I can see the shock brackets are already bent..

Good eye Tony...that definitely changes the narrative for sure, funny none of us recognized that at the time!

After we ate lunch, I convinced Dad to take my newly arrived Hoosier Quick Time Pros, my wheels, and my old M/T tubes back to Robertson Tire to get them mounted, I gave him some cash to take care of it, but when he returned he gave it back, explaining that since they'd done the others for free, they took care of mine also, and wished us all the best on our Drag Week adventure!

I grabbed a cordless drill, and a small bit, then started drilling the bead through each hole to give the wheel screws a chance to bite into them. The first tire went great, and I had all the wheel screws installed quickly. I was on the last hole on the front of the second one, when I apparently lost focus and pressed harder than usual. I felt the bit sink quickly, and reflexively yanked it out cursing...sure enough I heard a small hiss! Since I'm the only one in the family that runs tubes, I always bring a spare, but I didn't want to use it right away! I was angry, so I spun the Schrader valve out immediately, grabbed some tire irons, and made quick work of the tube swap. After I had it back together, and the screws installed, I turned my attention back to the injured tube. I installed the valve, put air back in it to find the puncture and there was nothing wrong with it! Apparently the sound of escaping air was air trapped between the tube and tire, and I reacted before I took the time to figure that out! At least I still had a spare tube.

Dale had my axle assembled, so Skippy and I installed it, adjusted up the rear drum brakes, then bolted on the new rubber. Once that was done, I had him grab the torque wrench and torque all twenty lug nuts.

Skippy then begged Boone for the keys to the Scamp, so he could go pick Rachael up at the Airport.
"Whoa", I exclaimed, as I looked towards the Belvedere that I had worked on for maybe an hour all day, "is it that time already?"
"Yep, she'll be landing in thirty minutes", Skippy beamed, clearly proud of himself for surviving this part of the week in Oklahoma without her.

As our sunlight began to disappear, and the evening sky darkened with ominous clouds, Boone made his way across the yard to where I was bent over the Belvedere fender.
"Supposed to rain pretty hard tonight, around 2AM", he informed me, "so I think we need to clean up and put away all the stuff we're not using right now, before it get's dark and we can't find anything."
"Good idea", I agreed, "but where are you guys at right now"?
"Dad and I are pretty much done under the Charger, but it's going to have to go to the muffler shop tomorrow. Switching from the RB back to the low deck means his collectors won't line up with the headers".
"What's Dale's plan?"
"Think he wants to get the Dana back under the Gremlin tonight, because he's looking to get it aligned tomorrow."
"I thought he was going to reinforce the front ladder bar brackets while he had it out from under the car?"
Dale had me crawl under the Gremlin earlier with everything removed, and take a look at the brackets, the problem with welding all that stuff to the stock AMC frame is that the frame is the thinnest, weakest part of the equation, and eventually starts cracking out.
"He doesn't trust himself to weld it", Boone surmised, "And James won't be down here until tomorrow afternoon, so he'll probably just have him do it with everything in place."
"Help me set this hood on the Belvedere, I guess."
"You done with the wiring?"
"As done as I'm going to get tonight", I growled.

By the time we had cleaned up all the work stations, and returned most of the tools to Dale's garage, Skippy and Rachael made their way into the back yard.
Dad came from the front where he had been finishing up the Charger, and gave Rachael a big hug. "Boys", he looked around at all of us, "I'm wore plum out. I'm going to call it a night and head over to Darren's place for a shower and bed!"
He stumbled off in the direction of Mom's PT Cruiser, and Boone looked over at me, "I don't get it, Dad just can't hang this year, he's turning into a wimp!"
"Geez Boone!" I tossed my hands up, "He's 71, thirty pounds overweight, and had a quadruple bypass ten years ago, and you expect him to keep up..."
"You're a 100 pounds over weight!" he interjected.
"Yeah, and it hurts every day! At least I'm not hobbling around all bent over like I'm 90!"
"Hey, this is not funny!" He reached for the pulled muscle in his back.
"None of it is, Boone, but laughing at it works better than crying about it."
Skippy and I were holding the Dana on the trailer while Dale put the final torque on the caps, and Rachael was standing on the trailer with the light extended above us. Boone was still sorting through tools, just a few feet away, and asked, "With rain coming, are we just going to work all night until it arrives, or is everyone about done?"
"Are you planning to use Darren's trailer to move these cars around tomorrow", I countered with a question of my own.
"Yeah", came from Dale and Boone in unison.
"Well, I'd rather unload that brush while it's dry, than mess with it tomorrow in the rain."
"You want to unload it in the dark", Boone's voice raised.
"Skippy and I will help", Rachael volunteered, "Where is it at?"
"It's over at Darren's", Boone had resigned himself to this course of action, "At least we've got enough bodies to knock it out quick."
"Speaking of bodies", Dale objected, "You guys aren't going anywhere until you help me slide this Dana back under the Gremlin!"

LOL! If I move as good as you Dad in ten years I will be happy.

We helped Dale wrestle the Dana back over to the Gremlin and set it up on jack stands while he lined up the front pivot bolts, then the four of us jumped in Dale's 1 ton dually, and headed over to Darren's. The brush on the trailer was stacked at least eight foot on the deck, and our handheld flashlights barely made anything visible in the moonless pitch black night, but we stumbled through the unload in about an hour.

"What happens if you meet someone else pulling a trailer", Skippy asked as we pulled out on the narrow two lane road in front of Darren's place.
"Put your curbside tire on the last shred of asphalt, and hope they do the same", I laughed.
All the residential streets around there are the same narrow, undulating ribbons of asphalt, with a single yellow line denoting the middle. The white lines for the curb or shoulder are painted on grass half the time, it goes asphalt to rain drainage ditch with no margin for error.

We were pulling up to our third 4-way stop sign (one at every mile section) when reds and blues lit up the rear view mirror, so Boone just kicked on the emergency flashers and shut the truck off right where we sat. The approaching officer's flashlight was in the side mirror before I even figured out where the seatbelts in Dale's truck were at, so I decided to not even try, figuring I might get shot if I was digging around at the seat.
"I pulled you over tonight, because we've had a rash of stolen trailers around here lately, so we are checking anytime we see something out this late...you got Id on you?"
"No...I left it in my car over at my brother's place", Boone informed him.
"How about you?" The officer shined the light in my face.
I handed him my license, and he took the light off me long enough to read it.
"Arizona, huh? What brings you to Oklahoma?"
"Just hanging out with my family".
"Ok...how 'bout you young lady?" He shined the light back on Rachael.
"No...I left my ID in my bags over at his brother's".
"His brother's or his?" The officer asked, shining the light back and forth between Boone and I.
"Yes!" Rachael agreed, and giggled.
I immediately figured we were all going to jail at that point.
"And you sir." He moved his attention to Skippy, and he took the license that was offered, "another Arizona." Then he moved his attention (and light) back to Boone, "Who owns this truck, I noticed the tag is expired..."
"I'm pretty sure Dale got the tags renewed today", I interjected.
"Good, but I was talking to him", he replied, and I got a face full of light for my troubles.
"It belongs to my brother, Dale", Boone replied.
"And the trailer?"
"It belongs to my other brother..."

This was going downhill in a big hurry.

Hahahaha, I would figure all you brothers knew all the police in that area

While reading this all I can picture is Sheriff Rosco P Coltrane saying "you boys are in a heap of trouble"

My wife just read that.All she could say was "WOW"! LOL

I would figure the brothers had already whup half the cops in that area

The officer stepped back from the door, and took a deep breath, "Well...I think I'd like to have the driver here join me back at my car, and the rest of you just stay put and don't do anything...stupid, ya know."

They headed back to the car, and Skippy asked me, "What's going on?"
"Hard to tell with these small town, back woods cops...you ever seen the movie, 'Deliverance'"? I answered him.
"N-no, but I've heard my Dad talk about it..."
"Stop it Dad, you're scaring him!" Rachael pleaded.
"Hey, I'm soft, if they get me in an interrogation room, I'll tell them Skippy has been on a one man crime spree across two states if that's what they want to hear! You got any priors Skip?"
About that time a second officer stuck his head through the driver's window of the truck, and he was less aggressive with the flashlight than the former one. "Got some questions for you if you don't mind..." he looked squarely at me.
"Yeah, sure, what do you need to know."
"Who have we got in the squad car back there?"
"My brother Boone, or Brian Daniel...uh, Gebhart."
"and Boone, that's like his street name?"
I suppressed my laughter, Rachael did not.
"No, no...just a family nick name."
"Ok, then...who's the young lady?"
"Rachael Gebhart, she's my daughter."
"So this guy in the back is family also?"
"No, that's Skippy, her boyfriend!"
"Skippy? Really?"
"Yeah really", I shrugged my shoulders, "What are you gonna do?"
It was the officers turn to suppress laughter, and he did an admirable job.
"Who's truck is this?"
"Dale, Dale Gebhart, my youngest brother."
"And the trailer?"
"Darren Gebhart, the next to youngest brother."
"And what is his birthday?"
"Sept 30th 1968!"
"Sounds like I'm in the middle of Billy Goats Gruff!"
"Yep, and I'm the great big Billy goat!"
This time there was no attempt to suppress his laughter, that's usually a good sign.
"Any idea where the serial number is on this trailer", was his final question.
"Not a clue...but that trailer has been in the family for 15 years at least, and we bought it from our friend Matt McPhetridge in Fairland".
"Ok, hang tight, and I'm going to go back here and have a word with my fellow officer."
"What can they get us for?", Rachael commented from the back in a hushed voice.
"At the very least, one taillight out on the trailer, one out on the truck, expired plates, and four seatbelt violations...at the most they could impound the whole lot, and haul us in since we have no proof of ownership!"

Surprisingly, Boone jumped back in the seat a few minutes later, fastened his seatbelt, and fired up the truck.
"We're free to go?" I asked him, as I heard a pent up breath explode from the back seat...I think Skippy had been holding it in since I mentioned Deliverance.
"Yeah, no tickets".
"So our stories matched", I surmised
"No, not exactly", he laughed, "They wanted to know why you said the trailer belonged to Darren, and I said Bradley..."
"Nobody calls him Bradley..."
"Well, it is his first name, so I figured that would pop up on the computer. Then they wanted to know why Skippy was Colton on his driver's license...oh, yeah, here!" Boone handed me back the two AZ IDs the first officer had collected.
"Then they asked me what was going to come back on "Boone" if they ran it through the gang task force computer for aliases and affiliations!"
Boone and I had a big laugh...no one in the back seat was laughing though.
By the time we pulled into Dale's back yard it was 1am, so it felt like a proper pre Drag Week Day. The light was still on under the Gremlin, but Dale was already in bed, and we all called it a night as well.

The rain didn't actually show up until I'd been out of bed for a little while, and was just getting ready to start working, so I retired to the dining room table with a cup of coffee, and waited for everyone to get around.

Rachael was ready to celebrate her 26th birthday and was chirping for Cracker Barrel breakfast before she was even fully dressed. Dale, always in the mood for a restaurant meal was in agreement. "We'll load Darren's Charger up and drop it off at the muffler shop, then get breakfast while they finish it up!"

The rain had subsided by the time the four of us went out to load the Charger. We had it tied down, and ready to go when Dad pulled into the back yard.
"You guys go ahead without me", I told them. I'm not a particular fan of Cracker Barrel, plus, the opportunity to work on the Belvedere wiring without any distractions was too good to pass up.

I had all the stuff done inside the car and buttoned up when I heard Boone's Coronet pull around back.
"Got all your nitrous bottles filled at Grand Prix", he explained, as he walked around the Belvedere. Unlike some others, I try not to abuse the kindness of Monte, and NOS, so I always show up for Drag Week with all my bottles locked and loaded. Dale thinks if one of his 3 bottles have enough for the first hit, he's good to go!
"You look like you're moving a little better today, why'd you get out here so late", I questioned him.
"I hit up the local hypochondriac with a full medicine cabinet yesterday...asked for a few pain pills and muscle relaxers to get me by. She gave me some, and told me I could take one of each every four hours. I took a half pill of each before I went to bed last night, and eight hours of my life completely disappeared! I have no conscious recollection of that time whatsoever! How do people function on that crap", he shrugged his shoulders.
"I have no idea, guess they develop a tolerance after a while", I agreed.
"Where is everyone else?"
"They took Darren's Charger to the muffler shop, then went out for breakfast", I informed him.
"Yeah, Darren called me this morning about it, and I couldn't take it any more, so I gave him a piece of my mind!"
"What did you say to him?" I chuckled, knowing this was going to be good.
"He wanted us to drive fifteen miles out of town to pick up another three foot stick of stainless to fix his exhaust. I told him it didn't need it, all they had to do was heat it up and bend it in. He got mad and dropped his same stupid line of 'if you aren't going to do it right, don't do it. I want it right'. So I went off on him, explaining he hasn't EVER done anything right on ANY of his cars, because everything gets farmed out or we do it for him. Then I told him he spends so much time cleaning everything because he's waiting for one of us to show him how to put it together!"
"Then what happened?"
"I don't know...he hung up on me!"

Dad, Dale, Rachael, and Skippy returned about an hour after Boone arrived, with the Charger on the trailer backwards.

Rachael came over quickly, with a strange look on her face, so I new she had a story to tell me.
"We were having breakfast at Cracker Barrel, when Darren called Pops all mad at the world after he talked to Boone. Well, you know how Pops can't hear, so he turns the phone on speaker and puts it up to his ear, and acts like he's carrying on a regular conversation. Problem is Darren's cussing a blue streak, calling Boone every name in the book, acting like a complete jerk, and every single person in the restaurant can hear every single word! Poor Pops was completely oblivious! Dale had to finally take the phone away, and turn it off speaker, then yell at Darren to calm down! It was classic, best birthday breakfast ever."
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it!"
"What can Skippy and I do?"
"I bought some semi-gloss black for the hood, and some silver for the scoop, so you need to start on those", I directed them, "but first you will have to prime and sand both."
I gave them a quick tutorial, and turned them loose, figuring that would give me time to finish what I wanted to do without interruption.

The end result wasn't exactly what I was looking for, as the silver metallic look I wanted for the scoop, turned out more like fake chrome, but oh, well. She painted the scoop in Dale's shop, using his barrel of race fuel to hold it up, and the white wall to catch the overspray! He was even less impressed with the silver than I was...

Billy, you are so fortunate that your daughter is involved in racing with you!

Thanks Joel,
It has been an interesting journey, and I'm glad I've been able to share it with her.

When the hood was first bolted on, I purchased some lightweight springs at the local hardware store, and they held it up just fine. Bolt the scoop to the hood however, and the combination overpowers the springs! We ended up using several different impromptu prop rods all through Drag Week, with less than pleasing results, so stronger hood springs are on the new "To do" list.

I finally decided the bundle of wires was never going to lay out for easy taping as I had planned, and I connected the last three, and wire tied them out of the way. Rachael and Skippy bolted the driver's seat back in place, and it was the moment of truth.

We rolled it over for a few minutes before I realized the coil wire wasn't in the distributor. It fired up and sounded great, but the oil pressure gauge didn't work, and the alternator wasn't charging! Before I had the opportunity to really dig into it and troubleshoot the problem, James showed up, and started welding on the Gremlin for Dale. Then Robert showed up, and visited for a while, and finally John and Opal showed up, and parked their rig in Dale's back yard. I was not in the mood to admit that I had a problem, especially with all the company!

John was dead tired from the long trip. but still his usual perceptive self. "What did you screw up?" He laughed as he stood beside me in front of the Belvedere.
"I didn't say there was anything wrong."
"Didn't have to, it's written all over your face! Let's tear into it and figure it out."
"Well...I'll look at it tomorrow, not interested in messing with it any more tonight!"
"Ok, ok...when are you guys going to start in the morning?"
"I'll be out here around 6:30 or 7...I want to leave around two in the afternoon."
"Dale said you guys weren't heading to St. Louis tomorrow until around midnight!"
"Ha...not me!"
"Ok, we're going to the motel, and I'll be back around eight in the morning to help you with this thing."

Can't wait until the next series of build up installments are completed and we get to go racing and then the road trip experience.

I was up and working early Saturday morning, but was really in no mood to diagnose faulty wiring, so instead I concentrated my efforts on packing the truck, and loading up for the trip to St. Louis.
Dale and James had spent more time welding up pieces for Dale's fancy new rack on the back of the Gremlin than anything else Friday night, so they started Saturday on the final tweaks to the suspension including a back yard front end alignment.
Boone and Dad both arrived, Rachael and Skippy were actively helping, and the morning hours disappeared fairly quickly. John and Opal rolled in about 11am, but I wasn't surprised, figuring he needed more rest than even he had estimated!

Darren finally showed up, and the tension of Friday was gone, as he marshaled as much help from Dad and Boone as he dared.

John and I loaded up on our portions of race fuel for the trip, and were packed up. Boone was the only one who seemed to be trying to pack for the trip among the brothers.
"Why race fuel this year John?"
"I'd like to run 10's at every track this year", he laughed, "Just a goal, but I think good fuel and a little timing will get me there."
"Does Dale have to do everything for these guys?" John came back with a question of his own, pointing towards the Charger.
"What do you mean?"
"I offered to help Darren get the engine back together, and started to put the rockers on...and he told me that he'd wait for Dale to do that! Last I checked Dale was pretty busy with the Gremlin!"
"Yeah...they tend to lean on that crutch pretty heavily...to the point that it's not actually fair to Dale." I tried to explain, but I could tell John was perturbed. Last year, he was a Drag Week Rookie, who had his Wife, Mom, and Dad with him, and was spending time around my family for the first time in many years. This year...not the same John. He was more assertive, more hands on, and...that was good!
By 2pm, the pattern was beginning to form...and it was one I'd seen before...Dale and Darren were going to work on their cars until the last possible minute, then pack up with barely time to make the drive. Fine with me, but I wasn't sticking around for the show, I cornered Dale and Boone and explained to them what I was thinking.
"Guys, John's like a caged animal, he's ready to roll, so I think I'll just head out with him, and that's less confusion around here for you guys to worry about."
They bought the story, and agreed with that course of action.
"John, the Brothers are imploring me to head on out, so they have less people around here to worry about right now..."
"There's still quite a bit to do...shouldn't we stay and help them", he questioned.
"It was THIER idea!" I shrugged.
With a little more prodding, he headed to his rig. The guilt I felt was faint, and fleeting...sometimes you just have to go with it! Rachael shot a picture of Darren's engine just as we loaded up to head out.

Looking good!