After Burn

Back from the brink...

2011-01-03T18:14:00.002-07:00

Well 2011 is here and it is time to work harder on updating the blog.

2010 started with the team with a huge undertaking, not only were we going to run the Invader at tracks all across the western United States, but we were going to completely update two more jet dragsters, test them, train new drivers, and if time permitted put together a fourth car.

A little hopeful eh...

Eierdam Racing teamed up with Sizzler racing to field and train Mike "Iceman" Sisler on how to successfully operate a jet car team. This had been a long time dream for Mike, and a number of years in the making.

The first item was to completely update the Pratt & Whitney J-60 dragster from the chassis to the tail pipe. At one time, the "Sizzler" was nothing but bare tubing. After a long long process the Sizzler was a masterpiece!

During the same time, the newest jet dragster in the Eierdam Racing stable came to light. The Strike Eagle is also a Pratt & Whitney J-60 dragster, like the tried and true Invader.

Once these two jet dragsters were complete and re certified, it was time for Curt to take them out and dial them in. As with just about any new car or one that had been take as far apart as these two were, some bugs were to be expected.

While the Strike Eagle seemed to come up to speed rather quickly, the Sizzler had her share of issues to work out.

While all of this was going on, Craig Eierdam spent many many many trips down the track, learning the ins and outs of piloting one of these land based missiles. By the fall, Craig not only proved himself to the team, he earned his license and was ready to face Curt for his first race.

Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson was where this match up was finally scheduled. The 2010 Jet Car Nationals was to be this event. The first match up against the brothers had Craig taking the win against Curt. But in the next round, Curt tied it up to one a piece with the tie breaker round getting cancelled.

December brought the brothers out to the Performance Racing Industry show in Orlando Florida for the Official announcement of the NJRA.

NJRA???

National Jet Racing Association. It is the governing body of the Festival of Fire series coming in 2011 to racetracks across the US. Check out their website for more information. www.njraracing.com

Not enough?? Complete revamp of the trailers, crew uniforms, promotion material.... the list keeps getting longer.

And where does that leave 2011??

Eierdam Racing operating three jet dragster in partnership with Sizzler Racing hitting the tracks all across the US (Not just the west coast), and if time permits finishing the fourth car.... and a little sleep ( and more blog updates I swear!!)

End of the Season......

2009-10-23T12:43:00.001-07:00

Since the last update we have been very busy, I could have updated but I wanted to wait for everything to be ready for announcing.

So first things first, on August 12th the team headed out to do the Beat the Heat Event at Speedworld Dragstrip. Along with the Beat the Heat vehicles, they also had junior dragsters, a mustang wheel stander, and the Invader making passes. It was a Wednesday night show, so gates didn't even open until 5 pm. Warm weather was still backing the Phoenix area, but even that could not help as I was coming down with a cold.

As the night air cooled, we have the Invader all ready to go by our 9 pm scheduled run. Let me tell you, hot weather, -20 fire suit, tight belts, and flu like symptoms DO NOT mix!! It was all I could do not to get sick in my helmet!

But once the Invader lit and came to life all was good again. Big flames came belting out as we lit up the night and added some more "Heat" for them to beat!

Then on October 10th we headed out to Tucson's Southwestern International Raceway for the Jet Car Nationals.

We setup early on Saturday, and prepped the Invader to test fire her. Since the last events, we had done a few modifications to help with staging and wanted to perform a systems check. So out to the end of the track to the tie down area we went. A few minutes later and a few gallons of fuel lighter, we again had some big smiles on our faces.

As the crowds rolled in, we hung out with all the jet racers there. Eight cars were there to bring the season to an end. For the jet dragsters there was, Tony Franco with the Terminal Velocity, Al Arriaga's Blu-By-U (with Tony Franco pulling double driving duties), Jeff Atamian's The Beast, Mark Steven's Earthflight, Joe & Carol Douthit's California Smokey (with David driving), Dick Rosberg's Thriller (with Terry driving), and us with the Invader. The jet funny cars were Ken Marley in the Rocky Mountain Thunder and Derek Snelson in the Warhawk.

First round had Thriller paired up with Blu-By-U, Earthflight versus California Smokey, Invader versus Terminal Velocity, Warhawk against The Beast, and Rocky Mountain Thunder a single. The Blu-By-U blew by the Thriller, Earthflight edging out California Smokey, Warhawk bettering the Beast, and then it was the Invader battling Terminal Velocity.

As a side note, Southwestern International Raceway instructed all the jet vehicles to stay in the burnout box while doing the fire show, and not to light the burners if we rolled forward. I must say this really makes it difficult to do a proper fire show but they are the bosses.

So Tony & I light up our rides and start to do our fire show, after about 4 or 5 fireballs, we start to do burner pops, and that is all she wrote for me. The Invader slid up a few feet and I was signaled no more, so I proceded to roll into the staging beams, fully knowing that I had a lot of fuel to haul down the track. I lit the first bulb and then Tony came in and lit one. As I pulled into the second beam, the starter leans down and looks under the car like it may be leaking. He flashes thumbs up, and the light flashes and Tony is gone. I am off chasing him down and almost catch him at the lights. Tony runs a 5.80 @ 272 to our 5.68 @ 282. Overall it was a fun run!!

With the Blu-By-U being the quickest car in the first round and the Invader being the second we were paired up for round two. The Beast and the Thriller were also paired together, as to the others I can't remember. The weather continued to drop as the weather cooled, so we adjusted the tune up and headed to the lanes. Tony was in the Blu-By-U in the left lane, Invader in the right as we squared off again. Everything was goin according to plan until I started to bring the Invader up to the higher rpms. At the higher RPM's, the afterburner was having a difficult time firing off.

With nothing else to do but hope, we staged and took off! Tony was off in a flash, as I kept hitting the afterburner all the way down the track, hoping at some point that it would light. But it was not meant to be. I did the longest John Force burnout all the way down the track!! It looked kinda cool from the video I have seen.

So after the run as the crew prepared the Invader for the last run, we went over all the data and the systems to figure out what had happened. With a vehicle that engine has rotating parts that spin in the area of 19000 rpm, things can be a little complicated. Then again sometimes not. After checking the entire system and even replacing the switch we could not get the system to even falter once, so after taking a deep breath and looking at the photos of the run, it hit us in the head! The weather had dropped so much that the tune changed drastically too lean. When we increased the rpm, it leaned out the system even more so that it would not sustain the afterburner!

A quick review of the weather and consulting the tune up, we made a couple of adjustments, and we were back in the staging lanes.

At both of our requests, Terry and I were paired up. Terry is currently the driver of the Thriller J-85 jet dragster based out of the east coast. Terry and his dad, Dick, have been running jets almost as long as our family and this is the first time the sons got to pair up and race.

What can I say; Terry was quick on the lights, but not quick enough as I caught him and took my only win for the night. The Invader ran a 5.86 @ 283, like a bracket car!! So with the final run of the season we packed her up and headed for home.

But the story does not end here....

For most of the year, the Invader Team has been working with Larsen Motorsports on a new jet dragster. So after the race, Craig jumped on a plane and headed to Florida to bring the chassis back. Over the winter we will be assembling the new car with a projected testing date of early April.
The new car will also be a Pratt & Whitney J-60 powered car with the latest designs and safety features.

Check back often for updates and photos as we progress.

Hollywood or Bust

2009-08-01T21:03:00.010-07:00

After we returned home from our 4th of July fun in El Paso with our new buddy Gary Fore, it was a time for some R& R.

So as we were kickin it by the pool in the sweltering Arizona heat, the batphone rings. Would the Invader Team be interested in doing a television show? With a quick look at the thermometer hovering around 112* and a gaise at my quickly emptying glass of ice tea, I could not say where and when fast enough.

Ok, not really.

A few phone calls, emails, and faxes back and forth to work out all the details and legal wording and a contract was signed and a date set.

But before the date of the shoot came, I was off to the terrible weather of Orlando to hangout with some friends for a couple of days. Some of you may have heard that there is some "girl" jet jockey out on the east coast. Well in fact there are two, and one of them is my buddy Elaine.

Elaine and her talent jet fabricator husband Chris, (I know it sounds like I am sucking up, but hey the truth sometime hurts!) invited me to come out and check out their brand new baby. No Andrew does not have a little brother or sister, and Nitro is one of a kind, but the brand new Embry Riddle J-85 Powered Jet Dragster.

Now I won't go into all the cool things about it, but this Worthy built jet dragster is sooooo nice and perfect, it makes me want a second car. Hmmm now there is an idea. I better not say anything more right now as my lovely wife does read this now and then, and I don't want to get into trouble with her until it is too late.

So between us, I did not say anything about a second car, or the parts that my buddies down in Florida are gonna help me find, ok?

With the quick trip over, we packed up and headed out west, well farther west anyway. Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped into see Joe and Darlene of DJ Safety. Had a quick tour of the shop, and talked about safety equipment, and of course how we all missed Jim.

When we finally pulled into the hotel for the night, or should I say early morning in the Mojave Desert, we were all pretty tired.

But the dawn and call times were early for the production, so we were up and a fast breakfest and we were ready for the caravan to the location.

The location was at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave California. It is just north of the Famous Edwards Air Force Base, where the great avaition test pilots flew and the X-Planes came from. Mojave Air and Space Port is where the civilian x-planes come from now. Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites (Home of SpaceShipOne, the only civilian plane to reach space resides) as well as the National Test Pilot School and Flight Research is located.

Television has a great legacy there as well. Many television shows such as JAG, Mythbusters, and 24 were film here. Movies too. The films used this location Die Hard2, Speed, Flags of Our Fathers, and yes even WaterWorld were filmed there.

So as we caravaned around the airfield with our escort, we drove to the location located around the aircraft storage area. Or what I would call the aircraft graveyard. Old 707's, L-1011's, 737's 747's and even some old navy warplanes and a F-100!

Our first location was set-up and went over the scene and what the director and producer wanted from us. So we went about getting ready, and the film crew was filming EVERYTHING.

In addition of getting ready, we had to make sure that we did not scratch any sensitive areas, or say any bad words or look at the camera. The last one is the hardest of them all, especially when they are all walking around you and you are trying to get somewhere!

So ok, I am NOT go to talk specifics about the scenes as you all will have to wait and watch the show, but let me say, from all the cameras and direction and different scenes they were outlining and talking about it is going to be cool. The final sequence was sooooo cool, I could not even believe it and was so glad we where there to witness it!

What is the name of this show already you are saying right? It is called WX Proof, and it is produced by NBC for the Weather Channel. They have things that are supposed to be Weather Proof and are put to the test. We were called in to be a destructive force to test an item, and let me just say, they really put us to the test.

After we were finished shooting, we headed back to the warm Arizona desert to get back to our daily grind, until next time.

After down loading the photos from the set, I started emailing them out and checking my email inbox and what did I see????

A link to the Ford Commercial we had shot, "Sound Check". (see previous blog.) All I can say is WOW!

But you can make up your own mind. Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn1JhzWPmMQ

Post a comment and let me know what you think.

Be safe and Have Fun!!

2009.........

2009-07-21T08:00:00.008-07:00

April brought the team home for the annual Firebird Summer Spectacular event. It was the Monster Truck /Lakefest event.

Along with two days of fun in the sun, they had the Top Fuel Hydro boats, Unlimited boats, Monster Trucks, and of course the jet cars.

The Invader Jet Dragster was paired up with Al Arriaga’s Blu-By-U driven by his son, Scott. Paul Stender also brought three of his jet powered vehicles, a jet powered Jeep, a jet powered Dodge Ram, and yes a jet powered outhouse.

Saturday, we had one run scheduled with Scott, Paul in his Jet Dodge Ram ran as we were getting ready. With dusk setting, we fired up the beasts and proceeded to heat up the desert air a little more. With the two dragsters ready and eager to launch, the tree flashed and so did the jets. Scott left quicker that the Invader but they held pace for the first 500 feet, then it seemed as I missed the tune up as Scott just pulled hard.

After reviewing the timing slip, we figured out the problem.

It was not us, it was Scott! We ran a 5.56 to Scott’s 5.35 @ 301 mph.

With Sunday, it was a repeat schedule but during the day. Hotter day but brought out the crowed anyway! With a repeat of the night before except that Scott cut the light a little too much, as the red light glowed bright in the afternoon sun.

So not too bad, Scott 1, Curt 1. As they say, a win is a win.

June 13 we headed out to California, to shoot a commercial for Ford Motors. After driving across the Arizona / California desert, we finally reached our destination in Lebec, California. Lebec is located on the north side of the Grapevine, just about 40 miles from Bakersfield. This area has been used in various movies and commercials over the years, recently in Fast and the Furious.
The temperatures were in the mid 60’s when we arrived, compared to the low 100’s when we left Arizona. We checked into our hotel and went out to a Mexican restaurant.

We had a good meal, even if it was a little spicy for my dad, as he had to order a large glass of leche to cool his mouth. After twenty plus years in the southwest, you would think he can handle a little heat.

Sunday we headed out to the location. We arrived at the staging area; it was like a small city out in the middle of nowhere. Trucks, trailers, tents, air conditioned restrooms, and a fancy restaurant on the side of the road.

We met with the director and the production assistant to go over the concept of the segment. Then the crew started to go to work. Measurements and photographs were taken and they were off to various areas of the location to make things happen.

For our little team, it was polish and touch ups, and the regular routine of prep for the Invader. Fueling and chute packing and so on and so on before the production assistant came and drove us down the road to the shooting location. They had a couple of cars set up near a small building and showed our mark.

We were scheduled to shoot after lunch, but typically someone missed their time slot and we were asked to jump ahead. One final check out and we were off….. But we had no power!!

Panels were flying off, wires and connections checked, battery voltage checked but no power. We found that the igniter batteries had shorted internally, while they charged and checked good, once a load was applied almost no voltage showed.

Did I say we were in the middle of nowhere?? As a quick scramble on location for a suitable battery, with all the cameras, sound equipment, portable electronics, and so forth not a battery to be found, I quick search on the blackberry showed a motorcycle shop ten miles away on the top of the Grapevine. So a quick trip to the shop and we found a suitable replacement that would work with a slight rewire and we were back in business.

So we were of towing down to the set, with a caravan of vehicles, cameras, and equipment. The Invader was positioned on its mark, along with the other vehicles, and the director went over again what he was looking for. He had expressed concerns with the location of this small building off to the side of the Invader. It was around 20 – 30 feet off to one side of the Invader, and looked fine. I had told him that it was no problem as we have stuff similar between to cars on the starting line and it should be fine.

I never even gave it a second thought. They wired me up with the hopes that I might be able to hear the director while I was doing the fire show and I was strapped in. Cameras were positioned and they called for action. The Invader was brought to life, and guess what, radios did not work. So I proceeded to watch for directions as I belched out the flames. After a minute or two, I was supposed to stop and go to idle as they reset their cameras and then continue with more fire. But the best laid plans, so they say…

A look of panic on the director’s face, and the frantic waving arms of the production assistant gave me a clue to shut down. As I jumped out of the car, I felt a little sick, as a large section of the building seemed to melt off the building. They called a break for lunch as we towed back to refuel the Invader.

Someone forgot to tell me that this was movie magic, and that the building was not brick like it seemed but very malleable plastic that can be formed with a hair dryer. Here I am the world’s biggest hair dryer blasting away near it. I figured we were done on the set, but everyone for the most part was in good spirits about it.

After a lunch of stuffed crab and a filet of beef, we were back on the set and ready for take two. This time all was good, the building was moved a bit farther back, but all went well. Then they had me in the car for the still shot segments. After an hour in the hot sun, fully suited up and strapped in, we were again on the way back for fuel.

Fuel and a quick charge on the batteries we were back for the last take. More fire and more noise were in the script, and then they asked if we could do a quick launch at the end. So after the fire, while I idled for a few moments, they pulled all the cars out of the shot and I brought the power up and launched a couple hundred feet.

Everyone loved it and we excited that all went well.

We loaded everything up and said our goodbyes and headed home. With an uneventful return journey we were ready for a small break.

Our break lasted until the 3rd of July when we headed out to the new El Paso Motorplex located just outside of El Paso in Clint Texas. This is a new track with all concrete strip and state of the art wireless timing system. It is not finished yet, but is well on its way to being an excellent track.

We pulled in on Friday night, and hung out with Donny Huerra and his Mexican Jumping Bean wheel stander and our competition, Gary Fore and the Super Cobra jet funny car.

Gary is a nice guy and really down to earth, we played the “Do you know…” game as we have never met before. So as the weather cooled off, we headed to our hotel for the evening.

Bright and early on the 4th proved it was going to be a hot day early on. We were scheduled to run starting at 8 pm, but we were there when the gates opened. Slowly towards the afternoon, the crowd started to pour in ready to celebrate the holiday.

Around the eight o’clock hour we were in the lanes ready to get the show started. We pulled in and strapped in, and kick the tires and lit the fires. Gary and I traded fireballs for a bit, and then brought up the power for the burner pops. Once I did this, the Invader started to slide, as the track being so new there was not much traction for me to grab on to. So I had to lay of the pops, as I slid into the lights as not to red light. Gary pulled in and the lights flashed and he was off. I followed in pursuit of Gary, and as I went by I shut off the Invader. This was a safety run as there are not many lights in the shutdown area, and I wanted to get a feel for the track. It felt fine! Gary shot by me and took the first win of the night.

Round two came and we had to do something about the traction, so just before we ran we loaded up the tires with some traction compound and crossed our fingers.

She seemed to like that, after we started they gave me the signal to start the show, so I hit the first fireball and wait for Gary’s response. And waited. So I did it again and waited… and waited… Gary was having a problem starting, so after a couple minutes they gave me the signal for a single. A couple fireballs and burner pops later, to give a show but not shake Gary too much, I pulled into the staging lights. Then I saw a flash reflecting from behind me. Gary got her started, so I waited as he did a few pops and fireballs to lighten the load before pulling into the beams.

Both of us staged, we waited for the tree forever it seemed, the Gary just left and I followed behind. Again I squeaked past Gary but at about 800 feet the Invader ran out of fuel, but I held him off enough for the win.With one win a piece, the final round was an all out battle. Blasts were traded back and forth until we slid into the beams. Tree was activated and we were off and running. A word to anyone running at the new track, a little piece of advice I learned, the ET boards are not the finish line! I clicked it off at the boards, and barely held of Gary for the final win of the night!!!

The Gaps…

2008-09-09T12:34:00.001-07:00

When I last left off, we were back from the Texas adventure; I spent a little time at home before having to head out for work.

Off to a conference in Providence Rhode Island for a taste of the cool weather was awesome. The only drawback to the trip was the 18 hour travel with weather delays and missed flights and rude airline personnel. At least once I was there they had plenty of tasty seafood for me to enjoy.

Since I was on the east coast already, I extended my stay to hang out and help my good friends, Chris & Elaine Larsen. They run a little known car on the east coast, some of you may have heard of it, The Embry Riddle Jet Dragster. They were running at the NMRA race at ATCO Drag way in Atco New Jersey.

Three fun-filled glorious days of Sun, Food, Girls, and Mustangs!! Wow how could I get so lucky!!
I met up with The Larsen’s just outside of the track at a nice little restaurant for lunch. But typical Elaine, like on the tree, she was late. Sure she gave me some excuse of a traffic accident or some unbelievable story, but hey at least they brought Andrew and Nitro so all was forgiven.

After lunch, Elaine and I followed the Larsen boys out to the track. After their week at Oshkosh and the rain through Illinois and Ohio, they rig needed a serious washing. So out came the hoses, buckets, and soap. So what would your friendly west coast jet jockey do?? But hold Nitro’s leash and point out the spots they missed! Bet they were glad I came to help! What would they do without me!

With the rig all sparkling clean, the trailer reconfigured for the next days’ display, we loaded 10 tons of luggage into my teeny tiny, 5 horse power rental car for the trip to the hotel. Mind you, the Larsen’s had booked me a full size upgrade, but hey I am cheap, and all the scooters were out!

Into the Hampton Inn, beautiful room, wifi and breakfast included! Whoo even a bunch of restaurants next door. A quick bag drop and we are off to dinner. Nice Italian dinner at one place, then of for drinks at another. Can you say networking…. After a closing that place, we head to sleep. Busy day with a display already planned.

Friday came, sun shining, cool east coast weather again!! The Larsen team pulled into the Wal Mart for a display. Out came the dragster, the stool, and the girl. Elaine proceeded to hand out photos and talk about the NMRA race and the wonderful world of aviation. In the middle of this Chris and I had found a salvage yard down the road with tons of old aircraft pieces. We were trying to figure out how to get in there, and Elaine pulled through again. In the middle of talking to people, she found the sister of the owner of the yards. A few phone calls later, we have an appointment at this closed yard.

Once the display was over, we dropped the rig back at the track and headed to the hotel and food. We were planning on eating, relaxing by the pool, and hitting the yard later that evening. Just as we sat down to eat, the phone rang. By the look on Elaine’s face, it was not good. Seems to be a mix up, and the advertising had gone out with Elaine scheduled to make a run tonight! So a quick lunch, a change of clothes and we were off back to the track.

So out come the blue and grey SwissTrak flooring, the Embry Riddle Awnings and Flags, and finally the Beast herself. Then we roll the car out too. Just joking Elaine! A primary and reserve parachute selected and mounted, batteries charged, tires serviced, and the dragster is inspected for any abnormities.

This is a good time for me to also look over the car. Most people might not know, but each jet car is basically a one of a kind machine. Little differences here and there, and the people who build them like certain things a certain way, as there are differences in the Embry Riddle car and the Miss-Ta-Fire car. Both of these were built by Chris and there are differences. Now as I looked over the ER car and compared her to the Invader, I find differences but nothing major, and nothing in the area of safety. Chris builds a solid, safe car for his wife to rocket down the track.

So now with the Riddle ride readied, Andrew, Chris and I are off to the salvage yard. Once we got there we saw mounds of old aircraft, cars, jet engines, and even a train. We spent some time climbing, sifting, and just looking in amazement at the old stuff. We will have to come back again, now we have a better idea of what was there. As we were deep into the piles of aircraft, a shower of rain came through and soaked us all.

We quickly hurried back to help Elaine keep the car dry. She had it all under control and covered with a plastic cover. As the time for the run approached, I stood back an observed their pre run rituals. We all have them, some you just really have to pay attention to notice.

As we rolled up to the line, I noticed something very unusual for me. My shoes almost came off. What was this? It was sticky? Hmmm maybe they should try this on the west coast! My god it was prepped great! So my job for the weekend was something a little different for me. I was the air guy, and I also guided Elaine to the beams.

All is readied, Elaine is ready, here we go… Air on.. Ok starter is spinning… 12% she starts to growl… idle… air off, power unplugged… She is alive!!

Chris does a quick look over and leak check. (They have radios and talk back and forth. Sounds like a cool idea, but hell when the Invader is lit, that’s my alone time!!)

I stand back and also look for leaks, all is good. Elaine starts to do her show. Running by herself, she uses the radio over the PA to talk to the crowd. That was cool! So while she is doing that, I really feel out of place not in a car! So out comes the camera and I snap a few photos until she starts to roll towards the beams.

Here is another thing, some people like help, me I don’t, but not my deal so I do my best to let her know where the beams are. Bulbs lit, and she is off. Oh yeah I forgot to turn around, and was blasted by heat and rocks! Elaine ran a 5.59 at 281 MPH. Nice solid run!

Towed back to the pits, and then she signed photo after photos for all the fans! Boy it is sure different from this side. I always thought about stepping away from driving and just tuning and training, but I am not sure anymore. I think I like to drive too much.

Well back to the hotel for the night, and it’s an early day tomorrow!

Saturday brought more people, more sun, and more heat to the races. The NMRA puts on such a cool race. I think I like them better than a national event. They have the midways, the cars, and the fun but with real people. Not that the Forces, Herberts, or Capps are not real, but you get the feeling that this could be you. Just a good ole person having fun going fast!

First run of the day was just as nice as the night before, little wiggle at the end and a burst parachute panel had Elaine hitting the reserve in a very professional manner! She made Chris’s eye pop out but already hitting the reserve before he could tell her on the radio of the failure. Heck she might make a good driver yet!

Weather cooled down, and the darkness started to come for the last run of the night. Looking to improve her ET, but not quite, but let me just say she could run that car in a bracket class for as on index that the car runs, 5.59, 5.61, and 5.61!

Give her a trophy! Oh and I cannot forget the wonderful racers at ATCO. They would feed us, and feed us, and feed us some more! I think I gained ten pounds!

Sunday comes and so does the clouds! Then the wind! Then the tornados and lightning! Then the word that it was called off. So with that bit of news, I jumped into the go kart of a rental and headed to the airport after saying my goodbyes!

So sitting in the airport, trying to jump on an earlier flight, after that failed I waited for my flight. This was delayed, and delayed again, and again. I was supposed to get into Phoenix at 9:45 pm, I eventually arrived at 3:50 am. I even had to buy a bottle of water on the plane for $2. Ya think after a 6 hour delay they would at least give you a bottle of water. Noooo! Geesh!

Finally home right. Wrong!

Less than two weeks later, I am jumping on to one of our planes from work heading to Germany for two week to work with NATO. While I was there I was able to get in contact with a fellow jet guy and talk about his jets. Donald Pottier, he has two j-85 jet funny cars, one of which has two cockpits to give rides. We spoke at great lengths of ideas and such, and I can’t wait to go and visit again and see the cars next time!

So I am finally home, caught a cold, and getting the Invader ready for our final race of the year. Tucson’s Southwestern International Raceway’s Jet Car Nationals on October 4-5th.

It will be a blast! (Pun intended!!)

BTW my favorite sign in Germany!!

Texas Tour

2008-07-14T18:01:00.006-07:00

The Texas Tour 2008 was back to back races in Lubbock, Texas and then a week later in Abilene, Texas. We started off on this journey on the 27th of June, headed out to Lubbock. Trying to beat the Arizona heat, we left at 4:30 in the morning. A stop for fuel along the way, and we were rolling along.

After an unexpected stop for a few hours, we finally pulled into Lubbock at almost midnight local time. With the last 140 miles of it being rain and an enormous lightning storm. Reaching the hotel, everyone was completely exhausted.

The weather had brought cooler temperature to the area, but required us to rewash the entire rig. So we were off on a hunt for a car wash to clean everything up. With a quick detail, a run for ice and we were off to the track.

We reached the track and set up for the nights events. Ken Marley and his Rocky Mountain Thunder jet funny car were already there. We slowly prepared the car for the night’s events, while still in the trailer. The weather report was not very good, a 60% change of rain!

When the gates opened at 4pm, with the rain drizzling and wind picking up, it was totally questionable as to the event going on as scheduled. As we all sat in the rigs with our fingers crossed, the weather would clear, and then rain, clear, then rain, then finally cleared up.

It had cleared enough for the event to go on, but would a crowd show? As it slowly crept up to the scheduled time for the jets to run, people started to drizzle in. The only real problem is that now the track was dried but too cool to really prep it to run the full length.

After a driver meeting with all of the participants, it was decided to go on and race but only to 1/8 mile.

First round was finally set and weather cleared, and Ken and the Rocky Mountain Thunder jet were in the right lane, while the Invader was in the left lane. Since it was not going to be a full run, they both decided to put on a larger than normal line show. By the time both cars were fully staged, the starting line was now fully dry!

Ken was off first, with Curt in the Invader rapidly chasing him down. At the stripe, it was the Invader by a nose!

Both cars were brought back to the pits to be readied for the next match up later in the evening. Within a short time both cars were back in the armed position, as the fans came for handouts, t-shirts, and autographs were given out.

The jets were brought back out for the final runs of the night. Again it was only 1/8 mile runs so it was the face of the sun fire show. The rainy cool weather was dried up rapidly as they both traded blasts from the afterburner.

As both cars staged, staging bulbs lit, and oops Ken slid through and launched! Curt hesitated for only a moment before screaming down after the Rocky Mountain Thunder again! With no tree activation, the Invader had the automatic win, making the first event of the Texas tour 2-0 for the Invader.

As the event rapped up, the Invader was loaded up and the team headed out to Midland. Craig had a flight to catch in the morning to go home.

As the sun came up, Craig was dropped off, and the rest of the team started out towards Abilene. An easy drive from Midland of only 160 miles, mostly flat with some small rolling hills, no problem! RIGHT! A measly 10 miles from the track, Curt looks out the window at the trailer, and what is that!

It looks like a fin sticking out of the trailer! Pulling off the highway, the team gets out and inspects the trailer. Oh, an easy find. Only a missing center wheel and tire assembly. The whole tire, wheel, and hub are just plain gone!

After inspecting the rest of the trailer, we carefully limped in to the track. Making some calls, and deciding that it will have to wait until Monday, we dropped the trailer and heading to Dyess Air Force Base.

We had reserved a room at Dyess Inn lodging, using Curt’s military benefits for once.
Monday morning we went and drove the trailer over to Western Trailer. They inspected everything and determined that a new axle was the correct was to fix the problem. A few phone calls later, and a new axle was on the way from Dallas. The other axles were all checked and serviced while the new axle was installed. All was completed by Wednesday afternoon.

While all this was happening, the team took a much needed break and saw the sights of Abilene. We toured the static displays at Dyess Air Force Base, looked around some of the salvage yards, and even hit a movie or two.

After picking up the trailer, we went and washed the truck and trailer, and then set up the trailer in the pits ready for the 5th of July race.

On the 4th, we headed out to the track to meet Craig, who flew into Midland and rented a car to get to Abilene, and watch the races. As the truck started, a load bang and smoke came out from under the hood of the truck! Our 4th of July fireworks started early! The air conditioning unit let loose.

What a wonderful thing to happen on the 4th of July, in the middle of Texas, in the heat! SUPER!

Out at the track, with tools in hand, half of us ripped the truck apart, and while the rest made calls trying to locate the needed parts before everything totally shut down. Believe it or not, they did just that! A very quick run to the parts store, netted the team everything needed to repair the system.

All that was needed was a quick evacuation and recharge, and all was blowing cold.
Abilene’s crowd for the show on the 5th was huge! The Southwest Superchargers were running as well as the Invader and Rocky Mountain Thunder.

At just about dusk, the first passes were made. Ken in the Rocky Mountain Thunder was first up on a single run. He belted out the fire and heat before blasting down the track for low e.t. of the meet. So far.

Curt in the Invader was up next. Last time the Invader was here, they were just off the pace for Ancel Horton’s track record, and Curt could taste it! This first run was a tune run for what would come later. The July heat had not cooled off as much as they had hoped but still ran a respectable time.

Both cars could hardly make it back to the pits, with all the fans waving and stopping them on their return. Once back the routine of turning the cars was in full motion. The vehicles were readied and a quick look at the weather, and a quick final tune was made.

Everything was readied for the record attempt as both cars pulled to the line. The Rocky Mountain Thunder and Invader blasted the night air for the second time of the night. The Invader slowly pulled into the beams, brought the engine rpms as much as the track could hold, and waited a split second for Ken to leave before lighting the afterburner and screeching down the track.

Through the finish line, chutes out, barely slowing hit the reserve chutes rapidly slowed the Invader but not enough. A quick pump or three on the rear brakes, and the Invader came to a stop inches from the sand trap.

Across the desert night, the crackle and creaking of hot metal was all that could be heard. As the crew came up, they shook their head no. We missed it by two tenths!

Better luck next time!

Once again in the dead of the night the team loaded up and headed for home.

At the 740 mile mark of an 860 mile trip, boom! Middle tire on the trailer blew! Will this trip never end? Quick tire swap and we were off limping for home.

We finally made it home with no more problems, but the season is not totally over for us. We do have a small gap do to everyone’s work requirement but we will be back in the fall.

The long and winding road.....

2008-05-26T18:26:00.008-07:00

We set out for Albuquerque National Dragway on Friday May 23, with the rest of the country and their plans for the holiday weekend. After a later than plan start, we found our selves in the middle of the holiday rush and nature’s freak climate changes in the Arizona desert.

Earlier in the week we had hit record 110* weather, and as we were leaving the cloudy, rainy weather only reached into the low 70’s. After the initial bumper to bumper rage fest, at the two hour mark found us only 66 miles from home. Pulling through the Flagstaff area, we were shocked to actually see snow on the side of the road!!

We should have seen this as a sign of things to come!

We finally reached the Albuquerque city limits; we stopped for fuel needed for the Invader and the generator. We also contacted the track to ensure we could drop the trailer off before going to the hotel. They said they would still be there and not to mind the road.

Mind the road? What was that all about? When reaching the road, we found a light cart and a security guard waving us through. There were cars, motorcycles, buses, and even a semi truck scattered all over looking like a war scene had just gone off.

After parking the trailer, we found out that they are shooting the Terminator 4 movie around here and that is a set they are using!

After a quite night at the hotel, we gathered our stuff and head out to the truck to go to the race track. But what surprises were in store for us?? Someone had broken into the truck and stole some stuff!

After a brief call, with no law enforcement coming out, and a review of the items missing, we also noticed the inside rear tire was flat! A quick trip to Discount Tire, who in record time, inspected and installed a new tire and sent us on our way. Thanks guys!

At the track the weather was cool and very breezy, most of the day. We prepped the car, and caught up with Joe Zaccaro & “Fearless” Davy Gonzales. Joe currently has a few different jet cars, but he had brought with him, the Thunderbolt and the White Lightning. The White Lightning used to be the Final Option Jet Dragster of Jimmy Gonzales, who was Davy’s brother. Until recently the car was called Too Much and was owned by Greg Nickleski.

Some maintenance was performed on the White Lightning, so they took it out to the top end for a test fire. All was good until just at shutdown, and the main burner line split and sprayed fuel down. What a mess! They brought her back a made brand new lines and replaced the defective ones to ensure a good safe show.

As the sun went down, and the moon came up, the winds died down, it was time for the jets. First up was “Fearless” Davy against Curt in the Invader. At the signal both cars went for start and the Invader just sat there. She would not light…A scramble check….Power yes….Igniters yes…air pressure yes…. Starter yes…. Just no start.

Davy had a single as the Invader was pushed back to the pits. Joe Zaccaro then performed a single pass also to end first round.

Back in the pits, the body panels were flying!! Craig was checking all the electrical, while Curt was checking the fuel system. A small leak was detected on the fuel control in a vital area, so the car was lifted and the two guys were flying around working on the problem. Just as they were wrapping up the repair (which should have taken 4 hours with a removal of the control from the engine) the lights on the trailer flickered then went out!

An electrical smell could be found inside, and was traced down to the shore power switchbox. That was quickly disassembled and bypass in the dark, and we were back in action. The repair on the Invader was completed and pressure checked good. Within five minutes of setting the car back down they called for us to race.

Again the Invader was paired with the White Lightning for a little payback for the embarrassment of the first round. Both cars again went for start, and this time both did! Fire shows battled back and forth, with the Invader prestaging first. Both in the lights, flash of yellow, and a flash down the track as the Invader rocketed down the track to take the win with a 5.88 at 265 MPH. Not too shabby for 7200 feet corrected altitude!

Joe in the Thunderbolt closed off the night, barely missing the Invader’s ET, leaving Curt and the Invader as Low ET of the night.

Sunday morning, brought a new day and sunshine to the track and the team. The weather was a little warmer, a little winder, but the same fun!

As the time for the show approached, it was decided to have Davy run the Thunderbolt against the Invader. With the wind still blowing on and off, it was going to be fun to stop these beasts at the finish line.

Dusk approached, so “Fearless” and Curt suited up and strapped into their dragsters to come to battle over bragging rights in the desert. Hometown hero vs. the Invader!

Once the vehicles were brought to life, the fire battle began. Each driver trying to outperform the other, and letting the crowd decide. Both slowly snaked into the staging beams, and with a glint of yellow, they were out of the gate screaming down the track. At the end of the run, the winner was… The Invader!

The Thunderbolt and The Invader were brought back to the pits and turned for the next and last pass of the night. After a quick refuel, chute repack, a quick once over the cars were ready, but the drivers were not! They were too busy eating some of the wonderful food that Davy’s family had brought out to the track. (Maybe if Curt was too stuffed, he would be slower on the tree?? Maybe need a little siesta?)

Darkness had fallen, the lights dimmed, and the earth shakers were brought back to life! Again a repeat of the fierce fire dual commenced, with both cars carefully sliding into the beams. With a flash Davy was off and the Invader was right behind him, maybe the food did work? But at the end of the run, the Invader was again victorious.

The pits were crowded with fans who had loved the show the two drivers put on. They were already talking about a rematch were the local boy would slay the Invader.

The Team then loaded up, and before heading out across the desert home took a minute and could hear the sounds of Iron Maiden rockin across from the concert pavilion! With “The Trooper” stuck in their head, they rushed home to spend the rest of the holiday with their family.

Til next time….

Be Safe & Have Fun.

2008 Burners are a glowin....

2008-04-28T15:40:00.003-07:00

The 2008 season for the Invader team started of with the Night of Fire at Abilene Dragway, in Abilene, Texas. It was held on the 12th of April, and we were matched up with Mike Hojnacki and his Interceptor jet police car.

The weather was nice and cool, and made great racing weather for the newly refreshed 1/8 mile strip.

The first round found both of us trying to find our rhythm for the fire show, and with Mike cutting a great light found the Invader trying to catch the police car. With it being only a 1/8 mile, this was a big challenge, but the Invader was able to squeak by at the finish line, running a super 3.80 at 213 mph pass.

As the second round quickly approached, the weather was getting even better! With a super fire show, where the Invader and Interceptor traded blasts back and forth. The weather change gave the Invader an increase in power, which made it more difficult to stage. Trying not to red light, the Invader had to throttle back, and was slower off the line.

The Interceptor had another great launch, and even with the add power, the Invader was not able to go past Mike. At the lights, neither driver knew who won, until looking at the timing slips.

What a show!

The next event for the team was this past weekends Monster Truck Nationals at Firebird International Raceway. It was an all weekend extravaganza, with the Monster Trucks, Whiplash Truck races, IHBA Top Fuel Hydro boats, and of course the jet dragsters.

We had the four quickest jet dragsters on the west coast trying to out do each other. Bob Goettel’s G Metal jet dragster, Tony Franco’s Terminal Velocity jet dragster, Al Arriaga’s Blu-By-U jet dragster, and The Invader jet dragster were all there.

Saturday’s event had the jets making one pass that night before the Monster Trucks would make their appearance on the track.

After all the vehicles performed in the parade, we were brought back around for the first round. The Invader was paired against Bob Goettel’s dragster for the first pass of the night. As the Invader put on a huge fire show, Goettel’s dragster was brought to life. After his abbreviated fire show, both cars were brought into the staging beams, trying to stage in a slippery surface. As both cars came into the beams, Bob was unable to hold it and launched before the tree even activated. The Invader launched a split second later chasing after Bob scorching down the track.

Not the way the Invader wanted to win, but a win none the less.

Doc Brophy, driving Al Arriaga’s Blu-By-U, squared off against Tony Franco’s Terminal Velocity jet dragster next. With a remarkable fire show, they also had trouble with the staging of the cars and finally were able to launch. Doc was out to a quick lead but a glitch with the afterburner system allowed Tony to streak past for the win.

Ed Jones and his Jelly Belly stage coach wheel stander followed the jet cars, with an awesome cinnamon scented fire show and wheel standing ¼ mile pass!

The Monster Trucks then came out and proceeded to perform their mayhem for the crowd’s enjoyment. Big Foot, Bounty Hunter, The Outlaw and others were there to destroy cars, dance, and jump all over the track.

Sunday brought out Arizona’s wonderful warm temperatures and little breeze. So at the hottest point of the day, the jets rolled out for their first pass of the day.

First up were the Invader and Doc Brophy. It all started out great for the pair, with a super back and forth fire show and burn pops! Again with the heat and marginal surface prep, the cars had difficulty staging, but they both held on till the green. The Invader launched hard and pulled the entire way running a 5.70 at 287 in the 97* heat, not to shabby! But Doc was again plagued by a glitch that did not light the burner and smoked down the track.

Terminal Velocity and Goettel face each other next, and again the track proved to be a problem as the cars staged, sliding and slipping into the beams. As the cars finally came close, Bob’s car auto lighted and was again off before the tree, with Tony chasing after him for the win.

After all the cars were prepared for the final round, it was Tony with 2 wins verses the Invader with 2 wins for the final. The pair blasted out the heat and flame to motivate the crowd, and finally started to roll into the beams. Trying to be careful, even at a reduce power setting, the Invader started to slide. Unable to stop her, she finally stopped almost 4 feet PAST the beams, at almost idle! With Tony handed a win, the Invader sat there waiting for Tony to launch and at least have two cars go down the track together. Tony launched, and then the Invader launched giving fast pursuit to the Terminal Velocity and almost catching her at the traps.

Tony’s was the weekend victory running 3 – 0. Good Job!

The final jets down the track were Goettel and Doc. Doc finally had the glitch fixed and thundered down the track, but Bob’s troubles were not finished. His burner was acting up and failed to light right away, then a small wheel stand at the finish proceeded to flat spot the front tires, bringing to and end the worst outing Bob has had with a 0 – 3 record for the weekend.

Next up for the Invader, Memorial Day in Albuquerque! See you there….

Update....A phooey!!!

2008-01-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, time for another update!

This fall has brought a busy time for the team. In September, we headed out to Sacramento Raceway’s Governor’s Cup race. It was a two day race, but the jets were scheduled only to make runs on Saturday.

We dropped off the car and trailer on Friday afternoon, and just hung out watching the Nostalgia Dragsters and the CIFCA funny cars make their qualifying passes.

We came out to the track at 10 AM on Sunday, with light sprinkles and overhead clouds crammed in the sky. By noon the race was called, and rescheduled for Sunday.

On Sunday, we were all set to run and were put on a short hold due to sprinkles again, but only a short time. Finally, the sun came out and we were off to the races….

This year we face Jeff Atamian in his J-34 Westinghouse powered Beast jet dragster. Jeff’s Beast puts out one HUGE fire show, and we turned up the heat to try and match him. As the cars staged, the rainy weather was evident due to the lack of ability to stage these monsters. Not being able to bring the INVADER up to power, I had to hold back to keep her from sliding!! Launching on Jeff’s go, we were on for the chase, still behind at the 660 ft mark, neck and neck at the 1000 ft cone, and able to slide her by at the traps… Win one for the INVADER.

For the second round we tried a couple of tricks to keep the INVADER from sliding, but again I had to throttle back to keep from red lighting and handing over the win to Jeff. Almost a repeat of round one, except by 1000 ft the INVADER was ahead to take the win and the Governor’s Cup win!!

As soon as the round was over, we loaded up, headed to the airport to have my brothers catch their flight back to Phoenix. (They had to work the next day.)

After returning to Phoenix, we had a few little tweaks to do for the next weekend’s Jet Car Nationals at Tucson’s Southwestern International Raceway. This is almost the home track for the INVADER as at this race, we have the most amount of family show up!!

Friday had my dad and brother towing the car down early, and I had to work. They were going to get the INVADER set up, and I would meet up with them in time for the autograph session. Fortunately, my brother left me his Corvette, to make the drive from Phoenix to Tucson a little faster!!

With the autograph session scheduled for 5 PM, I pulled into the track at 4:45 PM. Boy that one was close! After the meet and great, all the jets were to make a qualifying pass. Let’s do a quick rundown of the cars…. The INVADER, Jeff Atamian’s The Beast, Terminal Velocity, Earthflight, Blu-By-U jet dragsters, Rocky Mountain Thunder, The Interceptor, Warped Speed jet funny cars, and the Inferno jet truck.

Everyone make a single pass on Friday, but the INVADER had a problem. As we were bringing the engine up to speed, we had a fuel leak!! The starter signaled for us to shut down, and we quickly towed back to the pits. There we found a damaged bleed line, replaced the line, and refueled the car. With the INVADER relit, a small fire show and a blast down the track gain us the number two position of the cars.

We then returned to the pits and relaxed in a forty foot long tow hauler of my cousin’s, who came to the races.

Waking up at the track, we went over the INVADER and prepped her for the night’s big event. First round had us paired up against the Blu-By-U. With the track prepped and the car adjusted just right, the INVADER was barely able to stage, but the Blu-By-U wasn’t. After the red light, the INVADER blasted down the track taking the win but no time slip.

Second round paired us up with Darrin Bay’s Warped Speed J-60 powered jet funny car. With the cars staged, the Warped Speed jumped the gun and red lighting, with the INVADER chasing her down by the finish line.

Sunday morning we were back in Phoenix packing for a vacation with the family!! Six days of Disneyland and California Adventure, to include a special event at DCA, Mickey’s Halloween. One the first day, after we checked in we made a special trip first. We went to see a fire house. Not just any fire house, but the actual one used in some of the filming of the television show, “Emergency!” We were able to see the fire engines, the locker room, the sleeping area, and even the kitchen. It was just like the TV show!! (As some of you may know, our first jet car was named and modeled after the show, The Emergency 1.)

We came home and it was back to the grind for a week or two, then on my daughter’s 8th birthday, I climbed up into one of my unit’s KC-135R Stratotankers for a TDY to Geilenkirchen, Germany to support the NATO mission there.

Germany, Ah Germany!!! Worked hard and played harder! On our free time tour all over Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium looking at all the history! Not to mention the beer!!

I came home just in time to head out down to Southwestern International Raceway to do a PINKS Television show down on November 16th. We had a lengthy interview with the folks from PINKS and met a bunch of street guys with some really cool cars!

We had one run heads up against Jeff Atamian’s Beast, then later a single pass. Since this was going to be on television in the spring, we turned up the afterburner pressure trying for a larger fire show, to match up with the volume of flame that the monster flame a Westinghouse puts out. While we did that, I think Jeff tuned his car up a little more, trying to get the best ET he could. The small engine cars seem to launch a little better due to the lighter overall weight, so I planned to leave a little slow on the lights. But the best laid plans went up in a flash, when I saw the glint of yellow, all the practice I have done to improve my reactions just took over. I was off in a flash, with The Beast trying to keep up.

After apologizing to Jeff, we readied the Invader for the next run. It was a single pass, while afterwards Jeff would do his trademark car burn.

The single was very interesting to say the least. I have run for cameras before, even the Lexus commercial, but this was nuts. Something like 9 cameras, with them all over!! The real crazy one was the one on the boom, just floating in front of me going all over! With the 5 second pass in the books, as predicted we were the low ET & high mph of the event!

After Thanksgiving, I headed down to Florida for a few days to meet with the Larsen’s. I met with them and a couple other jet racers over some very exciting plans. Stay tuned; I am sure the Larsen’s will be making some BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS soon!

After flying home, I was there long enough to pack for a TDY to Guam. I was there in support of the B-2’s and returned home just before Christmas. Lots of wonderful weather there, but if you don’t scuba dive or golf, there is not a whole lot to do but relax.

But I am ever the racer!! What did I find but a very nice small town ¼ mile drag strip!!! I took some photos but unfortunately they were closed the day I went.

Upon return home, the pace never stopped, Christmas, Birthday, New Years, Work, more trips, honey do’s and working on the Deist Jet car. In between all that, trying to get the Invader prepared for 2008, book some dates, figure out when I might be home to race and now TDY, and even squeak in another Disney trip with the family!!

Will try to update more often.

Curt

NHRA Countdown to the Championship

2007-07-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

We have been working with Valusoft and THQ over the winter and it is finally making its debut in August. It is called NHRA Countdown to the Championship for the Playstation 2 and the Playstation Portable.

This is a total upgrade for the NHRA games, new drivers, new paint jobs, and more. Top Fuel cars, Funny cars, and Pro Stock cars are there with the addition of Pro Stock Motorcycles to the PS2 version.

Both the PSP & PS2 versions have the Pro Stock Motorcycles, only the PSP can roar down the track in firebreathing, 300 MPH jet cars in dragsters, funny cars, and bikes with 20 different paints, to include the INVADER!! The unique car handling physics and tuning properties of the jets adds a new degree of challenge and variety with fireballs, glowing jet exhaust, and lens flares to boost the visuals.

Also you car mix and race ANY class vehicles against each other! Jets verus Funny Cars, Bikes against Top Fuel or any combination! These features are only on the PSP version!!!

Updates Updates

2007-05-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a while for any updates on the team.

With the close of the last season, as a whole the jet car community was in some disarray. The last half of the year was a very costly one for jet cars; we had a number of accidents which a few paid the ultimate price.

We with the Invader Team, as well as other teams, tried to form a safety committee to become a focal point with the sanctioning bodies. But after a few months, and a limited number of positive responses, we just handled our own communications.

In the fall, I began to put together a new engine for an upcoming project. Completely disassembled and put only the best airworthy parts into it. Stripping down to bare metal and priming the case, hand polishing the pumps, gearbox, and starter to make not only a powerful engine but one of total show quality. It so far has been a long project, but one of small worthy steps.

During this time, the team also helped out a few other teams with some engine work, overhaul and maintenance work, and even entertained the idea of completing a chassis to a finished car but time soon ran out.

We also as a community felt another loss. Some one stole the Green Mamba!! Yes one of the most identifiable jet vehicles ever and some stupid person stole it. After a couple of week, the police found it but it was carved up. The chassis was cut into four or five pieces, the engine was damaged by a fork lift and all Doug’s tools and spare parts were missing. Like a lot of people across the country, we were doing what we could. We spent time scrounging through the bone yard, aviation scrap yards, calling every lead we could find for parts for the Mamba. After a lot of sweat and hard work Doug was able to bring the Green Mamba back to life!

Then just before the New Year, I was off for an overseas duty with my military unit. For those you don’t know, my full time job is with the Air National Guard. I have spent the last 17 year serving our country and have been deployed numerous times, even making it hard to run events. I don’t even know how many times we have had to turn down a race because I was overseas somewhere. One time I actually listened to my dad make a pass on the phone when I was in the United Arab Emirates! Even helped someone track down some parts while I was in France!! Talk about global service!!

So after spending the New Year in Spain and Turkey supporting our troops deployed, I returned to the states. My brothers, while I was gone, were not just sitting around idle. During this time they found, inspected, and negotiated a price for an airworthy, low time J-34 Westinghouse just like in the Original Invader and the Emergency 1. So, once I returned this made for a quick road trip for a final inspection and pick up for this engine. It is so complete it is still in the pod that it was installed on the aircraft.

Then a miracle happened. The missing body of the Emergency 1 surfaced! Complete! Our first jet car, one of the most popular cars of the 1970’s, is within our grasp. Guess what, another road trip!!!

While on the road, we get a mysterious call from a friend from the past. One of the guys that used to help us with the Emergency 1 had seen our website and wanted to talk about a project. He had gone with us to the races when he was younger, and was a stuntman at the time. We were racing Hayden Proffitt with the Hot Streak car doing fireballs and our friend would spit fire like a dragon. Pictures even made it into the magazines at the time.

But that was then, this is now, and he was looking for someone to a few passes for a television commercial. He put us in contact with the agency shooting, things were negotiated, and we were off to Pomona!

The first time jets have run at Pomona in almost 20 years! Being part of a television set was awesome! Rigging cameras, crews, equipment, food, everything was first class. Even the bathrooms brought in were trimmed with redwood and air conditioned! Being at the fairgrounds, and the fact that it takes so long to set up so many different shots, we had a little down time. The NHRA Museum was there but closed that day, but when we asked they opened it up for a private tour. It is breathtaking, from Forces funny car, to Enders Junior Dragster to the Armor All Rocket Dragster it is nothing but history!

After all day, we were finally ready for our shot. Cameras from six different locations, then action…. We fire up the Invader put on a huge fire show and made a pass. Cut! Came back around and the crew was jumping and screaming how cool! As we loading up, the director thanked us and said they would let us know if we made the final cut in the commercial. Cruising back to Arizona we were feeling pretty good.

When we finally returned home, I had a few messages waiting. During this off season I had been working with a computer game company who is developing a new Drag Racing game, and in it would be the first time ever that a jet power vehicle can be drag raced in a game. On top of that, you can drive or drive against the INVADER!! More about the game will be coming soon, with a due out around mid summer.

With the first race fast approaching, we could figure on us taking a small breather, no. We then committed to a new project, a complete restoration of Jim Deist’s original jet dragster. One of the original style, sitting in front of the front wheels, J-34 Westinghouse power plant, short wheel base, and boy is this going to be fun. It is completely old school, manual afterburner, full suspension it just does not get any better. We plan on a complete of chassis restoration, but also fully operational.

Then I get the call....It's on It's ON!! The commercial hit nation wide! We are in the Lexus commercial Fast ReImagine. About a two second hit, but hell we made it!! We have received some great feadback from it and some other possible interests.

The Firebird Raceway Monster Truck and Jet Jam were upon us. The team went out early to fire up the INVADER for the local channel 10 morning show. This was also the perfect time to test out the new and improved fire show on the INVADER. If you ever talk to the fans, the only draw back to a small engine car like the J-60’s or J-85’s is the size of the fire show. The small engine cars just don’t normally have the volume of fire that a J-34 can put out. Well the team had been working and calculating all winter on a way to improve the show. At the morning show fire up, everything worked great there was some major improvement to the show, with a slight dial in for improvement.

The Monster Truck and Jet Jam was a two day race this year. With a single pass planned for Saturday and two passes on Sunday. Saturday came with some down right HOT weather! The crowd was a good size, and the jet had come out in full force. Joe Zaccaro came from Los Angles with three cars, The Terminal Velocity, The White Lightening, and the brand new Detroit Dragon Corvette J-60 powered Jet Funny Car. All the way from Salt Lake City came Ken Marley in the Rocky Mountain Thunder J-34 powered Jet Funny Car. That car was the original Les Shockley Shockwave Jet Funny Car for you history buffs. Joe Douthit and his California Smokey J-85 powered Jet Dragster and Bob Geottle and his J-60 powered Jet Dragster rounded out the cars performing.

As the afternoon approached, the wind and dust storm from hell (or Tucson whichever) rolled in. After about 40 minutes, it rolled off and the temperature cooled down nicely. Ken Marley & Joe Zaccaro faced off as a warm up of things to come later. This match up shows the difference of a J-34 vs. J-60 fire show. Ken’s Rocky Mountain Thunder flames were enormous, but along with the larger fire show came more fuel consumption. At the launch, Ken’s Thunder was reduced to a cloud of smoke as he ran out of fuel.

As the Arizona sun set, crowd was prepared for the jet dragsters to roar across the desert. First out was the Terminal Velocity against the White Lightening, with the flicker of amber the pair was off. The Terminal Velocity edge out the win against the White Lightening.

Joe Douthit and Bob Geottle were the second set up, and Bob streaked to the win with a 5.41 to Joe’s 5.51. The crowd was on their feet, but failed to see the problem. Joe had a parachute failure which seemed to drive him into the wall. After sliding to a stop, Joe was able to get out of the car uninjured, but the California Smokey was totaled. She looked as if she was bent into a u shape. The cockpit was straight and fully intact, a testament to the chassis builder.

While the track crew cleaned up the debris from the track, the Invader sat poised on the line for a single. After the track was fully inspected and release for running the Invader. Now nice and dark, the Invader’s new fire show would be fully appreciated. The flames were so huge; the track personnel were backing up!! A nice solid single pass made, the funny cars were back to close the show.

Sunday brought more heat to the Valley of the Sun, and the first round was scheduled for 1 pm, nice and hot!! The two Zaccaro car were again paired up with the Terminal Velocity car making in two – zero. Bob Geottle was matched up with the Invader. The Invader put on a huge fire show, while Bob started after the Invader. Pulling into the staging beams, both cars readied for launch, but as the amber flickered, Bob was gone and the Invader motored down the track. The new fire show had rapid drained the fuel, and was unable to light the burner as the fuel ran out!!

As the jet cars refueled and readied for the last run, disaster struck again. The Monster Trucks while performing their show damaged the retaining wall. With this damage, the track was unable to allow the jets to make their final runs.

After that event, I had to have knee surgery and currently recuperating to be able to run the next event coming shortly. We also are in the process of cleaning the Deist Jet Dragster to have on display while we are performing at the Firebird Raceway Jet’s vs. Funny Car race in June.

Hope to see you there……

Journey's End....

2006-11-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

The season finished for us after the Texas/Louisiana Race. We had a couple others lined up but for reasons I won't get into they never happened.

That did not mean we were all just kicking back, just going in different directions. I took some long delayed time to spend with the family, two yes TWO trips to Disneyland in a matter of weeks. We also went up to Las Vegas for my sister's wedding, so then it was back to the grind!

I currently work full time with the Arizona Air National Guard, and we are just slammed with work. We are basically going a thousand miles an hour for the next six months. All I can say is inspections can be a pain.

My youngest brother also has been busy! He had a new home constructed, started a new career, and just today bought a new (to him) Corvette. It was a reward for all his hard work over the last year or so.

During this time, the jet car family has weathered some hard times. A television personallity over in the U.K. was injured driving the Vampire jet dragster. If you have searched the net, you probably heard about it. That car was built in the early 1980's along with the sister car Hellbender. When Sammy & my Dad were driving the rockets over there, he had a good look at the cars. They were impressive then and after this accident even more so. The TV guy could have been killed, but the car was built RIGHT! Even after the crash, the roll cage had to be cut off to remove him. How many other cars could say that after almost 25+ years and 280 MPH?

Then a few weeks later, a young girl was killed driving one in Canada. Tragic. That's all I will say about that.

Then a couple weeks later, down in Austrialia a man from Japan bought and was killed in the jet dragster he just bought.

During this time, myself and a few others started the outline for a jet car safety committee. It was met with some positives and negatives. We currently are finalizing the charter and will be presenting it soon to the appropriate people. We have been in contact with them, and met with great promise.

Chuck Haynes took his two cars, prior to his annual Austrailia trip, and race them for the first time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia!! AWESOME!!

And finally the last of the bad news... After 38 years of thrilling fans everywhere, some thief STOLE the Green Mamba from infront of Doug Rose's house!

Currently, I am working on a new engine for the Invader or maybe something new....

We are finalizing a few new areas and are looking forward to the 2007 season!

The neverending journey...

2006-08-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well the Texas trip started even before we left! All the planning, hard work, expectations gone in less then six seconds!

Our friends from Hurricane Country, started their road trip before us. Right out of the gate, they ran at Nashville. (See their recap at jetdragster.blogspot.com) The moon & stars were misaligned, and tap it was over. Everyone was okay, but just a little less straight!

That knocked the plan for a loop, and set in motion 12 months of renewed trash talking!! (A year ago, the same race I had to back out from engine damage, and had to endure a year of "Too Scared to run them") But all joking aside, we are glad everyone was okay.

SO we head out on the 2nd of August to hit the two races, Texas Raceway & Red River Raceway. The family stayed home, and it was just my dad and Craig, my brother. Of course as everywhere in the country there is a heat wave this summer, and the truck's air conditioning was not up to par. It would cycle through cold and cool!

After the 1000 mile plus trip to Kennedale, we finally made it on Thursday afternoon. Driving out to the track to wash the rig and drop the trailer for the night, we were able to see Texas Raceway for the first time.

Driving down this green grass and tree lined road surrounded by home, we thought we were lost. But after closer inspection of the houses, we realized this was a racers dream! The homes had huge shops, rigs, and car in the driveways. Some of the homes actually over looked the racetrack! Also just down the street was a circle track, so just about all tastes were covered.

After the rig was scrubbed clean, we headed back to the hotel for some rest. Leaving for the track on Friday we noticed the brakes were growling, and stopped to pick up some parts to repair the front brakes, also checked to the air conditioning. Well, the air conditioner compressor was intermittent, but at the huge price they wanted to fix it, we decided to wait until we get home.

After repairing the brakes, we talked with Dan Sullivan from Chicago. He is an old friend of my dad, who has helped us out before. He brought down the Chicago Rush J-60 powered jet dragster. We went over the show for the night, and talked about how to run on the 1/8 mile track. The Texas heat was in full blast, well into the 100's with 60% humidity.

Now if you have never run an 1/8 mile track before, it is definitely a different experience. The finish line had yellow flags to mark it, and scoreboards at 1000 feet. The track had plenty of shutdown and actually turned to the left in a banked turn at the end.

The first pass was hard for me, trying to get in sync with a different driver for the show, slid in too fast to stage and the worst thing was I shut off early! I was looking so hard for the flags, I thought I missed them and shut off. But just as I did, here are the flags! Another cool thing was after I went passed the finish line; I could read my ET on the boards as I flew by.

The first round went to Dan, so the second round I cut a good light and he almost went by at the lights. I really did not know who won until we saw the time slips. After we ran, and the show was over, the temperatures started cooling off.

We loaded the car & headed out to Louisiana. Red River Raceway was the next night and only about 220 miles from Kennedale.

Crossing the border, and heading north out of Shreveport, again beautiful country roads were met with scorching humid heat!

Red River Raceway and everyone there was super, treating us like long lost friends. The track was great and had just over a half mile of shutdown. Again Dan & I prepared the cars for the first round at 8 pm. At the scheduled time to pull in the lanes, I stepped out of the trailer in my safety gear to be greeted by the first few drops of RAIN!

Within ten minutes, it was all over the rain was a hard steady rain, and darkness had fallen! The race was called and eventually rescheduled, but not for us. We have to be back on the West Coast. As we pulled out of the track later that evening, we were pretty upset that we could not have put on the show for all the great people there!

With the 1300 mile trip ahead of us, it was time to put the pedal to the metal. All was good until, Dallas! Bam! Tread separation on the inside right rear of the dually. So let’s see, one destroyed tire, one mangled mud flap, one tweaked fender support, and three hot & sweaty crew! We were really lucky that the fender was not ripped off.

A check of the tire pressures and inspection of the tread we pressed on. With the Texas highway going on forever, we finally reached El Paso for fuel at midnight. We again headed out and then 6 miles out of Las Cruses, BAM! The inside LEFT rear tire separated, and more damage. This total, one destroyed tire, one missing mud flap, one tweaked fender support, all trailer plug wires ripped out, and three hot sweaty and angry crew!

Let’s see, one am on the side of Interstate 10, trucks whipping by, no lights trying to fix it to limp into Las Cruses. After getting to town and parking in front of Discount Tire, we were done for the night.

Tires replaced, fueled, fed and rested, we finally crossed the finish line at home.

Texas bound....

2006-07-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Finally after some time off, to rest and recharge it is back to work. With the Invader back up to speed, there was some much needed items on the to do list needing to be finished.

All the things that normal people do. Mowing the yard, trimming the hedges, sorting the shop, movies, bowling, girls scouts, etc... Along with that, the cool Arizona summer has finally hit. With the daily commute from work, the temperature reads between 115 and 118 degrees. I know it is not the OFFICIAL temperature, but close enough.

For all of you who say, "But it's a dry heat!", you are correct but so is an oven!! Hot is HOT!

In the racing world, things also pick up. Work on the engine rebuild is started, work is progressing on two new overhauled afterburner pumps, and hot sections being dissassembled to be balanced prior to assembly.

We have had a few calls from people lately about damaged engines, a J-60 and a J-85 from back east looking for parts. Down in Tucson, we get the call from our friend Al. He raced us at Firebird with his freshly repaired J-60 dragster and all was good. Well not really, after the race he loaded the car up and went home. A week ago, he went to test fire the car prior to his Denver race in August, and it is locked up. Looking up his afterburner, he saw some damage.

We sent Craig and my dad down to pull the second stage of to see how bad it was. It is trashed! Looks like a hotstreak might have stuck, and acted like a plasma cutter taking out the blades and vanes. ( A hot streak is a small pulse of fuel injected into the combustion can to create a blast of flame to light the afterburner.)

Also Al wanted us to look at a brand new J-85 car that has been built but needed to be plumbed and wired. He is going to take both the new car & the damaged engine to our good friend, Montie to take care of.

So now we are getting the truck and trailer prepared for the east bound trip. We are going to race at Texas Raceway in Kennedale, Texas on Friday Aug 4th. After that race we are going to Red River Raceway in Gillam, Louisiana on the next night, Aug 5th.

At both tracks we are going to battle with the Larsen Motorsports Miss-Ta-Fire jet dragster, driven by Elaine Larsen. It will be a battle of East meets West, Woman vs Man, for all the bragging rights!

I really would use this space to talk trash, but my mom raised me to respect my elders, so I will just say to everyone in the area, come on out at watch the beatings begin......

Overdue posting

2006-07-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

So where did I leave off. At the Jet Jam and Monster Truck event at Firebird Raceway, the Invader had a problem on the second pass. She would not go over 50 percent, and after talking will some specialist in the aviation world, we decided to replace the fuel pump.

The old pump was removed, the new pump mated to the fuel control, and installed back on the Invader. A few days later we were able to take her out and test fire for leaks. But leaks would have been the least of our troubles.

With all the lines, fittings, and systems fueled and bled, we were ready to fire up. My dad was strapped in, Craig was starting, and I was working the air and on leak check. At the call to hit it, Craig engaged the starter, at 6% my dad hit the ignitors and with the throttle still off, she lit. She lit hot and fast! While holding the throttle in the off position, Al reached over to the emergency shut off, but it was too late. In a matter of two seconds, the exhaust gas temperature reached over 1000* C and the hot section shelled out. It was toast!

After letting the engine cool, and cleaning up the blade debris from the ground, we loaded the Invader up and headed home. It was a long, quite, 3 mile drive back.

The next day, we unloaded the car and pulled the afterburner off to see how bad it really was. It was a total loss of the hot section. We discussed the problems and what our options were. After looking at all the data, it was a fuel control failure. We had a few factory fresh overhauled stock fuel controls to use, so we had all the parts to replace but did we have enough time?

It was a busy time for all of us. In the coming days, I was super busy, my son had a schedule operation, we had a fully paid non-refundable vacation, and a possible trip for work all before our next race. Craig was also fully tasked with the moving into his new home.

A game plan was fabricated and a lot fell on my dad, to organize, order, and located shops to outsource some work we just can't do.

As it so typically happens, it all came down to the day before the race. Here is the work that went into making the race. We had to remove the damaged engine out of the Invader, Inspect the afterburner and manifold for damage, get a new engine prepped to install, prep included installing a new balanced hot section, new gearbox, deconfiguring all lines from aircraft to race car, installing into the race car.

One hold up was getting the hot section balanced, when things spin in the area of 19,000 rpm, you really want a good balance on those parts. Your local machine shop does not have the ablitiy to do this, also you need to disassemble parts off the hot section that do not rotate with it. It requires special tools to do this, and we had to locate or fabricate the tools to do this.

So when Saturday of the Firebird Raceway's Jets vs. Funny Cars came around we were finally finished. We showed up early to test fire the car to make sure everything was ok.

Again, same positions, Al in the car, Craig on the starter, and me on leak check. The Invader started fine, checked for leaks - none, sat at idle and watched the temperature - normal, brought it up to 70 % and tested the afterburner - normal, brought up to 90% and the bleed doors shut, and slowly brought up to launch rpm and she started to slide. My dad shut her down and a collective sigh of relief was felt.

That night we were only scheduled to make one pass against Al Arriaga's Blu-by-u with Joe Zaccaro driving for Al. Trying to be a little concervative on the first pass on the engine, I slowly brought her up to the launch rpm. Sliding into the staging beams and trying to hold, at the last second it slipped through and I left. Joe was right behind me, shutting off at the lights and the chutes opened I coasted around the corner to a stop way past we have ever stopped. With no timeslip for the run, but stayed out infront of Joe, the Invader was on a pretty good pass. (Last time when I stopped in this area, it was a 5.61 291 pass, and it was 104* when we ran this time. The shutdown at Firebird curves into a road course.)

Overall we were very happy with the outcome. A slight screach was heard but not sure if it was us or Joe. The Invader was loaded up, and taken home.

Monday, I was off to Florida for a conference for work. With that being said, I hooked up with my friends, Chris & Elaine Larsen and their son Andrew. They run the Miss-Ta-Fire jet dragster, and just finishing the Emery Riddle University sponsored jet dragster. Went out to dinner and came back to their house to talk. Talk to a jet guy (or gal) is to do this over working on something. This being the case on the brand new, and freshly painted engine for the new car. Alot of talking and some working until it was time to go.

On Wednesday, I met them out at the Fantasy of Flight, where Chris & Elaine were doing a display, talk, and a fire up for the ACE camp aviation kids. They gave the kids a ton of avaition information and how to apply it not only in avaition. Chris gave the kids his take from almost 20 years in the avaition industry, while Elaine explained how the jet dragster drove and felt. She also spoke of how I was racing her at Texas Raceway in August, and the only veiw I would see is her tail pipe and flame. I can understand her wanting to get the kids pump up at the Fantasy of Flight, but it was not the Fantasy of Jet Cars!!

After returning home on Friday night, it was a long night of Girls Scouts Skating party, and getting ready for Saturday Nights After 9 event, Midnight Run 2.

Saturday night came, and we were out at Speedworld Raceway for After 9's Midnight Run 2 event. The gates opened at 10 pm, and first round for us was at 11:45 pm. We put some more fuel into the system, to eliminate any possible screach, and wow the fire was huge! With the lower idle and more fuel, the reflection in front of me was enormous! Again being cautious, I only launched at about 97%, with the temperature at 11:45 pm was 108*, she ran a 6.20. Not too bad!

Second and final run was at 2:10 am, and boy was I tired. Just like the first pass but I brought her up higher on the launch rpm, and at 104* she ran a 6.00. The crowds were crazy and I was tired! We loaded up, and I headed home. I pulled in at 5:00 am and hit the sack!

Finally some good luck!

So everyone in Texas, see you soon. And for you know who, tell me what color my flame IS!

Jet Jam and Uh I forget....

2006-05-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, here it comes.... The Firebird International Raceway's Annual Monster Truck & Jet Jam!! 10 Monster Trucks, Big Foot, Maximum Destruction, Bounty Hunter, Iron Outlaw, Hot Wheels, etc.. and 6 jets.

Yes you heard it, 6 jets. Lets see the flyer.. A car that no longer exists.... Lets watch the commercial... Two cars that are destroyed, one car no longer in the U.S., but hey the car shot going down the track was at least on my car. It just gets old, they (Most tracks) advertise jet cars. It's not like they used to when it was come and see Fred Sibley in the US 1 battle Doug Rose in the Green Mamba. Tracks will announce every monster truck, alcohol car, robot, and street sweeper, but rarely announce that the Arizona Flash or Laredo Heat will be there....

Ok off my small soap box...on to the race. Sort of...

On Thursday, we took the Invader out to the Gilbert Town Square for a meet the driver event. Big Foot, Hot Wheels, Maximum Destruction, and Bounty Hunter where also on display. Local radio station KNIX (country) had contest to give away free tickets to the event.

Saturday came around, and after I had finish work (Military Drill Weekend - Hope you all felt safe), we were off to the track. After setting up and prepping the Invader, we pulled up to the Driver's party. All 10 monster trucks where set up and 5 of the 6 jet dragsters.

The jet dragsters running were Joe Zaccaro's White Lightning, Joe Zaccaro's Terminal Velocity driven by Tony Franco, Bob Goettel's G Metals Dragster, Joe Douthit's California Smokey, Mark Steven's Earthflight, and the Invader.

First up was the two J-85 powered cars of Joe Douthit and Mark Stevens. With a close side by side run, Joe edged out the win with a 5.95 to a 6.10

The second pair was Tony in the Terminal Velocity car vs the Invader. This was going to be the first pass on the Invader with the new engine. Not really sure of the power of the engine, we put a conservative tune in it. After putting on the fire show both cars staged, but I was a little slow on the tree, Tony was out on me. The Invader was reeling him in but not quite fast enough. Tony's winning 5.76 against my 5.69. Can you say, SLEEPING!

Tony had a shut down fire at the other end and his starter failed. He was going to try and repair it back at the trailer.

After looking at the data, we felt the engine was strong enough to put a stronger tune in it. The tune we had originally put in was for about a 5.90!

Bob & Joe Zaccaro where the final pair for the first round. Bob put on a blistering 5.40's pass in the 287 MPH range, while Joe is still working out some new car bugs.

With the jet cars turning for the final pass, the crowd was entertained by the monster trucks doing doughnut and wheelies on the track.

With all the cars prepared except for Tony's starter, the 5 remaining jets pulled to the line. The monster trucks finished and the track crew went out and cleaned and prepped the track.

The first out was the California Somkey vs the Earthflight. From where I sat, they both put out a large fire show, but I don't know who won. (I was strapped in the Invader) Joe Zaccaro ran a single with the White Lightning, while Bob & I finished getting ready.

Bob & I pulled up and started, both doing the low power show, but as I increased the throttle the response was not there. Pulling in to the lights to stage, I was hoping it was an air bubble. When the lights came down, Bob hit the burner, I hit the burner, Bob was gone, I was not.... the Invader slow rolled down the track.

So much for a stronger tune!

Back to the shop to do a little troubleshooting and we be back soon.

Testing, Testing, Testing

2006-04-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

After working the items that needed fixing, and fighting of the flu from hell, we were ready to test the Jet Nightmare for our friends south of the border. A call here, an email there, a short 6 hour drive and our friends are in Phoenix.

Sometimes directions don't always translate well. When you say to turn at a particular sign, it might help to say how big the sign is. They might be looking for a billboard size sign, when in reality it is a small street sign. Enough said.

We brought out both the Jet Nightmare and the Invader out to Speedworld in Surprise Arizona. A nostalga group was holding a car show and cacklefest to raise money for a charity, and they were more than happy to add to jet dragsters to their program.

We arrived and set up out of the way, and prepared both cars. Tech came and inspected both cars with no problems. My dad was driving the Jet Nightmare and I was driving the Invader. Singles only, but that way I could check over the Jet Nightmare for any problems. We both attend the drivers meeting and waited for our turn.

The call came for us and we waited in the staging lanes. The short wait turned into an hour and a half as a bracket car dumped all his oil in the right lane from the starting line to about 80 feet. The track had everyone of their track support personnel scrubing, mopping, and cleaning like a madman!

After the track was cleaned, and a group of dragsters went down, it was our turn. My dad was wedged into the cockpit of the car with a shoehorn! The normal driver is about 5' 6" and 150 lbs, where He is 5' 9" and a little more than 150!! With some of the controls in different places, He had to fully concentrate on the correct procedure to ensure safety of the run.

The car was setup with a stock afterburner setting, and was lit. She came up to idle smooth and cool! Scheduled the afterburner and WOW, she had a huge fireball!! Everything worked good except for the run. Being wedged in there, he had trouble holding down the switch for the burner and was on-off-on going down the track. Still running a mid 6 second pass, we were satisfied of the repairs.

Now here is where it gets good. Coming back up into the staging lanes, the 13 second bracket cars were upset. They did not want to run after the jets, and said they would go home if we ran again! Well, we told them where they could go, but the promoter felt a little different and apologized but said we could not make another pass.

So we loaded the two cars up and were done. Still wanting to test the Invader, we made arraignments to test the following Friday at Firebird. They allowed us to come in early and make a pass prior to their Friday night drags.

Well, Friday come around and again we prep the Invader, get suited up, brought out to the line, I say hit it. And nothing. She does not spin over, not a chatter, squeak, grind, NOTHING! We pull back to the trailer and start checking the start pack. One of the four batteries we use to spool over the starter had shorted out internally! We were done again, with not testing!

So as of today, four brand new batteries, a short trip out to the airport, a new testing session begain. One more time of prep, suit up, strapped in, and hit it!

Guess what! She started in 9 seconds, super cool, and spit fire! All is good again, and the Invader is ready for the Jet Jam at Firebird in two weeks!!

El Cunadito

2006-04-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

After trying to slow down, it did not work! Our friends from south of the border still needed some help. With the old man out in California playing Tom Cruise, and me and the rest of the team trying to actually work at our REAL jobs, the southern guys had to make a road trip.

Time for us to do some after hours troubleshooting and repair! The first day (night after work) was spent going over the problems they are having, and getting all the part numbers for the repairs needed. The second day (during lunch) was spent tracking down some of the hard parts to get, hoping that we could get them in a reasonable amount of time.

The third day was mocking up some of the new parts, so we can fabricate the needed items for mounting. And many, many hours of wire tracing, inspecting, and troubleshooting of all the electrical systems.

Then it is time for some rest.....not really. Although we are on hold for some parts, the fabricating still goes on. Rerouting of some line and electrical, pressure checks, spray patterns flowed, and endless list of punch items for us to look at.

So much for the rest! At least my dad is back from his "Location" to help with the stuff. All this work and we have not even really messed with the Invader too much this off season.

The driver of the car's nickname is "El Cunadito", being the inquizitive person I am, I tried to look it up on the 'net. Thinking that this would be like "Macho" or "Huge Balls" or "Insane", I could not find the definition any where. So I call one of my spanish speaking friends, and he laughs and says "It's Brother in Law." ???? Ok??? Well there you have it, not "Ace" or "Killer" or anything like that, just "Brother in Law"

Time Management

2006-04-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

After colliding with things, stuff breaks off....

Getting back into the swing of things, all heck broke loose. We were getting ready for the Concours in the Desert car show and we get a call. A friend in Mexico is having trouble and needs to be repaired by the 1st of April. Getting photos of the damage and assessing what needs to be done, arranging to work on it here or go down to Mexico, and at the same time find another jet to run with him.

Well we get the parts needed to fix it and send down my dad to fix it. After my friends down in Mexico lose my dad for a little while all is good! Repair one problem, solve another, and trouble shoot a third. All while I get back to work, and start the prep for the car show.

Craig and I work on the car, work on the trailer, work on the artwork for the new 2006 t-shirts, and design and layout the new hero cards. All this in a week, while I work full time, and the wife works full time on the cookies. (see previous entry)

Saturday, my dad returns from his trip to Mexico after learning some Spanish. At least he won't starve when there next time. Thank God for leche and donas!!

Later Saturday night, I start to feel bad! I can't pee!! After sitting in the ER for four hours, the triage nurse tells me, it most likely kidney stones and I have a few more hours to wait until I even get into a room for the doctor to check me out. Forget that! I head home, take some pain meds and go to sleep.

4 am... knife in the side... knife in the back... blood coming out where it shouldn't... this time a different ER. Checked in, examined, cat scan, meds prescribed, and kicked out in 4 hours. Time to pee in a strainer, and look for gold.

Monday & Tuesday nothing more but mild pain, but I can pee again. In the mean time, get the word from the artist designing the t-shirts that she can even start on it until the end of April. Forget that, I need them now! Calls trying to find an artist willing to work some what fast took two days!

Also proofed the hero card art work and told it would be ready by Friday. Competition Commercial Printing did an awesome job, quick and on time! (Even Bob Gilbertson had them do a rush job, art work in by 9 am, 10,000 out by 4 pm, overnited!!) Check them out at www.compprint.com .

Go back to work on Wednesday, leave early in pain, 3 am Thursday panned 2 small nuggets of gold. Thursday & Friday recuperated!

Thursday, my dad goes and helps a friend out for the week in LA. Working on a movie set running a jet track dryer, hanging out with the cast getting paid. What a way to spend seven or eight days!

Friday, the team took the Invader out to the Peoria Sports Complex for the local news television spots. They put the truck and trailer into position for the show and went home.

Saturday, I spent the day keeping America safe, pulling a drill weekend out at the Air National Guard. While I was busy with your freedoms, the team (My brother Chris and his wife Cheri) set up the display. Unloaded the Invader, set up the awning, set up the simulators, and answered questions. The rest of the team showed up a little later (My wife & kids, my mom, and Philip Boucher) to help out.

As a side note, I want to publicly state that I messed up!! In the haste, read above and below, I left off Philip's bio on the hero cards. I will remedy that on the next printing, I swear!!

After I was done with work, I raced out just in time to receive the Racing & High Performance award for the show. Mind you, I did nothing at the event, and all the credit goes to my brother Chris, Cheri, Deborah (my loving wife) and my mom Sandy. Also we received a hand made plate complete with the Invader Logo painted on it.

With all of that completed, I am looking forward to forty hours of relaxing time at work to rest up for the coming season!!!

When two worlds or more collide...

2006-03-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

That is what happens when the jet car season spools up at the same time as life happens. Jet car world meets Girl Scouts!! We always try to working things so they don't conflict with each other but sometimes CRASH!! they hit.

First part of the year for you GS rookies, it the infamous cookie sale time. As much as jet car parts, smells, meetings, phone calls suck up time, I now have a better understanding for it with cookies pickup, booths, phone calls, late nights, and all the other things that go with the mad rush at cookie time.

With the TDY trip and Disney trip over, the non stop cookie sales were winding up. For others, it is add up sales and turn in the money, but no not us. For Deborah is the COOKIE MANAGER for the neighborhood. Which means not only does she have to balance her troop, but the endless supply of troops in the neighborhood. Count and recount, add and re-add, checking that all the little troopers get the correct awards, deposit all the money and then finally be done.

Wrong!! She and another troop leader took on an additional fund raiser to help out the neighborhood. That's my girl!! It's cool except for the 900+ boxes of cookies in my garage!!

Where does this collide you may ask? Well we are doing a Car Show for the Girl Scout on April 1. I have been designing new handout cards, new t-shirts, and finalizing new sponsor before the date. Of course this means, My Dad, My Brothers, and myself bounce the ideas back and forth until a majority of us agree. Then get the new lettering done for the Invader and trailer for the new sponsors.

If that was not enough, we were coordinating to get some cars for a race on short notice for a track, plus help repair another jet dragster so they may race on the 1st of April.

So CRASH!!! With work, and race car, and girl scouts, it has been a lot of 2 am nights or mornings whichever you prefer!!

Magic Kingdom

2006-03-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

So after spending a few days in Florida, and Disney World where would you go to??? Well after flying home on Friday, We were off to spend six, yes six count them, fun filled glorious days in..... you guessed it the Magic Kingdom, Disneyland. With a six and four year old what else do you do.
After a six hour drive to So Cal, where is the first place anyone should end up??? That is right, you guessed it again.... DEIST SAFETY!!! Truely the happyest place on earth!!

Why you ask? Where else can you have your belts reinspected and tagged, find all kinds of racing history, pick out some new chutes, have you kids terrorize a poor dog, and sit and talk to a true legend in MOTORSPORT history.

Jim and Mariane have always treated my family and me as one of their family. Where else can you deal with people who REALLY care about your safety. See them at www.deist.com

After leaving their shop, the rest of the trip was great, but with anyone with little kids knows, I was ready to come home after a few days!!

Land of the cold....

2006-03-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Finding myself going on a trip for work, I left the warm winter air of Phoenix for the near arctic temperatures of the frozen Florida! No it is not really like that, but a little cooler. Having a conference in Orlando is not that bad!!

Breaking free of the work load I was able to sqeak in a dinner trip into Epcot. It was like a whirl wind tour of most of the countries I have been deployed to without the jet lag!!

I also found time to meet with my friends, the Larsens. They field the Miss ta Fire jet dragster and are in the process of building a couple more cars. With a huge shop, a wonderful view from the house, it really seems like the perfect place to live. If it wasn't for the big winds they get every few years. I guess we will stay in the heat!!

We had a good time and even had a birthday dinner for Elaine. She finally made it to the big XX. Ha you thought I would post how old she is? Never, not going to piss her off. She will take it out on me by cutting a good light. So forget it, I am going to need all the help I can when we face off in August.

Both of us will be running at Kennedale in Texas. Check out their website at www.misstafire.com

Later

Family Day...

2006-03-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

On the 3 rd of March, the 161st Air Refueling Wing had their family appreciation day at the base. It is the one day of the year that they make the families really know how much their support means to the airmen. They had lots of activities for the families, a rock wall, three different bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, movies, a dunk tank, and a lot more.

The fire department was out handing out information and letting the kids aim the fire hose. They had static displays from the Phoenix Police department with a S.W.A.T. vehicle and a helicopter.

The Arizona Guard had two different tanker aircraft on display, a KC-135E model and a newer KC-135R model that the 161st now flies. Not to be out done, the 162st from Tucson brought up a F-16 for everyone to see.

Along with all that, we had the Invader displayed in the main area. It was a fun day for all!

With the winding down of the day, the F-16 departed for Tucson, but no before making a vertical departure and disappearing into the sky.

Off Season

2006-02-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

During the end of last season and the winter off season, the team had aquired three spare Pratt & Whitney J-60 engines. All three of them had been overhauled for installation on an aircraft, but we were able to talk them out of doing that.

After getting them home, we spent some time configuring one of them for installation into the Invader. It was a slow painstaking process to insure all was modified and installed correctly. Also it had to look right! The compressor was sprayed with a high gloss black, the oil tanks polished as well as the combustion can. We don't want to just go fast, but look great doing it!!

The new turbine was installed and the one from the Invader was put on the work stand to refreshen. With the new turbine installed, we headed out to Firebird to test fire it. With the car firing up cool, and a solid idle completed, we called it a day. We will come back out and make a test pass, when the track is ready for us and see what she can do!

Coming up for the Invader is the 161st Air Refueling Wing's Family Day celebration on March 4, and Concours in the Desert car show for the Phoenix Area Girl Scouts. For more info on the car show click here

2006-02-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of the Invader cooling down at Speedworld in Surprise Arizona.

Pre Season Testing

2006-02-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

With the 2006 season fast approaching, we finally have the Invader out for some testing. During the down time, we again cleaned up everything, touched up the scratches, and went through the car to make sure there is nothing bent, broken, or damaged for the long run ahead.

We had the car out on display at Speedworld Raceway for the season opener of the Sand Drags!! If you have never been, you should go and check one out. The Top Fuel cars run to 300 feet kicking up a HUGE rooster tail of sand. It was awesome!!