Loading Up for the big day(s)

Just a few little things left to go. Traci and I finished the trailer today. We will start loading everything tomorrow.

We have to go to Sam’s to buy snacks and drinks for everyone. Once we get back, we will clean everything up, load the car and the Honda UTV.

I go to get an NHRA physical on Monday morning so I can try to earn my NHRA Pro Mod competition license at the test session.

Once the physical is done on Monday, Traci and I will head to Houston Raceway Park to set up our pit for the test sessions. We will be pitted very close to the track and our work area will face the media suite where everyone will be hanging out. Everyone will be able to watch us work on the car between runs from the media suite and stay cool!

Hopefully we will have a relaxing evening by ourselves at the track Monday evening. I plan on going over everything on the car one more time and getting some sleep. We haven’t had much of that lately!

We will also practice getting in and out of the car with full gear on and practice some routines.

Those of you that are coming on Tuesday or Wednesday might be interested in our planned schedule. The gates on the pit side (East side of track) will be left open so you can come and go. We plan on having a get together at 5:00 pm and a group picture with everyone who is there.

Our first run will hopefully happen at around 6:00 pm. The first runs will be short runs to get the car set up and get me used to driving it. They will hopefully get progressively longer and faster as we get more seat time.

My other car (“The Blue Banana”) will also be running with a young man driving it to get ready for the bracket racing finals next weekend. He will be campaigning the car in the final race of the year. This will give everyone another car to watch while we are getting “The Black Hole” serviced between runs.

 I can’t wait to see all of our friends and drive the car for the first time!!!

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Count down, T- Minus 1 week and counting

This is the last week before our test session. It has been a long haul for sure!

Since this journey began......

1. Traci and I have had our home flood twice.

2. I have hurt myself pretty bad on motorcycles twice (both requiring surgery to put me back together again.

3. Dad broke his femur and we thought we would lose him. He recovered but it has been an ordeal.

4. I built a drag boat that I never actually got to drive.

5. I started building "The Black Hole" as a Top Sportsman car (much less violent car).

6. I did my usual obsessive/compulsive behavior and decided to redo everything as a Pro Modified car.

This process started in 2015 and is finally coming to fruition next Tuesday and Wednesday. Most people less hard headed than myself would have given up long ago.

Because I am so hard headed and I have the most supportive/patient wife on earth, the dream is almost here. This project has taken more hours than you can imagine. We have worked almost every night and weekend for the last two years without taking much of a break. Instead of going on vacations and dates with Traci, we have worked through cold weather, hot weather, Texas size mosquitos, horse flys that feel like they have a miniature chainsaw mounted to their mouth, itchy carbon fibers sticking in your skin, busted knuckles, and Houston heat!

I don't expect anyone to understand why we would do something like this but I can tell you that it is one of the most rewarding projects I have ever done! Even if we don't have good results next week, this project is a major accomplishment! Not many people get to drive a car at this level and even fewer of them actually put one together themselves. I am sure that I made a lot of mistakes in the way that I built it, but hopefully, most of those can be worked around.

It looks like we will have around 50 to 75 people show up to see the dream come true. We have folks coming from as far away as Virginia to participate. Mike Janis Sr. and Jr. are coming from Lancaster, NY to help out. I feel so blessed to have this kind of support from you all!

I really appreciate that support!

I want to take the time while I am thinking about it to apologize in advance for any unforeseen events that could put a damper on this event. Although we have done everything in our power to make sure everything goes OK, everyone should know that anything can happen. I feel good about our chance of success , but I want everyone to be informed, ha! (kind of like a disclaimer on a TV commercial)

Here are the facts:

It is going to be hot and muggy. It could rain us out. There could be earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, zombie apocalypse, sink holes, and even a 50 cent part could break and keep us from being able to run the car. The driver of the car could even soil his fire suit at the first hit of the throttle, ha!

Now that the disclaimer is covered let me tell you what I think is going to happen! I think we have been blessed by God with the most capable mentors you could get. We have great people supporting and helping us. We have good equipment on the car. We have given 110% to making sure everything is right. We are going to get better with each run and we are going to exceed my expectations. We are going to accomplish more in one weekend than most can in one year. It is going to be a phenomenal 2 days of testing thanks to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

No matter what happens, we will all be together and you will get to meet some nice folks (even my UPS man and one of my freight delivery guys will be there), see a beautiful race car, and hear some beautiful noise! That big Hemi makes the most beautiful noise I have ever heard.

I can't wait to show all of you what we have put our heart and soul into for more hours than you can imagine!

Please pray for us to have a good trip to the track, good weather, no mechanical issues, and no driver issues. Mike Janis Sr. and Jr. have their work cut out for them!!!!

See you there!

This time Mike Janis Sr. and Jr. will be hanging out in our pits! I can't wait! God is Awesome!

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Down to the Details

We are getting down to the small details on the dream of driving and tuning a ProMod drag car.

Mike Janis Sr. and Jr. booked their flights today so everything is a "GO". When Mikey told me that he had booked flights, my heart began to race! Wow, I am about to do something that only a few thousand people on earth have done, drive a sub 6 second ProMod! I am blessed beyond belief.

Pretty much all of the big stuff is done but there are a thousand little things that have to be done before testing on Aug 13-14.

"The Black Hole" was loaded into Moby (the big white race trailer) for the first time this weekend to make sure we could fit everything we need for two days of running the car. Everything fit fine and the new air suspension was able to lift all of the weight without a problem.

The car even went in without dragging on the front end which kept us from having to take the front end off of the car every time we load it. There was maybe an inch to spare for the Honda UTV to fit under the car. Almost looks like the trailer was made for our operation!!!

You will notice in the pictures that the new carbon fiber wheelie bars have arrived (Purple and black thingies sticking out of the back of the car). They are beautiful, light weight, and very strong!

We sent out an invitation for you all to join us for the test session. At this point, we have a bout 35 - 40 people who will be attending one or both days. Some family, some friends, and some people who just keep track of the dream on the blog. It is going to be a lot of fun for me to share this experience with others! Those of you who can't be here will be able to see some highlights on this blog and Facebook!

Lodging accommodations are just a few miles down the road on Interstate 10 if you need a place to stay. There are 3 or 4 big name hotels and lot of eating joints in the same area.

I will be filling in more details as we get closer to test day.

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The Dream Day is Set

I have had bigger days in my life (accepting Jesus as my savior, marrying my best friend, having our two kids, having grand kids, etc) but this is my biggest hobby related dream ever. I just spoke with Mike Janis Jr. and we have set the date for testing "The Black Hole". We will be renting Houston Raceway Park on August 13th and 14th for two evening/night testing/training sessions. 

After nearly three years of building, rebuilding, and struggles, we are nearly there!

God has blessed me beyond belief to enable me to pursue this dream. At times I feel guilty to be where I am at while others struggle. Just know that I recognize what I have and I am praying for those who are struggling. "There but for the grace of God, go I"

For those of you that want to be there, you are welcome to show up. Houston Raceway Park is going to allow us to use the Media Suite so everyone has a place to stay out of the heat. Many thanks to Austin Hayward and Houston Raceway Park for accommodating us.

A few things you need to know about testing. I am a rookie and we will be taking baby steps to get the car and driver to be able to do the job.  Although this day will be super exciting for me, don't expect competitive runs early on. The Janis family will be coaching and guiding me to a successful outcome. Their goal is to keep me safe and get me as much seat time as possible, not to be competitive! I will be following their coaching to the letter. Only when they tell me to drive it to the finish line, will I do that. I suspect that our best runs will happen on the second day after the car gets tuned and my heart rate stays below a ridiculous rate!

These cars require lots of maintenance after each run and most of our time will be spent working on the car, not driving it. That is just the nature of the beast! 

Mike and I have acquired all of the spare parts we think we will need but there is always a potential to break a small part that prevents us from running. Again, the nature of the beast!

Traci and I are normally the kind of people that host all of our guests when we schedule a gathering of any kind. This will be different for us. Traci is a key member of our crew and we will have to be focussed like a laser to make sure we get everything right and learn as much as we can. We would love to host and I apologize in advance for not being able to focus on all of you that are there.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with the current world champ in ProMod and we will be shadowing them every waking hour. You will be able to watch us work but our pit area will be a work zone and a dangerous place so everyone will have to give us the space to work. I want to make sure that nobody gets hurt and we get as many runs as possible. Everyone will get a chance to look at there car but we will have a buffer zone when it is game time.

I will give you more details as we get closer but I wanted everyone to understand the environment at the track.

I hope some of you can be there because this is a big day in mine and Traci's life. We would appreciate your prayers during our dream coming true!

Clifford Gets a Makeover

Those of you that follow this blog know that my cousin's daughter Kayla has been battling cancer and has started a new treatment trial to stop and defeat the cancer. She is so tough and is fighting this battle with a tenacity that most people do not have. As a tribute to her willpower and as motivation for both of us, I have initiated a campaign for us both to accomplish our goals. I am calling it "5.80s For Kayla".

I chose 5.80s because it is a goal that is a pretty tough for a newbie who pretty much built my car on my own. Not impossible but tough! Just like Kayla's battle, not impossible but tough!  Luke 1:37 "Nothing is impossible with God"!

I am sitting in bed writing this and I am more tired than I have been in years. I just finished doing a two week marathon makeover on Clifford The Big Red Truck. I have not done anything to Clifford since we bought him and it was time to go completely through it to make sure it is ready to go racing.

I ended up replacing every component on the brakes (both front and rear), wheel bearings, king pins/bushings, changed the differential oil, transmission oil, engine oil, anti-freeze, dash lights, dome lights, cab heater pipes, hoses, belts, mounted the trailer hitch,  and a bunch of other stuff!

I am pretty sure that I do not want to be a heavy truck mechanic any time soon. Nothing is more nasty, heavy, and stuck like parts on a heavy truck.

Clifford rolled back out of the garage this evening with his shining new undercarriage and even had his wheels polished back to a shine.

Now I am back on the trailer to get the spares that have been coming in loaded in the trailer, and to test fit The Black Hole. It has never been loaded into Moby the Big White Trailer! I have to build brackets to store the doors of the car, a holder for my TIG welding gas bottle, and wire up the TIG welder to the generator. I did manage to get the weather station mounted in the trailer and tested it. The weather vane was not showing wind direction or speed but I am working with the manufacturer to solve the problem. It is a nice weather station and will be critical for tuning the car to the performance altitude. Weather conditions have a major effect on the tune up of a race engine and its performance. For instance, on the day I installed the weather station, the performance altitude was nearly 2000 feet and we are only at 165 feet above sea level here in Magnolia. That is a big difference!

We have narrowed our testing dates down to two possibilities. One is on August 13-14 and the other is on August  20-21. We have penciled in track rental dates with Houston Raceway Park for both sets of dates and will cancel one of them. We also will have the use of the press suite for our family and friends to have a place to hang out while we are working on the car between runs. It will be air conditioned and will be a big relief for everyone to stay out of the heat. There will be a lot of downtime between our runs. We are also going to be renting the track in the evenings and into the night so the track workers and our crew do not overheat. I cannot wait to get to work with the Mike Janis Sr. and Mike Janis Jr. to get the car down the track. It will be an experience I will never forget.

Please keep Kayla and us in your prayers to help us achieve our goals! God is guiding us every step of the way.

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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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Church From My Point of View

As Traci and I sat at a Houston restaurant at a business dinner with “customers” last night, I realized that these aren’t customers at all. This was a group of friends put together by our Lord and Savior. They just happen to be our customers too. This was a group of people that were put together through a series of events that was undeniably supernatural.

When I watched this group talking and laughing and thought about the connection it was like going to  a church revival for me. I have never been as loyal of a church attendee as some people and I may have to answer for that some day but instead I attend my own form of church every day. You see, church to me can come in the form of that meeting. Or it might be....

1. Walking into our little business as see my sister, my friend/former boss, a life long friend’s sons, my daughter and her husband, my daughter’s best friend, our wonderful business partner, his sister, and other friends, family, and acquaintances that work for us.

2. Getting an email telling me that one of our customers (who also happens to be a pastor) was selected as Father of the Year in his home city. Pretty awesome customer to say the least.

3. Shooting guns with some good friends who just happen to be Christians and customers.

4. Looking up in a tree in our front yard and see this mama raccoon hanging out of a hole in our tree with her babies playing all around her. (She looks exhausted by the way)

5. Sitting at a drag race at dusk watching a Top Fuel dragster make a 3 second run at 320+ mph  and turning around to see this sky behind us.

6. Taking a chunk of raw aluminum and turning it into a beautiful shiny finished part in a lathe or mill

7. Watching a stack of parts turn into this beautiful piece of machinery.

8. Looking at a list of people and family that I know on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other places and realize what great people they are.

9. Seeing my cousin’s daughter Kayla’s positive outlook when most people would just give up.

10. Watching my grandkids develop their personalities, mechanical skills, artistic abilities, laughing, or just falling asleep on the couch.

11. Sitting down next to my sleeping wife and writing about race cars, friends, family, and God in this silly blog.

12. Getting a text from my sunshine when I am on a date in the garage with the other woman ("The Black Hole") saying "You OK? Love You".

12. Having a discussion about Jesus on our drive to work, our lake house, or to going pick up a hot rod part on the other side of the USA.

You see, to me, church doesn’t have to be held in a cute building with a steeple and a flock of people. I am not saying that church is not something we should attend. I am saying that you don’t have to be in a building to have church. I have church every day, several times a day as I see the miracles I am surrounded by.

I see them everywhere and pray for them every day. I pray for Kayla, I pray for Cameron’s wife (a friend of one of our employees), and I pray for the safe and successful testing of “The Black Hole”.

I can guarantee that when that big Hemi engine starts up for my first run down the drag strip, I will be in church!!!