maverick5946 Had a great time until the 1st round of elimination! Messed it up pretty bad........... yeah its pretty bad Atleast in my opinion............... but you can fix it I will get the pics soon............ seen the pics they will tell the story............. got the story Got video too........................ seen the video Its not real good.................... its not that bad ..you are Ok and thats what counts the car can be replaced but you can't wife panicked on me............... she will calm down they always do BUT, I met a lot of great people. Did some recruiting for the MCCI. Car ran decent. 1st time run went a 10.77 2nd time run went a 10.61 (little tuning) 3rd time run went a 10.58 (driver getting his grove back) looks like a bad welds thats wild the rearend just wanted to get the he!! out of there........ you fix it leave the front bumper off seems its brings you bad luck or is it the its painted
Well that sucks John. Like stated before, you aint hurt, it is late in the season, and it happened in the safest place you could be. All in all pretty lucky. Body damage is low on the car so a repair can be done without redoing entire car. Dan
Yikes. Sorry to see the carnage but glad you're okay. Man, that sux. Good luck on getting her back better'n before.
Better to let go on the line than at the big end. Did you have the ladder bars welded on by someone else or did you do it?
I didn't realize what had happened when I first posted the above statements!! Sorry John, you'll get her fixed!!
Man, I feel for ya...but like was already said you were able to walk away with your life. Now...for the "hard part". I've always been told to suck it up when something like that happens and use it as a learning experience. Build it better the next time. I see that the housing brackets were not the 360 deg. brackets. I didn't know you could even buy them anymore like that? Personally I would not even think about using less than 360* brackets just for that reason. There is a TON (or more) of stress on the housing when under that kind of acceleration and every weld, nut, bolt, screw, clip, and washer had better be grade A stuff in order to live. We have a friend of ours that admits to being an inferior welder and tried to install ladders/floaters on a '56 Ford. I think he went through about 10 driveshafts in as many race meets, and finally on the last one the crossmember broke off of the frame and that allowed the rear to rotate which sent the driveshaft up through the floor....bent tailshaft on the 727 Torqueflite which tore a 18" hole right beside the driver and also tore the trans crossmember off. I saw it all happen from behind. I was at the burnout box and watching the run...smoke, then brakes, then pieces of driveshaft/transmission/crossmembers flying out the bottom of the car, then lastly I could see the back of the trans dragging the ground under the car. This all happened at the 1/8 mile....going probably 98-100 mph--in a 4000 lb car. He was lucky he wasnt hurt. VERY lucky considering the tailshaft of the trans tore a hole as big as it was. Another friend of ours who is a VERY good metal fabricator/welder reinstalled the crossmembers, ladders, and helped him get it all back together. So far, it's been working well...though it needs some tuning to get the most out of it....but it hasn't broken anything (other than those big-block Mopar engines) since it was all done. Bottom line, please don't skimp on suspension parts/fabrication. That goes for everyone. Safety is the number one concern. If you don't feel comfortable with it, hire it out to someone who does!
John sorry to read and see what happened thank goodness your alright the car can be fixed and sure it will be. Good luck.
mavman, I guess that I should have done more homework a few years ago when I had this done. I was not aware that it was not done properly. The guy who did it is a very respected chassis guy around this area, guess everyone has a off day..........atleast I have a chance to live and learn. Thanks for your help. John.
I just showed my g/f the video and just had to laugh (with you) at the comment from your wifey, Wifey: "Oh no!" Little Racer: "Whut?" Wifey: ........... "The whole car just fell apart!" Sorry. It's really great the whole family goes racing with you.
Actually John I have the same brackets under my car as well. They will work just fine with the proper braceing, I have the pieces cut that I still need to weld in they brace the ladder bar brackets and the housing as well. If I can help ya brother ya know my #
Yeah Rick....we laughed about it last night. She says she does not remember saying it.....but she caught herself on video.... Thanks Robert......gonna give it sometime to sit, will get back into the car after the holidays.
