G'Day Bob; just thought I'd drop you a line on the good 'ol e-mail address. Well, things have been going pretty quiet as far as racing is concerned. Just can't wait until it starts again! Tony's new Corvette ('63 split-window) isn't very far off leaving Murray's (Anderson) shop in Melbourne to go to Tony's place. The boys are looking forward to it and Cameron is chomping at the bit to drive the thing instead of just looking at it.

I look forward to seeing your beast racing in the summer of 1999-2000 here in Australia. If you need crew for some rounds please give me a call and we will glad to help. Anyhow, this is just a short note to say hello and I have enjoyed visiting your site on the internet. Hope to hear from you soon.

Just finishing off Robin Kirby's new website. Could you please include it in your links. www.topfuel.com.au. Thanks very much.

Bob, I have been trying to keep up with what is going on and am glad to see you are still going full steam ahead. I would still like to see some pictures of the new manifold with the blower mounted on it. Anyway, the reason I am writing is to send our new address, just in case you wanted to let me know when the block would be coming my way. Sorry, but I wanted you to know that we are very pleased with everything else and appreciate all the trouble you went through to ship the parts.

Much like yours, our deal is on hold for the moment. For now, Ashley is driving the Anglia and they seem to be getting on famously. With everything backed down as much as possible she was still able to lay down a 7.04 at 98 mph on her first full pass and had to do some peddling. (eighth-mile track). I was very impressed and also a proud father. I think she is going to do just fine. Things have been a little slow at the shop lately so we have not raced as much as we would have liked. Anyway, give us a shout when you can and good luck.

Hey Bob, just a quick note to tell you I'll be going down to your container tomorrow and check out the race car. Also, the main reason I was e-mailing you is that your home page is not loading correctly. Hope everything is going okay and you're doing well.

Meant to reply to your e-mail, but my brain seems to be at saturation level lately and anything over a certain amount of things to remember just kind of falls off like the glue doesn't stick, you know?

The problem I have (with the Australian visa) is that I want to stay for seven months. I will get an extension while down there, but will still have to fly out to New Zealand once and come back a few days later. C'est la vie.

I would love to sit down with you and pick your brain and hear all about your dramas (and I'll tell you mine). Give me a call on the cel, as I always (almost always) have it with me and turned on.

Been reading the site for years, and finally you've provoked me into emailing you! A couple of corrections and comments on your last update with regard to European drag racing.

(1) Danielle DePorter was sidelined with something more than "mechanical problems"... like a 290 mph crash from which she fortunately emerged virtually unscathed, although the car, as one might expect, was a complete write-off. Shame really as it was the car that Alan Jackson had been driving for Knut Soderquist on the FIA T/F tour.

(2) Gordie Bonin is in one of Rune Fjeld's ex-Joe Amato cars, formerly driven in Europe by Liv Berstad, Risto Poutiainen, Gary Page and Barry Sheavills. This is probably the most winning T/F car active today, and was the first car into the 4's in Britain with Sheavills at the wheel.

Anyway, good luck with the fund gathering and your assault down under next year. Hopefully, work and cash flow permitting, I might catch up with you in Oz next year! Cheers!

Good to hear from you, Bob. I've been following your progress downunder with interest. Let's hope next time goes a bit smoother! I've updated your URL as requested. C-ya.

Dear Closed Minded:

When you're on the outside, sometimes a wheelie is not your best start on the green. Starnet has not broken any laws and is the "microsoft of the gaming industry" per an ABC news "Nightline" report. Watch the jealous beaureaucrats attempt to beat up on the leading provider of gaming software in the world. A stock that has come from less than $2 last year to a high of $26 in less than a year and will be at around $45 before year end is the kind of "toilet" stock you might sell and I would buy! Oh, by the way, auto racing betting is a major part of the sportsbook site on our Windy City Casino website and by next year will include the drags. I suggest you get yourself up to date before you criticize and underestimate your opponent.

I heard your flight home was good; but for me, I came back from the snow fields in Victoria and landing in Brisbane was a bit poor. The plane popped a rear tire and headed into the field; we were a bit shaken, but not stirred. I have reached another great goal in my Junior Dragster drag racing, being the fastest Tecumseh-powered car in Australia. About an hour ago I called Ken and we're rushing the car up to him since I haven't raced for nearly two months and when I sat in it I was stuck. Ooops... We gave Ken the quick call because the Junior Dragster Nationals are coming up very soon. That's all for now, just dropping a quick note. Seeya.

Bob, I haven't heard from you but I suspect that you are up to your eyeballs with things to do. I just wanted to say g'day and ask how it's all going there? The weather here is great, even the nights are not as cold as they were. I think last night it only got to about 15 degrees (59 F). Today for most of the day I was in a t-shirt. Dave and Darren came by last week and picked up your truck to take it for the conversion and Darren came by on Wednesday and got his engine hoist out of the container. Every few days I open the container and let some fresh air in and cool it down. Nothing much is different here; since the last (drag race) school I've been off the "hill" twice. Tonight we're going to the Willowbank Awards Night in Brisbane, so I guess I'll have to close to get ready to go.

I'd like to let you know that I have set up a few albums of my Race Car Art work for your viewing if you so desire. The albums include my T-Shirt art, paintings, prints and related Race Car Art work. There are three Race Car Art albums up so far and a fourth one with a few aviation pieces (the ship is not my art), so take a look at all if you like. Some of the images in the Race Car Art #1 album are available as prints, marked with a $. Here's the url.

Get the update on Mission Raceway Park's Track Manager resignation on the Grapevine.

Welcome back. I guess you didn't get the car running yet? How are things looking for the future? I take my hat off to you for being out there and putting the dollars and time and sweat on the line to make this happen. Please do keep us up on your progress with the car. We are subscribers to DRAGSTER Australia again, so we will se ya there, but let us know the inside... Hope your 2000 season is a killer!

As for the Drag Racing List, wait until you see the new deal. I have taken on a partner who does graphics design for a living. She will be able to do the site design and coding now, freeing me up to do more research and business development. She's blowing me away with all that she has done so far. We will finish all her changes, then upload the site. After that, I will get into user-defined Boolean searches of the data online, which will be a huge step. You can enter, for instance, TAD and BC and get all the TAD cars from British Columbia listed. It will be much cool!

I would like to know if you can direct me to a site where I can locate and purchase drag racing posters in a broad shot, no more than 14 inches in height, any length, any help???

Can you assist me in finding the race event sequence for next week's race at Norwalk, Ohio? Thanks!

My copy of Netscape crashed in a most spectacular fashion last night and my bookmark files with many years of hard-researched URL's is gone beyond recovery. Please could I ask you to e-mail me the URL of your sites so that I can rebuild it as best I can. Thanks for your help.

You might like to add our new drag racing photography website to your Photographers links page. The address is: Northern Queensland Reflex Photography, based in North Queensland, Australia.

Hey Bob, thanks for replying. I've visited your Northern Thunder site quite a few times and it's great. Boy, did you jump in at the deep end of the pool... I hope you have the success you deserve in doing that... it takes guts to follow your dreams.... maybe it was a blessing in disguise that you missed the Winternationals -- lots of traction problems from what I read -- and as for posting racer's oildowns over the Net -- very unprofessional which is unusual for Willowbank.

As you may or may not know there was a BIG meeting last night about the new Sydney track. I'm waiting for info with my fingers crossed... the net is my only outlet these days with no local racing. It's driving me nuts! Anyway, good luck with the Dragster (you could always lease Victor's Customline!)

Hey Bob, it's me, Kyle. I was wondering if you still wanted those sleeves for your block. I would like to get $25.00 each for them (there's two). OK? Talk to you later.

Good to have ya back. Ski.

Not sure if you got this while on your junket, so here it is again. Hope you have a "resting - uneventful" time at home, best of luck with everything. I hope things go well this time, eh?

Hello Northern Thunder. I have been searching to find a link to get in contact with David Grubnic who drives the Synergen Oil's Montana Express (Top Fueler). I'm a personal friend of Dave and haven't seen him since he was last in Australia. Please help with an e-mail address that will get me in touch with him.

Welcome back to North America!!! Ain't alky racing fun? Every time I get to feeling sorry for myself, I just have to think of the turbulence you are dealing with and I realize I've got it made. Hope you are doing OK -- although I've read your updates, so I know that things haven't been smooth.

Welcome back to the land of sun and work and bills to pay and all other tiresome commitments I can think of. Sounds like it was a long flight back but then it always is and apparently the turbulence between Australia and Hawaii is a common thing. Glad to see (via Backfire) that mom is still talking to you. Anyway I'm glad you made it back safely. Talk to you soon.

Glad to hear you got home okay and everything still works. By the way, I got a phone call from Kevin Kent (engine builder) the day you left. We talked for a while and he told me you didn't call to let him know you were leaving.... oops... Not to worry though, he just wanted to know if you had left and what had been happening. I told him I'd call him and let him know when I was going to work on the car as he was wanting to see how it looked, now that it's almost together.

Hope everything is going okay at home and there's plenty of work for you to get the funds in the right direction again. Oh, by the way, Kevin said he had a few people lined up that wanted parts brought down in your trailer, so with any luck we'll get enough people and stuff together to bring it down at Christmas time.

Okay, I won't take up too much time, just glad to hear from you and like I said I hope it all comes together now that you're home.

I'm looking for a used ATI damper for an externally balanced 400 small block Chevy. Can you help?

Tom dropped by the shop today and I told him about your imminent return. He asked me to e-mail you a request for the return of his tools. I presume he means for you to bring them with you. Talk to you on your return. PS: "Igor" lives (again).

Here you go Bob......