Top 10 ListTopics of Conversation While Waiting to Run at Famoso RacewayOn CC's trip to evaluate the latest Mustangs (see "Shock and Awe" in this issue) we found ourselves in line at the glamorous Famoso Raceway outside of Bakersfield, California, with what seemed like hours to kill. Fortunately two CC readers, Matt Cucchiara and Javier Montano of Fresno, were around to join in the conversation. What did we talk about?
1. Who works harder than who?2. If Matt King dropped dead, who'd take over his job as Car Craft's editor?3. How long will it be before Matt King drops dead?4. The inability of Pontiac V-8s to rev beyond 1,200 rpm.5. The best and worst places to live in Fresno.6. Whether we should go eat lunch after we run, or wait until we're on the road back to L.A. and hit an In-N-Out Burger.7. Whether writer John Pearley Huffman looks more like Sam Kinison or "Comic Book Guy" on The Simpsons.8. How Terry "Missed Shift" McGean, driving the Mach 1, managed to get his ass spanked first by a Honda Civic and then a Nissan.9. How the Top 10 list is consistently the best thing in the whole magazine.10. Speculation about exactly what kind of Thunderbird fanatic joins the Super Coupe Club of America.
A Sad Day For Car CraftCar Craft's All-Star Drag Racing Awards program is older than most of its staff. And that's why this announcement is so sad-it's going on hiatus for 2003. Here's the press release issued from our publisher's office in March:Car Craft magazine Publisher Jim Adolph announced today that after 35 years, the Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Awards Program and Banquet has been forced to sit out the '03 season.
"Due to overall economic conditions and the reduction of promotional spending the last couple of years, it's been very difficult to find the necessary sponsors to continue the program," says Adolph. "We've lost a large number of individual brand sponsors due to major acquisitions within our industry and in the Tobacco and Beer categories as well."
The All-Star Team has been the only fan-balloted awards program in drag racing since 1967, when Connie Kalitta won the first Fuel Driver Award. Unlike the championship series points systems, which represent on-track driver performance, All-Star voting took an individual's popularity and professionalism into consideration. Other award categories included Crew Chief, Engine and Chassis Builder, Best Sponsor, and Manufacturer of the Year. Individual achievement awards were presented to the Person of the Year as was the coveted Ollie Award for lifetime accomplishments.
The Car Craft sales team is working diligently this year to secure sponsors for 2004. "This is a tremendous racing tradition and we're very hopeful that there will be a 36th annual All-Star Drag Racing Program in 2004.Dang.
Not Luck, "Locked"That's the slogan for Breslin Split-Lock Mechanical fasteners, a trick new solution for header bolts that persist in loosening. The Breslin bolts are high-grade stainless header bolts with a twist: a locking fastener within the fastener. The header bolts are drilled through the center, and the shank is cut in a cross pattern. The hole though the center is then threaded and fitted with a small Allen-head bolt. After the header bolt is installed in the cylinder head, the small Allen-head locking bolt is torqued, expanding the threaded portion of the header bolt and effectively locking it.
Split-Lock inventor Patrick Breslin explains that other methods of locking fasteners rely either on adhesives, which can cause headaches when it comes time for disassembly, or some means of locking the bolt head, which can be cumbersome and tricky to install and remove. The Split-Lock bolts are as compact as conventional header bolts, easy to use, and can be reused over and over. For more information, go to www.go-breslin.com or call 800/695-3690.-Terry McGean