Event Coverage The Official 2014 Meltdown Drags #5 thread, vintage drag meet, July 18,19&20 Byron IL

Rob,
Thanks for stopping by the pits,and thanks for the kind words about the car while you guys were there.Ive owned it since I was 18 (it was my first car!),and it finally feels like all my hard work has begun to pay off.

Looking forward to seeing you guys and that 4-spd GTO next year !!!

Scott


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Redline:

Something in the GoPro went all screwy and all I got was 18 seconds of footage of Ric's melon when he turned the camera on and walked away,then it just up and shit the bed!

I'm taking the thing into the camera shop this weekend when I don't have to work,and we'll see what it's issue is.It really pisses me off,cause I lost all of my footage too

Sorry about that Brother.We'll get some next year if I have to ride on the hood with an old super-8 camera to get it!!!

Scott


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I almost forgot!

The ride to Sam's on Saturday afternoon was also one of the highlights of the event.

After seeing Quain,Shannon,and Donovan haul ass outta there for town,my Dad and I jumped in the Shaker and went rippin' down the road......Only to discover that aired down slicks and Illinois back roads were never really intended to meet!lol!

After a hairy ride that had us feeling like we were gonna end up paddling the Ol car down the Rock river,we arrived at Sam's and were immediately treated like family by everyone.

Donovan,you crack me up Brother.(He must have dragged 30 guys over to show them my fender where it says: "DYNO TUNED" by Oliver Klozoff.......

Say it out loud.Oliver Klozoff.

Anyway,him and Dylan near laughed themselves sick over that one!

Good times with incredible folks!

Can't wait for next year!

Scott


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Anytime man! I can remember being younger and wishing I could sit in some of the cars but didn't wanna ask. Ric was gonna start it and let you strum the throttle a couple of times but L.A. Woman had developed an oil leak and we weren't sure where it was coming from and didn't wanna oil down the clutch disc.

 

Scott,
It was great to meet you and your dad after all the banter back and forth and hang out Sunday. Glad both cars made it and were running. I wish we hadn't had to fight ours all weekend but we finally got her in the neighborhood Sunday. That first pass was the ride of my life! Thanks for spankin' boondoggle too! It was really cool hangin' out with you guys and Redline! Redline, thanks for the company and the grudge races, it was a blast running you! Pretty well matched cars once we finally got ours pointed the right direction. I'm glad we were at least able to make it close. Hats off to ya!

 

Redline, we have HD video of all 3 of our races. They're from our lane but 2 outta 3 show you takin' the win. I'll look and see how tight they are but you should be able to see your car, if only a little further down track. They're huge files since they're HD, but if you pm me an email address that won't choke on'em, I'll try to get 'em to ya. Also gonna try to post them to youtube & facebook.

 

Thanks Marc,
Are you guys almost home safe?

I feel your pain about fighting the car all weekend;I was cut,bruised,and burned from wrestling with broken clutch linkage all weekend.lol

Take care,and let Ric know I'll be calling him soon with some top secret cam questions.

Scott


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3:30 am MT - Jason is at the wheel of our trusty rig that we have affectionately named "Fleet Wanda". I'm riding shotgun keeping a sharp watch on his eyelids and feeding him iced teas & Dr. Peppers. Ric and little man Solomon are asleep on the bed in back. Fleetwood Mac is on the ipod and we can see Yesterday's Child peeking in the back window riding on the open trailer. We're halfway through our Cheyenne to Rock Springs leg and this also marks the halfway point of our odyssey home. This is the first road trip over 7 or 8 hours for any of us, so it's a little sobering to drive for 19.5 hours and only be halfway home, but we're hoping only driving through one night instead of two will make the trip a little easier. Hopefully everyone who had a shorter trip has made it home safely with their chariots in good condition. An incredible event and some peer pressure led us 2/3 of the way across this great country of ours. Along the way we saw things none of us had ever seen. As we arrived at the track in Byron we discovered a jewel of a facility as well as a jewel of an event. We were all blown away by the drive from the highway to the track! As Ric said in his post, we were threatening to bump up against the 8pm cutoff for getting in the gate and didn't really want to find a place to camp outside. We texted "Koop" to give him a status report and his response was "Don't worry, you guys WILL get in!" What a relief! When we turned into the track, again, as Ric already mentioned, we were greeted by several of the Meltdown guys in their now familiar white uniforms with a red and blue stripe, clapping, shaking our hands once we made it to the gate and thanking us for making the long haul out and handing us cold beers. Somehow the 39 hour drive immediately started melting away. We had a prime pit spot next to the guys we've been watching on youtube and right across from the entrance to the staging lanes. We got to watch every car pull into the lanes (when we weren't under the 56 trying to make it run a respectable number)! We had repeated visits from the Meltdown guys making sure we didn't need anything. We met and talked to numerous strangers who had followed the car on the HAMB or had seen the Hot Rod article. We also got to meet some fellow HAMB'ers and put faces and names to HAMB names. The car wasn't running like we had hoped but it had a fresh motor, clutch & trans so there was plenty to sort out. Even though the car wasn't right and we spent most of Friday & Saturday trying to sort it out, there was still the comradery of being among other racers, some who were having their own issues, some who were setting new best times and whose cars were working flawlessly, but all were encouraging. By Sunday we finally had the Scarlet Lady running a respectable number and got to make 3 quality passes. We still have more small stuff to sort out & tune on & we hope to be in the mid to low 10's sooner rather than later. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say "Hi" & talk about the car. The capper Sunday was when Ric's friend, now our friend, Eric showed up with ribs, chicken skewers, baked beans & cole slaw. He had enough that we were able to feed some of the Meltdown guys, talk, drink beer & even get the deluxe tour of the property. What a way to cap the weekend! We won't forget this weekend! Thanks to all the Meltdown guys & track folks for putting on a one of a kind event & treating us so well! From the other comments it sounds like several people had a similar experience. Sorry if some of this is redundant. This was only supposed to be a check in from the halfway point home and now I've been typing on this phone for probably an hour!

 

A few years back our 16 hour drive each way was considered epic. Coming from where you guys did (and others) was / is amazing. I've been telling folks for 3 years that the Meltdown event is put on by real people, for real racers driving real race cars. The facility is amazing and they treat you with respect. This is not some corporate machine looking to make money and trying to bribe you to attend with promises of big payouts and world recognition. This is why (in my opinion) it works. It also works because the MDA work their asses off !!! It also works because they have set the criteria and have enforced the standards and only allowed in a few exceptions. There is a rumor (that I helped to start) that BangShift may live feed the event next year. Wouldn't that be something ?? I also mentioned to BJ about getting some old dragster hack from Ocala for next year... he just smiled and said something about Ron and this "unknown" beard shaver being friends. (Hmmm)

It was great to meet you Panneton boys and especially see "Yesterday's News" make some passes. You guys added so much to the event. By simply being there with the other long haul folks, it added a point of legitimacy to the Meltdown. Get the old girl sorted out and let her fly next year... (You guys are coming back next year ??... Right ???)

This year there were 4 cars from Winnipeg Canada and at least 17 warm bodies. Next year there will likely be that many and more. Once you're hooked you're hooked. I know of at least 2 cars in the works (plus my "other" project set for Meltdown 7) and at least a half dozen more folks wishing they had come this year.

Thank you all:

 

Hey Ric! I figgered since you treed me like a coon(on our final run) and I chased those tail lights alllll the way down the track, you musta had a change of heart and threw out the anchor to let me squeek by on the big end as you were down a tenth and almost 3 mph.... You are a gallant man and true....but you didnt hafta let me win old son!!!!

 

By the way... BANGshift.com is doing some great coverage. Their 2nd installment including some history and tons of picture went up this morning.

Cheers to those guys

There's a great shot of the "Scarlet letter" launching. I may have to frame that one

 

So right about the Meltdown crew workin' their butts off. Man, those guys were on it. The track/facility folks deserve a hand also. I don't know how you could get a better spot to have an event like this!

Here are some of my random pics,

 

As an MDA memeber and "Border Bandit" drc guy...I would like to thank the other MDA guys. They are dedicated to make this go off without a hitch...I would also like to thank all those who raced, showed, swapped or spectated for coming out, without you there is no show....

Meltdown Drags July 18-20 2014

 

The Byron crew wasn't through helping me at the drag strip ,one of them found me lost in a little town and pointed me in the direction toward highway 88 . I thanked him for all their hard work and many thanks go to the MDA crew, I know I have never been treated better. Thanks again

 

Loved this hot rod too....awesome burnouts!

 

Man, this race keeps getting better and better! It was killing me to miss it, but I had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go fishing in Alaska.

 

What a great event this was. The Meltdown guys and the Byron crew had everything going smoothly, which is amazing considering the number of cars and people in attendance. A special thanks to the Great Lakes Gassers for welcoming me into their racing club. It was a blast racing with them and the Nostalgia Gassers. We had an incredibly good time, and we can't wait to do it all again next year.

 

Just left Cedar City, UT, next stop Vegas and then on to Ric's...and then an hour drive home for me. Hope everyone is enjoying the afterglow of the Meltdown, I know we are! Sounds like you guys are too! We're trying to check out some of the coverage between driving stints and short naps when we can get 'em. We have about 7 hours left...

 

I've signed up two years in a row and I've missed both. I will push the damn car to get there next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What an awesome event! We'll definitely be there next year. This was sort of the maiden voyage for my truck since we did the engine swap. I'm happy to say that it ran like a top. We only had to get the tools out once to tighten up the column mounted tach. No racing for the pickup this year. I figured I'd leave space for the real drag cars.

Here's a link to my crappy cell phone pics:

http://s538.photobucket.com/user/mrlee63/library/2014 Meltdown Drags

 

I just want to echo what others have been saying. Thanks MDA and Byron for putting on a great event, and a thanks to everyone who raced, towing from near and far, you guys put on a heck of a show. Here are a few of my favorite snaps of the event.

 

didn't the Evil Twin run? I haven't seen any pics !

 

Rocky ran me, are you on facebook? Here is a video:
<div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>
<div class="fb-post" data-href="

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204604262130711

" data-width="466"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204604262130711

">Post</a> by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tom.nomady">Tom Nomady</a>.</div></div>

 

Bangshift coverage:
http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/...-jammed-coolest-old-school-drag-iron-country/

http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/...side-story-event-another-load-awesome-photos/

 

Videos I found on the web, not mine:







https://www.facebook.com/FacebookDevelopers/posts/10151471074398553

 

Time lapse video from Saturday:

 

Just heading out of Jean Nevada, about 4hrs (8-9pm tonight our time) we'll be home. Thanks everyone for traveling mercies wished/sent. We are tired, but its a good tired.

 

Thanks MDA for a great weekend! It was a privilege to be parked on your roll. The key word of the event was "unbelievable", how true. I can't even imagine what's in store for next year. Thanks for your hard work and to all the Byron employees. The track facility was perfect. Can't wait for next year.

 

I forgot a cool side story. My buddy and his son and I were heading from our hotel in Rockford Sunday morning and decided to grab some breakfast. We spotted a Steak N Shake and pulled in. My buddy said, "is that Isky and Bones in there?". No way I thought. I thought wrong! There they were, two living legends setting in an empty burger place. We went over and talked to them and told them they signed my helmet the other day. They're both sharp as a tack. Anyway, we let them eat in peace; however, I told the waitress to put their bill on my tab. When they went up to pay she told them they were taken care of. Isky looked my way and we gave each other a thumbs up. Pretty cool.

 

That my friend is FIRST CLASS! Nice work!