OK, you want a story ..... true story!
at a DrHoe event in Paradise PA in their "super unlimited" class my first qualifying pass was third fastest and
the car blew up in a fireball the whole way down the track.
this was the second event running that car so it had about 4-6 passes on it.
I like a brand of Comm Drops called VooDoo which I found during my 1/24 drag racing days.
I didn't know that it should be cleaned off after every event or if the car is going to sit for awhile. you see .... the chemical compound is caustic to the glue that holds the plates of the commutator in place, .....
so, with the glue being partially dissolved the plates flew off the comm on that qualifying pass.
this tore up the end bell ( BSRT G chassis), destroyed the armature and damaged the magnets ....
third fastest qualifying pass for this event .... I had arrived late and everyone else had already taken their two qualifying passes.
Steve Geary from Nebraska and Slugger from Virginia were there along with the host of the event at Solanco Dragway Tim Kirk (Subaru Guru) and his right hand man/partner Eric Hirt.
these guys are all fast. Slugger developed that car from scratch and had bought the only really good Neo magnets in bulk from Asia. he had them custom made for the BSRT G3 chassis.
anyway, after destroying the car on that pass, I went to my pit, tore it apart, replaced all the destroyed parts, did all the tune up procedures (including a couple of my own), tested the car on a power supply to insure it would go forward and took my second qualifying pass.
it took me about 15 minutes to rebuild the car.
think about pressing a new brass gear on the new armature shaft, having it properly lined up with the crown gear, prepping the end bell and reassembling all those parts.
my second qualifying pass was 0.182 ...... let that sink in. 0.182 in 15 feet 7 inches.
that pass set a new record for that class in the DrHoe world. I backed it up within 2% during eliminations so it stood as a new record for that sanctioning organization.
Steve Geary immediately announced that his car would be available for sale after the event because he knew he had to build something better.
he sold it for a fraction of the price that the parts were worth.
no, I didn't buy it.
Slugger was impressed enough to invite me to his annual shindig in February which was invite only.
Steve Geary won the event because I couldn't figure out the delay boxes they used and was late on the light in the final.
but my ET was still lower than his.
the next event at Solanco Drag Way, I gave that car to a 9 year old child, the youngest of a family of five that came there race every event from way down in Maryland.
you never seen a kid smile so big and so long.
my record didn't last long according to the DrHoe site,
I don't think it was even posted on there that I had accomplished that.
but when the results of that pass showed on the monitor for everyone to see there was dead silence except for ME!
when I popped of that number, I was satisfied enough.
winning would have been great, but I out built the best and that was just fine with me.
so, OK, I have recounted this story exactly as it happened and I am proud of my accomplishment those many years ago.
but, these guys on Nitro ain't slouches and I am patiently working to get back to that glory.
I see a couple ( probably more) who are really getting their programs together, Dave for one has really advanced his skills.
Finistauri has something to show us, Skillet has been brain storming, GTS is getting really good, Hairy Canary should have something class worthy and of course Eagle and JJWallace are intense competitors.
we shall see who can really "get er dun" !
