I know most that are following along are wondering what in the world THIS stuff has to do with Drag Week? I can say this, IF you want to enter Drag Week, and need help, you will have to bring along a Trunk Monkey. The first requirement of choosing a proper Trunk Monkey, is make sure you get along. The two of you are going to be together for over a week, when you add in travel time to the event, the event itself, and then back home. You spend a lot of time right next to each other in a hot, noisy race car, for hours on end. You will get into situations that you rely on each other, and the other person is going to be there right in the thick of it when it happens, and it WILL happen. Unless you each spring for your own room every night, you have to share that space as well. Some people are a little messy at times... Joel and I have traveled so much together, that it has become very easy. Yes he can drive me nuts at times, but I'm no saint, and I know I drive him nuts even more. At the end of the day though we work well as a team. I push Joel to keep things moving, yet he's made me slow down and enjoy the simpler things in life. We've driven from Minnesota, to Florida, and back, and never once listened to a radio. Conversations about cars, family, and life have filled the time, along with many one liners from movies like Tommy Boy, and Dumb and Dumber. There are not many dull moments. As I said, choose your Trunk Monkey accordingly, so you don't kill one another during the week. Our time together is a lot like the movie Planes Trains and Automobiles.

The other question people have, is why is there always a Drag Week thrash before the event? I can say for Joel, not having Drag Week 2020 took the wind out of his sails for working on the car. Lets face it, none of us are getting any younger, and when DW2020 was canceled, Joel spent time doing other things he enjoys. He's a busy guy, between owning a successful business, to his activity in his Church, and most importantly his time with his family. There are more important things than thinking about Drag Week the other 51 weeks of the year. Now add in parts shortages, and finding even a few minutes to dedicate time to the car, and the next thing you know Drag Week is right around the corner. The thrash is on!

As Drag week got closer, I checked in with Joel, and it was discovered that the Holley 94's had a bunch of crud in them. Was it from bad pump gas? He had dumped in a older can of VP race gas, and possibly it was from that. We mix in Klotz octane booster for the street drives, and maybe that was the mystery gunk. Now it takes time to clean out 8 carbs, and get them all back together, along with the Rube Goldberg carb linkage. With it all together the car was tested again on the street, and it was much better, but still not 100%. The plan was to test the car somewhere over Labor Day Weekend, but it wasn't meant to be. Joel wasn't comfortable with how it was running to drive somewhere, so he continued on trying to get the car in better shape for the event.

I had taken Thursday off work to help Joel out some, as we were going to possibly use it as a travel day, and head to Great Lakes Dragway, so we could test on Friday. We got everything sorted out for tools, and extra parts and supplies needed for the trip. It was actually a very relaxed day as far as DW prep went. With the Coupe loaded in the trailer, our bags packed, tools and everything else we needed for the week ready, Joel asked if we could leave that night? Sure. I just had to go home, pick up my dog, and bring him to my parents house. That would end up taking me about 45 minutes, and I'd be back at his house around 9:30pm. With Joel's 93 Dodge running, we saddled up, and aimed the truck East, with the goal of driving a couple hours to get outside of the Minneapolis/St. Paul rush hour traffic. At 10:00pm the tires on the mighty Dodge left the gravel of Joel's driveway, and hit the pavement. Off we went, with the familiar sound of Joel saying "I can't believe were really doing it!" (every time).

Not even 5 miles into our trip, I'm noticing the transmission temp gauge is already at 190*. I thought it was awfully quick to climb that high, but after all we were pulling a 28' enclosed trailer, and there is a 6500lb camper in the bed of the truck. We drive a little further, and I mentioned it to Joel. Thinking the trans might be low on fluid, we pulled into the parking lot of our local high school. Joel puts in 2 quarts of some slippery slimy fluid the rest of the world calls ATF. I have no idea what the stuff is? With the trans topped off, we continue East. The temp had cooled some, but after a couple miles it was once again climbing. It's now climbing to 210, and still going. Joel says to me "I have my foot to the floor, and we can't go over 62mph on flat land". Oh oh... We aren't going to make it going through the hills of Wisconsin this way... We decided it was best to turn around, and scrap our plans to test at Union Grove the next day. So we limped the once mighty Dodge home, and called it a night. Our plan was to wake up in the morning, switch over to Joel's work truck, and we'd have to find hotels along the way since we now didn't have a camper.

Friday morning rolls around, and now our plan is to drive to Stanton Michigan, and test the car there. They were having a Test night on Saturday, from 5-11pm. Joel doesn't want to drive through Chicago to get to Michigan, and asks if I mind if we go through the U.P.? "Sure, I've never been through there!". Changing to Joel's work truck doesn't take too long. We just had to switch the hitch height on his weight distribution hitch. Off we go. Once again "I can't believe were really doing it". (Yes, every time) Right away after we leave, Joel gets on the phone, and starts finding us a hotel room, as we now didn't have or travel days booked. He was lucky to find one just North of the Mackinac Bridge. We made it there with no issues, and I'm glad Joel called when he did, as the place was booked full, and nothing was available within a hour range. We asked why it was so busy, and were told that every September 11th, for the last 8 years or so, there is a antique tractor parade, and hundreds of old tractors cross the bridge. We got up the next morning, and wanted to be moving before the tractor parade, and not have to wait to cross the bridge. As we get closer, we see old tractors everywhere, and people are lined up on both sides of the street. as we crossed the bridge, the tractors were already heading North, and it was quite a sight to see. They just kept coming. If you've never been on the Mackinac bridge, I will say this, it's windy, and you are WAY above the water at it's peak. No way I'd want to be on a tractor crossing it.

We rolled into Mid Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, at 3:00pm. I'm pretty excited to be at this track, as it's one I haven't been to, and one I could add to my list. Gates were to open at 4:00, and testing started at 5:00, so we had some time to kill. Since we were the first ones there, and the gate was locked, Joel wanted to take the Coupe out of the trailer, and do some testing on the entry road. Nothing hard core, just driving it around, and getting used to the car again. I spent my time talking with a few racers that arrived after us.

At 3:55pm, Joel comes up to me, and says "we have a problem"...