• July 29 2008

dept of so tired update!

Back from Castrol/ Mission raceways.  Everything is still a blur or tiredness, but the short report is this:

We ran our fastest and quickest ever and the car is in great shape!  Although we were first round fodder for the mighty Bucky Austin- Steve Plueger Dodge Omni, we were thrilled we at least in the game, and lived to fight again . 

More on the event later.

•  JULY 23, 2008

GIVEN'R DEPT. UPDATE

Our parts and pieces have finally arrived.  The all new motor went into the car last night. The clutch can and trans are going in tonight and we should be ready to test fire tonight or tomorrow.  The car MAY be at a private test session Friday morning, and if things are happy, It MAY show up in Mission as a '57 on Saturday morning. 

•  Dept of rules ....

We have long been fans of and supporters of Nostalgia funny car racing. The current group we belong to, the NFCA , has a rule that the oldest body permitted is 1965.  This rule is based on the fact that in a purest nostalgia world, there were no funny cars prior to 1965.  This is the reason we are building the 1978 Corvette. We have over the years lobbied the group to amend the rules, and found out this week that it will be put to a vote by the members to grant the '57 in the fold.  We intend to push on with the Corvette project ( although we are getting quite behind) regardless, but will keep you all informed of the out come.   Here's to having 2 legal bodies!

•   Promo stuff update

Our latest batch of handout cards are in. Make sure you drop by the pits and get your copy!

Also check out the latest Taggz card.  You can get you own at www.taggz.com

• July 13, 2008

just about finished glassing stuff this weekend. Thx for the couple of crew that helped out.  # 4 Daughter Courtney cut glass all weekend.  We renamed her Itchy Mcbitchy.   As with all of our recent cars, we have glassed in a couple of Canadian pennies.  One is  a 1978 for the year of the body style, and one is a 2008 for the year we built it.

oh! The fumes!	glassed in Canadian Pennies. 1978 and 2008	checking for clearance on tank

 

 

• July 12, 2008

 

Bryant's has shipped the new crank ... hope we get it early this coming week. 

Today we finished the wing and then removed the body and flipped it upside down to start 'glassing in all the supports.  It's "itchy week."

 

•   And just because my guys are getting bored waiting for parts , we decided to start mounting a new altered body on the chassis.  AA/FA anyone?   

 

 

 

• July 10, 2008.

Scary things happen in racing sometimes , and this event that happened to IHRA TF/FC driver in Edmonton last week is up there with some of the scariest. Go here for the news. trans is blown off of engine and spins around between drivers legs

Corvette Update

We are finishing the new rear spoiler and ailerons. Looks pretty good.  The boys have started on the windows, blower burst panel and escape hatch.

new "vent windows". Vettes never had bvent windows did they?	Body burst panel.	Escape hatch	One side of first stage of spoiler

 

 

 

• CONGRATS TO OUR PAL JOEY STECKLER!!!!!!

a HUGE  " attaboy" to Joey Steckler and his team who took there beautiful '69 Corvette Pro Nostalgia funny car to the big win at the IHRA Rocky Mountain nationals in Edmonton over the weekend in the 7.50 class.

 Joey and his staff at Joeys Place paint most of the top notch show and race cars in western Canada, and his race car is a pristine example of how things should be done.

Way to go gang!  We are proud of you!

( taken from speedzonemagazine.com)

Joey Steckler wins the Pro Nostalgia class with a win over Brent Harris. Steckler gets his biggest win in 7.50 Funny car racing running right on the 7.50 index.

 

 

• July 4, 2008

Happy Birthday to our cousins from the south.

 

Found an interesting story about the fellow that built our new corvette body for us. Click here to read the story

Also found this picture which I thought was pretty cool taken in his shop.

Unfortunately we will be unable to attend the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals.  Our damage form the test 2 weeks ago was worse than we thought.  A nice new Bryant crank is on its way as well as some updated oiling parts from Plueger. We hope to be back on track in the next 2 weeks.

• July 1, 2008

Happy Birthday Canada!

 

• June 29 2008

Body Dept update

Whew its hot!  31 degrees c today ( that's 87f for our US readers) and for us that's killer.  I don't know how those poor folks in AZ can cope.  I know my Canadian ass feels like its going to die when its this hot.

 

The guys worked like dogs all weekend.  The tree is done, the new skirts are 80 percent fabbed, the windshield, windows and rear wing template are all done. We even built a BBQ, a body cart, and repaired the headers on the car.

Here's a few pix of the progress

Special thanks to Eco Medical for letting us do the tree fabrication in there shop!

click on the thumbnails below to see them full size

out side

it rolls around

short fat dictator huh?

aa/fc!

the back and wing

the first lift and its LITE!

.

out side

 

 

• June 28 2008

Body dept update

- The tree'ing continues .  Today we made the front latch and started fabing in the rocker panel  skirt extensions.  We decided to not drop them as much as the '57 in an effort to make it look slightly more period correct.

" Prospector iv "	we pulled the rocker panels in at least 7 inches	rear view	the stuff undernieth	on the hoist
workin

 

 

 

• June 22, 2008

 

•  shop update

New parts are coming from Ohio , and California to do repairs from last weeks testing mishap. The parts will arrive soon and we hope to resume testing at the upcoming bike drags in Edmonton.

In the mean while, it seemed like a great chance to catch up on some other work around the shop.  The guys mounted our new American Racing Wheels ,  built our team burger BBQ and have begun work building the tree on the new  body.

Special thanks to our friends at ACE manufacturing for building us some great body mount pads.

click the pictures below to see them in full size

special body pads made for us by the great folks at ACE manufacturing	the pads get glued into place with bondo, then when the tree is built the body get flipped and the pads get glassed in	using some scraps we establish the nose height at 3.25 inchs	new American Racing wheels will be used for the Corvette	back side of front wheels
the rear tree is coming along

 

 

 

• Horrible news

Bob, Jay ,our team and our families would like to extend our sincere condolences to the Kalitta family .  Scott Kalitta was killed Saturday racing his funny car in New Jersey.

 

• June 18, 2008

new legal body update.

-  Tonight we pulled our '57 body off the chassis and set the new "legal" Corvette body on. The fuel tank will need to be modified, but looks like the fit is ok otherwise. Watch for this body to debut at Mission raceway July 26, with a drop dead paint job by our pals at Joeys Place.  Was hoping to have the rear set a bit lower, but we may have to install the new NHRA f/c fuel cage on the chassis this winter so we will wait till then for that.

click the pix below for full size photos.

 

 

 

• JUNE 16 2008

 general update!

 Man , where to start?  So much is happening its hard to keep track. lets start with ......

-  Ron Hodgson's kick off party to the 2008 local race season and a celebration for his driver Terry Capp who was inducted into the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame.

The party was held Thursday at Ron's race shops and was by invite only to about 300 of his pals.  Capp , ourselves , the Sitko family , Code Red , Bob Cantin and a handful of other interesting cars were on hand.   A great party Ron!

click photos to see larger version

Bob , Roland Leong	nice 57 rag	cool FED	capp fired up	bubble body
code red car	big crowd	a nice ferrari	the Sitkos were there	full size remote control car
great party	unloading	Bob, Roland and Twig Ziegler

 

•  testing, testing!

- June 13, The team spent the day at the track for a private test session . We spent the day resolving issues and made a 60' hit and then disassembled the car. It was in good shape!

- June 14,  The team started at 8 sharp for a long day of testing.  Bubble up crew chief Roland Leong helped us understand the data we were seeing, and advised us a few changes.  He watched over us throughout the day and really gave some great advise.  The car was started 7 or 8 times before we ever hit the track, getting the idle temps just right , but once we resumed testing for a 330' shot, the car sounded great. After the shot, the team checked everything, tweaked the car and made a 660' shot. The car is really behaving the way it should and is starting to haul ass and still no damage!  2 changes and back we go for a 1000' shot. The car left like a rocket but the trans expired at the shift.  The resulting high rpm expired the engine. We were done for the day, dejected, but at the same time happy with what went on, with what we learned from Roland and with the potential the car has. Pictures later!

further: we apologize to Edmonton and Calgary that the resulting breakage would not allow us to race at your weekend events.

• June 9 2008

•  Race Update

We finally lit the car Saturday at the shop and it sounded great.  Loaded up the truck and trailer and parts, topped up the nitro tanks and headed off first thing Sunday morning for some testing at Castrol Raceway . Unloaded everything, set the car up , lit it up and warmed it ... and the rain started.  The nitro fumes seeded the clouds and the event was canceled.....  sigh. We took the time to go over the whole car, and took a few nice shots before loading it back up.

•   New stuff updates!

We love new stuff!   This week our cool new American race wheels arrived courtesy of our sponsors at Fountain Tire.  These new wheels will be primarily used for the Corvette body.