I want to wish everyone here a great 2017!! Did you accomplish what you set out to do in 2016? What are your plans for 2017? Lets hear your stories!! Happy New Year everyone!! Ted

Happy New Year Ted.We hope 2017 will be a better year for everyone.We plan on taking BGR to a new level stepping up from our usual engine and chassis builds to include more EFI,Supercharged,and full chassis race cars.

Ted
THANKS for Moparts! I have paid the light bill for years by selling items I did not need on here. I had a good 2016--built a lot of nice Mopar engines for people all over--Everyone wants a lot of HP on pump gas and the trend is to big strokers--I always tell them a plain ole 500 HP 440 is a plenty and reasonable $$ but the "drumbeat" out there makes them think they need 3x what they actually do Oh well... I am getting old and love a straight easy build and hate grinding LOL
My personal car journey includes a ride home from the hospital in a 1950 Plymouth, learning to drive in my Grandpa's 56 Dodge truck , seeing Dad buy a new 1966 Belvedere II with Richard Petty signing autographs in the show room , racing a 1968 Dart for over 15 years, then a crate motor Duster, and happily putting over 320K miles on a 98 Dodge truck etc etc
but now I am at a crossroads
3 years ago I built a front engine dragster to run Nostalgia / match race Making it to the track once every 4- 6 weeks is enough now a days to get my Ya Ya's out and driving the FED really helps on that point--Best car I have ever owned and more fun than robbing a bank buck naked
The days of finding a 70 Challenger in a basement, dragging it to the Nats and getting a new roof on the house seem to be numbered and almost over
I accept that I have had a good run Mopar has been really good to me
I will continue to build as many as I can for folks--but as cores dwindle, Gen III stuff take over and prices soar on any body even the dang 74 model 4 door A bodys--Geeezzz!! I just see grey hair at the shows ( and in the mirror) and less funds available to spend on hobbies so.........

I AM excited about 2017 and maybe...just maybe...I can find a cool barn find this year and pay off that pesky Home Equity line LOL!!!!! So....I am still IN
Thanks for MOPARTS!!

My friend and DW copilot Zac has drug my car all over the country with his truck and trailer. I put forth alot of effort this year to be prepared for DW. Luckily I was able to get the win and a jacket for my friend.

New engine for next year and going e85.

I accomplished all my car goals this year, and then some. Nothing like what many on here have done.

Made a high 13 second pass in my bone stock Charger RT. On 44 PSI with the heated seats on. lol

My Duster made the Chrysler Employee Worldwide calendar.

Got my first bye run at Norwalk...in a large class.

Daughter made her first passes at the track.

Participated in an unusual event, Roadkill Nights, and was told by an official that I was the first female to make a legal pass on Woodward Avenue. Was it true? Probably. Did it mean anything? Not really. But it was still kinda cool.

Went to the Halloween classic for the first time ever, and did my first tent race. lol. And jello shot.

Also several new bests in my '65 Dart. Ended with high 11's with a very mild smallblock, naturally aspirated.

Awesome, very cool.

I transitioned - to some extent - but I haven't let go all together yet. Happy New Year to all!!

Sorted out a new combo, won some grudge money, participated in the original no prep race KOTS. 2017 is gonna be a lot faster! And I've already called out any small block nitrous street car around here. Game on!

2016 was a dismal year for racing, job situation and lack of vacation time sort of stepped on my toe's and put the race season on hold for a while,,2017 looks to be a better year, new job is working out good and now have some vac time built up,, smallblock and 904 are out and 512 and 727 a will be in soon and then the fun part begin's,, test and tune over and over, getting the combo sorted out I think is half the fun,, just like learning to walk. Happy New Year everyone!!!

Won our first Wally race in January at the 1st NHRA nostalgia series race. Since diesel was a respectable 1.60 a gallon, we decided to chase the series and ended up third in points. Was a great/fun season and put right at 100 runs on the trouble free W8 combo that Brian at IMM built. Unfortunately we seemed to be plagued by 727 probs which is strange.... but think we have ironed out now. With a converter change the car became incredibly predictable and we had a good time with that.



went some rounds at March Meet and as always, had fun taking in "the show". The Gebhart family was there for the first time and as always, it was fun to talk to the group. Went to Salt Lake which was a 9 hour one way tow..... and watched it rain. Traveled to Sacramento where 1,2,3,4 all met in the semi finals. Another fun track I hadn't been to since 2007. Skipped down to Barona (near San Diego) as I'd set a match race at a heads up challenge event. My whole deal behind this was that I wanted to go and watch Shiloh run in his race, but he broke and didn't make it. My opponent "thought" he had me covered, but I bought another torque converter (tighter) which allowed me to run some better numbers. He was undefeated in 7 events.... small block mopar put a stop to that Six hour pull for a trophy.... but that's how we roll, it's fun. Loaded up by 11, pulled into the driveway at 5:30 am. Gave me time to put the trailer away and wash the truck before the blistering temps of summer set in.



Bakersfield was our final race in September for the Heritage series. We ended up going to the finals Saturday against #2 with a hurt trans. Sunday 1,2,4 went out first round. I could have been number 1, but round 2 the guy treed me and ran his number so we were done. Three rounds away from walking across the stage at the Winternational to get a jacket . Here we are after round 1 making a trans repair with gorilla tape.... I'm not lying, we taped parts together to make assembly easier Here's member 70aarcuda (Tony) and his oldest Tonya (who wheels the Dart), and his other daughter Cristin is under the car holding a flashlight up against my head while my right hand man Dave and myself get the parts and pieces back together. If nothing else, it was an entertaining quest at making the next round. We had a lot of help from good mopar folks helping out with fluids, and tools.



Plans for 17..... no real plan. I missed MaTS due to chasing heritage series and I'm not doing that again. I REALLY want to travel somewhere new, or haul the car back to SoDak to hang out with all my racing friends that are still participating. By the number of their kids I see winning trophys, I fear we've become "the old guys"

Well first off Happy New Year Ted and all the other Moparts members. I'm personally kinda glad racing wise and health wise to see 2016 come to an end. What started out as a GREAT year making it out earlier than i ever have for a race weekend hitting the St. Patricks Day race in March and going some rounds (lost 5th round) and making a few bucks. The winners of that round each got 1000.00 check because of curfew. More racing in April, May, and early June before getting sick. 2 infections, a reaction to antibiotics, laser Prostrate surgery because of the infections, catheter in and out 6 different times, and a few other issues. I only made one more time trial pass the second week of October and then it rained. I let my Son Matt drive my car at the Halloween race at Keystone and the Halloween Classic at Norwalk. Starting January 2nd its "go time" to start a good diet again, walking, and hitting the gym to get rid of the weight I gained over those 5 1/2 months of being laid up. My black Duster is ready for race season, the 572 with be getting nitrous friendly pistons for the small tire car, I have a 512 440-1 headed engine on the stand for my green Duster, and a very nice roller cam 360 going together for Matts Duster. Also building us a spare 408 to have on the engine stand and may try to round up a set of W7 heads for a 48 degree build. Time to hit the shop hard in 2017.

Well, I didn't race this year but accomplished a lot. Pic of Cuda got on Dealer Connect website. My youngest son and my daughter both got their Associates degree this year. My oldest son works with me at a dealership. He started out pulling weeds and killing snakes from the parking lots we moved into. He is now starting as the parts manager in the newest Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership in North Carolina. Extremely big endeavor for a 25 year old, but I have complete faith in him. My wife is halfway through her Arts degree program, started interning in a local gallery and within 2 weeks was hired on as Event Coordinator. Now, there may even be some eyes on her from the local art museum. As I told the family at Christmas dinner, my bucket list is complete except for house repairs and getting my first 8 second run. Hopefully this spring it will happen.
Happy New Year everybody.

Thanks Ted and Happy New Year to you and the Moparts family as well!

2016 was a success in my book. My first trans build was a success. It held together for 100+ passes and resulted in new best ET's. I learned how to weld and I installed my first roll bar. It was also a year with a steep learning curve working through chassis issues. Who ever thought launching a 3300lb leaf spring small drag radial car off the trans brake could be so challenging??? Oh well - add the cost of another set of tires, revalving the rear shocks, a GoPro, and multiple extra test days at the track to my expensive degree in "Trial and Error".

The most exciting part of the year for me was the realization my 9 year old Daughter was born to race! Now I just need to convince Mom we need to add a Jr. Dragster, golf cart and enclosed trailer to the program

The plan for 2017 is to add some power, reduce some weight, and get the chassis working so we can be competitive in Real Street NA at BIR.

Happy New Year! Built a bad ass SB and it took a sh!t on the dyno. Sold every thing I could salvage and bought as many BB stroker parts as I could with those funds. Build the short block this past week. Gonna finish soon and get a fresh trans together. We will be under a new pres. soon and I think 2017 will be a much better year for me.

Happy New Year all!

I made it to some goals, first of which is having a 340 A body for the first time in 33 years.



Got the motor/trans in the Daytona. Sorry, no pic, but it really happened.

And made 1 trip to the track in this:

Happy new year to all my moparts compadres. Even though most of us don't really know each other personally, I consider all of you guys to be my "car buddies".

'16 was a pretty good year for me car wise, one that I'd now like to build on.. I got to the track 5 times, and went three rounds or more in 3 of those trips, only exiting 1st round once. It was my last year chasing my daughter on weekends at fastpitch tourneys, which puts a dent in available race days. She's gone away to college now and while I'll miss club softball tourneys, I'm looking forward to doing more racing than ever in 17. Goals for 17 are to: A) enjoy more seat time. B) establish myself as competitive in the Pacific Raceways points series. and C) win a race.

Got some work to do in the garage...........

Happy new year all.. I didnt get my injection
figured out till just a few weeks ago so I didnt
do CRAP this year... I did get the new dash cluster
mounted

Back at everyone!! 2017 has to be a better year! My wife and I had a discussion Saturday night about the 64. I was going to make the announcement yesterday but fate had other plans. We had put some stuff of my daughters into our 03 Grand Prix and was going to take it to her apartment. My wife went out to warm the car. I look out he window and there is smoke billowing out of the car. I told the wife to call 911. I ran out with my fire extinguisher in only my pajamas. Heat was too much to open the hood but I hit the interior and thru the cracks until I exhausted the extinguisher. Then I started throwing snow on the hood. Fire department arrives and puts the fire out. A couple of them told me to go and sit down as they are aware of my health issues. EMS checked me out and my blood pressure was 158/85...that almost got me an ambulance ride. I did suffer smoke inhalation and something hit me in the face when the front drivers tire blew. Also singed my hair a bit. I must commend our fire department as they saved my garage and house. The garage is where my 64 is sitting along with our 2014 Challenger. We lost some siding and the door warped from the intense heat. I am thankful that nobody got hurt and that my wife wasn't driving down the road when it happened. And now,,,,We will be putting my grandson in the car for 2017. If he does ok, he will compete in Pro ET at Cedar Falls!!

Wholly crap Ted. So sorry to hear this but am super glad no one got hurt bad. Not a great way to start off the year. To add to this I'm glad to hear the grandson will be driving the car. As long as you are at the track watching and helping the sport is still fun. I'm not a good spectator but as long as my fingers are still fingering I'm a happy guy

Glad your OK.. bummer on the car and the garage
damage