Awning is Complete

The awning is now complete!!! It took us two complete weekends and a few weeknights to turn 80 yards of fabric into a new shelter for us to work under. All of the buckles and fasteners are in place and we test fit it tonight. It really turned out nice!

We are still waiting for the new cabinets to come in so we can get everything organized. I also have to do a bunch of maintenance work on Moby and Clifford's running gear and drive train. I have the stuff ordered to do brake jobs, new driveshaft u-joints, New king pins, tie rod ends, change oil and filters, and anything else that needs to be done to get them both ready to travel down the road.

Until all of the parts come in I will shift my focus back to the "Black Hole"

This was the week that I was supposed to test the "Black Hole" for the first time. Mike Janis was right. February is probably not a good time to test a car as powerful as the "Black Hole". It is cold and rainy here is Houston this week. I would have killed myself trying to get everything done only to get rained out anyway. Thanks Mike for slowing me down and talking some sense into me! I will test when everything is done, checked, and double checked.

I have to remember that all things happen in God's time not mine! Patience is a virtue and preparation  is everything when you  have dangerous hobbies. I will keep plugging away and I will be done when I am done.

Here are some pictures of the finished awning. Another major step complete:

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"I can do all things through HIM who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13

Our project this weekend was a daunting one to say the least. Our new trailer Moby has a huge awning to provide shade over our crew as we service the cars. The only problem was that is was the most offensive green color you have ever seen. Between it and Clifford the Big Red Truck, our rig looked like a bad Christmas decoration! It also had a lot of torn places and really bad repair jobs done on it.

Traci and I believe that if anything is worth doing, it is worth doing right! So an ugly Christmas decoration rig just wasn't going to work.

As you know if you follow this blog, we delayed the testing of the Black Hole to give us more time to get everything right. We have also decided that we should make sure our tow rig is right as well. We are still waiting for some cabinets for the trailer and some other organization accessories that will allow us to store everything neatly.

The first race for the dragster is next weekend but we are not going to have our new trailer ready so we are not going to go to the race. We could probably throw everything in the trailer and make it to the race but we would be thrashing to do that. We have re-prioritized what we want to accomplish this year and have decided we want to take our time, do everything right and perfect our game.

That brings us to our project this week. We started with 80 yards of gray Sumbrella outdoor fabric and  built a new (less offensive colored) awning for Moby. We are almost finished and only like cutting the awning smooth on the front edge and hemming it. It also does not have buckles and snaps  on the end flaps to tighten them up yet.

It turned out awesome and will serve us well for years to come! We made a lot of modifications to the original awning design to make it stronger and easier to put up. It is definitely an improvement.

Here are a couple of pictures before it is finished. I will add some finished photos when we get everything done this week.

This project definitely deserves a quote from the Bible:

"I can do all things through HIM who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13

We went from this!!!!!

TO THIS!!!! Pretty amazing what a little TLC will do!

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This Week's Progress

Traci and I have been focussing on getting the trailer ready for racing season. We have been sewing a new awning for the trailer. We are about half way done and it is looking nice. The one that came with the trailer is a funky green and color and when combined with Clifford (The Big Red Truck) it looks like a bad Christmas decoration, ha!

The awning is 50 foot long and 14 feet wide so it is a lot of cloth to sew. We hope we can get it ready in time for the bracket race on February 23 in Baytown.

Progress on "The Black Hole" is still happening but has slowed a bit to get ready to race the "Blue Banana".

Parts that I have been waiting for have been slowly arriving. I have been waiting on the carbon fiber brakes for over two months. They are amazingly light weight. Each rear rotor only weighs about 1 1/2 pounds. It is amazing that something this light weight and fragile looking can stop a 260 mph car in several hundred feet without destroying themselves.

We are still waiting on some cabinets for the trailer so we can finish it up.

Still lots of stuff to do. Who said pursuing dreams was easy? If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! Traci and I are truly blessed!

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The "Blue Banana" Has a New Home

We have been working on the new trailer to get it ready for racing. It is mostly done except for waiting for some new custom cabinets, making sure the brakes are in good shape, and putting a modern TV in it. We are also going to wrap it in white vinyl in our spare time, ha!

We also got B.A.R.T (Big @ss Race Trailer and after the famous pirate, Black Bart) ready to sell and listed on RacingJunk.com. (Looks like it may already be sold to a guy in Baton Rouge). We have all of our stuff moved to Moby (the new trailer) and the last step was to put the "Blue Banana" in its new home.

It is so nice not having to back it into the trailer and there is room for it, the "Black Hole", and our Honda pit vehicle. That would have been impossible in B.A.R.T. Also, when we named it B.A.R.T., our frame of reference was not what it is today. Moby is a BIG @SS RACE TRAILER!

Here is a picture of the "Blue Banana" in its new home. The Honda will go on the lift just above it and the "Black Hole" will go in the forward upper storage area.

I can't wait to start racing again. We have a legit racing rig now!

Here are some pictures:

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Not Going to Make It

Well it doesn't look like I am going to get to run the Black Hole in February like I had hoped. I had set the goal of February 20th or 21st because that weekend is my birthday and I thought that would be an awesome birthday!

I still have a long way to go and after talking with my friend Mike Janis, we feel like it would be smart to postpone until winter is over and the tracks have some rubber on them after winter. Mike believes that since I am trying to do everything right, I should take my time and make sure everything is as close to perfect as it can be.

As some of you know, Mike's dad is the current ProMod World Champion and Mike is the Crew Chief, so I am definitely going to listen to him.

I don't know when the debut will be and I am going to depend on Mike to guide me through that process.

I still have not received my carbon fiber brakes that I ordered in November so who knows when they will get here.

I have shifted my focus this weekend to getting the new (used) trailer ready to go race. Our first race for the dragster is February 23 so I need to have the trailer ready for that. I have moved a bunch of stuff around in the trailer to fit our operation better. I have ordered 5 more custom cabinets so I have places for all of the tools and spares that we need for the ProMod. I also fixed some electrical gremlins on the trailer. I upgraded the electrical system to be a full 50 amp system rather than the 30 amp system that was on it. The generator transfer switch was also not working and the shop lights would only work when the generator is running. Everything is working like it is supposed to now.

As I have been cleaning and fixing the trailer, I like it more and more. It is such a well built trailer and it is perfect for us. I have ordered all of the stuff to make a new awning and to wrap the trailer in white vinyl. It will look awesome once that is done.

Racing season is almost here! Traci and I are getting excited!

I will leave you with three pictures of the car with the engine back in it. All of that billet looks good with the purple frame!!!