So here’s the “new” car. It’s Eric Connors’ Oswego car that got wadded up in the big wreck at RoC a few years ago (On a side note, Jason Spaulding’s and Jeff Merritt’s cars are also both still wrecked from that crash). It’s been sitting in the weeds since then but fortunately Eric did a nice job of wrapping up the important parts. Since it was a fresh motor when he ran it for RoC, I figured we’d see how it looked and maybe put it in my car to go back to Spencer. I dumped out the antifreeze and pulled the pan and everything looked good so we dropped it in my car last light. It fired right up and sounds decent so we’ll swap the intake and finish setting it up tonight. I’ve reconfigured the pulley system to something that I know works so it should stay cool. Last week I set up the third member with something a little closer to what we should be running and got that put in. And another bonus from Eric’s car was a good throwout bearing so hopefully the gremlins will stay away. With all that done, hopefully instead of bringing a knife to the gunfight we’ll be bringing at least a slingshot.
The bullet in our slingshot this week will be Kelly. I have mixed feelings about it but he’s going to drive. I love driving the car but I really am a little too out of practice and I still can’t tell if it’s the car or me. Kelly’s been driving a Super all summer so if he gets around better than I did I’ll at least know what to work on. Besides, he offered me a pile of motor parts and I need them more than I need a driving fix. And having the help in the shop is going to make a big difference in how we perform at the track. I’m looking forward to seeing how things work out. He’s had a rough time because of equipment this year. Hopefully that won’t be a problem Friday and we’ll come out of the night well.
Dave Fetterly came by last night to get some tires and lent a hand getting the motor in. He filled me in on how Tommy and Mike (the other Ford guys) did at SL2. They both finished in the top 10 and are coming to Spencer Friday. Jason and Matt didn’t do quite so well. Hopefully they’ll get things back together and come back. I’ve heard of a couple people that can’t make it back but more that will be there that missed the last one so the car count should be awesome.
As for Eric’s old car, it’s in dire need of a front clip. I think once I’ve got my car ready for next season, I’ll cut off the one I’ve got out back and get it straightened out. The rest of the chassis is in great shape and Kelly did nice job of placing the weight and bracing the cage. Once it’s cleaned up I’ve got a novel idea for a body I’ve wanted to try for a few years. Keep watching this space for details.