It was roughly two in the afternoon on Tuesday when I nosed the rig into Dale's back yard. Typically on Hell Week this would be a hub of activity, with my brothers and several friends thrashing away on multiple projects, but it was amazingly quiet, almost serene.
Boone was finishing up the installation of new axles under his small car trailer, a project he had abandoned almost exactly a year ago, when he realized if all his efforts weren't on the Ruster Duster, he wasn't going to need a trailer.
"Where is everyone?" I asked as I walked over to check out his progress.
"Dale had to work today, and it's his last day until after Drag Week...so it will be a long one I'm sure. Dad has been staying here at Dale's, but he gets up every morning and goes over to Darren's to work on the Charger."
"Why didn't he bring it over here?"
"Every year it's the same thing, he wants it over there so he has his own tools, but then he's constantly calling for help, or sending Dad over here for a part he doesn't have!"

Boone decided to help me unload the Valiant, so we grabbed the ramps out of the side holder and walked them around to the back of the trailer.
"What happened to your taillight?" Boone laughed as he set his ramp down in place.
"That Love's in OKC...the one right before you get on the turnpike, has a tight lot for someone with a two car trailer", I explained.
"Yes it does", he agreed, "hate buying fuel there."
"Well, I was trying to miss a car, and barely tale whipped the yellow pole at the end of the pumps. It caught that flimsy bracket just enough to bend it in and smash the light against the frame of the trailer!"
"Is that an LED?" he asked, bending over to examine the busted pieces that were still attached.
"Yes...I bought them through Amazon, installed them right before I left, and that one made it 24 hours and a thousand miles until it met it's demise!"
The amount of laughter he chose to use did not seem appropriate for my predicament, I felt, so I changed the subject.
"Are you going to help me unload this car or not? Lets get the straps off the back, then we will push it forward to undo the chain."

We pushed the car off into the grass, and had unloaded the coolers out of the back of the truck when Dale made it home from work. He came out of his truck like his hair was on fire and started grilling Boone on what he had set up for him to do on the Duster over the next few days to insure it would be ready to go.
"Where are you going to be?" I asked Dale innocently, not understanding his demeanor.
"I'm going to hook to my trailer, load up a bunch of parts and tools, and head to Miami so I can finish the Gremlin! First though, I have to run some parts over to Dylan's shop, so he can install them on Beehler's Duster!"
"Beehler? He's still trying to turn that Victory Chassis Duster into a street car and take it on Drag Week...THIS Drag Week?"
"Yeah", Dale shook his head, "and he wanted me to do the work, but I have too much on my plate already, so I hooked him up with this Dylan, who has a chassis shop in Tulsa."
"When are you going to be back?" I asked Dale, "I'd kinda like to put the Valiant on the pad in front of the shop, but if you're going to be back with the Gremlin, I don't want to take your spot!"
Dale shook his head and laughed, "You don't understand Dave...I'll be lucky to be back Thursday afternoon!"

Dale helped Boone and I get the Valiant located on the pad, and by the time I had it jacked up and on jack stands, he was leaving once again. A few minutes later Boone got a phone call from Dad asking for help to get the transmission in place on the Charger.
"Is he working on it by himself, where is Darren?"
"No, Darren has a neighbor that he roped into helping them, but he's not really a mechanic. Darren would have already left for work though, so it's just the two of them."
"Great, so Dad and another old codger are building the car, while Darren pops out there for a few hours each afternoon to check on them and order more parts", I shook my head, hands on hips.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it", Boone laughed. "You want to go with me?"
"No, I've spent enough time in a truck today!"

A few minutes after Boone left, Dale's Wife came onto the back porch to yell, "Got spaghetti and meatballs ready if you're hungry, Dave!"
Clearly a much better offer than I had gotten from Boone.