Finally went and did it.... wife is not happy

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Bumpers fabbed and nose/tail pieces mounted and sprayed with black bumper coat.

Could you please provide details on this product and application?

I'm assuming it is much more durable and permanent than Plasti-dip in a rattle can.

Tim, congratulations of your racing venture.

You certainly are living life to it's fullest.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Could you please provide details on this product and application?

I'm assuming it is much more durable and permanent than Plasti-dip in a rattle can.

Tim, congratulations of your racing venture.

You certainly are living life to it's fullest.

It was just some kind of rattle can spray product... It went on thin and seemed to soak into and dye the plastic. It does not seem to result in a coating that covers any scratches. There does not seem to be anything there that will peel or flake off even after I have got rubbed and hit multiple times thus far this season. It just made the faded old plastic a darker black.

[Tim Hancock]

Finally getting the hang of this dirt racing and have made the A-main the last two weeks. Still in search of more traction exiting the corners, but the tweaks I have been applying are definitely helping.

Saturday night there were 48 cars signed up so there were 5 heat races with 9-10 cars each. I started 7th in the first heat race and finished 4th (another lap and I could have got 3rd). They were taking 4 cars into the A-main but it put me in the 8th row outside (16th out of 23 cars).

On the first lap with cars stacked up 3 wide coming out of turn two, several cars in front of me got together on the back straight and next thing I knew a car was sideways right in front of me just as I got my throttle mashed on the straightaway. I swerved left and locked up the brakes and hit the poor guy with my right side. While it might not look that hard on the video below, it was the hardest impact I have experienced in life and I ended up sitting partially on top of his car with my right frame rail in his window. Luckily none of the cars behind me hit me on my side.

The wrecker drug me off of him and I figured I was done, but I restarted it and it felt OK so I pulled up to the tail of the red flagged group of cars and prepared mentally for the restart. After a yellow flag riddled race I ended up getting all the way up to 7th in the A-main which is pretty good for me at this stage.

A-Main


My nerf bar was destroyed, my right frame was bent in and my fender door and rear quarter panel are trashed. I already straightened the frame and tonight will re-enforce it and start making a new nerf bar. I am just going to hammer the aluminum straight and re-fiberglass the front fender. Should be ready by Saturday night to do "battle" again.

[Seahawk]

You are the man, Tim.

Keep updating!

[wdfifteen]

Are you racing Saturday June 28? I'll be in Wauseon and I'm going to Oakshade Saturday night. It would be great to see you race.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Are you racing Saturday June 28? I'll be in Wauseon and I'm going to Oakshade Saturday night. It would be great to see you race.

Yep, I will be there... Hit another car who spun in front of me last Saturday but will have it fixed again for this Saturday. My buddy and I pit on the northeast corner of the track with our cars on the concrete pads. I typically am there right after the gates open at 4:00. Hotlaps start at 6:00.... Races start at 7:00. All area pit passes are $20 or general admission to the grandstands only is $12.

[Tim Hancock]

6-21-14 My car had no traction off the corners in my heat race (likely due to my previous weeks frame bending wreck) so I only could manage 5th which put me on the pole of the "B main". I made a few tweaks for the main which helped, but my small motor and a re-start cheating white 316 car had me ending up finishing 3rd. About 2/3 through the race a car spun off the wall in front of me on the front straight and I drilled him bad with my right front corner as the yellow flag came out. My car still drove fine to finish the race, but I have had another busy week scabbing together my busted up race car.... Seems I only have time each week to fix damage instead of spending "fun" time improving the car.

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Seems I only have time each week to fix damage ........

Welcome to the wonderful world of dirt track bullrings.

Have you been able to get any use outta that wheel scale?

[wdfifteen]

Nice job working that pink car (#19?, hard to see). I'll be there Saturday.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Dueller

Welcome to the wonderful world of dirt track bullrings.

Have you been able to get any use outta that wheel scale?

I played around with it a little, but I have my buddy's scale set in my shop for now. I need to mark my concrete pit pad at the track and then take some reference readings with your corner scale checker for reference. This would allow me to double check for damage after a hard hit in my heat race.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Still need to locate a set of 2 1/2" ramshorn exhaust manifolds as the headers are a no/go at my track.

What class are you racing?
I was looking at the bomber rules at Oakshade and this is what they say about engines:

ENGINES:

Must be in stock location. NO engine setback, # 1 sparkplug must be in line with or ahead of ball joints.
Must have cast iron heads and blocks. Aluminum intakes are ok. Headers are ok.
One carburetor, only. No electric fuel pumps.
Stock factory distributor. No M.S.D. ignition systems.
All exhaust must be pointed away from ground, preferably to outside of car.

[Tim Hancock]

Bombers.... The rules changed considerably this year. I have headers and will be buying an aluminum intake and four barrel soon. I also will at some point reinstall my tubular upper control arms as they are legal now also. Just been too busy fixing crash damage along with summer honey-do lists to devote time to car mods.

[Heel n Toe]

On the two restarts when the #316 cheated, the "safety truck" took off for the infield pretty soon, and #316 was moving early almost as if he and the ST were in cahoots. I assume he accelerated and pulled to your left before it went green.

On later restarts, it seems that the "safety truck" kept speeds a bit lower and the lead car was closer on his tail, preventing you or anyone else from cheating on the restart. Did it just happen that way, or had you and/or some of the other racers brought the cheating to the attention of the track officials?

What does 1st through 5th pay?

[wdfifteen]

Those starts were fairly typical. The don't seem to mind as long as you don't pass someone before the end of turn 4. Tim gets passed on the inside on starts often. He needs to move to the inside in about the middle of turn four to block those guys. I watched it happen twice last night and you could see it coming when the were leaving 3.

[Tim Hancock]

The race goes green trackwide as soon as the polesitter throttles up near the stack of orange tires coming out of turn 4. All cars are supposed to remain in line until the leader fires. Once he fires then you can start passing even if you are in turn 3.....
All that said, it is hard to judge and I have a relatively anemic engine with a 2 barrel carb presently... Restarts kick my are presently. I made a huge weight shift change this week to gain traction off the corners. I went too much and the car would not turn during my heat race. I had to stab my brakes every turn. I removed some weight prior to the A-main and the car was OK.

[wdfifteen]

You did great last night Tim. I could tell something was wrong in the heat race. I was watching turn four and looked like you were struggling with something. Your line was different on every lap. Great job in the A Main. You picked up the positions you lost on starts just by driving smart and staying out of the carnage. And no body work to fix this week!

[Tim Hancock]

There was oil or something in the middle exit of 4 from an earlier incident in the heat.... That said, my car just would not turn without jamming the brakes HARD during that heat. I had no idea what is was going to do in the main after blindly making adjustments to fix it. The actually was decent in the main, but still had push tendancy which had me afraid to run the high line. Most of the cars that finished ahead of me have been racing for years so I have to be happy with the results for now. I did get some right side rear quarter damage early in the main as I had a car outside of me rubbing hard on turn 4. I assume you did not get a pitpass and watched from the grandstands?

[wdfifteen]

I had intended to come see you in the pits. We got there late, and sat down just in time to see the start of your heat race. We had been standing/walking in the heat, dust, and smoke of the Steam Thresher's show all day and my companion was wiped out. She wouldn't walk another step.
You looked good out there in the Main. You had a kind of sly fox in a room full of rabid wolverines look going. With more experience you'll be kicking butt.
Oakshade is a nice facility. They collect admission at the entrance to the parking area which is huge. Anyone can park at our local bull rings, and race nite has become an evening to park your RV, party, sell drugs and engage in all kinds of illegal activities in the lot. There will be people in the parking area stoned out, sitting by a bonfire while the Late Model Main is running.
From a spectator's view the races are run really well. They ran upwards of a hundred cars in something like 18 races in less than 4 hours. At so many tracks they finish a race and everyone looks at each other like, "What do we do next?"
Is the 15 lap or 15 minutes rule really a rule or was the announcer kidding? It's a great idea (unless you came to race). The street stock class at our local track can take half an hour to finish 10 laps.
There was a really short Late Model race just before the intermission. What was that? I've probably been to 25 or 30 different bullrings and every track has it's own way of doing things.
The bicycle raffle during intermission was the only real downside to the show. What a weird thing to be doing. It took an hour at least.

[Tim Hancock]

That would have been the last chance qualifier for the late models. The car turnout seemed a bit low for the bombers as we only had 44 instead of about 50 in previous weeks. The time limit is indeed sometimes used for races with tons of wrecks. I lose track of the laps anyways. The bike giveaway is a charity type deal done once a year for kids. Racers bring bikes with them to give away to the kids at intermission. The intermission between the heat races and the features is always about that long.

[Tim Hancock]

Latest carnage from 8/2/14 after I spun in turn 4 due to hitting a wet spot from a leaking wrecked car a few laps earlier. I went around instantly and got drilled HARD by another car. It took him out, but I was able to restart at the tail and managed 12th out of 22 in the A Main.

Another busy repair week ahead of me.