What a Journey!!!

 As I sit down and start writing this update, I can't help but think about what a journey this has been. It has been a long journey, a journey of mistakes, some tears, some laughter, and a lot of joy. Getting to this stage is not easy when you try to do most things on your own. It would be much less difficult and less expensive to pay someone to drive their car and just focus on driving, but that is not who I am. Doing most things yourself makes the journey so much more fun and rewarding. That is especially true when you get to this stage of the journey.

Let me be clear, building a race car is difficult but cannot be compared in any way to the challenges that many people face. I know many people that have lost children, lost spouses, have terrible illnesses, have relatives who do not know Jesus, etc. and I feel guilty just writing about my stupid race car. I am so blessed to be who I am, and I pray for people who truly struggle in life. 

Today, I am revealing the results of 6 years of effort to drag race at a serious level.

My race car began as a trade between myself and Shawn Davis for the drag racing boat that I built and never drove (God's plan, not mine). The car was in a million pieces and began a transformation into what would be affectionately as "The Black Hole" because the body was already painted black when I got it and the overspending that I did to make it mine, it got the name "The Black Hole".

We ended up meeting our Janis racing family as a result of building The Black Hole. The Janis' helped us test the car and we accomplished a lot, but we also learned a lot about what was wrong with our race car. The car did not fit me, was too heavy, and was not up to date with the rules today.

Three years ago, we began rebuilding "The Black Hole" based on what we learned and even went on a detour to build a brand-new car (that is a whole other story in itself) which the Janis's now own.

As I progressed, I fell more in love with this car and went overboard on everything that I could. Many times, with the Janis' screaming "NO!!!!" 

The end result is a beautiful car that I am proud to be the owner of. Almost all of the work was done by Traci and I with a lot of coaching from the Janis' and a lot of support from friends/family!

We are especially fond of the name and the story behind the name. I have always liked bright colors and especially like bright green. As I started talking about colors for the car with Mikey, I noticed he hinted a lot about that not being one of his favorite colors. He was subtle but firm but did not push the subject very much. I guess he thought the whim would blow over and I would come to my senses. It didn't!!!

He just kept his hints coming but the truth came out when we went to the Janis shop in New York to pick up the engine they built for the new car (now their car). Mikey set the conversation up perfectly, he revealed to Mike Sr. that I was thinking about making the car green. Mike Sr. perked up and blurted out "You cannot have a green drag racing car; it is bad luck. Every green car I have ever known has crashed"

Traci and I looked at one another and couldn't believe what we heard. We had been stuck on this color for months. Mike Sr. continued to tell us why we could not have a green race car, and we listened. 

As we have done many times, we listened to the guidance, but we forged ahead. Traci and I are not superstitious in any way, and we know that God will take care of us whether our car is green, purple, or pink with orange polka dots! We know that if I died in the car the first run down the track, it is God's plan and there is a reason, it would not be because it is green!

The story continues when we are looking for a new truck to pull our race trailer. I was showing some of them to Mikey and I was leaning towards buying a green truck to match the theme of the car. That is when the name was born. Mikey said, "Don't buy the green one, that is just TOO MUCH GREEN". From that moment we knew the car would be named "TOO MUCH GREEN". The name fits for two reasons: it is very green (color wise), and we have spent way too much money (greenbacks) on it.

We originally thought that we would wrap the car instead of painting it, but Traci convinced me that I would never be happy with it if I did not paint it myself. She knows me so well. I am so happy she talked me into it.

To all of you who have followed me, I hope you like it. Traci and I love it! I even think the Janis' like it!!! Just saying.

The rendering is what the car will look like once the graphics are printed and installed. There may be some small changes but the rendering is pretty close. I think the letters will end up being done in a green chrome look with contrasting outlines or a money pattern with contrasting outlines.

The other pictures are of the process of painting and assembling "TOO MUCH GREEN". They are in somewhat reverse order. 

Dyno testing will start soon and will be followed by track testing when we get the bugs worked out of the car. Once we get the car ready, we don't really know how to pull off the next phase without a permanent crew, but we will figure that out when the time comes.

Thank you, God, for our many blessings! Thanks to all of you who follow and support our silly journey! It is just beginning!

Luke 1:37 "For nothing will be impossible with God".

Imagine the letters in green chrome! Money all over the car to symbolize the resources it took to get here. 

Green Chrome color that I think will become the letter background color (I think). The designer is working on it now and I don't know until we see it in the rendering. They would have contrasting outlines to separate the letters from my paint. Remember the theme, "TOO MUCH GREEN". This stuff is super shiny and will contrast from the paint somewhat.

Luke 1:37 Racing logo was updated and enhanced "For nothing will be impossible with God". Everyone knows how important God is to Traci and me. This will be in the middle of the rear deck/spoiler area.

Janis logo top and center. These guys are just like family and keep encouraging me to push ahead.

Kind of grainy but the Corvette Rally flags have our source of power identified.

All of the main food groups are represented: Luke 1:37, Axis, and Mike Janis Superchargers are all here. The clown fish is the logo for the software (Symbiosis) our company (Axis) developed years ago. It is the lifeblood of our company!

The Janis gang approves, I think!

Maybe they don't approve!!!

Ready to go into the paint booth.

Spoiler and rear deck. The Luke 1:37 logo will be here.

Starting to put it together. The more we did, the more excited we got.

Driver name and number is on. Hope he can do the job!

Painted on front grill and turn signals turned out nice looking. That took a while to do.

Very bright in the sun!

After wet sanding and polishing.

Simulated turn signal and front end after polishing.

Rear fender after polishing.

Main body after polishing.

The paint takes on many colors when light shines on it. We love the color!

After all of the wet sanding was done and before polishing. Wet sanding sucks!

Finger prints all sanded off after wet sanding. Have I told you that wet sanding sucks!

Door after polishing.

Simulated tail lights. Hard to tell because of the shadows but they are red.

Body ready for color. It took a lot of work to get to this point.

Front end getting clear coat sprayed.

Front end ready for clear coat

Front end color sprayed

Front end ready for white sealer.

Simulated bumper and turn signal airbrushed on.

Starting to look like a real car.

First thing I painted was the door. I was nervous that I had lost my ability to paint. It had been many years since I had painted something like this. Many prayers were said while I prepared and painted by both Traci and I.