NMCA's Top Ten Driver's Awards For NSS & NMC

The below are videos, courtesy of Scott Sparrow at NMCA, of those shown at the 2009 Driver's Award Banquet at the PRI Convention in Orlando in December. The Champion is not announced with audio on the video, the the MC announced him.

I took this with a cheap camera that does videos. It isn't a great video — but in it you will see the 2009 Champions of each class called up and awarded their Super Bowl sized ring that uses diamonds, rubies, and emeralds to make a stage tree.

Memphis Recap and Getting Ready For a New Season

Well the NSS & NMC racing year for my family is now over. NMCA 2009 Points Standings. Dallas was third place of the year out of 70+ racers who raced in NMCA. He will most likely also be the Rookie of the Year for NMCA. I was fourth place out of over 100 who raced in NMCA's NSS class. It is time to start planning on getting ready for 2010.

Memphis is the closest of our NMCA races, so we loaded up the cars on Wednesday morning and left at about noon. The trip was uneventful, and we arrived in the big rig staging area at about midnight. It rained hard all night — making the already soggy track even more soggy. At 11AM they started parking us. By about 2PM we established driver credentials and teched the cars in. I had a killer headache, so we stowed the cars back in the trailer and I took it easy for the rest of the night.

Friday morning was rainy, and I made a single TT pass and the car was pretty much on. I don't believe I had a chance to make another pass on Friday. Dallas in NMC had problems with the car breaking up on his single pass — but thought maybe missed a shift. Cold rain kept us from doing much of anything.

Saturday, had my first qualifying pass as a 9.489 on a 9.50 index — breaking out. Dallas' car was definitely breaking up — and he felt it was ignition. He also smelt electrical burning. We unbundled his wires and found where there was a foot of 12 gauge wire between 6 gauge wire coming from the ignition switch — and the butt connectors were burnt. So we fixed that with replacing it with 6 gauge. I bought a new MSD 6AL box and Blaster II coil, and we replaced them. We rev'd the car up to 6500 with the timing light on — and all appeared well. Our second and last Qualifying came at night. I spun at the line on a very cold track — for a 9.61. I ran to the fence just as Dallas made his pass — and I saw that he was breaking up badly at higher RPMs — but there was no flames coming from under the car (it was night). Returning to the pits, I saw a lot of water under my car. Investigating, it looked like my motor moved up to where the nose of the Vacuum pump bore two holes in my radiator. We pulled the radiator and I borrowed a torch and solder from Don Bowles — and after finding that aluminum doesn't like solder — I melted a big glob over the hole and pushed the glob into the radiator — having the fins hold the glob against the leaks. I figured I'd get a radiator from one of the vendors in the AM — as I didn't feel like that fix would hold for long. I took the lock washer off the end bolt of the vacuum pump — and gained about 1/32" between it and the radiator. On Dallas' car, we were at a loss after checking to make sure the valves, springs and pushrods all looked well. I called Damon Kuhn at about 11PM and he suggested jetting up 2 sizes on all four corners of the 850 carb. We worked until 2AM changing jets, plugs, and running the valves — then putting the cars away.

Sunday morning I tried to find a radiator, stop leak, and/or a low pressure radiator cap — without luck. I pour a can of black pepper in the radiator just as they called us for the first round of eliminations. I had a broke bye, so I did my burn out at 135 degrees and launched at 150 degrees — after releasing pressure by opening the cap in the staging lane. When I got back to the pits I didn't had any leaks — but I had lost the 1/32" between the blob of solder and the nose of the vacuum pump. After checking the motor plate and trans mount — I realized that the balancer was coming off. I didn't know what to do — because it was about 2PM and I expected them to call us up for the 2nd round any second.

In the meantime — Dallas car was cured and he won his first round.

I decided to take a chance and go for fixing the car at the risk of missing a call, and with the help of my son, Doug Duell, and Clay Kasooth — we had the radiator out, vacuum pump off and crank trigger off, found a 12point ARP balancer bolt hanging on by a thread — tightened the balancer back on with a liberal application of Lok-tite red on the bolt; put the crank trigger and vacuum pump back on, and the radiator back in and filled — all in 30 minutes.

We need not have rushed — because we weren't called to the staging lanes for our second round until 7PM. Once there — a bunch of very pissed off NSS racers talked about how this would be their last NMCA race, how NMCA use to treat the NSS class better, tales of the good old days, and where they'd be racing next year. To make things worst — the bracket racers who had monopolized the track for the last five hours, had some girl in a Vega that liked to pull monster wheel-stands, lose control of her car and drive over a 17-year-old kid in a dragster. It looked bad. Both were hospitalized and it took near two hours to clean the track. In the meantime — dew was collecting on the cars — and everyone who could get a towel had one draped over their windshield. Most felt that it was unsafe to race and that they would suspend racing until Monday — but would first empty the lanes of the NSS and NMC cars. A few drivers asked me to approach Charlie about calling it a night before running us because of the dew. Charlie had me walk the track with him — and while there wasn't any dew on the track — the crews from Pro and Extreme were reporting 52 degree track temps and lobbying to suspend racing. Charlie said that he felt like it was still safe to race, and the NSS and NMC classes were called to race. It was pretty bad with the dew collecting on the windshields in seconds and fog on the inside. I was running Skip Koester, and we both grabbed strangers to wipe down our windshields as we went into the burnout box — but the dew and fog came back so fast we couldn't see the track or tree. Skip red lit -.037 and I slept for .157 RT, and as soon as I saw I'd won — I slowed down for a 11.4 as I couldn't see the track well. Even shifting like a truck, I did a wiggle on a 3-4th shift, and coming down the return row lined with motor homes and trailers that couldn't find parking was plain stupid. Dallas has about the easiest 10.5-second car there is — and he too  did a big wiggle on his win. We were happy to hear that the race was suspended — after we cleared out the lanes.

Monday, at 10AM I took advantage of a TT offered and ran a 9.494. Dallas opted not to take one as we had 2 gallons of gas between us left. I had Greg Radar, who is as tough as they come. All weekend I was cutting great lights — with the exception of one pass — and against Radar I cut a .013 against his .017. I swear I crossed the line an inch before him — but the ticket says I didn't. Dallas also lost his Quarter-Round.

As we packed up to come home, Radar Beat Wilson (coming off his Monster Mopar Win), and 00 Joe Ewing beat  Barry Camp in the Semis. Radar then went on to beat 00 Joe in the finals.

Doug Duell is the Champion this year — and is deserving as he had a great year. The Princess (Stephanie) has second. According to my calculations — Skip, Joe and I are 3 through 5 — but with about 30 points being the spread between 3 through 5. It comes down to qualifying points from Memphis — and so we'll have to wait until Monday NMCA tells us who is 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

In NMC, Andy Warren is the Champ — and I think Dallas Schultz is second — despite missing the first race of the year. He and Andy matched up many times during the year — and Andy won them all — but they were all very close.

I really hope to be able to have my 60 Wagon painted in the next 5 weeks, the engine and transmission installed, custom headers made and coated, wired, plumbed, and interior by early February — so it can be shaken down and ready for the first NMCA race of 2010. I'm going to give it one more shot at earning a NMCA ring in NSS — but feel like I need to give up my preference for a 4-speed in favor of an automatic, as I seldom find the track prepped good enough for a 9-second 4-speed on skinny slicks in the late rounds. I'll keep a 4-speed in the Coronet and run it in the non-NMCA races. The engine comes out of it next week to have the Aluminum rods replaced — and the wick turned up a little for 2010. I'll run it in the non-NMCA races.

Dallas will be moving from NMC to NSS, driving my old black Coronet in C/FX or B/FX. It is a nice 4-link car with an automatic and the engine I use to run in the red car — punched out to 580CI. It might be faster than my red car.

This means that Dallas' Dodge Demon is for sale. This car has spent its entire life as a race car — and still wears its original Texas inspection sticker from 38 years ago. The car is a quality build with a five year old CM full cage, inboard springs and CalTracs, 8 3/4" rear with Moser axles and gears, 4-wheel disc brakes  — and is clean enough that you can eat off the painted bottom. The motor is a one year old 408 built by Damon Kuhn at Diamondback Engines. Eagle steel crank, H-beam rods, forged pistons, CNC Ported Indy 360 heads, Gasket Matched Indy 360 Intake, roller cam, Diamondback 850 carb, 1 7/8" coated headers, Magnafuel fuel pump — all top shelf parts. The transmission has a billet steel drum, Griner low-band apply footbrake valve body, modified pump, hardened gears, bolt-in sprag, PTC 8-inch steel stator converter, and the balance of the parts are of the same quality. CSR Fiberglass trans shield. This car drives as straight as a string, and will do 10.5 seconds just about anywhere. The car could easily be made into an 8.5 second (cage should certify) True Street, restored as pure stock, or run in the faster street classes — but really it is at home running NMC. I was comfortable enough with the safety of this car for my 16-year-old to race — and he was comfortable enough to win the Texas Outsiders NMC Championship at 16 and 17 (2004 & 2005). If you are Interested, please email me at dave@oldhippie.com.

Speaking of NMC cars, I also have a more entry level NMC car that I prepared for my daughter — but who never really had the time to dedicate to the sport. It is a quality build that I felt comfortable putting my kid in. As it sits, it will consistently do 12.0 1/4s — but I also have a choice of three brand new 408 motors capable of making the car a 10.5 and faster car in the 1/4. Contact me if you are interested.

Both cars have been the subject of many magazine articles.

Reminder — The NSS calendars in the NSS Gift Shop are ready for purchase. Click on the particular calendar cover to view the pages.

Many of the NSS drivers at the Memphis race purchased the calendar with the Asphalt Elephant on the cover. Call any of them to ask about the quality of the calendar.

September NSS Report

Monster Mopar Weekend

The Monster Mopar Weekend had 75 entries, which is another record. I remember my first Monster in 2003, there might have been 35-40 NSS cars. As usual, Doug Duell with help from Bob Wilkiewicz ran a smooth ship. Despite the number of cars — staging was very organized.

It rained Friday, and very little racing was going on. Saturday we managed to get in a TT in the morning and then start Class Eliminations after lunch. This was interrupted twice by rain — and NSS/A and FX was not able to finish by the time we needed to leave for our Driver's Dinner — and so those classes finished on Sunday morning.

The driver's dinner this year had guest speaker Herb McCandless, who entertained us with stories of old. TTI donated a $500 gift certificate for headers — and I'm happy to say my son Dallas win it. He had an otherwise rough weekend — detailed in the MSR Blog below. While I don't recall hearing Doug Duell explaining it — Damon Kuhn from Diamondback Engines contributed a new, but heavily reworked for NSS, 800 Carb (retail value $500) — won by the Seltzer and White team. Doug's favorite Charity "Santa Clothes" did well with a couple $100 bills getting stuffed in the box.

Sunday we finished Class Eliminations. The winners were:

• NSS/G [13.00]

  8606 Bax; Henley, MO; ‘62 Pontiac, 13.08

  NSS/F [12.50]

  777 Rhoda; Brookfield, WI; ’63 Plymouth, 12.52
  

  NSS/E[12.00]

  7042 Kuenster, J; Potosi, WI; ’59 Chevy, 12.03
  

  NSS/D[11.50]

  7063 Kuhn, M.; Celina, OH; ’63 Plymouth, 11.37
  

  NSS/C [11.00]

  7572 Ray; Atoka, TN; ’65 Chevy, 11.00
  

  NSS/B[10.50]

  7777 Duell; Newburgh, IN; ’67 Plymouth, 10.54
  

  NSS/A [10.00]

  4965 Sanders; Brook, IN; ’65 Dodge, 10.03
  

  F/X

  7747 Herzing; St. Clair, MO; ’63 Plymouth, 9.60
  

  Low Elapsed Time

  17 Quinn; Springfield, IL; ’62 Pontiac, 8.939

Eliminations started after lunch, and lasted until about 10PM when a non-Mopar final between Jim Nederland and his Buick and Steve Wilson and his Chevelle had Wilson win the event. This is the first Monster Mopar Weekend that did not have a Mopar as a winner.

I pointed out at the Driver's Dinner that many of the FX Drivers (there were 12 of us that made it to FX Class Eliminations) felt it a bit unfair that we bring the fastest cars — yet are forced to run as one class, while a few of the slower classes don't have but 2 or 3 in the their class — yet are not combined.

The next day, a little birdie told me that my complaints didn't fall on deaf ears — and that next year they would still run all of the FX cars together — but that it would be made into an event in itself with a $1000 prize to the Class Winner. These are arguably the most exciting cars of the NSS cars, doing the biggest wheel stands and smokiest burnouts — and I think it is a good idea that they get some special recognition for building and bringing the faster cars to the Monster.

So if you have a car hanging abound the 10.0-11.0 area — you might strongly consider tweaking it, getting your license, certify the cage, and run in the FX Classes next year.

Click here for the discussions and photos of this last Monster Mopar. Your car is most likely there.

MoparStyle Racing Blog Entry

The following is a more of a personal note on what happened in the pits of Big Red Ram and Texas Black Magic.

We (Deb, Hope, Dallas, I, and the three dogs) loaded up Tuesday, left Wednesday morning and arrived Thursday morning — after having the rig washed across from the track. After setting up the pits — we took both Coronets to be teched in. My son Dallas normally runs a 10-second Demon in NMC — but will be running the black Coronet in C/FX starting next year — and this was a dry run, since there is no NMC at the Monster.

As stated above, Friday was a raining until late in the day. On the first TT had the car breaking up at 6000 and oil spraying from somewhere. We guessed the oil pump and replaced the bolts with lock washers. We couldn't make either of the symptoms occur in the pits and he took the car out for another TT. It still broke up — and still leaked oil. It was suspected that the oil was coming from the left head — so we spent until 2:30AM replacing the head gasket.

Meanwhile on my car — I had lined up with 7 other 8-9 second FX cars at the end of the line — where we were going to run the cars all out in a match race. My car gave me a hard time starting up in the staging lanes, then broke up horribly in third and fourth gear on my pass — and finally stalled at the end of the track and wouldn't restart. Back in the pits, (after a tow) we observed a burned rotor and so I replaced it. The car wouldn't restart and it was suspected I flooded it — so I changed the plugs. The car still wouldn't start and gave indications that it was a timing issue. The crank trigger's accuracy has been suspect all year — so I went to Indy's tent and bought a MSD Distributor (I have three on the shelf at home — but none in the trailer) and a set of wires for a MSD cap. Damon locked down the distributor and installed it (as it has to be clocked due to the interference between Indy's intake and MSD distributors). The car started right up — and after another reclocking the wires — we were able to get 36 degrees. The car was finished in time for another TT, was back to running its number.

Saturday after the first round of class eliminations, Dallas' car was still leaking and breaking up — and looked as if the engine needs to be pulled — so we pulled the plug on his car and put in on the trailer. In my first round, I was lucky that my opponent red lit as my car bogged bad off the line — with the fuel pressure showing 13 pounds flooding the carbs. After the pass — fuel pressure was down to my normal 9 pounds so I didn't give it any more thought. Sunday it was down to five of us in FX and I was to run Mitzi. I totally goofed — thinking I was doing a qualifying — and pressed the light not thinking it made a difference. I red lit, but actually thought I won the race until it came to me on my way to get the ticket. Mitzi wound winning class after a bye and another red light — which was nice since it was ten years ago at the Monster that Bill last raced — and he won class.

In the first round of eliminations I had a bye — and again the fuel pressure shot up on that run. Back in the pits it was 16PSI — and so we scrambled to change it with the one from Dallas' dead car, while they were calling us to the line. In the second round I had a .020 light and ran a 9.501 (on a 9.50) against Psychotic Reaction. In the third round I was up against Charlie and his 59 Chevy — and although I had a good RT and ET — Charlie bettered me in both and ran a 11.503 on a 11.50 class.

We started packing up — but did get to see the 4th round get run — where all four passes were settle by a red light. We pulled out of Gateway at 8:30PM and drove all night to arrive home (900+ miles) at 11:30AM Monday.

After Memphis, we'll freshen up my engine for Dallas' car, build a new one for my car, and see what the deal is on the engine in Dallas' car — and put it in the wagon — where I'll have the Big Red Ram as a backup.

Started Work On Calendars

Every year I try to put together a wall calendar of NSS cars. In the past, Donnie from Photo Sport has allowed me to select 13 photos from the Monster for this calendar. No one takes better photos than Donnie — as he not only gets close to the action — but he also has proper flash lighting. Last year I took 100s of photos of the NSS cars — but my problem is that I'm not allowed to get as close, which causes lighting and obstruction (other people along the wall taking photos) problems. Since I will only use the best photos, I can usually only find 5 for every 200 I take that meets my criteria. I think that between all of the photos I have taken and a few that have been sent to me so far — that I might have enough to put together a calendar as good as the previous five years.

However, if you have an excellent track photo, and you would like to have your car in the 2010 Wall Calendar — please take it to Kinkos, Office Depot, or Office Max RIGHT NOW and have them scan it at 300 or 600 DPI (preferably as a PNG — but JPG is almost as good) — and email the file to me at dave@oldhippie.com with the subject Calendar.

Here's what I look for when I select the 13 photos. The car has to be colorful and representative of NSS cars with the period graphics. An all white or all red car without graphics usually won't do. Also, I try not to have too many of any one colors. The lighting has to be good (no heavy shadows on the side of the car) and the obstructions in the foreground minimal. People like to see either super smoky burnouts — or the front wheels off the ground.

I would like to get this finished in the next day or so — so I can bring 50 or so Calendars to Memphis for the NSS drivers to purchase without having to do do on-line. So if you want me to consider your car — email me the data file of your scanned photo by noon Friday.

MoparWiki

The MoparWiki project is a collaboration of many people's information, to put together an encyclopedia of all things Mopar. I ask those Wordsmiths and those with valuable reference material to please be part of that collaboration. We have Wiki papers on Mopar people, Mopar models, Mopar Makes, Mopar Racers, and Mopar drive trains. It is a work in progress just starting to get a roll going — and sure could use the help of some of the older Mopar guys sharing their knowledge and old references. Examples of the pages are:

• Main Page

• History of Dodge

• Coronets

• Walter P. Chrysler

• Dave Duell

The On-Line help is excellent. You have to register (simple deal that takes 10 seconds) at www.MoparStyle.com to be able to add or edit a Wiki. Please check it out and help out where you can.

Important Links

• Driver's Discussions — Swap lies with your NSS Driver friends. It is easy.

• NSS Racing Ning — News, (free) Driver's/Team Blogs, NSS racing photos and videos

• NSS Classified Ads — List for free with photos

• MoparWiki – building an encyclopedia for all things Mopar

• Big Red Ram — my race car's web site — could be an idea starting point for those thinking about putting together a team web site to solicit sponsorship.

• NMCA – has a series of 7 NSS races every year.

• Old Hippie's Gift Shop — NSS, Mopar, Humor, and Political items.

• Rules & News! — Very informative NSS Site.

• MoparStyle — Mopar People with Style. News, Forums, Photos, Free Classifieds, Time Slips, garage, and a whole lot more.

• OldHippie.Com — a web site with discussions about cars, Texas, Humor, Politics, Electronics, and just about any other topic you wish to discuss or need some help with.

Milan Report From The MoparStyle Racing Team

We loaded up the coach and trailer on Tuesday 8/25, and my wife Deb, son Dallas, daughter Hope, and three dogs left at 9AM Wednesday towards Milan. The trip was not without incident. In East Texas a pickup truck pulling a 50' travel trailer and two tractor/trailers tangled in the rain and had both sides of 59 closed for over an hour. In Marshall, Texas we had a blowout in the trailer and that took over an hour to change — and then another hour to get Wal-Mart to mount a new tire on the rim. Again in Arkansas there was an accident that had us sit on I-40 — and so we didn't pull in to Milan until early afternoon Thursday. Once there — we had our usual pit at the end of Midway row.

Friday was rained out — although we were able to get the cars teched in.

Saturday in the Test & Tune, we sat in the lanes for about 3 hours as water was seeping up in the left lane. A couple of cars would run and get out of shape — so they'd close and try to dry it some more. I was in the left lane and spun horribly down the track — before having to finally abort and lift at about the 1100' for a 9.9 at 119. We'd made so many changes to my car (clutch and suspension) that I wasn't sure if it was all the track — or if my car was also part of the problem. We didn't get another opportunity for a Time Trial — so I slowed my usual B/FX (9.50) down to C/FX (9.75) as I was unsure what the track conditions would be. The track was actually very good — after the T&T, and I'm terrible with trimming off too much time. In my first Qualifying, I did a 9.49 lifting at the 1500' — so it appeared to have been a bad choice of changing my Class. In my second Qualifying I was matched with a 13-second LeMans wagon — so I couldn't gauge my speed with anyone close to me in class. I short shifted at 6500 and lifted at about the 1400' — and took too much off, so I qualified poorly. Dallas just barely broke out (10.98 and 10.99 on 11.0 class) both times, and also qualified poorly in NMC.

In Sunday's eliminations — Dallas red lit in the first round. I had a Broke Bye (when a Scotty Jiles Wheel Stand in the second round of Qualifying bent up his car some) and did a 9.74 – so it looked like I figured out how to slow down just enough. I drew a black B/FX Thunderbolt in the second round of Eliminations — so I left first by a 1/4 second. I left and wrung the car out to the 1/8 and then slowed and waited for the Thunderbolt to catch up as to not break out. I beat him on the ET — but I apparently slept at the light. I'd cut good lights in Qualifying and thought I had a good light on this run — but the ticket said .111 against his .060, so I was out. I appear to not be doing well in the last three race chase.

At Zmax, I was knocked out in the first round — the first time in over a year since I'd not gone at least three rounds — dropping me from third to forth in the points. The Princess was in first but went out in the first round — so she's now in second. Doug was in second — but went three rounds — so he's now in first. Skip was in third and went three rounds — keeping him in third. Kurt was in 5th, but went four rounds — so he's now passed me for 4th — and I'm in 5th. I need to hit a homerun and have everyone fall on their face just to get 3rd after Memphis.

Silver Crown, who built my coach and trailer. was at the race. I had them look at my trailer because of how exposed the air bag hardware was to road hazards — and if something happens to the airbags the tires get cut down. Silver Crown admitted that there was a problem — and said they'd fix it — despite the trailer being out of warranty. So after the race I drove west for 120 miles to White Pigeon, MI — which is just above Elkhart, IN — and dropped the trailer off at 7PM Sunday. Since we were in the North and had a couple of days to kill — we drove east 450 miles to Buffalo, New York (arriving at 2AM) so my wife could visit with her family. While there, we went to the Mecca of Chicken Wings — the Anchor Bar, where Buffalo Wings were invented in 1964.

Wednesday evening we headed back to White Pigeon — as the Amish who do these coaches work from 3AM to 1PM. The trailer had all three axles laser aligned, the wheel wells cut higher and new fenders installed, 6 new 12-ply tires, guards made for all of the air bag hardware, and even fixed a little dent in the front from when I jack-knifed the trailer backing in a Bradenton. Then, even though the coach was also out of warranty, they had four guys spend about 5 hours adjusting the awning, replace a generator switch, replace the rear camera, adjusted some windows to make them close smoother, cabinet latches, and make a few other adjustments. All of this was done at no charge — long after the warranty expired. While there, I toured their facility where they make the motor homes and trailers. These Amish men are true craftsmen. Needless to say that I'm very happy with the company and I might be upgrading to a newer rig with a slightly different layout — if I can find someone looking for a slightly used 2009 rig.

Back to racing — the next race is the Monster Mopar Weekend at the end of this month, and then the final NMCA race in Memphis in October.

The fiberglass molds for the hood, bumpers, fenders, and tailgate for the 60 Plymouth have been made — and the parts will be made this week. Mark Artis says he'll be starting on the paint and body as soon as he's received those parts. It should be ready and tested for the start of the 2010 NMCA season.

Again, all NSS and NMC have the ability to upload their racing photos and maintain a team blog at http://nssracing.ning.com/ -  along with checking on the future events listed or listing those not yet listed. None of this is rocket science — you just have to make an investment of a couple of minutes to learn.