Rufus is fine. Seems that a new steering box was found (it's a completely redesigned box inside the original housing) at zero cost...just a swap for the old one. Kool, huh? I'll be reunited with him at Salt Talks (the Sunday evening gathering at Speed Week.) The he's gonna go into a real high-zoot rod shop for some serious work. I think it's gonna consist mainly of a dropped axle in front and hydraulic brakes all around. There's talk of installing a quick-change rear end with some highway gears so it can run 70-ish without hurting the motor. That'll require some additional motor work. I think Freud plans to have the motor rebuilt with insert-type bearings instead of poured babbitt. I dunno if he wants to go with a full pressure oiling system or not. He's also gonna have the gas tank removed and sealed inside cuz apparently there's a whole bunch more rust and crud inside. I thought Robert and I got that taken care of, but apparently not.
So he's gettin some major work...and not at my expense. Freud has plans of how to finance that...he wants to offer t-shirts and jackets to people for who contribute to Rufus' "rustification." He's got enough contacts in the LSR/drag racing world to make it work. It could come back as a very different truck. We'll see.
I gotta run and do a Target 550 update and a buncha other stuff. r Sent from my Dreadnought using that barely tolerable Thunderbird email program On 7/9/2010 11:07 PM, faithcubsmc2691@xxxxxxx wrote:
You are welcome, Ray! That is so cool. How is Rufus doing as the OPV?Cort | 36.m.IL | 5 Monte Carlos.1 Caprice Classic | pig valve.pacemaker ** NoreastrTrekRT=Aug2010 ** MCs.CC | models.HO.legos.CHD.RadioShows | RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort"Nothing could be finer" ... Girls Next Door ... 'Slow Boat To China' -----Original Message----- From: Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: elky <elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thu, Jun 24, 2010 2:03 am Subject: [elky] Re: A little crash at the track todayThanks Cort. But I think the photo that a friend captured of me today might offer some questions about my mental state, especially since it was captured just a couple of miles south of the Canadian border.I'd just finished explaining that no one would be allowed to leave the room until the person who took my glasses returned them to me...or something like that.Actually we delivered Rufus, my Model A into the care of my friend Doc Freud who will use it as the "Official Press Vehicle" for the Target 550 race team...for a while. Freud is the guy who's overcome with emotion as Marlo Treit, the Team Principal, explains that it was only driven on Sundays by a little old lady...and that the trailer it's on was really a WWII bomb trailer (the last part is a true story.)I think we pulled off the biggest "surprise party" that Freud's ever experienced when Marlo and I showed up at the same time with the Model A (that he thought was still in my garage) in front of his house in Seattle. It was a very kool thing to be a part of.http://www.target550.com/news.htmlThen we went up to visit the race car and thinks kinda went downhill from there. :)I think I otta get some sleep. r At 12:36 AM 6/24/2010, you wrote:Ray, You are DEFINITELY a photographer ... no doubt about it.As for getting out of the way ... as long as you're not hurt ... you're doing fine. It's kinda like a storm chaser, except with cars.....LOL!Cort | 36.m.IL | 5 Monte Carlos.1 Caprice Classic | pig valve.pacemaker ** 07/24/2010=ChitownMeet #3 ** MCs.CC | models.HO.legos.CHD.RadioShows | RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort"We'll feel so alive" ... Boys Like Girls ... 'The Great Escape' -----Original Message----- From: Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wed, Jun 16, 2010 4:38 pm Subject: [elky] Re: A little crash at the track todayThanks, John and all others. I cropped the shots a bit in post processing, but generally they were pretty close. It's something I've been working on...although it's shot me in the foot a few times. If I fill the image completely, there isn't enough room to crop the edges horizontally to make an 8x10 or 11x14 print...they're different aspect ratios: 35mm film is 2:3 (or 4:6), and 8x10 is 4:5 and an 11x14 is somewhere off in never-never land. (it's 4:5.090909...ad nauseum...just enough that ya have to set it up for 11x14 and then crop slightly for 8x10...at least that's how I do it.) So I have to remember to compose the shot with enough wiggle room at the horizontal edges so I can crop it for a print.But I sorta surprised myself. The whole thing, from the moment the car started to get sideways, took 14 seconds. I looked at the EXIF data and I went from 110mm to 32mm as the white car hit the fence, then to 28mm as it was heading toward me and then 20mm for the last coupla frames as it hit the fence head first and then back to 24mm as it bounced into the tire barrier. I don't remember anything except tryin to "get a good shot." I guess some of it is becoming second nature.A friend once told be the difference between a snap shooter and a photographer was about 1000 rolls of film. I guess that's what's happening. Either that or I'm just not smart enough to get the hell outta the way. :)r Sent from my Dreadnought using that barely tolerable Thunderbird email program On 6/16/2010 5:50 AM, John Christensen wrote:Great shots Ray. Really excellent job of zooming and framing things up. You have really got that down over the last couple year. It had to have been skill and instinct to get shots like this. Remote pat on the back.JCOn Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 7:33 PM, Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:I couldn't find a market for the crash photos, so I put the whole sequence on my server: http://www.chevyasylum.com/racing/racing2010/20100606/vwtdicrash/Welcome.html r Sent from my Dreadnought using that barely tolerable Thunderbird email program On 6/7/2010 8:28 AM, STILLFRANKSFAULT@xxxxxxx <mailto:STILLFRANKSFAULT@xxxxxxx> wrote:Be careful Ray. Great shots. Smoky Mt. Frank In a message dated 6/7/2010 2:06:37 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: This is what I put together as a teaser (cuz tryin to do any more would have required more than the 2 brain cells I have functioning at the moment...and they're arguing....) http://www.chevyasylum.com/racing/racing2010/20100606/vcrashw/Welcome.html And this is the verbiage I posted on FaceBook: A few (very few) photos from a crash I witnessed (up close and personal) at the race track today (June 6, 2010) No one was hurt...except for a coupla cars, but it came close enough to me (about 18 inches...maybe 2 feet) that it got my attention. I spose I was too dumb to do anything except stand there and keep shooting. I didn't even have the good sense to soil my dainties. I'm exhausted. I'll put more of 'em together later. r--Sent from my Dreadnought using that barely tolerable Thunderbird email program
