Jeremy (Jims son in law) is supposed to meet us to test Jim's boat and he was late but, we start prepping his boat because it needs to be tested. I'm a little nervous because i would be the one to test it and the last time i drove it, it scared the SHIAT  out of me any way he shows up and we he gets to test it twice but now its 12 and the lake is shut down to us... we head back to the shop to figure out what to do with my boat and make some more changes to Jim's. My truck is running good then right about lake pyramid i  feel a shaking from the boat trailer, pull over and sure enough one of the tires is starting to seperate jeremy and i go into nascar mode and had it changed in about 3 minutes and on our way... while driving back to the shop i have to tell you i thought about throwing in the towel more than once.......

Jeremy and i rip into my boat get the motor pulled and flipped over, i fully expected to see a broken oil pump or pick up tube but, instead found this.

ok we now know why i lost pressure, the pick up tube flange was welded on wrong and i did not catch it when i built the motor upon further inspection we find rods #1&5 black from lack of oil, we open it up and well the cranks not hurt just not real pretty Jim says we can fix it,(i look at him like whach u takin bout willis)
i have another motor sitting in my garage but damn that a lot of work to make long beach, so i ask him how he says go get the parts and Jeremy starts calling auto zone looking for an oil pump and some 10 under chevy rod bearings. We end up going to 2 auto zones but get the parts. i ask Jim what now? he says we got to polish the crank!! im like huh??? he goes deep into one of his cabinets and pulls out some 2000 grit foam sanding pads and says start sanding, so we sand on the crank journal till all the high spots and black are gone. im thinking to myself this will never work but we forge on he sands the big end of the rods, by this time justelectric (justin) shows up and releives Jeremy so he can work on the 460 boat..

we get the motor all cleaned out (bearing material every where)  and back together and in the boat

light it off around 8pm and its got better oil pressure than before i leave the shop and get home around 10pm. (we been up since 4am) but we are going to race this boat dammitt

Glad to see all that hard work paid off for you Ralph. Your Liberty looked good out there.

Christian has got to be pretty excited. A good result in your first time out has a way of getting you hooked.....

Jack

we made a couple of adjustments to the diverter and we were off on sunday, i was doing well in the first heat but pushed to hard and spun the boat, not once but twice.

i guess all my electronics got wet during my acrobatics because in the final on sunday it just kept popping and i dnf'ed.

all in all i had a great time..
congratulations to christian for his 1st place and Jeremys dad for his 2nd, i am very proud that i got to race with these two guys as they are good ambasadors (sp?) for the sport..

a real big thank you to my wife and kid as they gave me all the support i could ask for.. Thank you to Jim Brock of Cyclone speed and marine, your support knowledge and friendship mean the world to me..
Justin and Jeremy for holding my hand through all the trouble i had, i call you true friends.......
Brad, thank you for listening to me when the cards were against me and the stickers
SCJB thank you all for your support
ralph

Glad to see you back in the seat Ralph. I've always said one of the best times was watching you, Omar, Brad, Nick and even Jim Rich out there goin roundy round.  All back when SCJB was just a baby....:-). Still pissed I couldn't make it out last weekend. Congrats on the 2 first place wins!!!

wanted to make it out both days but only did Saturday,left phx Friday around 3pm. did some things with family Sunday before the drive home                                                                              just electric was that you riding the beach cruiser with the 460 shirts? 
boat looked great Ralph...i got some pics of you fist pumping after the first win ill load up

Ralph, you had a lot to contend with out there!  You did great.

Glad to see all that hard work paid off for you Ralph. Your Liberty looked good out there.

Christian has got to be pretty excited. A good result in your first time out has a way of getting you hooked.....

Jack

I'm still buzzing with excitement from the races .....  what an awesome bunch of dudes!!
Looking back brings out the biggest smile ..... from my own funny episode of driving down the freeway from San Francisco with 3 foot flames burning my gear in the back of my truck, discovering 3 quarts of water in my oil on thursday two days prior to race weekend  ....can't forget getting double roosted by Ralph and Bll going into the first turn and then scrambling across Brown Sugar's bow to save her from beaching on the rocks 

Having a laugh about the crazy struggles and nerve wrecking episodes is what makes this stuff so fun 
Looking forward to more racing and good times.

P.S.  To all you guys on the sideline mulling the notion around about whether you should race or not .....DO IT !!!!! :thumb up:
 It will be the most fun you'll ever have with your jet trust me.  Plus we need some Bowties in our class to tease 

Ralph, Glenn (gt jets)  Terry, Mark, Jr, Randy and the whole crew ....thanks for all the support ....I'll be seeing you guys again real soon.

Hoping to be running in rr in my boat next race if the motor dosent go boom by then 😜 and I will be the only Chevy in the class 😱


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Yeah the wife will be camping and will hopefully be in Parker racing so much for the dez trip and breaking in the new dirtbike 😜


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my wife was  cleaning out some stuff and found this, it was written by my 10 year old daughter

Thats good stuff right there.

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That is really cool. It even made me chuckle


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