Mr. Skip Racing
January - February - March - 2012
1st Qtr. 2011 2nd Qtr. 2011 3rd Qtr. 2011. 4th Qtr. 2011
Jan. 27, 2012 - Getting ready for my first weekend of testing. If things go well, I should go out on Sunday to SCR for a few test runs.
Yesterday I was reading in a old book, "How to tune and race Demon Carburetors" featuring Barry Grant carburetors. I purchased the book many years ago when I was running a BG 790 RS that I had modified to flow 1025 CFM. It also covered the larger Dominator style BG carburetors.
The statement that caught my eye was, "Each 1" spacer adds about 500 RPM to the power curve". I have two spacers under my carburetor, one open spacer and one four hole "Super Sucker". Maybe I didn't need that 4:56 gear. All I needed was to remove one or both spacers to get back into my power band.
I am going to leave the two spacers on for now because the last time the car ran in the high 8's, I had both spacers on, with the 4:56 gear. We shall see.
Jan. 25, 2012 - The oil and filter are changed. Seven qts. in the pan and one in the filter. Reset the rear shocks to 6/14 clicks, from 3/14 clicks.
Jan. 24, 2012 - The car is back in one piece! Outlaw came over this evening and had that chunk in and ready to go in no time flat. I did the lockwire on the brakes. We now have 4.56:1 gears in place. All I have left to do is change the oil and filter.
Jan. 23, 2012 - Sat. morning, I picked up my chunk from Alvin. He ran into a few small problems that delayed his completion of the job, but in the end it came out fine. I hope to get it back in before the end of the week.
Barbara has not fully recovered from being sick at Christmas. She went back to the Dr. today. She got a shot and three prescriptions. I pray she gets well soon.
Reggie Jackson is very close to getting his dragster ready for the upcoming season. He had experienced some electrical problems due to low voltage. He moved his fuel pump and installed a new alternator to take care of the problem. Len Agustas did the welding and I did my usual inspection when everything was completed. It looks very good!
Jan. 17, 2012 - We are getting rev. up on my church project again (Vision Committee) to build the new Fellowship Hall next door to the church. That will be taking up the majority of my time for the next few months.
Good thing the car is in such good shape. I will be ready for Nitro Jam and that's all until Father's Day. We plan on a little testing, but not much.
The past week has not been good for Louisiana teams in football. First the total domination of LSU by Alabama, then the unexpected last few seconds loss to the 49's by the Saints.
After the Saints lost, I was going to pull for the Texans, well, that did not go well either... It would really be something if those two brothers ended up in the Superbowl coaching against each other (Ravens vs. 49's). I have placed all my chips on the Giants and Eli Manning (That may be the kiss of death)!
Jan. 14, 2012 - The chunk was delivered to Alvin late yesterday. We should be ready for next Sunday (in Louisiana that means, Jan. 22nd).
Friday The 13th - Instead of waiting on Kevin to remove the chunk, I decided to do it myself since I had nothing else to do.
When we put the rear end chunk in last time, we had been fighting some gasket leaks. We made the mistake of using Mega Gray silicone gasket material instead of a normal rear end gasket. I am still trying to get this thing out! I am about 1/2 way around the bottom. I know one thing, I will never do this again!
Jan. 11, 2012 - I had a call from Mr. Charlie Robinson, he will let me use his tricked out Chuck Nuytten Holley 1150 to test.
I purchased a 4:56 gear yesterday from Sonny at Pro-Fab. While I was there Les Klotz stopped by and we had a good talk. Alvin is set to put the gears in and Kevin will take the chunk out and reinstall it.
Late Jan. 9th - Congratulations Bama!
Jan. 9, 2012 - Geaux LSU Tigers!
Over the weekend I changed carburetors and started up the engine for the first time this year. It ran very well.
I will have to take the car to the track to find out if the hesitation problem has been solved with the BG Carburetor. We will have the Holley in hot standby.
I removed all the small screw-in replaceable emulsion bleeds and idle feed restrictors, along with the power valve plugs and the 4 main jets. A total of 34 screw-in items. After getting all of that out, I put each one of them on a piece of tape in the exact position they came out of the carburetor, and then I cleaned and soaked the metering blocks and the main body with carb. cleaner. The float bowls were also cleaned and soaked overnight with all the other parts. After soaking, I blew them out with Gumout and compressed air. If there is still a problem, I know it will not be from trash or dirt. A new carburetor kit was installed.
I called Barnett Performance in Atlanta. They use to stock all the parts and kits for the BG Carburetors. They only carry Holley replacement parts now. They referred me to somebody out west that has purchased all the replacement parts from BG. Too much trouble, I didn't even write the number down.
I know from past experience that the Holley kits will fit the BG carburetors that I own. So I put a Holley Dominator kit into it. The thing that you have to be most careful about is using the correct metering block gasket. Pay strict attention to this when you disassemble the carburetor. All the kits come with two sets of metering block gaskets. One for a two-ckt. unit, that has an intermediate idle ckt., and the other one for a carb. with no intermediate idle ckt.. All the other parts are universal.
After starting up the engine, I had to adjust the float levels and the idle speed. As I said, everything seems to be good.
I still want to change out the gear in the rear end from 4.30 back to 4.56. I also want to try Silas' Quickfuel 1250 carburetor on my engine (before I buy the new Holley 1250). I have a lot of time to play with different combinations.
Since Nitro Jam is not until May 2012. We have to be at our peak for Nitro Jam, and then the next month is the Father's Day Race. We should still be at the top of our game!
If I hit the lottery, I will get someone's EFI system (after I get the new engine, transmission and the new Pro-Mod body :>)
January 7, 2012 - Barbara and I are both back to 100%! We are ready to watch the Wild Card games of the NFL Playoffs and the BCS national championship games.
The 1320go system has been implemented at No Problem Raceway Park. The system has been in use for almost two years at State Capitol Raceway and I have been using the system for almost two years. I love it! Each track has its own 1320go site. You can follow many tracks around the country and the different special series, such as Nitro Jam and NHRA National events.
Not only can you see live timing, just like sitting in the tower and looking at the timing computer, but you can compile all of your individual runs and print them out. The split times are calculated for you and the temperature information is printed out with the run, including Density Altitude readings.
1320go is like having all your time slips on one piece of paper, or you can look at it as, taking away all that time you spend entering all your time slip data and weather data into your manual log book at the end of the day.
Your runs are stored in the 1320go computer and are always available. The runs of all of the competition is available to members. You can select certain cars and get a warning when they are about to make a pass.
There are a lot of other app's in the program, some available at extra cost, but for the most part, the regular membership covers all that you need. Some of the extra cost app's are there to help you improve your drag racing knowledge and to help you improve your driving skills. If you like statistics, as I do, you will love 1320go.
January 4, 2012 - We are getting better! Barbara is still not feeling good, but she is recovering. I am almost at 100%.
Watched a lot of football in the past week. Now I am getting ready for the NFL playoffs. Geaux Saints!
I won a Superbowl in my 12 team, Fox Fantasy Football league. That's a 1st for me.
January 1, 2012 - Barbara and I have been under the weather, but we are both on the upswing from a virus we caught right after Christmas.
We watched, on TV, the ball drop in Times Square last night. At midnight, we got down on our knees and said a prayer for all our family members, friends and for our country. We thanked God for the blessings that have been bestowed on our family, in the face of the economy, we are really blessed!
We did not have a very consistent racing season last year, but we did not have any destructive problems. Not many years we can say that. The car ran great all year. The head work came out excellent and we are looking forward to a good 2012 season.
I expect to have more eye surgery this year but other than that, nothing will come between a good season except the occasional vacation to recharge our batteries.
Kevin should do 99% of the driving again this year. When he gets his truck ready, his truck will take priority on our racing team. My car will be happy sitting in the workshop (saving racing fuel and parts)!
Barbara is fully eligible to retire, but will continue to work until they upset her, or she feels like staying home. She is perfectly happy with her job. She wants to help Mrs. Barbara Morris (grand-daughter) with her new baby in May and that may have some bearing on how long she works (If I need some new parts, she may have to work a little longer...)!
I plan on doing (that's, "having done") several home projects around the house. All in the interest of making it more comfortable in our retirement. That includes putting new tile on the floor in the workshop. I have some real nice looking, but cheap, tile in the restroom of the shop. I may just use that in the area where the car sits. We already have a walking tile border around the car and the work benches.
Dec. 30, 2012 - We took Milana to New Orleans today to catch her plane back home to NYC. We will miss her and we look forward to her next visit.
Dec. 27, 2011 - We had an excellent Christmas! Milana and all the grand kids went shopping before and after Christmas and closed down the malls on both days. All of the girls went to church with Barbara and I at 7am on Christmas morning. PHOTOS
I cooked a big pot of "Skip's Gumbo" and a pot of Jambalaya to go along with the ham, turkey and a big assortment of baked delicacies.
We had about 16 people here while we opened gifts and we sat 12 people for dinner. There was not much left of anything.
Dec. 23, 2011 - My niece, Milana Longmire, arrived for a one week vacation and to help us celebrate Christmas! Milana lives in New York city.
Barbara Morris, Liz Herbert and I rode down to New Orleans to pick her up from the airport. As soon as they arrived in Baton Rouge, they promptly joined Jeremy Herbert, and a few friends, and hit the town. Welcome Milana!
Dec. 21, 2011 - Our racing season is officially over. SCR will not be open until Jan. 15th and NPRP will not open until Jan. 4th.
I contacted Alvin and Kevin today to put the wheels in motion to change out my rear end gears. Kevin will take everything apart and Alvin will set up the gears. That should happen in the next two weeks. With the 4:56 gears, I should be ready for any 1/8 mile competition and we should run better in the 1/4 mile also.
This year, I am going to make a personal goal to run Mr. Silas Rogers' Nova, that Pontiac of Mr. Mott and the show car Chevelle of Mr. Van Johnson. Like the Country & Western song says, "I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was"... I plan on beating each of them!
Mrs. Richarda W. Jones, wife of Bracket Masters President Tarrus Jones, will graduate from Southern University, with a Masters Degree in Education, this Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. Congratulations Richarda!
Ms. Toshia Jackson, daughter of fellow racer Mr. Reginald Jackson, graduated from Southeastern University this past Saturday with a Bachelors of Arts in Marketing. Toshia's family gave a graduation party after the ceremony with many of Toshia's friends present to wish her well. Congratulations Toshia!
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