No More Drag Radials
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,136
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From: Commerce Twp.
No More Drag Radials As many already know, I was in an unfortunate accident 3mos ago. The rear end took a direct hit to the wall that completely destroyed both rear frame rails. So the next logical step was to just take the plunge and go 10.5! With an already potent Billy Briggs LS power plant it only made sense to give a call to one of the nations best race car builders... Skinny Kid Race Cars. Keith took on the job of not only rebuilding a wrecked drag radial chassis but finishing a complete roller.
Then it was off to Reiter Metalcraft for the body work and to put it in prime.
And finally back to Billy Briggs Racing Engines to put it all back together again.
Special thanks to all my Crew and their Families for supporting the late nights putting everything back together again. Joe (Stenod), Kevin, Dan, Billy. Even Keith came by to help on a Holiday weekend!
I put my daughter Lauren to work too.
Thanks again to all my Sponsors and friends who helped make this rebuild possible in such a short period of time:
Lafontaine Automotive Group
Billy Briggs Racing Engines
Mickey Thompson
Mast Motorsports
Diamond Pistons
Then it was off to Reiter Metalcraft for the body work and to put it in prime.
And finally back to Billy Briggs Racing Engines to put it all back together again.
Special thanks to all my Crew and their Families for supporting the late nights putting everything back together again. Joe (Stenod), Kevin, Dan, Billy. Even Keith came by to help on a Holiday weekend!
I put my daughter Lauren to work too.
Thanks again to all my Sponsors and friends who helped make this rebuild possible in such a short period of time:
Lafontaine Automotive Group
Billy Briggs Racing Engines
Mickey Thompson
Mast Motorsports
Diamond Pistons
9 Second Club
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,192
Likes: 243
From: IL
Glad to see the car back out, and better than ever! I was wondering what is up with the back window. It looks like a bunch of dzus fasteners along the bottom, and two in the middle, is it hinged at the top? It kind of looks like the top edge slides into a channel, but I cant quite tell. Same goes for the "deck lid", which BTW is a great idea! This has been one of my favorite cars to watch, so many little details and tricks. Everyone involved should be very proud of this car. Good luck with everything.
Sean
Sean
Glad to see you coming back, and your previous cage work obviously did it's job. This weekend, something happened that had not in just under 30 years of racing to me...I crossed (completely) the center line during a race. Having driven and raced 7 thr. 11 race cars of mine and others over the years, I have been lucky.
I got out of the groove and hooked a left about 330' out (luckily in right lane), racing a much slower car in a bracket race. So, I did not have to do anything but lift and let it go over there.
It's times like this that I am glad I have a good cage, a fire system, a HANS device, etc. All that won't help in all wrecks, but, we are way too quick to spend 'x' to save a hundreth or a tenth of a second while overlooking safety.
Once again, car looks very nice, and I am sure I speak for many, we can't wait to see it run again.
Take care. Dave
I got out of the groove and hooked a left about 330' out (luckily in right lane), racing a much slower car in a bracket race. So, I did not have to do anything but lift and let it go over there.
It's times like this that I am glad I have a good cage, a fire system, a HANS device, etc. All that won't help in all wrecks, but, we are way too quick to spend 'x' to save a hundreth or a tenth of a second while overlooking safety.
Once again, car looks very nice, and I am sure I speak for many, we can't wait to see it run again.
Take care. Dave
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Verdad Gallardo Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,136
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From: Commerce Twp.
Thanks guys! The rear window slides into a channel so I do not need fasteners all the way around. Same for the deck lid. Bonded the deck lid the the quarters but I did not cut the line back in yet. When it gets painted I can work on the details but the window and deck lid came out great! I would never want to do another lift off hatch after doing it this way.
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,136
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From: Commerce Twp.
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,136
Likes: 0
From: Commerce Twp.
Well, we made it out yesterday and there was a little bit of good, bad and ugly. For he good part, 4.52 at 164 on the first hit to the 1/8. Left on 10lbs and peaked at 28lbs. Honestly it was an effortless run, the car was awesome. Joe did a great job getting the tune up there and skinny kid had the car working on demand. The bad, when we try to leave on more boost the gates seem to bleed of the boost. It spikes at 14 as soon as I hit the brake and drops right back down to 10. Need to play with the AMS and check the valves for corrosion. Now here is the ugly! I made 1 hit to 1000ft and when I hit the chutes one of them grabbed a wheelie bar wheel and the other bloomed and spun me out of control. I hit the driver front pretty hard. In 20 years of racing I have had 3 accidents, one when I had a blow out on a front wheel in 2007 and now 2 within 4mos and both times on brand new builds. Somebody has put a curse on me because I have not been able to sleep or stop beating my head against the wall wondering what the hell am I doing wrong. I am beyond frustrated mentally and financially but I am still not ready to throw in the towel. The potential is there! 4.30 or better is possible, 6.60's or better is possible. We will start to tear it down again next week and asses the full damage.
Thanks!
Tom
Thanks!
Tom
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,136
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From: Commerce Twp.
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,136
Likes: 0
From: Commerce Twp.
Thanks all for the kind words of encouragement! Monday we will take the car back to skinny kid to make a game plan. I know the entire front suspension and front clip needs to be replaced. Looks like one door and maybe another rear quarter but hopefully that can be repaired.