Runum!

Hey Runum, if I recall correctly, you were a racing car driver, I'm sure a lot of us would love to hear more about your career (in case you don't mind that), what got you started in the industry, what you have accomplished and what cars you drove... etc.
Many car enthusiasts here, this can be exciting for us
Looking forward to hearing from ya!
Best.

I am not sure you can call it a career or an event. It lasted over 16 years. Many of the races are the type I can't discuss on a public forum. I'll mull this over and have a longer response later today.

Runum-

Do remember, whatever you write becomes stored on someone's server, somewhere-- even if you delete it here.

Might be worth telling us a fictitious story about some made up character.

-Russ H.

Runum, I just realized I may have went too far with my questions and this would endanger your privacy, I think Russ is right, you might wanna refrain from exposing too much about yourself.
I apologize for being a bit rude and nosy, and please feel free to lock this thread!

No apologies needed. I am flattered anyone would want to know about my dull life. Just not sure how much to divulge. I'll probably play it on the safe side. Thanks for asking LaughedAt, it's always cool to reminisce.

LaughedAt' I can share some general things that may apply to the fastlane but I would have to discuss specifics privately.

I began at 16. Loved cars and had to fix them myself in order to keep them running. Shadetree mechanic described me. I chose motorsports because I am a runt. In high school I was 5'9" and 130 lbs. I couldn't gain weight, a huge advantage in racing. I took a tech school aptitude test. They told me I could do anything I want except for anything mechanical. You gotta be kidding me! So what did I do? I did everything mechanical I could. I have been a machinist, mechanic, welder, fabricator. My dream was to live, eat, and sleep cars.

Part of the problem was, I learned to do everything and would never trust anyone else to do anything for me. I literally did everything, body work, chassis work, painting, engine design and building, transmissions, rear ends, the whole shooting match. I do still have my shop, don't work out there much though.

Out of high school I bought an SS396 Chevelle dark green/screaming white stripes. I was crazy about that car, I even slept in it. It just had muscle written all over it and it was cool.

I raced it for 3-4 years and grew tired of the image. I admired cars that looked weak and could bury the competition. I bought an Olds Cutlass and put my Chevelle drivetrain in it. It was a blast catching people off guard.

Over the years I have owned and raced 9 Chevelles and Malibus. I switched over to plain jain small blocks for many years. Of course most of the small blocks were around 410 cubic inches. They were all painted the same, light blue and no chrome. No show. I could drive them every day to work and run 10's on the weekend, in 1991.

My last Chevelle was primer black and had a 468 aluminum head big block that dynoed 680 hp at the flywheel. It had a mondo trans break on it and you could wind it up just like a standard trans and let it go. I also had 400 hp of nitrous on it. Street legal, 1000+ hp in 1993. It ran 10's in the quarter on the motor, no nitrous. I won't share what it would do on the bottle but it's fairly easy to calculate.

I gotta go for now. I may add more later.

Know what you mean. My very first car was a Buick LeSabre, all the shocks were gone (riding on the springs), rust everywhere. Pieces would literally fall off the car if you looked at it long enough.

Only had 40,000 miles on it (the owner was an old guy, and drove it during the winter, so the body was totally shot). But the drivetrain was in great shape.

Had a 7.5L V8 in it, w/all of the pollution controls off, an aftermarket carb, compression and timing reset. Probably a bit over 400 HP-- but it was the 500ft# of torque that really messed everyone up.

I can still see the derisive sneer of the guy in the shiny Trans Am when I "revved" my engine at the light, and the look of utter amazement on his face as I blew past him and his gf, rust flying off my car from all sides.

Ah, the good old days . . .

Hey Greg, ever had the urge to build a car that loves corners? Straight line acceleration was never my thing-- it was hanging the tail out on the twisty bits . . .

-Russ H.

Love it Russ. Yeah, I like to watch NASCAR, Indy, and FI cars but I hate repairing my stuff. Those cars bump into one another and crash. Lot's to repair. I like building and improving my stuff.

I do live about 10 miles from this (MotorSport Ranch - Performance Car Country Club) and have thought about some handling stuff. They don't do side by side racing though. Maybe in the future.

What a cool idea-- me like!

I'd go for this over golf any day!!!

This one's about 18 miles from me. A bit bigger, but it tends to get a bit crowded on weekends.

I'm likin' the country club idea. Wanna trade?

-Russ H.

Infineon, way cool. Is the traffic bad around NASCAR weekend?

Traffic?

One weekend, it took me over 3 hours (no lie) to go what normally takes 10-12 minutes. Highway patrol diverted us on to side roads, winding us all around for miles, just to relieve the congestion of the hundreds (thousands?) of cars.

That's nuts. Now, I *never* drive over there when Nascar is in town.

-Russ H.

Ahh now you all are talking my language

My ongoing sponser for this race season. 2008 Redline Time Attack Modified class champions!

Wow what an intercooler. Did you do all the fab work on that Chris?

Verrrrry Nice, Chris!

I'm into the old fashioned German (and British) stuff.

Love, love, love to drive 'em.

I own (and maintain) the German cars.

I borrow the Brits.

-Russ H.

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Nice Ghia Russ. I want to buy a Jag XKR coupe in the green color.

No way! I wish, i do know how to weld but not to that perfection. I do the sponsorship decals on the car, this was from the same shoot but these were hold over graphics for one event, the graphics have been changed and completed since, the car has transformed for the new season as well. This car is un-real!

Ps, known changes, The doors are carbon fiber.. i mean complete CF just painted, hatch is all CF. pushing out 500+ HP from a built factory motor which is too muh power. now they are flatting the bottom and tunneling air, fuel cell was put in so a center mount exhaust could be fabricatied. Basically the motor is more than enough power now they are focusing on areo. Progress made a custom suspension for it as well..... the list goes on for miles.

This should be a fun season, my name right now is under the "ptuning" in the back, may change for 09 not sure yet.

Runum - did Cops ever pay you anything for that chase/crash/ass beating they showed you in? It doesn't seem right that they should use that footage without compensating you.

That's great. Most of my hardcore time was before Cops was around. I'm sure I would have been a star.

Way back when I first started my stuff the cops would sit out here and radar us to tell us how fast we were going.

Nice lookin' set of wheels, Chris.

Ah, Jags . . .

Love 'em.

Love to look at 'em. The E-type is one of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen.

Love to drive 'em.

Don't love workin' on 'em.

-Russ H.

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