-10T09:55:00.003-06:00

Aforementioned green Spitfire (notice the RAF Roundel???!!??); yep - it's a 1970.....

Flashback 1970

2010-03-09T21:25:00.004-06:00

I am a pretty lucky guy. I would venture a guess that most people don't recall the moment they fell in love with cars. I do. It was the summer of 1970. I was 7 years old and we were visiting relatives. My cousin Bobby had just purchased a brand-new sports car. It was yellow. I didn't know the make or model, but I knew it was cool. He took my brother and I for a ride and I was hooked. Top down; wind in our hair; sights and sounds like I had never experienced before. That was it. I was officially a car nut.

The reason I'm so lucky is that I not only remember the instant I fell in love, I have a picture! Yep, that's me in the middle in my cousin Bobby's yellow 1970 Triumph Spitfire. (1970 was the only model year the RAF Roundel badge was used on the bonnet!) Although I couldn't have articulated it to you then, Spitfires became my benchmark for cool cars.

Fast-forward 16 years. I'm now 23 and able to buy my first sportscar. What do you suppose I bought? That's right - a red 1973 Triumph Spitfire.

Fast-forward another 23 years. I'm 46 now. Many cars have come and gone (including the little red Spit). I can't say that Spitfires are the fastest cars I've ever owned. I can't say they handle the best. I can say they are still my benchmark - the purest form of sportscar fun. And oh yeah, there is still a little green one parked in my garage. Happy motoring!

1916 Olds

2010-02-04T21:38:00.007-06:00

Knock. Knock.

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange who?

Orange you glad Ebay is there for you at 2 AM when you can't sleep and the one, burning question on your mind is, "Gee, I wonder if there are any cool speedsters out there for sale....."

Abracadabra!

Item number 370326145994 - a 1916 Oldsmobile Speedster for a mere $49,900.

If you miss the eBay auction, the number is listed on the pic for the St. Louis Car Museum. Call em up! Make em a deal! Yaaawwwwnnnn. It must be time to get back to bed. G'Night.

1928 Ford Model A Speedster

2010-01-16T14:08:00.010-06:00

Here's some pics of the new (to me) car.

The car drives very similar to the other Ford speedster with the V8 that we sold in 2008. But this one has a "stock" 1928 4-banger. I really like that it has lots 'o room. I'm not sure if its Joe or me, but one of us isn't sticking to his New Years resolution and gittin a little wide in the girth - if you know what I mean.... :-)

More later. Tschuss.

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T22:47:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year and 2010!!! I'll take this opportunity to plug the Vintage Car Rally Association (VCRA). If you like old cars, check them out at: http://www.vintagecarrally.com/

It's the most fun you can have with an old car.....

How NOT to take your own advice.

2009-12-26T20:55:00.003-06:00

Okay, I know this video sucks. . . It's my first attempt at editing, publishing, and producing an internet video. I see the irony. In an earlier blog I suggest the Indy 500 guys "Don't suck" and here I am uploading cr*p on my blog. It sucks. Touche'. Episode #1 is just a few images from the 2009 Hemmings Challenge. Please notice that it begins with a 1916 Buick and by the end you can see the red hood of a 2010 Mustang [see blog below]. I promise Episode #2 will be better....

2009-12-26T19:59:00.002-06:00

In the 13+ years I've lived in Texas, I can't remember ever having a white Christmas! Awesome. I don't know who was more excited, me or the kids.... :-)

2009-12-24T12:43:00.002-06:00

Hey, it's snowing!!! Christmas eve and we're getting a little of the white stuff here in Texas. Who says miracles don't happen??? It's not sticking to the ground, but hey - I'll take it. Joe, Mom, Dad, JeanAnn . . . Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-17T09:38:00.005-06:00

Man I love eBay.... Check it out: This beast is not for the faint of heart. It's a 1921 LaFrance firetruck chassis, with a 1918 6-cylinder engine, titled as a 1915 vehicle. Wow! Just in time for Christmas. Who wouldn't love to wake up and see this vintage speedster under the tree? I can't imagine what this monster is like to drive. It's a 820 cu in engine good for 105 bhp! By comparison, my Buick is only 224 cu in and about 45 bhp. How absolutely terrifying!!! The Buy It Now price is $149,900, so I'm pretty sure Mrs. Claus won't be getting me this for Christmas - probably just as well. . . For anyone interested, the eBay item number is 200416005235 and you have until Dec 18th 17:07:36 PST to bid. If you buy this car, let me know. I'd love to see it in person. Tom, good luck - my hats off to you, VERY cool car! PS- JeanAnn, I was only kidding.... :-)

2009-12-15T11:12:00.006-06:00

So this is pretty cool.... There is a movie being planned that tells the tale of the first Indy 500 from 1911. Production is planned for 2010 with a 2011 release date. The official website is: http://thespectaclebegins.com/ What is REALLY cool is that the action will be live and not animated. There is a plan to build a replica of the 1911 Indy 500 race track (design by Paxton Waters), so it will look as it did a century ago. Even better for old car nuts like me: they're building 40 replicas of the original race cars. Coker Tire in Chattanooga, TN is close to completing the "star" - a replica of THE original race-winning Marmon Wasp! How cool is that? Misters Escue and Pizzo have a daunting task ahead of them. There really aren't very many good racing movies. I'm not a film maker, but a bit of advice that was given to me years ago (and has worked) seems appropriate: Don't Suck!

2009-12-14T15:13:00.005-06:00

The continuing saga of a Vintage Rallist... So now that the 2009 season is over, here are a few of the lessons learned: In 2007, Joe and I learned that rallying an old car is fun. Our definition of old was 1969. Ha! All of the veteran racers were helpful, courteous, and nice, but I couldn't help but feel somewhat out of place since their definition of "old" was something prior to 1948. So for 2008, we rallied a 1932 Ford Speedster. We did okay - not great, not horrible; just okay. Well, I reasoned that if a '32 age factor was good then a '16 age factor had to be GREAT! So away went the Ford Speedster and we welcomed the 1916 Buick Speedster. Fast-forward to 2009's lessons learned: 1) There is a reason old cars have an age factor. A 1932 Ford is not as easy to drive as a 1969 Porsche. . . and a 1916 Buick is not as easy to drive as the Ford. In fact it's not easy to drive, at all! It's fun in a kinda "will-we-make-it-to-live-another-day" sorta way. I like driving the car but you really have to keep one step ahead of it. The best description I can give you is this: It's like flying a WWI Sopwith Camel. The wind blow, the chassis shakes, the engine howls, bugs die with a SPLAT on your goggles, and the whole time you're thinking, "Man this is fun! Hope I don't die!" 2) Testing the car in Texas (flat) and then racing it in Missouri (hilly) was a bad idea. The Buick is rear-only drum brakes. The car stops poorly at intersections at the bottom of a hill when you're approaching at 45 mph. The car doesn't stop at ALL if the road is wet or has gravel on it. 3) There is a balance among age, performance, and topography. Taking it all into consideration, I think the next time we'll race the Buick will be next June at the Sugar Valley Rally. Nebraska is flat. And they have a category that limits top speed to something less scary than 50 mph.

2009-12-10T14:30:00.000-06:00

2009-12-10T08:43:00.002-06:00

In Feb 2006, I started Dixie Racing Blog (www.motorheadhotspots.com) in an attempt to document my "Great Race" project - a 1929 Ford Model A speedster. It was my intention to build a rally car and participate in the Great Race - a two week, cross-country, 4,500+ mile old car rally. My results were mixed. On the minus side: I never got the car built. Life got in the way and between family, work, kids, church, friends, etc., there was just never enough time and/or money. I also missed my 2006 target date. On the plus side: My friend Joe and I did manage to race the 2007 rally in a 1969 Porsche 911T and we placed 2nd in class! My original blog captures the events from Feb 2006 to Dec 2009. In short, it includes: rallying five different cars (1968 Porsche 912, 1969 Porsche 911T, 1932 Ford Model A Speedster, 1916 Buick Speedster, and a 2010 Ford Mustang [why? -don't ask]), making several really good friends, the demise/bankrupcy of Great Race, the Rise of the VCRA, some really good finishes and some not-so-good finishes...

So what's new? I now have a new blog (for simplicity sake). I have a new car (1928 Ford Model A Speedster). I still have the same old friend and navigator (wouldn't trade him for the world!). And we have a new season to look forward to! In case you're interested:

April 23-25, 2010
Spring Fling, Ponca City, OK

June 4-6, 2010
Sugar Valley Rally, Scottsbluff, NE

July 25-30, 2010
VCRA Hemmings Challenge, Bowling Green, KY

Sept 17-19, 2010
Coker Challenge, Chattanooga, TN

See you on the road!