Great pictures! Thanks for posting them.


You were only about 10 miles from my house. I've never stopped by to look at that though.

Great pics and the write up Joel.. looks you you two
had a great time... I sure wished I would have made it..
how were the roads on the trip... were there many pot holes
(like our crap roads here in Mich)

Joel if Jeff was thinking he could have told you to turn around and get your picture taking with my hemi cuda when you saw it on your way to St. Louis. Might have won him dinner. It was nice to meet you and Jeff at gateway.

I'm glad you all liked the pictures, thanks for the nice comments. It was truly a fun time. Jeff stopped over today, and Drag Week is all we could talk about. Jeff gave me a Callahan Auto T shirt that he had ordered, but it didn't show up in time for the event. Thanks Jeff!

Jeremiah, No on the frame connectors. The car is a bone stock survivor. I was a little concerned about running slicks and the resulting body flex. But I didn't launch it too hard, and I only made 8 or 9 passes total. I for sure am going to have a real street/strip car ready next year, so the convert is officially retired from drag racing.
Randal from Ely? Well I kind of knew him from Bangshift, he is a prolific poster there. Then on drag week in 2011, a group of racers all had dinner together in Topeka, and I met him there. Now I run in to him at every drag week.

Billy, I'll never post an epic story like yours! I always look forward to reading your account of the Gephart drag week. I am working on a Drag Week song for you though...
Tell Rachel sorry if I messed up her game at Gateway.

Mr. P: We missed you there. You would have had a fun time, the weather and the tracks and the route were the best!

Second 70, that was yours? We should have stopped!

Burdar, I can't believe that you live that close to the legendary fryin' pan, but yet you don't hang out there. I suppose the big crowd there to see it could be a hindrance.
We live about 30 mile from the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine Wound by One Man, and the adjacent Twine Ball Museum. Summer just wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Twin Ball.



More to come when I get time...

Rick Callahan is a buddy of mine... plus
I sold him my mega block and B1m/c heads
and rockers... I thought he was building
a 572 out of it for his other (maroon)
road runner to run DW... but he does like
his hemi's

When Jeff smacked his head on Jays trailer hitch, He asked me if there was a mark. I think he was imitating Tommy Boy, so I just said nope, no mark. Ship shape.

I found the video of when I was trying to put the top down. Jays car is shown right beforehand at 4:53

https://youtu.be/-8PTsK5VX6g?t=4m53s

At Gateway on Friday, I saw Tricky Steves coupe parked by the winners circle, so I drove over there for a picture of both cars.



Worlds largest Catsup bottle in Collinsville, Ilinois:



Attack helicopter:



This giant was trying to imitate my pose, but he couldn't get it right. He needs to get a life.

Somehow, the fluid in the front brakes got low, maybe from rapid wear from using them hard. Some air got into the system, and the pedal was spongy and low. We stopped at a parts store, and got some stuff to bleed the brakes. We got the job done in the parking lot, and had a steady stream of visitors who all wanted to talk about cars.



Now something you need to know about Jeff, is that he is one of those tightwad Swedes. Like me, only tighter. And that's tight. I noticed a one way valve on his wallet, and I saw the second dollar he ever made rotting away in there. Why am I mentioning this? Because while I was working on the brakes, he heroically tried to put out a fire under the hood of a Ford. With MY fire extinguisher. Which was the right thing to do. But all I could think of as I laid under the car and watched him trot off with my FANCY CHROME PLATED fire extinguisher, is that if that was Jeffs fire extinguisher, he would have been saying "it's just a Ford, let it burn. Call the fire department. Anybody got a bucket of water". The fire department showed up a minute or 2 later.

In Hannibal Mo, we found a statue of Mark Twain:



I love looking over the big GTX hood!



We saw this old Packard in Hannibal:



There is a BIG mug of root beer there too:

LOL...... the fire extinguisher story was epic.

How in the heck do you find all this stuff? I'm Hemi Joel's trunk monkey next year, and Jeff will have to babysit my brothers!!

www.roadsideamerica.com gives you all the places to stop. While in route I was always looking for the next local attraction worth stopping for.

Oh and I'm not THAT cheap... I have priorities.

Looks like you had a great time, Joel! Great pics, and well done. Makes me want to take a stab at this deal some day.

I have to give you credit. Unlike Jay, you didn't insist on eating at Taco Bell when you lost the dinner bet.

I will not eat Taco Bell at home, let alone on the road.

And since I know NOTHING motivates Joel more then a free meal, We already have a bet for 2016 Drag Week. I say his Hot Rod will not be ready for it... If it is I owe Joel a Steak dinner, and get another cool as road trip out of it. Win win if you ask me.

Yep that's a win either way.

Nice pics! thanks for posting!

I found this thread...yay! great pics Joel

and great to see you again

At union grove I told my Dad that unless we went to the Mopar Nationals or something it was very unlikely that we would see TWO HEMI convertables at one place again.

Very Cool Car! I shared this to Facebook on Day 5. Thanks for getting old rare muscle out and USING it.

Fantastic writeup, and it's just awesome you ran a real Hemi 'vert on Drag Week. Do you have any higher res versions of some of those pics?

I was incredibly jealous watching the pictures roll in on Jeff's facebook posts! Also laughing at the "I have to poop" t-shirt.