A prewar era motor grader was out putting that shine on the track that says S L I C K and it stood true to its name. When you pull in and see cars like a Plymouths or a Studebakers out on the track hauling tail you are in for a treat. There were drivers there like Tiny Lund and Leroy Strickland, Rance Phillips, Harvey Jones, and David Ezell. So the racing will be exciting to say the least.
We got it ready and out I went to get a grip on this shiny stuff. Never have I run on a surface like this. I truly went with the wrong tires. I only had three extra with me and they were asphalt tires so on they went. After a trip into the pits a few times I got the tires to where they were usable with air pressure and weight transfer. Now it’s time to qualify, so I give it my best. After two laps I come in with a middle of the pack time which I thought wasn’t too shabby.
We are in the second heat in the fourth row outside and I felt good. About this time A certain driver of a car #55 comes over and asks who has been shooting at you boy. Yup he called me boy. If you know Tiny, then you know why he called me that. I sometimes wonder what he called Tom Pistone.
He walks around to the hood and asks, “What’s that hole in your hood for?” I look and am dumbfounded by what I saw. A hole in the left side of the hood about the size of a 45 caliber was clear as day. Dad and Bob walked over and Bob said I shot a pushrod. Off came the hood, and sure enough there on number 3 piston is a hole through the valve cover. Now we scramble in our stuff for a spare pushrod. You don’t go around hunting a roller pushrod where limits on motors are in force. Lucky we had two in the box so we replace the pushrod and checked for other problems. None were found. We go out and finish the heat where we started but this time I felt the car start skipping. Yup, another hole beside the other one.
Bob pulls off the rocker arm and unscrews the stud saying it must be bent. Sure as tooting it was bent so another stud was screwed in and clearances set. We are now we ready for the feature.
Bob says to not overwind it because others were talking about how it was winding up on the stretch. It was running too good in the feature and I was able to pass and not strain it too much. Tiny came sailing around and I let him go because he had Leroy hot on his rear. We were setting in fourth place when the ten lap to go signal came out. I was proud to be in that position against who were racing tonight. Then I heard it again. It started skipping and I went to tenth in a lap or two. I also had a tell-tale smoke starting to show in the mirror. Oil pressure was up to par so I know the bottom end was still good so try as I could, I could not advance any further.
I finished in tenth place and was proud of that. After we loaded we went to the pay shack to collect our meager earnings. We were met after the pay out by some guy who told Bob and Dad I know of you two. And now you’re bringing your boy up the same way. Don’t bring that motor back down here you hear!!
Well we go to the motel up on Normandy and get cleaned up. You cannot believe how black my clothes were and me? I scrubbed for an hour and still had the stain on me. Finally cleaned up, we venture out and have a great supper with a bunch of great racing guys. Next day we looked over the car and it was black on the outside, but it used to be white on the inside. Not anymore. That glue from Speedway Park has to be the stickiest stuff for a track I ever seen. Heck, Waycross had an oil type conditioner on it and I never came out of there as dirty as we were from Jacksonville.
We got back home and pulled the head off and there was the problem. The follower was letting the roller turn putting stress on the pushrod and firing it off when you got wound up around 8000 rpm. When you’re running a 60 over 283 you have to squeeze it a little harder to keep up with some of the other motors out there. Over in the corner in the shop is that Chevelle that I brought home last year and it's getting close to being ready to do battle. This week we’re putting the 348 in the lil truck so maybe we can keep up with traffic too. Hope you enjoyed a trip out of state…racing back in the day.--------------------------
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