Drag Racers

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by Bob K

You're talking about sliding the axles and taking out the differential (pig) right? That's what I did with the '70 Mustang and it took me 45 minutes, but I had a lift so that made a big difference. Here's a couple of photos of my '69 Mach 1 and the '70 Mustang. Drag strip was in Avilla, Indiana. Not near as nice as the photos you guys have posted.

No, for my Firebird I have 10 bolt GM rears and I swap the whole complete axle assembly! In hindsight it would have been much better to switch to a 9" Ford rear.

I love the old photos! That pic of the guys sitting on the hoods is classic! Can't do that on cars anymore, the sheetmetal's so thin you'll dimple it and even clean shoes will scratch up the plastic painted bumpers.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by NOT A TA

No, for my Firebird I have 10 bolt GM rears and I swap the whole complete axle assembly! In hindsight it would have been much better to switch to a 9" Ford rear.

I love the old photos! That pic of the guys sitting on the hoods is classic! Can't do that on cars anymore, the sheetmetal's so thin you'll dimple it and even clean shoes will scratch up the plastic painted bumpers.

How bout this one. Look familiar?

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by Bob K

How bout this one. Look familiar?

Yup! I took pics of entrance signs at tracks too but thats one of the ones that disappeared when my computers were stolen. When I first went there I wondered why it didn't say Englishtown. LOL

Here's another New England one

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by NOT A TA

Yup! I took pics of entrance signs at tracks too but thats one of the ones that disappeared when my computers were stolen. When I first went there I wondered why it didn't say Englishtown. LOL

Here's another New England one

I think you can copy and paste the pic to your computer. If not, tell me where to send it. How about 'Old Bridge Township Raceway Park'? I guess they didn't want a sign that long. How many tracks are known by so many different names? Englishtown, Raceway Park, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Did I miss any?

Nice photo at Lime Rock. You actually posed the car and got out for the photo. Nice job.

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by Bob K

I think you can copy and paste the pic to your computer. If not, tell me where to send it. How about 'Old Bridge Township Raceway Park'? I guess they didn't want a sign that long. How many tracks are known by so many different names? Englishtown, Raceway Park, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Did I miss any?

Nice photo at Lime Rock. You actually posed the car and got out for the photo. Nice job.

In CT lots of people refered to it as "Jersey" , If you said "I'm racin in Jersey this weekend" everyone knew where you were talking about.

I actually didn't pose the car at Lime Rock. I'd driven the car there but wasn't running it that day. I'd parked there to go take pics of cars on track from the bridge area with someone elses camera. When I returned I thought it'd be a nice shot so I took it and had the pic emailed to me later.

I went to watch a girlfriend run open wheel cars at the Skip Barber school. Her boss rents the track and school one day a year and picks employees to attend the school for free. He knew I'd run there before and wanted to try the new surface before I moved south. He told me if one of the people didn't show up or chickened out he'd let me run one of the cars otherwise I could hang out and go to the classes and ride in the pace cars. With the possibility of getting in an open wheeled car on the new track you can be sure I wasn't going to miss out!!

Unfortunatly (for me) no one backed out so I attended the classes, visited with some of my previous instructors from the PCDA, rode in the pace cars, and took pics of everyone running on track with my G/Fs camera. That was the last time I drove the car with a normal interior. A few days later I took out the interior for a huge safety upgrade with a full cage, fire systems, Kirkeys, Schroths etc. http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48151

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by NOT A TA

In CT lots of people refered to it as "Jersey" , If you said "I'm racin in Jersey this weekend" everyone knew where you were talking about.

I actually didn't pose the car at Lime Rock. I'd driven the car there but wasn't running it that day. I'd parked there to go take pics of cars on track from the bridge area with someone elses camera. When I returned I thought it'd be a nice shot so I took it and had the pic emailed to me later.

I went to watch a girlfriend run open wheel cars at the Skip Barber school. Her boss rents the track and school one day a year and picks employees to attend the school for free. He knew I'd run there before and wanted to try the new surface before I moved south. He told me if one of the people didn't show up or chickened out he'd let me run one of the cars otherwise I could hang out and go to the classes and ride in the pace cars. With the possibility of getting in an open wheeled car on the new track you can be sure I wasn't going to miss out!!

Unfortunatly (for me) no one backed out so I attended the classes, visited with some of my previous instructors from the PCDA, rode in the pace cars, and took pics of everyone running on track with my G/Fs camera. That was the last time I drove the car with a normal interior. A few days later I took out the interior for a huge safety upgrade with a full cage, fire systems, Kirkeys, Schroths etc. http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48151

You mean Joisey. Great job and write up. I don't like the cage because I could not get in or out. Can't you use the removable bars for driver and passenger entry?

If I had a '70 Firebird in good shape I don't think I could have added the cage you did. You got what you wanted. A very nice safe car to drive in the events you are interested in, That's what it's all about.

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by Bob K

You mean Joisey. Great job and write up. I don't like the cage because I could not get in or out. Can't you use the removable bars for driver and passenger entry?

If I had a '70 Firebird in good shape I don't think I could have added the cage you did. You got what you wanted. A very nice safe car to drive in the events you are interested in, That's what it's all about.

It was a tough decision to put the full cage in the car. I really liked the way I had the interior set up. The car was originally an Esprit model and really doesn't have much value compared with the TA's, slightly more as a clone but it's not a collector car. I installed all the body panels spoilers etc. when I painted it back in the early 90's.

A simple bar allowing accepted harness mounting would have got me through tech for the events and classes the car can run in now, but as soon as I made it faster I would be required to add more safety equipment so I decided to just get it over with and do it once. I still need to install arm and leg restraints as well as a full door net. The only LSR I've been to since the cage was a non-sanctioned Milemarker-1 event and they really had no tech regulations. It's overkill for the NASA HPDE events I've been to.

The swing out door bars are used mostly on entry level drag race rollbar applications. Once you start building full cages for the faster classes in Land Speed Racing and open road racing they don't want to see them. Also the shoulder braces of the seats are bolted to the door bars. I had the swing out door bars in a car and never used them.

I'm flexible enough to climb in and out of the cage in the Firebird but I know sooner or later as I get older back or knee/hip issues will limit my ability to get in and out and something will need to be done. When the day comes I'll have to deal with it.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by NOT A TA

It was a tough decision to put the full cage in the car. I really liked the way I had the interior set up. A simple bar allowing accepted harness mounting would have got me through tech for the events and classes the car can run in now, but as soon as I made it faster I would be required to add more safety equipment so I decided to just get it over with and do it once. I still need to install arm and leg restraints as well as a full door net. The only LSR I've been to since the cage was a non-sanctioned Milemarker-1 event and they really had no tech regulations. It's overkill for the NASA HPDE events I've been to.

The swing out door bars are used mostly on entry level drag race rollbar applications. Once you start building full cages for the faster classes in Land Speed Racing and open road racing they don't want to see them. Also the shoulder braces of the seats are bolted to the door bars. I had the swing out door bars in a car and never used them.

I'm flexible enough to climb in and out of the cage in the Firebird but I know sooner or later as I get older back or knee/hip issues will limit my ability to get in and out and something will need to be done. When the day comes I'll have to deal with it.

You did a fantastic job and it may end up being overkill for furture events but you got what you wanted. I also would like to commend you for documenting all of these changes for the benefit of others. And everyone else supported you during the build.

I posted some DIY on the Corvette Forum and added photos. The last one was how to change the PCM. Several guys picked apart my method of removing the connectors. I designed a lot of this stuff for military applications and now I've got these dumb azzes criticizing. I just quit doing it.

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by Bob K

You did a fantastic job and it may end up being overkill for furture events but you got what you wanted. I also would like to commend you for documenting all of these changes for the benefit of others. And everyone else supported you during the build.

I posted some DIY on the Corvette Forum and added photos. The last one was how to change the PCM. Several guys picked apart my method of removing the connectors. I designed a lot of this stuff for military applications and now I've got these dumb azzes criticizing. I just quit doing it.

Thanks Bob! I usually stay away from posting DIY maintenance threads and only post "how to" threads about modifications or custom build stuff because of the same problem you had. I've actually had people tell me how something was done on particular cars and they're waaaay off base. I know because I either designed the parts or assembled that part of the car! I've worked on a lot of stuff for people and no one knows it's my work so I just keep my mouth shut and chuckle to myself.

On one forum a guy posted about how he was going to install Trans Am emblems in wheel centercaps "the right way" with 3M trim adhesive after I'd posted that they should only be installed with silicone when someone else first posted a question about emblem intstallation..... No one knew but I'd designed centercaps that were made to accept the same emblems but hadn't started marketing them yet! LOL I knew the 3M adhesive would eat the plastic emblems after 5 minutes of setup and distort the back side of the emblem. I posted again that I recommended only silicone and the original poster should take my advice. I would have loved to see the other guys face as the graphics in his emblems melted and distorted from the 3M! LOL There goes a hundred bucks!

Usually I only post stuff like this carbon fiber dash build if there's companies sponsoring the build so they get the advertising. Most of the time no one ever knows I had anything to do with the cars. Since it's not something anyone else has done I don't get any know it all comments. This one got "stickied" on some of the TA forums. http://transamcountry.com/community/...?topic=31560.0

I bet Spiceman runs into that kind of stuff on forums where they're telling him about stuff he worked on not knowing he was involved initially.

[Lou G]

Bob, thank you for starting this thread.
I used to do the 1/4 mile with my '63 Vert back in '63 and '64 at Island Dragway in New Jersey. It was a 340 carburation and was very consistent around 13.1 but most the time got beat by the 360 fuelies. The track is still there but I have not raced again.
I go to the Orlando track whenever I get a chance.

Spiceman, you walk softly but carry a big stick. I have met you and your Mallett a couple of times but didn't know your racing history. When I get back to Florida I will get in touch and buy you and the wife a cup of coffee or a beer.
Lou