And Rye too, more courage for the Magic Rabbit team! Notice how my courage is already shouting its way out of my mouth.
Here are the fine gentlemen from Santa Barbara and BROverload Racing and their racing VW Jetta with snowboards for wings!
With courage in our bellies we wandered off to sleep in the RV. Then at 2am I awake to the sound of rain on the roof. It wasn't supposed to rain tonight! Big drops, they continue, so I decide to get up, slip on some pants and shoes and go out to cover things up. Moved the tent to cover the car and all the tools that were out in the rain. Move all the chairs under the awning and other stuff. Looks OK, back to bed to listen to the rain. Oh NO, I will be the first driver in the morning in the rain. How about windshield wipers, I brought the motor and wipers but they must be installed. Lets wait until morning.
Morning dawns, still very wet, a few sprinkles, so we decide to install the wipers. Figure out the wiring, use the same switch as our red Christmas lights, good to go. Have time now to fill our fuel tanks. 8:30am drivers meeting, a charity electric car race and green flag to fall at 10am.
OK, time to form up, I am suited up ready to get in line. I start the engine and it sounds way too loud, something wrong, Murphy is still around. Very loud under the car so we know it's the exhaust system. Jack the car up and we find that the two bolts linking the exhaust header to the exhaust pipe have fallen off during practice on Friday. So I stay in the car and Paul digs up some replacement bolts and slides under the car to install them. All the time other cars are lining up for the start. Here are a few of the other competitors:
Love the 1975 Lincoln Towncar all dressed up as the horse and cowboy! The team was Phony Express-Clydesdale Edition.
BMW disguised as the 60's Plymouth Superbird from NASCAR and Richard Petty fame.
The Mazdarita, blend you a Margarita at 90mph!
And the girls favorite My Little Pony Mustang, complete with tiara and flowing train.
Here we are, exhaust all fixed, out on the track, trying to figure out just how slippery the wet course will be. Three or four pace laps as it takes that long to get everyone out on the track, close to 170 cars started on Saturday.
The 57 Variety Be-Heinz Nissan.
And the 27 foot long, Rolling Chicane Limo Service entry complete with prom queen legs and dress protruding from the sunroof and the rest of the prom dress trailing out behind. They drove the course with the cruise control set at 31 mph. Always a challenge to get around this barge.
The Air Prance Chitreon, it was driven to and from the race course.
And a Mini-Moke dressed up to look like a remote controlled lunar vehicle. Won the award for heroic fix as they had to repair fractured frame rails twice!
The Magic Rabbit coming up through the pack, got the Cheetos car in my sights. Huge traffic at the beginning until some of the cars started to break down.
Here is a typical traffic jam at each corner during that first stint on Saturday. Luckily I kept my nose clean and didn't bump anyone or get bumped.
OK, then there was the White Trash Racing Team, complete with their white trash girlfriends. Love those boots!
Lovely hair and trashy statement on her jacket.
But they love their boys, complete with their mullets! What a crazy place. You go from serious racing to laughing at the fun everyone is having.
We ran well all day Saturday, Murphy only peeked his head in twice. First time was my second stint early Saturday afternoon. I had been out about 10 laps when I started to hear a rumbling noise. Oh no, what could that be, CV joint, transmission, bearing... I slowed down for one lap, it was getting worse, so I came into the pits early. As I drove up to our area, everyone could see that my front left wheel was wobbling all over the place. All the lug bolts had worked their way loose and one out of the four had fallen out. So I was racing with just three loose bolts holding my wheel on, that could have been ugly!
We didn't have an extra lug bolt (remember to bring extras next race) so we borrowed one from the Las Vegas team, off of their team car! Everything tightened up. Since I came in early, Paul wasn't in his driver suit, Tedders was, so he jumped into take the next stint. Another lesson, all the drivers need to be suited up at all times.
Tedders stint was good, but he too had an issue as he came in to put and for fuel. A very loud hissing noise, again didn't sound good. What could it be, Murphy smiles as we lift up the hood. Luckily we quickly diagnose an air leak in the intake system, but where. Second thing I check turns out to be the problem, an idle set screw had backed it way all the way out and fallen off, so we are sucking lots of air there. But where to get such a specialized screw? Ask our rabbit warren mates, from Powered by Bacon, in 30 seconds they hand me a used throttle body with the needed idle screw. I quickly take it off the used part and install it in our car. Start it up, perfect, Murphy goes poof!
Paul in to drive, good stint and then Rye finishes the day as it get dark at Buttonwillow. Our red Christmas lights look great in the late afternoon. Checkered flag falls at 5pm and we are sitting in 52 place, we are happy. No major breakdowns and no black flags!
So the Magic Rabbit served us well, we had fun and were very happy with our position. We all relaxed around the RV and had a cocktail and then off to Mike and Candy Bolton's motel room for more cocktails, wonderful appetizers, and continuous race day tales to share. Dinner at the local Buttonwillow BBQ, delicious. We tried to impact the Las Vegas Slot Machine racing team by buying them extra drinks. At the end of Saturday they were right in front of us in the standings. So, get them drunk and then we can pass the hungover drivers on Sunday morning. Great strategy, but it seems the Las Vegas team was very happy with our generosity.
OK, tomorrow is the second half of the Arse-Freeze Appalosa, off to bed and a good nights sleep. Tedders put ear plugs in before bed, seems the noises from Rye and me were worse than inside the race car (hard to believe, I know).
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