Well, out of the five close calls I have had with the dart where there could have been a very serious mishap (32 years), two were this last weekend. Combine that with a couple of all time bests, and the adrenalin is still working tues AM.
On Aug 3rd I had a needle bearing roller get into the oil pump and take out the pump, drive, and rod bearings. I thoroughly cleaned everything, reassembled the pan and pickup, put the belly pan back on the car and went out again on Aug 25/26. This was a fun weekend with street rodders at BIR, so no racing, just timed runs. The car looked good, lash was OK, no other problems, so I put it in the trailer and thought it was ready for the next outing. I DIDN'T CHECK THE BELLY PAN.
While it sat in the trailer, it developed a very slow drip from a pickup plug in the oil pan that over two weeks put about a cup or two of oil in the bellypan. The pan fits so tight to the frame you can't see in it. except up front.
On the first pass on Saturday Sept 8, the car launched as hard as I have ever felt it and put the front about five feet in the air. At the same time, that oil came over the lip of the pan, got under the left rear slick, and the car made a violent move for the wall. It came up on one slick even. All I remember was a couple of violent bounces, and being able to see the grain in the concrete of that wall. It was a miracle that I didn't hit.
I got towed back, took the pan off and found the leak. Got it fixed, and went back up for the second time trial. The car left well, and ran a new all time best of 8.769 at 153 mph. This is running the M5 fuel, but also running those 41 lb pigs they call slicks out back. We had a ten to twelve mph tail wind though, so that had to be considered.
Third round of time trials is called, and I go up to see if I can improve on the last pass. The car hooked hard and went 1.250 in the 60 ft, which is a new best, but bounced a bit towards the center stripe. At about three hundred feet out it was drifting towards the center stripe more, I counter steered, it spun and got really out of shape and I had to lift. Must have been a good show as one of the fire rescue guys came running up to the edge of the track just in case I lost it. Enough for Saturday for sure.
Back at the pits, everything I could think of got checked and rechecked for drips, leaks, what ever might cause this.
Sunday was much better and uneventful save for a new best. Dead calm air, very low DA of 1493 (drag times #) .
The car hooked very well and went 1.248 (new best 60 ft) 3.592, 5.571 in the 660 at 124 mph, 7.297 at 1,00 ft and 8.770 at 1320 with a mph of 152.
Now it is time to do laundry and wash the scivys

Congrats on the new best and glad to hear you didnt
kiss the wall

Very nice. Glad you never touch the wall. Your car is running great.

nice!

Good work....

New best AND all the paint is intact.

Your nuts, glad your ok....My 10.0 car has given me a few good ones to remember as well..

Congrats on the new best Greg ...........really glad you and your car are o.k.................

Congrats on the new best Greg, glad you didn't prang it.
My cousin managed to crash into the wall at brainerd last year, totalled his vette and apparently, they had to replace the section of wall he hit.
He now has a nice 55 chevy but the wife has made him pack up racing.
Mick

WOW!!...sounds like you had a hand full..

congrats also on the new times..

Congrats on the new best
Happy to hear the close call had no denting/paint removal involved.

Feel the tension , Man...........what a ride.
Glad you didn't bang her up for sure.
'65 parts are darned hard to come by.
That machine is definitely hauling.

Thanks everybody. For the record, I have to credit the lack of Ackerman angle for part of the reason that I have never crashed due to being out of shape at speed. That and about six degrees of caster.
The zero Ackerman angle thing came about because when I first tried to put a rack on a car with drum brakes, you can't get the tie rod ends out far enough. Even with part of the backing plate ground away, I could only get to zero. Two wild out of shape rides at over 135 mph and I noticed the car really responded very well to steering input in a slide at speed. It occurred to me that with zero Ackerman angle, THERE IS NO TOW OUT DURING COUNTER STEER! If you can visualize it, tow out creates a very high resistance in the front ,exactly why they usually want to switch ends instantly if given a chance. Two more incidents with similar results convinced me to leave it that way. It paid off again on Saturday. Once out of shape, that car almost drove itself back straight. It slammed side to side three times before I could blink, I swear! The car settled right down, and the rough part was over.
I have posted this in the past, but feel it is worth repeating. Something to seriously consider. Just remember, when you need to push the car around a corner, it isn't going to be any fun! It is like having a spool on each end. But I will live with it

good to hear about the new best. ya, that oil under the tires is sure no fun.

Good to hear you have it not only back running but faster.
How do you like the M5?

The M5 is worth somewhere between .06 and .10 in the 1/4, but you pay for it in a couple of ways. First, price. $354 a barrel where I bought it. Then there is the added fuel use. About ten percent. The fumes the fuel produces are the same compound used by law enforcement and military- teargas! And it does produce tears!
Last but not least I noticed my shutoff valve was rather hard to move after the m5 was in the system for a couple of weeks.

Glad to hear YOU and the car are still in one piece. I've had a few wild rides in the truck and I know all about getting the heart pumping. Congrats also on the new best!! Dave

Congrats on the new best and also for keeping it off the Wall...

I bet there was some instincts and drivers skill that helped!

Did you change the tune up much with the M5 ? 6-8 pill sizes smaller???

Cheers,

Arnie

Congrats on the new best,Greg!! Helluva job driving to keep it off the wall!

Glad to hear you are back out there at it. In the end it all turned out well and the car and you survived. Congrats on the new bests!

I'd call it a great day when the only damage is a skidmarks on the underwear!