Ready for its Maiden Voyage

As of 6:54 am Friday March 30th.  A couple more hours of work and a few more stripes and the crew will be heading to the track. 

Rear view - did they forget the tires?? 

The 73 makes power...

After spending Friday chasing parts to fix the intake manifold water leak, LB and Jonny were able to run the engine for the first time today.  No runs, no drips, no errors.  This may seem boring, but it was pretty exciting to us!  LB has found in the past that it is very hard to race without an engine that runs. 

Even our neighbor Jack Collins - former Speedbowl racer - stopped over for a listen. 

Major Setback

The crew has been amazing this week; at least one person has been here every night.  On Tuesday night, we had seven guys in the shop, on Thursday; five. 

    

Ron and Wayne work on body panel adjustments.  Kindergarten drawing class sure paying off...

With seven guys in the shop, someone is bound to be hungry.  LB mans the grill and lets the guys get some work done. 

On Thursday night, LB and Jonny go through their preps before trying to fire up the engine. 

Yer Dad and Wayne watch as Jonny puts distilled water in the engine. 

Filling up the engine, part two

Yer Dad installing the pipes with a little help from the rubber mallet. 

Wayne checking the fuel levels.

What the...!!!! Water seeping out of the intake....Mission aborted. 

Depending on what the crew has to go through to fix the engine, it could be challenging to make it to the Speedbowl opener next weekend.  They do not have time to pull the engine out and start over.  Stay tuned for updates...

Less than two weeks to the Waterford opener

Leadfoot's mother-in-law showed up with ideas on what type of carburetor to run.  In the vMRS, you can run any size carburetor you want.  This one looks like an eighteen-barrel model, possibly better suited for the party after the race. 

Kirby came out for a visit to check over the distributor.  He recommended LB pull out the rev limiter chip, and then he went back in the house to his sunbeam. 

Jeff and Julie Winsor stopped by several times this weekend.  Since their shop is so close to our house, they work on the panels and then bring them over to test them.  Here, Jeff explains to LB that..."This car really doesn't have a trunk...". 

They always make the youngest crew member do the hard stuff. Here, Jonny is attempting to disguise the NOS line as an oil sump line. 

Wayne and LB discuss what the design of the driver's side "passenger" window should look like.  LB says he wants to be able to turn his head 180 degrees and see out the window.  Wayne thinks LB is dreaming. 

Ron stops by the shop to help out this week, even though he's been busy getting his four-year-old son's quarter midget ready for the rookie opener at the Little T. 

LB writing out another check.  This is getting very expensive....

LB gets an early Christmas present

According to the Valenti Modified Racing Series officials, Jon McKennedy (two-time champion of the series) has not reserved the #73 as of today's date. 

vMRS has officially given LB the green light to change from #37 to #73.  This means....

1. the url for this blog will be changing soon...
2. Larry doesn't have to get his #73 underwear changed soon
3. long-term Leadfoot fans won't be torn deciding which shirt to wear "37? Or 73?"
4. Here's hoping McKennedy's success somehow rubs off on the newest carriers of the #73 in the vMRS.

Diversions...

LB with Coco Montoya at the NCFTA, Fall River, MA

Leadfoot occasionally needs to be reminded that there is life outside of racing.  LB would not agree with that statement, but needless to say, he does allow distractions on occasion.  This week, LB took a break from parts ordering, master planning, suspension research, etc.  

So, on Friday night, we met up with Yer Dad & Linda & Miss Tina.  No diversion would be complete without food, so first we had some BBQ at Wes' Rib House (yes, the one on Dike Street in Olneyville...).  Then we headed to Fall River and met up with crew member Rob Clorite and his wife Laurie at the Narrows Center for the Arts.  We've been longtime fans of Coco Montoya and he and his band put on a great rockin' blues show, as usual. 

Indoor Racing at the Dunk, Providence, RI

Saturday was full of diversions.  First, business: we visited with Denise Bass Photograph & Design to talk about changes to LB's logo and other graphics-related stuff (business & hero cards) that need to be produced shortly. 

Then, because everything eventually returns to the age-old question, "where should we eat?"...LB, myself and Yer Dad decided upon Murphy's Pub & Deli on Fountain Street, downtown.  The place was packed with fly fisherman and racers - and also out of pickles!  What the freak?! 

We then head over to the Dunk for the 2012 Indoor Racing show for an evening of $4.25 waters and $8 beers.  Hopefully that stimulated the Providence economy a bit. 





J & J Custom Sign Shop in the House

Jeff Winsor of J & J Custom Sign Shop installing body panels

Over the last week, Jeff Winsor (a fellow Moosupian & Gus' Pizza & Pub patron) has been to the shop to assist the team in the installation of the "new" body panels.  The car came with a set of home-made panels that Leadfoot wanted to change out.  These replacement panels were used by Timmy Jordan last season- Timmy runs the #47 on the MRS series (and is also from the area of Plainfield). These are stock Troyer panels, which generally means that they are made for this car and will be easier to swap out in the unlikely event that any of them need to be replaced.  I'm sure that's HIGHLY unlikely to happen.  Leadfoot is going to run this mostly-used set to start the season but also is buying a spare set of everything, new. 

You can check out Jeff & his wife Julie's business website at  J & J Custom Sign Shop.

   The 37 car with Timmy Jordan's 2011 skin.  

LB goes under the knife

Less than 18 hours after arriving home from vacation, Leadfoot dutifully arrived at Backus Hospital at 6am for his 37th surgery, to date.  Judy Chmura, mom to crew chief Jon, was the R.N. prepping LB for his umbilical hernia operation. 

LB got through the surgery with flying colors and is now resting up.  The surgery comes at a bad time, what with the season starting in 29 days.  There is much to be done and according to crew member Rob Clorite, the team is behind schedule if it is going to make it. 

Leadfoot Takes a Vacation

Larry and I went down to DC last week to visit his youngest daughter Jenny, a 3rd grade schoolteacher in the Arlington, VA area.  The first two days we were there, LB got sick and stayed sick so long I was about to take him to the hospital for re-sleeving.  Thankfully, the bug passed and we hit the National Zoo with Jenny to see what the animals were up to. 

LB's favorite animal in the Zoo was this little groundhog, in case you were wondering. 

Although, along the way, he did enjoy the tigers and orangutans, as well. 

While we were in DC doing nothing racing-related, the crew was hard at work in the shop at home, installing the parts that LB had strategically ordered to arrive while we were gone.  I'm pretty sure the crew got everything mounted before we arrived home!