What a Ride!

Those of you that have followed my dream may not realize that my first blog post happened in March of 2017 nearly 2 1/2 years ago. It all began because because Traci and I heard a hot rod boat on the lake at our house in north Texas. The sound of that boat spawned a desire to build something fast with a good ole American made V8 engine in it.

I won't repeat the whole story because I have already posted that story elsewhere on my site but lets just say I had a false start or two.  Even with the false starts, I am very comfortable that God has led me in the right direction to achieve my dreams. Luke 1:37 says, "For nothing will be impossible with God". "The Black Hole" is proof of that.

The project has evolved so much from the beginning. First the drag boat, then the trade for the Corvette (which was going to be a Top Sportsman car using the drag boat engine, and much slower), then the commitment to build an all out sub 6 second ProMod car. 

I am so excited to reveal the car to all of you who have been following the dream. It is pretty much done now with only a few small cleanup things to do. The tubs are glassed in, hood is painted,  decals are installed, black borders on the windows painted, and the windows are permanently installed. These pictures are the first of the car actually seeing the sunshine for the first time a couple of days ago. It is a beautiful piece of equipment.

As all of you have figured out by now, I give God all of the glory for this awesome dream becoming a reality. I am so blessed to be to this point. You will notice on the hood, Luke 1:37 is being displayed to tell the world that anything is possible! I want everyone that sees this car to know why it exists and to be motivated by it. One of the reasons I chose to display this verse is for my cousin's daughter Kayla who is battling cancer. Kayla, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! Keep fighting and we will keep praying. We also have a friend of the company who's wife is battling cancer so it is for her too.

The challenges that we have faced building this car can in no way be compared to the battles Kayla has and will face. She has such a great attitude  and a lot of people are inspired by her tenacity. Traci and I face some big hurdles as we move into the testing and racing phase of the dream. Like Kayla, I don't know, what I don't know, about the struggles ahead.  But, like Kayla, I do know that God will be with us. 

To represent God's awesome power, we added decals on the sides of the front fenders that say "Powered By Jesus". The car is truly powered by Jesus' grace.

We have built this car to eventually compete in NHRA ProMod racing. That is not an easy class to compete in. Typically, 25 to 30 cars show up to qualify to race at an NHRA race. In order to qualify for a 16 car field you must be able to run 5.8 second elapse times. The quickest I have ever gone in my dragster is a 7.50. That is a huge difference in ET but the bigger difference is the dragster did the 7.50 with a long wheelbase (225 inches long) while the Corvette is only 112 inches. Almost 3 times the horsepower with half of the wheelbase makes for a very exciting ride with very little room for error. In the last two NHRA races, 5 cars were either destroyed or damaged significantly. The last one was our friend Marc Caruso (yes, the guy that we purchased our engine from). Poor Marc had both parachutes fail to open and he had problems with his brakes as well. Marc ran through the sand traps and safety nets at a high rate of speed. Marc walk away but destroyed the car and injured his back.

This will definitely be unknown territory for an old man with no experience. Most people think I am crazy. I am not crazy, I just like to prove that Nothing Is Impossible With God! As motivation for myself and hopefully Kayla, I am setting a personal goal to run in the 5.80 s at some point with the car. A tough goal for sure but not impossible! Again, not even in the ballpark of Kayla's challenge but a big one for me. I am calling this goal "5.80 for Kayla" Like Kayla, I don't the details of how I am going to achieve my goal, I just know God will guide us!

The car is striking (in my opinion) now that it is completed and all of the details can be seen.

Next up, some work on the truck and trailer, ordering spares for 2 days of testing, and scheduling the actual testing dates. I talked with Mike Janis Jr. last week and it looks like August will be the best month for them to come to Texas to help us tune the car and tune the driver, ha! We have so much to learn. I cannot wait to work with Mike Sr. and Jr. and learn from them. 

Once we decide on the date, I will post the actual dates on the blog. We are going to rent the track (Houston Raceway Park) at Baytown for 2 days and get as many runs as we can. It is going to be very hot in August so we are probably going to rent the track for evening/night testing sessions to make it a little easier on everyone. I have talked to Austin Hayward (the track manager) and our friends and family are welcome to watch the testing.

More details to come. I hope you enjoy the pictures below of Traci and myself with "The Black Hole"  I love the pictures of my two beautiful girls together, ha! 

Next goal, a "5.80 for Kayla"

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