Bob, please don't shoot me. How's that for the start of a letter? Now that I have your attention, I need your help. Last week I went off on how Top Alcohol Funny Car would be the class of car that a TRUE World Championship would be contested with. This was done because the size of the cars would allow them to fit in a shipping container.

I had someone else dialogue with me on how to run a True World Championship and they suggested DYO (dial-your-own) dragsters. Now before you go off and say "you're crazy", we must set aside our personal desires for whatever and concentrate on the success of a True World Championship. I love blown alcohol, others like fuel, blowers or otherwise and others like Pro Stock. Well, I reckon we should set aside our personal loves and concentrate on our main love: Championship Drag Racing. True World Championship Drag Racing.

If we could create an international format of racing that is able to be constructed worldwide and raced locally and create a fair points championship that would create a True World Championship. Body styles and shapes considerations throw out sedans and the dragster is the symbol of drag racing after all. Cost is reasonable in DYO. Set a minimum standard of performance as a dial-in. All the international cars must meet a certain maximum size for shipping efficiency. Take the rear wheels, headers and scoop off and the cars get into a really small package. Create a standard shipping pallet so the cars can be stacked (inside a container). Allocate a certain amount of space for each competitor for spare parts and tools. This way we could fit four cars, plus the spares for each team in the container.

Create standardized air connections and provide air and power to the teams for all venues. Create a schedule that would be compatible with all the race schedules and the shipping schedules. Someone in the shipping business can organize discount fares on runs that are normally empty backload runs. Organize discount air fares for all the teams to fly on.

DYO cars consume less parts and a good Malaysian driver has as good a chance of winning as an Aussie or a Yank or a Canuck. Its not about the biggest wallet, it is about the best driver and that is what a championship is all about.

What do you think? Can you help with some ideas? Let's toss some around and see if we could make this happen. I can see races held in Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, UK and the USA as well as others. WCDR (World Championship Drag Racing). Are you into this? I know I am, after all the quickest DYO dragsters make as much power as the Indy cars, so why not.

With a little preparation these cars will go down any track and provide a fast close show. Naturally the WCDR could be tied into local races just like the Group A cars and the Go-Karts do at the Indy shows. Until we go international we are always going to be the poor cousins to other motor sports and the DYO dragsters are the economic answer. I hate that because I reckon that we are a better entertainment value than they are because you can see the whole race live. True World Championship Drag Racing could be sold and marketed to pay for the overheads.

OK, now let's hear what do you think. Pass the idea around and lets see if it will fly. I have taken the liberty to send this to a few extra people as well so everybody can jump in with their ideas.

Hey Bob, you OK? I hope you didn't mind me passing along your name to that racer in the US. I felt it was really important for him to get some idea of what it was like over here. Particularly in dealing with some of the promoters. Let me know how things are going when you get a chance.

I know it looks tough right now and it may be tough, but not that bad. Don't worry, I understand the complications. I too had a big move to OZ.... try 78,000 lbs. in a container. Four mills, two lathes, two welders, sheet metal tools, race car parts, truck, trailer.... the list goes on and on. I survived it all and am the better for it. OZ is the land of opportunity. Don't believe that stuff the "Yanks" sell that the US is the land of opportunity; it was, but now it's here.

There are several reasons that what you are doing is a good idea. One, racing in the US, you have to go out and run the best number you have ever run in your life and get on the bump (or just outside). Here, you show up and you are in the field (most of the time). There, even if you qualify and lose first round you get $700 (remember, you just ran the best of your life in a valve spring killing, rod stretching run). Here, you show up and get $2500 for the first round. If you want to sell your used parts in the US the resale value is non-existent. Here you still get good value for your used parts. There, you are one of hundreds of Sportsmen racers; here, you are one of about nine Professional racers in Top Alcohol. There, you never get TV time; here you always get TV.

I find it much easier to get sponsorships here than in the US. Over there, everything is on a "budget"; here, the boss thinks it's a good idea and he reaches in his pocket and makes it happen. Rolf at the auto parts store in Oxenford heard the starter on my truck make some noise and sent me a $350 starter, no charge, and I didn't even ask for it. This never happened in the US.

At some point there will be a World Championship contested and one day it will be in Alcohol and the North Americans will have a contestant and the Aussies will have a contestant. So, you tell me which one do you think it will be easier to get to the top of: the US or Australian championships? I know Phillips and Harker are tough, but they are only two, not 20 or 30 or 40... Get the picture?

Financially it has to be tough and as I said in a previous email I am impressed, you are one tough cookie. I have not seen dedication on this level in a very long time. Work hard, save your money and retire. What is wrong with that statement? I'll tell you. Retire means you are getting ready to kick off. I was 46 when I was selling everything I could not pack and making my plans to move here and I had doubts, big ones, but no regrets now. I love it here and I love the opportunities.

I know you are dancing as fast as you can and it seems like it's not fast enough. Get the car and the parts in the box and put the parts that will come later in your bags and come on down. We'll finish putting it together here and take you out for testing. I'll put you in the DRS (Drag Race School) car for a few refresher laps before you get in your car, just to get the juices flowing again. I did that for Brew just before a race and it helped him. I know cash flow is a hell of a deal and it never works in real life like it does on paper as there are always surprises. It will work and it will be great and when it's over you will say "Wow, that was tough, but I made it through and because of that I am stronger".

I don't agree with everything Henry Ford said, but he was right on when he said, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are probably right." You have to keep thinking that you can, because it is possible. When I was packing by myself to move to OZ, I looked at all the work (it took seven months to pack) and was daunted by the size of the task. One observer commented "It is kind of like eating an elephant, isn't it?" I didn't understand, so he clarified, "You do it one bite at a time".

When you get here you are going to be a big fish in a moderate size pond. Hell, you're famous already and you haven't even arrived yet. Remember, this is the biggest drag racing market outside North America. Please feel free to unload any time you want, and remember when you're up to your butt in alligators, it is hard to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp. Keep your chin up.

Hey BW - Good luck down under with that funny lookin' engine.

I've been around for a while and I have seen a lot of guys who want to be a racer start with a flash and a splash and then trickle off to zip when they find out just how much hard work racing is. Everyone doubts themselves from time to time and I am sure that you have, but let me reassure you, I am impressed, you are going to be a successful racer because you are willing to make the sacrifices it takes to do it. I know what you have been through since you left here last year (I read the reports) and I am convinced that it will all come together for you in the end. Keep up the hard work and it will pay off. You know that I will do anything I can to assist you and Tom in your quest for the "magic numbers".

Bob, I was at Jeannie's (Jager Safety Equipment) today and she wondered if your belts required updating since they were purchased at the same time as my belts on the funny car. Just wondering in case you have missed them in your hurry to get racing. By the way, I traded my motor for a rear-engine dragster (injected BB Chevy) and a trailer. Don't know what I will do with it but I am going to run the motor in the funny car for now.

My stocker is on hold at the moment. Venolia sent me the wrong year pistons so I may have to start all over again with a block and rods. Seems like there is very little quality in the delivery of race products these days. Just keep throwing money at these guys. I know you have been lately. Good luck down south brother.

Just a quick note to wish you good luck in what must be a frantic but exciting time. I hope everything goes well with your preparations. I still have seven months to go before the car gets shipped and somehow even though it seems like a long time, I get the feeling that it will probably be the same panic eight days before the shipping date. Maybe when the car is on it's way safely to OZ things will slow down enough for you that we might be able to do lunch. If not for your enthusiasm I don't know if I would have pursued this whole Aussie thing through to the stage it's at now. Drop me a line when you have some time.

"Golden Dreams" update. Absolutely gggreat!! Weather was perfect. The DRS car had 20 different camera shots on it and from every conceivable angle. Gerald (the "Dreamer") was great on camera and in the car; he drove well and was appropriately wowed - for real - and it came through on the camera. The director was very happy and said this was one of the best episodes they'd ever done and was the best this year by far. This will air in three months in front of 18 million people in Kuala Lumpur. It will be a full 12 minute spot and will surely be on the "best of" series. The director also feels like it will be so good that parts of it will be on the intro to the program as well as advertising for the program.

They shot over nine hours of tape and he said that he'll recut the story and sell it to Channel 4 in the UK (more publicity). I got my e-mail address cut out of vinyl and put on the top of the visor and on the roll cage, so all the camera shots picked it up. Tracey fed the entire crew and looked after them well and they all showed their appreciation. WOW, was it great. The rest of the school went well too. (Rob) Oberg covered the entire thing for television here in OZ and did exit interviews with all the students and the glowing praise was overwhelming. This is going to be big. Gerald is an international banker at home and is talking about finding a sponsor to bring the DRS and other cars to Malaysia for an exhibition. Boy, was he excited. He even ordered a driving suit with all the DRS logo and sponsor insignia on it.

We made 21 passes at the school. Even with massive instruction on the subject one student pressed the trans-brake button three times after he left the starting line. After charging off the starting line to a 1.2 60' time, the rear wheels came to an instant, complete stop for .2 of a second and then took off again and again and again... Three times! DRS procedural change is already in place. I now have an environment where that cannot happen again. Just one of those things you learn. And guess what, it kept on running; Wow! does (Warren) Sichter build a tough 'glide.

The student that did that was the one with the most drag racing experience. He has crewed on a very competitive A/Gas car for years. Overconfident. I have seen this in the classroom, on day one the students with the most drag race experience (not driving) are the overconfident ones who make the most mistakes. Gerald had never seen a dragster before and took copious notes and asked questions and drew pictures, etc. He went out and did everything perfectly.

Wow, was this one great! If the DRS doesn't take off now, nothing will make it take off ever! Well, I guess I had better get to work, the DRS car goes out to work again today. Nathan has it leased for training. Clean it up, check it over and slot it back on the starting line. 211 runs since its birth at the Winternationals ten months ago.

DRS # 2 (car) is on the jig and the back half is tacked up and it is all ready for semi-welding, then off the jig. While the jig is set up, the DRS # 3 goes on and we'll finish it off as well. I picked up another new sponsor, Aluminium Radiator and Engineering is making the all aluminium radiators for the next two cars. These things are almost $650.00 each but they are they great looking, this guy can weld .011" thick aluminium!! Warren Sichter has the trans done for # 2 and we'll carry it and the Converter Shop converter for # 2 in the trailer as a spare for DRS # 1.

Sunday, Tracey and I are working on the DRS manual and teaching guide to improve it for the next school. Every school we do we learn more and more how to improve it although the students all think how great it is already. Tracey is working on the marketing angles to promote the DRS as a holiday package. You know... "Surfers Paradise beaches and the Drag Race School"... relax and have the time of your life.

Just a quick message, not necessarily a backfire. The manifold looks pretty good. Something that came to mind while I was looking at it concerns how the air comes out of the bottom of the PSI. This may not make any difference, but it is a thought.

The openings at the bottom "plate" of the PSI have a large square opening at the back with two smaller rectangular openings in front of it. These holes correspond to the ribs at the bottom of the blower that divert the air to the forward holes. On a hemi motor, the intake valves are spaced evenly, remember the cam (episode)?

Anyway, I was just wondering if there is anything that can be done with the "plate" so that you are not dumping a fair amount of air into the manifold where there are no intake runners? Maybe ask "Uncle" Norm (Drazy). Like I said, it may not make too much difference, as the air will eventually get to the runners, but there may be some distribution issues as some cylinders may be lean/rich.

There is no news like late news, but I probably would have angled in the middle runners a bit more towards the center. Don't tell Tom this, I don't want him to slit his wrists. Overall, I am sure you have much bigger concerns, so just file this one back somewhere in the cranium.

With the recent proposed rules (changes) by NHRA in the Federal-Mogul Dragsters and Funny Cars for the year 2000, I for one (being a Federal-Mogul Dragster Division Seven racer) am STRONGLY against the total extinction of A/FUEL!! Secondarily, all of my parts would be of no use to any racers, should that come to pass. This would be a hardship on me personally, not to mention that it would leave NO place for me to compete at a Divisional or National level!!

As a former national record holder in Top Alcohol Dragster (mph of 248.41) set in October 1992, the first to go over 240 and 250 mph, I would be VERY disappointed if the proposed rules were in fact put into place. In closing, it would be (in my opinion) a certain, if not a slow death, of the Federal-Mogul Dragster class.

Just a quick hello to see how the preparations going and to see if things are still going to plan or not to plan, whatever the case may be. Hopefully for your sake it's all going to plan and the dramas have become miniscule. Okay, I won't keep you any longer, just hope you're travelling well and that the night shift isn't messing you up too bad.

I see by your pics that you must have an aluminum company sponsorship. I am curious, how much does it weigh?

After the completion of the Gatornationals I would like to throw up. If any class in any eliminator gets hit a tenth (on the index) you now own a bunch of expensive parts that make you wonder why you're even bothering to race anymore. If (Steve) Ambrose had at least won, you could try and convince yourself that he had a good day and he won a national event. But he didn't.

In -500' air he destroyed the index and has left the class (I/A - that has only three competitors) screwed. In the heat of the summer all categories slow down. We can now look forward to extreme slowness (relative to the index) in the heat. The nitro vs. blown issue reflects the frustration of a class with an advantage. We spent three years developing this combination so we could have an advantage and in one race with ideal conditions we are reduced to middle of the pack status.

Hi Guys. I've checked out your site before but had a really good look around today. Great stuff, can't fault it and of course I particularly like the Drag Babes sections.

Thanks for the link to my Trakbytes site and thanks for spelling it properly! One point however; in the Nitro Funnies (links) section you link Bill Sherratt's name to our Showtime site which is fine, but John Spuffard's name is linked to Bob Stanton's homepage, which is not (okay).

Bob Staunton is an ex-member of the Showtime team and is no longer associated with the team in any way. Both John Spuffard and Bill Sherratt are Showtime Racing UK drivers and should be linked accordingly to our site. I would appreciate it if you could rectify this for us, thanks.

I will be adding links to your site from both my sites on the next updates in a week or so. Keep up the good work; I will be a regular visitor from now on. Cheers.

Long time no chat.... What are you up to?? When are you coming downunder?? Did you get your sponsor??... Come on, give me all your secrets :-)

I am grateful that you guys are appreciating our work ... we are trying our best. Well, you take care now.

Bob, I put my question regarding the possibility of taking advantage of the changes in Federal-Mogul alky rules to establish international competition to Dennis Syrmis of Willowbank and ANDRA. His less than encouraging reply is attached.

The main problem is that is that for us at least, Top Alcohol is a financial black hole. We have proved time and time again that the paying public are not interested in either Top Alcohol or Pro Stock.

The Lucar series came about after we dropped a round of Top Alcohol for this season. The racers found a sponsor for a local series. It is fully funded by the sponsorship.

I can remember asking Dave Wallace, one of the most respected drag racing journalists in the U.S., way back in '89, "... why can't we draw crowds with Top Alcohol?" His words were "... don't worry about it, it's exactly the same in the U.S." If you have been to any NHRA national events, you would have seen the stands empty when the Alcohol cars come to the line. It's a fact of life. I love the alky cars, but the majority of the public don't relate to them.

Hi Ken. You have no doubt heard of the changes proposed for Federal-Mogul dragster and funny car in NHRA this week. It gave me an idea about a possibility for International competition which I sent to Bob Wilson and Dennis Syrmis. I thought you might be interested in Dennis' reply which I have included in an attachment. (See above). What's your thoughts on these two subjects; ie: rule changes and the future of Top Alcohol, Federal-Mogul drag racing and International competition.

If there is ever going to be a TRUE World Champion it will be in Top Alcohol. Pro Stock classes vary from continent to continent and the costs for nitro cars are off the planet, making them not viable. Cost, size and package and the look of the cars will make Top Alcohol Funny Car the future World Championship series. If you can run a 5.78 in Oz, you can do it in the US or Sweden. If you run a 4.62 in the US in Top Fuel then you will only be able to do that there. TAFC provides everyone the level playing field in their own backyard to research and hone their tune-ups. It could happen and I hope it does happen.

Dennis sees Alcohol as a black hole. This is his viewpoint from his experience. He relates his similar experience to the NHRA experience. Therefore it must be true. I take exception to that. Here is my experience: Since NHRA created Pro Comp, I have raced Injected Nitro or Blown Alcohol cars, both dragster and Funny Car. I have raced with NHRA, IHRA and UDRA. This is actually participating in the races and doing it over and over, year after year. (Broad database).

I would race NHRA Division (Three) races where the Alcohol cars are the top cars at US 131, or Martin, Michigan or Stanton, Michigan or Salem, Ohio or Milan, Michigan or Edgewater, Ohio, etc.etc. Get the picture? Yes, a lot of races. A lot of these tracks would race an NHRA Division race each year and a UDRA regional race as well. At all the NHRA races I would see 1000 people in the stands at each race, year after year. When I raced with UDRA holding the events, we would race at the same tracks either before or after the NHRA races, whatever the schedule dictated.

When we raced UDRA the stands would be full: 10,000 or 12,000 people. At one race in Cincinnati when I raced (Al) DaPozzo in the final, they would not let us start the cars until the police went down and made the people move back from the edge of the track near the finish line, because the stands were all full and the standing room was six to ten deep near the starting line. At one of the races I won at US 131, I got a standing ovation from the packed stands as I towed back to the pits past the stands. You don't forget 10,000 fans all cheering for you. Yes, I was impressed. It shows what you can do if you sell a package properly and the UDRA was "sold" to the spectators and they loved it.

I made money with UDRA racing because it was structured properly and promoted properly. Most of us did make money with UDRA and I still have a soft spot for it because it did make me money and I loved it. Once I was at a seminar and the speaker asked how many people here could cook a better hamburger than McDonalds. Almost everyone held their hand up. Then the speaker asked, "If you can cook a better hamburger than McDonalds why aren't you all millionaires like they are?" The answer is that McDonalds is beter at selling the hamburger, aren't they? You have to learn how to sell your hamburgers. You have to know how to sell the product. Marketing is about creating the demand and then filling it.

My opinion is that (Top) Alcohol can be packaged and sold and TAFC could/should be the focus for sanctioning bodies to promote as the World Championship class. Any rules that can keep the costs (overheads) down in racing benefits everyone. NASCAR is an excellent example of how a sanctioning body can control costs. It is popular to bash NHRA and ANDRA but you must look at the problems through their eyes. Sometimes they do not respond as quickly as they could or should to correct a problem, but sometimes this is due to internal political struggle in the organization. It is easy to say what you would do if you were in power and you may be right, but until you get in the situation you really don't know what all the problems are. Most of the decisions are made by people who feel that they are doing the right thing -- none of us want to hurt drag racing, it is just that there are differences of opinion on what should be done.

I'm glad that ANDRA recognizes Top Alcohol as a professional category; this is as it should be. There is not a single alcohol racer in the US that doesn't look this way with envy as alcohol in the US is a sportsman category. A few years ago they made it a "Pro Sportsman" category; the only thing that changed was the name. Nothing else did.

One of things that bothers me is this: When the footballers who play professionally go to play the ball game, do they pay to get in? When the professional (fill in the blank) go to play (fill in the blank) do they pay to attend or get in the gate? No, they don't, so why should Championship Drag Racing Professionals have to pay? We do not have that many professional racers in drag racing and their overheads' are astronomical, so I would like to hear the explanation of why Professionals should have to pay to perform? I hate to say it but I still think that the sportsman racers (and I sponsor Modified Eliminator at Willowbank) should pay entry fees until they decide to join the professional categories. Sorry, but this is my opinion.

World Drag Racing Championships contested with TAFC's; It all makes sense to me and I reckon it could be packaged and sold. NHRA could promote it (I don't think they would) but they are focused at "home". This is a normal American phenomenon that anything that happens outside of the US borders is just a bit less than they could have done. ANDRA could promote it as they have good ties with NHRA and the European sanctioning bodies and this is a possibility once a major international sponsor can be located and "sold" on how good it would be for them to be involved in. I think it would behoove ANDRA & NHRA to start organizing this as it would allow the competitors in all the countries to prepare for a future challenge, in say, 2002.

I think you have to have a plan and a target date to make all this happen and let the racers know as far in advance as possible. Even if you plan on this happening in 2002 and it doesn't happen until 2004, so what? It just gives a little more time to get ready. Until Championship Drag Racing is international in scope we will always be considered third cousins to other forms of auto racing.

While we are on the subject of plans, something I want to see in place is the plan by our sanctioning body to create an environment where Championship Drag Racing in Australia will grow to where we can hold an event with 1000 competitors. The 1997 Winternationals had 440 entries (a record), the 1998 Winternationals had 521 (another record), but if you add up all the racers in Australia and they all came to one race, I don't think you would have 1000 racers. How are we going to "grow" drag racing to where we could have 1000 entries?

Let's make a goal that by the year 2010 we will have a race that will draw 1000 entries. Now let's make a plan that will make this happen. Let's make an annual projection of what each race should have as the number of competitors. Are we doing the right things to make Championship Drag Racing grow? If we don't support the entry level and sportsman categories, we won't get racers moving up to the professional categories. You must make a goal, create a plan, set targets and modify the plan if the targets are not met. That is how you "grow" something.

Sorry about the soap-box but I am passionate about my life's work, Championship Drag Racing. You'll notice that I always capitalize it and refer to it as "Championship Drag Racing" to separate it from the other types of "drag" racing and the problems associated with them. We are not "hoons" who take great delight in turning a new recapped tyre into shreds at the "burnout pad". Championship Drag Racing invented the "burnout" to clean and warm the tires and allow cars to go faster and not spin the tyres. Whoops! There I go again on the soap-box. Well I have to go now, so.....

I was reading your newsletter on your webpage where you mentioned having the 9/16" stud size in the block. KB makes adaptor studs that reduce a 9/16" block size to a 1/2" size to fit your heads. Just for your information.

Can I come downunder with you?? I don't eat much, really enjoy racing and chicks dig me. On a serious note, we (the A/Fuel teams) are or have started getting out letters and information sent, faxed and e-mailed to the KGB... Oh sorry, NHRA. I chose to use all three methods to forward my plea. Why do I feel like I'm begging for my life? Oh yeah... I am!

As a group there seems to be some good organization and good ideas being sent, but it doesn't seem like it is enough yet. Currently we are looking to get manufactuers and distributors involved in this as well, since it appears as though NHRA isn't concerned with racers (That's a new concept, eh?) Maybe by getting the people who fund a lot of the contingencies and even Federal-Mogul themselves involved we may be able to breathe some life back into the class.

I wonder if anyone who is currently making the decisions in Glendora remembers something called Pro Comp. It was a cool class with different types of cars running together. Or can they remember something called Jr. Fuel. My crew chief and I were trying to figure out what class we can put our stuff into for a nostalgia deal... Front motored with an injected TFX and BAE heads ... How cool.

Our current direction, as I believe most teams are going, is full speed ahead. We've got to get out there and run this year to get established and then start to deal with next year as we know more about exactly what options we will have. As far as the changeover to blown alky, you are 100% correct. There is more to do than bolt on and swap pieces and in my last blast, I threw out a number of $15,000, which is WAAAAY too low. After further review, it is more like $30,000 to $50,000 to go from A/FD to T/AD.

I used to think my future was bright, now I wonder when will the light shine again?? Glad to see you are on the postive upswing of your deal... All the best downunder.

Bob, I wonder if there are any other drag racers that like to write software that uses dbase programming language? If there are any in the Gold Coast or Brisbane area I'd like to talk to them. My computer friends that I left in the States are all on the other side of the planet. I like to write software as a hobby because it allows me to switch off from work but still create something I can use for racing.

For nearly a year now I have wanted to create a bit of mathematical software that would allow me to calculate fuel volumes as set-ups for my fuel flow bench. I thought I knew how I wanted to do it but could never make it happen. Last Wednesday, while I was flowing Bob Powers' fuel system, the bolt of lightning struck and I figured out how to do it.

I sat down and did the math with a calculator and figured the fuel volume to the engine based on nothing but numbers. Then I checked the numbers against actual flowed fuel systems. My accuracy range was as bad as 1.9% to 0.2% which is very good. This gives me an extremely close baseline to start the fuel systems with. From all of the fuel systems that I have done over the last 12 years, I have a data base full of information on the fuel volumes required for each application. Between these two tools I can get my customers right on the nail the first time.

There are a few things that I would like to do with my old dbase but I'd like to talk to someone about how to do it. I have all the dbase books but being the impatient kind I'd prefer to talk to someone. Anyway, if there is anyone out there who is hooked on dbase, e-mail or call me at (07) 5573-4535.

I have another project in mind also..... I want to add data acquisition to the flow bench and a hertz controller, all driven by a bit of software... Can anyone assist me here or am I on my own??

To take a quote from FM/FC racer Bucky Austin, who just happens to have won five National Events in a row....

"It's ridiculous to pull the pan after every lap because you put it on kill and you know the bearings are going to be hurt. These cars will run 5.7's pretty easy if you have your act together and use your brain instead of changing bearings and crankshafts all the time. I always make sure my car can make three runs without the pan coming off. For the money we're getting, it doesn't make sense to try to destroy the world, and if you look, the guy who runs between 5.74 and 5.79 every run is the guy who wins a national event."

I happened upon your website and noticed that the word "millennium" is mis-spelled (you have it as "millenium" without the second "n"). An easily corrected Y2K problem :-) The URL of the page is: http://headsupreview.com/bwilson.html. I hope this helps.

I just read a letter written by FMD racer Bill Ancona posted on the Dragnet email group. I suggested to Bill that he should post his message on the Usenet's newsgroups. I also offered to do it on his behalf, it that would help. Bill responded to me with the following:

Dear Members:

Please read the following message and send the same to NHRA (in your own words). Many of you expressed a desire to help in my quest to go fuel racing. If NHRA continues with this process it is going to cost me personally more than $100,000 which will be completely unrecoverable. I am one of more than 60 people that have current A/Fuel Dragsters or are under construction. NHRA's statement that there are less than 20 A/FD's is a complete mis-representation of the truth. If you would like, I can publish a list of current A/FD owners with phone numbers and you can check for yourself.

Go to the NHRA home page and there you will find the proposed rules for A/FD (gone) T/AD and TA/FC. I can tell you that their stated reasoning is to lower the cost of racing. This is not the way to do it. In the first place, with the limitations they are going to place on blower overdrive, everyone is going to have to spin the engines even faster than they do now to get those 2150 lb. hogs off the starting line, which will result in massive parts attrition. I can tell you for a fact this is true based upon 30 years of experience. This mentality will ultimately cause the demise of the category as we know it today.

I can go on forever with details about all this but the bottom line here is that I own both an A/Fueler and a blown alcohol car. They are parked and will stay that way if these rules are supported. It is not even a reasonable thought that anyone can run under the proposed rules successfully. I have had enormous amounts of phone calls, faxes and e-mails concerning this issue over the last 48 hours. And overwhelmingly, the racers are upset about this, both T/AD and A/FD. And why are they ripping the TA/FC guys as well?

This has nothing to do with the discord between the Nitro cars and the Blown Alcohol cars. This is a decision by the NHRA that makes no sense and is not in the best interests of the racers. I urge each and everyone of you, as fans and spectators to contact the NHRA in writing and express your concern for the future of these dedicated racers that are being short-changed in this deal.

Letters should be sent to the following people (e-mail will work just as well and is free and instant):

Please copy me if you choose to support the racers in protesting this reckless devaluation of millions of dollars of race cars. Remember, if NHRA can do this to us, they can do the same or worse to you. If no one speaks up, they will simply press on. I am more than willing to discuss this opnly with anyone privately or on-line that doesn't understand the total picture here or desires more details.

Thanks for the bandwidth, Bill Ancona.

I've just been checking out your latest Backfire! update and noticed Ken Lowe and a number of others trying to turn you green with snippets about how warm the weather is down under at the moment and how good the Castrol New Year Series has been. I thought I'd better let you know I've got NTSC video copies of the last two episdoes of "Wreckers Hotline Drag Racing" with all the Top Alcohol action included ready to go for you. I'll get them away when I get home after the Nationals at Calder this weekend.

I thought seeing footage of alky cars running down the best track outside of North America and the fact you'll be here soon would make you feel better about all the dramas you're going through with the car. The TV show's doing well with good ratings in its 4:00 pm Sunday "free to air" time slot and Foxsports are now showing each episode twice on cable and satellite. Good exposure for sponsors. Any luck in that department yet?

Bob, here is the way I am sure it is. 29.92 is Barometric Pressure at sea level, normally. When the weather brings in a high or low pressure area, the BP will change but the sea level doesn't and 500 feet above sea level is still 500 feet (plus or minus the waves and tides :-).

If you set the altimiter at 29.92 (standard) and you are at sea level and the altimiter reads -200 feet, you are in a high pressure area and if it reads +300 feet, you're in a low pressure area. Millibars convert to BP. I have a formula for that. What I need is a formula to convert BP to altimiter or altimiter to BP with a constant on the adjustable altimiter (29.92). Does that make sense?

Now that I've calmed down, I have a question. Can you compare costs of the blown FMD's to the (nitro) fuel FMD's? All this talk about costs killing the car count had me wondering if the emergence of the fuel cars was because they were cheaper to run. They just took a lot more tuning ability.

By the way, Mission was pretty much a washout on the weekend. We weren't out there because my car is still waiting for the new bullet. I did talk to some people who said all that happened on Sunday was more cleanup. I wouldn't go out when it's this cold anyway.

Hope all is well in the Northwest and that Hot Rod of yours is ready to run soon. So, how do you like NHRA's approach to posting the rule changes? Third item on the page and it goes out on a day when everyone from NHRA is travelling to Florida, so to get any type of clarification... What a coincidence, don't you think?? Anyway, I have my update on the situation on page two at... Z - S - K Racing.

(My) Top Five reasons to keep the A/Fuel dragsters!

The question is... who will gain the most if this class (option) is dropped?

Any chance of letting me in on what the ACCELERATION ENTERPRISES Fuel System and Clutch software is and do you think the clutch side could help or be suitable for a single stage slider clutch? Good luck with the move.

Dear Canadian Drag Racing Track:

Drag Racing Canada is Canada's first all-Canadian drag racing website. We have included a link to your page, in order to provide an easier way for drag racing fans nationwide to find you. We want to become the central location where drag racing fans, drivers and everyone else interested in the sport can go to see what's going on in the Canadian world of drag racing.

It would be of great assistance to us, if you could place a link to Drag Racing Canada somewhere on your page. If you would like logos, you can find them on our "Link To Us" page. In addition, we were hoping that you could send us a schedule of your major events and results so that we can keep up to date with drag racing in your area. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Bob, I've been reading all the posts on your site re: the dropping of A/FD's by 2000 and the concern about what will hold the blown alky dragster class together after they are gone, considering that it may still take two engines per meet to run with the current leaders.

Your observation that the blown dragsters need to be slowed down to make them financially viable to more teams and therefore maintain the strength of the class might be closer to the solution than you think.

As you know already, the blown alky dragsers in Australia are already slowed down by cube and blower overdrive restrictions in order to make the blown funny cars which run in the same class, Top Alcohol, competititve. Willowbank Raceway and its' General Manager, Dennis Syrmis, who is also a key mover in the national sanctioning body, ANDRA, have for some time been hinting at some form of International competition as the next step in Australian Drag Racing. Of course the key problem, apart from the costs of international transport, is what class would be exciting and above all, close enough in specifications to be equal without major modifications?

Why not Blown Alky Dragsers if the Federal-Mogul Dragsters were wound back a bit to match Australian T/AD's and the Federal-Mogul Funny Cars too for that matter, which are almost identical to the Aussie specifications. The classes could remain separate for international competition or be combined, whatever has the best crowd pulling power. The US cars could run a few rounds in Australia in your winter off-season which is the peak of our racing season and vis-a-vis. Many individual US race teams have already done this on many occasions at the invitation of Australian promoters but never as a truly international competition.

The advantage of the blown alky cars is they don't have the huge schedule of the fuel cars and would be much cheaper to transport with fewer crew, parts, etc. Sponsors could be sought from both sides of the Pacific Ocean and it would give the class the first truly International competition of any Drag Racing class. Let's face it, while many Drag Racing events in the US are called World Finals, etc., they have no international competition whatsoever, apart from the odd visitor from overseas.

So what do you think Bob? Is it time to get the jump on the fuel cars and not only keep the blown alky classes together but once and for all establish the class as a leading group in the WORLD of Drag Racing!?!

I got a call from Castrol and they have agreed to be a Drag Racing School sponsor. They said they will be sending the product this week.

Today is the day for sponsor phone calls. Confirmed with Rocket (Industries) that B&M, Autometer and Derale have joined the DRS as sponsors. This will assist in completing the next two DRS cars.

Worked on fuel injection systems. Visited the construction site at the end of Kopps road to see about getting a few hundred truck loads of dirt for my little spot on the hill. Everyone is picking up fuel pumps today, getting ready for the race this weekend I guess. I had 21 here ready for pick up this morning and now only eight are left.

Worked on fuel injection systems all day. Dave Mullins and I talked on the phone and he gave me a formula to convert millibars to barometric pressure. Spoke to Rob Oberg on the phone. He has some great ideas for promoting the DRS. Some we are doing already and some we will do. We confirmed the details on the Drag Racing '99 television show where we will be running a phone-in contest for a ride in the DRS car at the end of the season. We will get a two minute ad spot on every TV show covering the details of the contest while the image of the DRS car is playing in the background. Rob is also going to replay the spot where he made the passes in the car last year as an intro to the contest. The DRS car already has received more television than the T/AD car has, now it will be heaps more.

Kevin (Schurrs) picked up his new car today. The left hand steer '27 roadster of Kev's is gone. Now I can finish the tin on Graeme Frawley's new dragster and it can leave as well. I know he is anxiously waiting on it. We have the second DRS car on the jig putting the back-half on it. I now have three '48 Fiat Topolino bodies in stock. Topolino's anyone?

Worked on my fuel injection software. I had an idea two years ago but could not work it out mathematically until last week. In the F-I business I start with the fuel volume I know the engine will want. Select a fuel pump that will deliver the volume to meet the needs of the application (engine) and allow enough to provide enough fuel going back to the tank to adjust the system with. If there is not a pump large enough to do the job and the next size is too large then I add a "pump sizer".

Anyway up until a week ago it was trial and error on the flow bench. Last week I had an idea for the mathematics so I could calculate the initial set-up. I have trialled the math on paper at least in a dozen known applications and have been able to predict the outcome with math. The usual variance is 0.2% to 0.5% with as bad as 1.9%. Pretty close I think, since I'm only using it as an initial set-up to save trial and error on the actual flow bench.

Dave did not work today but worked on his daily driver car, the big yellow Holden. Lawrie Moore came by to purchase a butterfly steering wheel and stayed for several hours and helped Dave sort out his dual-point Mallory distributor in the Holden. I worked on the new F-I software. Had to knock off at 4:10 pm as Tracey and I are going to Noni and Jay's new house for a barby.

I awoke at 3:30 this morning with a new idea on how to program the loop cycle on some of my software and had to go to the shop to try the idea out. As I walked to the shop in the dark the beautiful clear night sky was filled with a billion stars. The moon is just a small slice and the temp is 22.4C (72.3F) as I sit here in tropical comfort with only a shirt and jeans on.

Ten years ago I travelled to a warm tropical paradise that had drag racing, but few (parts) suppliers. There the weather ranged between unbelievably gorgeous all the way down the scale to very, very nice. What a range of options. Ten years ago I was living in a place that had nice weather for about 30-40 days a year, in total. Either hot and muggy or cold and nasty. It was crowded and there were a lot of dangerous people around. You had to lock yourself in and them out. I had come to accept this as "normal".

I asked myself "how did I get where I was?" Was there a plan or did I just float along and wind up where I was. First, I was born in a place and just never drifted very far. There was no plan, just what ever happened. You know I have read all the rule books. NHRA, IHRA, ANDRA, The Bible and nowhere did it ever say that Ken had to live in a cold, crappy place. So I asked myself, "why am I am living where I am?" and I didn't like the answers. So I changed things.

So many people are trapped by themselves, convinced that where they are is where they have to be. Yes, I did have to give up some things. Weather-wise I do miss the turning of the leaves in the fall. This is a very small price to pay for as nice a sight as that, as it is still a harbinger of the bad weather to come. I don't miss snow in any way, shape or form. When I arrived here I had the ceremonial burning of the snow shovel. Never again to waste my time and energy shovelling snow.

I am sitting at the computer terminal working on the software and heard the Kookbaurra birds' morning call indicating sunrise and looked up to see the time is 4:55 am now. I know the sun will be up in about 20-30 minutes. The weather here varies from what could be called cool dry summer (in our winter) to a quite warm summer (in our summer), so I guess you could call it "Endless Summer".

I was speaking of formulas earlier, so I've got a question for everyone. Does anyone know the conversion factor to convert altitude to barometric pressure if the altimiter is present to 29.92 ? There has to be a formula around. I've tried to figure it out but I reckon there is a constant in the formula like the temperature conversion from fahrenheit to celsius. Me email is Ken Lowe if anyone can assist. Thanks. I'll close now. Chat more later.

Gidday Bob, this is another letter from someone waiting for you to run down under.

I have a question for you, do the latest generation Top Fuel cars run fuel gauges inside their cockpits or do they run them outside the cockpit and what is the latest ruling on this subject in the NHRA rule book?

A strange question I hear you asking yourself. The reason I am looking at this situation is that I'm the Head Scrutineer (Chief Tech Inspector) at the best track outside the USA (Willowbank Raceway) and want to improve my knowledge on some subjects.

We have a situation in Australia concerning this subject and I need to know what the outcome is in the USA, so my hard working scrutineering staff are better equipped to do their job. Will be waiting for your reply.

I was thinking. What if this new class (Injected Nitro Dragsters), did seven National Events (one in each Division) and one FMDRS Event (in each division) for a total of 14 races? That's a thought...... What do you think?

HEY B-1.. uh.. I got it wrong? YOU got it wrong... ME, I just copy and paste the URL's right in there, and out they pop... Got an idea, why don't you just take the damn apostrophe OUT? I'd LIKE to be able to hyperlink to your site from the 'flames in the future, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna write all of that "well, go here, click this" dreck... Do us a favour and fix that, will ya? GEEZE.....

Can ya tell I haven't had my bran muffin yet this morning?

Okay Bob, here I go. Pro Stock is great but if every class was as close and cookie cutter-like as they are, I would be so bored I couldn't stand it!

I loved the small block Chevy of the Santos'. It didn't have to win, it just had to be competitive. I love the fuel cars in Federal-Mogul Dragster. They don't have to win, they just have to be competitive. I hate egos that only want to see themselves win and will do anything to eliminate the competition.

NHRA has put the feelers out and I can tell you now, the fans should decide. Not the racers! I can't afford to race in F-M/D, but I know what I like to watch, and that is a race where I don't know who is going to win. With the fuel cars in the class, you never know who is going to win (at least for now).

I'm sorry, but if this sport is ever going to get to a level equal to NASCAR it has to start catering to the fans, not the racers. I don't care how much money the manufacturers and the teams have wrapped up in this sport, it will all be lost if we don't wake up and smell the coffee (or the nitro). Marketing is all in the atmosphere.

I'm Bill Evans and I don't know much, but I know why I watch NHRA drag racing. You might say, "Who's he, he doesn't know squat!" If you want to promote the sport, those are the people you want to attract, the ones who don't know squat.

If you are just out for yourselves, .........

How are you doing? Busy by the looks of things. I do hope you make it to Australia and I especially hope you can get to run in Adelaide. They ran the Top Alcohol cars here a few weeks ago, can't remember all the details, but Gary Phillips beat Scott Ferguson in the final.

Not much more to say because I don't know a lot. As you know I'm only a casual Drag Racing fan. Anyway, hope everything goes well for you when you arrive and mother nature (or is that god?) does the right thing.

Okay, well with the internet, file size is very important when it comes to animations. Sure, any animation can look great, if you feel like waiting to download three or four hundred KB's (kilobytes - not Keith Blacks :-) just for one. So there's a balance between quality and size. Anyhow I grabbed one pic at the starting line, added a little shaky cam to it and animated her, which I will send in this attachment. If the gif doesn't come through properly (you know how hotmail can be sometimes) just send me an email and I'll try again.

Thanks for letting me do it, it's just a hobby I do on my time off. Learned a lot about it when my leg was broken, been working a lot lately though, so please excuse the tardiness of my reply. Oh, almost forgot to add, animated gif's will only animate in an animation program, or in a web browser like netscape or internet explorer, so to view it you have to load it with one of those. Also, there's a 10-second delay between each "run", then it restarts.

Thanks for the updates of the latest rumours. You might already know that we changed drivers. Gary Ormsby, Jr. drives for us now. Check us out in the February 26, 1999 issue (#6) of National Dragster, page 72.

At the Arizona Nationals, we qualified # 12 with a 5.692 at 242.58 mph. Call Rick Santos (of S+S Automotive) about manifolds: (510) 357-9041. Good luck down under!

Edgecombe Racing Top Alcohol Dragster - Still the quickest and fastest B-1 wedge in the world!

I will leave it up to you as far as posting this or not, but as far as I am concerned the more poeple that see it, the better. We need voices. I have added some of this info on my site on  page 2 .

I got more and more wind of this in the last couple of days. I have spoken with as many accurate(ly informed) drivers or owners in the class as I could get in touch with, and basically, as of Tuesday, we all knew it to be true and on the way. What we (all A/FD'ers) are looking to do is get organized, get our info together and make sure we are represented and heard.

Players on the front line include John Costanza of JCIT, Jerry Darien (In 'n' Out Burgers) and Rick Henkelman. I got a couple of calls yesterday to get my team info faxed over to Henkelman and one other owner so that we can pass info via fax and phone to each other. It looks as though the plan is to let NHRA know we are NOT looking to just roll over, we plan on offering changes to slow our cars down as well as the blown cars and that for us to just "change over" is at least a $15,000 project. You can attest to the cost of a blower, manifold, injector, bag, etal.

All I know for sure is that I was told to be prepared, be informative, get my stuff together and get it mailed or faxed over to be reviewed and to NOT get into a shouting match because this will hurt, not help. That is the latest and "greatest", so far... As we both know, much more will be coming around the bend. Speaking of which, I was thinking I saw a light at the end of this racing tunnel... Guess what?? It's the big bad NHRA train coming, and I'm tied to the tracks. OHHHHH NOOOOO!!!

You can now make it official... apparently your "anonymous source" has a bug inside the White Tower. Here's your quote:

"The NHRA Tech Department has proposed that, effective January 1, 2000, injected nitro will no longer be permitted in the Federal-Mogul Dragster class. The tech department is currently accepting corrsepondence both in favour of and against the implementation of this rule change. A more detailed description will be included in issue # 9 of National Dragster. All letters should be directed to Jim Skelly - Director of Technical Communications - NHRA Technical Department - 2035 Financial Way - Glendora, CA - 91741 - USA."

Bob, thanks for taking the time to answer. We will run nitro next year. This year my plan is to get some seat time in with alky as it has been 25 years since I've been strapped to anything other than a fishing pole! I've got lots of learning to do. I know how busy you must be so again thanks for the time. Hope to see you whenever I can catch up with you. I'm going to the March Meet (this weekend at Bakersfield) and can't wait to see lots of old friends. I will send some pics when I get them from Jere.

Hey there Bob, how's everything going?? So what do you think about NHRA outlawing the A/FD's next year?? Keep in touch.

I have been doing some research on A/Fuel cars and Y2K compatibility and apparently the NHRA forum is going to have problems handling the Y2K/AFD combo.

What I am being told is that the news will hit in next week's National Dragster and they will be allowing a two-week window for racers-owners to fax in, mail in or e-mail their presentations to NHRA. The rules that ban A/Fuel cars and start to limit, ie. slow down, the blown cars will be listed as Proposed Rules Changes and once this window for response is over it will all be reviewed and finalized. I have contacted several other A/Fuel racers and they are preparing to get info to NHRA to see what can and will be done.

No matter what, things are not looking great in Nitroville.

Now that the demise of the injected nitro cars seems inevitable, are you truly happy with the decision? Less cars, less people involved in your category.....

Advertisement seen in the New York Times last week:

FOR SALE BY OWNER: Complete set of Encyclopedia Brittanica.
45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1000 or best offer.
No longer needed. Got married last weekend. Wife knows everything.

Sounds from your website that you are thrashing to get everything done. Good luck. I am in the process of building a replica car of the AA/FA that my dad and I ran during the fuel altered heydays. I'm in need of parts for the new car and am looking for wheels and ties to get started with. If you or any racers you know might have 16x16x5-1/2 wheels with 4"-5" back spacing and tires for sale, please contact me. I live in Arlington, Washington and would travel up to B.C. to pick them up. Thanks for your time.

I heard something very similar on Friday as well. I got my news from David Sumek, Gary's son, when we were going over input shafts. He said they may not "outlaw" them but instead do what they did with the Small Block Chevys like Santos, leave the class in the rule book but make it an uncompetitive combo.

I heard this was to be heavily discussed at the Gatornationals during the rules meetings. Here we go, I am sure it will get real interesting before it gets real good. Do the racers get any represenatation at these meetings or are we just the sheep following along??? I will forward you any further info I get.

Wow, it's about time they evened things out....

G'Day Bob, good to see you back on board. I was starting to think the high workload and graveyard shifts had sent you into a mental asylum. A few notes on the March 6th race meeting at Willowbank:

I couldn't help but notice a few tense moments occuring in the Santo Rapisarda/"Pommie" Steve Read Top Fuel camp, as they were lucky to get the win on the night. Only the fact that Robin Kirby tossed the blower belt at about 1000' in the final let Read through for the win. Word has it that Santo has added another crew chief from the USA to help Ray Ward with all the new gear he has bought in pursuit of the $100,000 Bob Jane has recently posted for the first 300 mph pass in Australia.

I had a great time looking after the Top Alcohol guys on the night, the highlight of which was Steve Harker's 5.80's. I honestly thought he had a good chance of knocking Klappa (Gary Phillips) off on the night, but a major oil leak on the start line put a stop to those ideas. I was a bit disappointed with the decision to only let four cars run in eliminations after Mark Brew qualified last out of the five cars that turned up and had to miss out. They asked me if I could organize an exhibition pass after the first round, but unfortunately I was told to tell them it was not possible. I hate having to tell people that.

All in all I had a very hot, but enjoyable, day. The alcohol guys are probably one of the best brackets to work with, but I really need to organize myself a bike or something as walking up and down from the Group One pits to the startline and back about 15 times starts to take it out of a bloke after a while.

One last but juicy bit of gossip... It seems that here in Australia we may have our own "Shiftergate" scandal brewing in Pro Stock. It appears that a well known Pro team has put a paid protest in over a fellow competitor's highly consistent times and gear shift points and suspicions of automated gear shifting..... more to come.

Hurry up and get down here, it's getting rather exciting... that wouldn't have anything to do with me being back in the DragRacing Heaven State... or would it? Catch you later.

I was surfing the net and I saw your Top Fuel Northern Thunder website. Love all the pics and the page was set up great. I just have a question; I was wondering if you'd be interested in your fueler being animated in one picture? I do a lot of web work, animate harley bikes, cars, such things (just for fun) and was wondering if you would like one too. I'd animate one pic and send it to you. It might be a nice add-on to your web page. Anyways, take care and again, loved your site. Black is my favourite colour (though it gets dirty so easy :-)

Yesterday was big. Saturday it was out of the sack at 5:00 am, showered and ready to hit the road at 5:45. Dave met me here at the shop and we drove up together. McD opens at 6:00 am so we stopped and got breakfast and some ice for the cooler. Arrived at the track at 7:00 am, got through the lineup, unloaded the car and got through scrutineering (tech) at 8:00 am. First lap was at 9:30 am so we warmed the car (started a little slow).

Because of this, after the warm-up I wanted a restart, and guess what, it wouldn't start. Sounded like a bad starter. We had two spares that did not work so I borrowed one from John Payne. It didn't work either. Naturally we checked the batteries, both had 12.9 volts and all was okay (?) Guess what? One of them would collapse under a load test. I had a load tester in the trailer and eventually found the problem. Snapped the battery out of the truck to get it going. And all this with a stack of new Odyssey batteries back at the shop!!

Anyway, we missed the first qualifying pass at 9:30 am, but got the 10:30, 11:30 and 3:30 pm passes in. The car ran 8.75, 8.75 and 8.72 when the air picked up some. This thing is as reliable as a clock. At 3:30 the T/AD car made its first pass after two days on the flow bench. A 6.26 and a later 6.20 was unbelievably depressing. We seem to have identified a problem we call (censored). It didn't happen at Calder two weeks ago in the first two runs, but did on the last run and now the two runs at Willowbank. There are plenty of ideas but they all can be argued both ways. Plenty of head scratching going on.

We were out of Top Alcohol after the second pass. Then Nathan cut a .347 red-light in the first round of Modified! Now we were out of Modified as well. Nathan ran against Bevan Buckby's altered and I was sure Nathan would beat him as Bevan's car is never consistent. Nathan dialled in at 8.72 and ran flat out to 8.71. (At least this was the Drag Racing School's car's best number ever). Our new secret (censored) has made the car much more consistent.

There was a lot of extra work at the track though. Flogged the school pretty hard. Helped half a dozen racers with their fuel systems and took orders for two cars. Buckley was there with his A/D and he has all the right parts but the tune-up is missing. I'm going to hook him up with a Pro Stock racer who runs an engine business and does all his own stuff and hauls butt. It's a Ford, but we won't tell Buckley's Pontiac.

It was a very big day, not really a tip-top day, but a big one. I did get to speak to a lot of racers. Several brought their fuel systems by and dropped them at the trailer for me to do. I got home at 2:00 am so this made for a long day.

Sunday: Fuel racer Grant Hogwood stopped by on his way back to Sydney to pick up his box of fuel pumps that I have checked for him. Placed a big order for parts as well. It is hot today so since I don't HAVE to work I'm going to take it just a little easy today. I'll write this note and wait for the sun to drop a bit before I finish the fuel system for the sprint boat for shipping tomorrow.

Tracey and Kathy went to Brizzy today, girls day out you know. Tracey said to get myself a pizza for supper tonight because she won't be back until 8:00 pm. The Formula One was on TV live from Melbourne so this was a good excuse not to go out or go and work. It's nice to just kick back and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the quiet countryside. The rain has really greened everything a lot. My place here looks like a jungle. I have to go and feed the ducks, if I don't Tracey will get very upset with me. Close now, chat more later.

Please send me an autographed photo. I am a huge fan of yours. I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

Hi, have read your latest update Bob, it's not far from the penthouse to the outhouse is it?

We had a so-so weekend, Nathan is learning from "Master" Ken (Lowe), but after doing the course so well, there is still so much to learn. Nathan cut a bad red light and when we got to the braking area he was very upset with himself. No matter, Dad was still proud of him. I don't know if he was more upset at himself or that he was feeling he let Ken and Tracey down. With your next e-mail to Ken, ask him about "the company fan".

Hope the rest of your trip preparation goes well, looking forward to spending some time with you at the Winternationals.

Thanks for the news about the Federal-Mogul rules changes for 2000. Your site is just amazing, by the way. I caught the Kepner/Chris Blair "back and forth" on your chat room when I recently did a search on Bret's name. That was totally entertaining, as were almost all the posts out there. This thing I am doing on my site will not really be interactive. I will hand-select neat stories, tech notes (like yours), memories, little-known facts, etc. Well, gotta run. Talk to you soon!

Simo, Jarmo, Eero (new guy who bought the Donges car and the two motors from the Russell's) and his new crew chief, left my shop to go straight to Houston to be with the Russell's this weekend. They will probably have all the inside info when they get back next week!

The OFFICIAL announcement is supposed to be Monday. I hate to see NHRA kill them, I would rather see them in their own class, but it has hurt my business greatly, and I hope this will save the class. The Aussies were smart in never letting the carrot dangle!

I feel sorry for the guys, maybe it's not too late to have their own class, but I think the Top Fuel guys don't want that to happen!

Hi Uncle Bob, this is Jennifer. I'm going through all our e-mail addresses and sending out e-mails to people. Yesterday my class and the other Grade 7 class went up to Mt. Washington for the day. We had to wake up at 5:00 am and be there for 6:15 am. It was my first time skiing, so I spent a lot of time on my butt. I cut my hand on one of the runs, and had to get a band-aid. Anyway, I gotta go.

I haven't heard anything about it. I'm not on the Alcohol Committee and I know that they aren't meeting again until Gainesville. If I were you I would hold off on that one for a little while. I'll check around and see what I can come up with to either prove it false or true.

How's everything coming with your ride?

Thanks, Bob. Can I run this e-mail on a new page I'm developing. The working title is "Bench Racing" or something like that. It will contain interesting tidbits like this. Thanks for the indepth details. Told me exactly what I wanted to know.

Straight from the horse's..... well an NHRA Division Director, on Monday NHRA will announced there will be no A/FD in the year 2000 ! Blown cars will be limited to 470 c.i. with a minimum weight of 2150 lbs. and a forthcoming overdrive restriction number for both FM/D and FM/FC !! Their logic was, before it gets worse, there are 93 licensed blown cars and 19 A/FD's; which number would you rather have mad at you?

Rain this morning. Not that we need it, everything is so green and all it does is make it so I have to mow the yard more often.

Flat out today finishing cars and doing fuel systems.

Making fuel tanks and doing fuel systems today. Spoke to Rob H. on the "Cackling Pipes" chat line.

Did eight fuel pumps today and started on one fuel system. The system is for a jet sprint boat from New Zealand. I received it via FedEx yesterday. They have to have it back before March 14 for a big race. They fly the boat all over the world to compete in the Sprint Boat World Championships and the boat has to go. Basic check of the fuel system showed it is 0.8 of a gallon lean. This may not be too bad if you are putting in 10 gallons (a minute) at 8000 rpm, but it is a killer if you are putting in 3 gallons.

The moon is full tonight and as I was walking to the house from the shed it was rising up over the Coral Sea and it was aligned right down the centre of my driveway. The full moons' here between February and May are all very large and light up the night like a searchlight. You can read the newspaper by the moon light, it is so bright. I occasionally sit in a lawn chair beside the trailer and look up in the night sky and I know I can see a billion stars. I think the sky here is so much clearer due to the lack of pollution. Remember we only have 18 million people for a country the size of the United States.

What does that mean? Well, let's say you started walking due west of here. After about 200 miles on the 3500 mile journey you will run out of people to see. You see, there is very little in the middle (of the country) here. I've been down the main road to Melbourne (The Newell Highway) and for long distances there is nothing. Occasionally you will see a driveway with a 55 gallon drum as a mail box. I didn't understand this. It was explained that the driveway may be 25 to 50 miles long and that the people order their food and supplies delivered to the "mail" box and left there and they drive down to the gate to pick them up. I'm telling you there is a lot of nothing here in the middle. Heck, in the Northern Territory there isn't even speed limits.

Worked on the headers for the two extra Drag Race School cars. Trying to do a deal with HPC to coat them for the school at N/C. It's worth a shot as they charge $350 a set to do it and the initial discussion says that it's done. Time will tell. As you know, I did a deal with Odyssey Battery for seven batteries for the school. I wrote up a sample advertisment for their press release. I sent it to them for approval before release. They called back absolutely pumped up. Steve said "This is absolutely the best ad copy I have ever seen! You are a marketing and sales genius. Can we use this in our national marketing campaign?" Well there goes my head, doesn't it? I used to think I was good, now I know I am. Since I have gotten involved with some of the DRS sponsors I have reworked their corporate logo's. Queensland Ignition Leads and The Converter Shop both now have logo's designed by ME!

I took the trailer to the track this afternoon so we can snag two spots together so the T/AD car can be with the A/MD as this makes it so much easier. Dropped the trailer and headed for a meeting with my accounts manager Melissa at Lifestyle. They are doing the DRS t-shirts and polo shirts. Kym Petterwood and I started the deal but he is so busy that Melissa took over.

The front of the shirt is a 12-colour deal that I have spent $1500 on just the artwork alone. I want it UNREAL! The back of the shirt is a 4-colour advert with 10 ad spaces that I sold to pay for the shirts. I had nine of the ten spots sold and Kym asked how much for an ad spot and I told him $290 and he wanted one of the spots. Unfortunately I could not let him have it as the people on the shirt were DRS sponsors first. So he had to become a DRS sponsor and tip in 100 free shirts, so now we are getting 200 t-shirts and he has his spot on the back of the shirt.

When they are done we will sell them at the track but some of them will be sold at the Lifestyle TrackWear store at Willowbank. Rolf at the Cheapa Auto Parts store in Oxenford wants to hang 20 or 30 in the store. He figures he will sell at least 20 a week. He is one of our sponsors as well. He gives us a heap of stuff. Tool boxes and parts washing cabinets and tools and parts and oil and and etc. You get what I mean. We should gross about $12 a shirt; not a bad lick and look at all the advertising.

We have to be at the front gate (of Willowbank) at 7 am. The truck is loaded with drinks and all we have to do in the morning is get ice and some breakfast on the way. Looking forward to a big day.... wish you were here, we would have a great time. Check out the weather here on the Willowbank Raceway web site. (Scroll down the home page to the "Brisbane Weather" link).

Tony Thornton and I had a nice long chat today. He leaked to me today (you heard it here first) that the new National Control Council members are Dale Rogers (Revolution Race Gear) and Peter Sammut. Peter is a racer but not brought on the board because of his racing background but because of his leadership and organizational skills. He is a high-level manager with VIC Roads (Victorian Highways Department). I think this will be two very good additions to the NCC board.

Some times when I sit back (like now) and look at how much is going on and how fast it is moving I am just amazed. (Stunned). Close now chat more later....

If I was invited to meet with Ron Farmer, what would I expect him to say ?

Bob, just a note to say hello... It looks like you have been busier than a cat in a litter box. I won't hold you up but just wanted to let you know I was noticing that you have been strangely silent..... I know this means head down, tail up, so get back to work and get the box packed, get your bags packed, get your plane ticket organized and let's go racing.... Looking forward to getting your car and you here so we can do some racing.

Thanks for posting all that sponsorship info on your site. It is very helpful. Now I'll tell you where I've been, what I'm doing, what I want to do and see what you think. This will most likely be the longest letter you have seen in a while so please bear with me.

Loren and I built the car last year. We went through our dial-in stage last year and knocked off a lot of ET with a lot of R&D work. People noticed us right away. We have a huge fan base that is made up of 2-stroke, snowmobile, motorcycle, automobile and other motorsports fans and drivers. The engine literally screams!

We have been asked by New England Dragway to appear at three car shows already. Just yesterday the owner of the dragway called us to do another. He also laughed and said, "Do you know people come running when they hear your engine? From the tower I can see them running from all over the place."

So we made it through last year and all winter I have been working on our website, been promoting it, have been looking for sponsors, rebuilding the dragster and hoping someone will take us up on a sponsorship deal.

Multi-Media :   I have been on a crusade trying to have every editor for television, magazines and online sites publish something about us. They have pulled through so far with plans for more articles and TV appearances later this year. The "Snowtrax" TV program in Canada is one of them who would like to come down and do a story.

Proposals :   I have sent out about a million copies of proposals to everyone. My parts sponsors have pulled through, but I am missing that all-elusive corporate sponsor. I have found that it is not what you know, it is who you know. I need to meet more people and keep knocking on doors. I need connections and I need your help. (Oh oh, you're in trouble now...)

Exhibitions / Tours :   This car could be a gold mine and its best quality is that very few people have them, the people love it and it can headline at any event. We don't care about making money if we are promoted at a show or an exhibition. We would make money on selling cars like ours. I sent a letter to many tracks in the US, UK, Canada, Sweden and Australia asking for someone to contact us if they would like to sponsor our trip to their facility.

Theresa Davidson (Benaraby Raceway, Gladstone, Australia) has been writing to me for the past month. They would love to have us there but they don't have the money. She said it is up to Willowbank and other major facilities. I have been sending more letters to Willowbank. She then came up with the idea of contacting you. I never thought of talking to other drivers who have made the trip. I have a million questions for you which I will ask a few at a time.

Just like Theresa, many people from across the globe (especially Canada and Australia ) want to see our car. I need to get the word out, Bob. I need help in cutting some of the coners and getting to the right people. We cover all the bases as far as who is interested in the car. We have a snowmobile engine, it's in a dragster, it's pulled by an ATV, the whole package is carried in a trailer, and we have a motorhome to pull the trailer. It's a recreational vehicle paradise waiting to be marketed! We can even build one with a motorcycle engine in it if a promoter wanted to use that as well.

We just want to concentrate on racing, exhibitions and selling cars and accessories. I don't want to sound like a salesman and I'm sorry if I do. But if we don't do it, someone else will and I'm the one who wants to race in Europe, Canada and Australia. Hope to hear from you soon.

What's the deal? You have been going for weeks without an update. We are dying to know what is going on. How is the car doing? Is the manifold done yet?

I see in the  specs  for your car that you have the Davenport clutch software. Can you tell me what that does? Les has told me a little bit, but I would like more details.

How have you been? Haven't spoken with you in a while, so I thought it might be time to touch base with you. If you don't remember, I have converted my car "Raising Hell" - '48 Fiat, from alcohol to nitro for this year. Progress is good, but I am still in need of a clutch and an injector hat (old one was borrowed).

I have been trying to organize something with the couple of guys that we will be running with, and I am having an extremely hard time trying to convince these guys to actually "group" together. It seems to me that several people in the think tank would accomplish a lot more than one guy trying to handle everything themselves, but anyway, forward we go.

I have read your sponsor information and marketing proposals on the website and all I can say is well done. I'm going to try and work on a partner for this "series" that we will be running. I'll keep you posted on this. Any additional information/knowledge that you might pass along would be appreciated. Hope things are going well for you. Take care.

I'm thinking that you are one of the few who really understands why I still am totally jazzed and smiling even with windows in the motor. I know that you can relate to the way we have done ours and you know exactly how I got there -- scraping up money, hard work and perserverance.

In answer to your questions: yes and yes. We did have the Davenport fuel system on and Les D. was helping me (you didn't really think I was smart enough to do that first time out on my own :-) I really was pleased with what we learned from him (not just the tuneup stuff too!). I also think that it was a fun weekend for him as well. Basically no pressure. I mean seriously, if I was to have put pressure on him (not my style) he could have spent about two hours non-stop telling me all the things I need to get to be really competitive. He also was thrilled that we fed him really well. One of our fans from New Mexico brought tons of food to the track from Marie Callender's on Friday night and one of our sponsors did a pork roast deal at the track Saturday night.

The fun part was having people like Littlefield, Taylor, Sommer, etc. come over and just shake their heads in amazement that we had outqualified them with an 11-year-old chassis, 12-year-old heads and basically nothing in the trailer. As Lee Littlefield told me, "Lyle, you are the talk of the pits".

Already got a call today from Bandimere in Denver wanting us to do a match race there in May. Here's hoping that the motor is only hurt to the tune of $5K or less so we can get it together sooner rather than later.

Just a quick message to see if you're still around as I haven't heard from you for a few weeks. Hope everything is going okay.

Do you have any race cars that 10 year old boys could drive?

P.S: from Robin, your nephew

I guess you looked in at the results for Phoenix. How about that UN-hemi of Edgecombe: 5.692 at 242 mph, both numbers are the new bests for that team and I must say quite stout overall. Gary Ormsby Jr. called Saturday night to give me the inside info. He said that the 5.69 run just felt awesome. It pulled and was clean and straight all the way through. The 5.81 pass earlier really gave a nice tuning base to work from and the second run shook real hard and moved toward the wall; like real, real close to the wall.

In the first round race with Melanie Troxel, Gary said he was ahead and could hear her but not see her until the burst panel let go at half track. They said the motor leaned out and that caused the bang.... Overall, the team is thrilled with the results so far and may run more events than scheduled if things keep going well. Now that I have fuelled your fire.....

As far as our little gem of a hot rod goes, she is due home this weekend and we get to touch up and finish it off. It is looking like a debut at Bakersfield in April with one or two test sessions in late March, early April. Hope all is well in "Thunderville".