Runum!

One more. My brother and I were at an outlaw track and we arranged a race between my brown 1979 Malibu and a hot street truck. The agreement was for me to give him 10 lengths and we would race 1/4 mile. The owner of the truck was a nice guy, very cool. His friend was a loud mouth, little runt, very arrogant. So we lined them up and I caught him and beat him by 2 lengths. Oh there was hell to pay when I got back. I was accused of everything under the sun. I was the dirtiest low life that ever crawled out from under a rock. I did not have a bottle on the car at the time. I beat him straight motor. I'm taking all the bitchin in and my brother pops off and tells the runt, "For $100 bet we'll open the car up and let you check everything out. No bottle on the car. You find a bottle we'll pay. No bottle you pay." We were po boys, and $100 was a lot. Neither one of us had $50 much less $100. Well, Runt kept running his mouth but he wouldn't put the money up. We packed up and went home. Runt is now a well known chassis builder for Mustangs.

Smokey was one of my idols along with Grumpy Jenkins, Warren Johnson, and Ray Evernham. That story is true. They regulated the size of the tank but not the size or length of the fuel lines. Awesome stuff. Remember the propeller driven alternator and the 7/8 scale 66 Chevelle? That Chevelle is the sole vehicle responsible for modern day NASCAR body templates.

OK just one more and I'll stop.

I always built my cars very low key. My brown 1979 Mailbu really was not an attention getter but it had a lot of features that made it a great race car under the skin. I had a friend that had a duster. It was a 360 with nitrous, six pack scoop on the hood, and monster back tires. I talked him into a heads up race. So we are doing our burn outs and prep work and the duster lines up first. I decided to check the traction and goosed it. The front tires came up off the ground about 6 inches, very typical. I line up and then proceed to put it on him. We go back to the pits and my friends all come running up. They are telling me about all the side bet money they won because no one thought I stood a chance until the front wheels came off the ground.

Runum

I had no idea. Very cool!

Great stories!

I knew there was a good reason to resurrect this thread. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane . . .

-Russ H.

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Greg,
Time to get with you for a weekend tutoring session. Love the old stories and remember driving those cars in the 80's.

Been many moons Rick. Two suggestions for your car, some sort of system to cool the intake and leave on the last yellow. If you see green and your standing still, you lost.

That's great Russ. Where do you keep finding that eclectic stuff?

I dunno. It finds me.

Always been that way.

Makes for an interesting life!

-Russ H.

Oh yeah, one other thing, right now your car will run it's fastest. Our weather changes around the end of April and you will lose .1-.2 seconds. That's around 1-2 car lengths due to air quality. We don't get it back until November. This is for normally aspirated cars. Very predictable.

Being Runum's little brother that got to tag along sometimes, I have inside information for sale to the highest bidder!
Let me just say Runum was a great teacher to those who were willing to learn about thier cars and wanted them to be stronger.

One night we were driving around in his 79 brown Malibu when we ran across 2 kids in a black camaro that thought they were fast. We talked with them and Runum invited them to come to his shop and look over the Camaro. The 2 boys ended up hanging around for serveral years working on various cars with Runums help.
The camaro got lots faster and the driver got much smarter in racing because of the experience he shared with the kids.

Oh yeah, those two kids, Mark and Earnest. I forgot all about them.

My passion was German cars. But when I first got started, I couldn't afford a Benz, or a Porsche.

So I started with a VW Rabbit.

This was in Michigan, home of snowy winters (sometimes 8' tall drifts), and everyone used salt to melt the snow. The combination of snow, ice, and salt made for a perfect oxidizer for cars-- they started to rust when they were less than a year old, if you drove them during the winter at all. Sure, folks used sealers (like Ziebart), but they only delayed the inevitable.

My first bunny (VW Rabbit) I got while in college. Put a nice radio in it, with home speakers on the rear seats (I loved the sound). But the car had rust all over it, so I didn't want to spend too much time on the body-- it was a lost cause.

Thing is, Rabbits were unibody cars-- the body was welded in one piece to form the frame. We Detroiters weren't very familiar with this kind of car construction-- most every car out of the Motor City had a sturdy steel frame with body panels bolted on to it.

While a unibody made the Rabbit nice and light (better acceleration, and gas mileage), it did have some drawbacks. My first bunny lasted me less than a year-- as I was driving it down the highway, I heard a strange "crunch" (like something had broken apart), and then noticed the car was a little wiggly. Still driving 60 mph, I unstrapped my seatbelt and reached over to the passenger side wheel well, where I heard the noise.

I peeled back the carpet to find . . . nothing! The crunch I'd heard was the car body cracking in half-- rust had taken its toll and weakened the unibody so much that when I'd hit the bump, the front part of the car (with the engine and transaxle) had separated from the back of the car (with the seats and rear wheels). What I saw was a big opening-- with highway speeding past!

I pulled to the side of the road, not sure what to do next. After convincing myself that the car was not going to crack any further (I bounced on it), I drove on the shoulder to the next exit, and called my mechanic.

After laughing a bit, he asked me a couple of questions, and suggested I drive it to his shop using back roads, and avoid potholes (!). I got there about an hour later.

We parked the car and stripped it clean. I used the engine and parts on my next Rabbit (that I bought for $80-- actually swapped it for stereo equipment).

I remember when my first bunny had been completely stripped-- one of us lifted up the car by the corner, and moved it! The unibody was that light.

I have lots of great car memories-- very few were racing. LOTS were from old timers that I bought, fixed up, enjoyed for a bit, then sold.

I didn't realize it back then, but rehabbing cars was my entree into fixing up houses. Same idea: You bought something old and rundown that no one wanted anymore, and, with love and lots of sweat equity (and tons of parts), you turned it into something special.

-Russ H.

That reminds me of a cousin who bought milk crate motorcycles cheap, rebuilt them, sold them for a profit. Rinse, lather, repeat, until he had a Harley.

Regarding Smokey, I recall reading all his articles in the stock car magazines. He was quite the innovator, if it wasn't specifically dis-allowed, he would do it.

Excellent trip down memory lane.

I really want to get to the track and try but really want a roll cage first.

It does have the cold air intake and Borla Stinger exhaust

David Wolfe is your man! But I do have to tell you that Texas Raceway is only 1/8 mile, 660 feet. Unless I underestimate your car, it will get 80-85 mph in the 1/8 mile. You probably have done that on the freeway. You might get around 105 mph in the 1/4 mile.

Wolfe Race Craft - Home Page

Been looking at his website. My lovely wife and I agreed on a 150 a month budget each for things we want. I have blown mine on stereo equipment the last couple of months and have one more months budget to go ( okay maybe 2) before I have everything I want. A bluetooth receiver is a must with a standard shift.

80-85 is still a blast getting there in that car

After that I'll have my allowance and the summer off to do the roll cage. 6 point will be in the neighborhood of 500. Add install and powdercoating to match the car color and it will take me the better part of the summer to do it. So might be ready for the track in September/November

The roll bar deal is a slippery slope. When you put the roll bar/cage in you are telling the race track inspector that this car is more race car than street car. That may subject you to further safety inspections/ requirements. You mentioned a 6 speed, they may require a scattershield or kevlar clutch blanket. Then you have to have a fire jacket. If it's a cage they may require a window net. Then they will require 5 point harness. Then they will require an exterior battery shut off. Then they will require ....

Been there done that. You can take a nice street ride and screw it up just for some runs down the track. Just curious, Rick, why do you really think you need the roll bar? Is it something you promised to someone?

Just out of curiousity...what do you need a roll cage for? There really is no point for a street car. It will more than likely make getting in and out of your car HELL.

I would guesstimate flirting with 90 in the 1/8th. At just under 1000 feet I ran low to mid 80s in the 1/8th in my bone stock 350Z, trapped 100+ three times (two 101s and one 102)at Rockingham.

I've done work on a C5 where I installed an intake and exhaust and those two mods help out A LOT! If I remember correctly, the two mods together freed up 44hp to the tires, I can't remember if that car got headers or not. It was a Borla exhaust, don't know if it was the "Stinger" system or not though. I do know with the I/E upgrade, the C5 would walk my Z hard after 50.

Since we're talking about drag racing, I figured y'all could appreciate this...even though it's a Honda . This is vid of the drag car for the shop I used to work for. I'm still good friends with these guys and I think they are close to hitting sub 9 sec passes. One of the cars they built actually has ran 8 sec passes in the NHRA SFWD class(sportsman). About two years ago we were the first naturally aspirated "street class" FWD to break the 9 sec barrier. The car is back to being turbocharged now.

RLZ Hatch 9.6@154- Video