I had planned to take the Belvedere out to the track Friday night for the test and tune, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Shortly after Mom and Dad returned with Darren's Dakota, dark clouds rolled in, and the wind kicked up considerably. We all went from thinking about the next project to cleaning up and putting away all the tools and parts. Rachael arrived from the airport Friday night, and James Gilliland, who rode with Dale last year, drove in from Caney Ks., so our band of Drag Weekers was complete.

I spent a fitful few hours in the pop-up with the thunder and lightning booming, but eventually fatigue took over, and I managed a good night's sleep. Once again, I was the first up, and moving around. Saturday proved to be one of those fall days in Oklahoma where grey skies and rain would hang around constantly. It would go from a drizzle, to a sprinkle, then a light mist, than back again. You know, perfect weather for an all day automotive thrash!

Rachael, Mom, and two of Dale's daughters decided to go visit my Grandmother in Broken Arrow, so they left fairly early. Dale and James got up, cleaned out the Gremlin, removed the nitrous bottle to make a little more room for a passenger, and headed off to the track in an attempt to get a chassis sticker. I went out to the Belvedere, grabbed a white scotch pad, and some purple power soap, and used the drizzle to go over the semi-flat black treatment on the hood and lower sides. Four months earlier I had waxed the entire car, and of course, now I had white swirl marks all over the organisol black. An hour of elbow grease in the rain, and it appeared that everyone on Drag Week might not know what an idiot I was!
Dale returned about an hour later, just as Boone showed up after a trip to Grand Prix with new lug nuts for Darren's fancy wheels.