Z-Max Dragway

Hope all is well. As you can tell I went to the new dragstrip in Charlotte, NC. And what a beauty it is. It is so cool to have a state of the art track an hour from home. Some friends and I only went down for one day. We all had a blast. The neat thing is their were a lot of NASCAR people walking through the pits. Rusty Wallace and his son Steven, Geoff Bodine, David Green, Joe Gibbs, Rick Hendrick and I'm sure many more I did not see. When we arrived Friday morning it was overcast and looking like rain. As the day went on it got extremely hot, but it turned into a beautiful evening. The only problem is we had to sit in the hot sun. Our good friend Chuck Chapman was in the air conditioned tower all day Sunday. Sometimes life is not fair.

Since we are on the Chuck Chapman subject, he is going to start on Sandy's car in the morning. As I am writing this now, Sandy is about four hours away, heading home with his repaired Cavalier. After a brief stay at the Shuford Estates, that's funny, he will head to Chuck's place in the morning to drop off the car. Actually, Chuck will paint the chassis from the fire wall forward and touch up a few things while Sandy waits. Then Sandy will take the car back to Raleigh and start putting it together. Once Sandy gets the car pretty close to being ready, he will then bring it back to Conover, NC for Chuck to finish. It will only be a month till Rockingham from this coming weekend. A lot has to be done. Can't promise a trick paint job. But Sandy only wants to be back at the track with his own car, so I know he will work now stop until then.

Z-Max Dragway had lots of good looking women on hand. And it seemed that my buddy Scott Dennie wanted his picture taken with them all. He is the guy you want in your group. Not afraid to say anything or talk to anyone. He kept us laughing the whole day. We seen a lot of our IHRA regulars racing. Matt & Kelly Cooke, Robert Holloway, Cameron Manual, who got down to the quarters, Steve Furr (quarters), Jeff Edmonds, Danny Waters Jr (semi's), Scott Lawton, Tracy Robbins, & Mark Young. Their were a lot. I also saw the always lovely Lisa Bingham hanging out in Pro Stock pits. The cool part? I will get to see all these guys and gals at Carolina Dragway this coming weekend. See you there!

Don

Charlotte & Carolina Dragway!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What does the new Charlotte Dragway in NC and Carolina Dragway in Jackson, SC have in common? I will be at both. This weekend is of course the NHRA race at Charlotte. Myself and four other friends are going down on Friday to catch some sportsman eliminations and to see some nitro night qualifying. We are taking a rookie to see and smell some nitro. I am going to put him right behind a fuel car during a warm up! Sandy says he might go to the ADRL race at Rockingham on Saturday and then to Charlotte on Sunday. Or he said he might work all weekend. If I know Sandy he will probably be working all weekend.

Good news from the Sandflea this week. First, he tells me that Jerry Bickle is working on the Cavalier. They are finishing up on the engine mounts, which sounds like they are not far from hanging the front end. Hopefully by the end of the week it will be ready. Now that I think about it, I hope Flea is driving to Missouri this weekend. Love ya Sandy. Second, he tells me that he has the green light to race Nicky Miller's 67 Camaro in Jackson, SC next weekend. You probably figured that out by the title. Why else would I go? I mean, I have no car or no where to stay. I'm just a bum looking for a ride. Anyway, Flea bag will be there and it is going to be large. Why not? This will be our second to last race of the year. Well, if we get to race in Rockingham! Looks like Sandy is mathematically out of the championship hunt. Let's go racing and just have fun. We have the car that can do it.

Speaking of. Here is Nicky's car again with Sandy behind the wheel. Picture this now. When Sandy is in his 434 cu in small block Cavalier, we are doing a burnout around 9000 rpm. With the 565 cu in big block Camaro, he is around 6000 rpm. You know his foot wants to go to the floor. Sandy's Cavalier sixty foots its rear end off to a 4.80 run on motor. The Camaro carries the front end 100 feet and makes an easy 5.15 run. With the Darlington runs under his belt, I wouldn't bet against him in Jackson. But of course I am kind of bias.

Regardless, the next few weeks are going to be B.I.G.- large. I hope all of our regular IHRA guys and gals that participate in Charlotte do well. My friends and I will be cheering for you on Friday while Sandy is freshening up your engine. I mean somebody has to work. Later

Don

Darlington !!!!!!

Hello my friends. Finally made it back to the blog. Hope all is well with everyone.

It was good to be back at the track after a month and half away. We got to see a lot of our friends and everyone was happy to see Sandy back behind the wheel. Sandy borrowed Nicky Miller's 1967 Camaro, which Sandy said was awesome to drive. The car was consistently in the low 5 teens. Nicky is the father of Top Dragster and Top Sportsman driver Josh Miller, who also happened to win on Monday. The Miller guys are a great group of people and Sandy is extremely grateful for getting the opportunity to drive their car. As far as the results from driving their car. Not so good. A red light in the first round ended race one. And taking too much stripe ended race two. Over all, just happy to be racing.

Our next race is up in the air. Sandy is trying to get a car lined up so he can race at Carolina Dragway in a couple of weeks. After that, it will probably be Rockingham if he gets a ride. If not, we will come down and support our friends. That may be the best plan yet. We can bring Club 660 and park beside you.

Sandy's Cavalier is still setting at Bickles waiting to be repaired as we speak. Apparently this will take a little longer than we first expected. Speaking of taking longer than expected, Jeremy Creasman debuted his new GXP this weekend at Darlington. How about going a couple of rounds while running low 4.30's. I will have his car and the other pics of Darlington up in a couple of days.

Thanks again to the Miller's and congratulations this weekend. Darlington was a good inspiration to get back to blogging. I have plenty of things to blog about. 1. Sandy back at the track. 2. Friends and their new car. 3. Supper and wine with our friends. 4. Lots of whining from Ronnie Proctor (only kidding Ronnie). Someone told me I was not blogging enough. See you in a couple of days?

Don

Stopping By The Flea's Shop!

Hello everyone! Hope you are doing well. It has been a little boring around here. The car is still at Jerry Bickle Race Cars and racing any time this year is not looking good. Soon we will have to start preparing for 2009, but I did not want this early of a start.

I stopped by Sandy's shop the other day to see how things were going. Of course they were hard at it. His number one man Josh was working on one of the lathes while I was there. Josh has been their around a year and a half and continues to do an outstanding job.

You will notice the front end hanging on the wall in one pic. That was the nose that was on the car when Sandy eased it into the wall at Piedmont Dragway. Beyond repair. So he spends a thousand bucks on a new used front end. That nose is in a small box in the trailer, thanks to a steel guardrail at Pittsburgh Raceway. Someone sent Sandy some action pics of his car wrecking in Pittsburgh. I hope to have those up in a day or two.

Another pic is of the office area. T-shirts and parts for sale. Ladies, check out those hot pink Wilkins Motorsports tank tops. A must have for all the females. Also an engine shop would not be complete without an engine for sale. Sandy has this very nice used but not abused PAR 522 BB Chevy. Call for details.

If you are in the Raleigh area, stop by and see the Flea. Better yet, bring an engine by for freshening up or let him build a new one for you. It's not like he's going racing this weekend. WOW! Sorry Sandy! That was my Smart A.. getting the best of me. Talk to you fine folks in a few days.

Don

Nitrous Wrench

What's up everyone? Can you believe it! Two blogs in one week. Working from daylight to dark and then trying to have a little family time makes writing a blog difficult at times. But I do enjoy it. Since I do not race any more, working with Sandy keeps the adrenaline going. Plus it is alot cheaper.



Most of you know that Sandy manufactures a successful line of wheelie bar wheels as well as wheelie bar wrenches. These products are used by many IHRA and NHRA pro stock racers as well as many sportsman racers. Some of Sandy's customers include Jerry Bickle Race Cars, Tim McAmis Race Cars and Rick Jones Race Cars. You can view these products from the home page. Sandy is always thinking of new things and now he wants to introduce his Nitrous Wrench.



This is a 4 in 1 combination wrench that can be used on all nitrous applications. It is made with the same aircraft quality material as the wheelie bar wrenches. Removal and installation of the -12an bottle nut, the -8an blow down tube, and either a -4an or -6an nitrous line can now be accomplished with one tool. It will only be available in blue. Get yours today for $39.99.


If you are interested, give Sandy a call at the shop or email him with your info. He has the first batch of wrenches ready to ship. As quoted by Sandy Wilkins, "Be the first on the block, because the Nitrous Wrench is hot".



Don

Stage 2

Since our last blog, Sandy has been burning up the highways so he can get his car repaired. He traveled to Maryland International Raceway this past Saturday to pick up a front end, tires and wheels from pro stock racer John Montecalvo. With those parts strapped down in the bed of the truck, he arrived back home late Saturday night. With little sleep, he left out Sunday morning for Jerry Bickle Race Cars in St. Louis, Missouri. After a brief hotel stay Sunday night, he dropped off the car around 8 am Monday morning. Once business was taken care of, Sandy departed for North Carolina at 11 am. He arrived home around 2:30 am early Tuesday morning. That would be 2400 miles and $800.00 in fuel at about 11 miles to the gallon. Isn't racing so much fun?

Now that the car is at Bickle's, hopefully their will be a quick turn around. Sandy said Bickle had one jig specifically for repairing cars. Their was one car on the jig and Sandy's would be next. Sandy also said that their were so many cars in his shop, that he should leave his car in the trailer until time to work on it.

It looks as if Sandy will have to have a pair of front struts. If anyone has a line on some good used ones, let him know. Preferably Lamb so his brakes will work. Thanks for every ones help. I will try to blog again before the weekend.

Don

STAGE ONE

Hello everyone. As you can see, Sandy has disassembled the car to get it ready to take to Jerry Bickle Race Cars. He had to take everything off both sides of the fire wall so it could be replaced as well as the front end. It also broke the left lower frame rail at the fire wall which will need to be replaced. The car has more damage than we originally expected, so you know what that means. More time and more money.

Pro Stock driver Jeff Dobbins has helped locate a used front end, front tires and wheels and possibly some front struts. Sandy would like to leave for Bickle's this Sunday so he can be there on Monday morning when he opens. The drive will take around 15 hours. Hopefully Bickle can turn the car around pretty quick and Sandy can start the rebuilding process.

Sandy is still complaining of neck pain that may require a doctor visit. Hopefully just a lot of stress, if that is a good thing. He wanted to thank every one who called and emailed concerning the wreck. The racing family is a truly a great bunch of people. Someone asked, "When will he race the car again"? He would love to have it ready for the fall Rockingham race. As you know this is an expensive sport. If you would be interested in helping out in any way, please contact us.

Also, if you have any questions that you would like answered on the blog, shoot us an email. Sandy's is on the home page and mine is don@carolinatools.com. Thanks again to everyone who keeps up with our web site. Stay tune for STAGE TWO.

Don