We will be at Brainerd, but...

... not with the Saab. And not under the Fart-hinder Racing nor V.I.A.G.R.R.A. team names. Instead we have teamed up with Jasper Drengler in his purple Mustang. Jasper was short drivers as well, but together we will have five drivers. In addition to Jasper and Tim Winker, the drivers will be Brad Nelson, Mark Fizpatrick and Mike Helmecki. Brad has driven with Jasper before. Mark and Mike are newcomers to ChumpCar, though both have done the High-Performance Driving Experience in their own cars at Brainerd.

The car has been entered in the past as My Little Pony. Might have to see if I can come up with a better name/theme for BIR. Jasper believes it has the potential to run in the Top Five overall, even with all the BMWs that are expected to be competing on the 2.5 mile Competition Course at Brainerd.

One more driver. Who's next?

Allow me to introduce Mark Fitzpatrick, who stopped by the shop on Friday to give me a check toward racing in the B.I.R. ChumpCar races. He doesn't exactly fit the job "requirements" but those were really just preferences. He is a bit younger than that, and has been a race fan for many years. He has driven his Miata in earnest on the BIR Competition Course, so has some familiarity with speed.

Mark works in the sales department at Kia of Duluth, so will not be available to work on the racer on Saturdays, but is willing to spend a few evenings that may be scheduled.

Welcome aboard Mark!

Also heard back from Ken Cich and from David Byrka, who both declined, though both were quite interested in participating. Who's next to sign up?

Four weeks to the BIR race

and still no drivers. As a consequence, I have not done much work on the race car since it looks like there will be no one to drive it.
Spent most of Saturday trying to finish salvaging parts off an '87 900 that needs to go to the crusher.

I did get the race car running. Charged up a battery, and it fired right off! Even drove it down the road and back. The only problem is that it stalls at idle. 

Here is my list of things to do to get the car race ready:

- Remove the headlights and install the blank grill (did this on Sunday afternoon). Add a front spoiler.

- Replace the frost plug that blew out. This will involve removing the exhaust manifold.

- Replace the transmission. The engine and gearbox have to come out for this operation. The one that is in the car has a bad 2nd gear synchro. The donor gearbox is from the above mentioned '87 900. There are at least two more gearboxes in the garage. The "Frankenbox" needs 3rd gear. There is another gearbox that was torn apart and never re-assembled. It had gotten stuck in 3rd gear. As you might surmise, 3rd gear is a weak spot.

- Check wheel bearings. After nearly 1400 miles on the banking at Iowa Speedway, I would suspect the front bearings to be tired. Likewise the A-arm bushings.

- Buy tires. At least 4, and there are 6 or 8 usable tires left from last year.

And the list of things I would like to do, but are not absolutely necessary:

- Replace the driver's seat. The old Mod Plastia will do the job, but a new padded seat would be much better.

- Build or locate a spare engine. I have a couple of dismantled engines and new bearings, chain, etc.

- Relocate the battery so it isn't in the way of ingress/egress.

- Remove/relocate the top door bar on the roll cage. It makes getting in/out difficult for old guys. 

- There are a few dents and tire marks to deal with... or not. Decal removal, paint? Depends on time available.

- There might be a little wiring to do. The only thing I recall is taillights, but we won't need them for the Brainerd races since they are run in daylight.

Only 3 weekends left to work on the race car before the Brainerd race. Still no definite YES responses. A $300 deposit will hold a spot for you. Check or PayPal works for me.

If you need to rent race gear, contact David Schall at Race Suit Rental. http://racesuitrental.com/ He will bring the suit/helmet to the track and save you the shipping costs.