Headed over early Saturday morning towing the racer behind "Tigger".. I had hoped to leave Friday night and stop to look at a Travelette in Deer Lodge, but it wasn't meant to be.
Pulled into the race site in Lolo and was told I needed to get "teched" and registered ASAP.. since I already had half of my "Mickey Thompson Baja Belted HPs" on, I put the other 2 on and raced to the tech area.
My racer weighs 3,862lbs with me in it, and a full tank of gas. What was very interesting is that I have 42% of my weight on the rear axle - a MUCH better weight distribution than I expected.
19gal tank (full), and tailgate in the back. 304 and a gutted front clip up front, with the driver, 727, and battery mounted "mid-section" along with the 'cage.
Then it was "hurry up and wait".. I kept thinking "I should put on the racing tires.." but then I'd think "No, they're about to start"..
2 hours later.. I was in Sportsman "E" class (aka terrible c.i.d. to weight ratio and worse) and quickly realizing I had WAY more motor (thanks, John Comer!) than the Mickeys could handle.
I was wheel-hopping and tire-spinning well past the 50yard mark in the 100 yard drags!
The new 500cfm 2bbl Holley worked much better than the 350cfm from the weekend before. It has a flat spot from idle to WOT, but it didn't seem to cause any problems on the strip. Mostly it was the tires just spinning.
Still, my efforts were rewarded with a 3rd place finish in "E", and nothing in D or C classes. I was running around 8 seconds in the 100 yards.. and I'm pretty confident it was a "tire" issue - I had the power, I just couldn't get it to the ground.
On Sunday we ran the obstacle course, and this time I put on the "Super Thing" "racing" tires.. I didn't check the air pressure, and I had a suspicion I had a leak in one, but since I had finally burst an air line on my on-board York (only 3 years of heat abuse) last weekend, I thought I didn't want to know the tire was low. Besides, I was going to be nice to it..
I took off screamin' down the obstacle track in low-range, and quickly 3rd gear, doing some zig-zags and corners.. then flying off some "whoop-dee-doos".. my GF Michelle later remarked that she thought I was crazy as fast as I was going over those bumps. It felt OK to me in the driver's seat.
(Did I mention I didn't get to pre-run the course?)
Any time I saw a flat stretch, I nailed the loud pedal, and it sounded GOOD through the headers and straight pipes.
Then some other friends were watching me race, and talking to each other, one asked, "Why is it everyone 'lifts' going up that hill?".. just at that moment, there I went.. wide-open-throttle.. and I realized my mistake, but too late.. I "lifted" right about the point Little Devil went airborne.
Now, I got some air under it last weekend in Billings, MT, which the Comers got to watch.. that wasn't so bad.
But.. y'know.. I swear I should've landed by now.. hmm.. still no landing.. I think this is gonna hurt... oh poop.
I don't really remember the landing all that well. I remember coming down hard on the front and then bouncing once or twice.. I think the track had a mound on it, which is what launched me, but then the far side dropped down below the level of the track in front of the jump.. and maybe it had a smaller jump or two in the middle (almost what you'd call doubles or triples).. all I know is it came down hard, and I bounced a couple times.
I was on the WHOAH pedal, but it didn't seem to do a lot of good.. ultimately I came to a very ungraceful stop just off the course, into some brush. The landing was hard enough that the 304 was no longer purring. I glanced around for a moment and didn't smell anything funny, or see smoke.. so I rocked the shifter into Neutral and "put fire to it" again.. and it roared to open-header life.
Glanced down at the gauges again.. Hmmm.. everything *looks* OK.. well, heck.. we're still racing!
Pushed it into R and stabbed the go-pedal and backed out of the weeds.. hmm.. something's not quite right.. I broke something.. but I don't know what it is.
Yanked it into 2nd gear and flat-footed it as I tried to correct myself back onto the course. Steering is pretty sloppy.
My immediate thought was I'd blown the front driveshaft - it touches the transmission shield at full compression, and I've been trying to get stuff inside there to clearance it some.. and I was pretty sure I'd hit the bumpstops on that landing. ;-)
I continued on around the course, plowing pretty hard around the corners. At one point, a track official was pointing me in the right direction, and then went running from me. I don't know why.
I hit a mud hole with an uphill on the other side, and the water got the best of the 304. I restarted it, but couldn't continue from the halfway-up mark. Once again, "I blew the front end or the driveshaft.. why isn't the 'shaft banging around?"
Cheering onlookers yelled "Back up!" so on my second "back up n' hit 'er harder" attempt I was through and on my way towards the finish line again, most of the course behind me.. when I crested a hill, lifted on the throttle, and dove straight into the BIG mud hole.
I watched in horror as the wave crashed over the motor, engulfing the K&N filter, and extinguishing the "fire".
I tried to restart it, but it just wasn't cooperating.. ultimately, the battery started to give out.
Onlookers were yelling to "get the extinguisher and run". If you grab the fire extinguisher, it's legal to "run" to the finish line. I mistook the extinguisher comments two different ways - one was that they were saying to stop trying to re-start the motor (By gosh, I'm going to DRIVE across that finish line..) and then after I bailed and started running, I thought they were indicating I had a fire.. but I wasn't about to jog BACK to the truck (hey, it was HOT).
It wasn't until I jumped out of the front windshield area and down to the ground that I caught a glimpse of the white 15x8 wagon-wheel sitting where I used to have a wagon-wheel and tire. I then knew what I'd done.
I just came down way too hard on a "flat" tire and blew it out.
They drug Little Devil off to the side of the course.. I walked back around and it fired right up, and I drove out of the course on 3 tires and one wheel. I then slowly walked back to "Tigger" to grab another tire (one of those not-so-aggressive Mickeys) and my jack.
Changed both front tires out (so they'd match) and strapped my GF Michelle into the driver's seat. I also noticed that my brand new tie-rod now has an "S" bend in it.. not too severe, but it's there. I'll be seeing how "Lifetime Warrantee" my lifetime warrantee is very shortly.
My front axle truss was also missing. Go figure.
We then found out I couldn't be a rider since I'd driven the course (I think they think I'd help her do better - mostly I wanted my truck to survive).
Another friend's GF jumped at the chance to ride shotgun.. so the two of 'em went together.
Michelle drove very "nice".. she did find 3rd gear out of the starting line and put a little zip to it.. but she drove the whoop-dee-doos and kept all 4 on terra-firma. She also drove over the big jump I'd unknowingly banzaied, too.
The announcer made some comment about "And she still has all 4 tires on it" a few times..
When she got to the big mud hole, she did very well - just as I'd instructed. She stood on the brakes, eased the nose into the deep water, and then flat-footed the gas pedal and came roaring out the other side - without sputtering. Now, if she'd only put it back in 3rd..
She drove up to the finish line and as she backed in (they made us turn around) at the end, the full-width front axle's driver's tire bit a stake, and cost her 5 seconds.
Actual time was 3:55s. Very respectable. 2:18 was the fastest time of the day in a 4-coil Early Bronco (Mike Jongeling)
We then changed tires again (towing tires now) and loaded up the broken rim and slashed tire, and headed for home.
Naturally, no one I know of has video of my acrobatics. :-(
Still.. it was fun!
-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
Other Races
1977 Scout II "Little Devil" - 304c, 727, 4.89s, full-width SOA
M4x4A #576
Gryphin Racing, Super Scout Specialists, The Binder Bulletin
Copyright 2000, Tom Mandera, TMComputers