Other than that, I have been keeping an eye on the progress of my car at the paint shop. It is almost ready to paint. We had to wait on the new hood to come in and it is beautiful! Harwood makes some real nice fiberglass pieces, which have strength and they are relatively light. We had to modify my attachment points and some of the sheet metal to get it to fit. The previous owner had added extra aluminum sheet metal under the old hood to provide attachment points, which I cannot use.

While talking to Van Johnson about installing my Lexan, he turned me on to a new (too me) product called “Rivet Nuts”. They provide an attachment point for screws and take the place of using “Pop Rivets”. With these, you can remove a panel, or in my case, the Lexan, whenever you want, and it can be screwed back on very easy. The tool is almost like a pop rivet gun, and the action to insert the rivet nut is the same, but you end up with a threaded insert. There are many sizes to choose from for different installations. I am going to use them to put a removable panel under and over my fuel pump and filter in the trunk. It will let me change the filter and service the pump without having to drill out pop rivets. One word of caution, if Mr. Johnson uses it, it has to be expensive! The size rivet nuts that I am going to use are $25.00 per 100, and you have to purchase the screws on top of that, $3.80 per 100. A kit with tool and 75 assorted rivet nuts, 5 different sizes and no screws, is approximately $75-90, according to where you purchase it.

I put my small trailer in the shop and changed out most of the running lights and tail lights. I added some reflectors and serviced all 4 hubs. I now have all new bearings and all of my lights are bright and the signals work excellent. Now I will paint the small trailer. After that, I will turn my attention to the large trailer, servicing those hubs and then give it a good washing to get the scum off of the outside from sitting up for almost two years.

I am trying to design a new logo for my “Mr. Skip Racing.com” web site and to go on the car. I have a few ideas but nothing solid yet. I stopped by Central Graphics and talked to them, but they don’t do art work from scratch. When I get the design and some graphics that can be put on the computer, they will produce the logo and put it on the car and trailer. I picked out some real nice flames for the new paint job. It is going to be different, like nothing else around Baton Rouge.

Barbara and I plan to have a Blessing & Dedication for the workshop on Sunday, August 31, 2008. I hope the car is back by then so it can be blessed for the upcoming testing and return to the track. That is the day of the car show and, the first big IHRA 3 day race at State Capitol Raceway.