Major Leap Forward

 We have made major progress in the last 3 weeks on both of our cars and our adventure! 

We got to go to Indianapolis and see the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show. While we were there, we took a side trip to visit RJ Race Cars to get fitted in the new car. We were away from home for 7 days, which is longer than we have ever been away from our place in Livingston. We had a great time but were ready to get home.

We had to leave Willow at home and we missed her terribly! My sister took good care of the kitties while we were away. It would not have been possible to leave without Sis to help out. We appreciate her help very much.

This is Willow in my bag after we got home from our 7-day trip. Traci captured this  as we were unpacking and told me that Willow was not ever going to let us leave without her again! She was getting in my bag to make sure she was going wherever we went, ha!

The PRI show was amazing. It took us three days to walk down every isle and see everything. I have never seen so much billet porn in my life. Not a good place for a collector of stuff to go, ha! Our business partner and surrogate son Joe went with us so it was a great time.

We have known Joe since 2000 where we worked with him at an engineering company in Houston. In 2006, we invited him to join in a partnership in our new business and much to our surprise, he joined us. We have watched him grow from a kid to a wonderful business partner, a fantastic husband, awesome dad, and into a devout Christian. We are so blessed to have been put together with him by God so many years ago. We don’t get to do much fun stuff together because everyone has busy lives but I wish we could spend more quality time with Joe. My dream would to some day have him involved with the racing operation. I can always wish!

We are standing in front of a Centroid 5-Axis CNC mill. This machine is a bucket list item for me. It was actually making aluminum cylinder heads for a demo during the show. Awesome machine!!!

After the show we drove to Galesburg, Illinois to visit RJ Race Cars and get fitted in the new car (The Salvation Project). We met a lot of the staff, including Rick and Ricky Jones. They have an amazing operation and their fabricators are super talented! We also got to meet Gene, who I have been buying parts from for years. He was super nice as usual and it was so nice to be able to meet him in person after all of the phone conversations and parts we have purchased through him.

Our new chassis is a work of art! I can’t wait to bring it home and get started putting it together! While we were there, they adjusted all of the controls to fit me correctly. 

The Salvation Project has a lot of room inside

Rick Jones (the older gentleman) is a wizard with chassis. He has a great track record with his cars! His son Ricky was taking pictures and is a chip off the old block. So glad I chose them to build my chassis! Very nice people!

This week I also learned that the Janis’s have the machine work done on my new engine and are about to start assembling the engine. The new block is billet porn at its finest!!!

Simply amazing!!!

We are so excited to have the new Janis engine that will bring us to the next level! The Janis team is as good as it gets and are the sweetest people in the industry. I am so blessed to have them on my side!

We continue to make major progress on the old 1/8th mile car (The Resurrection Project). One of the dreaded tasks I had to do is build a new set of exhaust headers. I just finished fabricating and tack welding the new headers and they look very pretty good. I still have to build braces, add temperature probe fittings, add A/F ratio sensor tubes, and do all of the finish welding but the hard part is done!

I took a lot of care making all of the joints fit very close! They should be easy to weld up!

Bitchin new look with gigantic 2 3/4 inch diameter tubes

I am hoping we can get done with The Resurrection Project (at least the bulk of it) before The Salvation Project is ready to pick up but I also hope that we get it asap.

Our adventure is getting very exciting at this point. I think everyone that is involved realizes that we are on a roll now and we will achieve our goals this time around! I am pretty sure the Janis crew is excited about getting a total rookie in the game in a serious way. If they can get me in the game, they can get anyone in the game, just saying!

I am not a Facebook person but if you want to learn more about the Janis guys or RJ Racecars, you can look them up on Facebook by searching for Mike Janis, Mike Janis Racing or RJ Race Cars. They are pretty active on Facebook and may have some posts about our adventure now or in the future. Check them out if you get a chance and you will see how real professionals do it.

https://www.facebook.com/mikejanisracing/

https://www.facebook.com/mike.janis.3958

https://www.facebook.com/rjracecars/

I got off of Facebook years ago but have been thinking about starting up a Luke 1:37 Racing Facebook page. Comment on this blog if you would like to see me do that. I always look at the comments each of you post here.

The most important thing to do at this point is to keep our eyes on God, stay focused, and work hard! The rest will work itself out. We have a great chassis, great engine, great technical support, great family, and great friends! What could possibly go wrong? Maybe the driver?

For with God, nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37)