Web Site Tune Up – New Look & Feel

NSS Racing dot Com is the best site on the “Net” for Nostalgia Super Stock Racers. At the top of the page you will find an archive of news items categorized, and below that various NSS organization’s rules,
ink to the forum, and a contact page. In the right side-bar, you will see Important links associated with the NSS Racing site — and below that other items like photos, videos, and web links very useful to NSS Racers (and fans).

The new forum, is located at the Nostalgia Drag Racer’s Forums. That is a collection of forums dealing ONLY with Nostalgia Drag Racing, and is now the preferred site to post. Finally, there is the new Nostalgia Drag Racer’s News site. All of these sites are evolving — so please bookmark them and visit often to stay up to date. Click around and investigate the features and benefits available to NSS Racers.

The Old Hippie

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His first pass was a personal best for the 4-speed car — at 10.07.

The next pass had him get into his coolant and hit the right wall at over 120. It buckled the right front wheel (bending the K-Frame) and came back and pancaked against the wall again. The below photos really don’t show how bad the damage is. He hit so hard — that he ripped part of the seat anchors up and hurt his shoulders.

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One rumor is that Maple Grove is out. Nice track — but terrible draw and the PA State Police have been targeting trailers 28′ and longer, or with lettering — and giving tickets for no CDL.

Bradenton Sux — and all of the racers hate  the track, the drive, and the sand in their carbs. Recent rumor was that Commerce, GA was going to replace it.

Then Zmax happened. Talk around the pits is that even combining NMCA and NMRA — the economics doesn’t work for Zmax. The event had the track and track personnel 100 times better this year than last year — but it still was a ghost town. Not enough racers for the far East tracks. So the rumor is that Commerce is going to take the place of Zmax. That might mean that replacing Bradenton gets put on the back burner (how about HRP or Gainesville for the first race!).

Gateway appears to be dead meat. Smart money is saying that they’ll announce their closure after the NMCA race at the end of September.

Word is that the bad luck on rain in Bowling Green in March/April might get that race moved to later in the year.

So by my count you have three races (Maple Grove, Zmax, and Gateway) going away, with Bradenton having racers wish it would go away — and only Commerce being talked about coming on board. I think NMCA has learned its lesson on East Coast races not drawing racers — so we’re safe from having that shit hole ATCO rearing its ugly head.

NMRA tested Houston last November, and they and NMCA are testing it this November. It isn’t a really fair test since they do it when most northern racers have their cars in moth balls and it is a non-points event — but maybe they’ll take that into consideration. You need a Southern track to start the year and end the year — and Houston Raceway Park is an excellent track — especially in March or October.

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Rumors abound on the drag strip — but the position was that it cost $300,000 to host the NASCAR event — and was a money loser. Since they dumped that expense — they’d be OK.

Since Dover closed Memphis (rumored to be waiting for the bulldozers) the day after the 2009 NMCA event — not many people were buying the position of drag strip not being in danger of closing.

Recently NHRA released their 2011 schedule. You can look up and down the schedule and not find Gateway listed. That’s is Gateway’s “Bread & Butter”. An oversight — or does the NHRA know something?

Being the betting man that I am — I’ll take bets that Dover will announce Gateway’s closure shortly after the NMCA event next month.

So where does this leave the Monster Mopar Weekend, and the Dave Duell Classic, my two favorite things?

I guess four things can happen:

1. I’m wrong on Gateway closing and there are another 100 Monsters to come
2. Gateway closes and Scott moves it
3. Gateway closes and Scott says he had a great run and retires it
4. Gateway closes and Scott sells the event to another promoter (my wild guess)

I asked Doug Duell about the future of that Dave Duell Classic — and he assured me that it will continue regardless of how everything else plays out.

developing….

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The track opened at about 10AM on Friday. Time trials started at 3PM — and NSS cars were allowed up to three TT passes before 6PM.

26 NSS cars attended — but one had a wreck. Jack Nelson had “Cracklin Jack” make its fastest ever (since he built the car ten years ago) pass at 10.07 for the first Time Trial. However in the second Time Trial the car got into its own coolant (the cap was found mid track) at the top of the track and turned into the wall tearing up the front right corner including the right side of the steering. Jack tried to take it off the wall but the steering brought it back into the wall — pancaking the entire right side. He rode the wall until the car came to the stop. He hit with such force that the seat was cocked to the center and his shoulder were very sore when the car finally stopped. Sadly Jack was looking to sell the car, truck, trailer, and golf cart (to me) — but wanted to make one last Hurrah in it. The car is pretty well damaged (I’ll post photos on he forum later) and the package might be the right deal for someone. Contact Jack if you’re interested.

The first Qualifying pass for NSS started at about 7:15PM.

Saturday was blue skies and between 75-85. Actually that was the weather for the whole weekend — with it dipping to the 50s at night.

The second qualifying occurred at about 10:30am. Final qualifying was to have been at 3:30, but attendance was light — so the NMCA announced that there would be a bonus 4th Qualifying added at 2:30 — so we all got 4. First time I’ve seen it happen since I started running NMCA in 2007.

Well almost all of us got four qualifying passes. Scotty Jiles did another of his monster wheel stands and pancaked the  oil pan, pickup and round bearings. He was running to Mancinni to get parts for the 3rd and 4th Qualifying.

The below is the 3rd round qualifying — we never saw the 4th.

The tree (below) was established and the first round began at 9AM sharp on Sunday.

Fast Forward — Brian Merrick won the event and it looks like Doug Duell is so far in 1st that he’s got a lock on the 2010 Championship before the St. Louis race is even run.

Speaking of St. Louis, don’t forget to check out the story of the Future of Gateway.

Again — there is more detail and opinions on the forum. Don’t forget to add yours.

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I recently read an article where states in financial trouble are writing double the tickets in the first half of 2010 than they had in 2009, as a way to generate revenue. The biggest tickets obviously go to bigger vehicle — and so you have noted a many Sate Police in pickup trucks — carrying portable scales.

Last year at the NMCA race at Maple Grove in Reading, PA — quite a few racers with pickups pulling trailers larger than 28' feet (overall — not just the box) were ticketed for not having a Commercial License. North Carolina were turning back rigs greater than 65' — but recently amended their statute to allow going to and from races. Florida requires a permit, as does New Mexico. There have been complaints from New Jersey ticketing small race car trailers for weight violations and Kentucky for by passing weigh stations.

I've seen stings set up at race events and even rodeos and cattle shows — ticketing pickups and small trailers not having CDLs, with the premise being that if they can earn a prize — they're commercial.

The latest big sting appears to be the Michigan State Police and Indiana State Police targeting motorhomes pulling trailers to the tracks. Click here to see an 8+ page discussion on the topic. Troy Coughlin's Motorhome with a trailer was stopped in Michigan yesterday on the way to a IHRA race, the driver given three tickets for not having a CDL, over length, and another — and the trailer is currently sitting in an impound yard.

Racer's need to heavily lean on promoters and tracks to in turn lean on the police to stop targeting recreational drag racers. Bruton Smith did this in North Carolina when racers going to Zmax were targeted — and was able to have the regulations amended to allow for travel to and from a racing event. If something isn't done soon — promoters and tracks will see a dramatic reduction in car counts.

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15 NSS Cars showed up to the NMCA event at Zmax last week:

• Doug Duel

• DW Hopkins

• Barry Camp

• Dallas Schultz

• Jeff Meece

• Doug Poskavitch

• Skip Koester

• Kurt Neighbor

• Dave Schultz

• Steve Wilson

• Brian Merrick

• Morris

• Wright

• Gerry Bates

• Duugil

It was hot, the track was prepared amazingly well (as compared to last year), and the track personnel must have also got the word — as they were actually a little more easy to deal with this year. We had rain Thursday and Friday night, which didn't affect racing as it was later — and a brief shower on Saturday that delay things for about 90 minutes.

Thursay was set up pits and tech in. Friday we had the opportunity for three time trials — and then first round of qualifying in the early evening. Saturday morning had the 2nd and 3rd round of Qualifying. Dallas was Number 1 with 10.002, Meese was 2nd and Doug Duel 3rd.

Elimiations started at 3PM:

• Duell over Hopkins

• Skip over Me

• Poskevitch over Duugil

• Neighbor over Morris

• Wilson over Merrick

• Meese over Wright

• Camp had a Broke (Bates) Bye

• Dallas a Competition Bye

Next Round had:

• Wilson over Skip

• Duell over Camp

• Dallas over Neighbor

• Meese over Poskevitch

Semis had:

• Wilson over Dallas

• Duell gets a Broke (Meese) Bye

Finals had Doug Duell win and Wilson Runner Up.

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The web server for this web site will be down for about an hour this coming Saturday morning (July 31, 2010) for preventative maintenance.

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This is what he found:

$606 later I have two new slicks and tubes and all appears to be well for Round Two this morning. Elsewhere in this forum is a link to the Joliet report – that I keep updated. I guess two back to back burnouts was all those old tubes could take.

I’m Ok Scott — lol

Bad Feeling At

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By: Dave Schultz ~ June 8, 2010

The Schultz family left on Wednesday, June 2nd at 9:30 AM and arrived at the track at 7PM Thursday. We spent the night in the staging area outside the track. We bought the Vitamin C (63 Savoy) in a single trailer — as the black 65 Coronet that Dallas was going to campaign still won't run — and we'd run out of time.

The gates opened at about 10AM, and we quickly got set up, established driver credentials, and tech'd the car in. At 3PM they opened the track to Time Trials. On my first and only TT pass — the car did  a 11.170 with the same 160 pounds that was bolted in from Bowling Green. The car was running the number at Bowling Green — but the air was horrible (about 4500') at Maple Grove. Both Doug Duell and Barry Camp moved up to C/FX as their cars couldn't do a B/FX number. Many of the cars bumped to one slower number. Worse yet for me was that the car was leaking water badly as I returned to the pits.

The water was coming from the left side of the block — which put a lump in my throat. Closer inspection found it was coming from the left center steel freeze plug of the 413's block. We drained the coolant and filled the plug with blue Permatex –as that's all we could find. We were hosed for any more TT and the first round of qualifying was to start at 7PM. We did unbolt 80 pounds from the left side (I'm a "Full-Figured" guy so we were heavy on the left side as it was).

When they called NMC (NSS Generally follows next) to the lanes, we filled the radiator with water — and it leaked just as bad. I made the quick decision that I needed to be counted as being there (after 3200 miles travel to/from the race) and that I should be counted Friday night — as there was a 40% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday. I drained the water, started the car cold and coasted to the top of the lanes. I waited towards the end of NSS to let the car be as cold as possible and then coasted downhill to the burnout box and started the car up there. I did a quick and light burnout, made an easy 11.09 pass, and it shut down at the top. Dallas towed me back to the pits in Barry Camp's (who is dogging me for $100 to use it) ATC. The car is an iron head car and I felt sure I didn't hurt anything as the car was stone cold when I did the burnout, and the temp gauge (albeit there was no water to measure) didn't exceed 200 degrees. The .09 had me 9 of 17 cars.

Kurt Neighbor had some emery paper, and "Mr. 4-Speed" Marty had some JB Weld. Dallas sanded the inside of the freeze plug and found a pinhole right at the edge of the sides and bottom, and pushed in some JB into it, then a thick smear in that area of the plug — before putting the car away for the night. Andy Warren and his father tried to find a rubber adjustable plug on the way to the motel — but all auto parts stores were closed.

In the morning we pushed the car out of the trailer and filled with water while crossing fingers. No Leak. Dallas took the car for its morning warm up and got the water to 170 before returning — no leaks. I borrowed a 6 pound cap from Fred Rager. Two hours later (all of which I spent in a lawn chair staring at the ground under the engine) we were called to the line for Q2 — still no leaks. I did a 11.05 — which had me in 8th of 17. No leaks when I returned to the pits from Q2. The 3rd Qualifying occurred at about 7PM Saturday — and I managed a 11.02, putting me 8th of 17.

On the above Qualifying, Kurt and Barry swapped — with Barry being the actual top qualifier on the sheet revised in the AM. Barry had his .003 first, but the computer initially put Kurt in the Top position for a faster MPH. MPH doesn't count in NSS — the first with the same low number does. In the First Round of Eliminations.

• I was paired with Scott Griffith for the first round, and he couldn't make the call — so I got the BYE. Still no leak!

• Doug Duell won over "Mr. 4-Speed" Marty

• Rager over the "Princess of Speed"

• Bates over DiMino Sr.

• Scotty Jiles over DiMino Jr.

• Kurt over his bud Skippy

• Poskovitch over Louis Popp (don't know him) in a red black Coronet

• Gary Beemer over Hoblick

• Barry Camp with the bye

In the second round:

• Schultz over Jiles

• Poskovitch over Duell

• Bates over Camp

• Rager over Beemer

• Neighbors had the Bye

In the third round, the winner of Bates and I would get a Bye to the final. I choked! For the entire event I had very good RTs (.070 the worse) — but I red lit (first time in this car, and first time in almost a year) after staging too deep. I had been staging deep because this car reacts slower than my 4-speed car — and I want to leave at the same time on the lights as I normally do. The "All Ford" Semis had Neighbor over Posovitch and Bates with the Bye.

Neighbors' Mercury took the win over Bate's 67 Failaine.

This race had a very light turnout for all classes. Despite 422 again scheduling an event the same time NMCA is in the area (many say this isn't an accident – but I'm so far away from the NE that it doesn't affect me) NSS and OC were the only two classes to come up with more than ten cars. Speculation in the pits reasoned that the track is too long of a haul for most; the forecasted weather (although we were only down for a couple of hours — a recent NMCA record) had many stay home; the combination of Bradenton going to Monday, Bowling Green cancelled (along with the forecast) have many throwing in the towel for 2010; or that the first four races mean nothing for the points chase — or a combination or two/more.

For NSS, Chicago is scheduled the same time as the Chrysler Classics — so you can expect even fewer Mopars. Then one of Schneider's races (Cordova?) is scheduled the same time as Milan — and last year that siphoned off quite a few Mopars. NSS is getting to be a Ford thing with NMCA lately. We (Mopar guys) were outnumbered again this race.

This race report is obviously through my eyes. I am more than willing to post any of the reports of others on a Nostalgia Drag Racing class. The best thing to do it to document the chain of events to the race on the appropriate forum by creating a new thread like I did in the NSS Forum: http://nostalgiadragracers.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nss&action=display&thread=188 that anyone can post to — and then post a summary after event has ended. I'll then cut and paste it to the Nostalgia Drag Racers site.

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I’m trying to make that site the one place for all NSS (and other Nostalgia Racers) to go to find a chronological list of events they might want to attend.

If you know of a Nostalgia Drag Racing Event not listed — you can request that I add it at:

http://www.nostalgiadragracers.com/add-nostalgia-race-event/

Thanx

The Old Hippie

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NMCA’s call to pull the plug — the right call

NMCA’s race in Bowling Green, Kentucky was suppose to have been kicked off with TT and 1st Round of Qualifying on Friday April 30th, Finish up Qualifying Saturday, and Eliminations on Sunday. In recent years, the event has had rain being a big player in running the event — with last year’s race cancelled and not rescheduled, and the year before seeing racers have no Time Trials and I believe we had just two Qualifying passes.

The event for my team started weeks prior. We’ve been having problems sorting out the black 65 Coronet that Dallas will be running in NSS, and I was unfamiliar with the "Vitamin C" car, having made only 7 passes — all in Bradenton. We couldn’t get track time (since returning from Bradenton) to work out these problems. We took the untested black Coronet to Dallas two weeks ago hoping we had it fixed. We didn’t. More late night’s thrashing on it and then a chassis dyno Thursday night. We only made two passes on Dyno before blowing a tube in a slick — but felt like we had the problem worked out.

Replacement parts over-nighted, and we finally had the cars ready, loaded, and the coach prepared late Tuesday night. There was a lot of chatter on the boards about people not planning to attend because of the 40% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday — but we are running the whole series and aren’t afforded the ability to be "Fair Weather Racers" We left Texas on Wednesday morning, as we need to get to the track on Thursday — as it gets harder to find a spot (and negotiate around a crowded) for an 84′ rig on Friday. We pulled into a West Nashville WalMart parking lot at 1AM Thursday and got a full night’s sleep. At 10 AM we were just crossing the border to Kentucky when Scott Sparrow called to ask if we’d left Texas yet. "Left Texas — Hell, were 50 miles from the Track"!

Scott said that the chance of rain had increased to 80% with flooding — and that Charlie might have to pull the plug, so he was posting for people to not leave for the race until a decision was made at 4PM. The message was too late for us — as we were almost to the track — so we continued on. There was a long line waiting to get in when we arrived at the track — and everyone had gotten the word with everything being on hold. The gates opened at noon to get us off the road, and NMCA staged us — without taking our fee, which wasn’t encouraging. While waiting, I was walking by the Power Mall at about 2:30 when I overheard Charlie Harmon give the word to not set up the store any further. At 4PM we got word that the plug for the event was pulled.

Rumor was that the Rousch team wanted to rent the track for a T&T on Friday — and so a group of NSS racers decided we’d like to do the same. Heck — we wanted to have the 6-7 of us there to race for the event’s points as long as we were already there. Arrangements were made to rent the track Friday for $150 per car — with a $1500 minimum. They wound up having 20 of us take advantage of the opportunity, and I was the first car down the track at about 9AM Friday morning. My Vitamin C car is sorted out (11.04, 10.99, 10.97, and 11.03) with me figuring out what RPM it likes to launch and shift at — but we still have problems with the black Coronet Dallas is running. We now believe it to be electric — and will try to work it out before Maple Grove. At about 5:30PM, with the storm quickly approaching from the west (obviously the direction we’re going), we were one of the last to leave the track. We wanted to get as far away and South as we could from Bowling Green. At about 1AM the driving was near impossible, and we had a bracket holding the coach’s mud flaps break and start to drag in the road — so we pulled into a WalMart (that looked to be on high ground) parking lot in West Little Rock, to rode out the first wave of the storm. We left at 10:30AM and finally pulled into the shop at 7PM.

While we were at the track for testing, the rumor was the race would be rescheduled for July. The NMCA site says that they should have an announcement on Tuesday.

Finally, some of us had a run of bad luck beyond driving cross country for a cancelled race. Damon Kuhn (Fugly – 61 Plymouth NSS) and his crew Chief (Slim), had a trailer flat going through Franklin, KY — and stopped in Nashville to get a replacement spare for the rest of the trip home to Texas. That put them behind the eight ball with beating out the storm — and so they pulled into a motel in Jackson, TN at about 10PM.  During the night the motel’s parking lot flooded and a large sink hole formed under Slim’s new truck. The truck had water over the dashboard (see photos of water in the glove box), and Fugly has an inch of water on the floor. The truck is a total loss, the trailer questionable, and Fugly will need some checking out. They’re currently stuck in Jackson, TN as I-40 in both directions is closed, as is I-65. They need to wait until at least Monday for the Insurance adjuster and a tow vehicle to come home. Click Here for a thread with details and photos.

The bottom line is that the hard decision to pull the plug on the race as early as it was pulled, was by far the right decision. While it didn’t help about 20 of us that have to leave early — it did help the majority of racers. Had we sat through the weekend at the track in the hope of getting some of the race run — there most likely would have been a lot of damage to many cars. I don’t envy NMCA as their decisions are usually going to be a "Damned if you do – damned if you don’t" calls.

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This was my response — which I felt I might share here too.

I agree that Myspace of Facebook — is hardly a web site — if you are serious about trying to have a web site help you hook up with sponsors. They are a good supplement to bring traffic to your web site.

Fans of Big Red Ram (NSS Race Team)
Jason Wieck Racing LLC
JmcRacing
Nostalgia Super Stock Drag Racing
Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School

Blogs are a click up from there — but they too don’t give the professionalism required for hooking up with people you want to solicit money from. They do have a purpose for those who simply want to share their team’s progress — and many actually evolve into the racer/team taking it a step further with their web presence in the future. There are a ton of places where free blogs (see below) are offered for racer teams to use.

http://nssracing.ning.com/
http://mopardragracing.ning.com/
http://throwthebumsout.ning.com/
http://god-bless-texas.ning.com/

The next click up from there, is to create a free Ning site (see above) dedicated to your team and to control it more privately. Again — this isn’t the best way to go about it — but it is free and beats doing nothing.

It is true that getting big money without a professional web site is impossible — but thinking a professional web site is going to open the doors to money is naive. Frankly, there really isn’t a whole lot of money out there — just ask all of the unemployed NHRA Pro drivers — or Connie Kalitta. I spent 40 hours a week and thousands of dollars trying to find sponsors when I own the Texas Big Bird Pro Mod car. A lot of heartache is out there — now even more than then.

Where I disagree is that a racer has to pay for a Professional Word Press template. That is a luxury — not a requirement to play. While I realize that is what you do and the purpose of your post — I’d hate to see racers discouraged into thinking that they shouldn’t bother with a team website if they don’t have the money to pay someone to do it for them — or if they don’t buy a template.

Any racer reading this can have their own WordPress web site for less than $7.50 a year to register their team’s domain name — and less than $3 a month for decent web hosting with MySQL databases (required for php web sites like WordPress) — without banners and other unprofessional restrictions.

A couple examples of WordPress web sites that were virtually free to create and maintain are:

http://www.bigredram.com/ (my Team’s Site and former “Bitchin Web Site)
http://www.nostalgiadragracers.com/ (A work in progress)
http://www.nssracing.com/
http://www.chairmanobama.com/ (political site so stay away if you have thin skin and like Obama — but it is an example of a free WordPress site)
http://www.getoutoftheunnow.com/
http://www.diamondbackengines.com/

WordPress has 1000s of templates that control the look and feel of the web site with one-click, and thousands of feature addons (again added with a click) — so just about every color scheme, number of columns, and feature if ever needed is free.

To those of you wanting to have a team web site — roll up your sleeves and jump in. It is as easy as:

1. Go to www.SouthernStarHosting.com (or the Registrar / host of your choice — but I like Southern Star as they’re cheap yet have good English speaking tech support and excellent account management features) and register your team’s domain name www.MyRaceTeam.com for $7.49, and the Economy Hosting plan for $2.91 a month. Best to host and register the name at the same place if you’re a novice.

2. Set up a MySql database and database user. Super easy, it only sounds like it should be complicated. The Southern Star Hosting user manual is easy to understand and they have real English (as the first language) tech support if you should ever have a problem.

3. Go to http://wordpress.org/ and download your free WordPress application. Free — no strings attached. Once installed — one click keeps it updated. Follow the simple instructions to use Wordpad to modify the config file with your MySql database name and user)

4. Use a FTP Program (I and 115 million others to download it use a free one with Firefox – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684) to copy the WordPress files to the server, and then run the install script by simply typing the address of it in your browser. Boom — it just installed and you still don’t know a lick of programming. Again the 3-step WordPress Install instructions walks you through this.

5. Access the admin panel of your new site and select the viewing template you like best, and the feature addons you want. Don’t forget the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) addon for google to rank your site high. Sure you will have to try as few things (and maybe do a little reading – although I never did) to get a handle on it — but kids and old ladies both do this all the time.

6. Make a banner of your car in a photo editing program, and add it to your site — if you want to customize further.

7. Start adding pages and making posts.

8. Spend a little time now and then to tweak it to look better and run more features. You don’t have to do everything at once.

There is excellent support all over the Internet if you run into a snag you can’t figure out on your own. This is a billion times easier than most people think — and your biggest investment to try is a lousy $10 for the domain name and a month of hosting. I’m sometimes amazed at the same people who can map a Kobelco, set up a killer NOS system, or tune their engine computer — are scared to death to just try to develop their own teams web site.

People who are in the programming business survive by perpetrating the myth that this is magic and you have to be Einstein.

If your last name is Jegs, Kalitta or Schumacher — you might need a pro. However this 55-year-old 9th grade dropout is too damn cheap to pay someone something I can get free.

Most anyone can have a killer web site up in one evening, if they only get past the notion that it is magic.

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Click the above to read the 4-page feature

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The below was in this month's Fastest Street Car magazine.

I was in 4th Place for Nostalgia Super Stock

Dallas was 3rd place in Nostalgia Muscle Car

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What has two fins, two doors, a tail gate, and 588 cubic inches of Hell? Its the Texas Whale, built by Mark Artis at Texas Thunder Performance, and powered by a Diamondback Engines aluminum block motor. The  60 Plymouth 2-door wagon will be the biggest, baddest and ugliest Nostalgia Super Stock car ever — and it is rounding third and heading for home.

As we speak, the custom headers have been sent out for coating, the paint is being color sanded and graphics applied, the fuel and brake systems are finished, the mocked up drivetrain disassembled for detailing, and the wiring being strung.

I hope to have this car back from Frisco, in and out of the interior shop, and shaken down at the track by the Bowling Green Race.

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While this car is really set up to run AA/SA in the IHRA, it is a perfect A/NSS car also. Motor has 20 passes and slicks 5. The Stickers have been removed, paint and body spruced up, and its ready for your graphics.

All of the details and photos can be found in the Free Classifieds, or on Racing Junk.

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Most of you know that the AHRA is making their comeback. For those who don’t know who the AHRA (American Hot Rod Association) is, they were a drag racing Sanctioning Body that started in 1958, but came into its own in the late 60s when the NHRA irritated a bunch of race teams with rule changes. This incarnation/revival of the AHRA is not a reuse of an old name – but actually has many of its officers as being the younger generations of the past ACRAs’ officers. They are quickly signing up new tracks and sponsors, and have announced a 2010 “Reunion Tour” of some of the tracks who have left the NHRA or IHRA for the AHRA. My understanding is that 2011 is when they’ll be going big and will have a complete series that competes with the other sanctioning bodies, while the 2010 "Reunion Tour" series is for fine-tuning their game plan.

About 5-6 weeks ago, I took the initiative to see if the AHRA would include Nostalgia Super Stock as one of their classes, utilizing the “Universal” rules recently adopted between many of the NSS groups/clubs. After many contacts and discussions, I was told (on a 48-minute phone call) today that they’d like for me to propose (on a minimal budget) how NSS can prove to the AHRA that it will bring the cars and fans – beginning with the first “Reunion Tour” race in April. Based on conversations, which I can’t really get into at the moment, I believe that they would like for us to race – but are skeptical that we can bring the number of quality cars (and fans) to justify it. I think they underestimate what this can develop into for both the ACHA and for NSS – but they will give us a short string to change their mind. I think that the AHRA is a great fit for NSS, as there are other Nostalgia classes (including Nostalgia Funny Cars, Nostalgia Pro-Stock, AA/FA Dragsters…) and that we’d all benefit with the NSS/FX class being part of their point series. The NHRA and IHRA have never given NSS/FX this opportunity – and I’d sure hate to see us blow this opportunity to prove to the AHRA that we’re not only worthy – but that we will be a very popular class in AHRA.

There are four 2010 “Reunion” races. The first is in Gilliam, Louisiana; the second is in San Antonio, TX; and the final two in Ohio. I’ve been convinced that the showing we make for the first race – will determine how they will move forward with the NSS/FX class. This is made more difficult by that being the same week of another popular NSS event that is only a couple hundred miles away. After speaking with Doug Duell and Mark Artis for their opinions on how to proceed, I plan to propose for NSS/FX to be a class in a points series of all four of their announced US Races. Points would be awarded for teching in (50), qualifying position (0-100), and the number of rounds you went (100 per round). Championship Totals would use the points from your best three races (throwing out your worse), plus 100 points for those making all four events. Purse for the first race should be the same as the other event running that weekend ($1000 1st, $500 Runner up, $200 Semi-Finalist, and $75 Quarter Finalist) assuming a 16-car entry – so that the purse shouldn’t be the issue. Rules will be unchanged from what we run in the NMCA or the Monster.

After taking an initial head count of the Texas drivers – I think we can come up with about eight. We’ll be making calls to other Southern drivers (OK, MO, TN, GA, KY) and try to convince them to help with this investment for NSS’s future in AHRA. I ask for all drivers to ask themselves if the inclusion of NSS in AHRA isn’t a major deal that would take NSS racing to the next level – and to get the class of racing some of the respect (purses, quality events, treated better…) we feel it deserves – and if so, not only commit to be at the Thunder Road Event (April 30-May 1, but to immediately and proactively encourage their NSS friends to also do so. THIS RACE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT NSS RACE TO DATE & OUR ONE SHOT AT PROVING WE ARE READY FOR THE BIG TIME.

I need to have an idea of a reasonable car count by this Thursday – so I can properly propose to the AHRA and answer their questions on car count – or to tell them we won’t have the count they need. Please make the decision to be part of the positive showing to NSS by committing to come to this event – and then email me back telling me who you are and that you Will Attend, Might Attend, or Won’t Attend. Then take this a step further and call our email your NSS buds to do the same. Optionally, members (and it is free to be a member — so why not) of NSS-Racing, can post their status at http://nssracing.ning.com/events/thunder-road.

The window of opportunity is now open – let’s climb in while we have this chance. This is not the time to stand on the sidelines and see what happens after others first make the investment in NSS' future. Be a leader, and part of why AHRA accepted the NSS/FX class. If we can get 30 cars at this race — we'll be well on the way to the Big Time.

I will post updates to the AHRA discussions at http://nssracing.ning.com/ (Click on the NEWS tab).

Thank you for your attention in this important matter,

Dave 'Old Hippie' Schultz

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The Great 2010 NMCA Rule Controversy

It all started on the evening of January 12th — when I'd noticed a post on the NMCA forum about rule changes. This had caught me by surprise as I'd thought the rules had been announced finalized once already — and so I clicked the link.

To my surprise, I noted four changes of note:

First – 59-64 Chevys now allowed to run the 396-427 Rat Motors. I felt that to be a pretty major deal that not only would change history of the ratio of older Chevys running now that they had the least expensive horse power in NSS — but that it opened up a can of worms like Thunderbolts running 460s pulled from Lincolns. Once there — what's next? Rat motors in Olds/Pontiac/Buicks because they all are GMs?

While I favor Mopar, I do appreciate Ford and GM and I am not a hater. It's just that as I've spent more an more time in NSS, I've become more and more wanting to not reform any existing rules considered imperfect — but to also not make the changes that continue to lead up to yet more changes. This year to year evolution to make an allowance for a friend with clout, will sooner or later have NSS like NASCAR having a NSS Toyota Car of Tomorrow — looking nothing like NSS did when first envisioned!

Second – 61 Tempests added to the 62-67 Tempests/LeMans. Again, I'm not a hater — one of my favorite cars was my 63 Pontiac with a 326. However, my understanding was that NSS was going to stay with the engine family available to the car the year it was built. Frankly the 62 Tempest was a mistake — because it wasn't until 1963 that the tempest had a Pontiac V8 engine. In 1961 and 1962, most all of the Tempests/LeMans had a 195 ci (half of a 389) "Trophy 4" I-4. The only optional V8 offered in the 62 and 63 was the rarely installed (I think 56 total) 215ci, borrowed from Buick. Look it up. So in my opinion, one mistake (allowing a 62), opened the door for another mistake. I know this is not a big deal to most people — and since the 61-63s all look alike to me, I've not lost sleep over it. However, the bigger deal is the can of worms it opens by being the basis of justifications for yet more deviations from the original intentions.

Personally, I think the correct think to do is to call all of them (since they look the same and no one checks VINs) 63's, make the small trim change if there is one — and remove the reference to 61-62. It shouldn't be too had to disguise a 61 as a 63. I've never seen VIN checks or requirements to present a title.

As hard as it might be for most to believe, I spent most of my life as a business executive — and the wording of a contract or agreement either preserved the intention — or opened a big can of worms. It is always the best move to get it correct — instead of leaving it for multiple interpretations or conflicts of intentions. If we're to want to stay with the tradition and intention of correct engine families — then you can't feel like it is acceptable for a Tempest that should have a Buick small block to have a Pontiac 389/421 — but not acceptable for a 63 Ford to have a Lincoln 460. You just can't have it both ways and say you're for stopping the evolution from the original spirit of the class.

Third – AMX's allowed to run a single 4bbl. I wasn't losing sleep over this one — but I do happen to know that this is a thorn in the side of some of the people who been around longer than I. My understanding was that when someone wanted to have an AMC Pony car in NSS (the Hemi Darts and Barracudas were Compacts), a lot of people felt like this going to open the doors to Camaros and Mustangs. Technically, the AMX was a Sports Car — and there wasn't any of those in NSS either. Politics as usual prevailed — and it was agreed to allow the AMX (but not the Javelin), provided they used the Group 16 2X4 Drag Racing Intake and a pair of Carters.

For the last couple of years NMCA has allowed an AMX with a single 4bbl to run — and this has been a thorn in the side of many drivers, especially when that "Overlooked Car" won the Championship. I'll be honest with you, I knew nothing about this history until a few months ago — and didn't understand what the problem was when drivers were complaining about the car. However, it again appears that one bad move (as many of the old timers in NSS feel) led to not only another bad move — but a broken promise.

Lastly – Sticker Placement. NMCA wants the stickers on the side and rear windows, because they're trying to go for the clean "Street Car" look in the Fastest Street Car classes. That said — NSS has never had a clean look, and to the contrary track promoters initially complained about the lack of period correct graphics and stickers when the NSS class started. Virtually every other sanctioning body that had contingency stickers accepts them being on the sides of NSS cars. There was a big movement to "Standardize" the NSS rules, and the standard was to be the sides of cars to be acceptable. NMCA's rules never reflected that — and there was inconsistent opinions and rulings when it came time for those stickers to be approved or paid off. I'd submitted a request through the proper channels (as requested) of the rules committee, with the justifications (the fact that we're also not a "Heads Up" class — and need our side and back windows). I read the rules as being that the stickers had be on the rear quarter windows or back windows only — which frankly pissed me off. I felt this was one bone NMCA could have rolled to NSS.

This was after midnight, and although I hadn't been drinking — it was most likely the wrong time for me to respond. My response was:

OooooWeeee. NSS rules now allow Rat motors in 59-64 Chevys, single 4bbl carbs on AMXs, and the only rules to force NSS cars to run their stickers on the windows. I wonder who y'all consulted in NSS for this? This ought to be the final nail in the coffin for quite a few of the NSS guys that were sitting on the fence.

Looks like it will be less competition for me this year — and against Chevys with the wrong motors. It also would appear that the Universal NSS rule thing is no longer going to be a reality — as I can't imagine any of the guys on the rule committee agreeing to that crap.

Hell let's go to tunnel rams, Dominators, Pro-stock hood scoops, transbrakes, NOS, and electronics too. How about mufflers — you guys forgot that one.

Maybe we can call the class SNSS for Semi-Nostalgia Super Stock.

OK — while maybe the most intelligent response — NMCA's policy has always been "Book Closed on Rules for this year".

I then created a thread about the changes, and emailed a link to the rules to the few NSS email addresses I have. By 6AM, I had a PM from a Tech Representative from the NMCA justifying the 396-427 engine, telling to stop my complaining, and making some crack about the the legality of the Hemi in a AA/SA car I'd just bought. By 10AM, the NMCA posted that the 396-427 was a "typographical error". An hour or two later, they'd removed a post of mine from the thread — leaving the posts afterward, causing some confusion. A post from another NMCA official told me that I shouldn't post my complaints in public — but instead should use the phone. I never answered, as I think I'm done will visiting that board, but I've had face to face conversations with many NMCA people, have talked on the phone with many, and have emailed through channels — and yet never had anything resolved. I have been told that NSS is considered to have too many grumpy old men, and that Charlie Harmon doesn't care at all about NSS. In Charlie's defense, he's always been nice to me, and bent over backward to accommodate me — so I don't know if that is the opinion of one NMCA person, or if if Charlie has indeed said indicated he could careless about NSS.

Next, was a post from the 6-Member Rule Committee of the NSNSSA stating that they were consulted and agreed to the AMX and Tempest changes, was not consulted about the stickers, and was informed that the Rat Motor change was a "Typo".

UPDATE: I have now clicked on the rules, and while there is no change for the AMX or Pontiacs — the 396-427 "Typographical Error" disappeared, and in its place is the Z-11 427. For those who don't know — the Z-11 Chevrolet was built in 1963 only — and had a 409 W Motor that displaced 427CI. I'm a little confused as to why it was mentioned. Unless I'm missing something, that motor was already covered because it was a 409 and cubic inch displacement isn't a tech item. It is sort of like giving special mention to the Max-Wedge engines — when they're covered as a Wedge engine already. Not being a Chevy expert — so if the engine is actually so radically different from the 409 to require special mention — shouldn't it be a 63 only motor, as the Hemi Darts and Hemi Barracudas are 68/69? I don't know — I just ask as I'm confused over the point needing to be made.

The updated rules also now allows for the contingency stickers to be placed on the lower rear quarters of the sides of the cars.

For the Future: I'm really not so sure how much I'll be updating on NMCA events, as I appear to have worn out my welcome with them. Dallas has actually taken this more personal than I — and says he doesn't want to run the series, so may take one or more years off — depending on other options.

Speaking of other options: The NSS Racing Event site, currently list 18 NSS events for 2010. I know of two others that will happen in Texas that are not yet announced — and I was led to believe that there was going to be a mid-west series that included Kansas City, maybe Bowling Green, and possibly include the Monster in the points. If you have knowledge of these events and dates — please list them at http://nssracing.ning.com/events. If properly used — this can be the one-stop place to go to for planning your 2010 racing calendar.

Finally: I've been doing some heavy lobbying with the newly reformed AHRA to include NSS. I've been conversing with the President of the AHRA via email — and posting to their forums — and on the 12^th the AHRA posted on their forum "OldHippie, You are quite the lobbyist. Your class is in the works. " I'll share what I know, when I know it.

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First off, we have a couple of NMC cars for sale and on eBay.

The first is the 10-second Demon my son Dallas has raced since he was 16 years old. He won the NMC class at Zmax earlier this year. I'll let the eBay ad give the details, or you can find them at www.MoparStyleracing.com

The other NMC car is a 12.0 car that I built for my daughter — but she never found the time to dedicate toward the sport. Again, go to the eBay ad or www.moparstyleracing.com for the details.

Next — is the 60 Plymouth wagon. I visited Texas Thunder on Friday, and Mark has assured me that the car will be ready for the first NMCA race in March — if we choose to race that series in 2010. It will receive the 580 motor just pulled from Big Red Ram (after it is rebuilt) and an automatic transmission. While the car has yet to be named — we know it will be "Texas Thunder" red with checkerboards and applicable graphics.

With the Memphis track being our closest haul, and now it closing — I'm thinking that I'll need to consider my options. Word is that there will be a 4-5 race NSS series running in the Heartland in 2010 — but it is a bracket race (write an number on the window), which I'm not a big fan of. I like running the NSS rules with the different classes. I'll wait for the details of that race series, and what track replaces the Memphis track.

Speaking of details, as soon as anyone knows the racing dates for NSS and/or NMC ins 2010 — please post the events at http://nssracing.ning.com/

I pulled the motor out of the Big Red Ram, and it will receive a set of steel rods, milled zero decked, new cam and springs, rings and bearings — and go into the Wagon. In the meantime, Diamondback Engines is putting together an aluminum 588CI that should be a good deal more powerful than the one that has been in the car for the last two years. I intend to run that Big Red Ram in non-points races where I can let it all hang out and not worry about points. Right now, the paint is being stripped from under the hood (Big Daddy's sig stays), a coat of primer, 4 coats of color, and 2 coats of clear so it will be nice and pretty when I open the hood next year.

While it isn't really NSS or NMC related — we're getting ready to squirt "Texas Thunder" Red on it, and reassemble as a 9-second, all motor, tube chassis true street with a small block.

Finally, on eBay I have a Charger 500 that was cloned (with real parts) into a Daytona back in the 70s. Check it out — and pass along to your friends if they might be interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290364469352&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

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Memphis Recap and Getting Ready For a New Season

Well the NSS & NMC racing year for my family is now over. It is time to start planning on getting ready for 2010.

Memphis is the closest of our NMCA races, so we loaded up the cars on Wednesday morning and left at about noon. The trip was uneventful, and we arrived in the big rig staging area at about midnight. It rained hard all night — making the already soggy track even more soggy. At 11AM they started parking us. By about 2PM we established driver credentials and teched the cars in. I had a killer headache, so we stowed the cars back in the trailer and I took it easy for the rest of the night.

Friday morning was rainy, and I made a single TT pass and the car was pretty much on. I don't believe I had a chance to make another pass on Friday. Dallas in NMC had problems with the car breaking up on his single pass — but thought maybe missed a shift. Cold rain kept us from doing much of anything.

Saturday, had my first qualifying pass as a 9.489 on a 9.50 index — breaking out. Dallas' car was definitely breaking up — and he felt it was ignition. He also smelt electrical burning. We unbundled his wires and found where there was a foot of 12 gauge wire between 6 gauge wire coming from the ignition switch — and the butt connectors were burnt. So we fixed that with replacing it with 6 gauge. I bought a new MSD 6AL box and Blaster II coil, and we replaced them. We rev'd the car up to 6500 with the timing light on — and all appeared well. Our second and last Qualifying came at night. I spun at the line on a very cold track — for a 9.61. I ran to the fence just as Dallas made his pass — and I saw that he was breaking up badly at higher RPMs — but there was no flames coming from under the car (it was night). Returning to the pits, I saw a lot of water under my car. Investigating, it looked like my motor moved up to where the nose of the Vacuum pump bore two holes in my radiator. We pulled the radiator and I borrowed a torch and solder from Don Bowles — and after finding that aluminum doesn't like solder — I melted a big glob over the hole and pushed the glob into the radiator — having the fins hold the glob against the leaks. I figured I'd get a radiator from one of the vendors in the AM — as I didn't feel like that fix would hold for long. I took the lock washer off the end bolt of the vacuum pump — and gained about 1/32" between it and the radiator. On Dallas' car, we were at a loss after checking to make sure the valves, springs and pushrods all looked well. I called Damon Kuhn at about 11PM and he suggested jetting up 2 sizes on all four corners of the 850 carb. We worked until 2AM changing jets, plugs, and running the valves — then putting the cars away.

Sunday morning I tried to find a radiator, stop leak, and/or a low pressure radiator cap — without luck. I pour a can of black pepper in the radiator just as they called us for the first round of eliminations. I had a broke bye, so I did my burn out at 135 degrees and launched at 150 degrees — after releasing pressure by opening the cap in the staging lane. When I got back to the pits I didn't had any leaks — but I had lost the 1/32" between the blob of solder and the nose of the vacuum pump. After checking the motor plate and trans mount — I realized that the balancer was coming off. I didn't know what to do — because it was about 2PM and I expected them to call us up for the 2nd round any second.

In the meantime — Dallas car was cured and he won his first round.

I decided to take a chance and go for fixing the car at the risk of missing a call, and with the help of my son, Doug Duell, and Clay Kasooth — we had the radiator out, vacuum pump off and crank trigger off, found a 12point ARP balancer bolt hanging on by a thread — tightened the balancer back on with a liberal application of Lok-tite red on the bolt; put the crank trigger and vacuum pump back on, and the radiator back in and filled — all in 30 minutes.

We need not have rushed — because we weren't called to the staging lanes for our second round until 7PM. Once there — a bunch of very pissed off NSS racers talked about how this would be their last NMCA race, how NMCA use to treat the NSS class better, tales of the good old days, and where they'd be racing next year. To make things worst — the bracket racers who had monopolized the track for the last five hours, had some girl in a Vega that liked to pull monster wheel-stands, lose control of her car and drive over a 17-year-old kid in a dragster. It looked bad. Both were hospitalized and it took near two hours to clean the track. In the meantime — dew was collecting on the cars — and everyone who could get a towel had one draped over their windshield. Most felt that it was unsafe to race and that they would suspend racing until Monday — but would first empty the lanes of the NSS and NMC cars. A few drivers asked me to approach Charlie about calling it a night before running us because of the dew. Charlie had me walk the track with him — and while there wasn't any dew on the track — the crews from Pro and Extreme were reporting 52 degree track temps and lobbying to suspend racing. Charlie said that he felt like it was still safe to race, and the NSS and NMC classes were called to race. It was pretty bad with the dew collecting on the windshields in seconds and fog on the inside. I was running Skip Koester, and we both grabbed strangers to wipe down our windshields as we went into the burnout box — but the dew and fog came back so fast we couldn't see the track or tree. Skip red lit -.037 and I slept for .157 RT, and as soon as I saw I'd won — I slowed down for a 11.4 as I couldn't see the track well. Even shifting like a truck, I did a wiggle on a 3-4th shift, and coming down the return row lined with motor homes and trailers that couldn't find parking was plain stupid. Dallas has about the easiest 10.5-second car there is — and he too  did a big wiggle on his win. We were happy to hear that the race was suspended — after we cleared out the lanes.

Monday, at 10AM I took advantage of a TT offered and ran a 9.494. Dallas opted not to take one as we had 2 gallons of gas between us left. I had Greg Radar, who is as tough as they come. All weekend I was cutting great lights — with the exception of one pass — and against Radar I cut a .013 against his .017. I swear I crossed the line an inch before him — but the ticket says I didn't. Dallas also lost his Quarter-Round.

As we packed up to come home, Radar Beat Wilson (coming off his Monster Mopar Win), and 00 Joe Ewing beat  Barry Camp in the Semis. Radar then went on to beat 00 Joe in the finals.

Doug Duell is the Champion this year — and is deserving as he had a great year. The Princess (Stephanie) has second. According to my calculations — Skip, Joe and I are 3 through 5 — but with about 30 points being the spread between 3 through 5. It comes down to qualifying points from Memphis — and so we'll have to wait until Monday NMCA tells us who is 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

In NMC, Andy Warren is the Champ — and I think Dallas Schultz is second — despite missing the first race of the year. He and Andy matched up many times during the year — and Andy won them all — but they were all very close.

I really hope to be able to have my 60 Wagon painted in the next 5 weeks, the engine and transmission installed, custom headers made and coated, wired, plumbed, and interior by early February — so it can be shaken down and ready for the first NMCA race of 2010. I'm going to give it one more shot at earning a NMCA ring in NSS — but feel like I need to give up my preference for a 4-speed in favor of an automatic, as I seldom find the track prepped good enough for a 9-second 4-speed on skinny slicks in the late rounds. I'll keep a 4-speed in the Coronet and run it in the non-NMCA races. The engine comes out of it next week to have the Aluminum rods replaced — and the wick turned up a little for 2010. I'll run it in the non-NMCA races.

Dallas will be moving from NMC to NSS, driving my old black Coronet in C/FX or B/FX. It is a nice 4-link car with an automatic and the engine I use to run in the red car — punched out to 580CI. It might be faster than my red car.

This means that Dallas' Dodge Demon is for sale. This car has spent its entire life as a race car — and still wears its original Texas inspection sticker from 38 years ago. The car is a quality build with a five year old CM full cage, inboard springs and CalTracs, 8 3/4" rear with Moser axles and gears, 4-wheel disc brakes  — and is clean enough that you can eat off the painted bottom. The motor is a one year old 408 built by Damon Kuhn at Diamondback Engines. Eagle steel crank, H-beam rods, forged pistons, CNC Ported Indy 360 heads, Gasket Matched Indy 360 Intake, roller cam, Diamondback 850 carb, 1 7/8" coated headers, Magnafuel fuel pump — all top shelf parts. The transmission has a billet steel drum, Griner low-band apply footbrake valve body, modified pump, hardened gears, bolt-in sprag, PTC 8-inch steel stator converter, and the balance of the parts are of the same quality. CSR Fiberglass trans shield. This car drives as straight as a string, and will do 10.5 seconds just about anywhere. The car could easily be made into an 8.5 second (cage should certify) True Street, restored as pure stock, or run in the faster street classes — but really it is at home running NMC. I was comfortable enough with the safety of this car for my 16-year-old to race — and he was comfortable enough to win the Texas Outsiders NMC Championship at 16 and 17 (2004 & 2005). If you are Interested, please email me at dave@oldhippie.com.

Speaking of NMC cars, I also have a more entry level NMC car that I prepared for my daughter — but who never really had the time to dedicate to the sport. It is a quality build that I felt comfortable putting my kid in. As it sits, it will consistently do 12.0 1/4s — but I also have a choice of three brand new 408 motors capable of making the car a 10.5 and faster car in the 1/4. Contact me if you are interested.

Both cars have been the subject of many magazine articles.

Reminder — The NSS calendars in the NSS Gift Shop are ready for purchase. Click on the particular calendar cover to view the pages.

Many of the NSS drivers at the Memphis race purchased the calendar with the Asphalt Elephant on the cover. Call any of them to ask about the quality of the calendar.

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Monster Mopar Weekend

The Monster Mopar Weekend had 75 entries, which is another record. I remember my first Monster in 2003, there might have been 35-40 NSS cars. As usual, Doug Duell with help from Bob Wilkiewicz ran a smooth ship. Despite the number of cars — staging was very organized.

It rained Friday, and very little racing was going on. Saturday we managed to get in a TT in the morning and then start Class Eliminations after lunch. This was interrupted twice by rain — and NSS/A and FX was not able to finish by the time we needed to leave for our Driver's Dinner — and so those classes finished on Sunday morning.

The driver's dinner this year had guest speaker Herb McCandless, who entertained us with stories of old. TTI donated a $500 gift certificate for headers — and I'm happy to say my son Dallas win it. He had an otherwise rough weekend — detailed in the MSR Blog below. While I don't recall hearing Doug Duell explaining it — Damon Kuhn from Diamondback Engines contributed a new, but heavily reworked for NSS, 800 Carb (retail value $500) — won by the Seltzer and White team. Doug's favorite Charity "Santa Clothes" did well with a couple $100 bills getting stuffed in the box.

Sunday we finished Class Eliminations. The winners were:

• NSS/G [13.00]

  8606 Bax; Henley, MO; ‘62 Pontiac, 13.08

  NSS/F [12.50]

  777 Rhoda; Brookfield, WI; ’63 Plymouth, 12.52
  

  NSS/E[12.00]

  7042 Kuenster, J; Potosi, WI; ’59 Chevy, 12.03
  

  NSS/D[11.50]

  7063 Kuhn, M.; Celina, OH; ’63 Plymouth, 11.37
  

  NSS/C [11.00]

  7572 Ray; Atoka, TN; ’65 Chevy, 11.00
  

  NSS/B[10.50]

  7777 Duell; Newburgh, IN; ’67 Plymouth, 10.54
  

  NSS/A [10.00]

  4965 Sanders; Brook, IN; ’65 Dodge, 10.03
  

  F/X

  7747 Herzing; St. Clair, MO; ’63 Plymouth, 9.60
  

  Low Elapsed Time

  17 Quinn; Springfield, IL; ’62 Pontiac, 8.939

Eliminations started after lunch, and lasted until about 10PM when a non-Mopar final between Jim Nederland and his Buick and Steve Wilson and his Chevelle had Wilson win the event. This is the first Monster Mopar Weekend that did not have a Mopar as a winner.

I pointed out at the Driver's Dinner that many of the FX Drivers (there were 12 of us that made it to FX Class Eliminations) felt it a bit unfair that we bring the fastest cars — yet are forced to run as one class, while a few of the slower classes don't have but 2 or 3 in the their class — yet are not combined.

The next day, a little birdie told me that my complaints didn't fall on deaf ears — and that next year they would still run all of the FX cars together — but that it would be made into an event in itself with a $1000 prize to the Class Winner. These are arguably the most exciting cars of the NSS cars, doing the biggest wheel stands and smokiest burnouts — and I think it is a good idea that they get some special recognition for building and bringing the faster cars to the Monster.

So if you have a car hanging abound the 10.0-11.0 area — you might strongly consider tweaking it, getting your license, certify the cage, and run in the FX Classes next year.

Click here for the discussions and photos of this last Monster Mopar. Your car is most likely there.

MoparStyle Racing Blog Entry

The following is a more of a personal note on what happened in the pits of Big Red Ram and Texas Black Magic.

We (Deb, Hope, Dallas, I, and the three dogs) loaded up Tuesday, left Wednesday morning and arrived Thursday morning — after having the rig washed across from the track. After setting up the pits — we took both Coronets to be teched in. My son Dallas normally runs a 10-second Demon in NMC — but will be running the black Coronet in C/FX starting next year — and this was a dry run, since there is no NMC at the Monster.

As stated above, Friday was a raining until late in the day. On the first TT had the car breaking up at 6000 and oil spraying from somewhere. We guessed the oil pump and replaced the bolts with lock washers. We couldn't make either of the symptoms occur in the pits and he took the car out for another TT. It still broke up — and still leaked oil. It was suspected that the oil was coming from the left head — so we spent until 2:30AM replacing the head gasket.

Meanwhile on my car — I had lined up with 7 other 8-9 second FX cars at the end of the line — where we were going to run the cars all out in a match race. My car gave me a hard time starting up in the staging lanes, then broke up horribly in third and fourth gear on my pass — and finally stalled at the end of the track and wouldn't restart. Back in the pits, (after a tow) we observed a burned rotor and so I replaced it. The car wouldn't restart and it was suspected I flooded it — so I changed the plugs. The car still wouldn't start and gave indications that it was a timing issue. The crank trigger's accuracy has been suspect all year — so I went to Indy's tent and bought a MSD Distributor (I have three on the shelf at home — but none in the trailer) and a set of wires for a MSD cap. Damon locked down the distributor and installed it (as it has to be clocked due to the interference between Indy's intake and MSD distributors). The car started right up — and after another reclocking the wires — we were able to get 36 degrees. The car was finished in time for another TT, was back to running its number.

Saturday after the first round of class eliminations, Dallas' car was still leaking and breaking up — and looked as if the engine needs to be pulled — so we pulled the plug on his car and put in on the trailer. In my first round, I was lucky that my opponent red lit as my car bogged bad off the line — with the fuel pressure showing 13 pounds flooding the carbs. After the pass — fuel pressure was down to my normal 9 pounds so I didn't give it any more thought. Sunday it was down to five of us in FX and I was to run Mitzi. I totally goofed — thinking I was doing a qualifying — and pressed the light not thinking it made a difference. I red lit, but actually thought I won the race until it came to me on my way to get the ticket. Mitzi wound winning class after a bye and another red light — which was nice since it was ten years ago at the Monster that Bill last raced — and he won class.

In the first round of eliminations I had a bye — and again the fuel pressure shot up on that run. Back in the pits it was 16PSI — and so we scrambled to change it with the one from Dallas' dead car, while they were calling us to the line. In the second round I had a .020 light and ran a 9.501 (on a 9.50) against Psychotic Reaction. In the third round I was up against Charlie and his 59 Chevy — and although I had a good RT and ET — Charlie bettered me in both and ran a 11.503 on a 11.50 class.

We started packing up — but did get to see the 4th round get run — where all four passes were settle by a red light. We pulled out of Gateway at 8:30PM and drove all night to arrive home (900+ miles) at 11:30AM Monday.

After Memphis, we'll freshen up my engine for Dallas' car, build a new one for my car, and see what the deal is on the engine in Dallas' car — and put it in the wagon — where I'll have the Big Red Ram as a backup.

Started Work On Calendars

Every year I try to put together a wall calendar of NSS cars. In the past, Donnie from Photo Sport has allowed me to select 13 photos from the Monster for this calendar. No one takes better photos than Donnie — as he not only gets close to the action — but he also has proper flash lighting. Last year I took 100s of photos of the NSS cars — but my problem is that I'm not allowed to get as close, which causes lighting and obstruction (other people along the wall taking photos) problems. Since I will only use the best photos, I can usually only find 5 for every 200 I take that meets my criteria. I think that between all of the photos I have taken and a few that have been sent to me so far — that I might have enough to put together a calendar as good as the previous five years.

However, if you have an excellent track photo, and you would like to have your car in the 2010 Wall Calendar — please take it to Kinkos, Office Depot, or Office Max RIGHT NOW and have them scan it at 300 or 600 DPI (preferably as a PNG — but JPG is almost as good) — and email the file to me at dave@oldhippie.com with the subject Calendar.

Here's what I look for when I select the 13 photos. The car has to be colorful and representative of NSS cars with the period graphics. An all white or all red car without graphics usually won't do. Also, I try not to have too many of any one colors. The lighting has to be good (no heavy shadows on the side of the car) and the obstructions in the foreground minimal. People like to see either super smoky burnouts — or the front wheels off the ground.

I would like to get this finished in the next day or so — so I can bring 50 or so Calendars to Memphis for the NSS drivers to purchase without having to do do on-line. So if you want me to consider your car — email me the data file of your scanned photo by noon Friday.

MoparWiki

The MoparWiki project is a collaboration of many people's information, to put together an encyclopedia of all things Mopar. I ask those Wordsmiths and those with valuable reference material to please be part of that collaboration. We have Wiki papers on Mopar people, Mopar models, Mopar Makes, Mopar Racers, and Mopar drive trains. It is a work in progress just starting to get a roll going — and sure could use the help of some of the older Mopar guys sharing their knowledge and old references. Examples of the pages are:

• Main Page

• History of Dodge

• Coronets

• Walter P. Chrysler

• Dave Duell

The On-Line help is excellent. You have to register (simple deal that takes 10 seconds) at www.MoparStyle.com to be able to add or edit a Wiki. Please check it out and help out where you can.

Important Links

• Driver's Discussions — Swap lies with your NSS Driver friends. It is easy.

• NSS Racing Ning — News, (free) Driver's/Team Blogs, NSS racing photos and videos

• NSS Classified Ads — List for free with photos

• MoparWiki – building an encyclopedia for all things Mopar

• Big Red Ram — my race car's web site — could be an idea starting point for those thinking about putting together a team web site to solicit sponsorship.

• NMCA – has a series of 7 NSS races every year.

• Old Hippie's Gift Shop — NSS, Mopar, Humor, and Political items.

• Rules & News! — Very informative NSS Site.

• MoparStyle — Mopar People with Style. News, Forums, Photos, Free Classifieds, Time Slips, garage, and a whole lot more.

• OldHippie.Com — a web site with discussions about cars, Texas, Humor, Politics, Electronics, and just about any other topic you wish to discuss or need some help with.

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Doug just told me that Drag'n Wag'n is down for the year due to finding some bearing material in the oil filter. He'll be at the Monster and finish NMCA with his Barracuda. Ah, if we all could have a backup NSS car.

I believe that Doug is currently in first place with the NMCA's NSS Class.

Also — Bill sent me photos of the 727 explosion in Mitzi's car. The trans is in a bunch of pieces and the carbon fiber shield is trash too. Even with the carbon fiber shield — pieces came through the floor and slightly injured Mitzi's foot. Bill says he's ordered all of the parts to get the car back together in time for the Monster — although they might be late.

The above is the Winners Circle Photo from when Dallas won NMC at Zmax.

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Click Here to view the 80+ photos on NSS and NMC launches that I asked my daughter to take — and I Photo Shopped. Feel free to copy the photos of your car and use them on your site/blog (you do have one — don't you) — BUT PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK. I think that's pretty fair for free photos of your car.

The Monster Mopar Weekend is around the corner. Now is the time to register. You can do so on-line with a credit card (secured site), and bring your printed receipt (they'll have a copy if you forget — but make things go faster by bringing your receipt) and get admitted to the pits on Thursday. If you are not pre-registered, you will not get pit access until Friday. Click the banner above to visit the Monster Mopar Site.

Facebook

Facebook is an Internet community where friends can hook up, and privately (both parties have to authorize any connection between the two) have conversations, or share photos, videos, and links. I have a category for family, Mopar Buds, softball/basketball buds, and racing buds in my facebook. It is so popular that I've hooked up with friends I haven't seen since 5th and 7th grade, relatives I've never met — and the twins I dated just before going into the military.

The average age of NSS racers being what it is, I hear the echoes now about how you're not a blogger, or Internet security, its too complicated, or that this is kid's stuff — but it is not any of that. I have many NSS friends (admittedly the younger ones) who are my "friends" on Facebook — and it is an excellent way to find out who won what race or who will be at an upcoming race. It is not to be confused with kids stuff like MySpace — which is a hacker's highway. Facebook is strictly adult, very secure and anti-spam

I strongly suggest that everyone sign up (free) at www.facebook.com, then do a search for dave.schultz1 (that would be me) — and request friendship. I'll approve you, and then send (as suggestions) the addresses of the other NSS racers to request friendship with. Once hooked up — people like Doug Duell, Stephanie, and I give updates at the track through our cell phones. It is really pretty kool stuff.

List of NSS sites you should have in your favorites.

NSS Forum: http://www.oldhippie.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=50

NSS Updates: http://www.nssracing.com/

NSS Information, photos, videos, and Racer Blogs: http://nssracing.ning.com/

NMCA Forum: http://www.nmcadigital.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2

Big Red Ram:  http://www.bigredram.com/

Again, I have a limited number of email addresses of NSS racers, so please pass this information along to any NSS racer whose email address you might have. I'm sure they rather get it twice than not at all.

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