Hello All, We're back from California' s Bay Area, and our first
time of running
a car at Speedweek. Much as I love the awesome beauty of the Bonneville
scenery,
it feels good to have lots of trees around, the cool breeze off Long Island
Sound,
and not be coated down in sun block . We did not set any records with the
939 Black Radon Engineering Firebird, but did accomplish several things we
feel good about ...... so here are several notes : We made a total of nine
runs from Sunday to Thursday, and on Tuesday Darrell's fourth licensing pass
was at
192.688 and that afternoon his fifth pass ( first on the long course ), on
straight methanol, netted a speed of 200.005 ..... not much over two bills
..... but enough so that our good old buddy from Alabama lost his bet with
Darrell that he wouldn' t go two hundred at his first Bonneville competition
! Sure enough, ever a man of his word, Keith soon zoomed into our pit
area on his neat-o mini bike, with the payoff ....... The Can of Diet Coke
...... and a towel over his arm to serve it ...... waiter style !!! Many
laughs and wise cracks followed ....... the stuff that makes the Speedweek
experience so great !!!
The following morning, Wednesday, the car was a little faster at
209.353 mph,
but the best was yet to come, as that afternoon, on his seventh licensing
pass,
and with some fine tuning and a light load of nitro in the tank, Darrell made
a pass
down the salt at 259.038 mph, which was 2.350 mph OVER the existing
B / BFALT record ....... so, needless to say, our whole crew was very happy at
this strong run ! The amazing thing about this, the FASTEST of all our
runs, was
that the blower belt totally self destructed about 400 feet before the last
timing light,
causing the car to " nose over " in a loss of power ! The blower belt was
just a tangle of cords and lots of small chunks of rubber ! We all
concurred that had the belt held together the speed would have been in the
260s ........ but as we all know ....... in racing, as the real world, "
coulda --- shoulda --- woulda !!! " This run really charged up the whole
crew, for sure !
However, as the saying goes, " There's many a slip ' twixt the cup and
the lip ! "....... and the slip came Thursday afternoon, after some thorough
engine maintenance that morning ........ checking the innards ........ when,
on
the long course, at the three mile mark, the car spun, while recording a time
of
195.824 . That was run number eight, and while it was disappointing, the
good news was that the driver ( Darrell ) and car were A - OK !
Time was running out ...... it was Thursday afternoon already, and
after the mandatory check out of the wheels, tires, suspension, etc. (
required after a spin...... and an excellent rule ) by the tech officials
....... we strapped Doug in the car for his
first licensing pass, which netted a run of 157.278 mph . We were all very
happy that Doug got at least one run in the car as he has worked tirelessly
on this car, as has Darrell, and all the fabricated aluminum pieces on this
car were TIG' d by
Doug ...... about three thousand miles away from the car, here in Connecticut
.
NOT quite like walking four or five steps from the bench to the car to
make sure things fit right !!! MANY long phone calls coast to coast
....... MANY double
and triple measurements ....... and MANY very accurate templates going thru
the
mails ! It all seems to have come together pretty well for our first
outing , and I
am very proud of all the design and construction work my two sons have done
on this car ....... they did EVERYTHING on this project except the machining
on the
engine block, which we are not equipped to do . They chose the flat black
color
...... not primer ..... to give the car a sinister look, and many people have
told us it has that look to it . This car was formerly owned by my uncle
....... was Doug' s first car, and he put in its' first big block Chev while
in high school ...... then several years ago Doug & Darrell did some car
trading ....... towed it to the Bay Area after
Darrell moved out there in ' 94 ........ Darrell drag raced it a bit, and
then they decided that Bonneville & the dry lakes was the way they wanted to
go ...... after
reading about LeVan Prothero' s Camaro, I think . The boys feel there is
a lot more speed potential in this family heirloom, and will now commence on
fine tuning
and refining many as yet unfinished details on the car, and making many
improvements . Watch for it at the dry lakes ! I would like to thank
all the fine
people, both on this list and off , who had so many positive comments and
nice
things to say about our car, including those of the SCTA inspectors . It
was great to meet so many on this list for the first time, and also to see
again others I have met
previosly ! For some on this list that I didn' t get to talk with, my
apologies ......
crewing on a car sure cuts down on socializing and checking out other cars .
Congrats, again to my sons ...... for many years now my wife has said "
You
injected gasoline in those boys veins ! " ....... I guess they were exposed
to a lot of
oval & drag racing ! Now, I tell her , " No, now it' s nitromethane and
alcohol ! "
My thanks to Michael Burns of California, our youngest crew member,
and avery big THANK YOU to Tom Shea and Ed Ruggieri, both of Springfield,
MA.
for all the help they gave us on the salt ...... both old time hotrodders
from Mass.
like me ! Most of all ...... my GREATEST thanks to my wife, Mary Ann, for
putting up with, and making possible all our car antics over the years !!!
We
will be married for 35 years next month ( !!! ) ...... and she will always be
the pretty
girl I saw on the car trailer, in the pits ....... Connecticut Dragway, Sept
9, 1962 .
........ It' s been a long trip from helping the older boys run
flathead oval track cars in 1948 and ' 49 , in Massachusetts and Rhode
Island, to watching my sons run down the salt at Bonneville , Utah , in the
year 2000 .............
Who says life isn' t wonderful ???
Bruce Ferguson ........ feeling pretty good ......... off now
to see my
two beautiful grandchildren !
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