Boone slammed the hood on the Belvedere at 2:00 AM, "I'm gonna run home and take a quick shower, then I'll come back by, and we'll head out", he told Dale.
He headed to his house with the Belvedere sounding like it's old self again and thought of the grim reality, 2nd trip from Tulsa to Topeka in less than a week, both preceded by a sleepless night spent working on cars!
One hour later he was on Dale's doorstep, ringing the doorbell in vain. Apparently everyone had decided to go to bed. He was giving serious thought to driving off and leaving them, when Yoko opened the door. He went about rousting everyone. Dale's daughter scolded him, "Shhh, you'll wake up Jackie, and she has to go to work in a few hours"!
"Like I give a darn, I intend to wake the whole house up, we've got to get rollin', now get up stairs and get your Dad moving"!
He was ushering them out to the cars, and it was decided Darren and Yoko would drive the Satellite, with all the junk from both cars, and all the luggage; and Boone, Dale, and the kids would ride in the Belvedere. Dale's son came out of the house with a blanket, half awake. "Where's your Dad"? Boone asked.
"Still laying on the bed".
"Get in there and tell him I'm leaving"!
They were rolling down highway 20 about 30 minutes later, stopping for gas before jumping onto 169 north. They pulled into Oolagah, and took thier checkpoint pics., then rolled on toward Kansas.
10 miles later, the left rear tire exploded, and Boone scooted to the shoulder as soon as possible, with Dale and the 2 kids screaming in his ears.

Boone stepped out of the car and surveyed the damage. Darren had pulled in behind him, and met him at the back of the car, "That thing's been smoking ever since we left the house, now I know what it was"!
"We've stopped twice, and you didn't mention it"!
"Figured you knew".
"You thought I knew the tire was rubbing, and was just going to drive it that way all the way to Topeka? You're an idiot"!
He popped the trunk, and pulled out the jack, when Yoko decided to put in her two cents, "This is rediculous! You've got two kids in that car, and we're out here on the shoulder, you need to get off the road"!
"Look", Boone was at the end of his rope, "I'm not driving this thing a mile on a blown-out tire." He looked at Dale, "What do you want to do"?
"Let's put a slick on, and get to a safe spot, then we'll figure it out.
The slick was rubbing too, so they slowly worked thier way to a dirt road, and pulled off. The decision was made to go back home, and grab a set of tires, and wheels that were originally on the Satellite, just 14" black steelies that were holding up the back of an Aspen in the pasture right at the moment. They loaded the blown tire, and it's unharmed mate into the Satellite and headed back to Tulsa, leaving Darren, Yoko, and the kids in the Belvedere. A few miles down the road, his cell phone rang, it was Dad.
"Where are you guys at? Dave and I just stopped at the Junction for fuel, I've been driving a ways, he's out of it".
Boone explained the situation, and then hung up and told Dale, "They are already at the Junction of 35 and 75"!
"Dang it", Dale shot back, "Wish we were, they are home free"!

Stopped at Beto Junction(75&35) and had an awesome cinnamon roll.Ididnt talk to you after Tulsa,you had quite the time.

The 80 mile trek to the house and back, coupled with pulling the tires off another car, and stopping for fuel, again, then mounting them on the car, ate up the better part of 3 hours. They had already gotten a call that the Valiant gang were safely tucked into the motel, before they headed back onto 169. 6 miles down the road, Dale pulled off again, "Boone, this thing is walking around, we better check these tires".
They were at 15 lbs., "Good thing I grabbed the air pump, it's been riding in the Valiant this whole trip", Boone was looking for a positive, he dearly needed a positive on a day like this.

Thanks KSJ!
I knew they had a name for that place, but I couldn't remember it! Board is giving me nothing but problems tonight, everytime I try to load a pic, it freaks out, almost lost a post the last time.

Thanks Ross, CudaDon, Et. al for the kind words, I'm trying to stay on task here, but it's a loooong tale!! I was trying to figure out how to bring the story of Dale and Boone's trip to Topeka to life, as I obviously wasn't there, so I interviewed them each separately, and decided to do the story in close third person from Boone's point of view, hopefully that works for everybody.

I have always wanted to go to DW and this is the next best thing I have ever read.Thankyou for taking the time to do it so well and it makes me almost be in the car with you guys.I have one brother cant imagine 2 more like him.Would of had homicidal tendencies by now....lol.Keep up the great job Mopar Billy

I was going in and out of sleep for a while, then dawn began to appear as we were about 15 miles from the track, so I figured I'd better stay up so I could direct Dad to the motel.
"Did I tell you the story about Freiburger at Tulsa"?
"Nope Dad, haven't heard that one yet".
"There were 4 or 5 guys standing in a circle BS'in about the event, and Freiburger was just off to the side within earshot. One of the locals who obviously didn't know who he was goes into a rant about how...well, for a guy who supposedly loves cars, and loves hotrods, why did he create an event that seemed so bent on destroying them"! Dad started laughing, "It was hillarious, DF looked like he'd been shot, and just walked off...that guy had no idea why his comment had such an effect..it was great"!
"Boy o' boy, I don't think he's trying to destroy cars, I think he's trying to get guys to USE them, ENJOY them as they were intended..."
"I agree, it was just funny how it all went down."
"When did you last talk to the brothers"? I asked.
He relayed the latest tale to me, and I decided we weren't having such a bad go of it after all!
We cruised past the track entrance on Topeka Blvd., and made our way to the motel, he pulled into the parking lot, and parked in front of a room closest to the street.
"We will probably be on the other side, Dad".
He still had the engine running, "Ok, I'll pull over there".
"No..that's OK".
He pulled the shifter into reverse and went to hit the T-brake button, but grabbed the linelock button instead, the engine died instantly.
"What the heck was that"? he had a concerned look.
"That...has been converted to the Nitrous button, and apparently it's armed! The bottle is off, so you just flooded the engine with fuel", I explained
"Oh, well then, we're parked"!, he exclaimed as he shoved it into park, and attempted to extricate himself from the car.
I went into the lobby and got the room key. One of the couples we had met at that motel on Monday morning were already at the continental breakfast.
"You look rough", she greeted me with a smile.
"Yeah, we just got in".
"Ouch, rough trip"?
"Yeah, What time are they supposed to start today"?
"3:30 pm, but with the cloudy weather, we don't trust them, so we are heading out there around 11:00, just to be sure", She confided.
"Sounds like a plan, see you out there"!
"Ok, get some rest"!

I can say that most of the people will bend over backwards
to help the other racers... its just like at the track...
you might be helping the guy that your going to race
the next round but thats fine as long as you get him
running.............. also Billy... whats going on in
the last pic with what I think is a shock and a grinder

Once inside the room, Dad headed for the shower. I decided to call Boone, "Where are you guys"?
"Putting on tires, getting ready to roll"
"Geez, are you ever gonna make it"?
"Yeah, hope so".
"When you get to 54, just go over to 75 and head on up here, that 31 is a pain, lot's of switchbacks, probably cost you 20 or 30 minutes, I'd just skip it".
"Ok, we'll look at it. Where are you"?
"Just landed in the motel, we'll probably sleep about 4 hours, then get around".
"Ok, what time do they start running"?
"3 or so, get up here"!
I set the alarm for 11:30, dropped my clothes in a pile and bear hugged a pillow..I think Dad asked if I was showering, but maybe that was just a dream...


The alarm was superceded about 15 minutes early by the sound of a raspy, barely mufflered engine coming to life somewhere just outside our door. I sat up in bed immediately, years of racing NHRA Divisionals and Nationals had conditioned that reaction. My class Super Street, were usually 2nd out to start the morning. Stock is always first, and Stock racers are notorious and fastidious about getting thier cars to operating temp before they run. You could curl up in your trailer or truck and fall fast asleep without a care in the world, because you knew the next sound you were going to hear was 4 or 5 stockers firing to life within 50 yards of your pit spot, an hour before your call to the lanes!
Dad didn't budge, years of sleeping in crowded truckstops with semi's pulling in and out constantly meant he wasn't waking up until someone stuck him in the ribs. I turned off the alarm and took a shower.
We walked out of the motel into an overcast, cold day, the moisture just seemed to hang in the air. I thumbed toward the Denny's sign a block away, "Breakfast"?
"You Bet"!

Mr. P Body,
That was my first shock change at Great Bend, the inner bushing on the shocks were too wide for the brackets, so we had to cut them down. We had a small generator, and several power tools. The 4" grinder was a big hit! We used it ourselves, and must've loaned it out at least 4 or 5 times at the various tracks!

Did you stay near the Dennys at 29th and Topeka.Holiday Square shopping center area?Meadow Acres? If so you are a braver man than me.LOL

The 80 some miles to Chanute Ks. went by pretty fast. Boone was worried about Dale falling asleep, so he wanted to stay awake and talk to him, it just wasn't much use.
"Got a wobble in one of those tires, limits us to about 70", Dale commented.
"Take it easy", Boone drawled, silently thanking God for the wobble, maybe that would keep Dale from killing them!
They fueled both cars in Chanute, and Dale bought a cheap convenience store pizza, took one peice for himself, and gave the rest to his kids in the Satellite. It must've set miss Yoko off, because 20 minutes later, Darren, who was leading in the Satellite called back and said, "We're stopping in Iola for a sit-down meal at the A&W".
"Geez", Boone said when Dale informed him, "You're driving like a maniac trying to save 5 minutes and they decide we've got an hour to kill at a restruant"??

Once inside, they ordered, and sat down to eat, Yoko began a running commentary on how superior Braum's Hamburgers are to A&W's, (She's a Braum's manager). "Immature, opinionated, and an egomaniac", Boone thought to himself, "I can see the obvious attraction"! He looked around in horror when he realized he was the only one in thier party who had ordered a Rootbeer float. "You guys dare to enter an A&W, and not get a float", he chided, "Simply un-American"!
"Dave want's us to take 54 to 75, and skip 31".
"No Way"! Darren was emphatic.
"Nope", Dale agreed "I've traveled every inch of the prescribed course so far, and I intend to finish it"!

A&W vs Braums? A&W.

That old B-body sure looks loaded down.. she's squatted
pretty good in the back end... I commend you guys on
your journey... did any of you have many/any street
miles on your cars before this magical journey

That was the one, Ksj, Boone and I walked up there from the motel at midnight Sunday...interesting area for sure!
I spent my first years in Phoenix working for Arco convenience stores, was Assistant Manager pulling 2nds and graveyards at Baseline and Central in South Phoenix, check THAT area on Google maps!! Our big draw was Bud 12 packs for 4.99 if you bought 2 or more...

Mr P. Body.
The Yella Satellite is a Driver...every single day. The Valiant had ZERO street miles. The Blue Belvedere, was driven enough to find it's deficiency's and that was about it before the trip.

I love this thread! Finish it off, Billy!

When Dad and I eased the Valiant through the tunnel at Heartland Park Topeka, as odd as it may seem, a flood of emotions came with it, eerily similar to the feelings I had when I completed my first Marathon. I had left that exact same spot on Monday, having never driven the Valiant on a public road, now with 1250 miles under our belt, it felt like second nature to pull out into city traffic and go wherever a stab or steer might take us. "We've come a long way, baby", I congratulated.
"Don't call me baby, Son...that's just not right", Dad grumbled.
We jettisoned our meager payload into a small pile, near the general area that we had pitted in on Monday, as I figured that would be easiest for the others to find. Then I headed up to the pumps to buy race fuel. I stood there pumping gas and talking to another racer, just like we had at all the stops on the way, when I realized, this is 8.50 a gallon race fuel, and I'm not supposed to be filling up!
I was greeted by the track announcer when I returned, he and his wife had raced a 62 Valiant previously, and while we met briefly on Monday, it was so hectic, he never really had a chance to look the car over. Now we had time to converse, and go over the car, the modifications, and my trip.
Dad had walked up and started talking along with several other guys, when Kyle from 1320 video walked up in the group with his ever present camera on his shoulder.
"How did everyone's trip from Tulsa go"? Kyle asked.
"The blown red 240Z was having problems, when he stopped for E-85 at Kum&Go, then later he ended up on a church parking lot with a spun rod bearing", my Dad started in.
"Really", Kyle prodded.
No gentle nudge needed here, my Dad got both hands going, and raised his voice, while leaning into the group for emphasis. The master orator was in his element, with a story to tell, and an interested audience! I stepped away to take a phone call from Boone, knowing...they were going to be standing in that circle for a while!

The track announcer was none other than Mr. Ron Ward.Ron did an excellent job announcing DragWeek Sunday,Monday and Friday.Had it not been for a Dentist appointment during DW he was going to ride with us the rest of the week.Hoping next year he can go and maybe announce at all the tracks. Ryan Curran also did a good job announcing at SRCA on Tuesday.