[Wichita-SCCA] Phrog sponsorship!
James Harrison
jimh_mic at msn.com
Fri Oct 13 09:51:47 EDT 2006
Great stories..both of you!
>From: "Greg Laws" <GLaws at cox.net>
>Reply-To: "Wichita Region SCCA." <wichita-scca at wichitascca.org>
>To: "Wichita Region SCCA." <Wichita-SCCA at wichitascca.org>
>Subject: Re: [Wichita-SCCA] Phrog sponsorship!
>Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 06:19:56 -0500
>
>Hi Lonnie,
>
>What wonderful stories and memories! Your Uncle Gordon sounds like just
>the sort of Uncle that I should have had but didn't. Instead my immediate
>family was of the conservative, pillar-of-the-community type and the
>extended families on both sides lived far away in either Minnesota/Michigan
>or Oregon. The closest that I came to being related to anyone interesting
>was my cousin Terry Pease in Minnesota. He was (and is) a year older than
>I. In his mid-teen years he built a chopped & channeled early Ford with a
>flat head mill. He actually took me (the geeky, immature younger cousin
>from far away) for a ride in it once. I remember sitting flat on a bare
>plywood floor with no head room, no seats or seat belts, and a very stiff
>ride as the rear suspension consisted of a single coil spring cut in half
>with each half welded onto either end of the Chevy rear axle housing. No
>shock absorbers as I remember, but total suspension travel was only about
>1/4" anyway so it didn't matter. The flathead V8 had a sound very
>different than anything that I had ever heard before and it pulled HARD in
>this crackerbox car that couldn't have weighed more than 1400 lbs. I was
>awed! Terry had left the useless 3-speed column shifter lever on the
>steering column while he actually shifted the 4-speed transmission with a
>floor shifter. The reason was that he had fun passing people at high
>speeds or engaging in top-end street races with the "shift lever" on the
>column pulled up into the 2nd gear position where his victim could easily
>see it. This gave the impression that he was still in 2nd and hadn't
>shifted to 3rd yet! Later on I heard that he wrecked the car while turning
>at an ordinary street corner when a single small bolt that apparently was
>securing the entire front split-wishbone suspension snapped off. His dad,
>a mechanical engineer and father of nine kids, just shrugged and said that
>it was a good learning experience for the boy. In spite of it all Terry
>went on to be a union pipe fitter and with an income considerably higher
>than I ever achieved he continued to pursue his love of drag racing with a
>beautiful 1953 Thames Panel Truck with blown Chrysler hemi, possibly on
>nitro. It runs in the low 7s I believe. I heard that he retired recently
>but still drag races. Haven't seen him in decades.
>
>The other end of the spectrum was my dad, a college teacher and pillar of
>the community. He remains a warm, creative, interesting and supportive
>sort of fellow even at the age of 88 but he was never a car guy. His only
>new car was a sandy-tan 1961 Chevrolet Biscayne station wagon (a full sized
>car) with 283 2-bbl, PowerGlide and only minimum options. The highlight
>was air conditioning, considered to be a pricey option not purchased by
>most folks then. I learned to drive with this car. Later on it had
>several adventures in my hands that I have yet to tell my folks about, but
>I digress. In early 1964 when I was a high school junior he took me out on
>the highway to practice passing other cars. When I finally got enough
>nerve, and three miles clearance, to pass a lumbering truck I punched the
>throttle to the floor and it bogged its way out onto the highway in high
>gear (of two, low & high, in a PowerGlide). I wasn't the a storehouse of
>automotive knowledge that I am now but even then I knew that it was
>supposed to kick down into passing gear. I lifted and then kicked it
>again. The transmission dropped to low and the engine screamed as it
>quickly pulled to 70 mph. My dad freaked out! His foot slammed to the
>passenger floor searching for that imaginary brake pedal and he clamped one
>hand to the dash with the other to the door's arm rest. His body was stiff
>and braced. We safely got around the truck and he slowly recovered himself
>while I quickly and with some alarm explained to him about the presence of
>passing gear in a PowerGlide. He had owned the car for four years and had
>never known that it would do that!
>
>Enjoy,
>Greg
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Lonnie Heston
> To: Wichita Region SCCA.
> Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 10:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [Wichita-SCCA] Phrog sponsorship!
>
>
> Yeah, Greg, I remember you mentioned the Nashville event. Pretty cool.
>I'm glad the Phrog is getting some help.
>
> I was born in Memphis, and have (or had) a lot of relatives in the
>Nashville area.
>
> My grandma made bathtub beer during prohibition, and still made some to
>sell afterward. The town my mom was born in is under one of the TVA lakes.
> They moved closer to Nashville about the time I was born, and when my
>uncles got back from serving in Korea, they got into various car business -
>junkyard and mechanic work - except one who became an FDA egg grader.
>Mostly they collected '50s Caddys. (The big Caddy got some kind of Safest
>Car of the Year award). I remember when my Uncle Jimmy got one in pretty
>good condition and asked me to find the gas filler. I couldn't, but now I
>know it's behind a hinged taillight. I also remember one that arrived at
>his salvage yard, no questions asked, no papers, '36 Cadillac V8 with large
>bullet holes. My uncle called it Capone, but wouldn't tell us any more.
>Last time I was there, it was still in his basement.
>
> My Uncle Gordon once took me for a ride in his '60 Olds 88. It had a
>390-something, and if you know what the Tennessee back hills country roads
>were like in the '60s - no shoulder, no side lines, and burma-shave signs
>for corner markers - an 80mph ride for several miles is quite a treat. My
>mom didn't like the way I was smiling when we got back and figured out
>something was up, so I didn't get to ride with him much. The ride did show
>me what big iron can do on a road course - for someone who grew up in '52
>Chevys with a conservative dad driving - the g-forces were a huge thrill.
>A few months later Uncle Gordon had a six-pack before breakfast and
>wrapped the Olds around a tree. He wasn't hurt, and didn't care much
>because he won it playing cards. He eventually died of liver sclerosis.
>
> Those were the days...
>
>
> Lonnie
>
>
> On 10/10/06, Greg Laws < GLaws at cox.net> wrote:
> I am pleased to announce that the Phrog has a sponsor. "Sam the
>Mechanic" is Sam Stuckey from Halls Crossroads, TN. He is a sweet little
>guy who runs a small salvage yard / repair shop that specializes in Renault
>R9 and R11 spare parts plus GTA, Medallion, etc. I met him when my
>son-in-law and I made that wild trip to Nashville, TN in September, 2004.
>We met up with the Renault Owner's club and went to the Lane Motor Museum
>where we saw Sam Posey and the Caldwell D7 Can-Am car. Actually sat in it
>as a matter of fact. The same weekend we also ran the Phrog in a local
>solo event at the Nashville speedway.
>
> Anyway, I gave Sam a ride in the Phrog at the local solo event and
>also gave him a collector's item of a wooden-rim race car steering wheel
>with a Renault center emblem. Ever since then Sam has been the Phrog's
>number one fan. Tonight I called him to send me a GTA transaxle to replace
>the one that I blew up at Strother Field. Sam offered to donate the
>transaxle free if I would pay the freight and put his name on the car as
>sponsor. Wow.
>
> Look for a large yellow decal somewhere on the car proudly displaying
>the fact that "Sam the Mechanic" is a sponsor of the Phrog.
>
> I've had help from Jim Caywood (owner of the now-defunct Autobody
>Specialists body shop), Auto Techs Frame & Body, and now from Sam Stuckey
>in Tennessee. Life is good when you own a Renault!
>
> Enjoy,
> Greg Laws
>
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