Once we jumped out on I-74, with less traffic to contend with and the sun steadily dropping from view, the temp gauge stabilized at 205 and I began to settle in for the long drive. I love the look of my recessed Quick Latch minis that hold down the four corners of the hood, but they are fragile, and if you slam them around too much the receivers will fail. When the tach hit 3 grand, the back of the hood on my side popped up.
"What's that all about?" Rachael asked, looking up from our phones. She had set up google maps on my phone to follow the course live, then she had the Drag Weekers Facebook page, and our group text going on hers. The 55 year old cigarette lighter was dutifully supplying power to both.
"I missed the back pins at that car wash earlier, and I heard that receiver make a weird noise, so I must've broke the spring in it", I explained. "I'll have to replace it when we get the chance!"

Twenty miles later, we drove into the rest area Dale had described and found Rick lying on a piece of cardboard under his green Dart, while Sharma was working under the hood.
"What's the prognosis?" I asked from my knees, bent down low to see what he was doing under the car.
"Well, we didn't get lucky, the converter bolts were nice and tight", Rick smiled through the obvious fatigue.
"Well, crap!"
"Exactly! It was the crank bolts, so we had to back the transmission out to get on them."
"No small feat on a big block A body with a 727", I shook my head.
"We had to pull the header on this side just to get the engine to drop down enough to get it back", Sharma explained.
Watching them work together over the next twenty minutes, I was able to understand how they managed to take this car from a 318 driver to a big block 11 second machine in little more than a week. They worked together seamlessly, no drama, no wasted motion, a great team. It was clear that holding flashlights and handing them tools was about the extent of help Rachael and I would be able to offer to make the job go any quicker.
I excused myself a little later and changed out the quick latch on my hood while we were there. By the time I finished up the last of the useable sunlight was quickly disappearing.