June 25th, 2005 - Arkansas Mini Meet

Well, it's 5:30 am, June 25th, 2005.
I sit at home, awaiting 7am to go have breakfast with Jim and his wife.
Hopefully Old guy, mavman, redneckboy, and others will meet us.

Last nite around 11:30 Jim gets to town, I run over to their hotel, visit for a bit, talk about the cars, the dash plaques, history of our cars, etc.
Jim is a very nice guy and his wife is very nice also.
So far this meet seems like it will be a success. I will inform you all of more later on tonight after the events have wound down and the day is put to rest in the history books.
I'm glad I get to meet these guys, as it's a once in a life time thing

:::To Be Continued:::

 

:::Update:::

Jim, Myself and Redneckboy had breakfast at Cracker Barrell
Afterbreakfast we headed out to Toad Suck.
Meet started out slow...Me, Old guy, Redneckboy, My fiancee and son, Old Guy's wife, and Yellow72mavrick
Eventually Jim goes to get his wife from the motel (slept in late)
Maverick Dan, Randy, Steve, and Mavman all show up.
Also had a local guy show up that was building a maverick. he didn't stay long tho.
Anyways, was a good time, hung out, swapped some parts, ate lunch, shot the crap, etc... A few of us ended up at the racetrack to watch some races.
Mavman made a few passes, as did Old Guy and redneckboy.
Lots of good races to see.
Best race I think of all nite was a 79 ford truck w/ 4.60 based big block ran a 9.40 and whipped a 69 camero's tail.... just plain awesome.
Anyways... will write more later, its getting late, im hungry and tired.
Hopefully others will post more later.

 

Arkansas Mini Meet

Want to say thanks to Jim and Andy for all their work setting up the Mini meet. I didn't get to stay long, but my wife and I really enjoyed meeting Old Guy, Redneckboy, Jim, Randy, Steve, (already met Andy), and the better halves. Missed out on meeting Mavman, maybe I can make it to the track soon and meet him there.
To the guy that showed up in the Ford pickup with the baseball players and left quickly, post here or send me a PM, I'd like to see what's going on with your Maverick project.
Randy and Steve from Oklahoma have about 16 or 17 Mavs between them, something I can only dream about.
Thanks again Andy and Jim for a great time!

 

Thanks for coming out Dan.
The guy in the ford pickup... not sure who he was.
Don't know if he had a maverick or not
There was some other guy locally show up that talked to redneckboy for a bit about his car.
Anyways.... I will update/share more later
Just got home... its 12:45am... i was just laying down after my last post, and redneck boy called me. said he needed a spare front tire/rim. He had blown front right out on the way home on the interstate about 40 miles up the road. So I go outside, i pull a front tire from my Comet, load it up, the lugnuts, jack, 4 way, flashlight etc... and head that way. We get there, everything seems fine, put on my wheel... head on.
He gets off at the next exit, says its rubbing something. We got to looking. Well his was a 195/70r15... mine were same size but r14's... with his disk brake setup it was rubbing the crap out of my wheel. It's aluminum... we said "screw it, it'll self clearance" and head on down the road... about a mile down the road he calls, says it quit rubbing, so we're doing good... so what if there's a small groove on the inside of the wheel.
Anyways, its 12:45am now, and im heading to bed yet again.
Hope you guys all made it home safely

 

Great job on the meet Jim, the temperature and damn price of fuel was a little glitch in the turnout, but those that came had a good time. The park and pavillion was top notch facility and wish more people could have enjoyed it and the view. Also a special thanks to Randy and Steve from the great state of Oklahoma, being that the dragstrip is actually not far off the I-40 freeway leading to ther homes. they both stayed and watched racing and kept this old guy talking for a long time into the night. Two of the nicer fellows I have met in a long time, hope they can get a mini meet going sometime in their home state. And one final thank you, to the ladies who attended and got the food and drinks for us gear hesds, who sometimes get so involved with our car stuff, we forget they are really part of it too. So far, have had only two reports of minor incidents, Randy and Steve's Mav lost it's air conditioning on the way to the strip, and Redneckboy had blowout on his Mav (after racing it all night) on the trip home. Thanks Andy for taking time to go help him out. Guess the spare won't fit in the trunk with the NOS bottle huh. One other minor incident did happen at the track, which caused some concern for all involved. Mavman decided to make a pass with his Mustang after running the Mav for a test and tune. At the same time, I decided to make one with the Mont, seems as though this ancient person beat him heads up. I think it was just luck, he he he. All in all, was a fun day and met great people that were there.

 

No problem on going to help him out last nite. That's what friends are for.
I don't know if a spare would fit in there w/ the NOS bottle or not, but I dang sure made the blew out one fit in there after I put my wheel/tire on his car.
hahaha.
Anyways, I really hope everyone had a good time. Great fun for me anyways.
Maybe we can do it again next year, and have a little bit more notice to give everyone, so they can plan things out better, save a little money etc.

I really enjoyed getting up to the dragstrip again and talking racing with the guys. Always fun to learn a few things, and spread what knowledge you know also.

Jim just called me, he's just about to leave Conway and head back up to Memphis. So hope he has a safe trip and hope Randy and Steve make made it home safe also.

See you all next year!

 

Well...being that the Fairmont IS the faster car, what did you expect? Besides, with Jr being a little mechanically challenged (it showed by the way the carb works on the Mustang)...and the 1.85 60' times, yeah, you'd have that old Junkstang covered easily.

No matter, it was fun nonetheless. Steve & Randy, great getting to meet/talk to you guys, same for Jim & Rhonda. Wished I could have gotten to meet Dan though.

Randy, the link to that webpage for the drag strip in Sallisaw is http://www.hwy59dragway.com

Steve, I think you asked me about an '88 TurboCoupe that you knew was for sale? If it's an auto...it ain't worth much, but the 5 speeds are FUN to drive! http://www.turboford.org Great site for mods, upgrades, etc....I'd like to be able to make 400 HP out of my SVO....and from what I've read, it ain't hard. But for now, 175 is plenty!

 

Think it mighta been that your not used to driving the car Todd.
Jr did get in it and run his normal decent times in it.
But the Fairmont is the faster car by just a tad.
You still got beat by the Old guy no matter what you say. haha
But, out of the 3... you do have the fastest/nicest car by far.
Anyways, enough raggin on ya
Enjoyed all you being there.
Todd, if you want to meet Dan sometime, he stays in Greenbrier, and we can most likely find time to run into one another again.

 

For Steve, he said he wanted to see some pictures of my car.
Here are a few pictures
http://spaces.msn.com/members/andysutt/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c01_photoalbum=showdefault&_c02_owner=1&_c=photoalbum
I have gotten new wheels for it since the photo was taken, rebuild motor, cleaned out the inside, gotten black rear plastic (each side of rear seat) new black visors, and just general work on it. Nowhere near done yet.
But I'll take new pics soon

 

Well its 5:30 Sunday afternoon and we are just settling in after our trip back from Conway, Ark. It was a nice drive, Rex ran like the champ he is, no problems there and back. I met Andy Friday night about 11:30 at the hotel and chatted for a while...very nice young man. Saturday morning Andy,David Jr, and I hit the Cracker Barrel for a good breakfast then proceeded over to the Toad suck park. The park was very nice...all the facillites were great, nice clean park. The pavilion Andy got for us was top notch with plenty of room, 2 big grills to cook on and right next to the river. In attendence was Old Guy(Dave Hellerich Sr. and his lovely wife Mary), Rando76 (Randy Campbell), PGARFDS (Steve Greuel of Oklahoma),Andysutt(Andy Sutterfield),his lovely lady and son (Kristen and Austin Harris),Redneckboy (David Hellerich Jr.) Mavman(Todd Hellerich),Maverick Dan and his lovely wife(Dan & Anita Cunningham) and yours truly Yellow72Mavrick (Jim and my dear wife Rahonda Baldwin). The air was full of grilled bratworst, cajun sausage, hamburgers, hot dogs, and other stuff. We ate, we laughed, we talked cars, and yes we took pics...although my NEW digital cam killed all my 30 pics and left me 4, that they say are too big to load. I will do something about that...Randy took some too and I hope he will bail me out. I feel I failed in this portion of the meet and I feel bad for it. All in all some of the nicest people I have met. Mary ...Rahonda thanks you for telling her about Payton Creek Resturant...great food!!! My thanks to all who made this meet possible. Randy send some pics in and thanks...Jim

 

Jim, if you can email the pictures I'll try to shrink them

 

We had a GREAT time! Everyone has summed up the events above. Great friends, great food, great cars, great time! Thanks everyone! Here's a picture of ALMOST all of us! Not everyone was there when this picture was taken. I'll send the pictures in and get them posted in the mini-meet section.

 

Hey Jim I just sent you a PM. I can send you the pictures I have.

 

Thanks Randy you are da man...Jim

 

2005 Toad Suck Pics

Well lets see if I can do this...