The 69 Adventure

Chapter 18 - Heroic Webmaster Races Bastard

I took two days off work to try to get the last of the little crap  ready to race the car.  Mac slaved over it.  The morning of the 8th, we took the car up to Vosper's and they aligned it.  He decided we were a few hours ahead of schedule for getting to the track.  Mac was the calm one.  I had already missed a turn when trying to get us breakfast and my tummy was in knots.  My head was spinning through a thousand different questions... How would it handle?  Did it have enough miles on the engine?  Was I forgetting something stupid that Jase had told me to do?  Was I going to hurt his engine?  Was the tranny shifting at the right point?  Would Jase be disappointed?  Would Kat or Mac or PK or any of the dozen other people who had put effort into getting this car ready?  Did we check this?  What about that?  I had eaten breakfast because I didn't think I was going to be able to get food down the rest of the day.  I was trying to worry about EVERYTHING - not to mention I hadn't driven the car more than 15 miles at a time and never over 50mph!  I didn't even know if it would get to the track - it only had about 50 miles on it!  

Mac had very few questions or at least he wasn't sharing them with me.  He did want to know about the shift points and I had tried to find out what I could about the tranny, but I didn't have much info on it.  Better safe than sorry, I called Jase but got no answer.  I did want to tell him that we were going to try to finally race the car.  So I emailed him with a pic of the moose on the rearview mirror, telling him we were going to try to take it for a ride.  I knew he would understand that I wouldn't race without the moose.  I also told him Mac had wanted to talk to him.  He called back when I was in the shower and explained the shifting to Mac.  

We headed off to the track.  Shell took my wagon with half a garage in the back.  Mac rode with me in the 69.  Sam was invited but had to work. Kat, PK, and Nate would be there - JT and Nevermore too.  We stopped at the corner for gas and the car needed a jump to start again...not a good omen, but maybe it would charge on the trip to the track.  We were already running late.

The ride over was noisy.  Mac and I couldn't really carry on a conversation without yelling.  He lit my cigarettes for me so I could maintain my death grip on the wheel and keep my eye on the tach. We had no speedometer.  Mac chain smoked the whole way!  

50mph is 3400rpm in 2nd gear: the gears are screaming and the secondaries are open.   If you can run it up to 4000 rpm (obviously over the speed limit) and shift it to 3rd, 50 mph is 2100rpm...it's much quieter without the secondaries open and the gas mileage is much better!            

We arrived at the track with no incidents.  Of course, neither of us had a pen to fill out the paperwork; mine were in the wagon, which Shell had parked in the spectators lot.  I walked in the little shed to borrow a pen as Kat, JT, etc descended on the car. One of the track guys decided to do a tech inspection.  Thank God for Kat and Mac.  The guy in the shed decided to tell me that "ladies weren't allowed to race at this track".  I was NOT in the mood for male chauvinist humor, and gave him a piece of my mind.  He would make an exception...right!  

Back outside and the following tech violations were noted:

I was afraid they weren't going to  let us race, but the Atco guy opened the hood and suddenly I became honey and dear; the car got a number, assigned to lane 6, and we were ushered into the pits.  Thanks, Jase!

Lane 6:  someone made a mistake.  Street cars were in lanes 9 and 10; occasionally 7 and 8.  Lane 6 is for fast cars.  I turned off the car as the guy in front of me opened his trunk.  I looked right through his car to see only one race seat and a roll bar.  He had a nitrous bottle in the trunk and that was it.  The car next to me had this humungous silver blower - the thing was bigger than me....and a roll bar.  Yep, someone had made a mistake - I didn't belong in Lane 6.  I didn't want to be in Lane 6.  How the heck did I get there?  Kat reminded me that they asked what the car would run and I told them I didn't know since we'd never run it and they had looked under the hood.  This was the fault of the guy who had decided to call me honey and dear.....he was in cahoots with the guy who told me ladies couldn't race.  I was definitely glad I hadn't eaten anything...I would have puked.  Yet Kat, PK, and Mac didn't think I was out of place! 

Kat, Mac, JT....waiting

Last minute checking

JT - just looking

Nate, JT, and Mac.....still waiting

Whatever was going was holding up racing.  The longer it was held up, the more my tummy churned. I had an entire butterfly farm hatching and still they weren't racing.  I paced.  I got lightheaded so I sat.  I hate waiting.  I am not known for my patience.  Shell talked on the phone and tried to divert me, as did the guys. I started mentally going over every mechanical system in the damn car.  Still they weren't racing.  Finally, it became obvious we were going to get in one and only one race.  It had to be Mac's race.

More waiting JT - being a diversion

Mac drove the 69 maybe 15 minutes and if I had known he would be the only one racing it, he could have driven it to the track.  The plan had been I would take the first race and he would take the second.  But Mac was to leave the next day and I would have plenty of opportunities.  He had this one chance.  We reset the seat and the harness.  Now I was more nervous worrying about him.  I hadn't even had a chance to see how it would handle.  I knew it was safe up to 50mph - what about faster than that?  I told him I didn't care if it ran 20 seconds - I really didn't!  Just to get it down the quarter mile track would be a milestone. He understood. 

Mac& Kat checking the gauges one last time!

Jumping the Bastard

Just before the best burnout ever!

Finally they started to race again and the lanes started to move.  And the Bastard wouldn't start.  Shell ran for the wagon and Kat jumped the 69, just in time.  It couldn't have been warmed up much.  Mac did a burnout that anyone would have been proud of!  The car behind him actually backed up to get out of the smoke!  I was so nervous, I managed to get one poor picture of the burnout and that was it.  Thank you Nate for taking great pics for the scrapbook!   Mac ran a 13.1 @106!  I couldn't believe it - a 13.1 on the 1st run! The car ran fine and Mac was safe....and I didn't puke!

We headed back to the beer stands to celebrate.  I called Jase. He sounded disappointed when I told him the numbers, but I let Mac talk to him and describe the run.  I was too close to tears to speak with him. 

The 69 made it home - Mac rode home with me.  I suggested he might want to ride with Shell.  She had been such a good sport about being the pit car driver, but Mac said I needed him more than she did.....somehow he always knows!  We had to stop for gas again and jump it again...9 jumps that night!  Mac almost froze since we drove with the windows down.   The exhaust fumes coming in were so bad and he didn't have anything heavier than a T-shirt......we added that to our list of things to fix! 

After a post about the terrific burnout, I headed for bed - it was a late night; I was beat...I had anticipated this night for over a year.  It wasn't quite how I had envisioned it, but the first run was past us and it was a success as far as I was concerned.  Mac said the car handled well - a bit squirrelly at the upper end, but it felt solid.  It was pulling hard and he hadn't pushed it.  The engine had performed flawlessly - there was plenty of potential in this car and we hadn't come near tapping it.  I still had my first run to get through, but I would only have to worry about me - not me and the car.  I hoped no one was too disappointed at a 13 and not a 12 for the first run, but I knew the 12 was right there...and if I had driven it, I would not have gone nearly that fast.  Too much anticipation - I did the girly thing and cried before I went to sleep.      

Chapter 17  /  Table of Contents   /   Chapter 19