Building A Race Car
Building a Race Car is a 13-part series by Mark Davis that takes the reader from constructing a complete race car from 150 feet of roll bar tubing to a finished NASCAR Winston Cup stock car. The articles were featured …
In the Metal Crafter days, we were building Late Model Stock Cars, like wild Indians. Our #1 parts source was Townsend Race Cars in Ashland, VA, it was not uncommon to make a trip to Richmond every week. On one of the trips, I was asked to pick up some parts for Dale Earnhardt Jr’s LMSC team. Don Hawk called told me drop by the Deer Head shop see Mike Jarrett and pick up a check for Townsend. When I got there Dale Sr was outside talking to some folks, the mom turned to me and said my son is the next Dale Earnhardt. Dale politely finished up and we walked inside, I told him what was up and he sent for Mike. He then told me “on your way to Richmond count every fence post there is a great race driver behind everyone!” He told me that Robert Gee used to tell folks that and he didn’t believe it, but if you listen to the mommas there would be no doubt! Since those days I have reflected on those words of wisdom. I have had the opportunity to work with some great minds, folks that had great success, winners on the track, in business, great historians, craftsman, artist, and like Dale’s analogy, “behind every fence post “ there has been an expert behind every post. Our Makers IP team wants to utilize experts as guest bloggers, this part of the project is going to be called “Behind Every Fence Post”. Each BEFP page will have a series of author specific information posts, pictures, links, standard procedures, equipment and product reviews.
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Building a Race Car is a 13-part series by Mark Davis that takes the reader from constructing a complete race car from 150 feet of roll bar tubing to a finished NASCAR Winston Cup stock car. The articles were featured …
As the coincidence of racing Jon Thorne adds to the story the irony of Art Reno breaking down in our front yard really adds to the direction of the next chapter. Art was an airline pilot drawn to racing for …
Bobby Allison took GM’s bait, caught a big fish, then put the bait on sale for racers everywhere, Bunkie Knudsen’s plan changed racing for the Saturday racers for the next 60 years. The first racing Chevelle I remember was Speedy …
There are 2 things that I know hate being shocked one is me the other is pigs. There are multiples of relative lessons in the mechanics of life that carry over, one is the mystery of the negative ground. Shortly …
The secret of success in any area of expertise is never stop learning. It takes a combination of knowledge, experience, confidence, natural ability, focus, patience, and “want to”. In the early 1900s training models fell into 2 categories, need-to-know, and …
Over the years I have been part of many startups, retrofits, and or image makeover of shops. I personally have upfitted several collegiate design labs, and training centers. I always start by giving them this list. When asked what piece …
Pigs, Frogs, Worms and Chickens OH MY!Several our inner circle pointed us in the direction of an old moonshiner/sawyer that had an old 1940’s Frick sawmill. His name was Aaron Davis a typical seasonal connoisseur of non-taxed adult spirits and …
With the racing on hold my dad got a chance to buy a 10-acre tract of land in Taylor, FL, the goal was to go sell sufficient, for me it was another learning experience, as the race car set outside …
The 1977 season was crazy, we jumped in, with the best racing knowledge we had, stumbled across an equalizer, rotating weight is king. The fall and winter changed our approach to everything. We embraced an engineer’s direction more than ever, …
The pig operation included several animal related skillsets that a racer should never be exposed to. Pigs can tear down an oak tree, but hate electric wire, learning to be fence installer became another skillset. In a 2-year period we …