| The Mullet Wrapper JULY 2008 PAVEMENT TRACK SPRINT CAR RACING Citrus County Speedway, Inverness, Fl. - Saturday, June 28, 2008. We finally completed repairs on the 27 and Robert and Bo brought the 3X out of hibernation, so both Hartleys were present for this event. Bo started 7th in the first heat and was moving up until he tried to pass Joey Aguilar on the inside. Joey ran Bo down into the rumble strips on the inside of turn one breaking the left nerf bar off. The car did a 270 degree spin and flopped over on its side. After the track workers righted the car, Bo restarted and again was moving up until the wing tree broke as a result of the “Tommy Tipover”. We started 4th in the 3rd heat and broke out of traffic in 6th, eventually working up to third using the outside to pass. The car felt good, but needed a little more drive off the corner. While Bo and Robert were repairing 3X, with help in the form of parts (a wing tree from Shane & Stan Butler and a left nerf bar from the Pissott-Brazil 21B, thanks guys), we decided to increase the spring rate on the left rear to drive the car off the turn better. We lined up 7th and Bo rolled off 14th. In the hot lap session before the start of the feature, the car felt reasonably good on the outside, so I made the decision to go to the outside immediately if it was open. It was, I did, and lost 5 positions as the car was VERY loose. I tried it again (couldn’t believe the car was THAT loose) and lost a couple more. Meanwhile, Bo was coming through the field. He passed me like I was painted on the track and eventually worked to 4th. On one restart, either I bumped the on/off switch or it vibrated itself closed, ‘cause the engine died coming off 4. Mickey Kempgens drilled me in the rear, but got off me and went on by. Mickey came over after the race to apologize. “Not necessary”, said I and thanked him for backing off and not turning me around as some in our association would do. The kid’s got class. At the checkered flag we were 12th. SCHEDULE TBARA 2008 SCHEDULE 12. Saturday, July 12 DeSoto 13. Saturday, August 2 New Smyrna; 14. Saturday, August 23, DeSoto 15. Friday, September 5 Orlando Speedworld, 16. Saturday, September 6 Citrus County 17. Saturday, September 27 DeSoto 18. Saturday, October 4 New Smyrna. 19. Saturday, October 25 DeSoto 20. Saturday, November 8 Citrus County BITS AND PIECES Those celebrating birthdays in July are: Dick Fieler July 1 Alan Bruns July 16 Stanley Dudek July 22 Jillian McBride July 22 Andrea Sielaff July 30 TRIVIA. Where did Glenn Roberts get the name “Fireball”? See answer in “LAST PARAGRAPH”. Remember, a correct answer entitles you to a free subscription to THE MONTHLY MULLET WRAPPER. We stripped the car on Monday, May 26 and got it to Jerry Stuckey, the Hurricane Chassis man on Wednesday. The frame will never be perfectly straight again, but as Jerry says, the important thing is the location of the spring/shock mounts. Got the car back the following week and it looked great! After a trip to Ben’s Paint Supply to get blue paint to match the powder-coat paint, Dave Shotsberger painted the frame and re-assembly began. Saturday, June 21, also Summer Solstice, Bob Mills, Billy Siewert, Bo Hartley, Dave Shotsberger, and I, Editor Americus, all of whom are Mulleteers, put in a hard productive day and have the car almost ready to go. Barring any strange and unusual circumstances, we are planning to race at Inverness Saturday night, the 28th. While cleaning the quick change rear-end and preparing it for installation, we found the reason for the crash. (All good drivers HAVE to have a reason – could NEVER be driver error). It is readily clear and apparent that the rear axle inboard brake pistons were not moving. Consequently, the outer pads pushed the rotor towards the inboard pad. When the inboard pad wore down to even with the caliper, the rotor contacted the caliper and effectively reduced rear braking by 50%. Ergo, the fronts locked up and away we went. Dave Shotsberger called Wilwood Brake Company to ascertain if they could shed any light on it. “Nope! Never heard of anything like that before.” That’s an interesting comment. I know for sure Don Heckman and Robert Stephenson, cars 22 and 3X respectively, have had the problem at one time or another and have tried various methods to prevent it, In Robert’ s case, they installed a “Y” fitting in the brake fluid supply line to feed both sides of the caliper equally. That didn’t work. Ray Banyas, Victory Engines and chief on teammate Jeff’s car, the DJ Racing 07, installed a spacer on the axle between the rotor and center section to stop the rotor from floating. That may very well be the best solution and is something we’re considering for the 27 car. We finished the assembly and rebuilding of the 27 on Tuesday June 24. The car really looks good considering what it has been through. Jerry did an excellent job on the frame and new body panels, Ben’s Paint Supply did very well matching the paint, and Dave Shotsberger finished off the work with an outstanding paint job. Thanks to all!!!! Mulleteer Susie Schardt received the “MUST SEE RACING” Little 500 DVD Friday, June 20th and I reviewed it the proximate weekend. The clarity and camera work was good, but the content was not. Several times, Mulleteer Dave Argabright and co-host Tom Bigelow were describing close racing action and we, the viewer, were treated to watching the leader or some other un-exciting sequence of sprint cars running in single file without close proximity. They also did not catch our crash on the 48th lap, nor Jeff’s getting run over by the 10 car which flipped into the turn 3 wall later in the race. Sometimes I wish I could direct a racing show. I would present it as a fan would see it. What a novel approach! Saturday, September 6, a Fireball Roberts Memorial Celebration is planned in his hometown of Apopka, Florida in “Mile Long City Park”. For those of you to young to remember Fireball, he was a highly talented racecar driver most known for his NASCAR prowess. In 1964, the stock cars experienced a marked increase in speed and little was known about aerodynamics; consequently, the cars did strange things in traffic. In the early laps of the World 600 at Charlotte in late May 1964, the rear of a car in front of Fireball lifted off the track and spun out of control. In the ensuing crash, Fireball was badly burned and succumbed to those injuries in early July. That same year, a horrible fiery crash on the first or second lap of the Indianapolis 500 claimed the lives of Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonald. Those two crashes and three deaths led to the development of fuel cells, on-board fire suppression systems, and fire proof wear for drivers, just as Dale Earnhardt’s death led to the development of head and neck restraint devices. We cannot make the Celebration with the racecar as we have a race scheduled that same evening; however, I hope to stop by on the way. Pam Roberts, Fireball’s daughter, is scheduled to be there, health permitting. According to an article I read written by Pam and contrary to what sports writers have written as gospel for decades, Fireball attended Daytona Mainland for about a year and one half, but moved back to Apopka to finish high school there, not at Mainland. He did pitch baseball at the University of Florida where he was studying engineering, but he did not get the nickname there. It came from his pitching days in sandlot baseball around Apopka. Hartley Racing’s website is coming along very well. Mulleteer and nephew Randy Carson has taken over the website and is implementing changes weekly. New ideas for the site are bubbling up daily. In fact, we are adding an aircraft section with pictures and other folderol. Check the site often. Visit us at www.hartleyracing.com. MEET THE MULLET I’ve been after Gene Marderness to send me a short bio for the Wrapper for over 2 years. We, fellow Mulleteers, now have it. Gene is a very interesting person. In next month’s Wrapper, I will try to get Gene to expound upon his baseball career. For those of you who have seen his photography work, you know it’s excellent. I have been fortunate enough to see some of his old Super 8 movies which he has had converted to DVD. Hey, Gene! Why not list your DVD titles and sell them for a modest price to recoup some of the expense involved in converting them. I personally converted several thousand feet of Super 8 film of family memories and racing. I even have a shot of Bo at age 4-1/2 driving his Squalo quarter midget. I can attest to the expense in conversion. How about it, Gene? Gonna make them available? Gene Marderness. I saw my first race at the Reading Fairgrounds Pa. in 1946 when I was 4 years old. My parents were race fans so I guess they thought it was time for me to become a fan. I remember that day only because my dad, in later years, would frequently remind me of my reaction to my first sprint car race. I stood at the fence in turn four and thought this was great. My dad told me to stand back because the sprinters were going to hot lap. Being four years old and knowing more than my dad, I stayed at the fence till the first sprinter came up at the fence and pelted me with dirt and “whatever.” I was stunned and ran behind the bleachers, crying, and never came out from behind them. That was my first experience of racing. But I got over it. My dad bought a Brownie camera in 1952. I would take it with me when we went to Williams Grove Speedway since you could go in the infield and take photos through the pit area fence. One of the first photos I took was of Bill Schindler. It still is one of my favorite photos. I had the chance to see many types of racing at tracks like Hatfield, Langhorne, Dorney Park, Sanatoga, Zellers Grove, and Hilltop Speedway. All of these tracks are no longer there, but I have many great memories. In high school and college I didn’t take many photos since baseball became my main interest. During the late 60’s and early 70’s, I shot mainly Super 8mm film at the tracks. It wasn’t until 1975 that I switched to still photography. I printed a few photos and people asked me how much I charged for photos. I had no intention of selling photos but thought differently when more individuals kept asking for them. In the late 70’s, I became good friends with John Sawyer. He asked me to take photos for stories he was writing for racing newspapers and magazines. Over the years, I have contributed photos to various racing publications such as Stock Car Racing, Open Wheel, Flat Out, SprintCar and Midget, and, of course, the Monthly Mullet Wrapper. I recently retired from the teaching profession after 42 years. Now I have time to organize all my old negatives and slides as well as print photos that I forgot I had. I enjoy all types of racing, but sprint cars are my favorite. I’m still amazed, after all these years, of the skill the sprint car drivers have whether it be on the national or local level. See you at the track. REMEMBERING None, this month. Making new ones. EDITORIAL The TBARA appears to be attuned to the needs of the 3 parties, promoter, owners and drivers, and fans, required to make a racing organization successful. The June 21st race scheduled at DeSoto was rained out, not an unusual phenomenon in Florida in the summer; however, instead of 25 or 30 race teams, their fans, and friends making the trek to Bradenton from wherever, President Lenny Puglio and staff consulted with the promoter and weather radar and determined that the inclement meteorological conditions (IMC) would remain in the DeSoto Super Speedway proximity throughout the evening and consequently, in collaboration with Promoter John Sapprione can celled the show at 1:50 PM. The staff then notified as many people as possible and saved, collectively, the racing teams, fans, and friends a gondola load of expense, especially considering the price of gas and diesel fuel. Thanks, TBARA!!!!! GUEST WRITER As Editor Americus, I am announcing………………No guest writer this month. Finally, The Last Paragraph! TRIVIA answer. Pitching baseball. See story above. Don’t forget the TBARA website. www.tbara.com Abba dee. Abba deeAbba dee. Th th th that’s all folks! REMEMBER, RACECAR SPELLED BACKWARDS IS STILL RACECAR! SONNY! |