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Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience #1672913
09/18/14 02:02 AM
09/18/14 02:02 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,448
Phoenix, AZ
M
MoparBilly Offline OP
master
MoparBilly  Offline OP
master
M

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,448
Phoenix, AZ
Part 1: Getting there is half the fun

I spent most of my Wednesday afternoon, and a good portion of Thursday, packing everything I could imagine that I might need on this adventure. Rachael had stopped by and added her bag, 4 coolers, 2 plastic totes, and a small gas grille to my already copious amounts of supplies.
"What's the grille for?"
"You guys eat way too much track food, this way I can just cook while we are there", she replied.
I shrugged, as a two time Drag Week Veteran with my brothers, she should know we never have time for cooking, but it's her dream, and who am I to dash it before we even get started. My son Ben came home from his graveyard shift, and immediately helped me prepare. We drove the 67 Belvedere into position, then bolted the hood on the 62 Valiant, and shoved it up the ramps behind the Belvedere.
"Why didn't you just finish up the carb, and drive it on the trailer, Dad..." He queried halfheartedly.
"The last two Drag Weeks the Valiant completed, it never fired until it got to Oklahoma...I'm superstitious, OK? Never said it made any sense, just my thing."
As we were finishing up, I went to get a shower and grab my clothes. "Pack me up a bag of tools in that biggest Craftsman bag".
"What do you need?"
"Hammers, pry bars, crescents, screwdrivers...beyond that, I'm probably out of my league anyway!"
"Ha...none of your good stuff in other words!" he chuckled.
"Nope, just the pig iron, half of it won't make the trip home anyway."
I was nearly ready to roll, when the Wife made it home from work with a stern warning that I had to wait until the Grandson came home from 1st grade before I could leave.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave anyway?" She blurted, "Drag Week is a week and a half away"!
"I want to run Rachael's car at TNT Friday night, and get it dialed in with the 3.55's", I explained.
It was a bit of a white lie, I just really get antsy when I'm burning Vacation days, and can't wait to get on the road.

It was the heat of the evening before I hit the I-17 north and headed for Flagstaff. As soon as I started the pull to Sunset Point the ole' Cummins started limiting the amount of pressure I could put on the accelerator by a corresponding jump in Water temp. This is normal when the 93 has been sitting for a while, and it usually runs better as the trip goes along.
My concern was peaked when I realized that I had a bad vibration, which effectively limited me to about 55-60. My first diagnosis was a tire, but I started noticing a loud clang on gear changes, so my mind went to driveline problem.
30 miles from Flag, I pulled over to check it out. I pushed down the emergency brake, left the truck in neutral, and climbed under to have a look in the fading sunlight. I swear, as I moved everything with my hands, that I saw some movement in the u-joint just behind the carrier bearing. Once in flag, armed with directions from the gas station clerk, I made my way to an O'reilly's. I spotted it on an adjacent street, and cut through a parking lot to avoid the intersection, then shot across 4 lanes of traffic. I was nearly home free, when a blonde in a compact import came towards me in the opposite direction. Fearing that my trailer swing would hit her if she came any closer, I simply stopped. She had her window open, and was holding a cell phone to her ear. When we made eye contact, she stuck her hand out and yelled, "SERIUOSLY?"
"Yes, seriously" I replied, motioning to the 32 foot trailer behind me.
"Ok...go ahead!" she pointed to the O'reilly's. First disaster of Drag Week narrowly avoided!
I purchased a carrier bearing, U-joint, and a tub of wheel bearing grease. The trailer had been shoving me around pretty good, so I decided to grease the ball, and see if that was part of the problem. When I jacked the trailer up off the ball, I noticed it was actually loose! After it was tightened and greased, all my mystery drivetrain noise went away, and I decided to drive out of town to the rest area near Meteor Crater Road on I-40 to possibly check it again.
I pulled out my bag of tools at the rest area, only to discover the cap bolts on the rear U-joint were metric. I had nearly every SAE tool known to man, but nothing metric, so I went on down the highway.

I hit Gallup NM, at about 1am, and stumbled into a 24 hour Wal-Mart with the intent of buying a small metric tool kit, but they had the automotive section blocked off, and liquid wax scattered down all the isles! I took this as a sign that my day was done, crawled into the back of my truck, and put my head on a pillow. Day 1 of my vacation was well and truly in the books.

8273621-001.JPG (587 downloads)

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: MoparBilly] #1672914
09/18/14 03:17 AM
09/18/14 03:17 AM
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,182
aZLiViN
J
J_BODY Offline
I Live Here
J_BODY  Offline
I Live Here
J

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,182
aZLiViN
...OK! I'll admit you had me pretty excited about the possibility of an invite next year.... but now you have me worried!

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: J_BODY] #1672915
09/18/14 07:32 AM
09/18/14 07:32 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,667
Arizona
C
Chris'sBarracuda Offline
master
Chris'sBarracuda  Offline
master
C

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,667
Arizona
Oh Lord... Here we go again.....



Chris..

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: Chris'sBarracuda] #1672916
09/18/14 10:24 AM
09/18/14 10:24 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,131
Amarillo, Texas
BBR Offline
master
BBR  Offline
master

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,131
Amarillo, Texas
I saw smoke in the pits and dang near put her bbq grill out with an extinguisher!



Drag Week 2011 - 77th place - DD
Drag Week 2012 - 2nd place SRBB N/A
Drag Week 2014 - Kapooya
RMRW 2018
RMRW 2020
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: MoparBilly] #1672917
09/18/14 10:26 AM
09/18/14 10:26 AM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
MR_P_BODY Offline
Master
MR_P_BODY  Offline
Master

Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
The saga begins....(well on here)

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: MR_P_BODY] #1672918
09/18/14 10:51 AM
09/18/14 10:51 AM
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,978
Hilltown Pa
1967dartgt Offline
master
1967dartgt  Offline
master

Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,978
Hilltown Pa
Already on edge of seat waiting for more!


Brett Miller W9 cnc'd heads
STR Chassis fabraction
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: 1967dartgt] #1672919
09/18/14 11:33 AM
09/18/14 11:33 AM
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,131
New Lenox IL
cudadon Offline
top fuel
cudadon  Offline
top fuel

Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,131
New Lenox IL
Quote:

Already on edge of seat waiting for more!




This is good, early start so none of the details are lost!

Don

8273768-4-26-14T&T.jpg (631 downloads)
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: MoparBilly] #1672920
09/18/14 11:44 AM
09/18/14 11:44 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,002
Joplin, Mo
R
rt66jim Offline
master
rt66jim  Offline
master
R

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,002
Joplin, Mo
I'm all eyes and ears also biting my fingernails.

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: rt66jim] #1672921
09/18/14 01:00 PM
09/18/14 01:00 PM
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 235
Gilbert AZ
tsanchez Offline
enthusiast
tsanchez  Offline
enthusiast

Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 235
Gilbert AZ
Always great to read the play by play..

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: MoparBilly] #1672922
09/18/14 01:26 PM
09/18/14 01:26 PM
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 22,873
Chicken coop
dustergirl340 Offline
Chicken Little
dustergirl340  Offline
Chicken Little

Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 22,873
Chicken coop
Bookmarked! thanks and looking forward to more.

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: dustergirl340] #1672923
09/18/14 01:59 PM
09/18/14 01:59 PM
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,319
Puyallup, WA
S
StealthWedge67 Offline
master
StealthWedge67  Offline
master
S

Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,319
Puyallup, WA


LemonWedge - Street heavy / Strip ready - 11.07 @ 120
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: StealthWedge67] #1672924
09/18/14 02:40 PM
09/18/14 02:40 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,471
Minnesota
Hemi_Joel Offline
master
Hemi_Joel  Offline
master

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,471
Minnesota
Billy, it was great to finally meet you and get to know you a little bit on Drag week. Congrats to you and your family on the SoDW award!
I am looking forward to the story, as only you can tell it.


[img]http://i.imgur.com/boeexFms.jpg[/img]
31 Plymouth Coupe, 392 Hemi, T56 magnum
RS23J71
RS27J77
RP23J71
RO23J71
WM21J8A
I don't regret the things I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. ~ Plato"
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: MoparBilly] #1672925
09/18/14 02:51 PM
09/18/14 02:51 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,376
D
dogdays Offline
I Live Here
dogdays  Offline
I Live Here
D

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,376
Billy, do you have a blog? You're a good writer.

R.

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: dogdays] #1672926
09/18/14 03:50 PM
09/18/14 03:50 PM
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 859
lancaster,california
johnnycuda Offline
super stock
johnnycuda  Offline
super stock

Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 859
lancaster,california
I look forward to reading Billy's tales of DW.
I have to say I never paid any attention to DW until these last 3 or 4 years as Hot Rod didn't say much in the mag about the classes for the average guy, only the top end cars,way out of my league, so I pretty much ignored it. But after reading Billy's tales, (and I agree, great writer} I want to run DW with my 'Cuda very badly and wait patiently,(ok, maybe not real patiently,lol) to read the next installment of As the Gepharts Roll.
With that said,


1970 'Cuda,Lime Light,499 Indy S/R's 10.70's @125,street driven ALOT!
1966 Barracuda 360,now a 5spd,Hemi Orange,Hot Rod Air,
New daily driver-2003 Ram 2500 Cummins 5.9
'69 Valiant 2-dr, sleeper!
New project---1938 Dodge truck, plan is a 360 with a A500, AC, Calvert rear susp., rack and pinion front with coils.
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: johnnycuda] #1672927
09/18/14 06:17 PM
09/18/14 06:17 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,073
Tulsa, Ok
WadeMetzinger Offline
top fuel
WadeMetzinger  Offline
top fuel

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,073
Tulsa, Ok
I can't wait utill he gets to telling you guys about the motor in Dale's Gremlin. It should pretty much put an end to all the posts asking about who's made the most power with a stock block and main caps and a stock steel crank. It's crazy and still going.


Wade Metzinger 918-809-0987
71 Cuda 9.28@145 -1s, Pglide
68 Cuda 10.64@124 1.45 60's 318->390 eddys
Moparts discount code on WIX - moparts www.Filter1.com
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: Hemi_Joel] #1672928
09/18/14 06:51 PM
09/18/14 06:51 PM
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 3,210
robin hood country
deaks Offline
master
deaks  Offline
master

Joined: May 2004
Posts: 3,210
robin hood country
Quote:

Billy, it was great to finally meet you and get to know you a little bit on Drag week. Congrats to you and your family on the SoDW award!
I am looking forward to the story, as only you can tell it.



Were you running an oldsmobile ?


69 Dart GTS 440 mopar .590 cam, Edelbrock heads, 3200#
best et 6.45, 106.78, 10.14, 132.88 mph, 1.47 60ft
best 60ft 1.36
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: deaks] #1672929
09/18/14 08:54 PM
09/18/14 08:54 PM
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 4,617
In the tower
RonTheAnnouncer Offline
master
RonTheAnnouncer  Offline
master

Joined: May 2004
Posts: 4,617
In the tower
I look forward to this every year!


Ron H.
"Just when you think you have all of the answers...I change the questions!" "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: RonTheAnnouncer] #1672930
09/18/14 09:04 PM
09/18/14 09:04 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,260
Las Vegas NV
moparmanjames Offline
pro stock
moparmanjames  Offline
pro stock

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,260
Las Vegas NV
Dang Billy, a loose ball and a tub of grease? That's all we get today? Seriously?

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: moparmanjames] #1672931
09/18/14 10:55 PM
09/18/14 10:55 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3,325
Truckville, the capital of NY
85_Ram_4speed Offline
master
85_Ram_4speed  Offline
master

Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3,325
Truckville, the capital of NY
Oh yea, here we go for a ride. My second favorite part of drag week itself, Billy's stories


Outcast Dodge guy.
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience [Re: 85_Ram_4speed] #1672932
09/19/14 12:32 AM
09/19/14 12:32 AM
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,319
Puyallup, WA
S
StealthWedge67 Offline
master
StealthWedge67  Offline
master
S

Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,319
Puyallup, WA
Quote:

Oh yea, here we go for a ride. My second favorite part of drag week itself, Billy's stories




If you were relegated to watching the live feed, Billys stories are better!


LemonWedge - Street heavy / Strip ready - 11.07 @ 120
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