Drivers and crew needed for 2011 season

Bill Collins has lured Darrell Peterson, Greg Wold and John Hogdal to form a new ChumpCar team for 2011. Since Collins runs a truck driving school, their crap can racer will be a Dodge Dakota pickup. It is already well on the way to becoming a race truck and they hope to have it ready for Road America at the end of March.

That means Fart-hinder Racing will need at least three drivers, plus crew members, in order to go racing the Saab 900S in the ChumpCar World Series this year. As mentioned in the previous post, the Saab race car is unavailable until the snow melts, so we will probably only be able to enter the two BIR events in June and July.

Interested parties contact Tim Winker.

Road America? 'Fraid not.

Called John Hogdal this weekend to see about picking up the Fart-hinder Racing Saab from his farm where it has been since last fall.

"I have good news and bad news," he said. "The good news is the race car wasn't in the shed when the roof collapsed from the weight of the snow. The bad news is that the car is under a pile of concrete hard snow, so you probably won't see it until spring."

Sorry to hear about the shed, John. Yes, I am glad the racer wasn't in there. Guess we won't be able to fetch it in time to prep it for the Road America race at the end of March. Heck, we probably won't even be able to get at it before some time in April.

Parts donor!

Came across this on Craig's List. It was only about 30 miles from Duluth and needs some serious TLC. Like the Fart-hinder racer, it is a 1992 900S with the 2.1-liter n/a engine. It is even the same shade of metallic blue! Picked it up for only $200.

The crankshaft pulley (a.k.a. harmonic balancer) is kaput. The rubber between the crank mount and the pulley portion has separated so the engine runs but the pulleys do not turn, thus no alternator nor water pump nor power steering.

It had been sitting in a field for well over a year, so the brakes and exhaust are rusty. The exhaust broke at the catalytic converter as it was being unloaded from the trailer. The brakes work but the disks are obviously rust coated. The clutch goes nearly to the floor before the disk is disengaged, but it does work. The 5-speed gearbox is apparently out of an '87 and sometimes grinds going into gear.

What we need most for spares are the brake parts and the engine. Wheels, axles, suspension parts... all are nice to have, just in case.

On the plus side, it looks to have less structural rust than my daily driver 1987 900S. Consequently, this 900 would make a good candidate for a crap can racer as it sits. Just strip it out, add the roll cage and fix the broken stuff.

A good used crank pulley has already been purchased from Hanover European Auto Parts. We'll start there.

We got some video!!!

We had a camera mounted in the race car for the first couple of hours. The first 20 minutes of the video was before the race started, so lots of boring stuff sitting in the pits. This video clip is about 6 minutes and features the start of the race and the first four laps, Darrell Peterson at the wheel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNz4GgFECVg

Saab wins at Iowa!

No not ours, but the Team Cougar Bait Saab 9-3 that was right next to us in the pits.

After building their car in the paddock at Brainerd a few weeks ago and going on to finish top ten in the Sunday race there, they did little to the car in the interim. Fortunately their Saab was pretty reliable. They did have to replace a serpentine belt or two, but they soldiered on. A late race gas stop by the leading B.A.R. BMW 325 allowed the Cougar Baiters to move into first. A late race charge by the Tubby Butterman BMW 325 kept nicking at the lead, but at the end the Cougar Bait Saab took the checkered flag only 40 seconds ahead of the Butterman gang.

A well deserved win, and worthy of a true Chump team.

Our race ended early

I'm a couple of days late in following up on our activities, but it has been hectic.

With Jesse behind the wheel in the early morning hours of Sunday, about 3:30, the temp gauge climbed into the red. He brought the car into the pits, but what crew that was there at 3am could not see anything wrong so sent him back out. Bad decision made when tired. The temp gauge went back to normal because there was no water in the system. The head gasket had given up its assigned duty and was allowing water into the cylinders. Our race was done.

Still, the Saab ran exceptionally well for its first time out. We were happy with the brakes and the tire wear, and there seemed to be plenty of torque. Not quite like having a turbo, but good enough to worry the V6 drivers.

The race was red-flagged at 4am due to the threat of severe thunderstorms. Organizers threw the flag before the wind and rain started to allow everyone to pack up their pits and EZ-Ups. There was a 6am drivers' meeting, and racing re-started about 7. It was decided to throw the checkered flag at 12 Noon sharp, so the race length was really about 20-and-a-half hours.

Fart-hinder racing was credited with a 12th place finish, barely in the top half of the 24 starters. A couple of cars that had had more problems but were able to keep running moved ahead of us in the standings late in the race, one with only about ten minutes remaining.

Now we need to decide if we are going to do this again. We have the car, we have the enthusiasm. Do we have the time, or the money?

A moment of personal panic

I was suited up and preparing to take over from John Hogdal (who is a madman driver, but smooth!) about Midnight. John came in, I gave the tires a once over, and prepared to climb into the car. Unfortunately I couldn't get the right angle to fit my bulk into the car and I had to try a couple of times. Once seated, I found that I was struggling to breathe. Rather than put myself into a panic situation, I decided to let someone else drive. Greg quickly suited up and hit the road. I caught my breath again pretty quickly once I had the helmet off, so I'll try again in a couple of hours.

During his night driving stint, Hogdal was turning laps around 1:01 & 1:02, right up there with the cars at the head of the pack. He even passed the lead BMW and second place Ford ZX2!

In retrospect, I think the cramped position in the seat, as well as the confining nature of the balaclava and full-face helmet, were contributing factors to my inability to catch my breath. I was ready to drive, but simply could not breathe.