Say WHAT? Yeah! I want to hang my head and cry: "Oh, wo is me." because it is
speedweek and all my friends are out there racing, and I'm stuck here at home.
But wait. It was almost exactly fifty years ago that I bought my first car
magazine and read an account of the racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats. From
that day on I dreamed of someday racing at Bonneville, accepting that it was an
impossible dream and would never happen.
Last year, after fifty years of dreaming about it, I finally did it. Granted,
I'm not there this year, I'm stuck at home having to content myself with
working on a new race car to have ready for next year. So that's so bad?
Hmmm.
How many guys must be out there reading magazines, dreaming about what it would
be like to have thier own race car to work on. I really am lucky to be stuck
at home. Sure things could be better, but they sure could be a lot worse.
So I spent eight days designing and building the most fantastic drivers seat
bracket you could ever imagine. A real work of art. A solid part of the cage
with harness attachment points, driver protection and such that you wouldn't
believe! Only problem is, it grew about two inches somewhere between design
and fabrication. Once I got it all done, I couldn't sit in it with my helmet
on.
I tried and tried to fabricate "work-around" fixes, but nothing would work.
I'd just had to undo seven bends, fourteen tubing notches, and about thirty
spot welds and start back at the drawing board (my head) again. So I spent
this evening grinding all those welds back off, and pulling everything back
out. But hey, while I was doing that, I came up with a couple of changes that
will make it even better when I finally get it redone.
But the fact remains, I'm lucky enough to be working on my very own Bonneville
race car while thousands of guys read about them and dream!
So you other list guys who are not on the salt, I know you have already been
there, are fixing to go there, or are working on your very own race cars too.
So remember, it could be worse.
Dick J
In East Texas .
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