"Almost Funny" was Squirrels first Hemi, he was much more familiar with Chevys, so he asked my advice on why the lash would be opening up. I told him, it’s basically the same as any other engine. Could be a lifter or a lobe going away, or pushrod cups, rockers, adjusters, valve tips, etc. I suggested that we pull the oil filter and go into the shop and borrow an oil filter cutter to dissect it, looking for debris. I took the filter in and started asking staff for an oil filter cutter, and after about 20 minutes of searching, they determined that they didn’t have one. Now that surprised me, in a big fancy shop like that. But we did find a guy who cut it open with a band saw. While he was cutting, I was checking out the mountain motors. 9 hundredsomething cubic inches!
Nothing funny was found in the filter media of Almost Funny. The pushrod tips and the rockers were normal color, no sign of bluing from heat. He had a lot of dough in the Hemi, and didn’t want to destroy it, just to try and finish. But the thought of dropping out and the logistics of getting the car back to Atlanta was not appealing, either. Squirrel didn’t know what he should do.
Comradery and helping other racers in need is woven into the fabric of Drag Week. You don’t bail on your friends when they need help. I wanted to stick around and help him dig into it further, so he could make the right decision. BUT, Hurricane Florence was charging in from the east. Heavy rains would be here soon, and I only had the DOT slicks. And I still needed to find oil and drive to Bristol. We had to outrun the rain. If we stuck around for 2 more hours, or even ½ hour, we might not make it to Bristol. So Squirrel was not the only one with a heavy decision to make…