[Wichita-SCCA] Phrog sponsorship!
lduty at cox.net
lduty at cox.net
Fri Oct 13 10:46:38 EDT 2006
The kind that should be in the Wail!
LD
---- James Harrison <jimh_mic at msn.com> wrote:
> 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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> > Wichita-SCCA at wichitascca.org
> > http://wichitascca.org/mailman/listinfo/wichita-scca_wichitascca.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
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