After experiencing PA’s hottest stretch of the summer a couple of weeks back, only to come home to similar conditions in my home state of TN, I thought how much hotter could it get? Well, I found out. My a/c at home decided to go on an untimely strike for a couple of days (it was repaired last minute or I would’ve been staying at home in Memphis’ kiddy pool with him; ed. note – see dog in pool pict.), so we decided to pack up and head further south into the heart of Dixie for a little outlaw racing. Saturday it was 90 degree’s at 8:30 in the morning…and it didn’t get any cooler throughout the day, staying above 100 for most of the afternoon. OK, OK, enough about the weather. It was just something else we’d have to deal with, and it was the same for everybody…but man it was hot!

DOG DAYZ...

Speaking of things to deal with, some serious race rust had accumulated since the last time I’d been in my outlaw car. It’d been over 2 months since we’d competed, and after running Army’s nitro funny car a couple of weeks back…I was pretty much a mess when it came to getting comfortable again in my own ride. The two cars are about as similar as apples and pineapples. Steven pointed out that it would be in my best interest if I got re-acquainted with the differences between brake lever placement in a funny car, and shift lever placement in a door car. Oh well, at least the gas pedal was in the same place…we qualified with the #7 position at the end of Saturday, which was just about smack dab in the middle of the pro-ladder and meant that we weren’t going to have any bye run’s or a smooth route through eliminations.

“Mid-day qualifying, ODRA 5.30…still fine tuning some camera angles”

Throughout the day I kept thinking about a book that I read on my way up to PA about the life of Billy Graham. At first I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about reading it, but since my Mom had given it to me and told me I’d better get after it…..I felt somewhat obligated to do so. Turns out that what I thought was a slight burden, ended up being a major blessing. The book is written from the death bed of Charles Templeton, who as a young man was Billy’s best friend and fellow evangelist. Templeton goes on to talk about how several trials in his life lead him to a crisis of faith in which he publicly renounced his faith and became an outspoken atheist. This would have a devastating impact on Billy and led to a major crossroads involving a decision that could have altered the salvation of many lives if the outcome had been different. Graham ultimately decided to walk by faith and not by site, and as we all know went on to do many great works for the kingdom of God.

I guess what I got out of it, is that often times the difference between a mess and a masterpiece is perspective. Only God could use the damage that Templeton had inflicted upon Graham as a platform for His glory. From what I can tell and by most standards, Billy was a fairly ordinary guy…but he had faith and he had God’s favor, which was all that he needed.

My faith isn’t where I would like for it to be at times…which makes me feel undeserving of the doors that seem to keep opening up for me these days. However, all I can do is keep thanking God for the good times and the bad, while I try my best to walk by faith and not by site. Although I’ve raced something for most of my life now, I don’t consider myself particularly talented and I don’t have much drag racing experience, so it’s very humbling for me when things go our way…..

Oh yeah, there was a drag race going on…and we won it!!

Team 5.30 Montgomery; J-Rod, EG, Steven, Cynthia

Winning one of these deals is never about one person, but losing it can be. Fortunately for me, my good friends Steven, Cynthia and Jerry were all on board all day long giving selflessly for the cause and helping get it done. The only crew member that was missing was my favorite, my girlfriend Amber. She’s overseas serving Uncle Sam for a couple more months and I’m counting the days till she’s headed home and the team will be complete.

Special thanks to all of our amazing sponsors; Corky Coker and David Leach of Coker Tire, Steven and Cynthia Farrow of Farrow Motorsports, Jack McInnis of Dart Machinery, Chris Douglas of Comp Cams & Zex Nitrous Systems, Stanley Poff of TCI Transmissions, Patrick Burris of Royal Purple Oil, Joe and Marlene of Holeshot Wheels, Michael Walton of Impact Racing.

I know it sounds trite, but it really couldn’t be done without anybody on this list. All of these people, companies, and products are top shelf and are a joy to be affiliated with.

The 5.30 class train kept on rolling with a stopover this past weekend in Commerce, GA. Since the Montgomery rain out, we’ve had the benefit of exactly 2 test passes at our local track, which didn’t tell us much of anything other than the fact that it’s dusty there…and that we had a vacuum pump pulley alignment issue. Not exactly the wealth of test data that we were looking for going into Atlanta.

Upon arrival at the ATL, and straight outta the trailer, our times were off significantly. However, persistence pays and we finally cashed ours in with a killer Farrow Motorsports tune-up getting the all steel hot-rod near the top of the field in qualifying. Eliminations on Sunday saw us make it all the way to the Semi-finals where our good fortune finally ran out against Brian Farrar, and his “Shim-a-ditty” ’57 Chevy. Although a tight race, Brian took the stripe by a few thousandths and would go on to easily win his final round match up against Blaine Aldridge.

EG & Waterhead, gettin’ ready to get down

It’s still very early in the season, but initial indications are that if everything keeps going our way, then we’ll be a serious contender for the title come the end of November.

Ever wonder what it’s like to ride shot-gun in a drag car? Click the video below to find out what it’s all about…

Next on the to-do list is a little road trip over to “The Rock” or Rockingham, NC for the IHRA Nitro Jam in a couple of weeks. My good buddy Army Armstrong is rolling out his brand new ’67 Nova Nitro Funny car in the Prostalgia class, and said that if I play my cards right as a crew member…then he’ll toss me the keys on Sunday for my first attempt at a licensed pass in AA/FC.

http://www.ihra.com/article/5968.html

Thanks again to Coker Tire, Dart, COMP Cams, TCI, ZEX, Royal Purple, and Holeshot for all the help this season…we couldn’t do it without you.

God bless,

EG

Here’s a little update on how things are going in outlaw land as of last night. I guess you could look at it as a photo essay of sorts…which is by design since I’m too tired to write much of anything coherent.

Only 16 days to go until qualifying at ORSCA Montgomery, AL…and I’ve been doing some research on rain dancing. However, if there’s one thing that you can’t count on to cooperate in the South, it’s the weather. With that being said, the great news is that we now have 80% of the parts we need and should have everything by next week. So, the thrash is on like donkey-kong.

Look for proper recognition to all those companies and individuals who’re making Project (Panic) 5.30 a reality in the next post…the shout-out list will rival a gangster rap video!

Proverbs Chapter 3 vs. 5-6

God bless,

EG

Well, it’s official. Johnny and the outlaws at ORSCA have finalized their classes for 2010, and there’s a new 5.30 E.T. index class. Here’s the rulebook (don’t worry it ain’t that long):

1) No throttle stops
2) Car must have doors

Man, you’ve gotta love anything goes outlaw racing! Now, all we’ve got to do is change everything we’ve ever learned about car set-up and racing in the 6.0 class. I’ve had several people question the wisdom of making a change this late in the game (racing starts in 7 weeks). But then again, nobody’s ever accused me of being smart to start with, waiting for ideal conditions is rarely an option… and I’ve never seen a statue made of a critic either. So here goes:

The two primary differences in the classes are that 6.0 required the car to weigh 2,800 lbs and run a 10.5 inch tread width tire…there are a few other rules regarding appearance, safety, etc., but the weight and tire were essentially the limiting factors in performance. Welp, you can throw all of that out of the window for 5.30. Since weight equals horsepower, the first order of business was to get rid of everything non-essential, and lighten up everything else. Since the car didn’t exactly have a CD player and air-conditioning to start with, the weight savings challenge on what was a fairly lean race car was a formidable one. Out came the entire drive train for an evaluation and preliminary game plan for more power…more on that later.

Rather than ruin the paint job that my buddy Chad did for my birthday a couple years back, and gut the car’s all steel body, we decided to keep the shell intact and convert the bolt on stuff. Namely the bumpers, grill, rear deck lid, all went to fiberglass, and a new light weight rear spoiler that is a one-off aluminum set up was installed (courtesy of Mr. Randy Petet, and his bad-to-the-bone Porsche Outlaw 4.70 car that the wing was formerly attached to). Also on the Jenny Craig program; new steering rack, battery (yes, you can even get a light weight 16V battery), and a re-designed 2 gallon fuel cell. Initial weight savings to the chassis – about 150 lbs.

The next order of business was to get what’s left of the car over to my buddies Greg and Josh at the Honest Charley Garage for some touch up paint/body work. My sled got worked over like a borrowed mule last season and was in dire need of some touch up work/cosmetic surgery and the guys at HCG were gracious enough to lend a helping hand.

At the body spa.

Hmm...wonder what I should put in here?

No junk in this trunk!

As for power, here’s this keyboard crew chief’s theory: The car will need to run a 5.15-5.20 E.T. to be competitive in the class, therefore at 2,550 lbs, on a Phoenix PH455 17.0/33.0-15 tire we will need to generate 1,100 horsepower. That’s a lot of donkeys. So my buddy Steven and I disassembled the engine, and took the internals to our friend Lance’s machine shop where everything was magna-fluxed, mic’d and tested. Lance is a trip, we went over to his place out in the Georgia countryside on a Sunday night, opened the door, and he’s in there grinding away while rocking out to the Blues Brothers “Sweet Home Chicago”…on 8-track! When asked to see his music collection, he opened up a 4’x8’ steel file cabinet packed full of slammin’ 8-track cuts. Talk about soul!

Everything on the engine bottom end came back in fine form. Now it was decision time…should we take the existing, heavy-Chevy iron block, bore it out to .100 over, use my existing 4.25 crank and make a 505 cu. In. power plant? A 505 would leave us a little light in the loafers with about 900 h.p., and we’d need to rely heavily on the n2o to make the additional HP, needed to run the ET, plus it’s heavy, HV (that doesn’t really mean anything, I just thought that since we’re on initials I’d through that in there ☺…).

OR…….step up to the plate and build an all-aluminum, king dog, 565ci big block using a DART block, heads, intake and my crank. You know where this is headed…the thought of an engine weighing 150 lbs less and making 200hp more, really isn’t any kind of decision at all. As we speak/write, somebody in Detroit most likely shoveled out their driveway this morning, headed into work at DART, and is behind closed doors doing final prep work on an all aluminum Big “M” block, 4.600 bore, with Pro-2 CNC Ported 380 Aluminum heads and a port matched single plane intake. Kinda brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it…

Next on the list will be getting the behemoth big block breathing. Just like DART, COMP Cams is the best in the business at what they do. A call to their tech guys resulted in a cam, lifter, timing belt and shaft rocker system combination that ought to get us somewhere north of 1,100hp on motor…and just for additional insurance, we decided to go with one of their ZEX nitrous plate kits, good for another 500hp, that’s 1600hp total if we lean on it!! I get the feeling that we’re headed into Wiley E. Coyote territory here…and I couldn’t be happier about it. More updates on project 5.30 as the pre-season progresses.

Memphis says...”King dog what? When do we get to eat around here”

Speaking of being shot out of a land cannon, my good buddy Army Armstrong is coming down from frozen Pennsylvania next week, and picking me up for a road trip to West Palm Beach, FL where the season opener IHRA Nitro Jam will take place. Army will be driving the “Texas Jungle 2” nostalgia nitro funny car, owned and operated by Henry Gutierrez of San Antonio TX (see June 2009 blog archive). I can’t wait to see mi amigo’s from TX, the Trevino’s, Big John Dunn of Dunn & Gone, some 1/8th mile burnouts and get to a warmer climate.

Texas Jungle in Action.

Before I wrap it up for this time around, I’d like to give thanks to the good Lord above, who makes all things possible, and to Coker Tire, Dart Machinery, Comp Cams, Farrow Motorsports, and everyone else who’s working hard to make project 5.30 a reality.

Thanks for reading,
EG

the goose is getting fat…
OK, sit down, strap in and hold on for a top-fuel-type review of what’s been going on for the past couple of months.  The season finally came to a close on November 22nd in Steele, AL at ORSCA the same way that it started back in March, with a rainout.  Oh well, it was still a great rookie season for many reasons. By the grace of the Almighty, I was able to advance to the semi-finals or better in over 60% of the races I attended…which ain’t too bad considering I really didn’t know what I was doing for most of the time.  As I alluded to in a previous post, we’re planning on coming strong with it for 2010.  ORSCA is adding a 5.30 ET class, with no restrictions on weight, tire size, engine displacement, power adders, noise/mufflers (I hated that rule in 6.0)…so it looks like I’ve found a new home.  Look for picts and posts of project 5.30 as we progress through the winter.

As much as I enjoyed getting acquainted with the ORSCA outlaws, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t acknowledge the tremendous success of some other competitors who’ve won in various race classes on Phoenix for 2009.  Jimmy DeFrank clinched the NHRA Super Stock title at Pomona last month.  This would mark the 3rd time that the DeFrank’s have won a national title on Phoenix drag tires!  Check out what Jimmy and his Dad, Jim, had to say about it in this upcoming add for NHRA’s National Dragster magazine.

Also storming through NHRA Super Stock was Coker Tire Performance Division, VP, Mike Crutchfield, who finished the year just outside the top ten in points.  Mike won 4 Lucas Oil series events along the way, and remains a threat in Super Stock anywhere he goes.  With regard to bracket racing, a couple of fellow Tennessean’s had late season stand-out performances also worth mentioning.  Former “Million Dollar Bracket Race Winner” and long time Phoenix race tire customer Johnny Labbous of Nashville cleaned house in the Florida Winter Series, taking home several wins in Super Pro, and Davey Boyd of Spencer capped a successful weekend of IHRA competition in Rockingham, NC by winning a world title in the “No Box,” bracket category on Phoenix tires.  Hat’s off gentlemen for these awesome accomplishments!!

So last week I loaded up the van with our race tire display and headed down the “inner state” going southbound for the annual PRI (Performance Racing Industry) trade show held in Orlando, FL.  PRI is a manufacturer’s who’s who (kinda like Cindy Lou Who, who was only two…when the Grinch made her go boo, hoo, hoo) and is a great way to showcase new products to prospective buyers from around the country/world.  It’s also a time to catch up with old friends (in my case 2 year old friends), and share some good old bench racing stories.  However, before I cruised into Orlando and PRI, I decided to make a stop along the way at Don “Big Daddy” Garlit’s museum of drag racing in Ocala, FL.

This is what the trophy case of the NHRA’s #1 racer of all time looks like.

Big Daddy’s Hardware!

Don Garlits started racing in 1950, and he’s got two warehouses full of memorabilia to prove it.  Big Daddy has the reputation of being an innovator, and it truly was a privilege to look at the progression of the sport through the eyes of the NHRA’s all time best.  If you’re ever passing through Ocala, do yourself a favor and check out.

The rat that started a revolution, “Swamp Rat I”

The front of “Swamp Rat 24”

Upon arriving in Orlando, I set up shop, and we were open for business Thursday through Saturday.  Aside from the ordinary task of meeting/greeting customers and talking race tires a few PRI highlights immediately come to mind.  1) The last lap crash of the celebrity go-cart race held in the trade show parking lot.  2) Mike “Heavy C” Clayton’s rental car burnout in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn. 3) Seeing the look on Mike Crutchfield’s face after he discovered the free passes to the “Doll House” that I’d planted inside his note book.  4) Being reunited with my old buddy and IHRA Pro Stock legend Roy “the drill sergeant” Hill…who’s school I attended way, way back in the year of 2008. (see May 2008 Blog Post)

“Roy Hill and EG having a couple of har-har’s at PRI”

Have a safe and happy holiday season…and remember if you see someone that you think could pass for Santa Claus coming at you wide open & sideways in a rental car, do yourself a favor and get off the sidewalk!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
EG

October 3rd – Southern Outlaw Heads Up Last Friday morning my mood reflected the weather outside…rainy, cold and dark. I’m not going to get into everything, as this aint a self-help column, and I’m a drag racer….not the Unabomber. Anyways, it had been 4 weeks since I’d gotten to race, and it appeared as if this particular evening’s qualifying session was also in jeopardy due to rain. To be perfectly honest about it, I didn’t really care whether it got rained out or snowed out for that matter. Although the weather did come around, and qualifying did happen, I finally just decided to sit it out and see how I felt about things Saturday morning. (more…)

It’s not every day that you happen to come across two nitro funny cars while on your way to pick up toilet paper and potato chips…but that’s exactly what a few lucky gear heads ran into last Friday morning in the Wal-mart parking lot in Lookout Valley, TN. My buddies Army Armstrong and Heath Fike were trucking it through town in a 53 ft. rig hauling JJ2 to Oklahoma where they were to rendezvous with the rest of the Texas Jungle crew. Since Chatt-a-Vegas is on the way, they decided to swing through for an impromptu visit and to pick up JJ2’s older brother, JJ1, for a family reunion of sorts to be held in Bakersfield, CA (read:NHRA Hot Rod Reunion). (more…)

Hang ‘em high

Cooler temperatures, college football, and red-hot racing…it just doesn’t get much better than this. Frustrated by the inconsistent tune-up and lack of results for the end of July and August, we decided to do some extensive trouble shooting in an effort to get back on track. The fuel system and carburetor were taken apart, cleaned, and re-jetted, electronics were replaced, valve lash was set, and upon checking the timing….the culprit was found. My distributor had somehow loosened just enough to take approximately 10 degree’s of timing out of the engine. I was relieved and amazed to learn that I hadn’t been totally lost on all of my settings…the car had just “detuned” it-self by about 150 horsepower. Now I had the answer why I’d been hitting myself over the head with a hammer and flushing $100 bills down the toilet for the past 4 weeks with no results. It’s the little things that kill… (more…)

August in Dixie- after what’s seemed like a fairly mild Summer (at least by southern standards), we have hit our hot stretch right at the expected peak time. My neighbors did the sensible thing this past weekend, and lounged poolside and at the river. I spent the majority of my time trackside…in a parking lot. I felt like I was in a bank vault with both a humidifier and heater running at the same time. It was hotter than cayenne pepper. Oh well, at least it wasn’t boring. Oh yeah, the racing action has been pretty hot too: (more…)

I hope everybody still has most of their fingers and toes after the long 4th of July weekend. It seems like everybody in TN had some sort of homegrown explosive celebration to commemorate our great nation’s independence…firecrackers, sparklers, roman candles, bottle rockets, whisker diddle’s, whisker do’s – whisker dont’s, etc. People around here are slightly more emboldened with gun powder than they were in CA…at least in firework form anyways.
As for racing, it was a tough week-weekend. If you’ll recall from the last story, my transmission bell-housing case was cracked after Baileyton, AL, so on Monday night, Steven, Bob and I pulled the tranny/convertor and assessed the damage. The front part of the case was cracked, but everything else appeared to be OK (emphasis here on appeared). The plan was to install a used, but substantially stronger, ultrabell housing (donated from Farrow Motorsports) on my old set up. Friday morning rolls around and I had the day off. Awesome I thought…plenty of time to load up my junk, head to Steven’s, throw in the tranny and make it to the track for qualifying with time to spare. I hooked up my trailer, loaded the fuel, tools, scooter, etc, and noticed a flat tire on the trailer. (more…)