Closed Another Chapter and “Damn The Torpedos, Full Speed Ahead”

 Most of you that are under 50 years old and haven’t watched a classic war movie have probably never heard that saying! It was used in many movies but actually came from an admiral (David Farragut) during the civil war at The Battle of Mobile Bay. Torpedos were being used against his fleet and his ship slowed in fear of running into the torpedos. His command was “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead” to engage the enemy and defeat them.

In my lifetime the term was used when someone was moving into dangerous territory but accepted the risk for the gain that was ahead. That is where Traci and I are today!

I am not just talking about physical risk but also the monetary investment to achieve our goals. I know Traci worries about the physical risk but she is a tireless and dedicated Christian and believes that God’s will be done. I also believe that and believe that God is leading me to do something with this crazy adventure!

We were having a discussion on our drive home from the office today about how God has been steering us our entire life. We both talked about how glad we are to be where we are in life! We are as content as we have ever been but we also know how important it is to push toward the torpedos and prove that with God’s help (and my Sunshine’s help), even an uneducated mechanic from West Texas can do something as crazy as getting into one of the most unpredictable classes of drag racing and compete at a national event!

In our discussion I told her that I felt some day, we were going to be on a national event broadcast and tell the world how God enabled us to do this. Lots of racers get their 30 seconds on TV but a small percentage give credit to God. I truly believe that will happen some day! I don’t know when, where, or how it will happen but”Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead”

Our most recent example of God’s steering is a piece of property that we sold yesterday. One of our dreams in life was to build an airplane from a kit and learn to fly. About two years ago, a piece of property (2.6 acres) came available at our local airport and we bought it. Our thought was to build a large aircraft hanger that was big enough to store our racing operation inside, serve as our race car shop, and then serve as our hanger for the kit plane that we would build some day. We thought it was a good plan but God thought otherwise. We were about to commit to building a BIG hanger and go all in when Covid hit. Before we could sign the papers, steel prices rose 30-40% and made our hanger unaffordable. At the same time, working from home made us realize that we did not want to have to drive several miles away to work on race cars. We also realized that we will be too old to build an airplane and learn to fly by the time we accomplish our goals in racing. 

We decided that we were all in on doing the ProMod the way it needed to be done. 

The property sat for two years with us having to mow it, pay taxes on it, etc. Just another distraction! Last week, we put up a “For Sale” sign and found a buyer the first day. It is going to a nice gentleman who has an airplane that he built. It is perfect for him.

As a result, we get some extra funding injected into our adventure. God’s path is always the right path, every time.  

We are very close to getting to make the trip New York and Illinois to pick up our new car and new engine as well as our new supercharger for “The Resurrection Project”. 

I am also getting close to having all of the major fabrication done on “The Resurrection Project” I have made good progress in the last two weeks.

When we were visiting Rick Jone’s shop (the chassis builder) I asked some questions about weak spots in his older chassis. One of those weak spots are the cross braces in the middle floor of the chassis. The tube sizes were not big enough for modern horsepower. I have cut the old small tubes out and replaced them with larger stronger braces. 

Each tube has to be hand fitted to compound shape

Back tubes were not done at this point but are now

Another dreaded task that had to be done was the fitting of the carbon fiber tubs (inner fenders) that seal the inside of the car from rubber and smoke created by the tires. This is a tedious and Very Itchy job! The tubs must fit very close to the body and have to be contoured to the shape of the body. The is done by making a cardboard template first, then cutting the tubs using the template. The cardboard must be marked as a sort of grid and precise measurements taken a 1 inch intervals to create the shape. The cardboard template is then used to rough cut the shape of the tubs.

Once the tubs were cut, brackets had to be bent and fitted to the chassis to support the tubs.

Triangular shaped bracket holds the back of the tubs in place

Plastic protective covering makes the tubs look bad but under the plastic, it is a beautiful fiber weave!

Left tub fitted (body off)

Both tubs fitted inside the body

Right rear close up of fit

Right rear of tub

Left rear of tub

After the tubs were fitted, all of the other holes in the trunk area have to have custom made pieces to close up the holes. Again, cardboard templates were made and carbon pieces were bonded together to fit the holes and unique shape (slow process).

Left trunk filler panel fitted 

Once all of the carbon panels are fitted, I will completely disassemble the car again, finish weld all of the modifications, build a new steel floor under the driver area, and finish the chassis. Then body work, plumbing, wiring, finish work done.

“Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead”

Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God”