Greatrace 2013 - Day 3

[Hey Danny, no flat tires so far!]

In no particular order:

Ours friends Barry & Jule have had 3 flats in 4 days.  They had the tubes taken out of all four tires today.

We started the day with more rain.  Ugh!

Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri sure have a lot of corn.  I mean, as far as the eye can see....

We had a pretty good day:
Leg 1:  7 sec
Leg 2:  2 sec
Leg 3:  ACE!!
Leg: 4:  1 sec

Cumulative so far, we are 1st in class and 7th overall.

Day 2 Update

As of this morning, we're 1st in class and 8th overall.  A lot can change in the next seven days....

Greatrace 2013 - Day 2

Arrived in Davenport, Iowa tonight.  It was pretty good:

Leg 1:  2 sec
Leg 2:  1 sec
Leg 3:  1 sec
Leg 4:  11 sec

Not sure what happened on the last leg.

Funny thing happened while we were at the finish line tonight.  The owner of a local pizzeria stuck a pizza through the drivers window and asked if he could take a picture.  We posed.  He snapped a pic. We got a free pizza.  Sa-weet!  Is this how rock stars live?

Greatrace 2013 - Day 1

Day1.  The good news:  No flat tires. Car didn't over-heat.  No rain (during the rally).  Bad news:  after the rally, prior to getting the hotel, ANOTHER TORRENTIAL DOWN POUR!!   Uuggggh!  Enough rain!

I saw an Amish horse and buggy on the road today.  I'm not sure who looked funnier- him or me (in my 1930's knickers).

Quote of the Day:  Preston, "Gee, Wisconsin is just like I pictured it...."

We did okay.

Leg 1:  5 sec early
Leg 2:  1 sec late
Leg3:  5 sec early
Leg 4:  16 sec late

Raw score 27; adjusted score 22.28; after dropping one leg = 9 sec!

Greatrace 2013 - Day 0

Tonight's post will be quick.  It was an interesting day that culminated in a trophy run (practice rally).    This allows veterans to scrape off the rust, and rookies to gain experience before the big show begins.  The car performed flawlessly.  No flat tires!  I was worried about our "tubeless" set up, but so far - no problems.  The same couldn't be said for our friends Barry and Juke.  They too have new tires and went with the recommended tubes.  They had not one but TWO flats today!  Uggh.

Our problems didn't start until AFTER the rally, on the way home.  The skies opened up and a torrential flood came down.  The car stalled out and had to be towed home the final 10 miles (thanks to Jim and the guys at Hemmings Motor News for the help!).  We dried out the distributor cap and should be good to go for tomorrow.

We did well today considering I haven't rallied in two years and my nephew has never rallied before. We ended up with a 17.33 second day (33th out of 99 cars)

Raw scores:
Leg 1:  1 sec late
Leg 2:  14 sec late
Leg 3:  3 sec late
Leg 4:  3 sec late

(note:  our raw score was 21 sec (x) times our age factor .825 (1935) = 17.33)

The winning time in our class was a 3 sec raw score:  Ace, Ace, Ace, 3......  whew!  That's good.

For the record:  we got a 14 second on leg 2 because we missed a turn.  Preston saw it, called it, and I drove past!  Totally my fault.  Uggh.

Greatrace 2013 - Prelude Continued

We made it!  We are actually at the Airport Marriott across from the Mall of America!  The entire trip took 15 hours 24 minutes and 49 seconds...... and 953.4 miles.  We dropped our stuff at the hotel, returned the U-haul truck & trailer, and got the car put away.  Tomorrow, we have registration, technical inspection, and a reception.  We have a few things to do to the car:  calibrate the speedo, check the oil, etc.

Now would be a good time to thank Danny Byington and Alan Calvert.  Without both of these guys, I would not be here now ready to race.  They are patient friends and highly skilled.  Thanks guys!

Stand by - more to come....

Greatrace 2013 - Prelude

And so it begins.  My nephew, Preston, and I departed today for St. Paul, MN and the start of the 2013 Greatrace.  We made it to Kansas City and will finish the trip to St. Paul tomorrow.  Today was uneventful - except for 20 minutes of torrential rain and hail.  The car made it through unscathed.  We're towing the Ford up with a u-haul truck/trailer.  We're going to drive the rally then drive home from Alabama.  That's Plan A...

More tomorrow.  Cheers!

1928 Ford Model A Speedster For Sale

Here is your chance to own a piece of history.  My 1928 Ford Model A speedster is for sale.  This isn't just any speedster.  It was featured on the cover of Hemmings Motor News in Sept 2011:

It is the 2007 Greatrace grand champion winner (Bob Labine won that year).  This ex-Rex Gardner; ex-Jeff Stumb; ex-Bob Labine rally car is awesome.  It starts every time.  And has all the needed mods to successfully rally:  12v conversion, juice brakes, modified Ron Kelly engine ('28 4 cylinder),   electric fan, timewise speedo, dual electronic fuel pumps, etc.

The car runs cool (no over heating problems) and is very reliable.  I have never had a DNF or DNS.

I am selling because I just bought a 1935 Ford Deluxe to rally.  My speedster is now redundant.  As much as I would love to keep her, this car needs to be rallied - not regulated to a life of 4th July parades and casual Sunday drives.

Car price is $20K firm.  There is a spares package available which includes a ton of parts and a spare Ron Kelly engine.  Spares packages is $8,000 obo.  

email questions to info@aerotac.com and include 1928 speedster for sale in the subject line

More 1935 Ford Deluxe Pictures

Nice 1935 Ford Deluxe

It's time to start getting ready for this year's adventure.  Great Race 2013 promises to be an exciting time.  The course will travel down the Mighty Mississippi River:

One change will be to the line-up.  My good friend and life-long navigator Joe, will be busy this summer.  So my nephew Preston will be joining me in the 1928 Speedster.  

Also joining Preston and I  will be my buddy Frank.  For more info goto:  www.greatrace.com

See you on the road!

R.I.P. Facebook

Well, I did it.  I killed my Facebook account.  I clicked the "Permanently Delete" box and hit the enter button.  Whew!  Man, do I feel better.  

I never really got Facebook.  I signed up to monitor my daughters activity.  What I got was inundated with worthless information.  

Here's the fundamental disconnect I see with Facebook:  I log on and my screen is filled with comments and daily minutia from friends.... and worse yet, their friends.  The fact is, I don't care if you're sitting at Olive Garden sipping on a apple-tini (even if we did share some good times together in college).  And I certainly don't care about your friend's friend Lacy from Accounting and what she thinks about global warming.... not my concern.

We are already overwhelmed in our daily lives with information.  The last thing I need is more meaningless details.  The next time I want to "social network," I'll pick up a phone and call you....

Ahh.  Free at last....

Bye Bye VW Camper

Said good bye to my 1973 VW Campmobile yesterday.... sniff, sniff, sniff.  It wasn't all sadness - there was some humor to the occasion.

The new owner waved and drove away.  Fifteen minutes later, she called me.  She was stranded on the side of the road - the VW quit running!?!?!  Murphy's Law struck again.  I went and got her and got the VW to a buddy of mine.  My guess is a bad fuel pump. 

I ALMOST got rid of my campmobile yesterday....

Bye Bye Buick

My Buick is gone.  Sold.  No longer part of the family.  (sniff!)  But it went to a good home and is tentatively scheduled to be raced next year in the 2013 Greatrace!  The old adage about sports cars is true - the happiest days in your life are the day you buy the car..... and the day you sell it.  Bye bye Buick.....   

I can't believe its been a year since my last post.  I'll do better.

My 1916 Buick is For Sale

- 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

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

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

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

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

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!