On August 23 my brother and co-conspirator Ward Ring and I went to Scott Viets’s to pick up the pieces of what will be the Quad-4 midget we’ll be racing at Whip City Speedway in 2009.  Other than an engine and steering components the “car-collection” appears essentially complete. The chassis is purported to be a 1984 Gennerton. Its most noticable feature is a roll cage that seems to tower over other midgets, which is fine because protection is more important to me than esthetics. It’s obvious, though, that every piece will require some particular attention.  The rearend hasn’t been apart in years; we’ll be sure to go through that carefully.  Bodywork also will need some massaging. By far the more important attention will come to the frame itself. This car has survived some wicked headers. Scott claims it remains (or has been returned to) essentially square. A couple of trophies attest to that. That could be good enough. The truism is that the frame only serves to square the four points of the suspension to the motor plate, and that every other point is irrelevant. But when you look at the naked chassis there are tubes that don’t actually follow the shortest disatance between two points. Every one of them invites chassis-flex, and as Scott already described the car as not exactly stiff, the less of that the better.

We’ll be meeting soon with Shorttrack tech advisor Walt Scadden, and Walt will help us inventory what we have in anticipation of wading into the process of preparing individual pieces for re-assembly. We’re also on the lookout for a motor (I officially have given up on using the more technically correct term “engine.” Usage of a word is subject to the whims of the masses. The masses have chosen “motor.”). Our priority is a working piece, preferably in a tired car, so that we can get the harness, electronics, and various other odds and ends. There already have been a few false alarms in this department. It seems every car out there “runs.” Of course “It did last time I started it.” Right. Five years ago. We do have some other options, but for now time is one of them. We’ll keep looking.

I’ll keep you posted.