Crazy weekend. Car starts out Friday with a 9.599 and pulling a nice 1.27 60ft reminiscent of last year's monster launches. 2nd time trial I lift on the t-brake button and BOOM, that feeling I haven't felt since running 8 3/4 rear ends in my Coronet back in the 90's, except this is a Ford 9-inch. With a points championship on the line, this was NOT a good time for this to be happening.

REAR END - Find out that I had the street ring and pinion in it, which surprised me until I started looking through a Summit Racing catalog and discovered that Richmond doesn't carry a 'pro' 4.56/7 gear in a 28 spline pinion. Car came with a 28 spline yoke so I probably just stuck with it instead of moving up to a 35 spline setup. So, THIS TIME, I plan on switching over to the 35 spline setup so I can get the pro 4.56 gear. Call up Summit, order parts and head out there (for the first time ever) to pick up the parts. So, I get the ring and pinion, yoke, rebuild kit, dope, etc. Come to find out after I get back and start looking at the parts that the rebuild kit they gave me has some bearings that aren't gonna fit on the pinion. So we can't put the rear back together until we get the right bearings. Too late to head back so I call them up and order a Strange bearing kit that should take care of the problem. Head back up to Summit and get there at 9 in the morning when they open and pick up the stuff. Come back and get to putting together the rear end. Another quick issue arises whereby I went to a local engine shop to get the pinion bearing pressed on and then find out that I didn't need the shim that had come off the old pinion (28 to 35 spline thing) and had to drive back up there to have it pressed off and back on again. Fast forward to the rear end being put in car (3 or 4pm?). Back out of pit spot and have no forward gears.

TRANS - Well, I'm actually happy that the trans showed me this now instead of the first time I tried to launch off the line. So, now I have to decide if I want to tackle the transmission. With Russ, who had been helping with taking out the rear end and putting it back in, telling me we could do this quickly I decided to first find out what 'could' be wrong in the trans and if I could find the parts here at the track. I talk to John Cope who tells me it's probably either the planetary or the input(or was it output?) shaft. I check with Rick Allison and find out he has a planetary but not the shaft. I take my chances and we rip the trans out. John comes over and zips it apart and it ends up being the planetary. Grab the planetary from Rick and John puts it back together. Russ, Greg (GJ69Charger) and I get to putting the trans back in. It's coming up on midnight now and I miss another HUGE gambler's race. Trans goes in and I start it and drive it around. Everything seems ok. Run up to tower to see if I can get a pass in to shake it down. I get the OK (thanks, Eddie) and make a pass around 1:40am.

ENGINE - Everything is ok until I hear a loud 'POP' just before the finish line. Great....so I lift and coast down the track and the engine stalls before I come to a stop. Won't start....get a tow back to the pits for the 2nd time this weekend (thanks Art Gomes) and proceed to take off the hood only to have Scott (Red, yellow Dart) proclaim before I have a chance to put the hood down, "Your coil wire came off!" Whew! I was swearing off racing just 5 minutes before this.

SUNDAY - 3 hours of sleep and we're back at the track. No time trials so I have to guesstimate off of my one aborted run from the night before. I figured it was on a 9.70 run so I dial 9.70 and I'm going against a BGR car dialing 10.58. Being slightly paranoid of redlighting I go .047 to his .130 and catch him before the 1000' foot and coast in with a 9.844. Looks like a possible 9.68 pass.

2nd round - Almost 4 hrs later we're in the 2nd round and I'm looking at a 197something Barracuda dialing 10.14. I dial 9.70 again figuring I could hold two in case the car should decide not to run the number. He ends up going red and I go .038 and feeling like I might be on a breakout pass decide to stab the brakes a bit on the end to see if I could hit my dial, I go 9.695. I'm thinking it was on a high 9.67 pass. Mike Waiwood wins his 2nd round also, but now he would probably have to go to the final round to get by me in the points.

3rd round - Dial 9.68 and face a white '70 Superbee or Coronet dialing (can't find the slip so I'm gonna guess a little here) 10.35. He launches, I launch and I feel LATE. Thinking I'm gonna turn him loose if I don't think I can get around him and stab them, I start to go around and it looks like I can kill a little bit, so just as I'm going around here comes the finish line and I try to back into him in what little time I have and I take him through by .0005 BUT it's a double breakout. He cuts a .007 light to my .040something and he goes under by around .015 but mine decides to pick up .06! and I run 9.62, doh! Could the new 9inch stuff be breaking in?

POINTS - Having a 65 pt lead going in and getting to the 3rd round (31 pts) means that Mike would have to win the race and it would have to be a 9 round race. He went out in either the 4th or 5th so it didn't matter, but he held on to 2nd place which was cool because him and his dad are good people. (Thanks for the drain pan!)

MANY, MANY THANKS....Ok, where to start....Russ, who was there from the start yanking axles and brakes and transmissions and putting them all back in/on. Without your motivation and positive attitude, I don't know if I would've been running my car on Sunday...thank you.

Greg - same deal, the workhorse was there for anything I needed and some much needed muscle especially with dealing with the trans.

RING AND PINION ASSEMBLY - Bill (owner of Maxine car) and Scott - Thank you both for assembling and making sure I got the right parts.

TRANS - John Cope for teardown and assembly of the trans, thank you so much for your time while you were still running in the 10.0 shootout. Oh, and for that hard to find 1.5 inch socket.

Rick Allison - thanks for letting me get to an ATM and settling up with you the next morning on that planetary and for some tech support earlier in the day. Also for bringing all those extra parts you do for causes like mine.

Gary Osbourne - thanks for the heads up on that engine shop 10 minutes down the road from the track, and thanks for taking me up there. You're always a pleasure to talk 'racing' with and love hearing your war stories. And let your buddy in that shop know I appreciate him taking care of me so quickly and giving me a tour of the shop.

There were offers from several different people to drive their cars for the Sunday race in case mine wasn't ready...You know who you are and I sincerely thank you all for the offers. And yes, I would've taken someone up on it if it came down to it.

Also, thanks to all who offered help, (BGR Racing), looked for sockets or parts or just walked up to see how we were doing. You know who you are and it was very much appreciated. I was touched by the outpouring of support I received from my fellow Mopar brothers. You guys are the best. Can't wait to see you all next season.

Well, since you don't mention any food poisoning, flat tires or the hood blowing off, I'd say that you had a boring weekend.

Just kidding, Pat

Way to keep plugging away at it and congrats.

Congrats on the championship. Glad I could help.

WOW Pat... you had a busy weekend... yes there are
MANY helpful Mopar brothers... congrats on the championship

Congratulations on the Championship Pat.

Good thrash this weekend. Mopar guys are the best.

I was glad to help, by staying out of the way most
of the time. See you next year.

Pat, glad to hear to perseverd. I had no idea about the rear end issues though.

I wish I could have been of some help but it seemed like you guys had everything under contorl by the time I got there.

WOW, congrats on the points championship. You really worked hard that weekend to pull it off, so you earned every bit of it.

Also that was a great post. I enjoyed every paragraph.

Well done,Pat!! It don't get any better than that!! Great reading,too!

Congrats on a well deserved Championship !

As they say "hard work pays benefits" you definately earned the benefit's, congrats on the championship!!

Glad you got it fixed,,,,

I came down late that evening,,,sorry,,,i feel bad i didnt/couldnt help.... thought you were just changing the rear end,,didnt realize you had the trans out as well...

I had mentioned to greg earlier in the day,,,that i would like to offer my car for you to use on Sunday if you didnt get yours back together in time,,, didnt want you to miss the race..... (plus it would be cool to see my car win sometime,,,compared to when i am driving,,LOL )



congrats on the CC win....

Doug

Cogratulations on winning the championship Pat!!!
You sure earned that one.

That is one thing that is awesome about the CC events,lots of people willing to help you out of a situation.

Terry

WTG Pat,when i last saw you on sat nite you were looking rough.Glad everything worked out for you.

That was a heck of a thrash. You earned the Championship for sure.

Do you still have the lil' Charger?

Congratulations Pat ,
I'm glad you kept at it and didn't let it get the best of you. I had a great weekend and was glad to help out any way I could.

You earned it for sure! Nice job and congrats on the championship.

Pat it was my pleasure. Anytime I can help just ask. Thankfully it all worked out for you. Any plans for the no box or the classic?