It was amazing to watch them drink in the heat. It was so hot we dehydrated quickly that a beer didn't even look appetizing. The also ditched their booze in the Gebharts trailer Friday night.

LOL. Ive been going since 07.My son went for the first time in 2011.He was 21. I warned him.At Great Bend Ks he was drinking with them.He came to bed at 4 and I got him up at 6:30.Leys just say that long trip in my 68 RoadRunner with no AC and black vinyl seats was an adevenure.Green is a color.

Ok...

Where was I?

This is "the build up" story, not "the experience" story, so I will return to my explanation of how we end up in over our heads year after year!

For most Drag Weekers, there is a certain amount of recovery, and decompression time after the event, financially, mentally, and spiritually, depending on how bad the event kicked you in the teeth! So its rare that someone takes on a new build or major upgrade with 359 days before the next one to complete it. It's more likely that those thoughts don't get put into motion until around the first of the new year. Then there is the SEMA show, and when will the new tracks be announced, and when will pre-registration be announced, then the next thing you know you commit to running Drag Week again, and it's late April!
It's around this time that guys walk out into their garage, and take inventory, asking themselves if they can truly get the bucket of bolts they just registered ready in four months. Many rookies totally underestimate this process, and despite great efforts, miss the event. Many grizzled veterans like my brothers and I totally overestimate our abilities to finish up in crunch time, and wait another 60 days to get started!

I started this thread right after my Wife, Grandson and I's seemingly annual trek back to Oklahoma for a week's visit of our respective families and part of my plan for that time was to have Boone rebuild the 904 out of the Valiant.
I already had the new input shaft and gears from A&A, but a discussion on this very board brought the whole front drum return spring upgrade to my attention, and since my last trans builder, a glide specialist, had never mentioned it, I figured mine still had the big single spring. In an effort to spread my support to the guys who support the board, I jumped on Cope's web sight, and ordered a full race rebuild kit, and the aluminum multi-spring return kit. Since this happened on May 20, and I intended to be in Oklahoma the 24-30th, I listed Dale's house as the shipping address.
I spent most of Monday visiting relatives, so Boone, Dad and I didn't really get into the trans until Tuesday. As expected, the front clutch pack was burnt to a crisp, including a couple that had welded themselves to the steels, everything else, including both bands and clutches looked brand new.

On Wednesday, we re-assembled the back half of the 904, then decided that since the parts hadn't arrived yet, we would attempt to clean the shop at Darren's place, in hopes that the piles of junk all over the floor could be reduced enough to allow an actual vehicle to be brought in.
As we were gathering up tools in the afternoon I received a phone call from a concerned UPS employee:
"Sir what's the address I'm supposed to deliver this package to, I think it may be missing something..."
I recited back Dale's street address.
"That's exactly what it says on the package, but where is that in Phoenix Arizona?"
"Umm...it's not, it's in Owasso Oklahoma" I stammered out, completely caught off guard.
"Ok, sir...I will get that corrected, and get it out on the next truck to Oklahoma!"
I thanked her, and the phone went dead. When I relayed the info to Boone, he just stared at me, "Did you get her name, or ask to get it extradited?"
"No...I was just too shocked to respond that quickly!"
"Call Cope, see what they can do." Boone replied.
"I screwed up", John readily admitted, "I shipped that myself, and I put your brother's street address, and your City, State and zip!"
"Well, I'm only in Oklahoma until Saturday, so I really need those parts to finish up this transmission before I leave...I'll pay extra shipping to get this expedited...
"I understand", John cut me off, "But dealing with UPS isn't that easy for a shipper!" "I'll call them, and get back to you before the end of the business day!"
So, that's the story of my first and last purchase from the Cope Racing Transmissions website, and my first and last personal correspondence with John Cope.
The running joke the rest of the week from my brothers was, "have you heard from Cope yet?"
We sourced the clutches and steels from a local supplier, and re-used the big single return spring. Back at work on Monday in Phoenix, Dale called to inform me that the parts for my trans had arrived on his doorstep.


Dad's attention span when cleaning is quite shorter than it is when telling stories or working on transmissions:

I'm looking forward to reading more

Once back in the AZ, I was slowly putting the trans back in the Valiant, a couple of bolts here, then a couple more there, with no real sense of urgency as June marched by.
Then, I got my letter from the City of Phoenix, citing me for inoperable vehicles visible from the property line...which meant I had to clean up the carport and drop the Valiant back down on all fours to pass the following inspection.

I had the car moved back to the point where access to the rear meant you were in the rocks of the front yard to get the jack in place. I don't like my knees in the rocks, so I was trying to lower the car while I was on the concrete near the back bumper. The old harbor freight jack has a tendency to stick when you first try to release it, so I leaned more towards the jack and gave it a hard twist. The drivers side of the rear bumper caught me near the small of my back (or where that should be if not for the extra lbs.) and drove me into a downward facing dog position. I groaned in pain as I realized I was pinned, then was able to kick my legs out from under me, and roll out from under it!

Recovering from that injury, and dealing with the good ole Phoenix heat pretty much ate up most of July.

Thanks for the story Billy. I always enjoy the read

Bumper jacks and cars don't get along has been my personal experiences I was working on one of my old cars years ago using two bumper jacks to raise and lower the car while I worked on it on a paved asphalt driveway, I was lowering the front end and the bumper jacks started to lean to the right side and dump the car on top of my 3 yr. daughter who was palying along side the car, luckily she wasn't hurt at all, the front tires where not on the car yet and it fell so she was in between the front spindle and the outside of the fender, I thought I had killed her, that scared my to my wits ends. Thank God I didn't I never let any kids play around any cars I was working on after that. I'm hoping your injurys are not serious or permenment I'm sure you where using a floor jack and not bumper jacks as I have had the same problems with my Harbor Freight floor jacks. I don't use bumper jacks anymore either.

Ouch that hurts to look at. I bought a lift after having something similar happened to me. Glad you are OK.

Sorry this is moving so slow, but every time I sit down to add to the story, I find myself mining the internet for more pictures and info to help fill in the pieces and gaps that I missed myself!

By the time a veteran Drag Weeker gets to Aug 1st., the list of repairs and improvements needed that they filled out right after last year's event, starts getting re-shaped, whittled down, and divided into subcategories.

The Belvedere list looked like this:

Paint top of car, hood scoop, and new hood.
Install new hood and hood scoop.
Install new -6 nitrous feed line, and new nitrous solenoid
Install new 3/8 fuel line, and pick up tube.
Install new 255/70 M/T Drag Radials
Finish rebuild of 3.54 Dana 60, and install
Finish rebuild of new non-column shifter steering column, and install
Replace shifter, and shifter cable
Hook up under dash gauges, and replace old tach with new one purchased last year.
Install CSR Trans Shield

The Valiant list looked like this:

Square up ladder bar suspension
Replace M/T ET Streets
Address cooling system problem in some fashion
Finish install of trans
Repair leaking wheel seal on drivers side
Add seatbelts for passenger's side
Remove weight box from trunk
Install return style fuel regulator

At 6 months out, all those projects seem equally viable, and important. 30 days out, the urgency of the situation begins to provide more clarity!

Rachael's had invited her boyfriend to tag along with us on Drag Week, and my firm response was simply, "He has to drive out with me, and help out on "Hell Week", he's not flying in with you on Friday and just hanging out on the trip!"
She agreed readily, but "Skippy" needed a few days of convincing...I think the prospect of a week of wrenching with her Dad and three Uncles seemed a little overwhelming for the 23 year old!
Eventually, she started bringing him over in the afternoons to help me prepare the cars for the trip. On one afternoon, I decided to take the Belvedere wiring job, completely next level, and ditch the stock alternator/regulator setup, as well as the mopar ecu. The replacements would be an AR engineering denso alternator, and a digital 6A.

A quick look at Mancini appeared that they were marking the AR kits up a little, so I ordered from Hughes. I ordered two alternators, since I have the same thing on the Valiant as well. The stuff arrived from Hughes Engines a couple of days later, with a note on the invoice that the alternators would be drop shipped from "another warehouse", I had to chuckle when they showed up the next day in a Mancini box!

LOL.. thats sorta funny Billy... how many rooms did you
guys rent and how did he fair

When it comes to rooms, Mike, I take responsibility for that, and I prepay through Travelocity ahead of time, so they are locked in. Every year I get two rooms per track, with double queens, and we usually think we are going to have 8 people, and it's usually less. Anybody who doesn't want to double bunk can bring a sleeping bag and sleep on the floor. THIS is DRAG WEEK, not a comfort cruise! Plenty of guys bring tents, others even sleep in their cars, it comes down to how bad you want it versus what your budget can handle!

To that end, I've decided to lay all the numbers out as best I can this year, to give guys thinking about it a real world accounting of the investment in this trip.

To start, pre-registration was 336.45 per car, so I'm in 672.90 for both rides in April.

Then I got rooms for Sunday night through Friday night, so six nights for 943.50. That put me at 1616.40 before May 1st, which allows me time to pay it off over the summer, before the trip even gets here. I didn't get a room for Saturday night in St.Louis because, knowing my brothers, I just figured we'd be driving all night just to get there for registration.

On Monday, before our scheduled Saturday departure, I sent Skippy down to Desert Rat to change out my old 28 X 13.50 M/T ET Streets, for the new 31 x 14.50 M/T ET Streets that I had purchased a month earlier. When Mickey Thompson had announced they were changing some of their ET Street, and Drag Radial lines, I had ordered new 255/60/R15 Drag Radials for the Belvedere, and the same big balloon tires that Boone and Dale run for the Valiant.
That night, I tried in vain to wrestle one of those monsters under the Valiant with no luck.
The next day, while I was at work, I discussed the problem on the phone with Dale. "I need those for my Gremlin, so why don't I just order what you want, and we will trade when you get here," he volunteered.
"Well, I checked on the old ones I ran before, and they are back order until 9/29..." I explained.
"What about the new tire that size, the R", he questioned.
"If it's based on the radial slicks they build for like Stock and Super Stock it would be ok", I agreed, "but it has a metric designation on the sidewall, so I'm not sure."
"Time is not on our side", he cautioned.
"Go ahead and order them", I decided.

Friday morning, he called, "geez, you are not gonna like these. They are basically a 325 version of the 275 Pro Drag Radials!"
"That's not going to work for Pro Street," I lamented. I decided on a last ditch Summit order, shipped to Dale's house, and ordered a set of Hoosier Quick Time Pro 29 X 13.50.

That's funny Billy, we were both typing our Drag week updates at the same time. Yours posted at 2 minutes before mine.

I deflated one of the 31 X 14.50s, and managed to get it bolted on the Valiant, it looked as though it might work just well enough to get the car on the trailer, and to Oklahoma, so I made the effort to bolt the other one on as well. I had hope right up until I set it down, then it made contact with the front wheel well lip. "Great", I thought to myself, "Now I have to put the 235/70 spares for the Belvedere on here, and figure out where to store these massive things for the drive to Oklahoma! This is really going to cut into my available space for packing."

Every year, I plan to leave Friday as soon as I get off work, and every year I spend all day Saturday packing and preparing to leave, then jump out on the road tired and worn out. The start of my journey to DW15 would be no different...except I had Skippy with me...and my Wife forced me to pack a plastic playground for her great-nephew in Tulsa!!

The Belvedere was pushed on the trailer, since the wiring was still in complete disarray, pretty much the only thing done on the list was mounting the new hood, and scoop. The Valiant fired to life for the first time since about March, and the transmission had all it's gears, so I loaded it under power, praying that the small tires on the rear wouldn't allow the cross members on the trailer to catch on the exhaust, or ladder bar mounts.

I don't count food as part of my vacation budget, because, well, I eat all the time, no matter where I'm at, so I figure food expenditures are pretty much a given! Tulsa however, with it's two tier system of only Wal-Mart and Reasors in the marketplace is quite expensive for groceries while Phoenix, a hotbed of competition, is quite a bit cheaper. Also Rachael, as a Fry's assistant meat manager, gets in on all the great deals and mark downs, so she has a fully stocked meat locker at all times. We decided to take advantage of this by packing all the coolers we use for drinks on the trip, with frozen meat on dry ice...this turned out to be one of our better choices for the entire trip!

I always get a kick out of my coworkers when they ask about the costs of a typical race weekend. When I skip over the food part they always ask. My response is always like yours, I eat every day, racing weekends are probably cheaper.

I was nearly ready, when I noticed the ball had loosened up again on my hitch. I couldn't find the proper tools to tighten it up, so I sent Rachael and Skippy to Harbor Freight with the orders to get me "the biggest freaking pry bar and pipe wrench they have!"
I decided to go look in my enclosed trailer for another 2 5/8 ball since I've had problems with this one before, and while I was in there I noticed the 255/60 Mickeys for the Belvedere sitting against the wall! Boy, I would've been upset if I had forgotten those!
We headed out Saturday night around 9PM, and I was about 30 miles into the trip when I realized the electric trailer brakes weren't working...things would get interesting now, and the odds I was going to let Skippy do some of the driving greatly diminished!
The old 12 valve ran hot, and pulled like crap all the way to Flagstaff, but ran like a top as soon as it had a fresh tank of diesel on board, seems these old girls hate long periods of not being used. My method of descending at 40 mph in 4th gear with the blinkers on, using the truck brakes for short bursts, had the kid white knuckled, with eyes as big as saucers, probably not the "experience" he was thinking he had signed up for!!

I pulled into the Loves truck stop in Grants NM, and decided I'd had enough for Saturday, and crawled in the back of the truck for a nap, figuring the morning light would wake me up. What woke me up was the feeling I was going to freeze to death in spite of the sleeping bag I had clutched around me. Those high desert nights in early Sept have a chill that works into your bones!
We had breakfast in Albuquerque, then I pulled over on the side of an onramp outside Moriarty to let Skippy drive for a while. This is a precaution my Dad used with us many years ago when teaching us to pull long trailers, you don't trade out in a gas station or parking lot, and give the new driver a chance to drag the trailer over the top of something on their first attempt!
He did fairly well, although he got a concerned look the first time he had to counter steer a bit on a curve. I looked over and sheepishly said, "That trailer has no problem letting you know who's boss, does it?"
"Yeah...it definitely pushes", he agreed.
"That's a bunch of weight for tongue type trailer, so you have to respect it", I paused for effect, "and more importantly, stay in front of it!"
We rolled into Dale's place around midnight on Sunday, and I was so tired and beat up from the road that I parked out front, and just rolled a sleeping bag out on the floor of the spare bedroom and crashed out.

Labor Day morning, we started setting up base camp for "Hell Week 2015"!