I have run into a glitch I suppose on posting on the Home Page. So I figured until I get around the problem or it fixes its self I will continue on here if its alright with everyone.If you dont like it I will remove it --Thanks guys and gals ! !
SOUTHERN NITES
Well its been a couple of weeks with rain and thats not good on tracks. I got wind of a race thats got a pretty decent sized purse and we decided to go down to give them a whirl.
Now dont tell no one but we kinda got over the 100 mile radius this weekend. You see we went to Jacksonville Fla to the track thats actually in town. In fact you have to drive down a residential street to get there.
It was located on the corner of Lenox Ave and Plymouth Street,thats right off Normandy Ave .
But what a track it was. They must have soaked that track all day before a race with oil because it was blacker than coal. After the race it was hard to tell who wore white to the track.
Anyway we left early Saturday morning and zinged on down in the trusty lil pickup. We pulled in about 4 pm and unloaded hoping to have time to look around and check out the competition. These Fla cars kinda look different from what is around home but the guys are nice to you,at least to your face.
A motor grader of prewar era 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 Plymouth or a Studebaker out on the track hauling tail you are in for a treat. But then too there were drivers like Tiny Lund and Leroy Strickland or maybe Rance Phillips and David Ezell not to mention Harvey Jones and others there 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 ran on a surface like this. I truly went with the wrong tires . I only had three extra with me and they were aspalt 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 its 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 wasnt to 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 whats 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 dont 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 check 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 so 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 to good in the feature and I was able to pass and not strain it to much. Tiny came sailing around and I let him go because he had Leroy hot on his rear. We 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 tonite .
Then I heard it again,it started skipping and I went to tenth in a lap or two,also I 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 no 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 years ago and now you bringing your boy up the same way. Dont bring that motor back down here you hear!!
Well we go to the motel up on Normandy and get cleaned up, You can not 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 true it was black on the outside it used to be white on the inside but not any more,that glue from Speedway Park has got to be the stickiest stuff for a track I ever seen. Heck Waycross had a 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 probably over 8000 rpm. When you running a 60 over 283 you have to squeeze it a littlr 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 its getting close to being ready to do battle.
Also this week we putting the 348 in the lil truck so maybe we can keep up with traffic too. Hope you enjoyed a trip out of state in racing back in the day.--------------------------
updated by @johnny-mallonee: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
