Hold the phones, stop the presses, mark your calenders! The stars must be in
alignment!
I was working on something (a LandCruiser, sorry, not British) this AM. I
dropped a nut and it FELL OUT AT MY FEET WHER I COULD REACH IT.........NOT
UNDER THE CENTER OF THE TRUCK!!!!! This has never happened in 25 years of
wrenching on cars. Could my luck be changing?? Nah!
Speaking of luck, do any of you racers have any routines of good luck charms
you rely on for racing. I never thought I was superstitous, but then I
realized there are 3 things that I rely on for luck. My brother and I have an
ancient red screwdriver that was part of the first garage sale set of tools
we bought. It even has a name..."Big Red". It's mandatory when we prepare the
Team Thicko Sprite that we use this screwdriver once. It doesn't function so
well any more as a screwdriver due to the many years of use as a chisel,
prybar, etc. So I usually use it to pry the rear drums off for a brake
inspection.
I keep my Father's dog tags from WW II in the tow vehicle, along with Roger
Menadue's LeMans wrist bracelet. Roger was the Experimental Department Chief
Engineer for the Donald Healey Motor CO. When the cars went thru
scrutineering at LeMans, the car, the toolbox, and the mechanic recieved a
sealed or wired shut tag that indicated that they were the only tools, or
mechanic able to work on the car during the race. Roger gave it to me during
one of his stays at our home a few years ago.
I know the Healeys were quite superstitous. The first Special Test Car, NOJ
391 was considered unlucky. A French journalist was killed in the car. If you
ad up 3+9+1 you get 13 which was considered unlucky. The car was
re-registered in 100S trim.This is the car that Fred Hunter owns.
Am I wacked out or what?
Wm. Severin Thompson
Team Thicko
P.S. See you at the Blawkhawk Classic!
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