[Fot] Initial report

[Mark J. Bradakis]

The intention:   Sitting here at the keyboard after a nice shower to 
wash off the
sweat and dust and oil from an afternoon at the track, letting folks 
know how
things are going for the FOT gang at the Thriller at Miller.


The reality: Sitting here at the keyboard after a nice shower to wash 
off the
sweat and dust and oil from an afternoon of whacking on an immobile
Honda, working on getting it far enough to the side of the driveway to
let my wife move in and out of the garage without major hassle.  Cars
are easier to move if all four wheels are actually attached.


Coming home last night after a repair to yet another leaking coolant hose
I noticed that the steering in the little Civic seemed odd.  If it had power
steering, I would have stopped and checked the belt and fluid level.  But
no power steering, I figured I'd check into it RealSoonNow.  Get to the
house, crank the wheel to make the turn into the drive, a loud BANG and
no further motion of the car.

Turns out the lower ball joint on the right front corner decided to fall
apart. Not too bad, I initially thought it would be an expensive
rebuild of the gearbox.  So the little black car might be on the road
again soon.

Tomorrow ( saturday morning )  I pick up a rental car and head out to
the track.  so maybe 24 hours or so from  this writing I may actually
be doing a report on the FOT at  Miller.  Or I'll be sucking down yet
another cold one in someone's air conditioned motor home listening
to tales of the way the world should have behaved that day!

mjb.