Author Topic: You know you are a Gearhead when...  (Read 4829 times)

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Offline SlyOneJr

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You know you are a Gearhead when...
« on: August 30, 2010, 12:36:13 PM »
Ok, had to post this. My Dad has been involved in drag racing for over 50 years now, he is in the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame, has like 15 different NHRA, IHRA, and even one NASCAR records, still builds intake manifolds, and helps about 3/4 of the people in NHRA that run Competition Eliminator, so...

Dad has had the same Craftsman riding lawn mower for over 15 years, and the old 12.5 Briggs engine finally let go. Dad gets another used motor from a friend of his that ran low on oil and spun the rod on the crank. He goes through the motor, polishes the crank, gets a .020 under rod to put in it, shaves the cylinder head down to up the compression, puts an offset key on the crank gear to advance the cam, puts a three angle valve job on the motor, does a mild port and polish on the intake and exhaust ports, sets the valve lash tighter, puts a offset key on the flywheel to set the timing, re-jets the carb, re-weights the governor, and bolts everything together and puts it back on the RIDING LAWN MOWER!

If that's not a true Gearhead, then I don't know what is. Figure now he might get a few minutes quicker time on cutting the lawn!
New Guy building a L/Gas Lakester
Ninja 250 powered Lakester for ECTA meets

Offline 4-barrel Mike

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2010, 12:51:14 PM »
The USFRA barstool records look pretty soft: http://www.saltflats.com/barstool.html  :mrgreen:

Mike
Mike Kelly - PROUD owner of the V4F that powered the #1931 VGC to a 82.803 mph record in 2008!

Offline Seldom Seen Slim

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2010, 01:28:50 PM »
Mike (and everyone):

Have you ever been to the USFRA meet and watched the barstools run?  They're tons-o'-fun.  Especially vehicles like the Nish 'stool.  Cecil McCray, the crew chief, rides it.  When the stool leaves the line it's spewing purple smoke (Nish is sponsored by Royal Purple, remember), and when the rider gets to the end of the run he tosses out the laundry -- really!  A chute is deployed to help bring the speeding vehicle down to safe speeds.

And as for the records being soft -- well, keeping in mind the strict limitations on propulsion systems (only one 12 V battery, only one electric motor, etc) and the classes (lakester and streamliner) and the fact that the rider must be sitting up on top of a barstool -- unh, maybe they're not all that soft.  I don't think I'm likely to run a 'stool this year -- but they are fun to see.
Jon E. Wennerberg
 a/k/a Seldom Seen Slim
 Skandia, Michigan
 (that's way up north)
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Owner of landracing.com

Offline johnneilson

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2010, 08:41:32 PM »
What really scares me is that I know where to get the parts to do this..............
As Carroll Smith wrote; All Failures are Human in Origin.

Offline relaxedphit

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2010, 07:52:51 AM »
What does a streamline barstool look like?

Offline DallasV

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #5 on: August 31, 2010, 09:22:56 AM »
Records or parts, I didn't come all this way not to break something.

Offline temple2u

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2011, 10:17:30 AM »
This is a for real story ran in a newspaper -
"Going Too Fast" is an oxymoron.

Offline John Noonan

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2011, 01:26:09 AM »
This is a for real story ran in a newspaper -


Funny story....is the car still around?

John

Offline manta22

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Re: You know you are a Gearhead when...
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2011, 05:45:38 PM »
That newspaper article is an urban myth that has been around for thirty years...at least.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ