I crowded up to the tailgate, as Boone and Dale were trying to put the finishing touches on the bright yellow third member, that was going into the bright silver housing. As I write this I'm cursing at myself for not getting a picture of that handsome combo!
"Where's James?" I asked, as I pulled a drop light closer to see what they were doing.
"He's taking a nap like you were, someone has to be ready to drive when we leave here!" Dale answered.
"Every time you torque the caps, we lose our backlash", Boone shook his head.
"Guys, you are going to have to set it loose, and let it tighten up when you torque the caps! Those stupid shims are a bad bandaid!" I insisted.
"One complete hole?" Dale asked.
"Two", it was obvious these guys were into the red on this deal, and not quite as sharp as usual. Boone took it over to Darren after they finished it up, and the two of them stabbed it in and started bolting it down.
"Dale, we agreed on Midnight...it's 11:25, and this doesn't look good. I'm going to go ahead and leave now, and let you guys sort this out."
"That's cool, go ahead, we'll be along shortly!"
"Alright then." I fired up the Valiant, and slowly eased out of Dale's neighborhood. Drag Week protocol is that you gas up as quickly as you can when you leave the track. That way you can use the route sheet to track your mileage, and know when to stop for gas next. Well, that's if you have no fuel gauge or speedometer anyway, so seven miles later I was topping off the fifteen gallon fuel cell.