Other Hobbies

In addition to Astronomy  I have some other hobbies.  The primary ones are drag racing and shooting. I have had 2 race cars over the years - my first race car which was a 1967 Mustang coupe and my current one which is a 1965 Shelby look alike. The 67 was a "back half" car meaning that the rear frame rails and suspension were replaced with fabricated rails and a ladder bar suspension.  The fabricated rear rails were connected to the stock front subframe and a 10-point roll cage was installed. Power was supplied by a .030 over 302 with flat top pistons, a hydraulic street cam, heads I ported and an Edelbrock Victor JR intake and 750 Holley. The transmission was a C-4 automatic with manual valve body that I built. In this trim the car ran as fast as 12.50, but most of the time ran in the 12.70-12.80 range.

The new car is a full tube chassis car with 4-link rear suspension. It is not quite finished and has not been to the track yet. It is powered by a 408 cubic inch 351W stroker with C302 aluminum heads, high compression domed pistons and a large solid roller cam. The transmission is a full manual Powerglide with trans brake. This car is quite a bit lighter and the engine will make quite a bit more power than the old car. It should be considerably faster.


The old car (the blue one) at an all-Ford meet in Indy

The old car (far lane) at an all-Ford meet in Indy

The old car doing a burn out at my local track in Rogersville, MO