Bruce, Mary Ann, Doug and Darrell,
It was so very nice to meet you on the salt (Mary Ann thru our
reassurances emailing you that the "boys" were alright).
What an exciting week, so many runs for the first time, over
200 on most, in a Firebird, no less!!!
Dan & I would love to do your car someday, it is a great color.
One of our very first dates was in '69 at Cordova Drag Raceway
in Cordova, Illinois. And instead of seeing Seaton's Super Shaker
AA Fuel Funny Car blow up and skatter pieces in 3 states (no
one was hurt) we were in the back seat of a '63 Olds F85!
We did hear the car explosion, however!
I am printing out these accounts of Speedweek 2000 and
will add them to the USFRA's archives.
Thank you for sharing your week, too,
Kris Wright
USFRA Program Advertising
and Office Manager
at Cimarron Software, Inc.
The Laboratory and Analysis Workflow Company
FastmetalBDF@aol.com wrote:
> 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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